Topic for presentation

· Structural and derivational types of words (Зыкова И.В. … С. 55, 64-65, 68)

Seminar 9. Word-formation

Item-and-process approach. Word-formation (word-building, word-derivation) in English: affixation, conversion, word-composition, shortening, postpositivation, back-formation and minor ways. Affixation: prefixation and suffixation. Classification of prefixes according to their origin, meaning, productivity. Classification of suffixes according to their origin, meaning, part of speech they form, productivity. Polysemy, homonymy and synonymy of derivational affixes. Hybrids. Conversion: substantivation, verbalization, advebialization, adjectivation. Syncronic and diachronic approach to conversion. Word-composition. The problem of “stone wall”. Dignostic criteria for compounds (phonetic, graphic, morphological, semantic). Types of compound words: coordinative and subordinative; proper and derivational; neutral, morphological and syntactical; endocentric and exocentric; idiomatic and non-idiomatic. Shortening: abbreviations (initial abbreviations and acronyms), clippings, blends. Postpositivation. Back-formation. Minor ways: sound imitation (onomatopoeia), sound-interchange, stress-interchange.

Test Questions

1. What are the principal productive ways of word-formation in English?

2. What are the basic ways of forming words in word-derivation?

3. What principles of the classification of the affixes can be singled out?

4. What is the difference between frequency and productivity of affixes?

5. What features of Modern English have produced the high productivity of conversion?

6. What is meant by word composition?

7. What types of English compounds do you know? What are their peculiarities?

8. What are the main types of shortening of English words?

9. What do we call back-formation?

10. What are the minor ways of modern word-formation?