Theoritical aspects

The theoretical significance of this course paper is that, the theoretical position can be used in scientific works besides, that they may be used delivering lectures on Lexicology. The practical value of the course paper is that, the practical results and conclusion can be used in seminars on Lexicology.
The structure of this course paper is as follows: Introduction, main part, four paragraphs conclusion and bibliography.
Introduction deals with the description of the structure of a course paper.
The first paragraph deals with word-formation as a subject.
The second paragraph deals with the types of forming words.
In the third paragraph we discuss about the productive ways of
Word-formation. It consists of two paragraphs:
In the forth paragraph we discuss the Structural and Semantical analysis of affixes and the types of affixation and its problem.
Introduction establishes the purpose, the tasks, novelty, the methods used in the investigation, practical and theoretical significance of the work and explains the reasons of choosing the theme for studying.
The list of used literature contains more then 20 units which deal with the question under discussion.


Chapter I. The historical background of the English lexicology
1. 1. Word-formation as a Subject of Study
Before turning to the various processes of making words, it would be useful to analyze the related problem of the composition of words of their constituent parts.
If viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units, which are called morphemes. Morphs don't occur as free forms, but only as constituents of words. Yet, they possess meanings of their own.
All morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots and affixes. The latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the structure of the word (as in re - read, mis - pronounce, un - well) and suffixes which follow the root (as in teach- er, cur - able, dec - ate).
Words which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of word-building, known as affixation (or derivation).
Derived words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary. Successfully competing with this structural type is the, so-called, root word which has only a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely represented by a great number of words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier borrowings (house, room, book, work, port,, street, table) and , in Modern English , has been greatly enlarged by the type oi word- building called conversion.
Another wide-spread word structure is a compound word consisting of two or more stems (dining-room). Words of this structural type are produced by the word-building process called composition.
The somewhat odd-looking words like flu, pram, lab, M.P., V-day, H-bomb are called shortenings. Derivation and composition are the most productive ways of word-building.
To return to the question posed by the title of this chapter, of how words are made, let us try and get a more detailed picture of each of the major types of Modern English word-building and, also, of some minor types.
Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches.
As a subject of study, word-building is that branch of Lexicology, which studies the patterns on which a language, in this case the English language, builds new words. It's self-evident that word-formation can deal only with words which are analyzable both structurally and semantically. The study of the simple word has no place in it. Therefore, writer, displease, atom- free and others are relevant to word-formation, but to write, to please, atom, free are not.
Like any other linguistic phenomenon word-formation may be studied from two angles - synchronically and diachronically. It's necessary to distinguish between these two approaches, for synchronically the linguist investigates the present-day system of the types of the word-formation while diachronically, he is concerned with the history of word-building. To illustrate the difference of approach we shall consider affixation.
Synchronically a derived word is structurally and semantically more complex than a simple one, while diachronically it was formed from some other word. On the synchronic plane a derived word is regarded as having a more complex structure than its correlated simple word regardless of the fact whether it was derived from a simple stem or not. There are cases in the history of the English language when a word structurally more complex served as the original element from which a simpler word was derived. Those are cases of the process called back-formation (or back-derivation): beggar - to beg, editor - to edit, chauffeur - to chauff and some others.
The fact that historically the verbs to beg, to chauff, to edit and others were derived from the corresponding agent-nouns is of no synchronous relevance. For the present day speaker no such relationship exists, therefore they are all simple words in Modern English.
While analyzing and describing word-formation synchronically it's not enough to extract the relevant structural elements from a word, describe its structure in terms of morphemes and allomorphs and determine the type of word- formation; it is absolutely necessary to determine the position of the constituents within the structural system of the language as a whole. Productivity of a derivative type, therefore, can not be overlooked in this description.
Some of the ways of forming words in present-day English can be resorted to for the creation of new words whenever occasion demands - these are called productive ways of forming words ; other ways of forming words can not now produce new words and these are commonly termed non-productive or unproductive. For instance, affixation has been a productive way of forming words ever since the Old English period fiscere¹ and MnE striker and steamer. On the other hand, sound-interchange must have been at one time a word-building means but in Modern English it can't be used to coin new words. Actually, its function in Modern English is only to distinguish one word from another, a verb from a noun, as is the case with:
food - to feed, blood - to bleed, full - to fill and so on.
The delimitation between productive and non-productive ways and means of word-formation as stated above is not, however, accepted by all linguists without reserve.
Some linguists consider it necessary to define the term "productivity of a word- building means" more accurately. They hold the view that productive ways and means of word-formation are only those that can be used for the formation of an unlimited number of new words in the Modern Language, such means that "know no bounds" and easily form occasional words. This divergence of opinion is responsible in particular, for the difference in the lists of derivational affixes considered productive in various books on English Lexicology.
2.2. Various Types and Ways of Forming Words
The available linguistic literature on the subject cites various types and ways of forming words. Books dealing with the problems of word-formation in the Russian language, as well as some books on English Lexicology usually mention morphologic, syntactic and semantic types of word-formation.
In conformity with the basic structural types of stems and words described above the following two types of word
formation may be distinguished : word derivation and word-composition
(or compounding) words created by word-derivation have only one primary stem and one derivational affix in terms of word-formation analysis, for example, cleanness (from clean), to overestimate (from to estimate), chairmanship (from chairman), waterproofness (from waterproof), openhandedness (from open-handed) etc. Some derived words have no affixes, because derivation is achieved through conversion, for instance, to paper (from paper), a fall, and so on.
Words created by word-composition have at least two primary stems, e.g. , coal-black , ice-cold , looking-glass , daydream, hotbed, speedometer etc. Besides, there are words built by a simultaneous application of composition and derivation (suffixation or conversion) - derivational compounds, eg., long- legged, open-minded, a breakdown and others.
The shortening of words stands apart from the above two-fold division of word-formation. It can not be regarded as part of either word-derivation or word-composition for the simple reason that neither the root morpheme nor the derivational affix can be singled out from the shortened word (lab, exam, V- day,) Consequently, the shortening of words should be treated separately as a specific type of word-formation.
Within the types, further distinction may be made between ways of forming words, he basic ways of forming words in word- derivation, for instance, are affixation and conversion. The lexicalization of grammatical forms, sound and stress interchange and some others are usually referred to as minor ways of forming words.
In describing the technique of word-formation it is important to point out the means by which word-formation is effected. For instance, affixation is characterized by the use of suffixes and prefixes, some cases of compounding by the use of connecting elements etc.
Another classification of the types of word-formation worked out by H.Marchand is also of interest. Proceeding from the distinction between complete motivation as found in such composites as rain-bow, do-er, un-do and others are partial motivation as exemplified by phonetic symbolism (pish, pooh, crack) he considers two major groups:

1. 
   Words formed as grammatical syntagmas, i.e. combination of full linguistic signs;
   
2. 
   Words which are not grammatical syntagmas, i.e. which are composites not made up of full linguistic signs.
   

To the first group belong Compounding, Prefvcation, Derivation by a Zero Morpheme and Back-derivation; To the second Expressive Symbolism, Blending, Clipping, Rhyme and Abhut Gemination, Word-manufacturing.
There are two types of word-formation in Modern English: word -derivation and word-composition. Within the types further distinction is made between the various ways and means of word-formation.
Sound and stress-interchange in Modern English are means distinguished between different words of different parts of speech.
The degrees of productivity and factors favoring it make an important aspect of synchronic description of every derivational pattern within the two types of word-formation.