QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY

DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

MODULE 3

Competencies: At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

1.Determine the different word formation processes.

2.Develop strategies for coping with unknown words and ambiguous terms.
3.Expand one’s reservoir of vocabulary.
4.Appreciate newly – formed English words as component of the language.

Module Overview

This module provides the students series of lessons on how English words are
formed. It discusses the different kinds of word formation processes. It increases the
students’ awareness of the formation of words and increases their reservoir of
vocabulary intended for language enhancement skills.

WORD FORMATION PROCESSESS

Have you ever consider how it would be if you could not communicate ? All your
ideas and emotions would lock up inside you. You would have no way to express them
to another human being. There would be no language, spoken or written. There would
be no conversation, no teaching, no joking, no books, no cartoons, no letters. You
wouldn’t have sign language or pantomime. If you were to lose your ability to
communicate, it is highly questionable whether you could ever survive.

Since people are social creatures, they have developed many sets of encoded
symbols, called words. Communication take place because of the words people utter.
But even if people utter words, sometimes confusion occurs. The more words there are
in the language the more messages are relayed. English has an especially large
vocabulary containing many words that have only a shade of difference in meaning.

Have you ever wondered how words have been formed ? With all the complexities
of English words, you will discover that there are process done in the creation of a
certain word.

The human mind never seems never to rest.You think when you are awake, when
you asleep,even when you dream.When you speak, you are putting your thoughts into
oral language. Sometimes it seems that your words pour out before you have considered
the effects of those words might produce.
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DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Indeed, words becomes a powerful tool among people. Sometimes, you try your
rashness by saying : “ I spoke words without thinking. “ A famous quote needles us with
this warning : Be sure the brain is engaged before putting the mouth in gear.

Words then becomes a part of daily existence. Thus, words need a thorough
study. Words have been formed in various ways. These are called word formation
process.

Why do we call hamburger “ hamburger ”? There’s no

ham in it .Let’s try to find out…

The following processes explain how words are formed:

1.BLENDING OF WORDS

Blending is one of the commonly used processes of word formation in

English. It is common because speakers take two words and merge them based
not on morpheme structure but on sound structure. The resulting words are
called blends.

To make a blended English word. you take two existing words and combine
the letters in a way to make a new word. The new word then represents a
combination of the sounds and meanings of the two original words, but has its
own unique meaning too!

Making blended words sounds like fun right? Some blended words in
English are so common, most native English speakers forget they are a
combination of two existing words. A lot of blended words in English started out,
or still remain, slang/informal words, but some blended words have worked their
way into dictionaries and common use.

Blended words are common because they show linguistic creativity.

Blended words are symbols of how languages grow, change, and reflect current
culture.

The blend is a perfect merger of form, and also of content. The meaning
contains an implicit analogy between the swastika and the swoosh, and thus
conceptually blends them into one new kind of thing having properties of both,
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DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

but also combined properties of neither source. Other examples include glitterati
(blending glitter and literati) 'Hollywood social set', mockumentary (mock and
documentary) .

Here are other samples of word blend :

sitcom +situation + comedy

blog (web + log) = a regularly updated website, typically one run by an individual or
small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style – this is a BLOG!

brunch (breakfast + lunch) = a large meal eaten at a time between breakfast and lunch,
replacing the two meals with one instead. (Eating brunch is very common on weekend
days in America.)

cyborg (cybernetic + organism) = a hypothetical human being with physical abilities

that are beyond a normal human because mechanical elements have been built into the
body.
emoticon (emotion + icon) = keyboard symbols used to represent facial expression
such as : – ) =

frenemy (friend + enemy) = a person who is a friend even though there is an underlying
dislike or rivalry in the relationship

glamping (glamorous + camping) = high class camping, often in cabins or indoor

structures, instead of tents, with many modern amenities, such as electricity, running
water, cable TV and internet.

humongous (huge + monstrous) = very big, both of these words mean large so putting
the two words together indicates that something is extremely big.

Internet (international + network) = the global communication network that allows

computers around the world to connect and share information.

mocktail (mock + cocktail) = a cocktail that has no alcohol in it, mock = fake, so this
is like a fake cocktail

2.CLIPPING OF WORDS
This is a word formation process which makes a word shorter.It is the
reduced for of a word.. For example, the word rifle is a fairly modern clipping of
an earlier compound rifle gun, meaning a gun with a rifled barrel. Rifled means
having a spiral groove causing the bullet to spin, and thus making it more
accurate.
In morphology, clipping is the process of forming a new word by dropping
one or more syllables from a polysyllabic word, such as cellphone from cellular
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DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

phone. In other words, clipping refers to part of a word that serves for the whole,
such as ad and phone from advertisement and telephone, respectively. The term
is also known as a clipped form, clipped word, shortening, and truncation.
A clipped form generally has the same denotative meaning as the word it
comes from, but it's regarded as more colloquial and informal. Clipping also
makes it easier to spell and write many words. For example, a clipped form may
replace the original word in everyday usage—such as the use of piano in place
of pianoforte.
Here are other samples:

Brassiere- bra
zoological garden – zoo
influenze –Flu
administration admin
condominium- condo
gymnasium- admin
Deli: Though this word has been in use for at least a half century,
delicatessen, from the German word for “delicacies,” is best for formal usage.
Bus: Omnibus (Latin for “all”), a word for a horse-drawn public-
transportation conveyance, gave the right of way to its short form around the
time such vehicles became motorized.

