Introduction

Morphology is the study of morphemes and building elements that forms new words and
grammatical units. Word-building is a process of forming new words and lexemes that is a part
of morphology. This process is defined by a famous scientist named Hurford as being a process
of building up new words according to a regular pattern [8, p.226]. Word-formation is considered
to the most significant way to enrich vocabulary. This research represents an analysis of wordformation process and its main branches and peculiarities.
Word-building process is the best way to connect words and to create new lexemes. This
process has its own branches that hold an important position in the study of morphology. The
most productive branch of word-formation is considered to be affixation. Affixation is a method
of creating word involving prefixes and suffixes. The paper presents and other methods of
forming words as: inflection, borrowing, compounding, conversion and others.
The main goal of the research is to study the processes of creating new lexemes, features,
functions and methods of forming words in cooking blogs. The main objectives of the research
are:
1. To define the concept of word-formation and the main branches that contribute to the
formation of new words;
2. To determine the most important features and functions of word-formation;
3. To identify methods and processes of creating words in cooking blogs.
The topic of the research is important because it informs about the main ways of creating
words. It influences the language of new speakers of English language because it is a very useful
method to enlarge vocabulary.
As blogs are in fashion nowadays the topic shows that more and more people use blogs to
inform and to post events related to their life. This topic is to be studied because it creates an
important view about blogs especially cooking blogs and of course word-formation that occurs in
the used words.
In order to achieve the main goal and the objectives of the research
paper a large number of scientific works were used: English WordFormation by Bauer Laurie; Word-Formation in English by Ingo Plag; The
English Language from Sound to Sense by J. Garvey; Key Concepts in
Language and Linguistics by R. Trask; Pro-Blogger: Secrets for Blogging
Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by D. Rowse; Create Your Own Blog by T.

Hussey and some articled in internet as: Structure of English by S.

Kemmer.
The examples are picked up from cooking blogs such as: Cookie and Kate
by Kate and Steamy Kitchen by Jaden.
The research paper consists of Introduction, one Chapter, Conclusion and Bibliography.
Chapter one focuses on theoretical analysis of word building in cooking blogs. Here are pointed
out the main feature and functions of word-formation and a historical overview of blogs. The
conclusion summarizes the results of the research. The bibliography presents the list of used
literature, sites and articles.

Chapter I. Theoretical Analysis of Word-Building in Cooking Blogs

1.1 Definitions of Morphology and other Branches of WordFormation in Cooking Blogs
The purpose of this section of research is to define the concepts of morphology and to
establish its branches. R. Dirven mentions in his research that morphology is the study of
morphemes, building elements used to form new words of grammatical units. He also defines
this concept as the study of the internal structure of composite words [5, p.49]. G. Cappelli
defines morphology as a sub-discipline of linguistics which studies internal structure of words,
the rules that guide it, as well as the ways of forming new words. She also mentions that
morphology is subdivided into two branches: derivational morphology and inflectional
morphology [18]. In brief, morphology studies the structure of morphemes and because it has
two important branches it also assists to the process of making up new lexemes or to the process
of changing the word grammatically.
In this paragraph is analysed word-derivation as a process of forming new words. In
morphology derivation is a phenomenon of creating a new word out of an old one, usually by
adding a prefix or a suffix, explains R. Nordquist. By J. Hurford, derivation is the process of
forming new words according to a regular pattern [8, p.226]. He also adds that the process of
creating new words also includes units smaller than actual words, such as suffixes and prefixes
[8, p.227]. As R. Dirven mentions derivation consist of a free morpheme and one or more bound
morphemes called affixes [5, p.59]. Using suffixes and prefixes can be composed new word,
emphasizes Plag [12, p. 13]. Accordingly, using regular patterns, prefixes and suffixes new
process of forming words appears. It is called word-derivation.
In order to define the concept of inflection, S. Dostert explains that bound morphemes which
hold grammatical meaning are called inflexional affixes, and their purpose is to create new forms
of existing lexemes [6, p.18]. J. Wagner distinguishes between derivational and inflectional
affixes. Derivational affixes are added to morphemes to form new words that may or may not be
the same part of speech and inflectional affixes are added to the end of an existing word only for
grammatical reasons, explains Wagner [24].To sum up inflectional affixes appear only for
grammatical reason and do not form new words as derivational affixes do.
In addition this part of the research defines the concepts of affixes that are used to create new
lexemes. R. Trask emphasises that an affix is a grammatical element which cannot form a word
by itself. An affix that goes at the end of the word is defined as a suffix, while one that goes at

