Word formation in English

It is easy to guess that word formation is the process of the formation of new words in a specific language. In this article, we will consider ways of word formation in the English language. So, in English today, four ways are distinguished: conversion, compositional, change of stress in a word and affixation. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Conversion

Conversion is the process of forming a new word without any changes in its writing and pronunciation. Conversion takes place when the word changes its meaning, becomes a new part of speech and performs a new syntactic function in the sentence. At the same time, as already mentioned, neither writing nor pronunciation changes. For example, the noun water (water) formed a new word - the verb to water (water). There are a lot of such examples in English, since such a conversion is the most common and acceptable.

Synthesis

Word formation in the English language by means of word-building is a combination of full-valued lexical units or their bases into one complex word. A new unit can be written both together and through a hyphen (this is a historically formed one). Examples include birthdays (birth + day), airman (air + man), and others. Complex words can also consist of two words written separately. In most cases, these are nouns, one of which acts as an adjective. For example, the shop window is a showcase.

Change of stress in a word

Sometimes new words are obtained only after changing the stress. This way of word formation is similar to conversion. So, for example, the name noun conduct (behavior) with an accent on the first syllable turns into the verb to conduct (lead) with an accent on the second syllable.

Affixation

Word formation in English has its own peculiarities. Usually affixation - adding to the root of the word suffix or prefix - causes difficulties for language learners. The fact is that the prefixes and suffixes that are attached to the word basis are so diverse that it is very quick to understand them and will not be obtained forever. So, what's the point?

Prefixes are affixes (attachments) that are attached to the root at the beginning of a word, suffixes are at its end. New lexical units, which are obtained as a result, are called derivatives. Both prefixes and suffixes are attached to different parts of speech and change their meaning. For example, from the adjective happy you can form several words with the help of affixation: noun happiness, adjective unhappy, adverb happily (happily). Prefixing helps to slightly change the meaning of the word (for example, create the opposite in meaning), point to negation, and so on. The suffixation in turn, in turn, changes part of the speech.

Conclusion

Word formation in English is a topic that needs to be studied very carefully, because the variety of options for the formation of a new word and its meaning from a specific lexical unit is very large. An improperly added ending may cause a foreign speaker to simply not understand you, or misunderstand. In any English textbook, you can find tables with the values of affixes, options for the formation of new words through conversion and change of stress. The main thing is to spend enough time and energy for the topic to be mastered, and you perfectly knew all the nuances that has the word formation in English! Exercises and repetition will help you in this difficult matter.