Morpheme

 Smallest grammatical unit of language

 It may or may not stand alone
Morpheme
 Free Morpheme – can function
independently as words and can appear with
other words
 Bound Morpheme – appears only parts of
words. Most common type is affixes (prefixes,
infixes and suffixes)
TYPES OF WORD FORMATION
 Compounding  Back-Formation
 Clipping

 Blending

 Acronym

 Eponym

 Borrowing

 Derivation
COMPOUNDING
It is the process of joining or combining two or
more words to make a longer word
Example:
Rain + Coat = Raincoat
Basket + Ball = Basketball
Work + Room = Workroom
COMPOUNDING
Example:
Rain + Coat = Raincoat
Basket + Ball = Basketball
Airplane + Port = Airport
Brain + Storm = Brainstorm
Chair + Man = Chairman
Work + Room = Workroom
CLIPPING
 It is the process in which a word is reduced or
shortened without changing the meaning of
the word
CLIPPING
Types of Clipping:
1. Back Clipping – removing the end portion of
a word
2. Fore Clipping – removing the beginning
portion of a word
3. Middle Clipping – retaining only the middle

part of a word
CLIPPING
Example:
 Bike – Bicycle

 Gas – Gasoline

 Math – Mathematics

 Gym – Gymnasium

 Fridge – Refrigerator

 Sub – Submarine
BLENDING
 It is the process in which parts of two or more
words combine to create a new word whose
meaning is often a combination of the original
words
BLENDING
Example:
 Camera + Recorder = Camcorder

 Cybernetic + Organism = Cyborg

 Emotion + Icon = Emoticon

 Information + Commercial = Infomercial

 Internet + Citizen = Netizen

 Smoke + Fog = Smog

ACRONYMS
 A word or name formed as
an abbreviation from the initial components in
a phrase or a word, usually in the form of
individual letters.
ACRONYMS
Example:
 RADAR – Radio Detection and Ranging

 NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization

 NASA – National Aeronautics and Space

Administration
 OPEC – Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries
EPONYMS
 A word formation process in which a new
word is formed from the name of a real
fictitious person.
EPONYMS
Example:
 America – Amerigo Vespucci

 August – Augustus Caesar

 Celsius – Anders Celsius

 Mach – Ernst Mach

 Volcano – Vulcan, Roman God of Fire

 Victorian – Queen Victoria of England

BORROWING
 A word formation process in which a word
from one language is borrowed directly into
another language.
BORROWING
Example:
 Algebra (Arabic)

 Democracy (Greek)

 Cookie (Dutch)

 Haiku (Japanese)

 Murder (French)

 Pizza (Italian)

 Yo-Yo (Tagalog)
DERIVATION
 A type of word formation process in which a
derivational affix attaches to the base form of
a word to create a new word.
DERIVATION
Prefixes Suffixes
Aero (air) – Aeroplane -Cycle (circle or cycle) –
Agri (related to farming) – bicycle, tricycle
Agriculture
-ess (feminine) – duchess
Anti (against or opposed to) –
Anti-Communist -ful (characterized by or
Cardio (related to the heart) –
fullness) – beautiful
Cardiology
BACK-FORMATION
 A word formation process in which an actual
or supposed derivational affix detaches from
the base form of a word to create a new word.
BACK-FORMATION
Example:
 Automate – Automation

 Babysit – Babysitter

 Blockbust – Blockbuster

 Brainwash – Brainwashing

 Commentate – Commentator

 Destruct – Destruction