LEXICOLOGY

4-01

WORD FORMATION

Kelompok 2

Muhammad Lutfil Khaliq (2022130017)

Rievky Reviano Gale (2022130020)

Fauzan Adzim (2022130005)

Fawwaz Khairan (2022130011)

Lecture: Dr. Fridolini, SS, M.HUM

 Why Study Word Formation Processes?
"Word-formation processes" refers to the different techniques used in English to create new
words from existing ones. Particular word types develop by each word-formation process.
Consequently, one method of learning about the different word kinds in English is to understand
these processes. Stated differently, we can analyze any complex word into its component
elements by understanding how different part morphemes combine to form complex lexical
items.

For example, once we understand the process of adding the plural morpheme {-s} to singular
nouns to make them plural, we may separate any complex noun that has already undergone
plural inflection into its parts. Similar to this, we may separate any inflected adjective into its
basic morphemes if we understand how the comparative suffix {-er} and the superlative {-est}
are added to adjectives.

Another example is if we knew that the word disturbance and payment are made by adding the
suffixes -ance and -ment. In this case, we could also analyze any complex noun that has been
brought by any of these suffixes into its parts.

Inflection and Derivation

Inflection is a general grammatical process that creates different grammatical forms for words by
combining words with affixes, which are always suffixes in English. An example of an
inflectional morpheme is the plural morpheme. This suggests that, for example, the plural form
roses is just an inflectional variation of the same word and doesn't show a lexical item that is
different from the singular form rose. On the other hand, the adjective cold becomes colder when
the comparative inflection {-er} is added. This is an inflectional variant of the same word rather
than a separate lexical item.

However, derivation is a lexical process characterized by adding a derivational affix to an

existing word to create a new one. For example, the nouns resignation and departure are distinct
words that can be created by adding the suffixes -ation and -ure to the verbs resign and depart, as
well. Similarly, the noun freedom and the adjective hopeful, which are once more distinct words,
can be created by adding the suffixes -dom and -ful to the adjective free and the noun hope, as
well.

The meanings and examples presented above show the main morphological difference between
derivation and inflection. The use of derivation creates new vocabulary items, while inflection
creates different grammatical forms for the same word.

Inflectional Affixes
Definition and Examples
A method to think of inflectional affixes serves as "relational markers" that adapt words for use
in syntax. This suggests that a stem does not change classes once the inflection or relational
marker is added to it; instead, the stem's distribution is limited by the syntactic structure. As an
example, the inflected noun is appropriate for use in syntax as a noun modifier (i.e., like an
adjective) with the addition of the possessive suffix. The possessive-marked noun may only be
used as a modifier of another noun; it may never work as the head or main part of a structure.
John's thus becomes John + possessive, as in John's book. However, the noun's word class
remains the same. Despite functioning like an adjective, John's is not an adjective because it
can't take the affixes{-er} (comparative) and {-est} (superlative), which appear in many
monosyllabic members of that class. Similar to this, when the plural form of dog is added to
form dogs, both dogs and dog are nouns; the addition of the plural form doesn't change the
word's grammatical class, but their distribution in syntactic structures is different. Therefore,
instead of saying "The dog is barking," we say "The dogs are barking." For another example, the
verb spoken is still a verb when the past participle morpheme is suffixed to the verb speak.
However, the two verbs are not always able to occur in the same linguistic context.

Characteristics of Inflectional Affixes

The fact that inflectional suffixes usually give themselves to paradigms that use the language as a
whole is one of their most significant characteristics. A single stem of a major word class with
any potential inflectional suffixes on it creates the paradigm of that word class. The paradigm
can be used to describe the word class in a useful way by requiring words that belong to that
class to have at least some of the suffixes that characterize that set rather than suffixes that
describe other paradigms.

