Chapter 4 Word Formation Why we should learn
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Chapter 4 Word Formation
Why we should learn the English word-formation?
A proper understanding of the word-formation language needs classification of such processes on formagrounds. Bauer (1983) classifies the word -formation in English as follows: 1. affixation(30%-40%) 2. Compounding(28%-30%) 3. Conversion(26%) 4. Clipping 5. Acronymy 8%-10% 6. blending(1%-5%) 7. blackformation Experts make use of affixation, compounding and conversion extensively for the formation of words.
1．Affixation is the process of forming words by adding derivational affixes to stems. It is also called derivation. Words formed in this way are derivatives.
2．Compounding is a process of word formation by which two or more stems are put together to make one word. The word formed in this way is called a compound. hide（躲藏）+ and（和）+seek （寻找）→hide-and-seek（捉迷 藏） forget（忘记）+ me（我）+not（ 不）→forget-me-not勿忘（我）草 Jack（男孩名）+ in（在……里面） + the + box（盒子）→jack-inthe-box（玩偶箱）
3．Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one part of speech to the words of another part of speech, without changes in morphological structures. Words created are new only in a grammatical sense. Taste(v. ) →taste(n. ) It tastes good. It has a good taste. Hand(n. ) →hand(v. ) Let’s go hand in hand. Please hand in your exercise books after class. Clean(adj. ) →clean(v. ) Her room is clean and tidy. She cleans her room everyday.
4．Clipping is to shorten a long word by cutting a part off the original and use what has remained as a word. 5. Blending is the formation of new words by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word. Front clipping: "phone" from telephone botel: boat + hotel 汽艇游 客旅馆 Back clipping: "ad" from advertisement lunarnaut: lunar + astronaut 登月宇航员 Front and back clipping: “flu” from influenza 流感 Eurasian: Europe + Asian 欧亚混血儿 Phrase clipping: “pub” from public house 酒店 sitcom: situation + comedy 情景喜剧
6．Acronymy is the process of forming new words by joining the initial letters of phrases. Initialisms are words pronounced letter by letter: VOA from Voice of America Acronyms are words formed from initial letters but pronounced as a normal word: NASA from National Aeronautics and Space Administration 美国航空航天局 7．Backformation is the opposite process of suffixation. It is the process of making a new word by dropping the supposed suffix: "burgle" from burglar.