political, and technological levels, among others. English, as any other language, has reflected over the centuries the revolutionary changes that have affected the general development of humankind.
New words are constantly created parallel to external influences on the language and society needs, for instance, the evolution of English in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which reflected the widespread contacts of English with other world languages. As a result from the expansion of the language with the British Empire, many borrowings were taken then from French, Italian, Spanish, German, and many other languages.
Besid es, other historical events may be mentioned in the enlargement of English vocabulary, such as the growth of science in the fields of medicine, physics, electronics, chemistry and biology, and astronautics and astronomy. More recently, the importance of ma ss-media and the development of new means of communication (i.e. broadcasting, transport, internet) has also favoured not only the coining of new words, but have also contributed to accelerating the diffusion of different terms coming from all fields of knowledge.
4. WORD FORMATION PROCESSES. MAIN FEATURES.
Once the notion of word-formation has been given a historical and linguistic framework, we shall be ready to provide a theoretical approach to word-formation processes. Therefore, in order to show how the English language has enriched itself by using its own native internal resources, we shall provide an account of the different processes involved in the creation of new words, together with their characteristics, and recent contributions to this field.
The chief processes of English word-formation, by which the base may be modified are mainly (1) affixation, (2) compounding, and (3) conversion. Apart from these major word-formation processes, English calls upon a number of minor devices, such as coinages which are the creation of new words on the basis of old, such as (4) acronyms , (5) blends, (6) clippings, (7) back formation, (8) folk etymology, (9) eponyms, (10) onomatopoeic expressions, and finally, (11) word manufacture coinages.
We shall discuss the different processes on the basis of word-formation main characteristics. Thus, (1) definition, (2) morphological forms, (3) historical origin of the process, if necessary, (4) phonological implications, if necessary, and (5) their grouping by means of meaning. In order to do so, we shall follow the main authors: on defining terms, Quirk and Greenbaum (1973); on morphology, Adams (1973) and Bauer (1983); on historical origins, Algeo and Pyles (1982) and Howatt (1984); on phonology, Celce-Murcia (2001); and finally, on grouping according to meaning, again Bauer, Adams, and Quirk.
4.1. AFFIXATION.
Traditionally called derivation, this process deals with the formation of new lexemes by means of affixes, that is, by adding prefixes and suffixes to a given base. Usually, suffixes undergo more interesting developments than prefixed elements since most of English prefixes are of Latin and Greek origin, and are much used in forming scientific words. However, suffixes are more often of native origin, or have come into the language via other languages, such as French, Italian, or Spanish, among others.
Many affixes were at one time independent words, as for instance the –ly of many adjectives, like manly, or homely, which has developed from the Old English suffix –lic, which originally meant something like ‘having the body or the appearance of’, thus the literal meaning of manly was
‘having the body or form of a man’. Other affixes have been particularly popular during certain periods.
For instance, following Algeo & Pyles (1982) distinguish some of them, like –wise affixed to nouns and adjectives to form adverbs until the 1940s, and which was practically archaic, occurring only in a few well-established words, such as likewise, otherwise, and crosswise. The form type has enjoyed a similar vogue and it is on its way to being a freely used suffix. With it, adjectives may be formed from nouns, as in Catholic-type, and Las Vegas-type. Finally, just mention the so-called suffix –ize, which became very productive in the 1950s, and dozens of new creations have come into being:
moisturize, glamorize, and personalize; and other voguish affixes, such as the Latin non- and de- ; the Greek -ismos and –isma , and the Russian one –nik .
Affixation is closely related to word accentual patterns in simple and compound words since it is included within the main factors that influence stress placement, together with the historical origin of a word. One important difference between words of Germanic origin and those of non-Germanic origin is the way in which stress is assigned. For words of Germanic origin, the first syllable of the base form of a word is typically stressed (i.e. ‘father, ‘yellow, ‘twenty, ‘hammer, ‘water). Today, even many two-syllable words that have entered English through French and other languages have been assimilated phonologically and follow the Germanic word stress pattern (i.e. ‘music, ‘doctor,
‘flower, ‘foreign, ‘manage).
