Word Formation

The English language has undoubtedly been enriched by foreign loan words. However, it is not
merely by borrowing that its vocabulary has been made richer. The chief enrichment of language has been
due to the regular processes of word formation; the addition of new words to the English vocabulary which
have been formed by old and familiar material. A large part of the speech is made up of words formed from
native elements or from those foreign ones which have become thoroughly naturalized in the language.
There are several processes by which new words have been formed- by derivation (by adding prefixes and
suffixes); by word composition (in which two or more existing words are combined to form compounds); by
using existing words as other parts of speech (conversion); through processes of back-formation and
shortening.

Derivation

One of the commonest as well as oldest methods of word-making is called derivation. Derivation is a
process of word formation by which a new word is formed by the addition of a prefix or a suffix to an
existing word. A prefix is put before a word whereas a suffix is put at the end of a word. ​Bitterness and
kindness are formed by adding the suffix ​-ness to ​bitter and ​kind​; ​misconduct and ​misbehaviour are formed
by adding the prefix ​mis- to ​conduct and ​behaviour​. It is necessary to distinguish derivation from inflection.
Both make use of suffixes but derivation makes a new word (​good-goodness​, ​author-authorship​), whereas
inflections merely change the form of the word to mark such distinctions as those of case, number, tense,
person etc. (​look​-​looks​-​looked​-​looking​). The affixes (prefixes and suffixes) can be divided into two
categories- native and foreign.

Native Affixes

New words are formed by adding affixes of native origin to both native and foreign words. Some
much used native suffixes are as follows:
Suffixes used to form substantives-
(i) -dom​ ( ​Christendom​, ​boredom​, ​freedom​, ​martyrdom​),
(ii) -ship​ ​(​ownership​, ​companionship​, ​craftsmanship​, ​horsemanship​),
(iii)-ness​ ( ​goodness​, ​kindness​, ​truthfulness​, ​bitterness​);
suffixes used to form adjectives-
(iv) ​-ly ​(​lordly​, ​cowardly​, ​heavenly​, ​scholarly​),
(v) ​-y​ (​fiery​, ​creepy​, ​noisy​, ​healthy​),
(vi) ​-ful​ (​powerful​, ​fanciful​, ​harmful​, ​cheerful​) and
(vii) ​-ed​ ( ​blue-eyed​, ​good-natured​, ​renowned​).
Native prefixes of wide application are:
(i) mis-​ (​mismanage​, ​mislead​, ​misconception​, ​misrepresentation​),
(ii) un-​ (​unhappy​, ​unfair​, ​unprofessional​, ​unkind​),
(iii)be-​ ​(​befool​, ​befriend​, ​bemoan​).

We may consider some other native endings:

(i) The Old English ending ​–isc ​(now –​ish​) was chiefly added to names of places or nations to
form adjectives like ​Englisc (​English​). It was first extended to words whose meanings were
cognate to these national names (for e.g. ​heathenish​), then gradually came words like
 childish, churlish. From 16​th century it began to be used to form adjectives like ​bookish​,
greenish​, et al.
(ii) The use of ending –​en to denote female beings (corresponding to the masculine ​peow​, ​fox​,
we find the feminine ​piewen​, ​fyxen​) was gradually discarded because of some difficulty of
application and the French ending –​ess​ came to be used extensively.
(iii) Another extensively used ending is ​–er (OE ​–ere). At first its use was limited to the making
of nouns denoting agents from other nouns only but now we make new words by adding ​–er
to verbs (e.g. ​snorer​, ​sitter​,​ writer​, ​reader​).
(iv) A variant or –​er is –​eer​, (​sonneteer​, ​pamphleteer​, ​profiteer​). Another variant of ​–er is ​–ster
(​gangster​, ​fibster​, ​youngster​).
(v) The suffix ​–en​ is added to adjectives to form verbs- ​harden​, ​weaken​, ​sweeten​, and lessen.

Foreign Affixes

Apart from these native affixes there, English language has been enriched by a multitude of
derivatives formed with the affixes borrowed from other languages. Most of these affixes, like the native
ones, can be appended to words of both native and foreign origin to form new derivatives.

