Course paper

1.2 Different ways and the types of forming-word

There are different word-formation means in modern English. They are:

1) MAGOR ['meɪʤə] главные

· affixation (добавляется суффикс или приставка)

· composition (словосложение sun + light = sunlight)

· conversion (конверсия – переход из одной части речи в другую, без добавления суффикса или окончания work (noun) → to work (verb)

· shortening (сокращение)

· sound imitation (звукоподражание)

· sound interchange (замена, чередование звука)

· stress interchange (замена ударного звука)

· blending (['blendɪŋ]) (слияние – одно слово проникает в другое

smoke [sməuk] курить + fog [fɔɡ] туман = smog [smɔɡ] густой туман с дымом и копотью; смог)

· backformation ( babysitter (noun) → to babysit (verb))

Affixationis one of the most productive ([prə'dʌktɪv] эффективных) ways of word building. It consists in adding an affix to the steam of the definite part of speech.

Affixes are divided into:

· suffixes

· prefixes

Affixes can be classified into:

· productive

· nonproductive

Productive affixes are those [ðəuz] which take part in forming new words in this period ['pɪərɪəd] of language development. The best way to identify the productive affix is to look for them among ([ə'mʌŋ] среди) neologisms ([nɪ'ɔləʤɪz(ə)m] новое слово). But one shouldn`t confuse([kən'fjuːz] путать) the productivity of affixes with the frequency (['friːkwən(t)sɪ] частотными). There are a lot of high frequency affixes which were productive long ago but are not longer used in word formation (For example: micro, lete –productive).

Suffixation.The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another.

The secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech.

There are different classifications of suffixes:

1) Part of speech classification

· noun-forming suffixes (-er, - dom, -ness; For example kingdom, worker, kindness)

· adjective-forming (-less -able; For example; helpless, useless, , reasonable)

· verb-forming suffixes (-ize, -ify; For example computerize (внедрять), dramatize (инсценировать), simplify (упрощать))

· adverb-forming suffixes (-ly; For example simply (легко), properly (правильно))

· numeral-forming ['njuːm(ə)r(ə)l] suffixes (-teen, -ty; For example fifteen, fifty)

2) Semantic [sɪ'mæntɪk] classification (suffixes change the lexical meaning of the stem)

· the agent (['eɪʤ(ə)nt] представитель) of the action (профессии)(-er, -or, -ist, -ent; For example lawyer, actor, stylist)

· nationality ([ˌnæʃ(ə)'nælətɪ] национальность) (-ian, -ese, ish; For example Italian, Chinese, Spanish)

· collectivity ([ˌkɔlek'tɪvɪtɪ] общность) (-dom)

· quality (['kwɔlətɪ] свойство, характерная черта) (-ity; For example ability)

3) Etymological [ˌetɪmə'lɔʤɪk(ə)l] classification

· native (-er, -ful, -ness, -less)

· borrowed (-ment, -ize)

4) Productivity

· productive

· nonproductive

Hybrids³ are words made up of elements which came from two or more different languages. There are two basic types of forming hybrid words:

1) a foreign base is combined with a native affix (colorless, uncertain)

2) a native base is combined with a foreign affix ( ex-wife)

Prefixationis the formation (образование) of words by adding a prefix to the stem. The main function of prefixes is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech.

There are different classifications of prefixes:

1) Semantic classification

· prefixes of negative ['negətɪv] meaning (un-, ir-, non-, im- For example unknown, unfair)

· prefixes denoting repetition ([ˌrepɪ'tɪʃ(ə)n] повторение) or reversal ([rɪ'vɜːs(ə)l] полное изменение) action (re-, dis-, de- For example rewrite)

· prefixes denoting time, place (ex-, pre- For example ex-student, pre-election)

2) Etymological classification

· native (under-, over-, un-)

· borrowed (de-, ex- For example decolonized)

3) According to productivity:

· productive

· nonproductive

Semi-affixes.There are such cases (случаи) when we can`t understand if we have a suffix or a root (корневая) morpheme in the structure of the word. In such cases we call this elements semi-affixes. Such affixes of the English vocabulary are used as independent elements and as second elements.

