Unit 10

LEXIS. CHARACTERISTICS OF WORD FORMATION IN ENGLISH. PREFIXATION,

SUFFIXATION AND COMPOUNDING
0. INTRODUCTION
1. LEXICOGRAPHY AND MORPHOLOGY
1.1. Evolution of Dictionaries
2. WORD-FORMATION: PROCESSES
3. PREFIXATION, SUFFIXATION AND COMPOUNDING
3.1 Prefixation
3.2 Suffixation
3.3 Compounding
4. CONCLUSION
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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0. INTRODUCTION
The English language is, as any other language, a living entity which keeps on changing. One
significant aspect is the overwhelming growth of vocabulary, mainly due to the wide range of
possibilities that word-formation offers. English has, therefore, an impressive flexibility in
constructing new words following a set of rules.
Therefore, and according to LOMCE, it is important for students to… (+)

1. LEXICOGRAPHY AND MORPHOLOGY

Lexicon is, according to linguistics, the vocabulary of a language. Therefore, lexicology is the study
of the lexicon of a language (relations among words, formation of words...). Apart from this, every
language is said to be trimodal, i.e., structured in three modes, namely, phonology, grammar and
lexis.
Lexicography is the art and science of compiling works such as dictionaries, glossaries, thesaurus,
synonym guides, where items of vocabulary are described. Traditionally, lexicography has been of
two kinds: alphabetic lexicography, whose best-known product is the dictionary properly so called,
and thematic lexicography, which arranges words by themes and topics, usually accompanied by an
index, Roget's Thesaurus being a leading example.
Moreover, lexicography is best understood if Saussure structuralist theories are taken into account:
the linguistic sign can be divided into signified and signifier. These two can be in turn subdivided
into form and content, being the sphere of content the one concerned with
the lexis:

Morphemes and lexemes are the units studied within this sphere; and these give rise to two major
branches in Linguistics, namely Morphology and Lexicography.
Morphology is concerned with a closed and systematic system of units which can be used recurrently1
following a number of rules. This sub-branch of Linguistics has as its minimal unit the morpheme; if
this is segmentable, it is, then, known as morph. An allomorph is, in turn, a phonetically, lexically or
grammatically conditioned member of a set of morphs representing a particular morpheme.
Morphology can either be inflectional or derivational:
• Inflectional morphemes: they convey grammatical meaning: tense, number, voice, mood, aspect…
• Derivational morphemes: they convey lexical meanings. They change the word category.
Lexicography, on the contrary, is concerned with an open system of units. The combination of these
two systems (open and closed) gives rise to the formation of words.
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1.1 EVOLUTION OF DICTIONARIES
Dictionaries were originally long lists of words, but this started to change in the 17th century
when the first list of words was published, A Table Alphabetical (1603), by Robert Cawdrey. In the
second half of the 17th century an important contribution was made with the emergence of the so-
called etymologies. In the 18th century, Samuel Johnson published A Dictionary of the English
Language, which was the standard English dictionary until Noah Webster's An American Dictionary
of the English Language (1828). Johnson attempted to regulate the English language for the first time
and it included a history of the language, a grammar, and an extensive list of words representing basic
general vocabulary, based on the best conversation of contemporary London and the normal usage of
respected writers.
Apart from this, the Oxford English Dictionary has been the greatest contribution.

2. WORD-FORMATION: PROCESSES
The word in English may be simple, formed by one constituent only, such as "apple", "bat",
"hammer"; or it may be complex, containing more than one constituent, such as "blackbird", "fourth".
The elements of a complex word may be free forms, i.e., elements which are independent in other
contexts, as those in "blackbird" and "devil-may-care"; or they may be bound forms: prefixes and
suffixes, which never appear independently, like the first and the last constituents of 'uneatable' or
the 'th' of 'fourth'. Simple and complex words alike are distinguished from other constructions, it is
generally agreed, by the fixed order of their constituents and by the impossibility of interrupting them
by a pause, or of inserting other elements.
A word becomes complex by means of processes that transform the base of that word. The chief
processes of English word-formation by which the base may be modified are: affixation or derivation,
conversion, compounding.
According to Quirk and Greenbaum, a form to which a rule of word-formation is applied is called a
BASE (as distinct from STEM)2, and the chief processes of English word-formation by which the
base may be modified are:
² AFFIXATION: adding a prefix to the base, with or without a change of word-class (author - co-
author); or adding a suffix to the base, with or without a change of word-class (drive -> driver);
² CONVERSION: assigning the base to a different word-class without changing its form (zero
affixation, drive (verb) drive (noun));
² COMPOUNDING: adding one base to another (tea + pot -> teapot).
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Apart from these major word-formation devices, English calls upon a number of minor devices as
means of forming new words:
² REDUPLICATION: some compounds have two or more elements which are either identical or
only slightly different: goody-goody. The difference between the two elements may be in the
initial consonants, as in walkie-talkie, or in the medial vowels as in criss-cross. Most of the
reduplicatives are highly informal or familiar, and many derive from the nursery as in din-din
(dinner). The most common uses of reduplicatives are:
o To imitate sounds: tick-tock
o To suggest alternating movements: seesaw
o To disparage by suggesting instability, nonsense, insincerity, vacillation: wishywashy
o To intensify: tip-top
² CLIPPING: it denotes the subtraction of one or more syllables from a word. The shortening may
occur at:
o The beginning of the word: phone for telephone;
o The end of the word: photo for photograph;
o At both ends of the word: flu for influenza.
² BLENDING: in a blend at least one of the elements is fragmentary when compared with its
corresponding uncompounded word form. For example, brunch is derived from breakfast + lunch.
Many blends have only a short life and are very informal, but some have become more or less
fully accepted in the language: motel for motor + hotel, smog for smoke + fog.
² ACRONYMY: these are words formed from the initial letters (or larger parts) of words. New
acronyms are freely produced, particularly for names of organizations: UN for United Nations;
TV for television; GHQ for General Head Quarters. Many acronyms are pronounced as words:
radar for radio detecting and ranging.
² BACKFORMATION: It has to do with the reinterpretation of the word. Take the case of the verb
to burgle, which apparently comes from the noun burglar. -ar is not a suffix, but it has been
interpreted as such.