the beginning of the word is called prefix [15, p.4]. Similarly, J. Garvey adds that prefixed are
attached before and suffixes after the word [4, p.123]. So, derivation is a process which does not
exist without affixes added before or after word (prefixes and suffixes).
However the other group of scientists explain the purpose and distinguish the features of
nominal derivation. As I. Plag emphasises, the purpose of nominal suffixes is to derive abstract
nouns from verbs, adjectives and nouns [12, p.109]. He also underline that nominal suffixes
denotes actions, results of actions, qualities and properties [12, p.109]. By P. Pithva
nominalisation in linguistics is the process of producing noun from another part of speech [20].
He distinguishes between two types of nominalisation. One type requires the addition of a
derivational suffix to create a noun and the second type is zero derivation. The first type involves
the process of forming new words changing the part of speech, but the second type is the
creation of words from an existing lexeme without any change in form [20]. In conclusion
nominal derivation or nominalisation serves to create nouns from another part of speech but in
the case of zero derivation are no changes.
Also there is another important branch of word-formation that is compounding. S.Dostert
defines this concept as a process of combining free morphemes in order to form a new lexeme
[6, p.20]. I.Plag emphasises that it is possible to combine two bases to make up new words. This
process is known as compounding [12, p.15]. In his study, Garvey explains that words that are
formed of two or more roots or words are called compounds. Generally, one of the words is the
head of the compound and the other is its modifier adds he. Sometimes they are spelled as single
words as microwave, sometimes parts are connected by a hyphen as in deep-fry, and
sometimes they are spelled as two words as in soft boil, emphasises J. Garvey [4, p.132]. So,
combining two different morphemes, one is the head and another is its modifier, is formed a new
word that can be spelled as a single word, as two words, or that is separated by a hyphen.
A process that is a part of English word-formation called conversion is to be explained in this
section of research. Bauer, another scientist names conversion as a change in form class of a
word that does not correspond to a change. He also defines this process as zero-derivation that is
a synonym to conversion [3, p.32]. S. Dostert explains this phenomenon as a process involving
word class change but without any changes to the form of the lexeme [6, p.20]. There are two
types of conversion as Dostert mentions: total conversion that is also called zero-derivation and
partial conversion that changes the part of speech. There is no big difference between these two,
but it depends on the main stress in the word, explains Dostert [6, p.20]. So, conversion also
called zero-derivation appears only when the parts of speech are changed and it does not change
the form of the lexeme.

Another group of scientists mention other methods, but less productive processes, of creating
new words as coining, abbreviation, blending and borrowing. Garvey and Delahunty define
coining as a method of creating new words without reference to the existing morphological
resources of the language and that is out of the sounds of the language. They explain that
abbreviation involves the shortening of existing words [4, p.136]. Garvey emphasises that
blending occurs when only parts of two words are combined together to create a new word and
the meaning is changed. Borrowing is explained by Delahunty as a process of copying a word
that belonged to one language into another language. He emphasises that many terms from
Mexican cuisine, like taco and burrito, have become current in American English [4, p.137]. I.
Arnold defines blending as formations that combine two words and include the letters or the
sounds that they have in common as a connecting element. This scientist names this process
telescoping and explains that it is because the words seem to slide into one another like sections
of a telescope [2, p.141]. He also mentions that abbreviation is used in colloquial speech [2,
p.143]. Borrowing is a consequence of cultural contact between two language communities
emphasises S. Kemmer in her study [22]. P. Stekauer, another linguist analyses the process of
forming new words. He mentions that word-formation contains two major groups of word:
words that form combinations of full linguistic signs (compounding, prefixation, suffixation and
back-derivation) and words which are not made up of full linguistic signs (blending, clipping,
etc.) [14, p. 30]. Thus, these methods are parts of word-building that concur to formation of new
words, even though each of them has its own rules and feature.