According to Gimson (1980), we may distinguish between simple and compound words because they both undergo different stress patterns. Words that have not been assimilated to the Germanic pattern have less predictable word stress in their base forms, but stress is often predictable if certain affixes or spellings are involved. Therefore in the following sections we shall examine how affixation may affect stress on simple words, depending on their historical origin.
4.1.1. Prefixes.
A prefix is defined as an element placed before and joined to a word or base in order to add or to qualify its meaning (i.e. disability). Following Quirk & Greenbaum (1973), when adding prefixes to
the base, they do not generally alter its word-class (i.e. pilot and co-pilot), except for a special type called conversion prefixes, by which a word-class change is forced (i.e. from noun to verb: calm, becalm).
Prefixes may be classified either in terms of the form class of the base to which they are added, or in terms of groups of meaning. In this study, prefixes are to be classified in terms of their meaning (Quirk, 1973). However, their classification in terms of class-form (Bauer, 1983:217) would be as follows: prefixes used exclusively with (1) a noun base: arch-, mini-/-maxi-, step-, mal-, and pro- (i.e. archbishop, minidress, maxicar, stepmother, malnutrition, proconsul); (2) a verb base: de-, dis, and un- (i.e. deboost, discard, undo ); (3) an adjective base: a-, un- cis-, extra- (i.e. atypical, unpolitical, cislunar, extrasensory).
We may also find prefixes added to (4) nouns and verbs: fore-, re- mis- (i.e. foreground, forewarn;
rearrangemet, recycle; misfortune, mislead); (5) nouns and adjectives: in- (also im- + p/b; im-in- + f/v; i- + m,n,l,r; in- + k/g; and in- +t,d,s,[ch],dj, j, vowels) as in the words insane, improbable, infraction, illogical, irrational, innate, immediate, incapacity, in-joke. Also, , ex-, un- (i.e. mid-November, ex-president, unfair); (6) verbs and adjectives: circum- (i.e. circumnavigate, circumjacent); (7) nouns, verbs, and adjectives: counter- (i.e. counterculture, counterdemonstrate, counterattractive ), dis- (i.e. disinformation, disbound, disambiguate), and co- (i.e. co-author ), inter- (i.e. interdigital), and sub- (i.e. subwarden, subconscious).
As mentioned before, most prefixes survive from Old English times, such as those of Germanic origin (i.e. a-, be-, fore-, mis-, and un-), but according to Algeo & Pyles (1982), most English prefixes are of Latin, Greek, and French origin, since English has had with them the closest cultural contacts in earlier times. Besides, one of the most commonly used prefixes of nonnative origin is Greek anti- ‘against’ (i.e. antipathy, antislavery, antiabortion). Also, pro- ‘for’ and super- ‘huge, great’.
Productive prefixes, says Quirk (1973), normally have a secondary stress on their first (or only) syllable whereas the primary stress falls on the base. In fact, regarding phonological rules, those words, such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs, containing prefixes tend to be strongly stressed on the first syllable of the base or root element, with the prefix either unstressed or lightly stressed (i.e.
nouns: sur’prise, pro’posal, a’ward; adjectives: unhealthy, in’credible; verbs: de’clare, for’get) (Celce-Murcia, 2001).
In English, prefixes tend to fall into one of two categories: (1) firstly, prefixes of Germanic origin and (2) secondly, prefixes of Latinate origin. Among (1) the Germanic prefixes we may mention:
a-, be-, for-, fore-, mis-, out-, over-, un-, under-, up-, and with- (i.e. awake, belief, forgive, forewarn, mistake, outrun, overdo, untie, understand, uphold, and withdrawn) and, as we may note, these words follow a general pattern by which there is no stress on the prefix and strong stress on the base.
