Word formation

• etymology = study of the origin and history of words;
• Word formation: Coinages and eponyms,Borrowings and calques (loan translations),Compounds,blending (blends),Clipping,Backformation,Acronyms,Conversion,Derivation
• Coinage: a trade name for a product becomes a name used to refer to all the products of this kind
• Eponym: a name of a person / place becomes a general name for an invention
• Borrowing: —taking over a word from another language
• Loan translation: a specific kind of borrowing which involves full phrases and not single words( how come, superman)
• Compound: two or more words joined together to form one new word
• Blend: combining parts of two different words into one new word
• Blending: The beginning of word 1 + the ending of word 2 = a new word,
• portmanteau words:Common in informal language
• Clipping:Shortening a longer word to 1-2 syllable. crocodile à croc
• hypocorism; here, we shorten the word to 1-2 syllable(s) + add an ending -ie or –y, e.g. lipstick  à lippy
• Backformation: —shortening a word + changing the part of speech by adding an ending. option - to opt. —the most common pattern: nouns backformed into verbs
• Conversion: a word is used as a different part of speech, but its appearance doesn’t change. water - to water. Another name: category change / functional shift
• Acronyms: we take the initial letter of each word and put these letters together. Cd
• Derivation: —Forming new words, or new parts of speech, by adding affixes, divided into prefixes, suffixes and infixes.
• infix = inserted in the middle of the word (as a regular process, infixation is absent in English
• —Derivation (fully rule-governed)
• Suffixes are added at the end of the root.