1.2. Distinguishing Derivation from Inflection in Cooking Blogs

The purpose of this paragraph is to distinguish the main differences between derivation and
inflection. As Trask says derivation is one of the major branches of morphology and one of the
principle ways of obtaining new words from existing words [15, p.47]. He explains that the
process of adding such suffixes as -s, -ing or -ed to a word is called inflection. This
process only changes the word grammatically and does not create new word. In comparison to
inflection, derivation is the process of obtaining new word by adding suffixes and prefixes to an
existing word. Similarly, Delahunty and Garvey emphasise that inflectional morphemes do not
create separate word as derivational morphemes do. Inflectional morphemes modify the word in
order to indicate grammatical properties [4, p.124]. Plag also explains the difference between
inflection and derivation. He emphasises that inflectional morphemes encode grammatical
categories such as plural (workers), person (works), tense (picked), or case (Johns). These
categories are relevant for the building of sentences and are referred to grammar [12, p.19].
Consequently, inflection appears only in grammatical cases in form of plural, tense or case. In

turn, derivation is creating new words and uses prefixes and suffixes in order to change the
grammatical category of the word.
According to a list of properties of inflection and derivation made by M. Haspelmath, this
section of research is devoted to differences between them. Haspelmath explains that inflection
do not change the basic concepts as derivation does. Derivation as a process of forming new
words sometimes changes word-class, but inflection does not change it, mentions Haspelmath.
He also emphasises that inflection belong to syntax that it is not in case of derivation. Inflection
explained by Haspelmath receives an abstract meaning. As for derivation, the meaning is
relatively concrete [7, p.90]. R. Trask emphasises that inflection has only grammatical purposes
and does not form new words. He adds that in many languages a single word can have several
different forms and it depends on the grammatical context in which it is used. Trask also explains
that English language has very little inflection. A noun has two grammatical forms: singular cake
and plural cakes. A verb has more forms than a noun; for example drink has drink, drank, drunk,
drinking, drinks, but a typical adjective has three inflected forms: positive small, comparative
smaller, superlative the smallest mentions Trask [15, p.82]. To sum up, inflection appears only
to change the form of the word and not the word in general, but derivation includes traits that
help to form new words and it creates also a different meaning.
Packer emphasises that English language has only eight inflectional affixes:

Plural Noun
Possessive Noun
Comparative Adj.
Superlative Adj.
Present Verb
Past Verb
Past Participle Verb
Present Participle Verb

-s
-s
-er
-est
-s
-ed
-en
-ing

pancakes
pans
bigger
the biggest
cooks
baked
taken
mixing [19, p.4]

Packer mentions that derivational morphemes are in force for English language [19, p.4]. In
conclusion derivational morphemes are more than inflectional affixes. It denotes that each of the
process has its own importance in a sentence.
However the other group of scientists consider that bound morphemes which hold grammatical
meaning and create new forms of existing lexemes are called inflectional affixes. S. Dostert
indicates that inflection influence the word only in grammatical form [6, p.18]. This famous
linguist makes a parallel comparison between inflection and derivation. Dostert explains that
derivation has lexical meaning and involves the transformation and creation of words via