It is worth noting that some of these prefixes (a-, be-, for-, and with-) are always unstressed in the words in which they occur whereas others receive light stress in prefix + verb combinations (i.e.
un-: ,un’do, ,un’hook; out-: ,out’run, ,out’last; over-: ,over’look, ,over’take; under-: ,under’stand, ,under’pay). However, an exception to this general rule occurs when the prefix functions as a noun and has the same pattern as a compound noun. As a result, the prefix tends to be strongly stressed (i.e. ‘forecast, ‘outlook, ‘overcoat, ‘underwear, ‘upkeep).
The second category is (2) prefixes of Latinate origin which usually receive strong stress on the word base and not on the prefix. These include a(d)-, com-, de-, dis-, ex-, en-, in -, ob-, per-, pre-, pro-, re-, sub-, and sur- (i.e. com’plain, dis’play, in’habit, per’suade, sub’divide, and so on). We must note that, when added to verbs, unlike Germanic prefixes, most of Latinate prefixes are unstressed when part of a verb. Among the most frequent we may mention com- (also co-, col-, con-, cor-) as in com’mand), dis- (i.e. dis’turb), pro- (i.e. pro’test), ex- (i.e. ex’tend ).
Moreover, the groups into which prefixes fall show a different general pattern from the sense-groups of suffixes. According to Quirk & Greenbaum (1973), the largest sense-groups of prefixes in terms of meanings are the expressions of: (1) negation, (2) privation, (3) pejorative words, (4) degree or size, (5) attitude, (6) location, (7) time and order, and (8) number. Other special types of prefixes include (9) conversion prefixes, and (10) others.
4.1.1.1. Negative prefixes.
Among the most common negative prefixes, we shall mention: (1) un-, which means ‘the opposite of’ or ‘not’, and is added to adjectives and participles (i.e. unfair, unexpected, unkind); (2) non- which means ‘not’, and can normally be regarded as corresponding to clause negation (smoker=a person who does not smoke). It is added to various classes, for instance, nouns: non-smoker, adjectives: non-drip (paint) or verbs: non-stop . (3) in- which has the same meaning as un-, and is added to adjectives. It has different realizations: in- before /n/ (i.e. innate ) il- before /l/ (i.e.
illogical), im- before bilabials (i.e. impossible), and ir- before /r/ (i.e. irrelevant). (4) dis- has the same meaning as un-, and is added to adjectives, verbs, and abstract nouns (i.e. disloyal, dislike, disfavour). And finally, (5) a-, which means ‘lacking in’ and is added to adjectives and nouns (i.e.
aside, asymmetry).
4.1.1.2. Reversative or privative prefixes.
Among the most common privative prefixes, we include : (1) un- which means ‘to reverse action’
and ‘to deprive of’ which is added to verbs (i.e. untie, undress); (2) de- which means ‘to reverse action’ again, and is added to verbs and abstract nouns (i.e. defrost, deforestation); and finally (3) dis- which has the same meaning as the previous ones, and is added to verbs, participles, and nouns (i.e. disconnect, disinterested, discontent).
4.1.1.3. Pejorative prefixes.
The most common pejorative prefixes are the following: (1) mis- which means ‘wrongly’ and
‘astray’, and is added to verbs, abstract nouns, and participles (i.e. misunderstand, misconduct, misleading); (2) mal- which means ‘badly’, is added to verbs, abstract nouns, participles, and adjectives (i.e. malform, malfunction, malfromed, malodorous); (3) pseudo- or quasi-, which means
‘false, imitation’ is added to nouns, adjectives (i.e. pseudo-intellectual). Other prefixes with pejorative overtones are arch- (i.e. arch-enemy ), over- (i.e. overloaded), under - (i.e.
underminimalist), and hyper- (i.e. hypercriticized).
