Creation of new lexemes or the process of changing words
Inlinguistics ,word formation is an ambiguous term[ 1]
the processes through which words can change[ 2] morphology ), or the creation of newlexemes in a particular language A common method of word formation is the attachment of inflectional or derivationalaffixes .
Examples include:
the wordsgovernor ,government ,governable ,misgovern ,ex-governor , andungovernable are all derived from the base word(to) govern [ 3] Inflection is modifying a word for the purpose of fitting it into the grammatical structure of a sentence.[ 4]
manages andmanaged are inflected from the base word(to) manage [ 1] worked is inflected from the verb(to) work talks ,talked , andtalking are inflected from the base(to) talk [ 5] Examples includes:
[ edit ] An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of other words.[ 6]
NASA N ationalA eronautics andS paceA dministrationIJAL I nternationalJ ournal ofA mericanL inguisticsAcronyms are usually written entirely in capital letters, though some words originating as acronyms, likeradar [ 7]
Initialisms are similar to acronyms, but where the letters are pronounced as a series of letters. For example:
ATM A utomatedT ellerM achineSIA S ingaporeI nternationalA irlines[ 1] In linguistics, back-formation is the process of forming a new word by removing actual affixes, or parts of the word that is re-analyzed as an affix, from other words to create a base.[ 5]
the verbheadhunt is a back-formation ofheadhunter the verbedit is formed from the nouneditor [ 5] the wordtelevise is a back-formation oftelevision The process is motivated byanalogy :edit is toeditor asact is toactor . This process leads to a lot ofdenominal verbs .
Theproductivity of back-formation is limited, with the most productive forms of back-formation beinghypocoristics .[ 5]
A lexical blend is a complex word typically made of two word fragments. For example:
smog is a blend ofsm okefog brunch is a blend ofbr eakfastlunch .[ 6] stagflation is a blend ofstag nationinflation [ 1] chunnel is a blend ofch anneltunnel ,[ 1] Channel Tunnel Although blending is listed under theNonmorphological heading, there are debates as to how far blending is a matter of morphology.[ 1]
Compounding is the processing of combining two bases, where each base may be a fully-fledged word. For example:
desktop is formed by combiningdesk andtop railway is formed by combiningrail andway firefighter is formed by combiningfire andfighter [ 5] Compounding is a topic relevant to syntax, semantics, and morphology.[ 2]
Hashtagging as word formation [ edit ] Linguists argue thathashtags arewords and hashtagging is a morphological process.[ 8] [ 9] [ 10]
Word formation vs. semantic change [ edit ] There are processes for forming new dictionary items which are not considered under the umbrella of word formation.[ 1] semantic change , which is a change in a single word's meaning. The boundary between word formation and semantic change can be difficult to define as a new use of an old word can be seen as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form.
^a b c d e f g Bauer, L. (1 January 2006). "Word Formation".Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics 632– 633.doi :10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/04235-8 .ISBN 9780080448541 . Retrieved17 December 2021 . ^a b Baker, Anne;Hengeveld, Kees (2012).Linguistics . Malden, MA.: John Wiley & Sons. p. 23.ISBN 978-0631230366 ^ Katamba, F. (1 January 2006). "Back-Formation".Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second ed.). pp. 642– 645.doi :10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00108-5 .ISBN 9780080448541 ^ Linguistics : the basics . Anne, July 8- Baker, Kees Hengeveld. Malden, MA.: John Wiley & Sons. 2012. p. 217.ISBN 978-0-631-23035-9 OCLC 748812931 .{{cite book }}: CS1 maint: others (link )^a b c d e Katamba, F. (1 January 2006). "Back-Formation".Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second ed.). pp. 642– 645.doi :10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00108-5 .ISBN 9780080448541 ^a b Aronoff, Mark (1983)."A Decade of Morphology and Word Formation" Annual Review of Anthropology 12 : 360.doi :10.1146/annurev.an.12.100183.002035 . ^ Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew (2018).An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 71.ISBN 978-1-4744-2896-5 ^ Caleffi, Paola-Maria (2015)."The 'hashtag': A new word or a new rule?" (PDF) .Skase Journal of Theoretical Linguistics .12 (2).ISSN 1336-782X . ^ Calude, Andreea S.; Long, Maebh; Burnette, Jessie (2024-06-07)."#AreHashtagsWords? Structure, position, and syntactic integration of hashtags in (English) tweets" Linguistics Vanguard 10 (1):105– 114.doi :10.1515/lingvan-2023-0044 .ISSN 2199-174X . ^ Wan, Ming Feng (2024-03-12)."The role of syntax in hashtag popularity" Linguistics Vanguard 10 (1):693– 698.doi :10.1515/lingvan-2023-0051 .ISSN 2199-174X .
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