prefixes or suffixes. In case of inflection, new words are not created but are changed
grammatically [6, p.19]. As a result, these two processes of word-formation differ a lot because
inflection does not create new word and is only influenced grammatically but derivation involves
the process of creating a new word and has a lexical meaning.
Another analysis made upon differences between inflection and derivation is given by Dirven.
He emphasises that the main difference between derivational and inflectional affixes is that the
former are always restricted in their application to a certain group of word stems [5, p.59].
Dirven emphasises that inflectional affixes can be applied to all the members of a linguistic
category, as all countable nouns can have plural form, while this process is not available for
derivational affixes [5, p.59]. Consequently, the main difference between inflection and
derivation is that inflection can be used to all the members of a linguistic category, but derivation
is used only in specific case.
At the same time another analysis to distinguish inflection from derivation is made by Bauer.
Inflectional paradigms are added to stems while derivational paradigms deal with roots and bases
explains Bauer. While derivation deals with the formation of new lexemes, inflection only cope
with various forms of individual words from given stems adds Bauer [3, p.40]. The scientist
explains also that the main function of inflection is to indicate relationship between words in a
sentence, but the purpose of derivation is to create new words and the new forming words do not
create a connection between words in a sentence [3, p.41]. In conclusion, inflection is very
important in creating sentences as it connects all the words to give a meaning, but derivation in
only for building up new lexemes.

1.3. Functions Features and Rules of Word-Formation

This section of research shows the main functions and features of the process of forming new
words. The main function of derivation is to create new words by adding suffixes or prefixes to
the existing lexeme. Richard Nordquist mentions in an article that derivational morphemes
change the grammatical category of a word. For example, adding the derivational morpheme er to the word bake changes the word from verb to noun (baker) [21]. R.L. Trask defines
derivational morphemes as affixes. If affixes are added to the front of a word, it is spoken of
prefixes like in-, a-. If they are attached to the end of the word, they are called suffixes, such
as -able, -ish. Derivational morphemes may or may not cause a change of the grammatical
class of the word. In any event, the following morphological rules applied to most cases, cover
the main changes brought about by affixes. By changing one element, new classes of words can
be produced, mentions Trask [15, p.47]. To conclude the most important and the main function

of derivation is to create new words. Another important function is that the process of creating
new words can change the grammatical category of the word.
In his research, Plag mentions some properties of affixation or derivation. He focuses more on
phonological properties of word derivation. Plag explains that if a prefix is added to the root of a
word the basis of the lexeme does not change the pronunciation, while suffixes have such an
effect on the word, except suffixes like -less or -ness [12, p.99]. Plag also mentions an
important feature of word-formation that is the change of the word from one part of speech to
another one. This process is called by Plag conversion and it is an important branch of wordformation. The main idea of this section is that suffixes change the pronunciation of the word,
while prefixes do not and the main feature of word-formation is to change a word from one part
of speech to another.
K. Wisniewski emphasises in an article that word-formation refers to all the processes
connected with changing the form of the word. An important feature mentioned by Wisniewski is
that only a process can occur in a word [25]. As for J. Algeo word-formation is a method in
which most new words in a language come from older words [1, 224]. In his analysis, Packer
mentions that words do not create words but people create words and language [19, p.7]. In
conclusion it is necessary only one process to build a new word from an old one.
A process that belongs to word-formation is borrowing and in this section it is emphasised the
main goal of this method of adding words to a language from another one. This process is
studied by G. Yule, a very famous linguist at the Universities of Edinburgh. He explains that the
main feature of borrowing in English language that is a branch of word-formation is that this
language adopted a vast number of words from other languages and it is more than borrowing
because English language does not give them back. There are a lot of words borrowed from
French (croissant), German (pretzel), Turkish (yogurt), etc. emphasises Yule [17, p.54]. So, the
main feature of borrowing is that a lot of foreign words can be recognized from people around
the world without being translated in English language.
This paragraph is devoted to functions of word-derivation. The process of creating new names
appears in a language in order to enrich the vocabulary underline F. Katamba [10, p.201].
Another function of this process is that of naming explains Katamba. In an article Martin Weisser
distinguishes between inflection and derivation, also processes of forming words org changing
them. He explains the function of them adding that inflection allow the word to have different
tenses or to change grammatical form, but the main function of derivation that is considered to
be the productive process is to build up new words from old lexemes [23]. To sum up, word-