The following table and examples show the inflectional suffixes of nouns, adjectives, and verbs:

Nouns show the following inflectional contrasts:

Base form stem + plural stem + possessive stem + plural + possessive

boy boys boy’s boys’

child children child’s children’s

student students student’s students’

Adjectives (that are gradable and mono- or disyllabic) show the following inflectional contrasts:

Base form stem + comparative stem + superlative

cold colder coldest

happy happier happiest

sad sadder saddest

Verbs (except the verb be and modals) show the following inflectional contrasts:

Base form stem + 3rd person stem + past tense stem + past stem + present participle

Singular participle

eat eats ate eaten eating

sing sings sang sung singing

work works worked worked working

Notice that the past tense and past participle inflections are the same form in some verbs,
including all those formed regularly with -ed, so the five-part paradigm only has four parts in
these cases. However, in these situations, the past tense and past participle inflections can be
distinguished as separate morphemes that just happen to have the same form (they are
homonyms).

The noun and verb inflectional paradigms can also be used to describe English pronouns and
auxiliary verbs, accordingly, while the adjective paradigm can be used to some adverbs, as the
following subsections show.

A group of function words are pronouns. Instead of adding inflectional suffixes, they fit the noun
inflectional paradigm with their respective forms, as shown below:

child children child’s children’s

I, me we, us mine ours

you you yours yours

he, him his

she, her they, them hers their

it, it its

The possibilities given in each paradigm cell are mutually exclusive in the sense that they are in
complementary distribution, meaning that where one occurs, the other does not.

Verbs that are auxiliary form part of a closed subclass. They have the ability of taking on some,
but not all, verb paradigm forms. The modal auxiliaries have just two forms, while most verbs
have five or four. The modal auxiliary, whether in the past or present tense, can only have one
form; in addition, the English auxiliary be, with eight different forms, is the most polymorphic of
all verbs. (see paradigm below):

eat eats ate eaten eating

 be am/are/is was/were been being

can could

may might

must

shall should

will would

It should be highlighted that must is still regarded as a modal auxiliary verb even though it only
has one form.

Adverbs (some, and not usually -ly adverbs like quickly) of one or two syllables show the
following inflectional contrasts:

Base form stem + comparative stem + superlative

fast faster fastest

soon sooner soonest

It is not possible to identify the class of English adverbs using this paradigm because the
majority of adverbs have more than two syllables.

Furthermore, it is important to note the difference between "regular" and "irregular" inflections
under inflections. Regular inflections are those that follow a standard pattern, such as -s for noun
plurals, -ed for verb past tenses and past participles, and -er for adjective comparatives.

Irregular effects are those that break from this pattern and usually affect one or a few individuals
of the word class in question.

Derivational Affixes
Definition and Examples
The term "low functional load" refers to the fact that a single derivation happens rarely and is
limited to a small number of different combinations with specific stems. In other words, they are
usually not paradigms that keep true for entire word sets.

Words can be defined as members of different word classes and their word class may be changed
by derivative affixes. As is seen in the table below, they are within with regards to accents,
meaning that if derivations and inflections co-occur, derivations are inner and closer to the stem,
and inflections are external and farther from the stem:

Example Base form + Derivation + Inflection

frightened fright -en -ed

activating active -ate -ing

payments pay -ment -s

resignations resign -ation -s

Furthermore, it should be noted that grammatical class changes are not always the result of
derivational affixes. For example, the derivational affix re- derived from consider means
reconsider, even though both words are verbs. Also, compare populate/depopulate,
intelligent/unintelligent, probable/improbable. Furthermore, an overt marker may not always
suggest a change in grammatical class.

For example, the nouns on the left and the verbs on the right are distinguished by stress in the
following lists. (The term "stressed" here refers to the sense of increased energy in the
articulation of the stressed syllable, which usually makes it sound longer and louder than other
syllables in the same word. Before the stressed syllable is the symbol (') As a derivational affix,
"stress" can be considered.

Nouns Verbs
ʹcontract conʹtract

ʹdefect deʹfect

ʹimport imʹport

ʹpermit perʹmit

ʹpresent preʹsent

ʹreject reʹject

Types of Derivational Suffix

There are two types of derivational suffixes: class-changing and class-maintaining. Class-
changing derivational affixes change the word class of the word they are added to. Therefore,
resignation is a noun and resign is a verb. Class-maintaining derivational affixes change the
meaning of the derivative, or the word that comes from the derivation, rather than the word class
of the original word. Thus, child, a noun, + -hood gives childhood, still a noun, but now an
‘abstract’ rather than a ‘concrete’ noun.

