Unit 2 AOS 1 Flashcards
Narrowing
The process of which the meaning of the word is changed to become more specific
Broadening
The process of which the meaning of the word is changed to become more general
Meaning Shifts
The process of which a word changes in meaning that entirely different from its original meaning
Taboo words
Words that are embarrassing, or difficult to discuss
Euphemisms
Used in place of Taboo words, that are mild and are more suitable for offensive words
Compouding
A combination of 2 or more free morphemes to create 1 word
Affixation
Adding a bound morpheme to form new words
Conversion
Creating a new word that belongs to a different part of speech than the original, without affixation
Backformation
New words that are formed by subtracting an affix, that was wrongly though to be part of the original word
Shortening
Creating a new word by shortening a longer word
Blend
A process of word formation in which 2 independent words are combined and create a new word
Abbreviations
A form of a word or phrase with letters that are either removed or substituted
Initialism
Taking the first letter from a string of words and saying those letters
Acronym
Taking the first letter from a string of words and pronouncing them as their own
Contraction
Using an apostrophe to indicate that letters have been elided
Neologisms
New words that have been invented
Commonization
Proper nouns being converted into common nouns or another part of speech
Borrowing
New words that are taken from another language, especially in food
Nominalisation
The conversion of non-nouns, noun phrases, often verbs into nouns
Word Loss / Obsolescence
Refers to word or expression that are not commonly used, that remain in the language for technical terminology
Archaisms
Words that exist in fixed phrases or old texts but are not used outside of these contexts, lost their original meaning in the fullest sense
