Outline

Introduction ConstituentsofWords:SyllablesorMorphemes CommonMethodsofWordFormation

translingual borrowing alphabetism acronymy affixation compounding

WordConstituents
Whenpeoplespeakofalanguage,theymightbethinking ofwordsandtheirmeanings. Thissentenceconsistsoftwoclauses: 1.Whenpeoplespeakofalanguage 2.theymightbethinkingofwordsandtheirmeanings Thesecondclausecanbebrokenupintophrasesasfollows: a.)they b.)might bethinking c.)ofwordsand theirmeanings. Thelastphrasecanalsobebrokendownintoits constituents i.)words ii.)and iii.)their iv.)meanings.

WordsandtheirConstituents1
Example1 I II a. teachteacher b. magnetmagnetize c. liquidliquefy d. cool cooling III teachable demagnetization liquefied coolant

WordsandtheirConstituents2
Morphemesarethebuildingblocksofwords. Morphemesareunitsofmeaning;forapartofaword tobeidentifiedasamorpheme,itmustbe meaningful. Boy (youngmalehuman)isamorphemebecauseit cannotbebrokendownfurtherintomeaningfulunits. Boys containsthemeaningofyoungmalehumanand morethanone:ithas2morphemes:boy ands. Flexible alsohas2morphemes:flex meaningbend andible meaningableto

WordsandtheirConstituents3
Aremorphemesthesameassyllables?Task1belowshould makeitclear Breakthewordslistedbelowintosyllables: magnet=mag/net demagnetization= liquid= liquefy= liquefied= liquefaction= understand=

Syllable&Morpheme:howmany
howmanysyllables magnet=mag/net=2 demagnetization liquid liquefy liquefied liquefaction understand howmanymorphemes magnet=1 demagnetization=4 liquid=1 liquefy=2 liquefied=3 liquefaction=4 understand=1

CommonMethodsofWordFormation
translingual borrowing alphabetism acronymy affixation compounding

Translingual borrowing
Speakers of a language may adopt words from another to identify a concept

which they have borrowed from the speakers of that language. New words have been created in English by adopting or adapting a word from other languages like French, Latin and some languages of Scandinavia during different periods of its development on account of contact between native speakers of English and people from other lands. In recent times, English has borrowedfromthelanguagesofAsiaandAfrica. The Yoruba words in Column I have been adopted from other languages as shownbelow:
borrowed word r lg im epn tt g source word/langauge ar-rad (Arabic) salga (Hausa) chemise (French) halfpenny (English) street (English) ugwu (Igbo) meaning in Yoruba thunder latrine type of underwear old unit of money tarred road type of vegetable

Translingual borrowingctd.
With the aid of a good dictionary, find out the meanings of the English words which have been borrowedfromlanguagesinthetablebelow:
Word Alchemy Alkali Tsunami Bamboo Cheetah Source Term/Language al-kimia (Arabic) al-qaly (Arabic) Tsunami (Japanese) Bambu (Hindi /Sanskrit) Cht (Hindi) Meaning

Task
In your notebook, write twenty examples of English words which have come from other languages. Be sure to include words of Latin, Greek and Frenchorigin.

Alphabetism
This is a method of word building where the initial letters of

commonly used phrases come to stand for or represent the whole phraseandsignifiesormeanswhatthewholephrasemeans. However, in pronouncing the new word, the letters are spelt out individually,asifrecitingthealphabet. Thenewwordcouldbewritteninsmallletters,
e.g.http(hypertexttransferprotocol)

incapitals,
e.g.IT(InformationTechnology)

writtentogether
e.g.SOS(Saveoursouls)

separatedbyperiods
e.g.a.m.u (atomicmassunit),r.p.m (revolutionsperminute),A.h (Amperehour)

TaskonAlphabetism
Inyournotebook,writethefollowingalphabetisms in full: AD,SD,COD,DC,AC,VHF,PVC,FM,GSM,OCR, HTML,SIM, sg d.f.cc,www,a.k.a

Acronymy
Anacronymisalsoformedfromtheinitialslettersofcommonlyusedphrases

buttheresultingstringispronouncedasaword. Examples includes UNESCO /ju`nesk/(United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), FUTA /`fu:ta/(The Federal University of Technology, Akure), radar /`reid/(radio detection and ranging), GIGO /`gaig /(Garbage In, Garbage Out) and ABLE /`eibl/(Activity Balance Line Evaluation). Notethatacronymy andalphabetism canbejointlyreferredtoasinitialism, sincetheircomponentsareinitialletters.

Task:(i):

Inyournotebook,writethefollowingacronymsinfull:

BASIC,COBOL,ASCII,CAD,SQUID,WORM,laser. (ii): Find 10 examples each of words formed through alphabetism and acronymy in your subject area and record them in your notebook. (You mayneedtoconsultagooddictionary).

