Morphological features found in formal texts

Question 1

In general morphological features:

Answer 1

Long words(polysyllabic)(length of the word)
Some affixes: Latinate words seem more formal/with Latin affixes

Question 2

Affixation

Answer 2

In formal language, morphology is typically Greek or Latin.(makes the reader/author seem more knowledgeable).
Latinate: relating to, resembling, or derived from Latin. E.g. Medical and Legal language used Latin terms.

Question 3

Nominalization

Answer 3

Verbs are converted into noun form, and as person is removed, so is the responsibility. Makes it sound more professional when the ‘who’ is unknown. Also the focus becomes the object or concept instead of the action. E.g. The charity walk instead of We walked for charity.

Question 4

Compounding

Answer 4

Where the hyphen is used to join words together. Used to replace strings or clusters of words. E.g. The behavior of teachers becomes teacher-behavior
Why? Sounds more abstract/increase complexity in expression

Question 5

Abbreviations

Answer 5

Formal language uses less abbreviations than other text types, but some are commonly used in formal texts. Acronyms & initialisms, honorifics and titles, and Latin phrases(ibid, et al) are some examples.

Question 6

Contractions

Answer 6

Shortened word: Omission of letters. This is permissible in formal language if it can make the writing seem more natural

Question 7

Shortening

Answer 7

Removal of a segment of a word(bot, roach, doc, etc.)

Question 8

Blending

Answer 8

Often used as expressive means in various domains including slang, popular media, political terms, bureaucratic buzzwords(jargon), and company names.

Question 9

Backformation

Answer 9

Forming new words(neologisms) by removing affixes from another word.

Question 10

Conversion

Answer 10

Noun to verb. E.g. We trammed here. Or, we googled it/we tabled it.