Once added to a stem, class-changing derivational affixes create a derivative that can be
identified as a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb by the specific affix. The word class of the stem is
said to be identified or guided by the derivations. The two different patterns of derivation for
each of them depend on the word class that the affix relates to.

Compounds
Definition
Compounds are stems that consist of multiple roots. For example, bedside, black market, car
wash, wastepaper basket. Understanding that there is not much similarity in the orthographic
treatment of compounds. While some are written as two or more words, others are written as one
word (with or without a hyphen between two roots). This observation is likely to suggest that
compounds are in between phrases and words created by a single root.
Distinction Between Compounds and Phrases
Compounds and phrases can be distinguished in English based on phonological, syntactic, and
semantic factors. Since there is only one primary stress in an English word, compounds can often
be identified by their stress pattern and lack of juncture. (Juncture is the transition that separates
adjacent syllables in a word that is connected.) For example, "black" board might have a juncture
between the two words as well as primary stress on each word. Blackboard, the compound, on
the other hand, has a single principal stress and no juncture. The same occurs for contrasts like
"black" bird versus "blackbird" and "hard" cover versus "hardcover."

Another way to identify compounds from other phrases is by their unique syntactic
characteristics. The grammatical relationships between the compound's components can
sometimes be confusing, it must be observed.

The arrangement of a compound's different parts for one another is referred to as word order.
Some compounds can be identified by the use of English words in what could be considered as
an irregular or even grammatical order. For example, the English phrase pattern "Noun +
Adjective" is not the most common, but it does occur in compounds like "seasick." Similar to
this, the structure "Verb + Preposition" occurs in the compound word "splashdown," which is a
noun, but it is usual for verbs and uncommon for nouns.

Semantically, compounds can be identified by their ability to take on specific meanings, which
makes them a lot like idioms. The literal sense of a compound's meaning coming from that of its
parts occurs very rarely. Most of the time, at least one of the parts' meanings is in some way
unclear. A dustbin, for example, isn't just for collecting dust; a blackboard can also be green and
made of materials other than wood.

Parts of a Compound
Compounds with two roots are the most important kind of compounds. They also can be the
most common in the tongue. It included a list of some of the original roots to give an idea of how
common this kind of compound is in English. People can confirm them using any dictionary and
observe the enormous set of compounds that can be created from each establishing root.
There is a unique kind of two-part compound that is created by combining two bound root
morphemes instead of two free root morphemes. These are the so-called "neoclassical"
compounds such as bibliography, xenophobia, astronaut, etc. These words (astro, "star," "naut,"
"sailor"; biblio, "book," "graphy," "writing"; xeno, "foreigner," "phobia," "fear") come from
Greek and Latin roots and are usually not found in English as simple words or as compounds in
classical Greek and Latin. They include an important part of the global lexicon of science,
medicine, and technology and are considered "learned" vocabulary. Although they are made up
of roots rather than affixes, they are different from other English compounds in that their roots
are not free morphemes, which is why they are categorized as compounds.

Classification of Compounds
Notice that compounds must have more than one root, but those roots aren't required to come
from the same word class. It might be believed that the resulting compound belongs to the same
word class and performs the same functions as the most basic member of the class when the two
parts of the compound (for example, noun + verb, verb + verb) belong to the same class.
However, the classification of the result compound cannot be figured out when its two
constituents are from different word classes.

Word class classification is similar to an algebraic equation and is independent of the syntactic
relationship between the two roots. In general, the type of the compound can be identified by the
word class of its final element. We will address noun, verb, adjective, and adverb compound in
turn:

Noun compounds: Any root + noun = noun compound

When the first root can be any of the words that follow: a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, the
second root has to be a noun. Examples of noun compounds are as follows:

N + N (modifier-head): ash-tray, arm-chair, text-book

V + N (verb-object): dare-devil, pick-pocket

Adj + N (modifier-head): black-bird, blue-collar, hard-cover

Av + N (not syntactic): aft er-thought, back-talk, down-grade.

Verb compounds: Any root + verb = verb compound

The first root can be a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb; the second root has to be a verb.

N + V (object-verb): baby-sit, brain-wash, house-keep

V + V (co-ordinate): dive-bomb, drop-kick

Adj + V (not syntactic): dry-clean, sweet-talk, white-wash

Av + V (modifier-head): down-grade, over-do.

