Morphology: Derivation without Affixation and Compounding in English

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Morphology: Derivation without Affixation and Compounding

Unit 3 Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Morphology: Derivation without affixation and CompoundingC Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) Table of contents Scheme 3 Key ideas 4 3.1. How to study this unit? 4 3.2. Derivation without affixation 4 3.3. Compounding 10 3.4. Change of meaning of the words 15 3.5. Bibliographical references 17 3.6. Master class 18 In Depth 19 Test 233C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)

Morphology: Derivation and Compounding

Derivation without Affixation and Compounding

Morphology Derivation without affixation and Compounding Compounding Derivation without affixation Change of the meaning of the words Conversion Clipping Blending Abbreviation and acronyms

Scheme of Unit 3

Scheme Unit 3. Scheme Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language 3Key ideas

How to Study Unit 3

3.1. How to study this unit? In order to study this unit you should read: Alba, L. & Chacón, R. (2013). A Grammar Companion to Lengua Inglesa. Madrid: UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia). (p. 33, p. 34, p. 47, p. 48, p. 65, p. 66, pp. 89-94). Available at UNIR virtual library.

I n this unit we will examine some of the most productive non-affixational processes of word formation. Firstly, we will briefly describe processes such as: conversion, clipping, and blending. Secondly, we will analyse the difficulties related to the identification of compound words. We will also discuss the different types of compounds. And finally, we will discuss phenomena such as widening and narrowing of the meaning.

Derivation without Affixation Overview

3.2. Derivation without affixation A part from affixation, which was discussed in detail in Unit 2, compounding and non-affixation are of central importance in word formation in English. An overall analysis of compounding and derivation without affixation provides us with the opportunity to have a closer look at some of the most popular ways of forming new words. C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 4Conversion

Conversion in Word Formation

Conversion has become one of the most productive processes of word formation in English. For Laurie Bauer, conversion is "the use of a form which is regarded as being basically of one form class as though it were a member of a different form class, without any concomitant change of form" (1983, p. 227). The two categories that are often affected by this phenomenon are the noun and the verb. The term is controversial, as some linguists will not see it as a means of word formation. Let us take the word hard -adjective and hard-adverb. Some linguists consider that it is the same word that plays different roles depending on the context. It is important to note that a new word cannot be created within the same word class through this process, i.e. we cannot coin a verb from a verb though conversion. For example, the noun run was formed from the verb to run in the mid-15th century. The verb to mother was formed in the 1540s from the Old English modor "female parent" (Online Etymology Dictionary, 2017). A recent example of conversion is the verb to text "to send a text message by mobile system" (2005) from the Old English noun texte or 14th century noun text (Online Etymology Dictionary, 2017). Along the same lines, Ingo Plag defines conversion as "the derivation of a new word without any overt marking" (2003, p. 107). There are a great number of examples of conversion in English like water (noun) - to water (verb), answer (noun) - to answer (verb), question (noun) - to question (verb), empty (adjective) - to empty (verb). One of the most important difficulties related to conversion is directionality, i.e. which way has it gone: from an answer (noun) to answer (verb) or from answer (verb) to an answer (noun)? The directionality of conversion becomes visible only if we explore the history of the word from its origin to its present-day form and meaning. In conversion , what's clear is that a new word is never created within the same word category . It's always about moving from one class ( like now ) to another " lille verb ) , Verping things fresh and dynamic ! C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 5Clipping

Clipping and Derivational Processes

In order to understand clipping, we should place it in a global picture of derivational processes in English. Figure 1 below shows only derivational processes with a special focus on non-affixation. For further information see Figure 4 in Unit 2.

Derivation: Affixation and Non-affixation

Derivation Affixation Non-affixation Prefixation Suffixation Conversion Truncation Infixation Blending

Figure 1. Derivation. Source: adapted from Word Formation in English, by Ingo Plag, 2003, p. 17. As we can see in the figure above, for Ingo Plag, there are three main non-affixational processes: conversion, truncation, and blending. He divides truncation further into truncated names, -y diminutives, and clippings and admits that in other publications the term clipping "is often used as an equivalent to truncations" (2003, p. 121). To avoid confusion, in this unit, we will use the term clipping in the sense of Plag's truncation We can say that the term clipping covers a variety of processes of word formation in English. A common feature of these processes is that the word is contracted or shortened, omitting some of its elements. This also reflects the tendency for linguistic economy. Examples of clipping include names like Mike from Michael and Liz from Elizabeth. C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)

