Theme іv word-formation affixation. Conversion.Word-composition

The aim is: to study the derivative structure of words and the patterns on which the English and Ukrainian languages build new words.

The tasks are:

to differenciate between two types of word-formation: word-derivation and word-composition;

to distinguish between types of word-formation and various ways and means of word-formation;

to classify derivational affixes on different principles;

to investigate the productivity of derivational affixes;

to observe different approaches to conversion and compounding;

to acquire skills in applying basic criteria of semantic derivation within conversion pairs;

to learn working definitions of principal concepts.

Points for Discussion

1. Various types and ways of forming words. Word-formation. Definition. Basic peculiarities. Word-formation as the subject of study. Two types of word-formation: word-derivation and word-composition. Productivity of word-formation means.

2. Affixation. Definition. Degree of derivation. Classification of affixes. Prefixes and suffixes. Combinability of bases and affixes. Productivity. Allomorphs. Combining forms. Hybrids.

3. Conversion. Definition. The historical development of conversion. Conversion in Modern English. Productivity. Semantic relationships in conversion. Conversion in different parts of speech. Basic criteria of semantic derivation.

4. The criteria of compounds.Specific features of English compounds.Classification of compounds.

Working Definitions of Principal Concepts

WORD-FORMATION	Is the system of derivative types of words and the process of creating new words from material available in the language after certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns.
WORD-DERIVATION	is observed when there is only one derivational base and one derivational affix in a word. The principal means (or ways) are suffixation, prefixation and conversion (in this case derived words have no derivational affix).
WORD COMPOSITION	is observed when there are at least two bases.
AFFIXATION (PREFIXATION AND SUFFIXATION)	is the formation of words by adding derivational affixes (prefixes and suffixes) to bases.
CONVERSION	the process of coining a new word in a different part of speech and with a different distribution characteristic but without adding any derivative element, so that the basic form of the original and the basic form of the derived words are homonymous.
PRODUCTIVE PATTERN	that which can be used for formation of an unlimited number of new words in modern language.
ALLOMORPH	a positional variant of a morpheme occurring in a specific environment and so characterised by complementary distribution.
COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION	takes place when two linguistic variants cannot appear in the same environment.
COMBINING FORMS	those which in modern languages are used as bound forms although in Greek and Latin from which they are borrowed they functioned as independent words.
HYBRIDS	words that are made up of elements derived from two or more different languages.
BASIC FORM	the word form in which the notion denoted is expressed in the most abstract way. For nouns it’s the common case singular, for verbs – the Infinitive.
WORD COMPOSITION	is observed when there are at least two bases.
COMPOUND WORDS	words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms.
ASYNTACTIC COMPOUNDS	those which fail to conform to grammatical patterns current in present-day English.
SYNTACTIC COMPOUNDS	those which conform to grammatical patterns current in present-day English.
ENDOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS	the two constituent elements of which are clearly the determinant and the determinatum. The distribution of the whole word coincides with the distribution of one of the constituents.
EXOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS	the two constituent elements of which are semantically equally important. The distribution of the whole is different from either of the constituents.
DERIVATIONAL COMPOUNDS	words in which the structural integrity of the two free stems is ensured by the suffix referring to the combination as a whole, not to one of its elements (e.g. teenager, kind-hearted).
COMPOUNDS PROPER	are formed by joining together bases built on the stems or on the word-forms of independently functioning words with or without the help of special linking element (doorstep, age-long, baby-sitter, looking-glass, street-fighting, handiwork, sportsman).
COORDINATIVE COMPOUNDS	the two ICs are semantically equally important (fighter-bomber, oak-tree, girl-friend, Anglo-American).
SUBORDINATIVE COMPOUNDS	the components are neither structurally nor semantically equal in importance, but are based on the domination of the head-member, which is, as a rule, the second IC (stone-deaf, age-long, a wrist-watch, road-building, a baby-sitter).
REDUPLICATIVE COMPOUNDS	a very mixed group of compounds containing usual free forms, onomatopoeic stems and pseudo-morphemes (e.g. hush-hush, pooh-pooh, blah-blah).
ABLAUT COMBINATION	twin forms consisting of one basic morpheme (usually the second), sometimes the pseudo-morpheme which is repeated in the other constituent with a different vowel (e.g. chit-chat, tiptop, shilly-shally).
RHYME COMBINATIONS	are twin forms consisting of two elements (most often two pseudo-morphemes) which are joined to rhyme (e.g. harum-scarum, titbit, boogie-woogie etc.).
JUXTAPOSITIONAL COMPOUNDS	are words whose ICs are merely placed one after another (classroom, timetable, deep-blue, H-bomb).
MORPHOLOGICAL COMPOUNDS	are words whose ICs are joined together with a vowel or a consonant as a linking element (speedometer, handicraft, sportsman, saleswoman).
SYNTACTIC COMPOUNDS	are words with linking elements represented by conjunctions and prepositions (forget-me-not, up-to-date, go-between, know-all).
BAHUVRIHI COMPOUNDS	possessive exocentric formations in which a person, animal or thing are metonymically named after some striking feature they possess, chiefly a striking feature in their appearance.