Word Building/ Word Formation

Word formation is the branch of lexicology that studies the structure

of existing words and the patterns on which a language builds new words.

Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their
form and meaning have changed over time.

Word formation processes in the English language

1. Derivation
Derivation, as ''the most common word formation process'' (Yule 2006, 57),
builds new words by adding morphemes to stems. These morphemes are
added to the target stem by affixation, through prefixes and suffixes.
Prefix Meaning Example
Prefix
Meaning
dis-, un-, anti-, (de-)
opposite, negative
ExOut, upward, previous
aWithout, not
ReAgain, repeatedly
NonAbsence, negation
Suffix
-er, -or, -ar
-ness, -ation, -ment

Meaning
Creates an agent noun
Verb to noun derivation

-less
-ize, -ate
-al, -able, -ary, -ful

Lack of
Creates verbs
Creates adjectives

Example
disrespect, unsteady,
Exclude, expand
Atheist
Replay
Non-smoker
Example
Designer
Sadness, hesitation,
treatment
Merciless
Terrorize, hyphenate
Accidental, believable
imaginary, peaceful

2. Compounding
Compounding is the process of putting words together to build a new
one that ''does not denote two things, but one'' and that is ''pronounced as one
unit'' (Wisnicwski 2007).
There are four kinds of compound words:
endocentric compounds: A (modifier) + B (head) = a special kind of B
(sea power) big house - Noun phrase (NP)
sing songs - Verb phrase (VP)

very long - Adjective phrase (AP)

exocentric compounds: A + B = compound with an unexpressed semantic

head (paleface)
- they mostly refer to depreciative properties of people.
Endocentric compound is a type of compound in which one member functions as the head and
the other as its modifier, attributing a property to the head. The relation between the members of
an endocentric compound can be schematized as 'AB is (a) B'.

Example
The English compound steamboat as compared with boat is a modified, expanded version
of boat with its range of usage restricted, so thatsteamboat will be found in basically the same
semantic contexts as the noun boat. The compound also retains the primary syntactic features
of boat, since both are nouns. Hence, a steamboatis a particular type of boat, where the class of
steamboats is a subclass of the class of boats. See Exocentric compound.

copulative compounds: A + B = the 'sum' of what A and B denote

(bittersweet) The meaning of a copulative compound is the sum of the meanings of the constituent
parts. (morphology)

appositional compounds: A + B = different descriptions for a common

referent (singersongwriter)
3. Reduplication / Echoism
We can count reduplication, also referred to as echoism, as a special kind of
compounding, and this works through repeating a syllable or the word as
whole (sometimes a vowel is changed) and then putting it together, as in
bye-bye (exact reduplication), super-duper (rhyming reduplication)
3. Blending
A blending is a combination of two or more words to create a new one,
usually by taking the beginning of the other word and the end of the other
one. So new words like spork (spoon + fork), fanzine (fan + magazine),
4. Initialism & Acronymy
Initialisms and Acronyms are shortenings, build from the initial letters in a
phrase or name. While acronyms are pronounced as single words (NASA,
AIDS), initialisms are pronounced ''as a sequence of letters''
5. Borrowing & Calque

Borrowing is the process of actually borrowing words from foreign

languages. The English language has been borrowing words from ''nearly a
hundred languages in the last hundred years''
6. Neologism/Coinage
As neologism or coinage we identify the word formation process of
inventing entirely new words.
Onomatopoeia
This special type of word that depicts ''the sound associated with what is
named'' (Examples of Onomatopoeia).

The purpose of the activity

In this activity, the learners decode unfamiliar words by identifying
root words and exploring the patterns that can be formed when they
are changed.
The purpose is for the learners to become familiar with the way in
which words may be built around a root (for example, jump, jumping,
jumps, jumped) to assist them in decoding.
The guided teaching and learning sequence
1. Choose several regular, everyday words that appear in the texts the
learners are required to read.
2. Write one of these words on the board. Model the way a word family can
be created from that word.
3. Ask the learners to give examples of sentences that contain each of the
words you have added.
4. Write a different word root on the board and ask the learners to suggest
other words that could belong to the same family.
5. Discuss the way the word roots change and, with the learners, look for
patterns.

6. Discuss verbs that have irregular past tense formations, for example, run,
ran; hold, held.
7. Ask the learners to highlight roots of words in their own reading and
record the root and the additions to it (the word family).

Word Building Activities

Word rummy is just like the card game. The object of the game is to get
three of a kind; either long vowel words, short vowel words, rhyming, etc.

Flip-A-Chip is a great way to promote students' vocabulary development,

teach syllables, comprehension of meaningful affixes, and how to use
context in composition. All this and, not to mention, it's fun. To learn more
about it, click on the picture.

Advantages of Words (Vocabulary)

 Improve your public speaking skills.

A large vocabulary keeps your audience interested while same words
make the people bore
Keep you more informed on current events.
Many people avoid reading tough material because they dont
understand all of the words that they are reading.
It can be embarrassing when in a situation where everyone is using a
word that you dont know. Reading can improve your vocabulary
however, and give you the cutting edge on your competitors.
If you are at ease with your vocabulary, and have a good
understanding people will know it and be very impressed.
Enables you to get your message across more effectively.
Having a good range of vocabulary adds richness to your speech and
allows you to communicate more effectively.
Building an educated vocabulary will leave people
knowing exactly what your message was and not with
just some vague idea