For example land – Scotland

man – sportsman

Now days the following semi-affixes are popular (europ-, micro- and other)

Affixes can be classified into:

· productive

· nonproductive

Productive affixes are those which take part in forming new words in this period of language development. The best way to identify the productive affix is to look for them among neologisms. But one shouldn`t confuse the productivity of affixes with the frequency. There are a lot of high frequency affixes which were productive long ago but are not longer used in word formation (For example: micro, lete –productive).

Conversion consists in making a new word from same existing word by changing the category of the part of speech. The morphemic ['mɔːfiːm] shape of the original word remains ([rɪ'meɪnz] остается) unchanged.

The new word has a meaning which differs from that of the original one through ([θruː] через) it can be associated ([ə'səusɪeɪtɪd] связана) with it.

The new word has a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech.

For example

nurse (noun) nurse (verb)

-s, pl -ed (past simple, past participle)

-`s, sg -ing

-s`, pl

Conversion is very productive in modern English. It is the English way to word building due to:

1) The analytical [ˌæn(ə)'lɪtɪk((ə)l)] structure of modern English

2) The simplicity ([sɪm'plɪsətɪ] простота) of paradigms English part of speech

3) A great number of one syllable (['sɪləbl] слог) words, which are more mobile

The activity of conversion in different parts of speech various greatly (очень различно). Nouns and verbs especially effected (результат) by conversion. Verbs make from nouns are the most numerous.

· noun → verb (hand → to hand, face → to face, e-mail → to e-mail)

· verb → noun (to find → a find)

· adjective → noun (cold → a cold)

· adjective → verb (pale → to pale, yellow → to yellow)

It is the type of word building in which new words are produced (производятся) by combining (объединения, сложения) two or more stems. Such words are called compounds (['kɔmpaund]).

There are three structural ['strʌkʧ(ə)r(ə)l] types of compounds:

1) Neutral ['njuːtr(ə)l] compounds. The words which are formed without any linking elements by putting (составления) two stems together.

· simple neutral. These words consists of simple affix less (без суффиксов и приставок) stems (две основы без соединительного элемента)

For example Bed+room, sun+flower

· neutral derived ([dɪˈraɪv] производный, вторичный). They have affixes in their structure

For example kind-hearted, chain-smoker

· shortened ['ʃɔːt(ə)n] neutral compounds (or contracted). They have a shortened stem in their structure

For example TV-set, T-shirt

2) Morphological compounds. They are formed with the help of the linking elements: o, i, e, s, n

For example sport-s-man, now-a-days, hand-i-work, speed-o-meter,

3) Syntactic [sɪn'tæktɪk((ə)l)] (Syntactical) compounds. They are formed from segments of speech including preposition, conjunctions, articles, adverbs.

For example Jack-of-all-trades – мастер на все руки

Merry-go-round – карусель

mother-in-law – теща

forget-me-not – незабываемые

Semantically compounds may be:

1) Non-idiomatic [ˌɪdɪə'mætɪk] (completely motivated). The meaning is divided from the meanings of the immediate constituents. The meaning of the words understood from the meaning of its components.

For example Sun+light, dining+room

2) Idiomatic compounds. The meaning can`t be divided from the meaning of the constituents. The meaning of the word can`t be understood from the meaning of its components.

· partially motivated. The meaning of the constituents (components) are weakened ([ˈwi:kən] ослаблено) but we can guess (угадать) the meaning

For example me-generation – поколение, которое озабочено собственными

проблемами

Lazy-bones – лентяй

· non-motivated. The meaning of the constituents (components) are lost (потеряно).

For example a blue+bottle – василек

a lady+bird – божья коровка

a lady+killer – сердцеед

a tall+boy – высокий табурет, бокал на высокой ножке

a Love+lace – ловелас

Minor word building processes in modern English

Back-formation. There are words that appeared ([əˈpɪə] появились) due to (из-за) the fact that part of the word was mistaken (по ошибке был принят) for an affix. For example a verb is made from a noun by subtraction ([səbˈtrækʃən] вычитанием). The process of back-formation can easily be paralleled [ˈpærəlel] in other languages (садить – сад, видеть – вид)

For example babysitter (noun) – to babysit (verb)

sculpture (noun) – to sculpt (verb)

beggar (noun) – to beg (verb)

Shorting.It`s the formation of the word by cutting (отрезанием) off a part of the word. Shortenings are made in 2 different ways:

1) By clipping (['klɪpɪŋ] отрезанием) part of the words

2) By making a new word from the initial (начальных) letters (букв) of a word group (abbreviations)

a) Initial shortening (начальное сокращение → отсекается начало). The initial part of the word is clipped.

