Word Formation Flashcards
What is a neologism?
A new word
What is known as the study of the origin and history of a word?
Etymology
What are the two languages are the main sources of English words?
Latin and German
What is the process of borrowing?
The process of taking words from other languages and incorporating them in one language
Also known as a calque, what is the type of borrowing in which each element of a word is translated into the borrowing language?
Loan-translation
What is known as the process of combining two separate words to produce a single term?
Compounding
How is the process of blending different from compounding?
Blending takes only the beginning of one word and joins it to the end of another, whereas compounding uses both entire words and joins them together (e.g. “smog” for smoke and fog vs. “textbook” for text and book)
When a word of two or more syllables is shortened, usually used in casual speech, what process is taking place?
Clipping
In Australian and British English, what type of reduction process reduces a larger word into a single syllable and then appending ‘y’ or ‘ie’ at the end?
Hypocorisms
When using backformation, what happens to a word of one type (usually a noun)?
It is reduced to form a word of another type (usually a verb, e.g. “donate” to “donation”)
When changing the function of a word, like changing it from a noun into a verb, what process is being used?
Conversion
What is the process of coinage?
The invention and general use of new terms (e.g. google, tweet)
What are eponyms?
New words based on the name of a person or a place
What are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words?
Acronyms
What is the most common word-formation process in the production of new words and how does it work?
Derivation - adds affixes to preexisting words to create a new meaning (e.g., “joyful” appending ‘ful’, “misread” prefixing ‘mis’)