Examples of Clipping

Other examples of clipping: Examination -> exam Congratulation > congrats Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 6Advertisement -> ad Demonstration > demo Gymnasium > gym Gasoline -> gas Application > app

Blending Word Formation

Blending Blending is closely related to clipping. In blending, two words are combined to form a new word, i.e. they are blended into one new word. Elements from each word are dropped out to enable the process of blending. Some words are ambiguous, e.g. science + fiction -> sci-fi or high + fidelity >hi-fi. They look similar to clipping, discussed in the previous section. It is essential to bear in mind that in blending we combine two words to make a new one, but we can also consider that science fiction is a compound word and it has been shortened, deleting some material.

Examples of Blending

Examples of blending include: motor + hotel - motel breakfast + lunch - brunch Spanish + English - Spanglish

Abbreviation and Acronyms

Abbreviation and acronyms pérdida Abbreviation and acronyms, like clipping and blending, imply the loss of some elements. C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) We can form abbreviations by using the initial letters of a multi-word combination. In some cases non-initial letters are also included. Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 7C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)

Examples of Abbreviations

Examples: Inc. - incorporated Approx. - approximate Tsp. - teaspoon (in cooking) Pt. - pint (cooking) Blvd. - boulevard St. - street M.Phil - Master of Philosophy e.g. - for example

Abbreviations Based on Pronunciation

Some interesting examples of abbreviations are those based on pronunciation, rather than on orthography. The following abbreviations are widely used by Internet and email users.

2 4 B C I O R U Y to /too for be see eye owe are you why

Table 1. Examples of abbreviations.

2F4U Too Fast For You 4YEO, FYEO For Your Eyes Only C&P Copy and Paste THX TNX Thanks 2moro Tomorrow 2nte Tonight F2F Face to Face CUL8R See You Later

Table 2. Abbreviations in use.

Acronyms and Their Usage

Acronyms are words formed from the first letters of a series of words. They can be read by naming each individual letter like CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) or as a word like NATO /'ner.tau/ (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 8Examples of common Internet acronyms:

• AFK Away from Keyboard
• FYI / JFYI (Just) For your Information
• AKA Also known as
• HTH Hope this Helps
• B2K BTK Back to Keyboard
• IMO In my Opinion
• BTW By the Way
• IOW In other Words
• EOM End of Message
• ITT In this Thread
• FAQ Frequently asked Questions
• LOL Laughing out loud
• FKA Formerly known as
• DGMW Don't get me wrong
• TGIF Thanks God Its Friday

Table 3. Examples of common internet acronyms.

Key Figures in the History of Linguistics

Otto Jespersen (1860 - 1943)

Figure 2. Otto Jespersen (1860 - 1943). Source: Wikipedia. Read further information about Jespersen in the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto Jespersen C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 93.3. Compounding

Compounding: Definition and Difficulties

C ompounding is a rather controversial process of word formation insofar as linguists do not agree on a definition of compounding. There are two main problems that make compounding difficult to define: the first one is that for many linguists compounding means to "combine two words to form a new word". This simple definition contains the idea that we combine words, but as we saw in Unit 1 and Unit 2, the concept of "word" is not unproblematic. That is why some linguists prefer to refer to "bases" instead of "words". The second difficulty in identifying compounds is when we have more than two words like in assistant secretary of state, which contains four words. An agreement on defining criteria becomes relevant for the correct classification of an item as a compound.

Definitions of Compounding

Bearing in mind the fact that there isn't an agreement on a definition of compounding, let us consider the following two definitions that are slightly different, but in a certain way, one complements the other. For Ingo Plag, "complex words need not be made up of roots and affixes. It is also possible to combine two bases, a process we already know as compounding. The words in (apartment building, greenhouse, team manager, truck driver) are cases in point" (2003, p. 12, bold in original). For Carmen Muñoz, "A compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word. . . . In some cases compounding implies more than the mere addition of two bases, as there is some modification of one of the bases in the process of addition" (2004, p. 98). To show that there might be some additional changes together with the combination of the two bases, the author gives the examples sociolinguistic and trouserleg. In the word trouserleg, the -s for plural in trousers has been omitted. In some cases we have C Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language Unit 3. Key ideas 10