• What is word

formation?
• How important is word
formation?
• Borrowed words
• Affixes
• Compounding
• Converting
• Clipping
• Acronym
• Conclusion
 The term "word formation", as the name suggest, is all about creating
new words.

"Word formation process" is the process by which new words are created or
invented.
Every language is in constant need for new words. This is mainly because of the
development in the technological field. New products are coming on the market
and all of them need names by which to be called. Because of these new
inventions and changes, a language needs to borrow, derive, or otherwise coin
new words simply because new things need names.

Theut rather, there are several methods that are used to create new words.

The only means by which humans communicate is language (be it spoken or

body language). It is the most vital tool of interaction between people. With
time, language needs to change in order to meet with the requirements of the
people. As Martina Wagener said in an article, "language is dynamic, it changes
constantly".
So, How important is word
formation in a language?

● Word formation increases the

importance of language. When
a language creates new words, by
borrowing for instance, it not only helps
maintain that language's own vitality, but
also other languages can borrow from the
initial language.
 A loanword can also be called
a borrowing
The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of
speakers adopting words from a source language into
their native language. "Loan" and "borrowing" are of
course metaphors, because there is no literal lending
process.
Borrowing is a consequence of cultural contact between
two language communities. Borrowing of words can go
in both directions between the two languages in contact,
but often there is an asymmetry, such that more words
go from one side to the other.

7
Modern English words, as we know them, have an
interesting background. So where do so many of the
foreign words in English actually come from?

The English language has a long history of borrowing

words from other languages. These “borrowings” can
usually be traced back to specific periods in history.
It may surprise you that some of our most
common words are borrowed:-

They/their – This common pronoun comes from the Old Norse word
“Peir”.

Person – This comes from the Latin “persona”.

Dollar – This comes from Czech through Dutch. Its roots are connected to
the origins of the mint itself: a factory where coins and currency is
produced.

War – This comes from the Old French “werre”.

Shampoo – This word actually originates from the Hindi word “Champo”

Bungalow – It is derived from the word “Bangla” in Hindi.

Skipper – This comes from the Dutch “schipper”.

Zero – This comes from Arabic. In fact, many of our words related to
numeracy, mathematics and trade can be traced back to Arabic.
“English doesn’t borrow from
other languages. English
follows other languages down
dark alleys, knocks them over
and goes through their
pockets for loose grammar.”

-James D. Nicoll
 “An affix is
a word attachment to a root
or stem that gives a word a
different meaning.”
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What Does Affix Mean?
An affix literally “fix”es itself to a root word or a stem word. An affix changes the meaning of a word.
An affix may be attached to the beginning or the end of a root or stem word.

If an affix is attached to the beginning of a word, it is called a prefix. If an affix is attached to the end of
a word, it is called a suffix.

Some root or stem words may have both an affix and a suffix or multiple affixes and suffixes in order
to make new words and to change the meaning of the root or stem word.

Affix Examples:
• stem word: like
• with affix (prefix): unlike
The two most common types of
affixes are:

• Prefixes
• Suffixes
Prefixes
Prefixes are a type of affix. Prefixes are “pre” (before)
“fix”ed (attached) to a root or stem to create a new word
with a new meaning.
Prefixes themselves are not words. They must be
attached to a root or a stem in order to create new
words.
Here is a list of common prefixes and
their use in sentences:
• pre- (before)
• The outcome was predetermined.
• The outcome was determined before
• mis- (wrong)
• That word is misspelled.
• The word is spelled wrong
• un- (not)
• His work was unsatisfactory.
• His work was not satisfactory
 Suffixes
Suffixes are a type of affix. Suffixes are
“suf” (under/after) “fix”ed (attached) to a
root or stem to create a new word with a
new meaning.
Suffixes themselves are not words. They
must be attached to a root or a stem in
order to create new words.

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Here is a list of common suffixes and
their use in sentences:
• -ly (like)
• She was wonderfully
• She was striking like wonder
• -able (able to)
• The part is adaptable.
• The part is able to adapt
• -ible (able to)
• The writing was incomprehensible.
• The writing was not able to be
comprehended.
 Compounding
In English grammar, compounding is the process of
combining two words to create a new word
(commonly a noun, verb, or adjective). Also
called composition, it is from the Latin for "put
together".

18
Compounds are written sometimes as one word
(sunglasses), sometimes as two hyphenated words
(life-threatening), and sometimes as two separate
words (football stadium). Compounding is the
most common type of word-formation in English.
For example:
The words tooth and paste are each nouns in their own
right, but if you join them together they form a new
word - toothpaste.
The word black is an adjective and board is a noun, but
if you join them together, they form a new word -
blackboard.
 Converting
Conversion is the word formation process in which a word of
one grammatical form becomes a word of another
grammatical form without
any changes to spelling or pronunciation. For example, the
noun email appeared in English before the verb: a decade
ago I would have sent you an email (noun) whereas now I
can either send you an email (noun) or simply email (verb)
you. The original noun email experienced conversion, thus
resulting in the new verb email. Conversion is also referred
to as zero derivation or null derivation with the assumption
that the formal change between words results in the
addition of an invisible morpheme.

20
 The most productive form of conversion in
English is noun to verb conversion:-

For example:
▪ My grandmother bottled (verb) the juice and canned
(verb) the pickles.
▪ My grandmother put the juice in a bottle (noun) and the
pickles in a can (noun).
▪ She microwaved (verb) her lunch.
▪ She heated her lunch in the microwave (noun).
CLIPPING

Clipping is one of the ways new words

are created in English. It involves the
shortening of a longer word, often
reducing it to one syllable. Many
examples are very informal or slang.
 The following, for example, should be spelt in full in formal English –
ad (advertisement)
demo (demonstration)
info (information)
intro (introduction)
pro (professional)

There are four types of possible clipping processes, depending on which

part of the word undergoes structural changes:
back-clipping (temperature — temp, rhino — rhinoceros, gym —
gymnasium), fore-clipping (helicopter — copter, telephone — phone, plane,
aeroplane), mixed clipping (influenza — flu, refrigerator — fridge)
and clipping-compounds (paratrooper — parachute + trooper).
 Acronym
• An acronym is a pronounceable
word formed from the first letter (or
first few letters) of each word in a
phrase or title. The newly combined
letters create a new word that
becomes a part of everyday
language. Using shortened forms of
words or phrases can speed up
communication. Explore this useful
shorthand with these examples of
acronyms.
Let’s start off by examining some popular acronyms and their meanings, including how they are used
in sentences. We are likely to see them in the news and even use them in our everyday language.

• ASAP - As Soon As Possible

o We have to get to the hospital ASAP!

• AWOL - Absent Without Official Leave (or Absent Without Leave)

o I don’t know where he went. He’s totally AWOL.

• LASER - Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation

o Our cat loves to chase a little red LASER beam.

• GIF: "Graphics Interchange Format"

He uses Ways more gif then then text.
Here again we should take English language as example. English is an
international language, This is greatly because of the word formation
mechanism used to coin new words in the language. With a lot of
vocabulary in the English language, the latter has become versatile. So word
formation increases the importance of language. When a language creates
new words, by borrowing for instance, it not only helps maintain that
language's own vitality but also other languages can borrow from the initial
language. For example, English borrowed the word "sofa" from Arabic, and
Creole borrowed the word "sofa" from English. When English borrows, there
are other languages that borrow from the "borrower" language. This keeps
other languages alive as well. A language can die. Absence of word
formation process can cause its death.
Any Questions?