For example (tele)phone → phone, (cara)van → van

b) Medial ['miːdɪəl] shortenings (сокращается середина слова). The middle part of the word is clipped.

For example fan(ta)sy → fancy, ma(da)m → mam

c) Final shortening (отсекают конец слова). The last part of the word is clipped.

For example doc(tor) → doc, prep(aration) → prep

d) Both initial and final shortening (отсекают и начало и конец слова). The beginning and the end of the word are clipped.

For example (in)flue(nce) → flue, (re)frige(rator) →fridge

2) Abbreviation [əˌbriːvɪ'eɪʃ(ə)n]

a) Acronyms ['ækrə(u)nɪm]. They are pronounced (произносятся) as independent words. (читается словом)

For example UNO (ЮНО) – United Nations Organization

NATO (НАТО) –North Atlantic Treaty (['triːtɪ] договор) Organization

b) Initial abbreviation with alphabetical reading. (читается по буквам)

For example BBC, MP – Member of Parliament, PM – prime minister

c) Word combination with one element initially abbreviated.

For example V-day – Victory day

A-bomb – atomic bomb

d) Latin ['lætɪn] abbreviation

For example etc. – и так далее

i.e. – that is (то есть)

e.g. – foe example

Blending['blendɪŋ], sound imitation, sound interchange, stress interchange, reduplication [rɪˌdjuːplɪ'keɪʃ(ə)n].

Blending ['blendɪŋ] (словослияние).A special type of word formation with the help of merging ([mə:dʒ] слияние) parts of different words. The words are called blends ([blend]смешенные).

For example slimnastic = slim + gymnastic [ʤɪm'næstɪk]

brunch = breakfast + lunch

edutainment = education + entertainment

Sound imitation.It`s the process of making new words by imitating different kinds of sounds. That are produced by animals, birds, insects ['ɪnsekt], people and objects.

For example Moo, splash.

Sound interchange.It is the formation of a word by changing some sounds. It is nonproductive in modern English. There are may be:

a) Vowel-interchange (['vauəl] гласный звук) For example food – feed

Vowel interchange may be combined with abbreviation

For example strong – strength

b) Consonant interchange (['kɔn(t)s(ə)nənt] согласный звук) For example advice – to advise

3) Consonant and vowel interchange For example a life – to live

Stress interchange. It is the formation of the word by means (по средствам) of the shift (перемешения) of the stress For example import – import, export (noun) – export (verb)

Reduplication [rɪˌdjuːplɪ'keɪʃ(ə)n] удвоение. New words are made by doubling (['dʌblɪŋ] удвоением) a stem

a) Without any phonetic changes For example Bue-bye

b) With a variation of the root vowel or consonant For example ping-pong

The brunch of linguistics which studies lexical meaning of the word is called Semasiology ([sɪˌmeɪsɪ'ɔləʤɪ] раздел языка, изучающий значения слов) (by Soviet ['səuvɪət] or Russian scholars) or Semantics (by British and American scholars)

Word meaning is the most difficult problem in modern linguistics. Meaning is a component of the word through which a concept (concept понятие, идея) is realized. Word meaning is made up of different components. They are called “Types of meaning”.

Chapter II. The analysis of word formation process of the “doer of the action”

2.1. Lexical and derivational means of expressing the category of " doer of the action"

Agent noun definition: An agent is a grammatical term for a type of noun. An agent noun is a person who performs an action.

What is the Agent?

The agent in English grammar is always a noun. That is because the agent (also called the actor) is the “doer” of an action, which usually makes it the subject.

Agents and Recipient Nouns

Agent nouns are “doer of the action”. Agents and recipient nouns are invariably linked because they either perform (agent) or receive (recipient) actions.

