21.Productive ways of word-formation in Modern English. Principal ways of word-derivation

Word-building is one of the main ways of enriching vocabulary. There are four main ways of word-building in modern English: affixation, composition, conversion, abbreviation. There are also secondary ways of word-building: sound interchange, stress interchange, sound imitation, blends, and back formation [1; 6].

 

In word-formation of the English language derivation and compounding are known to occupy a very important place.

Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation [2].

Suffixes may be classified proceeding from different criteria. According to the part of speech classification they fall into:

a) suffixes forming nouns;

b) suffixes forming adjectives;

c) suffixes forming verbs;

d) and adverb-suffixes [5].

Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words [2].

A compound word is a word composed entirely of smaller words.

Blending is a special type of compounding by means of merging parts of words into one new word. This category of word-formation is a development which has linguistic value of its own in various languages. The tendency towards shortness has become most active in recent times, in present-day English, particularly [5].

Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation [2].

Rayevska thinks that derivative and compound words, as lexemes, have naturally the properties revealed in their paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations. But there are cases when some semantic elements of such words do not find their formal expression and remain in "deep sense word-structure" [5].

Meshkov defines that in English words can be simple, derivative and compound. A simple word consists of a root to which morphological flexions can join: for example “table”, “book” are simple words. A derivative is a word which is formed by adding some affixes: for example, “speaker”, “government”, “to bed” are derivatives. Thus a verb “to bed” on a morphological structure is a simple word, and in this sense does not differ, from a noun, “a bed”, however, a verb is the product of the word-formation act (conversion) and, therefore, “to bed” is a derivative word. Consequently, morphological and word-formation structure of word can not coincide from the point of view of their divisibility and indivisibility [4].

A compound word is a word which appeared as a result of addition two or more bases: for example: “blackboard”, “handcraft”, “weekend”. Also in linguistic literature it is accepted to determine derivative compound words, these are compound words which have one or more derivative affixes.

23.Affixation. Its main typesAffixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of bases. Derived words formed by affixation may be the result of one or several applications of word-formation rule and thus the stems of words making up a word-cluster enter into derivational relations of different degrees. The zero degree of derivation is ascribed to simple words, i.e. words whose stem is homonymous with a word-form and often with a root-morpheme, e.g. atom, haste, devote, anxious, horror, etc. Derived words whose bases are built on simple stems and thus are formed by the application of one derivational affix are described as having the first degree of derivation, e.g. atomic, hasty, devotion, etc. Derived words formed by two consecutive stages of coining possess the second degree of derivation, etc., e.g. atomical, hastily, devotional, etc.

In conformity with the division of derivational affixes into suffixes and prefixes affixation is subdivided into suffixation and prefixation. Distinction is naturally made between prefixal and suffixal derivatives according to the last stage of derivation, which determines the nature of the ICs of the pattern that signals the relationship of the derived word with its motivating source unit, cf. unjust (un-+just), justify, (just++ -ify), arrangement (arrange + -ment), non-smoker (non- + smoker). Words like reappearance, unreasonable, denationalise, are often qualified as prefixal-suffixal derivatives. The reader should clearly realise that this qualification is relevant only in terms of the constituent morphemes such words are made up of, i.e. from the angle of morphemic analysis. From the point of view of derivational analysis such words are mostly either suffixal or prefixal derivatives, e.g. sub-atomic = sub- + (atom + + -ic), unreasonable = un- + (reason + -able), denationalise = de- + + (national + -ize), discouragement = (dis- + courage) + -ment.

A careful study of a great many suffixal and prefixal derivatives has revealed an essential difference between them. In Modern English suffixation is mostly characteristic of noun and adjective formation, while prefixation is mostly typical of verb formation. The distinction also rests on the role different types of meaning play in the semantic structure of the suffix and the prefix.¹ The part-of-speech meaning has a much greater significance in suffixes as compared to prefixes which possess it in a lesser degree. Due to it a prefix may be confined to one part of speech as, e.g., enslave, encage, unbutton or may function in more than one part of speech as, e.g., over- in overkind a, to overfeed v, overestimation n; unlike prefixes, suffixes as a rule function in any one part of speech often forming a derived stem of a different part of speech as compared with that of the base, e.g. careless a — cf. care n; suitable a — cf. suit v, etc. Furthermore, it is necessary to point out that a suffix closely knit together with a base forms a fusion retaining less of its independence than a prefix which is as a general rule more independent semantically, cf. reading — ‘the act of one who reads’; ‘ability to read’; and to re-read — ‘to read again.'

24.Blending as a way of word formation in Modern English.

Blendings (blends, fusions or portmanteau words) may be defined as formation that combine two words that include the letters or sounds they have in common as a connecting element (slimnastics < slim+gymnasttcs; mimsy < miserable+flimsy; galumph < gallop+triumph; neutopia < new+utopia). The process of formation is also called telescoping. The analysis into immediate constituents is helpful in so far as it permits the definition of a blend as a word with the first constituent represented by a stem whose final part may be missing, and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing. The second constituent when used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix -on; is, for instance, well under way in such terms as nylon, rayon, silon, formed from the final element of cotton. This process seems to be very active in present-day English word-formation numerous new words have been coined recently: Reaganomics,. Irangate, blacksploitation, workaholic, foodoholic, scanorama etc