Word formation.

Word formation is the system of derivative types of words and the process of creating new words from the material, available in the language, according to structural and semantic patterns.

There are two types of word formation: major and minor.

Major types are the most productive (principle types). There are three major types of word formation:

1) compounding / composition (словосложение)

2) affixation

3) conversion

Minor types are less productive then the first three types:

1) shortening / clipping

2) blending

3) sound imitation

4) back formation

5) sound interchange

5) distinctive stress

Compounding.

Compounding is joining two or more stems together to form a new word.

Classification of compounds:

1) according to the type of composition

1.1 without any connecting element. F.e.: heartbreak, somebody, bookcase.

1.2 with a vowel or a consonant as a connecting element. F.e.: speedometer, handicraft, sportsman.

1.3 with a preposition or a conjunction as a connecting element. F.e.: brother-in-law, matter-of-fact, mother-of-pearl, up-to-date, day-and-night.

2) according to the structure

2.1 consisting of simple stems. F.e.: ladybird, heartbeat.

2.2 one stem is simple, the other is a derived one. F.e.: hairdoer, chain-smoker.

2.3 one of the stems is clipped / shortened. F.e.: pop-music, Xmas.

2.4 one of the elements is a compound word itself. F.e.: wastepaper basket.

3) according to the relations between the elements

3.1 coordinative compounds – the two elements are semantically equally important. F.e.: secretary-stenographer

3.2 subordinative compounds – the components are not equal, but are based on the domination of the head member, which is usually the second element. F.e.: heartbeat (beat is the head element).

4) part-of-speech classification

4.1 compound nouns.

4.2 compound adjectives. F.e.: blue-eyed, left-handed.

4.3 compound verbs. F.e.: to bypass, to hitchhike.

5) according to structural peculiarities

5.1 endocentric compounds are compound word in which the referent is named by one of the elements, the second element gives further characteristics. F.e.: sunbeam, maidservant, looking glass, sunflower, searchlight, bathrobe.

5.2 exocentric compounds – both elements taken together name the referent. F.e.: ladybird, pickpocket, cutthroat, lazybones.

6) according to the stability

6.1 loose. F.e.: blackboard, stonewall.

6.2 stable. F.e.: heartbeat, heartbreak.

7) according to the type of syntactic phrase with which the compound is correlated.

7.1 string compounds (см. identity of unit problem)

7.2 reduplicative compounds are words which are formed by doubling stems with or without sound interchange

7.2.1 reduplicative compounds proper. F.e.: pretty-pretty, fifty-fifty, very-very.

7.2.2 consisting of pseudo morphemes. F.e.: blah-blah, zig-zag.

7.2.3 sound imitating words. F.e.: hush-hush, knock-knock.

7.2.4 ablaut combinations – doubling stems with sound interchange. F.e.: chitchat, knick-knack.

7.2.5 rhyme compounds. F.e.: walkie-talkie, willy-nilly, boogie-woogie.

7.3 pseudo compounds are words which look like compounds, but were formed by backformation or conversion. F.e.: babysit, spotlight.