3.Compounding

Compounding forms a word out of two or more root morphemes. The words are
called compounds or compound words.

In Linguistics, compounds can be either native or borrowed. Native English roots

are typically free morphemes, so that means compounds are made out of independent
words that can occur by themselves. Examples:

mailman
mail carrier fireplace
fireplug fire hydrant

Note that compounds are written in various ways in English:

1. with a space between the elements;

2. with a hyphen between the elements;
3. or simply with the two roots run together with no separation.
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DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

There are a number of subtypes of compounds, and they are not mutually
exclusive.

Rhyming compounds

A. These words are compounded from two rhyming words. Examples:

lovey-dovey chiller-killer

B. There are words that are formally very similar to rhyming compounds, but are
not quite compounds in English because the second element is not really a word-
-it is just a nonsense item added to a root word to form a rhyme. Examples:

higgledy-piggledy tootsie-wootsie

C.This formation process is associated in English with child talk (and talk
addressed to children). Examples:

bunnie-wunnie Henny Penny snuggly-wuggly

D. Another word type that looks a bit like rhyming compounds comprises words
that are formed of two elements that almost match, but differ in their vowels.
Again, the second element is typically a nonsense form:

pitter-patter;zigzag ; tick-tock; riffraff;flipflop

4.ACRONYMS

Acronyms are formed by taking the initial letters of a phrase and making
a word out of it. The classical acronym is also pronounced as a word.
Occasionally, not just letters but a whole or part syllable can be used in the
formation of an acronym.

Acronym formation is the forming words from the initials of a group of

words that designate one concept. Usually, but not always, capitalized. An
acronym is pronounced as a word if the consonants and vowels line up in such
a way as to make this possible, otherwise it is pronounced as a string of letter
names.

Examples are cited in the table below:

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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome),
SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus),
radar Radio Detection And Ranging
WWW World Wide Web
LASER Light Amplification through Simulation Emission of Radiation
PIN Personal Identification Number

5.Abbreviations

One way to make a word shorter is through abbreviating them. Initial letters may
be taken to form the abbreviation.

Attorney= Atty Professor= Prof. Reverend= Rev Lieutenant= Lt.

6. Borrowing.

Borrowing is one of the most common sources of getting new words in English.
That is the taking over of words from other languages. Throughout history the English
language has adopted a vast number of loan words from other languages. For example:

Examples

Alcohol (Arabic) Boss (Dutch) Croissant (French)

Piano (Italian) Pretzel (German) Robot (Czech)

Zebra (Bantu)

7.Adoption of brand names as common words: a brand name becomes the name for
the item or process associated with the brand name. The word ceases to be capitalized
and acts as a normal verb/noun (i.e. takes inflections such as plural or past tense). The
companies using the names usually have copyrighted them and object to their use in
public documents, so they should be avoided in formal writing (or a lawsuit could follow!)
Examples: xerox, kleenex, band-aid, kitty, Kodak

8.Creative respelling
Sometimes words are formed by simply changing the spelling of a word that the
speaker wants to relate to the new word. Product names often involve creative
respelling, such as Mr. Kleen; Block and White lotion

9. Onomatopoeia :
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Words are invented which (to native speakers at least) sound like the sound they
name or the entity which produces the sound.
Examples: hiss, sizzle, cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-doo, buzz, beep, ding-dong,sledges

10.Derivation is the creation of words by modification of a root without the addition of

other roots. Often the effect is a change in part of speech.

Examples: abuser, refusal, untie, inspection, pre-cook.

Subtype of Derivation:

1. Affixation adding a derivational affix to a word.

2.prefixation: Adding prefixes to rootwords

3.suffixation: Adding Suffixes to root words.

Below are common prefixes , their meanings and word samples

Prefixes Meaning Word samples

Anti- against antibiotic,anti-asthma
Bi- two bicycle,bipolar
Mal- Wrong/ bad malnourished
Mis - wrong misunderstand
Sub- beneath submarine

Below are common suffixes ,their meanings and word samples

suffixes Meaning Word samples

-ship State, condition internship
-acy state literacy
-fy cause electrify
-ate become illuminate
-ous Full of marvelous

11. Coinage

It is a creation of a totally new word.This word formation process is not frequent,

however large corporations attempt to outdo one another to invent short eye- catching
names of their products. The latest term in Philippine commercial world is the term
belofied, A term derived from Dr. Belo’s Beauty clinic. Belofied is a word which means
“to get committed to beauty related products”.Sometimes the products at the companies
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

want to sell simply take over the name of creator or inventor. In such case, the new word
is called eponym. They are also the words often used in science where units of
measurement are named after: Bench ,Volt, Watts, Celsius

Coinage is the word formation process of inventing entirely new words such as
Ex: robotics (1941), genocide (1943), black hole (1968), blog, internet, google.

Good job.
You are done with Module 3 .