Morphology: Word Coinage

How are new words created?

Compiled by Terri Yueh

Oxford English Dictionary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcWlLkGEyyI

Neologism:
Word Formation Processes
Derivation (affixation): prefixes (un+adj.), suffixes
Brands: aspirin, nylon, Hoover, Xerox, walkman
Proper Noun (Eponym): Sandwich, Scrooge, jumbo, lazy susan

Echo Words: tic-tac,

Borrowing: alcohol, croissant, buffet, piano, yogurt, alligator, plaza
Loan-translation (calque): superman, hot dogs,
French "march aux puces" ("market of fleas") flea market
English "skyscraper" French "gratte-ciel" (scrape + sky),

Process of Word Formation

Compounding: fingerprint, sunburn, textbook, lifelong, Facebook,
boathouse, cathouse, house warming
ego surfing, blackboard, black tea, blackjack

Back-formation: editoredit, donationdonate, martini minitini

babysitter baby-sit, bikini monokini

Conversion (functional shift): paper, vacation,

guess, spy, must, drink, plot, chair, google

Blending: smog, brunch, Chunnel, motel, emoticon, staycation

tank top + bikini tankini

Acronyms (Alphabetism): NASA, laser, Radar,

PIN, UFO, CD, WTO, TBA, ASAP, FYI, VAT
B2B, BBF, ENL/ESL/EFL/ELF
UNESCO United Nation Education, Scientific and Culture Organization

Process of Word Formation

Abbreviation (Clipping): TV, PhD, fax, ad, lab, flu, dorm,
condo, bra, sitcom, pro, photo, demo, b-day

Hypocorism: television telly, barbecuebarbie

Folk Etymology: vegetarian vs. humanitarian
cockroach (cucaracha)

Multiple Processes: snow+ballsnowball(n)(v)

young urban professional yup +ie yuppie
e-mail, fax (facsimile fax n. v. )
Lets brunch tomorrow!

The History of English Words

Lexical Borrowing
A Survey of the 1,000 frequently use words in English
found that
Old English (Germanic) origins
61.7%
French 30.9% (art, beauty, charity, color, design, dinner, chef, chief)
Greek-Latin 2.9% (data, agenda, diet, exit, item, maximum, priest,
via) (analysis, angel, climax, comedy, dialect, dialogue, zoology)

Scandinavian (anger, doze, eggs, garden, gate, law, window) 1.7%

Mixed 1.3%
German and Dutch 0.3% (Kindergarten, poke, noodle; yacht, boss)
Source: Language Files, 11th Ed., 2011.