formation helps to enrich the vocabulary and also contributes to the change of the word
grammatically.
There are rules to go by in forming new words and I. Plag is one of the scientists who set up
some rules of word-formation. He focuses more on compounding which is a big branch of wordformation. Plag explains that compound words include three types of words and these are:
hyphenated words (separated by a hyphen), written open (are written separate but are spelled
together) and written solid (are written together and are spelled together).Words are hyphenated
to express the idea of a unit and to avoid vagueness emphasises Plag [12, p.170]. The main rule
of hyphenated words established by A. Bagasheva is that each compound word should have a
head (the initial morpheme) and a body (the rest part of the word that follows the head). The
head of the compound word always determines the body semantically, but the body determines
the grammatical class of whole compound explains Bagasheva [26]. She also emphasises an
important rule for word-formation especially for prefixes. The rule says that a prefix which is
alone but is a representative of a compound word needs a hyphen [26]. So, the rules that form
new words are very important because not in all cases hyphen is presented in compound words
but sometimes it creates the idea of a unit.

1.4. The Impact of Word-formation upon Cooking Blogs

1.4.1. Introduction to the History of Blogging
The purpose of this section of research is to make an introduction of how blogs appeared and
how they developed during the years. Blog is a term composed from two words web and log
mentions A. Newson [11, p.3]. In fact this word include the process of blinding, where parts of
two words are combined together in order to form a new word. By T. Hussey blogs appeared
long time ago, over 16 years ago, when people started to write journals and to record their
thoughts [9, p.8]. Newson mentions that he is not sure about the first blog but it began to be very
popular since 2000 [11, p.3]. D. Warlick thinks otherwise and says that something very similar to
blogging was happening in 18th century. As print shops and printing presses were appearing,
people began to publish their views in print as pamphlets [16, p.23]. Blogging started out with
people that made public lists of bookmarks and links for themselves but then they published on
their websites in order to be seen by other users remarks Hussey. New appeared items gave to
technicians the idea of blog. All the presented data were put in a chronological order and it was
not a difficult for visitors adds Hussey [9, p.8]. In conclusion, due to people that wanted to

discover more and more and to those who liked to publish their thoughts, a new website is
created which is very popular nowadays.
This section is devoted to the introduction to some events about the firs blog and its creators. In
his book Hussey names the first creators of the first blog. In 2001 Ben and Mena Trott created a
service named Movable Type, but later it was created to be installed in computer explains
Hussey. As for him, blogging has to be the next grate thing in commerce, communication and
technology and is considered to be like a deliverer of time and energy declares Hussey [9, p.9].
In 2006 the main difficulty was that the blogs must be paid in order to be used. People thought
that it opened a new way of getting money and more and more blogs appeared but not all of them
were successful. Nowadays it is very easy and costless to use a blog in order to expose and share
thoughts to each other mentions Hussey [9, p.10]. Briefly in this paragraph is explained the story
of first steps for blogs till day they became popular.
As blogs are very popular nowadays, Hussey emphasises that the world of blogging is much
richer and more interesting today than a couple of years ago [9, p.16]. D. Rowse explains that the
term blogger is not used only to describe the person who writes a blog but also someone who
earns money doing it. As today blogging is in fashion and is very developed, some people
succeed in profiting from their blogs indicates Rowse. It is also mentioned that in order to get
more money and to attract more visitors it is necessary to be active and to publish more and more
useful posts [9, p.9]. So, blogs have also some benefits and of course some material benefits.
Blog activity needs also creativity and diligence if it is to get more money and more fans.
In order to understand better what a blog consists of, Newson gives some details about the
most important elements of a blog. Maintaining a blog or adding some articles to an existing
blog is called blogging explains the blogger. Individual written articles are called posts or blog
posts and the person who publishes posts is called blogger mentions Newson [11, p.4]. Similarly,
Rowse gives some concrete features of blog. He explains that there are three main areas that
differentiate a blog from a site: content (arranged chronologically), syndication (all the visitors
can read the blog) and conversation (direct communication to audience) [13, p.3]. Consequently,
blogs are closely related to people than other sites.

