Minor Ways of Word Formation

1. Shortening

2. Blending

3. Sound Interchange

4. Distinctive Stress

5. Sound Imitation

6. Back Formation

5.1. Shortening (Contraction). As a type of word building shortening of spoken words, also called clipping or curtailment, is recorded in the English language as far back as the 15^th century. It has grown more and more productive ever since. Newly shortened words appear continuously, this is testified by numerous neologisms, e.g. demo, frig, mike, TV, vac etc.

According to whether it is final, initial or middle part of the word that is cut, we distinguish: a ) final clipping or apocope, e.g. ad, coke, gym, lab, doc: b) initial clipping or aphesis, e.g. phone, cello, cute, fend etc.; c) medial clipping or syncope, e.g. maths, specs, fancy, ma’am. Such words as flu <influenza, fridge < refrigerator represent both initial and final clipping.

Another kind of shortening is graphical abbreviation. Words formed from the initial letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term are called acronyms, e.g. the UNO, BBC, NATO, OPEC etc. The term abbreviation may be used for a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in a text in place of a whole for economy of space and effort, e.g. abbr., sth, ltd, B.A., X-mas. In graphic abbreviations doubling of letters shows plural forms, e.g. pp – pages, CC – chapters. Latin abbreviations are specific to English, when read they are substituted for their English equivalents, e.g. ‘i.e. –that is, p.m. – in the afternoon, cf. – compare, e.g. – for example.

5.2. Blending is the formation of a new word by combining parts of two words. Blends, or fusions, or as they are sometimes called portmanteau words, may be of two types; 1) additive type that can be transformed into a phrase consisting of complete stems combined by the conjunction ‘and’, e.g. smog< smoke and fog; 2) restrictive type that can be transformed into a phrase, e.g. telecast< television broadcast, Niffles< Niagara Falls, bit< binary digit, positron< positive electron, motel< motorists’ hotel.

5.3. Sound Interchange is the formation of a word by an alteration in the phonemic composition of its root. There are two types of sound interchange: 1) vowel-interchange, or ablaut, e.g. food – to feed, In some cases we can find umlaut, or vowel mutation, e.g. full – fill, knot – knit, tale – tell; in other cases ablaut is combined with suffixation (strong – strength); 2) consonant-interchange, e.g. advice – to advise, speak – speech. Consonant interchange and vowel-interchange may come together, e.g. life – to live.

5.4. Distinctive Stress is the formation of a new word by means of the shift of the stress in the source word, e.g. increase to increase, import – to import etc.

5.5. Sound Imitation or Onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeic words are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimate objects. These words are a more or less exact reproduction of sounds associated with them, e.g. dogs bark and howl, cocks cry cock-a-doodle-doo, ducks quack, frogs croak, cats mew or meow, cows moo or low. Some names of animals, birds and insects are also sound-imitating words, e.g. crow, cuckoo, humming-bird, whip-poor-will, cricket. There are numerous verbs that are associated with sounds produced by human beings in the process of communication or expressing feelings, e.g. chatter, babble; verbs imitating the sound of water, the noise of metallic things, forceful motion, movements, e.g. murmur, splash, clink, whip, bang, buzz, swing etc.

5.6. Back-formation, or reversion, is the formation of a new word by subtracting a real or supposed suffix from the existing words. The process is based on analogy. For example, the word ‘to beg’ (to ask for alms in the streets) was derived by subtraction of the supposed suffix ‘-ar’ from a supposedly verbal stem of the noun ‘beggar’, that by its sound shape reminds to the native speakers of the suffix ‘-er’ denoting the doer of the action expressed by the root morpheme. Other cases of the earliest period of this type are: ‘to burgle< burglar, to cobble< cobbler’. Later examples are: ‘to butle< butler, to baby-sit< baby-sitter, to blood-transfuse< blood transfusion, to fingerprint< finger printings, to force-land< forced landing, to straphang< straphanger’.

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