French Affixes- Of the French affixes that have taken root in English, some are as follows:

(i) en-​ (prefixed to nouns, adjectives, verbs to form verbs as ​enlist​, ​enslave​, ​endanger​, ​endear​,
enlarge​, ​enact​)
(ii) -ment (added to verbs to form nouns such as ​nourishment​, ​enlightenment​, ​acknowledgement​,
employment​)
(iii) -ess (this French suffix has been naturalised and by means of this suffix feminine nouns like
shepherdess​, ​goddess​, ​countess​, ​hostess​, ​lioness​ can be derived)
(iv) -able ​( ​serviceable​, ​companionable​, ​drinkable​, ​punishable​, ​unutterable​)
(v) -esque​ (​picturesque​, ​picaresque, Romanesque​)
(vi) –age​ (​mileage​, ​breakage​, ​shortage​)
(vii) -ee (appended to verbs to denote persons affected by the action, as ​employee​, ​trustee​,
examinee​, ​nominee​)
(viii) demi-​ (meaning half, semi, such as ​demi-god​, ​demi-angel​).

Latin Affixes- Latin affixes in English have acquired great vitality, some are as follows:

(i) -al (suffixed to verbs to form nouns of action- ​arrival​, ​refusal​, ​betrothal​, renewal​; to nouns to
form adjectives- ​brutal​, ​musical​)
(ii) -ous ​(to form adjectives from nouns- ​dangerous​, ​murderous)
(iii) -ation​ (​organisation​, ​starvation​, ​mystification​)
(iv) re- ​(​recover​, ​reappear​, ​renew​, ​recollection​)
(v) post- ​(​postscript​, ​postwar​, ​postgraduate​)
(vi) dis-​ (​distrust​, ​disobedient​, ​disease​, ​disbelieve​)
(vii) pre-​ (​Pre- Raphaelite​, ​pre-war​)
(viii) pro-​ ( ​pro-British​, ​pro-Vice​ ​Chancellor​).

Greek Affixes- Some of the most vital affixes are Greek in origin:

(i) -ism​ (​patriotism​, ​Platonism​, ​atheism​, ​egoism​)

(ii) -ize​ (​rationalize​, ​equalize​, ​civilize​, ​legalize​)
 (iii) –ist (added to words of all origins to denote a person who adheres to some system – ​socialist​,
Platonist​, ​dramatist​, ​novelist​, ​philologist​),
(iv) -ite​ (​Isralite​, ​Ibsenite​, ​Raphaelite​),
(v) a-​ (a negative prefix denoting absence of a quality- ​amoral​, ​apathetic​),
(vi) anti-​ (in the sense against, the opposite, ​anti-Christ​, ​anti-climax​),
(vii) pan- (meaning all- ​pantheism​, ​pan-American​), ​neo- ( ​neo- Darwinism​, ​neoclassical​,
neo-Christian​).

Derivation is a method by which new words are formed by adding something to existing words. The
two processes, back-formation and shortening form words, not by adding, but by subtracting something from
existing words. They have had a considerable share in the formation of the English vocabulary.