4.1.1.4. Prefixes of degree or size.
Among the most common prefixes of degree or size, we include: (1) arch- which means ‘highest, worst’, and is added to nouns, mainly humans (i.e. archduke, arch-enemy); (2) super- which means
‘above, more than, better’, is added to nouns (i.e. superwoman, supermarket) and adjectives (i.e.
supernatural); (3) out- means ‘to do something faster and longer than’, and is added to verbs, mainly intransitive (i.e. outrun, outcast, outlive); (4) sur-, which means ‘over and above’, is added to nouns (i.e. surface ) whereas (5) sub- means ‘lower than, less than’, and is added to adjectives (i.e. substandard ).
(6) Over- means ‘too much’ and is added to verbs (i.e. overheat), participles (i.e. overdressed), and adjectives (i.e. overconfident); (7) under- means ‘too little’, and is added to verbs (i.e.
underestimate) and participles (i.e. underpriviledged); (8) hyper- means ‘extremely’ and (9) ultra-
‘extremely, beyond’, and both are added to adjectives (i.e. hypercritical, ultra-violet, ultra-modern);
finally (10) mini-, which means ‘little’, is added to nouns, as the famous mini-skirt, in contrast to prefixes like maxi- (=large, long) and midi- (=medium), which are less common (i.e. maxi-skirt). It is often used for humorous coinages.
4.1.1.5. Prefixes of attitude.
Among the most popular prefixes of attitude, we may find: (1) co-, which means ‘with, joint’, and is added to verbs and nouns (i.e. cooperate, co-pilot); (2) counter- means ‘in opposition to’ and suggests action in response to a previous action. It is added to verbs and abstract nouns (i.e.
counteract, counter-revolution); (3) anti-, which means ‘against’ denotes an attitude of opposition, and is added to nouns (i.e. anti-missile ), denominal adjectives (i.e. anti-social), and adverbs (i.e.
anti-clockwise); (4) pro-, denoting ‘on the side of’, is added to nouns and denominal adjectives (i.e.
pro-Europe, pro-communist).
4.1.1.6. Locative prefixes.
Among the most common locative prefixes we may mention: (1) super- which means ‘over’ and is added to nouns as in ‘super,stratus; (2) sub- with the meaning of ‘beneath, lesser in rank’, which is
added to nouns, adjectives, and verbs (i.e. ‘sub,marine, subconscious, submerge); (3) inter- with the meaning of ‘between, among’ and is added to denominal adjectives, verbs, and nouns (i.e.
intermediate, interact, internet); and finally, trans- which means ‘across, from one place to another’, and is added to denominal adjectives and verbs (i.e. transatlantic, transplant).
4.1.1.7. Prefixes of time and order.
The most common prefixes of time and order are said to be the following: (1) fore-, which means
‘before’ and is added to mainly verbs and abstract nouns (i.e. foretell, forehead); (2) pre- with the meaning of ‘before’, and is added to adjectives and nouns (i.e. pre-test, premature); (3) post- with the meaning of ‘after’ used with nouns and adjectives (i.e. post-war, post-romantic); (4) the prefix ex- meaning ‘former’ is added to human nouns (i.e. ex-wife, ex-president); and finally (5) re-, with the meaning of ‘again, back’, and is added to verbs and abstract nouns (i.e. redecorate, resettlement).
4.1.1.8. Number prefixes.
The most common Latin and Greek number prefixes can be added to any word category. Among the most common ones, the following are to be mentioned: (1) uni- and mono-, whose meaning is
‘one’ (i.e. unicorn, monotheism); (2) bi- and di-, whose meaning is ‘two’ (i.e. bilingual, dipole).
There are some ambiguous examples, such as bimonthly, which can mean either ‘every two months’
or ‘twice every month’ as well as biweekly. Also, note biennial, which normally has only the meaning ‘every two years’ (in contrast with biannual ‘twice a year’); (3) tri- whose meaning is
‘three’ (i.e. triennium); and (4) multi- and poly- whose meaning is ‘many’ (i.e. multicultural, polysemic).
