Words_about_words_An_introduction_to_Eng

Word Formation

-pro- (“for”, “on the side of”): pro-democratic, pro-European;

-anti- (“against”): antiwar, antifreeze, anticlimax, anti-

imperialist;

- counter- (“against”, “in opposition”): counteract, counterproductive, counterblast.

• prefixes of time and order:

-ante- (“before”): antenatal, anteroom, antediluvian,

antepenultimate;

-fore- (“before”): forearm, forehead, foretell, fore-mentioned;

-pre- (“before”): prehistoric, preheat, precondition, pre-election;

-ex- (“former”): ex-wife, ex-president, ex-friend;

-post- (“after”): post-war, post-date, post-position.

•prefixes of space, direction and location (the majority of these prefixes originate in prepositions and adverbs of place that

still function as such in English):

-in- (“going in”, “being in”): influx, income, intake, inmate;

-out- (“going out”, “being out”): outflow, output, outdoors;

-up- (“in an ascending direction”): uphill, uptown, upstairs;

-down- (“in a descending direction”): downhill, downstairs,

downfall;

-super- (“over”, “above”): superstructure, superellevation;

-sub- (“under”): subway, suborbital, subsoil;

-inter- (“between”, “among”): international, interface,

interactive;

- trans- (“across”, “into another place”): transatlantic, transmigration, transcontinental.

• the iterative prefix re- (“one more time”, “again”): reread,

rebuild, redecorate, reconsider.

According to their origin, English prefixes may be:

• Germanic prefixes:

-be-: besprinkle, bewilderment, become;

-for-: forbid, forbear;

-mis-: mislead, misinterpret, miscalculate;

-out-: outlive, outgrow, outstanding;

-over-: overeat, overloaded, overhear;

-un-: unfriendly, uncommon, unbelievable;

-up-: upright, upshot, uptake;

-with-: withstand, withdraw, withhold;

• Latin prefixes:

-bi-: bimonthly, bifocal, bidirectional;

-de-: decompose, deconstruct, declutch;

-dis-: disagree, disadvantage, discontinue;

-em- / en-: empower, enslave;

-inter-: interlocutor, intergalactic, intercontinental;

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Words about Words

-non-: non-success, non-resistant, non-payment;

-pre-: prerequisite, prepaid, preadmission;

-pro-: pro-ally, pro-British;

-super-: superman, superfrequency, superheated;

-trans-: transformer, transmutation, transpose.

•Greek prefixes:

-a- / an-: anomalous, analphabet;

-anti-: antibody, antithesis, anticlerical;

-hyper-: hypercritical, hypermetrical.

According to their productivity, English prefixes may be classified as:

•productive prefixes (involved into the process of new words creation at the present stage in the development of English):

- re-: retake, rethink, rewind, review; - un-: unbelievable, unnecessary, undo; - non-: non-verbal, non-stop;

- de-: deconstruct, denominalization, defrost; - dis-: disengage, dismiss, disconnect;

- out-: outome, outright, outstanding; - re-: reconstruct, refine, re-establish;

- mis-: misunderstanding, misfire, mislaid.

• semi-productive prefixes (at present, relatively inactive in the formation of new words in English):

- co-: co-author, co-editor, cooperation;

- counter-: counteractive, counteract, counterattack; - sub-: subway, submarine, sublet;

- up-: upward, update, upload;

- vice-: vice-president, vice-rector;

• unproductive prefixes (at present, no longer used in the process of forming new words in English, though they might have been productive at earlier stages in the evolution of the language):

- be-: beloved, becalm, besprinkle;

- with-: withholder, withdraw, withstand.

Finally, prefixes may also be approached from the perspective of the phonological changes they trigger in the roots or stems to which they are attached. Prefixes which cause such changes are known as non-neutral, while those which do not, are considered neutral. Most of the English prefixes fall within the latter category.

