Word formation & Morphology

Question 1

etymology

Answer 1

the study of the origin and history of a word

Question 2

borrowing

Answer 2

taking over words from other languages.

Question 3

loan-translation (calque)

Answer 3

(two words) Direct translation of the element of a word into the borrowing language. eg. skyscraper “cloud scratcher” in German.

Question 4

compounding

Answer 4

joning of two seperate words to produce a single form. eg bookcase, good-looking, fast-food.

Question 5

blending (2)

Answer 5

the beginning of one words combined with the end of another. eg smoke+fog=smog, motor+hotel=motels
OR two beginnings combined (modem=modulator+demoduator)

Question 6

clipping

Answer 6

makes words shorter by taking away syllables. eg gasoline -> gas.

Question 7

hypocorisms

Answer 7

longer words reduced to one syllable + y/ie

eg. telly, mivie, bickie. mostly in British and au.

Question 8

neologism

Answer 8

a new word in a language

Question 9

backformation

Answer 9

A word (usually a noun) is reduced to another form (usually a verb). eg. worker->work, babysitter->babysit.

Question 10

conversion

Answer 10

a change in function of a word (without reduction). eg. to print out-> a printout, glue as a verb, water as a verb.

Question 11

coinage

Answer 11

totally new terms. eg aspirin, granola

Question 12

eponyms

Answer 12

new word based on a name of a place or person. eg. teddy bear, sandwich.

Question 13

acronyms

Answer 13

new word formed from the initial letters. eg CD, NASA, UNESCO.

Question 14

derivation

Answer 14

adding affixes to words eg. unhappy, sadness.

Question 15

affixes

Answer 15

the small bits added to a words in derivation

Question 16

prefix

Answer 16

affix added before the word

Question 17

suffix

Answer 17

affix added after the word

Question 18

infix

Answer 18

affix ad den in the middle of the word. Not so common.

Question 19

analogy

Answer 19

word formed to be similar to a already existing word.

eg hippie and yippie -> yuppie

Question 20

backformation

Answer 20

A word (usually a noun) is reduced to another form (usually a verb). eg. worker->work, babysitter->babysit.

Question 21

conversion

Answer 21

a change in function of a word (without reduction). eg. to print out-> a printout, glue as a verb, water as a verb.

Question 22

coinage

Answer 22

totally new terms. eg aspirin, granola

Question 23

eponyms

Answer 23

new word based on a name of a place or person. eg. teddy bear, sandwich.

Question 24

acronyms

Answer 24

new word formed from the initial letters. eg CD, NASA, UNESCO.

Question 25

derivation

Answer 25

adding affixes to words eg. unhappy, sadness.

Question 26

affixes

Answer 26

the small bits added to a words in derivation

Question 27

prefix

Answer 27

affix added before the word

Question 28

suffix

Answer 28

affix added after the word

Question 29

infix

Answer 29

affix ad den in the middle of the word. Not so common.

Question 30

analogy

Answer 30

word formed to be similar to a already existing word.

eg hippie and yippie -> yuppie

Question 31

morphology

Answer 31

“the study of forms”

the investigation that analyses all the basic “elements” in language. the internal structure of words

Question 32

morpheme

Answer 32

a minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function.

Question 33

free morpheme

Answer 33

a “element” of a word that stand by itself and give meaning. eg new, tour.

Question 34

bound morpheme

Answer 34

a “element” of a word that can not stnd by itself (attached to more). eg re-, -ist, -ed.

Question 35

stem

Answer 35

the basic word form or morpheme when it has bound morphemes attached.

Question 36

lexical morpheme

Answer 36

the free morpheme that “carries” the content. eg girl, sad, cat.

Question 37

functional morpheme

Answer 37

the free morpheme that are not carrying content. eg and, but, it.

Question 38

derivational morpheme

Answer 38

a bound morpheme that gives a word new meaning/changes word class when added. eg re-, pre-, -ly, -ment.

Question 39

inflectional morpheme

Answer 39

a morpheme that do not produce new words, but to indicate grammatical function of word. do not change word class.

Question 40

allomorph

Answer 40

a group of morphs (versions of one morpheme)

Question 41

morphs

Answer 41

the actual forms used to realise morphemes.

Question 42

11 examples of word formation

Answer 42

Borrowing, loan-translation
Compounding, blending
Clipping, hypocorisms, backformation 
Conversion
Coinage, acronyms 
Derivation