Chapter 7: Words and Word formation Processes

What are the different methods of word-formation?
The common of word-formation methods are: affixation, compounding, blending, clipping, backformation, conversion, coinage, acronyms and borrowing.

Explain COINAGE as a method of word-formation.
Coinage is the invention of totally new words. Strictly speaking it refers to a word which has been invented and did not previously exist in any language. immoment (by Shakespeare), and robotics (by Isaac Asimov), are examples. Coinage also refers to the making of words from specific reference to a more general one: e.g. aspirin, nylon, zipper, kleenex, xerox, jeep, and kodak.

Explain BORROWING as a method of word-formation
When words from another language enter a language, it is known as borrowing. English has taken many words other languages. Some examples are: leak, yacht (Dutch); barbecue, cockroach (Spanish); piano, concerto (Italian), cash, rice, teak (Malayalam), and admiral, adobe, alcohol, average, caliber, chemistry, cotton, elixir, lute, magazine, monsoon, nadir, ream, sash, satin, sofa, tariff, zero (Arabic).

Explain COMPOUNDING as a method of word-formation
Compounding is making a new word by stringing together existing words: e.g., earthquake (earth + quake). Some other examples are homework, girlfriend, mailman (noun + noun); sleepwalk, break-dance (verb + verb); icy-cold, red-hot (adjective + adjective); breastfeed, spoon-feed (noun + verb); spoilsport, killjoy, breakfast, cutthroat, dreadnought, know-nothing (Noun + verb); headstrong (noun + adjective); overtake, outdo (preposition + verb).
While some compounds some others retain the meaning of their parts, (e.g. doghouse) some others have new meanings (e.g. white-collar).

Explain BLENDING as a method of word-formation.
Blending is the process of fusing words together. In the process, both words lose parts. Some examples are:

smog (smoke + fog),
motel (motor + hotel),
brunch (breakfast + lunch).
motorcade (motor + cavalcade),
transistor (transfer + resistor),
electrocution, (electricity + execution)
travelogue (travel + monologue).
bash, (bang + smash),
brunch (breakfast + lunch.),
chortle, (chuckle + snort),
chunnel, (channel + tunnel),
dumbfound, (dumb + confound),
edutainment, (education + entertainment),
electrocution, (electricity + execution),
emoticon, (emotion + icon),
guesstimate, (guess + estimate),
infomercial, (information + commercial),
motel, (motor + hotel),
motorcade, (motor + cavalcade),
simulcast, (simultaneous broadcast),
splatter, (probably splash + spatter),
squiggle, (squirm + wiggle),
stagflation, (stagnation + inflation),
televangelist, (television + evangelist),
transistor, (transfer + resistor),
travelogue, (travel monologue),
twiddle, (twist + fiddle).

Explain CLIPPING as a method of word-formation.
Clipping is the shortening of a word: e.g: gym (gymnasium), fax (facsimile), lab (laboratory). Thre are different types of clipping: front-clipping, middle-clipping, end-clipping, ends-clipping and complex clipping.
Front-clipping:

phone (telephone)
varsity (university)
chute (parachute)
bus (omnibus)
fax (facsimile)
plane (airplane);

End-clipping:

ad (advertisement)
cable (cablegram)
exam (examination)
gas (gasoline)
memo (memorandum)
gym ( gymnasium)
pub (public house)
fan (fanatic);

Middle-clipping:

maths (mathematics)
specs (spectacles)
pants (pantaloons)

Ends-clipping:

flu (influenza)
fridge (refrigerator);

Complex clipping:

cablegram (cable telegram)
op art (optical art)
showbiz (show business)
sci-fi (science fiction)
sitcom (situation comedy)

Explain BACKFORMATION as a method of word-formation.
Backformation is the process of making a new word by removing a real (e.g., vacuum clean from vacuum cleaner,), or imagined affix (pea from pease) from a word. Some other examples for backformation are:

acculturate (acculturation)
air-condition (air conditioning)
automate (automation)
babysit (babysitter)
brainwash (brainwashing)
bulldoze (bulldozer)
custom-make (custom-made)
destruct (destruction)
diagnose (diagnosis)
diplomat (diplomatic)
donate (donation)
edit (editor)
emote (emotion)
greed (greedy [the noun was originally greediness])
handwrite (handwriting)
houseclean (housecleaning)
housekeep (housekeeper)
jell (jelly)
kempt (unkempt)
kidnap (kidnapper)
legislate (legislator)
liaise (liaison)
manipulate (manipulation)
opine (opinion)
preempt (preemption)
proofread (proof-reader)
self-destruct (self-destruction)
sightsee (sightseeing)
surreal (surrealism)
televise (television)
typewrite (typewriter)

Some back-formed words like burger (from Hamburger) are used as compound: beefburger, cheeseburger etc.