As we mentioned above, the agent noun is the person who completes the action, or the person who does something.

For example:

• 
  Agent: employer
  
  • 
    Meaning: someone who employs
    
• 
  Agent: prosecutor
  
  • 
    Meaning: someone who prosecutes
    

The recipient of the agent noun’s action(s) is called the recipient noun. The recipient noun is the person who receives the action of the agent.

• 
  Recipient noun: employee
  
  • 
    Meaning: someone who is employed (by the employer)
    
• 
  Recipient noun: honoree
  
  • 
    Meaning: someone who is honored
    

Not all recipient nouns have “parent” agent nouns. That is, there is no such thing as an “honorer” even though the word “honoree” exists.

More specifically, an agent is a person who performs an action. An agent is different from a recipient noun in that the agent performs an action and the recipient noun receives the action.
Agents generally have the endings “-er” or “-or.” These suffixes, when added to a root word, mean someone who does something.

Examples:

• 
  Root word: teach
  
  • 
    Agent: teacher
    
• 
  Root word: direct
  
  • 
    Agent: director
    

The lexical meaning of the affixal morphemes is, as a rule, of a more generalising character. The suffix -er, e.g. carries the meaning ‘the agent, the doer of the action’, the suffix-less denotes lack or absence of something. It should also be noted that the root-morphemes do not “possess the part-of-speech meaning (cf. manly, manliness, to man); in derivational morphemes the lexical and the part-of-speech meaning may be so blended as to be almost inseparable. In the derivational morphemes -er and -less discussed above the lexical meaning is just as clearly perceived as their part-of-speech meaning. In some morphemes, however, for instance -ment or -ous (as in movement or laborious), it is the part-of-speech meaning that prevails, the lexical meaning is but vaguely felt.

NOUN-FORMING SUFFIXES

Suffixes can change the word-class and the meaning of the word. Most of

suffixes have their own meaning.

The following suffixes have the meaning “one who” or “that which”: -er/-or,

-ee, -ist, -ant/-ent, -(i)an, -ess, -ite, -eer, -ling, -ix, -ster, -ary, -ine, -ie/-y, -ette.

You can use these suffixes with a wide range of verbs to turn them into nouns. They are also added to nouns and adjectives. They are used for the persons who do some activity:

teacher, writer, operator, lawyer, solicitor, barrister, procurator, speaker, discoverer, indicator, refrigerator, mixer; dishwasher,

addressee, nominee, payee (of a cheque), detainee, refugee; novelist, scientist, tourist, finalist; assistant, complainant, defendant;

Russian, American, academician, librarian, historian; actress, goddess, countess, duchess, manageress;

Muscovite; racketeer; hireling; administratrix; gangster; revolutionary; margravine; girlie; usherette.

Suffix -er/-or is also used for things that do a particular job: mixer, toaster, pencil sharpener, bottle-opener, projector, computer, generator, (telephone) receiver, can-opener.

SUFFIX -EE

is particularly characteristic of Legal English, denoting persons who are subjected

to legal or administrative measures. The word-building model is: v + -ee  N

Suffixes -er/-or and -ee can contrast with each other meaning “person who

does something (-er) and “person who receives or experiences the action” (-ee):

employer /employee, interviewer / interviewee, examiner /examinee, obligor

[obli’go:] (one who binds himself legally or morally to another or gives bond) /

obligee [obli’gi:] or [obli’dgi:] (person to whom another is bound by contract or to

whom bond is given).

Exercise 3. Translate the following pairs of legal terms:

1. transferor / transferee

2. legator / legatee

3. deviser=devisor / devisee

4. revenger / revenge

5. promisor / promisee

6. assignor / assignee

7. lessor / lessee

The contrast of some legal terms is of quite different nature: escaper

[i’skeipэ] – совершивший побег из плена, escapee [eskei’pi:] – бежавший из

тюрьмы; detainer – незаконное задержание имущества, предписание о

содержании под стражей, detainee – задержанный, лицо, находящееся под

арестом; appellor – лицо, обвиняющее кого-либо в совершении преступления;

преступник, изобличающий своих сообщников, appellee – ответчик по

апелляции.