4.1.1.9. Conversion prefixes.
As stated before, when adding prefixes to a base, they do not generally alter its word-class (i.e. pilot and co-pilot), except for a special type called conversion prefixes, by which a word-class change is forced (i.e. from noun to verb: calm, becalm). In these special cases, the following prefixes change the word category of the word to which they are added into another. Thus, (1) be- when added to nouns, converts the base into participial adjectives (i.e. bemused), and when added to verbs, adjectives, or nouns the word changes into transitive verbs (i.e. from dazzle to bedazzle , calm-becalm, and witch-bewitch ). Note that sometimes the category word change involves pejorative meanings; (2) en- turns nouns into verbs (i.e. danger-endangered; courage -encourage); and (3) a- turns verbs into predicative adjectives which have a colloquial meaning rather than literal (i.e.
afloat, awash, astride).
4.1.1.10. Other prefixes.
The last type of prefixes deals with those ones which are not included in any meaning group. Thus, (1) auto- which means ‘self’ (i.e. autobiography); (2) neo- which means ‘new, revived’ (i.e.
neoclassic); (3) pan- which means ‘all, world-wide’ (i.e. pan-America); (4) proto - which means
‘first, original’ (i.e. prototype); (5) semi- which means ‘half’ (i.e. semicircle ); and (6) vice- which the meaning of ‘deputy’ (i.e. vice -president).
4.1.2. Suffixes.
A suffix is defined as an element placed after and joined to a word or base in order to modify its grammatical function, but they do not change the part of speech or basic meaning of the words to which they are attached (i.e. quite-quiteness). Following Quirk & Greenbaum (1973), when adding suffix es to the base (one or more), they frequently do alter its word-class (i.e. forget (verb) and forgetful (adjective). Unlike prefixes, they are markers of grammatical functions, and are also called inflectional affixes.
As mentioned before, most of them survive from Old English times, such as the following (i.e. -dom, -ed, -en, -er, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ish, -less, -ness, -ship, -some, -ster, -th, -ward, and –y).
According to Algeo & Pyles (1982), the –y suffix occurring in loanwords of Greek (i.e.
phlebotomy), Latin (i.e. century), and French (i.e. contrary) origin may represent Greek –ia (i.e.
criteria ), Latin –ius, -ium, -ia (i.e. radius, medium, militia ), or French –ie (i.e. perjury), -ee (i.e.
army) where –y is not a living suffix any more. However, it still continue to form diminutives when added (i.e. tubby, loony).
Since English has a lexicon culled from many sources, borrowed suffixes that have been added to English words whatever their ultimate origin is, include the following: -ese from Old French (i.e.
journalese, educationese); from Latin -ian, -iana, -ician, -or, and -orium (i.e. Nebraskan, Americana, politician, conductor, crematorium); and from Greek –izein , a very popular suffix to make verbs (i.e. realize, criticize).
With respect to their phonological aspect, suffixes affect word stress in one of three ways: (1) firstly, they may have no effect on the stress pattern of the root word; (2) secondly, they may receive strong stress themselves; (3) and thirdly, they may cause the stress pattern in the stem to shift from one syllable to another.
Within the first group, we find (1) neutral suffixes, which have no effect on the stress pattern of the root word and are Germanic in origin. These suffixes include, for instance, -hood (i.e. brotherhood ), -less (i.e. careless), -ship (i.e. kinship), and –ful (i.e. forgetful). Other neutral suffixes which are not all of Germanic origin, but which function in the same way include: -able (i.e. unable ), -al (i.e.
noun suffix, chemical), -dom (i.e. stardom), -ess (i.e. princess), -ling (i.e. yearling), -ness (i.e.
darkness), -some (i.e. troublesome), -wise (i.e. clockwise), and –y (i.e. silky). In fact, as a general rule, words with Germanic or neutral suffixes (whether the stem is of Germanic origin or not) still tend to maintain the stress pattern of the base form (i.e. ‘brother, un’brotherly; ‘happy, ¡happiness, unhappiness; ‘easy, un’easily).
