Word Formation Process:

In linguistics, the ways in which

new words are made on the basis
of other words or morphemes.
Word-formation can denote
either a state or a process, and it
can be viewed either
diachronically or synchronically.
There are three main forms of
word building or word formation
which are characteristic of
English:
Affixation
Compounding
Conversions




Neologism/Coinage
The process of creating new words is
called neologism . Entirely new ,
previously non existent words keep
entering a language . This often happens
when a speaker coin or invent a new word
by inventing a new sound sequence and
pairing it with a new meaning. For
example , adolescent slang has given us
words such as geek for intellectual.
As neologism or coinage we identify the
word formation process of inventing
entirely new words. This is a very rare and
uncommon method to create new words,
but in the media, people try to outdo each
other with more and better words to
name their products. Often these
trademark names
are adopted by the masses and they
become ''everyday words of language''
(Yule 2006, 53).
Aspirin, nylon, robotics, Google ,
Xerox,photoshop are some examples of
coinage.
Borrowing:
Loanwords are words adopted by the
speakers of one language from a different
language (the source language). A
loanword can also be called a borrowing.
The abstract noun borrowing refers to the
process of speakers adopting words from
a source language into their native
language. "Loan" and "borrowing" are of
course metaphors, because there is no
literal lending process. There is no transfer
from one language to another, and no
"returning" words to the source language.
They simply come to be used by a speech
community that speaks a different
language from the one they originated in.
Borrowing of different words into English
language :
French: saint, sculpture , army , fashion
Italian: broccoli, opera, piano ,opera, pizza
Spanish: chocolate, guitar, cafeteria, fiesta

Compounding:
Compounding is the formation of words
from two or more separate words which
can stand independently in other
circumstances. Compounding is the
process of putting words together to build
a new one that ''does not denote two
things, but one'' and that is ''pronounced
as one unit'' (Wisnicwski , 200)
There are three different types of
compound:
Adjective compounds: hard working,
time-consuming , short sleeved
Verb compounds : babysit , sightsee
Noun compound s: coffee jar, blackboard
,seatbelt ,window seat , basketball ,
highway, star lit night, fireplace
Blending:
A blending is a
combination of two or
more words to create a
new one, usually by
taking the beginning of
the other word and the
end of the other one. For
example
Motor +hotel=motel
Broadcast +television
=telecast
Education+entertainment
=edutainment

Clipping:
Clipping refers to
abbreviations which are
commonly understood
and frequently used in
spoken and written forms
of language.
Fax for facsimile
Eve for evening
Lab for laboratory
Flu for influenza
Dr. or doc for doctor
Conversions:
Conversions , also known as
zero affixation , is the process
by which an item may be used
in different parts of speech,
yet does not change its form .
For example,
I water the plants in my
garden regularly.( verb)
versus
The color of water was
blue.(noun)
I want to paper this wall.(verb)
versus
They use low quality paper for
photocopying notes.(noun)


Acronyms:
Acronyms refer to words in which
each of the letter that spell the word
is the first letter or letters of some
other complete word .It is important
to note that even though such words
are originally created as acronyms,
speakers quickly forget such origins
and the acronyms become
independent words. For example,
HTML stands for hypertext markup
language
Radar refers to radio detecting and
ranging
Laser is originated from light
amplification by stimulated emission
of radiation.
URL means uniform resource locator
Derivations:
Derivation, as ''the most common
word formation process'' (Yule 2006,
57), builds new words by adding
morphemes to stems. These
morphemes are added to the target
stem by affixation, through prefixes
and suffixes. While prefixes like un-
or dis- usually do not change the
lexical category of a word, suffixes,
such as -ness or -ation, usually do.
If you take the examples happy
unhappy and happy happiness, it
is obvious that because of the suffix -
ness the lexical category of happy has
changed
Adore + able=adorable
Dis + honest=dishonest
un +employ + ment =unemployment


Back -Formation
Back formation refers to the process of
creating a new lexeme(less precisely, a
new word) by removing actual or
supposed affixes. The resulting neologism
is called a back formation. These are
shortened words created from longer
words, thus back formation may be
viewed as a subtype of clipping. The noun
resurrection was borrowed from Latin
and the verb resurrect was back formed
hundreds of years later by removing the
ion suffix. This segmentation of
resurrection into the resurrect+ ion was
possible because English had many
examples of Latinate words that had verb
and verb + ion pairs. In these pairs the
ion suffix is added to verb forms in order
to create nouns( such as insert/insertion ,
project/projection).
Metaphorical Extensions:
Metaphorical extensions is yet another way In which the meaning of an
existing words is modified ,thus resulting in new usages . When the
language lacks right expressions for certain purposes, speakers often
take existing ones and extends its meanings in a recognizable way. For
example , we use the word ship to refer to space vehicle as well as to
ocean going vessels, surfing channels, internet or as compared to water
surfing.
Broadening the Meanings:
The use of existing words can be broadened in terms of
meanings. For example, the slang word cool was originally a
part of the professional jargon of jazz musicians and referred
to specific artistic style of jazz. Now it refers to general term
indicating approval of things in question or in terms of
appreciation , i.e you are looking cool.
Narrowing the Meanings:
The use of words can be
narrowed with the
passage of time. Once
the word meat meant
any solid consumable
food, but now it is used
to edible solid flesh of
animals i.e, white or red
meat.
Reversals:
Reversals of meanings can occur. In 17
th
century , artificial means full of
art but now it means superficial or fake .Holly wood movies of 1940s
reveal that square means honest, while in 1960s it refers to
conventionally hopeless and straight means upright in 1940s, and a
person who doesnt take drugs in 1960s.
Onomatopoeia
This special type of word that
depicts ''the sound associated
with what is named'' (Examples
of Onomatopoeia). For example,
if you take a look at these words:
boo, chirp, click, meow, splash, it
is obvious what these words
mean, namely the sound. In other
words: they look like they sound
when pronounced.
Onomatopoeic words like bang or
boom are often used in comic
books to let the reader know
what kind of sound is
accompanied to the action.