3.5.1.2. Suffixation

By suffixation, suffixes are added to roots or stems in order to create new words. Unlike prefixes which do not change the morphological

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Word Formation

class of the elements to which they are appended, suffixes do. Therefore, the handiest classification of suffixes would not follow semantic criteria, but rather grammatical ones. According to the part of speech they generate, suffixes fall into the subclasses below:

• nominal suffixes – nouns may be formed from other nouns, from adjectives or verbs:

a1) suffixes denoting the doer of the action:

--er (generally, it forms names of occupations from the corresponding verbs): driver, teacher, singer, advisor;

--ster: gangster;

--eer / -ier: profiteer, pamphleteer, gondolier;

--ist: typist, artist;

--ent / -ant: student, attendant.

a2) feminine suffixes (in English, gender morphological markers are quite rare; however, there are cases when the feminine is formed from the masculine of nouns by means of suffixes):

--ette: usherette;

--ess: lioness, duchess, actress;

--ix: aviatrix;

--euse: chauffeuse.

a3) suffixes denoting nationality:

--ese: Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese;

--an / -ian: Korean, Hungarian, Estonian;

-- ard: Spaniard.

a4) diminutive suffixes:

--ette: kitcinette;

--let: booklet;

--y / -ie: daddy, auntie.

a5) abstract noun-forming suffixes:

--ing: breaking, reading, asking;

--age: coverage, mileage, tonnage;

--ance -ence: appearance, assistance, experience;

--ism / -icism: criticism, Catholicism, post-modernism, deconstructivism;

--hood: boyhood, neighbourhood, childhood;

--dom: freedom, martyrdom;

--ment: nourishment;

--ness / -ess: happiness, tenderness, prowess;

--ty: certainty, honesty;

--ship: kinship, friendship, leadership.

• adjectival suffixes – adjectives may be formed from other adjectives, from nouns or from verbs. The most frequent of the adjectival suffixes in English are the following:

- -ish: tallish, foolish, greenish, Turkish;

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Words about Words

--y / -ly: cloudy, silky, manly, brotherly, womanly;

--less: sugarless, harmless, flawless;

--ful: joyful, useful, delightful, eventful;

--ed: wooded, pointed, horned;

--able / -ible: readable, understandable, adaptable, accessible;

--ive: progressive, possessive, aggressive;

--some: handsome, cumbersome, tiresome.

The suffixes forming the comparative of superiority and the relative superlative of the mono and some disyllabic adjectives –er (cleverer, smarter) and –est (cleverest, smartest) respectively should be mentioned here as well. In the case of disyllabic adjectives, there is oscillation between the synthetic way of forming the comparative and the superlative and the analytical one, by using the adverbs more and the most in front of the adjective in the positive degree. The latter way seems to be taking over the former, as a proof of the tendency to regularize this area of the vocabulary as well.

• verbal suffixes – verbs are formed mainly from nouns and adjectives. In modern English, the number of verb-forming suffixes are rather reduced; however, those that are still in use today are highly productive and therefore, extremely frequent:

- -ise / -ize: utilize, fertilize, Latinize, organize; - -ify: intensify, simplify, diversify;

- -en: brighten, enlighten, deepen, widen.

• adverbial suffixes – derived adverbs are formed by adding suffixes to nouns and adjectives mostly:

- -ly (added to most of the adjectives): happily, strangely, badly, beautifully;

- -wise: likewise, clockwise, crabwise;

- -ward / -wards: northward(s), westward(s), backward(s), foreward(s).

• numeral suffixes:

- -teen (it generates the cardinal numerals between 13 and 19):

thirteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen;

- -ty (it is used to form the cardinal numeral designating multiples

of 10): thirty, forty, sixty, ninety;

- -th (it is the suffix forming ordinal numbers other than one, two, three and those that have these in their structure; it may be appended either to simple numerals, to already derived ones or to compound ones): fourth, sixth, twentieth, fiftieth, twenty-fourth,

eighty-seventh.

English suffixes are of the following main origins:

• Germanic suffixes:

--er: Londoner, worker, poker;

--art: drunkard, braggart;

--hood: boyhood, brotherhood;

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Word Formation

--ing: learning, reading, interesting;

--man: gentleman, townsman;

--ness: hardness, cleverness;

--ship: friendship, authorship;

--ed: wooded, added;

--some: handsome, twosome;

--ward: backward, forward;

--wise: likewise, clockwise;

--en: darken, deepen, whiten;

--ish: selfish, reddish, boyish;

--y: dirty, silky, hairy;

--ly: manly, slowly, hardly;

--th: tenth, growth.

