NewArchive / 08 - The functional aspect of word-building system - productivity and activity. The main means of word-building in English

8. The functional aspect of word-building system: productivity and activity. The main means of word-building in English.

Word-building is the system of derivative types of words and the process of creating new words from the material available in the language after certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns. W-b is that branch of lexicology which studies the derivative structure of existing words and the patterns on which a language builds new words.

Means of w-b:

Major (primary) = patterned (моделированные, основные)	Minor (secondary) = non-patterned	Ex’s:
1.word-derivation (словопроизводство): * affixation suffixation prefixation * conversion # n -> v 2. word-composition (словосложение) = word-compounding	1) stress interchange 2) sound interchange 3) back- formation (обратн.словообразование) 4) artificial creation of words (искусств. создание слов) + shortening (сокращение) +abbreviation	-import (n) – to import (v) -life – to live -pee < pees (горох сначала был только во мн.ч.) babysitter <to babysit -nylon

Compounding of word-formation

The derivational base – the word constituent to which the rule of derivation is applied.

A derivational pattern – a regular meaningful arrangement of immediate constituencies, which can be expressed by a formula, denoting their part of speech, lexico-semantic class, individual semantics.

Productivity of word-building is the ability to make new words which all who speak English find no difficulty in understanding and in particular the ability to create occasional words (nonce-words). (Окказионализмы, продуктивная модель, понятная модель).

Activity – the pattern is active, but not very productive (результат, число). So that we can create only a limited ground of words. # - ian: Russian, librarian, Christian (национальность, профессии).

Degrees of productivity

1. very productive (=highly productive):

# -er, -ish, -less, re-

2. semi-productive (=productive)

#-dom: freedom, -hood: childhood, -age: marriage

3. non-productive

# stress interchange

The degree of productivity of affixational patterns very much depends on the structural, lexico-grammatical and semantic nature of bases and the meaning of the affix.

# - ize: can derive verbs, but mostly with noun-stems and adj-stems: # criticize (critic), localize (local).

Productive Wd-formation – one of the ways of forming Wds in present-day Eng. when new Wds are created whenever occasion demands. It’s the most effective means of enriching the Voc.

New Wds that appear as a result of Productive Wd-form. are not entirely new as they are all made up of elements already available in the Lang. → the newness of these Wds is in the particular combination of the items previously familiar to the language speaker → there are no patterns that can be called fully productive.

Productive patterns (PP) in each part of speech, with a set of individual and semantic constraints, serve as a formal expression of the regular semantic relationship between diff. classes of Wds → the existence of one class of Wds presupposes the possibility of appearance of the other which stands in regular semantic relations with it:

# stream → to stream – “to divide students into separate classes according to level of intelligence” (conversion)

The degree of productivity is connected with:

• a set of rigid structural and semantic constraints (the lexical-grammatical class, structural type of bases)

• a certain power of analogy attached to each pattern

The most widely used means are:

• affixation

- prefixation mainly for Vbs and Adjs

- suffixation for nouns and Adjs.

# prefixal negative Adjs are formed after two patterns:

(un- + part I/II →Adj ) – unguarded

(un- +adj →Adj) – uncool

• conversion – gives the greatest number of new Wds in Vbs and nouns.

# timetable → to timetable – “to set a timetable”

• composition – most productive in nouns and Adjs. One of the components of compounds often become a centre of creations by analogy:

# earthquake → birthquake ( =population explosion)

house-wife → house-husband

• back-derivation (back-formation) as a source of new Vbs. The pattern of semantic relationship of the action and its active doer, the action and the name of the process of this action are regularly represented by highly productive nominal patterns with suff’s –er and –ing - (v + -er → N, v + -ing → N):

# baby-sitter → to babysit – the noun was felt as derived and the “corresponding” Vb was formed by taking the suff. or the suffix-like sound-cluster away.

• so-called occasional or potential Wds – built on analogy with the most productive types of derived and compound Wds, easily understood and never striking one as “unusual” or “new”. It often happens that a Wd, sometimes due to social or political reasons, especially prominent and frequent → one of its components acquires an additional derivative force and becomes a centre of a series of lexical items:

# sit-in (n) → to sit-in, sit-inner, kneel-in, ride-in.

The two main types of Unpatterned Wd-creation are:

• lexicalization – various ways of transformation of a Wd-form into a Wd.

The gr. flexion in some Wd-forms (most often the plural of nouns) - # arms, customs – lost its gr. meaning

→ the plural suffix was re-interpreted

→ developed a diff. lexical meaning – “weapons” and “import duties” respectively

→ a complete break of semantic links with the semantic structure of the parent Wds

→ new Wds with a diff. set of gr. features appeared.

• shortening (Sh) consists in substituting a part for a whole.

Distinction should be made between Sh. which results in lexical items and in numerous graphical abbreviations (GA): # Mr. = Mister,

St. = street,

# shortened variants of Latin and French Wds and Wd-groups - i.e.(Lat. Id est – “that is”)

GAs are proper only to written speech (books, adds, letters, etc.) – in reading many of them are substituted by the Wds and phrases that they represent. The abbrs. of Latin and French Wds are usually read as their Eng. equivalents →GAs can’t be considered new lexical voc. units!

Sh. comprises diff. ways of Wd-creation:

1. different types of Lexical Shortening

• Substantivization - transformation of a Wd-group into a Wd.

→ the final nominal member of a frequently used attributive Wd-group drops

→ the remaining Adj takes on the meaning and all the syntactic functions of the noun

→ it develops into a new Wd changing its class membership

→ becomes homonymous to the existing Adj

# a topless: - a topless dress

- a topless dancer

- a bar (стрипбар)

Substantivization is often accompanied by productive suffixation

# one-wing plane → a one-winger

• Acronyms and letter abbreviations – lexical abbrs. of a phrase. Let’s distinguish the difference between them:

Letter abbrs. are mere replacements of longer phrases (names of political parties, famous people, etc.). They are pronounced letter by letter and possess no other linguistic forms proper to Wds.

# DOD – Department of Defense (in the USA)

Acronyms are regular voc. units spoken as Wds. They perform the syntactical functions of ordinary Wds taking on gr. inflexions: # MP – MP’s – MPess (woman-member of Parliament).

Acronyms are formed in various ways:

• from the initial letters of a phrase, which may be pronounced differently:

1. as regular Wds # NATO – [‘neitou]

2. as a succession of alphabetical readings of the constituent letters # BBC

from the initial syllables of each Wd in a phrase

# Interpol – international police

• by a combination of the abbr. of the 1^st or of the 1^st two members of a phrase with the last member undergoing no change at all # V-day – Victory Day

• Blendings are the result of conscious creation of Wds (splinters) by merging irregular fragments of several Wds. Most of them are marked as colloq.

# Medicare from Medical Care

Smog from “smoke” and “fog”

This device is often used to attain punning effect:

# foolosopher echoing “philosopher”

2. Clipping – the creation of new Wds by shortening the Wd of two or more syllables (usually nouns and Adjs) without changing its class membership. Clippings function as independent lexical units with a certain phonetic shape and lexical meaning of their own.

# phone, fridge, lab, etc.

The lexical meanings of a clipping and its source don’t coincide:

# doc refers only to “one who practices medicine”

Doctor denotes also “the higher degree given by university and one who has received it”.

Clippings always differ from non-clipped Wds in the emotive charge and stylistic reference.