Explain HYPOCORISM as a method of word formation.
Hypocorism is using a noun differently as endearment term. It is a kind of backformation in which a final –y or –ie is added to a back-clipped word:

Aussie (Australian)
telly (television)
sweetie (sweet heart)
movie ('moving picture')
hanky (handkerchief)
granny (grandmother)

Explain INITIALISM and ACRONYM as methods of word-formation
Initialism is abbreviations formed from initials e.g. BBC, UNHCR. Acronym refers both initialisms which can be pronounced as words: e.g. Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), Ram (random access memory), and also to words such as radar (radio distancing and ranging), laser (light amplification by simulated emission of radiation), jeep (GP from General Purpose Vehicle) etc., which are more complex abbreviations.

Chapter 6: Sound Patterns of Language

What is phonology?
Phonology is the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language.

What is a phoneme?
Phoneme is the smallest sound unit that can distinguish between two words. For example, both /p/ and /b/ are phonemes because their use can distinguish between the words pin and bin.

How do we find out if a sound is a phoneme?
Phoneme functions as the minimal contrastive unit. If the use of a sound unit changes the meaning of the word, that sound is a phoneme. For example, in English ‘pin’ and ‘bin’ are two words because in English the phoneme /p/ instead of the phoneme /b/, the meaning of the word can be changed.

Why are square brackets and slashes used in Phonetics?
Square brackets (e.g. [p] ) are used to indicate a physically produced segment of sound. Slashes (e.g. /p/) are used to indicate a phoneme. The former is a physical sound, and the latter is its abstract idea.

What is an allophone?
An allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. For example, the phoneme /p/ in the words ‘pin’ and ‘spin’, has different realizations: [ph] in pin and [p] in spin. Each of these different realizations is called an allophone.

What is a minimal pair?
When two words are identical in form except for one phoneme occurring in identical position, they are called minimal pair: e.g: as pin-bin, tin-din, fan-van, fit-feet, cut-cot.

What is a minimal set?
Minimal set is a group of words each of which can be differentiated from the rest only by the change of a single phoneme. An example for a minimal set is the list: ban, pan, fan, van, man, ran, can.

What is Phonotactics?
Phonotactics explain the rules for the combination of phonemes. It defines permissible syllable structure, consonant clusters, and vowel sequences using phonotactical constraints.

What is a syllable?
A syllable is a unit of sound composed of a vowel, and the consonants that cluster around it. A syllable is typically made up of a nucleus (a vowel) with optional initial and final consonants.

How many syllables can be there in a word?
A word may have any number of syllables: from monosyllabic (one syllable) to polysyllabic (two or more). The word cat is monosyllabic, mon.key is disyllabic, in.di.gent is trisyllabic, and in.te.lli.gence polysyllabic.

What is the structure of a syllable?
A syllable has an optional onset + the obligatory rime. Rime consist of the obligatory nucleus (vowel) and optional coda. For example, in ‘fool’, the onset is /f/, and the rime is (the nucleus /u:/ and coda /l/).

What is a consonant cluster?
Consonant cluster is the group of consonant phonemes that appear together in a syllable. C is used as a symbol for a consonant and V for a vowel. Thus, the word ‘see' /si:/ has a CV syllabic structure as the consonant comes before a vowel. Some other examples are CCV (free /fri:/), VC (eat /i:t/), CVC (fool /fu:l/) etc.

What is co-articulation effect?
Co-articulation refers to the sound changes that happen to phonemes because of pronouncing sounds together. Assimilation and elision are the common co-articulation effects.

What is assimilation?
Assimilation is co-articulation effect in which some aspect of one phoneme is copied on to its adjacent phoneme. For example, when one pronounces man, the vowel sound becomes a nasalised sound.

What is elision?
Elision is the omission of a sound segment in speech. A sound which would be present in a word in when pronounced in isolation is left out for the sake of ease in pronunciation. For example while speaking fast, the phoneme /d/ is omitted from ‘friendship’ and /t/ is omitted from ‘aspects’.