SUFFIX -IST

is added to nouns or adjectives and describes people and their professions or jobs:

biologist, pragmatist, physicist, zoologist, journalist. It is an international suffix

(compare with Russian –ист: пушкинист, пацифист, коммунист, социалист,

пианист).

SUFFIX -ANT/-ENT

can derive both nouns and adjectives. As a noun-forming suffix it is added to verbs

and denotes people: assistant, servant, president, appellant, complainant,

defendant. The word-building model is v + -ant/-ent  N.

Sometimes the derivatives with suffixes -er/-or and -ant/-ent are

synonymous like claimer – claimant; appealer, appellor – appellant. The opposite

meaning have the derived nouns with suffixes -ant/-ent and -ee: consultant –

consultee, appellant –appellee.

SUFFIX -AN

is added to nouns and describes people, mostly their occupation, nationality or

whereabouts, a place where a person lives or was born, etc. The word-building

model is: n + -an(-ian)  N.

Exercise. Form derivatives from the following nouns:

Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, America, Russia, Italy, Egypt, India, Austria,

Armenia, Georgia, Paris, music, history, practice, comedy, utopia, cosmetics,

optics, mathematics, politics.

SUFFIX –ITE

forms the names of citizens of countries, islands, cities or names of the followers,

adherents of scientific or political trend, theory according to the model n + -ite 

N: Sydneyite, suburbanite, cityite, Hitlerite, Ibsenite, Nietzscheite, Kiplingite.

SUFFIX -ESS

is used to form names of wives or women’s jobs, professions, etc. derived from

men’s ones:

actress, waitress, poetess, stewardess, hostess, countess, proprietress, giantess,

directress, manageress, adventuress, mayoress, heiress, inheritress.

The suffix is not very productive and is scarcely used in Legal English as well as

such suffixes describing people as -eer (racketeer), -ix (directrix), -ster (gangster),

ine (margravine), -ette (usherette).

2.2. Semantic analysis of the category of " doer of the action" in word formation

The meaning of a word is studied with the help of Componential Analysis. It consists in decomposition of the word meaning into semes – minimal components of meaning, or elementary units of sense. One and the same seme may be found in the meaning of different related words. Thus, such words as boy and man have the common seme “the male sex”, and the words girl and woman – the seme “the female sex”. Different semes may have different statuses in the system of semes in the word meaning. Lexicologists usually distinguish archisemes wich express the generic meaning and differential semes which modify or qualify the idea expressed by the archiseme. Thus, the word spinster may be split into the following semes: 1) human being (archiseme); 2) female, unmarried; elderly (differential semes). Componential analysis is one of the modern metods of semantic research which provides a deeper insight into semantic aspects of the language.

All words can be classified into motivated and non-motivated. There are cases when there exists a direct connection between the structural pattern of the word and its meaning. This relationship between structure and meaning is termed morphological motivation. All one-morpheme words are non-motivated. Words, containing derivational morphemes, are motivated. Thus, for instance, the word leader is morphologically motivated: its morhological structure suggests the idea of “leading” + “the doer of the action”. The degree of motivation may be different: the word cranberry is partially motivated, because of the absense of the lexical meaning in the morpheme cran-.

There may be a direct connection between the phonetical structure of the word and its meaning. This type of motivation is called phonetical motivation. It is observed in words formed by sound-imitation and occurs even in one-morpheme words: splash, boom, etc. Some linguists think that speech sounds may suggest spatial and visual dimensions, size, shape: for instance, that back open vowels suggest big size, heavy weight, dark colour, etc. Experiments showed that the non-existent word chung was associated by speakers of English with the words heavy and large, while the word ching – with the words light and small. But not all linguists share the view.

A connection between the direct meaning of the word and its figurative meanings is called semantic motivation. It is based on the co-existence of different meanings of the word. Knowing the meaning of the word chain (“a series of usually metal links or rings”), one may guess the meaning of such units as chain store, chain hotel, chain smoker, etc. In such cases we deal with a metaphorical extension of the central meaning of the word.There also exists the notion of folk etymology which is referred to the cases when the origin of the word, its motivation is misinterpreted. Thus, the Latin word asparagus (спаржа) was turned into sparrow grass (спаржа); in the Russian language the words поликлиника in the speech of uneducated people was transformed into полуклиника, пиджак – into спинжак, etc.

