CH. 5 WORD FORMATION

Flashcards covering key terminology and categories of word formation as discussed in the CSD 2030: Intro to Language lecture.

Etymology

The study of the origin and history of words.

Neologism

A newly invented word.

Word Formation

The processes by which new words are formed and added to the English language.

Language Evolution

The continuous process of change and development in language, including the addition of new words.

Coinage

A word formation process that creates new words, often from commercial product names, names of people or places (eponyms), or initial letters (acronyms).

Eponym

A new word based on the name of a person or place.

Acronym

A new word formed from the initial letters of other words.

Alphabetism

An acronym where the initial letters are pronounced individually (e.g., CPU, URL).

Borrowing

A word formation process involving taking words directly from other languages.

Loan Translation (Calque)

A direct translation of the elements of a word from one language into the borrowing language.

Compounding

A word formation process involving joining two separate words to produce a single form.

Blending

A word formation process involving combining two separate forms, typically using the beginning of one word and the end of the other, to produce a single new term.

Clipping

A word formation process where a multisyllabic word (or words) is reduced to a shorter form, generally by dropping syllables.

Hypocorism

A type of clipping where a multisyllabic word is reduced to a single syllable, and then -y or -ie is added to the end.

Backformation

A type of word reduction where a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to a word of another type (usually a verb).

Conversion (Functional Shift / Category Change)

A word formation process involving a change in the function of a word (e.g., a noun being used as a verb) without reduction.

Derivation

A word formation process that uses affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes) tacked onto words to create new words.

Affix

A morpheme (prefix, suffix, or infix) that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form.

Prefix

An affix placed at the beginning of a word.

Suffix

An affix placed at the end of a word.

Infix

An affix inserted in the middle of a word, not commonly used in regularly formed English words.