Adjective compounds: Any root (except verbs) + adjective = adjective

compound

The first root can be a noun, adjective, or adverb; the second root has to be an adjective. In
English, verbs and adjectives do not mix together.

N + Adj (not syntactic): earth-bound, ox-eyed, sea-sick

Adj + Adj (co-ordinate): blue-green, metallic-green, south-west

Av + Adj (modifier-head): near-sighted, off-white.

Adverb compounds: Adverb + adverb = adverb compound

Av + Av (co-ordinate): in-to, through-out.

Special noun compounds: Verb + adverb = noun compound.

The first root is a verb and the second root is an adverb. The compound may be distinguished
from the ‘verb + particle = phrasal verb’ construction only by the context in which it occurs. V +
Av (derivation): blast-off, drive-in. This particular class of compounds is the only one that shifts
from the standard English rule; that is, the only class of compounds made up of two roots in
which the compound doesn't belong to the same class as the second root. So, blast-off and drive-
in are not adverbs but nouns.

When analyzing compounds into subgroups, an appropriate criterion is the kind of syntactic
relationship that connects the two roots. First, as well as obvious reasons, the most significant,
are the compounds that consist of constituents put together in line with syntactic rules that are
also useful to other English phrase structures. Consisting of compounds where the placement of
roots defies syntactic rules, the second category is much smaller.

Other word-formation Process

Conversion
The definition of conversion is the process of changing a word from one word class to another
without resulting in a simultaneous change in spelling or pronunciation. Since there are no
limitations on the forms that can be changed in English, it is a significant source for the creation
of new words.

The same process is referred to as a "functional shift" by Pyles and Algeo (1993: 281), who
highlight that in these situations, words simply change their grammatical function rather than
their form.

A modification within the same word class, such as going from a particular kind of noun to
another or from one type of verb to another, can be referred to as conversion. For example,
uncountable nouns can be used as countable and vice versa. As a result, the nouns in "some
beer/coffee/sugar/tea" are not countable, but the nouns in "two beers/coffees/sugars/teas" are. In
general, you can use almost any noun in either way as long as the context is carefully chosen. It
is easy to use proper names as common nouns, as in the sentence "Which Hilary do you mean?"
similarly transitive verbs are often added for intransitive verbs. For example, contrast the
individuals in the following pair:

How long can a pigeon fly non-stop?

Can this little boy fly a kite?

The first is intransitive and the second is transitive.

The most common type of conversion is changing word classes. The major kinds of conversion
are noun → verb, verb → noun, adjective → noun, and adjective → verb. For example:

Noun → verb: to bottle, to commission, to databank, to network.

Verb → noun: a call, a command, a guess, a spy.

Adjective → verb: to better, to dirty, to empty, to wrong.

Adjective → noun: Such conversions are relatively rare and restricted in their syntactic
occurrences; e.g. the poor, the rich (no plural), a convertible, a daily, a double.

Prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, and even affixes can serve as components for
conversions, such as to up prices (adverb → verb) and the hereafter (adverb → noun). In
addition, a lot of these word classes have multiple word-class conversions possible, such as to
have a down on someone (noun), to down a beer (verb), and to go down (adverb particle).

Blends
A blend is a new lexeme that is created from elements of two or more words in a way that makes
the individual parts easy to recognize, though in some cases only one element may be. Other
names for blends include "telescope" and "portmanteau" words. As an example:

breakfast + lunch → brunch

channel + tunnel → chunnel

dove + hawk → dawk

motor + hotel → motel

spiced + ham → spam

slang + language → slanguage

The following examples show how the first part of the first element is combined with the second
part of the second element to form blends. The resulting words are mostly nouns, but sometimes
they're adjectives like glitzy (glitter + ritzy) and verbs like skyjack (sky + hijack) and
gues(s)timate (guess + estimate).

In the informal style registers of journalism, advertising, and technical fields, blends are more
common. They give shape to folk meanings or new morphemes. Most of the time, blending
produces new morphemes or gives previously existing ones new meanings. The word
"automobile," for example, originated from the French autos, which means "self," and the Latin
mobilis, which means "movable." The words autobiography, autodidact, autograph, autocar,
and autobus all show how the element auto became effective.