Within the second group, we find (2) suffixes that, unlike the Germanic ones, have come into the English language via French (i.e. –eer (i.e. volun’teer, engi’neer), -esque (i.e. gro’tesque, ara’besque ), -eur/-euse (i.e. chaf’feur, chan’teuse), -ette (i.e. cas’sette, basi’nette ), -ese (i.e.
Suda’nese, Vietna’mese), -ique (i.e. tech’nique, an’tique), -oon (i.e. bal’loon, sa’loon), -et /ey/ (i.e.
bal’let, bou’quet). As a result, they often cause the final syllable of a word to receive strong stress, with other syllables receiving secondary or no stress. As a general tendency, the longer a word remains as part of the English vocabulary system, the greater is the tendency for stress to shift toward the beginning of a word. Hence, note the coexistence today, for instance, for the pronunciations cigar’ette and million’aire (where the stress is on the final element) and ‘cigarette and ‘millionaire (where the stress is on the first element).
Finally, within the third group, we include (3) suffixes that can also cause a shift of stress in the root word, that is, when added to a word, they can cause the stress to shift to the syllable immediately preceding the suffix. Note the stress shift caused by the addition of the following suffixes to the root word: -eous (i.e. from root word ad’vantage to root with suffix advan’tageous); -graphy (i.e.
‘photo, pho’tography); -ial (i.e. ‘proverb, pro’verbial); -ian (i.e. ‘Paris, Pa’risian); -ic (i.e.
‘climate, cli’matic ); -ical (i.e. e’cology, eco’logical); -ious (i.e. ‘injure, in’jurious); -ity (i.e.
‘tranquil, tran’quility); and –ion (i.e. ‘educate, edu’cation).
Besides, adding these suffixes to a word not only brings about a shift in stress but also a change in the syllable structure or syllabification, causing vowel reduction or neutralization in the unstressed syllables to schwa (i.e. a’cademy, aca’demic, and acade’mician ; and ‘photograph, pho’tography, and photo’graphic, where the syllables preceding the stress are reduced to schwa).
Finally, it is important to note that in cases where the base and the suffix have different historical origins, it is the suffix that determines the English stress pattern. For example, Germanic suffixes such as –ly and –ness cause no shift in stress (i.e. ‘passive, ‘passively, ‘passiveness) whereas with the addition of the Latinate suffix –ity to the same word, it does (i.e. compare ‘passive to pas’sivity).
This stress shift would extend even to a base word of Germanic origin if it were to take a Latinate suffix (i.e. ‘foldable vs folda’bility).
In order to offer a detailed account on suffixation, we shall follow Quirk and Greenbaum (1973:435) and Bauer (1983:220). Thus, suffixation is examined under the following classification:
(1) suffixes forming nouns, (2) suffixes forming adjectives, (3) suffixes forming verbs, (4) suffixes forming adverbs, (5) other form classes as bases, and (6) suffixes on foreign bases.
(1) Suffixes forming nouns refer to those suffixes which are added to a class-form base in order to form nouns. We may find noun suffixes added to (1.1) noun, (1.2) adjective, and (1.3) verb bases.
Moreover, as we shall see, these suffixes follow a classification in terms of their meaning. Among the most popular (1.1) noun suffixes added to noun bases, we find the following classification
regarding their meaning: (1.1.1) occupational, (1.1.2) community type suffixes, (1.1.3) diminutive or feminine, (1.1.4) status or domain, and (1.1.5) others.
Regarding (1.1.1) occupational suffixes, we find (a) –er which makes personal nouns usually with a
Regarding (1.1.1) occupational suffixes, we find (a) –er which makes personal nouns usually with a