•Romance (Latin, French and Italian) suffixes: - -ette: kitchinette, usherette, novelette;

- -or: actor, inspector;

- -ee: employee, payee, trainee; - -ess: lioness, actress, hostess; - -age: marriage;

- -al: arrival, betrayal, dismissal;

- -ance / -ence: assistance, resistance, dependence; - -ery / -ry: flattery, bakery, dentistry;

- -ment: acknowledgement, movement, amazement; - -ant / -ent: claimant, correspondent;

- -fy / -ify: signify;

- -ize / -ise: modernize, organize, moralize.

•Greek suffixes:

--ist: modernist, classicist;

--ism: communism, colloquialism, organism.

Like prefixes, suffixes may be grouped, according to their ability to create new words at the present stage in the development of English, into:

•productive suffixes (which are, at present, active in terms of new words formation):

--able: profitable, regrettable, understandable;

--ed: loved, grouped, played;

--ing: interesting, clearing, meaning;

--less: sugarless, harmless, speechless;

--ness: calmness, brightness, happiness;

--y: edgy, bloody, cloudy;

--ly: scarcely, evenly, likely;

--ish: selfish, childish, Turkish.

• semi-productive suffixes (at present, less active in the process of word formation):

--dom: kingdom, freedom, boredom;

--ful: spoonful, mouthful, hurtful;

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Words about Words

--hood: boyhood, childhood;

--ee: employee, trainee, payee;

--ship: kinship, relationship.

• unproductive suffixes (at present, no longer used to form new words):

--ance: deliverance, acceptance;

--age: coinage;

--ment: movement, development;

--some: handsome, gruesome;

--th: tenth, eleventh.

3.5.2. Compounding

Compounding or composition is the process of coining new words by grammatically and semantically combining two or more roots or stems (i.e., at least two constituents that occur or can, in principle, occur in isolation). Compound words may be described from the point of view of their orthographic, phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic characteristics.

3.5.2.1. Orthographic characteristics of compounds

Compounds in English may be spelt in three different ways: solid

(in one word): bullfighter, theatergoer, colorblind, whetstone, etc; hyphenated (in words separated by a hyphen): self-determination, heart-

breaking, man-made, high-born, easy-going, grass-green, etc; and in completely separate words: tea bag, nail brush, oil well, price cut, etc.

3.5.2.2. Phonological characteristics of compounds

Bloomfield (1973), Cook (1969) and Arnold (1966) are some of the linguists who pointed out the importance of the phonic criterion of stress in the case of compounds. Compounds usually have one main stress as any other simple words, and lack juncture. Based on this criterion which, according to Hulban (1975), shows the advanced level of the process of integration of the two stems, it is possible to distinguish between compounds such as ΄bluebell and ΄blackboard and their corresponding phrases blue bell and black bird which have two heavy stresses and a juncture. However helpful the phonological criterion may be in establishing the difference between compounds and mere combinations of free lexemes, it does not always clearly set the boundaries between the two. ΄All ΄Fools’

Day and ʹAll ʹSaints’ Day are compounds which contradict the above mentioned rule.

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Word Formation

Compounding is driven by phonological factors in the case of

reduplicatives such as pooh-pooh, goody-goody, roly-poly, wishywashy, flip-flop, sing-song, harum-scarum, bow-wow. These are examples of words created on the basis of reduplication,”the repetition of the base of a word in part or in its entirety” (Katamba 2005: 72).