1.4.2. Branches of Word-Formation that Appears in Cooking Blogs

This paragraph is devoted to cooking blogs and word-formation that occurs here. Newson says
that the categories of blogs are incredibly varied and he enumerates some of the main categories:

academic, arts, business and professional, financial, food, jobs, technology, personal, etc. [11,
p.4]. As the research is based on cooking blogs the category that is to be analysed is blogs about
food.
Analysing a lot of cooking blogs it is seen that there is a variety of words that are based on
word-formation. Some of them are borrowed, some are formed with the help of affixation and
some are compound. As Hussey says, people use to write on their blog all they want and all they
do during a day transforming it in a journal [9, p.11]. This also happens with blogs about food.
People experience some recipes and when they get something good they share it with other
people. The main process of forming new words used in cooking blogs is borrowing. Delahunty
explains that borrowing is a process of copying a word that belonged to one language into
another language [4, p.137]. In cooking blogs are a lot of words that are borrowed from other
languages like French (cauliflower); Spanish (anchovy, chili); Japanese (togarashi); Turkish
(yogurt) and Greek (sesame), etc.
Compounding, as S.Dostert explains, is a process of combining free morphemes in order to
form a new lexeme [6, p.20]. There are a lot of compound words that are used in blogs about
food. For example seafood that means dishes made from sea fish; cookbook that is a book of
recipes that each housewife should have and bund cake that takes part from the group of
compounds that are spelled as two words and it means a ring-shaped cake. Inflection is a process
that is also presented in cooking blogs. Trask defines inflection as a process of adding such
suffixes as -s, -ing or -ed to a word in order to indicate tense or the plural of nouns. The
letter -s at the end of the words like crisps; cooks; bakes or mixes emphasises the
present tense and the third person that does the action. In the words like drizzled or tossed
the -ed letters indicate the past simple tense, but the group of letters -ing in words as
cooking and roasting indicates either the present progressive tense or it forms a noun and it
depends the position of the word in the sentence. Words that are formed with the help of
affixation as smashed; sweetness and unabashed also form a group that create new words
in cooking blogs. In conclusion cooking blogs are full of formed words and processes of building
up new lexemes. In a way it is a good method to attract new visitors and to get more money
publishing new posts involving new processes of making up new words.

Conclusion
According to the scientific works the main goal of the research was achieved and the topic
was analysed. Morphology has two important branches that contribute to the process of making
up new lexemes or to the process of changing the word grammatically: word-formation and
inflection. Likewise, using regular patterns, prefixes and suffixes, a new process of forming
words appears. It is called word-derivation. The second branch of morphology is inflection.

Inflectional affixes appear only for grammatical reason and do not form new words as
derivational affixes do. Inflection appears only to change the form of the word and not the word
in general, but derivation includes traits that help to form new words and it creates also a
different meaning.
Derivation is a process which does not exist without affixes added before or after word
(prefixes and suffixes). Suffixes change the pronunciation of the word, while prefixes do not and
the main feature of word-formation is to change a word from one part of speech to another. As a
result, these two processes of word-formation differ a lot because inflection does not create new
word and is only influenced grammatically but derivation involves the process of creating a new
word and has a lexical meaning. Consequently, the main difference between inflection and
derivation is that inflection can be used to all the members of a linguistic category, but derivation
is used only in specific cases.
Compounding is another process of forming new words. The method of combining two
different morphemes, one is the head and another is its modifier is called compounding. This
process forms a new word that can be spelled as a single word, as two words, or can be separated
by a hyphen.Conversion also called zero-derivation appears only when the parts of speech are
changed and it does not change the form of the lexeme.
Thus, other methods which are parts of word-building such as: coining, abbreviation, blending
and borrowing also can form new words, even though each of them has its own rules and feature.
The main feature of borrowing is that a lot of foreign words can be recognized from people
around the world without being translated in English language. The most important function of
derivation is to create new words. Another important function is that the process of creating new
words can change the grammatical category of the word.
Due to people that wanted to discover more and more and to those who liked to publish their
thoughts, a new website is created which is very popular nowadays. So, blogs have also some
benefits and of course some material benefits. Blog activity needs also creativity and diligence if
it is to get more money and more fans. In conclusion cooking blogs are full of formed words and
processes of building up new lexemes. In a way it is a good method to attract new visitors and to
get more money publishing new posts involving new processes of making up new words.