Shortenings
Shortening is the process of reducing a word to one of its parts, resulting in a new form with its
linguistic value. In this section, we will focus on the processes that come under the category of
shortening, specifically. aphetic forms, clipping, initialism, and backformation. Clipping is a
word-formation technique where only part of the stem is kept. It is possible to keep the
beginning as in lab (from laboratory), the middle as in flu (from influenza), and the end as in
plane and phone (from airplane and telephone, respectively). The original full form is sometimes
completely replaced by the clipped version.

Backformation is the process of creating a new word out of an older one that isn't intended to be
taken from it. Backderivation can be distinguished by the fact that a longer word is reduced by
taking one morpheme away. For example, the suffixes -er and -ion are removed to create the
verb peddle and televise, which originate from the corresponding nouns peddler and television,
respectively. However, backformation is easier to understand as a way to complete a proportion,
according to Strang (1969: 231).

Initialisms are only combining the first letter of a word (or sometimes the first syllable) to create
a word, they show an extreme form of clipping. Usually, initialism is motivated by brevity or
catchiness, but sometimes euphemisms are used, as with BO and VD "body odor" and "Venereal
Disease," accordingly (Pyles and Algeo 1993: 273).

Initializations can be referred to as alphabetisms or abbreviations when they are spoken using the
names of the alphabetic letters. However, when spoken as distinct vocabulary words, they are
acronyms; they come from the Greek words akros, which means "tip," and onoma, which means
"name," by using homonymy. Examples of alphabetisms are AI (Amnesty International; artificial
intelligence); ATM (automated teller machine); FAQ (frequently asked question); HIV (human
immunodeficiency virus); MBA (Master of Business Administration), STD (sexually transmitted
disease); SUV (sport utility vehicle). Examples of acronyms are laser (light wave amplification
by stimulated emission of radiation), scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus),
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), PIN (personal identification number), RAM
(random access memory), SATs (Standard Assessment Tasks), WAGs (wives and girlfriends).

Root Creation
Root creation defines the process of creating a new word that has no connection to any already
existing words. However, the majority of trade names which might appear to be root creations
are typically suggested by words that already exist. For example, Vaseline was created from
German Wasser, ‘water’, and Greek elaion, ‘oil’; Kleenex derives from clean and curtex.
Throughout history, very few words have been created from their roots.

Echoic Words
Words that are onomatopoeic or echoic originate from the particular sound they are meant to
show, such as "bang," "burp," "cuckoo," "ping," "splash," or "tinkle." "Imitative" and
"symbolic" are two categories of echoic words that Bloomfield (1933: 156) distinguishes. The
first range aims to imitate as meow, moo, bow-wow, and vroom sounds that it symbolizes. The
second, bump, flick, is less related to the sound. Symbolic words usually appear in sets and can
be either alliterative (flick, flash, flip, flop) or rhyme (bump, lump, clump, hump). The process of
doubling can apply to both symbolic and imitation words, sometimes with little changes. such as
peewee, choo-choo, and bow-wow.
Ejaculations
Ejaculations are vocal imitations of natural vocal reactions to emotional states (Pyles and Algeo
1993). They are also known as "natural utterances," but because they developed into lexical
items—such as the word for laughter, ha-ha, and its variant ho-ho—they have become
conventionalized. Pish and pshaw are used to express disapproval, discomfort, impatience, and
contempt. Phew imitates the reaction to an unpleasant smell or preventing of a disaster. The uh-
huh sign is used to show an understanding.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the processes involved in creating words in English include derivation, inflection,
compounds, conversion, blends, shortenings, root creation, echoic words, and ejaculations. It
shows how derivation adds affixes to create new words, while inflection adds suffixes to create
different grammatical forms for words. Multiple roots are combined to form compounds, and
words change from one class to another without changing their pronunciation or spelling.
Shortenings divide words into their parts, blends combine parts of two or more words, and root
creation is the process of creating new words. Ejaculations are vocal responses to emotional
states, whereas echoic words imitate sounds. The paper highlights the complexity and diversity
of the English language by giving thorough explanations and examples for each word formation
process.