Affixation.

Affixation is forming new words by adding a derivational affix to a stem.

1) it is subdivided into

1.1 prefixation

2.2 suffixation

There are also infixes. F.e.: sportsman.

2) according to productivity

2.1 productive

2.2 non-productive

The most productive prefixes: non (nonsmoker), un (unpleasant), etc.

The most productive suffixes: er, ing, ness, ism, ist.

Non-productive suffixes: th (true – truth), hood (childhood), ship (friendship), dom (freedom).

3) according to their etymology

3.1 native. F.e.: suffixes: er, ful, less, like; prefixes: be, mis, over.

3.2 borrowed

3.2.1 Latin. F.e.: suffixes: able, ant / ent; prefixes: extra, pre, ultra.

3.2.2 Greek. F.e.: suffixes: ist; prefixes: nt, sym / syn.

3.2.3 French. F.e.: suffixes: age, ance / ence, ard, ee; prefixes: en /em.

4) according to their fuction

4.1 affixes proper

4.2 semi affixes (полуаффиксы). F.e.: some (handsome).

5) part-of-speech classification

5.1 noun-forming

5.2 adjective-forming

5.3 verb-forming

5.4 adverb-forming

The system of affixation in English was entirely upset by the Norman conquest. Some native affixes disappeared altogether.

Conversion.

Conversion is making a new word from an existing word by changing the category of a part of speech.

F.e.: work – to work; water – to water.

Conversion is highly productive in English.

There are several types of conversion in English:

1) verbalization. F.e.: water → to water; empty → to empty

2) substantivation.

3) adjectivation. F.e.: down (v.) → down (adj.).

4) adverbalisation. F.e.: home (n.) → home (adv.).

In English the most popular lines of conversion are forming nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns.

Conversion can be total and partial. Total conversion is registered in the dictionaries. F.e.: work as a noun and work as a verb. Partial conversion has occasional character and sometimes is used for the sake of irony, as a stylistic devise, etc. It is not registered in the dictionaries. F.e.: he uped and awayed in London; the girl has never been outed before.

Shortening / clipping.

Shortening is the formation of a new word by cutting off part of the parent word.

F.e.: examination – exam; laboratory – lab.

There are four types of shortening:

1) initial shortening / apheresis – the beginning of the word is cut off. F.e.: telephone – phone.

2) medial shortening / syncope – the middle of the word is taken away. F.e.: fantasy – fancy; spectacles – specs.

5) final shortening / apocope – the end od the word is cut off. F.e.: advertisement – ad.

6) mixed type (initial + final). F.e.: refrigerator – frige.

Blending.

Blending is the formation of a new word by combining parts of two or more words. It is not highly productive.

F.e.: Benelux = Belgium + Netherlands + Luxemburg; Oxbridge = Oxford + Cambridge.

The results of blending are called blends.

Types of blends:

1) additive. Blends of additive type can be transformed into a phrase with a conjunction “and”. F.e.: Oxbridge is Oxford and Cambridge.

2) restrictive. Blends of restrictive types can be transformed into a phrase “adjective = noun”. F.e.: medicare = medical care.

Sound imitation / onomatopoeia.

Sound imitation is based on phonetic motivation.

These words can be subdivided into several groups:

1) sounds produced by humans

2) sounds produced by animals

etc.

There is a wider interpretation of sound imitation. F.e.: fluffy.

Sound imitating words are iconic.

Back formation.

Back formation is the formation of a new word by cutting off a supposed suffix from a word that is wrongly regarded as a derivative. The new word is morphologically simpler then the parent word.

F.e.: baby-sitter; to typewrite; to vacuum-clean; to proof-reed.

Back formation first was used with French borrowings which are now regarded as cases of historical back formation. F.e.: burglar → to burgle; peddler → to peddle; cobbler → to cobble.

Sound interchange.

Sound interchange is the formation of a word by means of vowel interchange (ablaut) or consonant interchange or both vowel + consonant interchange.

Vowel interchange: food – to feed.

Consonant interchange: advice – advise.

Vowel + consonant interchange: life – to live.

Distinctive stress.

The formation of a word by means of the shift of stress in the parent word.

F.e.: ‘increase – in’crease; ‘import – im’port; ‘export – ex’port.

Word manufacturing.

Word manufacturing is the creation of new words which are not permanent members of the English word-stock. Usually they are not found in the dictionaries, but they are understood by the speakers of the language because they are created according to productive patterns.

F.e.: молоткастый (Маяковский); fingersmith (like goldsmith, silversmith).

Word overlapping (междусловное наложение). F.e.: slanguage (slang + language); alcoholiday (alcohol + holiday).

Phraseology.

…

Semantic classification:

1) comparative phraseology. F.e.: as busy as a bee.

2) phraseology about human relations. F.e.: a friend in need is a friend indeed.

3) education. F.e.: live and learn.

4) family relations

5) certain groups reflect the life of the country. F.e.: to be at sea = to be at difficult situation.

Classifications of phraseological units.