ClippingandBlending
Inthismethodofwordformation,somesyllablesofawordarecutoff,thatis,

clipped, and the rest are joined together to form a new word. It is of course possible for clipping to take place without any blending. The clip is then calledashortformoranabbreviation. Examples

thermistor bit Blogging email simulcast Fortran Transistor Hifi

from from from from from from from from

thermal binary Web electronic simultaneous formula transmitter high

resistor digit

logging mail broadcast translator resistor fidelity

Affixation
Affixation is a method of word formation where bound morphemes are added to

free morphemes or already existing words. These bounds morphemes are called AFFIXES. Affixes can be classified by their position in the word or by their grammatical function (i.e. whether they change only the grammatical form of a word or its meaning) Prefixes areplacedbeforethebasemorphemewhilesuffixes areplacedafter. Affixes are classified by grammatical function may be inflectional or derivational. Inflectional affixes are usually suffixes and do not change the meaning or grammatical class of the word to which they are added. Rather, they serve to indicate tense or number in verbs, number, or possession in nouns and degree in adjectiveandadverbs.
Verb: Noun: Pronoun: Adjective:

compute, computes, computed, computing book, books, books they, them, theirs soft softer softest

Affixation
Derivational affixes usually affect the grammatical classofthewordstheyareattachedtoorchangetheir meanings.Theycanbeprefixesandsuffixes. The most common prefixes used to form new nouns in academic English are: co and sub , and the most common suffixes are: tion, ity, er, ness, ism, ment,ant,ship,age,ery.

Somenounformingprefixes
prefix ante antiautobicodisexhyperinininfra meaning before against self two joint the converse of former extreme the converse of inside below Examples Antenatal, antediluvian Anticlimax, antidote, antithesis Autobiography, automobile Bilingualism, biculturalism, bi-metalism Co-founder, co-worker, co-descendant Discomfort, dislike Ex-chairman, ex-hunter Hyperinflation, hypersurface Inattention, incoherence, incompatibility In-patient Infrared, infrastructure

Somenounformingsuffixes
Suffix Meaning Examples

Noun forming suffix added to a verb (V) to form a noun

-tion/-sion -er -ment -ant/ent -age Action/instance of V ing Alteration, demonstration, expansion, inclusion, admission Advertiser, driver , Computer, silencer Development, punishment, unemployment Assistant, consultant, student Breakage, wastage, package

Person who V-s something used for V-ing Action/instance of Person who V-s Action/result of V V-ing

Noun forming suffix added to a noun(N) to form a noun

-er -ism -ship -age Person concerned with N Doctrine of N State of being N Collection of N Astronomer, geographer Marxism, Maoism, Thatcherism Friendship, citizenship, leadership Baggage, plumage

Noun forming suffix added to an adjective (A) to form a noun

-ity -ness -cy State or quality State or quality State or quality of being A of being A of being A Ability, similarity, responsibility, curiosity Darkness, preparedness, consciousness Urgency, efficiency, frequency

Verbformingaffixes
Newverbscanbeformedfromexistingverbsin academicEnglishbyaddingcertainaffixes. Themostcommonprefixesusedtoformnewverbs are:re,dis,over,un,mis,out. Themostcommonsuffixesare:ise/ize,en,ate, fy/ify. ByfarthemostcommonaffixinacademicEnglishis ise/ize

Someverbformingprefixes
Prefix redisunMisOutBeCodeforeInterMeaning again or back reverses the meaning of the verb reverses the meaning of the verb Badly or wrongly More or better than others make or cause together Do the opposite of Earlier, before Between Examples Restructure, revisit, reappear, rebuild, refinance Disappear, disallow, disarm, disconnect, discontinue Unbend, uncouple, unfasten Mislead, misinform, misidentify Outperform, outbid befriend, belittle Co-exist, co-operate, co-own Devalue, deselect Foreclose, foresee Interact, intermix, interface

Verbformingsuffixes
Suffixescanbeaddedtoanounoranadjectiveto formverbswiththegeneralmeaningcausetobe or make.Forexample,stabilisemeanscausetobe stable andclassify meansmakeintoaclass
Suffix -ise -ate -fy -en Meaning cause to be V cause to be V cause to be V cause to be V Examples Stabilize, characterize, symbolize, visualize, specialise Differentiate, liquidate, pollinate, duplicate, fabricate Classify, exemplify, simplify, justify Awaken, fasten, shorten, moisten

SomeAdjectiveforming suffixes
Suffix -al -ent/-ant -ic -ar -ly, -y -ive -ous -ful -atory, -ory -less -able, -ible -ing -ed Examples Central, political, optional, professional Different, dependent, excellent, effervescent, resistant, luxuriant, radiant, incandescent, nitric, historic, Ocular, molecular hourly, rascally, milky, leafy Attractive, effective, imaginative, repetitive Continuous, dangerous, famous Beautiful, peaceful, careful respiratory, congratulatory Endless, homeless, careless, thoughtless Drinkable, countable, avoidable, flexible, audible Ccooling, flowering Charged, laminated

Adjectiveformingprefixes
Newadjectivescanalsobeformedbyaddinga negativeprefixtoanadjectivetoderiveanother adjective
Prefix inimilirunnondisExamples Inconvenient, inoffensive, insensitive Immature, impatient, immobile illegal, illicit, illogical Irrational, irregular, irreplaceable, Unfortunate, uncomfortable, unjust Non-fiction, non-political, non-neutral Disloyal, dissimilar, dishonest

SomeAdverbformingsuffixes
Prefix -ly -ally -wards -wise Examples softly, quickly, briefly, monthly specifically, spasmodically earthwards, northwards crosswise, lengthwise

Compounding
Compounding is the joining of two or more free morphemes to form one word. The morphemes may be separated by space e.g. carbon (iv)oxide, joined by a hyphen e.g. stagemanage, or written together e.g. airlift. Many combinations of parts of speech are possible: noun + noun, noun + adjective, verb + prepositionetc.

FinalReviewTask
DownloadthepassageonSewageDisposal and: Underline inred allprefixes inblue allderivationalaffixesand inblack allwordsformedthroughcompounding. Analysetwentywordsformedbyaffixationintotheir constituentparts.