The majority of English words have more than one meaning, so they are polysemantic.Words that are used most often have the greatest number of meanings: do, go, see, etc. Various meanings of the word represent lexico-semantical variants of the word (LSVs) and constitute its semantic structure. One of the meanings in the semantic structure of the word is primary, the others are secondary. For example, the word table has the primary meaning “a piece of furniture” and a number of secondary meanings: “a supply of food”, “an act of assembling to eat”, “a group of people assembled at a table”, etc. Meanings can also be direct and figurative, concrete and abstract, central and peripheral, general and special.

There are 2 kinds of agents;

Causative Permissive

E.g. John threw the stone. E.g. John dropped the stone.

The agent is causative cause it makes The agent is permissive cause it only

an object perform an action. (?) gives an opportunity to perform an action.

The purpose of semantic analysis is to draw exact meaning, or you can say dictionary meaning from the text. The work of semantic analyzer is to check the text for meaningfulness.

We already know that lexical analysis also deals with the meaning of the words, then how is semantic analysis different from lexical analysis? Lexical analysis is based on smaller token but on the other side semantic analysis focuses on larger chunks. That is why semantic analysis can be divided into the following two parts

Componential Analysis the meaning of every lexeme can be analyzed in terms of a set of more general semantic components or semantic features ( semes ), some or all of which will be common to several different lexemes in the vocabulary Make logical pairs of words so that each pair has smth in common with the rest: man, woman, boy, girl, bull, cow man : : woman = boy : : girl = bull : : cow (sex — male : : female) man : : boy = woman : : girl (age — adult : : non-adult) man : : bull = woman : : cow (human : : animal) The sense of man on the basis of these oppositions might be held to combine the concepts male, adult, and human

Thus, meaning may be regarded as semantic oppositions because the word’s meaning is reduced to its contrastive elements. The segmentation is continued as far as we can have markers needed for a group of words , and stops when a unique feature is reached (like classification of species in biology). A spinster — noun, count noun, human, adult, female, who has never married

Polysemy and Semantic structure of the word The word is a structured set of interrelated lexical variants realized in different contexts and thought of as a group because manifested with one form and have a common semantic component. Polysemy is the ability of a word to possess several meanings (or lexico-semantic variants — LSV ). All lexico-semantic variants of a word taken together form its semantic structure or semantic paradigm. Some LSV are lexico-grammatical variants of a word, i. e. they belong to different lexico-grammatical groups of the same part of speech.

The semantic structure of the word ““ youth” Includes three lexico-grammatical variants: 1) an abstract uncountable noun, as in the friends of one’s youth It includes two LSV recognized due to the lexical peculiarities of distribution : a) the state of being young b) the time of being young In “ to feel that one’s youth has gone” they are blended together because both the time and the state can be meant 2) a countable personal noun ‘a young man’ (plural youths) 3) a collective noun ‘young men and women’ having only singular form

As we said above all words are can be classified as and.

If there is a direct connection between structural pattern and its meaning it is considered as morphologically motivated words . For example :

motivated	non- motivated
Lead+er , teach+er , procurate+or , law+yer , write+er . operate+or , discover+er, Indicate+or, refrigerate+or, mix+er; dishwashing +er.	The words that consists of only one syllable . The agent is always more that one syllable as it has derivational affix.

In these example there is a direct meaning with the root and derivational stem .

But in some cases , when one of the semes cannot be full root , the degree of the motivation can change to the partially motivated word . For instance :

Refrigerator refrigerare ( the ancient Latin word ) + or In this example since the root refrigerare is not used in the todays language anymore , it is considered as partially motivated , because it is considered that there is no full lexical meaning in the word regrigerare .

Barrister bar ( the old word that refers to the system of law , not being used anymore ) + ster

The direct connection can also be between phonetical structure and its meaning in the noun agent . Because some speech sounds in the suffixes can suggest spatial and visual dimensions, size and shape .