1) classification by Виноградов

1.1 phraseological combinations – are word groups with partially changed meaning. One of the components is used in its meaning. F.e.: to have a bath; to be a good hand of smth.

1.2 phraseological unities (единства) – completely changed meaning, but it is based on a metaphor which is clear. F.e.: to lose one’s heart; to break the ice.

1.3 phraseological fusions (сращения) – completely changed meaning and a metaphor is not clear. F.e.: to kick the pocket.

2) classification by professor Смирницкий

2.1 one-summit – one notional word. F.e.: for good; by heart.

2.2 two-summit – two notional words. F.e.: aas busy as a bee.

2.3 multi-summit. F.e.: a friend in need is s friend indeed.

This classification was criticized because it is based on a purely structural principle and it is not clear what the difference is between a phraseological unit and a word combination or a sentence.

3) one moreclassification by professor Смирницкий

3.1 phraseological units proper – they are not metaphorical and are stylistically neutral. F.e.: to get up; to have a look; to have a rest; to fall down.

3.2 idioms are always based on a metaphor and are stylistically colored. F.e.: as busy as a bee; to take a bull by the horns.

This classification develops a wider approach to a phraseological unit. And sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a phraseological unit proper and an idiom.

4) classifications by professor Кун

According to function

4.1 nominative phraseological units – they perform nominative function. F.e.: a hard nut to crack – крепкий орешек.

4.1.1 substantive – with a noun as the head member. F.e.: the last drop.

4.1.2 adjectival – with an adjective as a head element. F.e.: as busy as a bee.

4.1.3 adverbial. F.e.: back and forth.

4.1.4 verbal. F.e.: to live like a lord; to pay through the nose.

4.2 nominative-communicative – also perform nominative function but can be transformed into sentences with a verb in a passive voice. F.e.: to break the ice – the ice is broken; to cross the Rubicon – the Rubicon is crossed.

4.3 communicative phraseological units – they have the form of a sentence. F.e.: a friend in need is a friend indeed.

4.4 interjectional – they show emotions, feelings. F.e: good heavens! – О, боже!

This classification is based on several principles: function, structure, part of speech. And it is considered to be the most detailed in Russian phraseology.

Sources of phraseology.

1) everyday life. F.e.: to wash the dirty linen in public.

2) history. F.e.: to cross the Rubicon; Rome was not built in a day; Greek gift.

3) world literature. F.e.: to rub the lamp (“Arabian nights”).

4) the Bible. F.e.: the slaughter of the innocent; a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

5) other languages. F.e.: blue blood (from Spanish); to lose face (from Chinese).

6) mass media and quotations

7) films, plays

Borrowing.

A borrowing (a borrowed word) is a word taken from another language and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the English language.

Reasons for borrowing:

1) to name new objects

2) to differentiate the existing concepts. F.e.: “to love” and “to adore”.

3) to express new concepts

4) words can be borrowed blindly for no reason at all. There is no gap in the vocabulary which needs to be filled in.

Ways of borrowing new words:

1) cultural and language contacts

2) the spread of religion

3) wars, conquests and invasions

4) globalization

5) global systems of communication (Internet)

6) occasional borrowings

English language is a unique mixture of Germanic, Romanic elements, which has resulted in the international character of the vocabulary.

About 70-80% of words in English are borrowed.

Classification of borrowings:

1) according to what is borrowed

1.1 borrowings proper – these are words borrowed from another language and assimilated to this or that extend.

1.2 translation loans / calques – the new word is created from the native material according to a foreign pattern which is borrowed; the word is usually created by means of word-for-word or morpheme-for-morpheme translation. F.e.: небоскрёб; master piece (from German Meisterstück).

1.3 semantic borrowings / semantic loans – the meaning is borrowed from another language; a new appears due to the influence of a related word in another language. F.e.: pioneer. Now this word in English has two meaning: an explorer and a member of Pioneer organization.

1.4 morphemic borrowing – a morpheme is borrowed. F.e.: “экс” from English “ex”.

2) according to the degree of assimilation

Assimilation is a partial or total conformation of a borrowed word to the phonetic, graphical or morphological standards of the receiving language and its semantics.

2.1 completely assimilated – we cannot guess the origin from the form of the word. F.e.: street, cheese.

2.2 partially assimilated

2.2.1 words which are not assimilated semantically (blind borrowings) – they do not form derivatives, they do not develop new meaning, they do not form collocation and rarely enter phraseological units. F.e.: mantilla (from Spanish).

2.2.2 borrowings not assimilated grammatically – they don’t have the system of grammatical forms peculiar to the part of speech to which they belong. F.e.: criterion – criteria; crisis – crises. BUT: index – indices / indexes.

2.2.3 borrowings not assimilated phonetically. Usually it is French borrowings, which still has the stress on the last syllable. F.e.: machine, garage.

2.2.4 borrowing not assimilated graphically – their spelling includes foreign letter symbols. F.e.: Tromsø, café.

2.3 not assimilated at all /barbarism - words which are not assimilated in any way, for which there are corresponding English equivalents. F.e.: ciao (Italian) – bye (English); hors d'oeuvre (French).