实用英语词汇学Chapter Three Word Formation.doc

Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more.-author-date实用英语词汇学Chapter Three Word Formation实用英语词汇学Chapter Three Word FormationChapter Three Word Formation3.1 MorphemesStructurally, a word is not the smallest unit because many words can be separated into even smaller meaningful units. For example, “tion, sion etc.” belong to the same suffix as they have the same meaning and grammatical function. These different forms occur owing to different sound environment. These minimal meaningful units are known as morphemes, the smallest functioning unit in the composition of words.Morphemes can be classified into: free morphemes and bound morphemes.3.1.1 Free Morphemes Morphemes which are independent of other morphemes are considered to be free. These morphemes have complete meanings in themselves and can be used as free grammatical units in sentences. They are identical with root words, as each of them consists of a single free root, we might as well say that free morphemes are free roots.3.1.2 Bound Morphemes Morphemes which cannot occur as separate words are bound. They are so named because they are bound to other morphemes to form words.  Bound morphemes are chiefly found in derived words. It includes bound root and affix.3.1.3 Bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root, it is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words. In English, bound roots are either Latin or Greek. Although they are limited in number, their productive power is amazing.3.1.4 Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or function. According to the functions of affixes, we can put them into two groups: inflectional and derivational affixes. Inflectional affixes are affixes attached to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships. The number of inflectional affixes is small and stable, such as s (-es) of regular plural suffix, -s of possessive -s, -ed, -ing of verb forms-er, -est of comparative or superlative degrees. Derivational affixes are affixes added to other morphemes to create new words. Derivational affixes can be further divided into prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes come before the word and the suffixes after the word. In words recollection (re+ collect+ ion), idealistic (ideal+ ist + ic), ex-prisoner (ex + prison + er), “collect, idea, prison”, are free morphemes, they are independent of other morphemes and are considered to be free, which have complete meanings in themselves and can be used as free grammatical units in sentences. “re, ion, ist, ic, ex, er” cannot occur as separate words, so they are bound morphemes. They are so named because they are bound to other morphemes to form words.Also, in the word antecedent (ante+ ced+ent), -ced- is a bound root meaning “approach, go” ; -ante- is a prefix meaning “before; -ent- a suffix meaning “ a person, a thing” thus the word meaning “ something that goes before”. 3.2 Word Formation3.2.1 AffixationAffixation is the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to stems. This process is also known as derivation. Affixation falls into two subclasses: prefixation and suffixation.Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems. Prefixes do not generally change the word-class of the stem but only modify its meaning. The majority of prefixes are characterized by their non-class-changing nature. Thus, we shall classify prefixes on a semantic basis into 9 groups.1) Negative prefixes: a-, dis-, in-, il-, in-, non-, un-2) Reversative prefixes: de-, dis-, un-, 3) Pejorative prefixes: mal-, mis-, pseudo-,4) Prefixes of degree or size: arch-, extra-, hyper-, macro-, micro-, mini-, out-, over-, sub-, super-, sur-, ultra-, under-5) Prefixes of orientation and attitude: anti-, contra-, counter-, pro-,6) Locative prefixes: extra-, fore-, inter-, intra-, tele-, trans-7) Prefixes of time and order: ex-, fore-, post-, pre-, re-,8) Number prefixes: bi-, multi-, semi-, tri-, uni-, 9) Miscellaneous prefixes: auto-, neo-, pan-, vice-Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems. Suffixes have only a small semantic role, they mainly change the word class.1) Noun suffixes2) Adjective suffixes3) Adverb suffixes4) Verb suffixes3.2.2 Composition/compounding is the formation of new words by joining two or more stems. It occurs mainly in nouns, adjectives and verbs. There are three kinds of compounds:1) solid (bedtime) 2) hyphenated (above-mentioned) 3) open (fire engine)Brainwashing -brain+wash+ing (n.+v.+ing), it is a noun compound.Shortsighted-short+sight+ed (a.+n.+ed) , it is an adjective compound.Verb compounds are mainly formed through conversion or backformation, such as to honeymoon, to lip-read.3.2.3 Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class. They are new only in a grammatical sense. Since the words do not change in morphological structure but in function. Conversion is generally considered to be a derivational process: an item is adapted or converted to a new word class without the addition of an affix, hence the name zero-derivation. The most productive is the conversion that takes place between nouns and verbs. There are two kinds of conversion: full conversion, partial conversion1) Words fully converted: A noun fully converted from an adjective has all the characteristics of nouns. It can take an indefinite article “a”, “an” , and s/-es to indicate singular or plural number. e.g. a white; whites;2) Words partially converted: Nouns partially converted from adjectives do not possess all the qualities a noun does. They must be used together with definite articles “the”. Whats more, they retain some of the adjective features. eg. the rich; the young.3.2.4 Blending is the formation of new words by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word. e.g. flush (fl in flash ush in blush). Ham + burger : beefburger, cheeseburger, shrimpburger.They fall into four major groups:1) head+tail:brunch-breakfast+lunch,motel-motor+hotel,smog-smoke+fog 2) head+head: interpol-international+police,psywar-psychological+warfare 3) head+word: medicare-medical+care, Eurasia-Europe+Asia 4) word+tail: workfare-work+welfare, lunarnaut-lunar+astronaut3.2.5 Clipping is to shorten a longer word by cutting a part off the original and using what remains instead, such as auto for automobile, taxi for taximeter cabriolet. In schools we use econ, gym, math, and trig for economics, gymnastics, mathematics, trigonometry. 1) front clipping: bus-omnibus, phone-telephone, plane-airplane 2) back clipping: ad-advertisement, lab-laboratory, photo-photograph 3) front and back clipping: flu-influenza, fridge-refrigerator, 4) middle clipping: bike-bicycle, maths-mathematics, specs-spectacles 5) phrase clipping: pub-public house, pop-popular music, zoo-zoological garden 6) journalistic clipping: Dept.-Department, Cwlth-Commonwealth 7) back clipping+suffix: hanky-handkerchief, comfy-comfortable, agro-aggression3.2.6 Acronymy forms new words by joining the initial letters of names of social and political organizations or special noun phrases and technical terms. Words formed in this way are called initialisms or acronyms depending on the pronunciation of the words.Initialisms are pronounced letter by letter. e.g. UFO. 1) Letters represent full words: VIP-very important person, UFO-unidentified flying object, UN-the United Nations, p.c.-postcard2) Letters represent elements in a compound or parts of a word TV-television, ID-identity card, PLS-pleaseAcronyms are pronounced as a normal word, eg. NATO.Laser-light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, Radar-radio detecting and ranging, AIDS-acquired immune deficiency syndromeSemi-acronym: formed with the initial letter of the first word plus the whole of second: N-bombnuclear bomb, G-mangovernment man, V-DayVictory Day.3.2.7 Back-formation is the opposite process of suffixation, the method of creating words by removing the supposed suffixes, and the words are mostly verbs.begbeggarediteditortelevisetelevisionlazelazydrowsedrowsy typetypewriterbaby-sitbaby-sitterlip-readlip-readingmass producemass-production 3.2.8. Commonization refers to words from proper names, a phenomenon in which a proper noun turns into a common word and is used in circulation.They include names of people, names of places, names of books and trade names.1) Names of peopleampere, sandwich, mackintosh, diesel, protean, watt, volt2) Names of placeschampagne, china3) Names of booksutopia, odyssey4) Trade namesnylon, frisbee, xeroxThe words that are communized from proper nouns have rich cultural associations and thus stylistically vivid, impressive, and thought provoking.-