According to Bauer (1983), there are two main types of reduplicatives in English: rhyme motivated – nitwit, teeny-winny, hurlyburly and ablaut motivated – riff-raff, tittle-tattle, mish-mash. Rhyme should be understood here as it is understood in poetry – the vowel and the consonant(s) that occur after it in the final syllable of a word are identical, while ablaut means a change in the root vowel (which usually signals a change in grammatical class, eg. the o – e alternation in the pairs long – length, strong – strength marks the difference between the adjective and its corresponding noun respectively). The labels Bauer (1986) suggests for the two categories of reduplicatives highlights the fact that the repetition of the base in compounds of this kind involves either copying the rhyme, in the case of the so-called rhyme motivated reduplicatives, or copying the consonants and altering the vowel in the so-called ablaut motivated reduplicatives. The two elements that alternate in the structure of a reduplicative may be both bases that exist independently in English – Black-Jack, brain-drain, or one or both of the elements may be pseudostems that are not recognizable as independent units of the language – ding-dong, wibble-wobble, zigzag, ping-pong. In the case of the latter, many of the components are onomatopoeic words.

3.5.2.3. Morphological characteristics of compounds

Compounds may be classified according to the morphological class to which they belong (a finer subclassification, introduced by Marchand (1969), is made according to the presence or absence of a verbal element in the compound. This leads him to speak about “verbal nexus combinations” as opposed to “non-verbal nexus compounds”). Basically, all morphological classes may have compound members.

• compound nouns:

- noun + noun. According to Tătaru (2002), possible semantic relationship between the two nominal elements may be, among others, of:

O purpose: baby carriage, bachelor flat, backpack; O place: city-dweller;

O resemblance: bullfrog, swordfish.

Sometimes, one of the nominal stems may be in the genitive as in tailor’s dummy, barber’s itch / rash. The two nominal stems may also be linked by prepositions or conjunctions as in bird of paradise, father-in- law, bed-and-breakfast, lily-of-the-valley. Quite often, nominal compounds in English are made up of more than two stems. Examples of

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Words about Words

such nouns include: box end wrench, heart-lung machine, bird’s eye view, etc.

-verbal noun + noun: meeting place, writing desk, fishing rod;

-noun + verbal noun: air-conditioning, sleepwalking;

-adjective + noun. Several cases can be identified here:

O adjective proper + noun: blackbird, highlands, bluebell;

Oparticipial adjective ending in -ing + noun: peeping Tom, blotting paper, boarding card;

Oparticipial adjective ending in past participle specific endings + noun: built environment, bonded warehouse, wrought iron.

-pronoun + noun. Generally speaking, these compounds help to distinguish the masculine and the feminine from the common gender: she-wolf, he-doctor;

-verb + noun: pickpocket, dare-devil;

-noun + verb. The verbal stem may take either the form of an infinitive or that of an -ing participle: sunset, rainfall, bodybuilding, bird-watching, sight-seeing;

-verb + verb. Sometimes, the verbal stems are linked by conjunctions: makeshift, make-believe, park-and-ride, pick-and- mix, hit-and-run;

-adverb + noun: after-thought, back-talk, down-grade, yes-man, outer space;

-adverb + verb: upkeep, upstart;

-verb + adverb: cut-back, turn-round;

-preposition + noun: afternoon, underworld;

-preposition + verb: undergraduate.

The compounds made up of more than two elements mostly belong to the nominal class in English. These have a rather irregular structure and include words such as: stick-in-the mud, rule-of-thumb, good-for-nothing,

mother-in-law, forget-me-not, merry-go-round, much-talked, about, all- too-accurate, etc.

• compound adjectives:

-adjective + adjective: metallic-green, bitter-sweet;

-noun + adjective: duty-free, sea-sick, earth-bound. The linguistic model of the comparative of equality (as…as) lies at the basis of the stylistic device of simile as well. Some similies that have become clichés due to overuse have also turned into compound adjectives: pitch-dark, snow-white, blood-red, sea-green. As Tătaru (2002) observes, the denominal stem self- also generates compound adjectives, generally with an adjective of participial origin: self-

governing, self-effacing, self-educated, self-sustained, self-made, self-controlled;

-adjective + noun + -ed: light-hearted, hot-blooded, evil-minded;

-noun + verb (participle): ocean-going, love-struck, storm-beaten;

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Word Formation

-noun + noun + -ed: lion-hearted, honey-mouthed;

-adverb + verb (participle): ill-behaved, well-meant, everlasting;

-adverb + adjective: evergreen.