Back-formation

Back-formation is a word-making process by which new words are formed by subtracting something
from old ones. According to Jespersen such back-formations, as they are very conveniently termed by Dr.
Murrray, owe their origin to one part of the word being mistaken for some derivative suffix. The adverbs
sideling​, ​grovelling and ​darkling were originally formed by the means of the adverbial ending ​–ling​, but in
such phrases as ‘he walks ​sideling’​, ‘he lies ​grovelling’​, etc., they looked exactly like participles in ​–ing​, and
the consequence was that the new verbs to ​sidle​, to ​grovel​, and to ​darkle were derived from them by the
subtraction of ​–ing​. The ​Banting cure was named after one Mr. Banting; the occasional verb to ​bant ​is
accordingly, a back-formation. The ending which is often subtracted is ​–y​. The noun ​greed​, the verbs ​laze​,
cose and ​jeopardy are derived respectively from ​greedy​, ​lazy​, ​cosy and ​jeopardy by the subtraction of ​–y​.
The old adjective corresponding to ​difficult ​was ​difficile as in French, but about 1600 the adjective ​difficult
(the noun minus ​y​) made its appearance. ​Puppy from French ​poupee was thought to be formed by means of
the petting suffix ​y​, and thus ​pup was created; the words ​cad and ​pet were similarly formed from ​caddy and
petty respectively. Several verbs originate from nouns in ​–er ​(-ar​, ​-or​), which were not originally agent
nouns. Verbs have been formed from them by the subtraction of ​–er​. The nouns ​harbinger​, ​rover​, ​pedlar​,
burglar​, ​hawker​, ​beggar​, ​butcher call into existence the verbs to ​harbinge​, ​rove​, ​peddle​, ​burgle​, ​hawk​, ​beg
and ​butch​; and the Latin words ​editor​, ​donator​, ​vivisector​, produce the un-Latin verbs to ​edit​, ​donate​,
vivisect​, etc. Some of these back-formations have been more successful than others in being generally
recognized in Standard English. It is not usual in Germanic languages (English being one of them) to form
compounds with a verb as the second, and an object or a predicative as the first part. Hence, when we find
such verbs as to ​housekeep​, the explanation must be that ​–er has been subtracted from the perfectly
legitimate noun ​housekeeper (or ​–ing from ​housekeeping​). The other examples of this formation are to
backbite​, to ​partake​, to ​soothsay​, ​conycatch​, to ​dressmake​, to ​matchmake​, to ​typewrite etc. The verbs to
henpeck​ and to ​sunburn​ are back-formations from the participles ​henpecked​ and ​sunburnt​.

Shortening

Shortening is a process of word-making by which words are formed by shortening or clipping

existing words. Shortening is the reduction of a word to one of its parts, as a result of which the new form
acquires some linguistic value of its own. Monosyllabism is one of the most characteristic features of
Modern English and it has increased its stock of monosyllables by shortening of longer words. Some are
simply longer words which have been shortened by regular phonetic development, e.g. ​eight from OE. ​eahta​,
dear ​from OE. ​deore​, ​hawk OE. ​hafoc​, ​lord OE. ​hlaford​, ​not and ​nought OE. ​nawiht​, ​pence OE. ​Penigas​, etc.
Miss before the names of unmarried ladies is a somewhat irregular shortening of ​missis (​mistress​). This
leads us to the numerous popular clippings of long words, of which rarely the middle (as in ​tench ‘the House
of Detention’ ​teck ‘detective’, ​flu ​‘influenza’) or the end (as in ​bus ‘omnibus’, ​baccer​, baccy ‘tobacco’,
phone ‘telephone’) subsists. More often the beginning only subsists. Some of these stump-words have never
passed beyond slang, such as ​sov ​‘sovereign’ , ​pub ​‘public house’, ​confab ‘confabulation’, ​pop ‘popular’, ​vet
‘veterinary surgeon’ ​Jap ‘Japanese’, ​guv ‘Governor’, ​Mods ‘Moderations’, ​matric ‘matriculation, ​prep
‘preparation’, and ​impot ‘imposition’, ​sup ‘supernumerary’, ​props ‘properties’, ​perks ‘perquisites’, ​comp
‘compositor’, ​caps ‘capital letters’ etc. Some are perhaps now in a fair way to become recognized in ordinary
speech, such as ​exam ‘examination’, and ​bike ‘bicycle’; and some words have become so firmly established
as to make full words pass into oblivion, e.g. ​cab (cabriolet), ​fad (fadaise) and ​mob (mobile vulgus).
Sometimes clippings become distinct words removed from the applications of the original full forms: ​navvy​,
a general labourer, is from a 19​th​ century use of navigator, the digger of a canal.

Word formation is a continuum in which categories shade into each other and the fluidness of
word-formation arises both from complex processes of change over centuries and from casual usage
untouched by the theories of language.