• compound verbs:

-noun + verb: hen-peck, baby-sit, house-keep;

-adjective + verb: white-wash, dry-clean, sweet-talk;

-verb + verb: dive-bomb, drop-kick, blast-freeze;

-adverb + verb: overhear, underestimate, down-grade. Composition proper in the case of the English verbs is rather poorly represented. A deeper analysis of what are, at first sight, considered compound verbs reveals a mixture of composition with other wordformation mechanisms. To blackmail, for example, is formed by both composition and conversion, to baby-sit, stage-manage or vacuum-clean are the result of both composition and backformation.

• compound adverbs:

-adverb + adverb: throughout, hereabout(s);

-adjective + noun: uphill, downhill, outdoor;

-adverb + preposition: wherefrom, thereby, hereby.

• compound numerals:

All cardinal numerals between round figures, starting with twentyone, are compound words. From one hundred upward, round figures are denoted by compound numerals built with the help of the copulative conjunction “and”: two hundred and four, nine

hundred and fifty-eight, ten thousand three hundred and forty. Distributive numerals are obtained by reduplicative composition along with the insertion of the preposition “by”: two-by-two, nine- by-nine, twenty-by-twenty. Fractions are compounds, too: 2/3=two thirds, 6/8=six eights. When the fraction is preceded by a full number, the compound numeral is obtained using the conjunction “and” between the full number and the fraction proper: 4 2/3=four- and-two-thirds. If there is a decimal comma in its structure, the compound numeral is read using the word “point” between the full numbers in front and after the comma: 56.4=fifty-six point four.

• compound pronouns:

Compound pronouns are pretty old in the language. They occurred in the Middle Ages and have remained unchanged since then. There are several structural models according to which they were formed:

-possessive adjective + the noun self: myself, yourself, ourselves;

-personal pronoun in the accusative + the noun self: himself,

herself, themselves;

- the predeterminers some-, any-, no-, or the adjective every + the

nouns body, thing: nothing, anybody, something, everybody;

- the relative-interrogative words who, what, when, which, where + the adverb ever: whoever, whatever, whenever, etc. In archaic and

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Words about Words

more emphatic forms, so was inserted between the components in some of the compound pronouns of this kind: whatsoever,

whosoever.

• compound prepositions:

Tătaru (2002) suggests several morphological patterns according to which compound prepositions have been obtained. Generally, she says, they contain one or several prepositions grouped around:

- a nominal nucleus: in the middle of, in spite of, thanks to, on the

other side of;

- an adverbial nucleus: underneath, close to, faraway from, ahead of, in front of, prior to, previous to;

-a verbal nucleus, where the verb may be either in a finite or in a non-finite form: as concerns, due to, owing to, notwithstanding;

-a prepositional nucleus: but for, onto, as to.

• compound conjunctions:

Both among coordinating and among subordinating conjunctions, there are compounds which fall in the same structural classes as the compound prepositions. Thus, they can be grouped around:

- a nominal nucleus: for the reason that, in spite of, for fear that, despite the fact that;

-an adverbial nucleus: as well as, along with, never again;

-an adjectival nucleus: long before;

-a verbal nucleus: seeing that, supposing that, provided that;

-a prepositional nucleus: but for, after which, what with.

Compound relative pronouns may also function as conjunctions when they introduce relative clauses. Since they function jointly, the correlatives either…or, neither…nor, both…and may be considered compound conjunctions.

• compound interjections:

English compound interjections follow a number a morphological patterns. The most frequent of these are:

-reduplicatives: blah-blah, pooh-pooh, puff-puff, hush-hush;

-ablaut combinations: ticktack;

-onomatopoeia: cook-a-doodle-doo, gobbledygook.

3.5.2.4. Syntactic characteristics of compounds

Together with their phonological features, the syntactic characteristics of compounds contribute to their being different from phrases. Thus, word order, i.e. the position of the different constituents of a compound in relation to one another, is sometimes ungrammatical or at least unusual in English. For example, the “noun + adjective” construction is not a usual pattern. However, it occurs in compounds such as home-sick, sea-sick or weather-sensitive. Similarly, in normal, unemphatic word

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