3. PREFIXATION, SUFFIXATION AND COMPOUNDING

3.1. PREFIXATION
Prefixation is defined as the process of forming a new word by adding a prefix to a stem in order to
qualify its meaning. It is placed before and joined to that stem. Prefixes do not generally alter the
word-class of the base: ‘cook’ (verb) – ‘undercook’ (verb).
All English prefixes are inseparable, however, we must note that the prefix ‘non’ always has an
hyphen following it.
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Productive prefixes normally have a light stress on their first syllable. The prefix does not normally
alter the stress pattern of a word: ‘graduate’ ‘-under-graduate’. This stress pattern will be assumed in
the examples in the following tables:
Negative prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
UN- The opposite of ‘not’ Adjectives, participles Unfair, unexpected
NON- ‘Not’ Various classes Non-smoker, non-stick
IN- (as for un-) Adjectives Insane
DIS- (as for un-) Adjectives verbs Disloyal, dislike,
Abstract nouns disrespect
A- ‘Lacking in’ Adjectives, nouns Apolitical, asymmetry

Reversative prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
UN- ‘To reverse action’ Verbs Untie, unhorse
DE- ‘To reverse action’ Verbs, abstract nouns Defrost, deforestation
DIS- (as for un-) Verbs, participles, Disloyal, discoloured,
nouns discontent

Pejorative prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
MIS- ‘Wrongly’, ‘Astray’ Verbs, abstract nouns, Misbehave, misfortune,
participles misleading
MAL- ‘Bad(ly)’ Verbs, abstract nouns, Maltreat, malfunction,
participles, adjectives malformed, malodorous
PSEUDO- ‘False, imitation’ Nouns, adjectives Pseudo-intellectual

Prefixes of degree or size

Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
ARCH- ‘Highest, worst’ Nouns (mainly humans) Archbishop, archduke
SUPER- ‘Above, more than, Nouns , adjectives Superstar, superman,
better’ supernatural
OUT- ‘To do something Verbs (mainly Outrun, outlive, outwit
faster, longer, etc, than’ intransitive)
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SUR- ‘Over and above’ Nouns Surrealism
SUB- ‘Lower than, less than’ Adjectives Substandard
OVER- ‘Too much’ Verbs, participles, Overflow, overgrown,
adjectives overconfident
UNDER- ‘Too little’ Verbs, participles Undervalue, underpaid
HYPER- ‘Extremely’ Adjectives Hyperactive
ULTRA- ‘Extremely beyond’ Adjectives Ultrasonic, Ultraviolet
MINI- ‘Little’ Nouns Miniskirt, minibus

Prefixes of attitude
Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
CO- ‘With, joint’ Verbs, nouns Co-operate, co-pilot
COUNTER- ‘In opposition to’ Verbs, abstract nouns Counteract, counter-
revolution
ANTI- ‘Against’ Nouns, denominal, Anti-missile, anti-
adjectives adverbs social, anti-clockwise
PRO- ‘On the side of’ Nouns, denominal, Pro-abortion, pro-
adjectives republican

Locative prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
SUPER- ‘Over’ Nouns Super-structure
SUB- ‘Beneath, lesser in Nouns, adjectives, Subway, subconscious,
rank’ verbs sublet
INTER- ‘Between, among’ Denominal, International,
adjectives, verbs, intermarry, interaction
nouns
TRANS- ‘Across, form one Denominal adjectives, Transatlantic, transplant
place to another’ verbs

Prefixes of time and order

Prefixes Meaning Added to Example
FORE- ‘Before’ Mainly verbs, abstract Foretell, foreknowledge
nouns
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PRE- ‘Before’ Nouns, adjectives Preconception,
premarital
POST- ‘After’ Nouns, adjectives Post-mortem, post-
classical
EX- ‘Former’ Human nouns Ex-husband
RE- ‘Again, back’ Verbs, abstract nouns Rebuild, re-evaluate,
resolution

Conversion prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Example
BE- A) Nouns – participial adjectives Bewigged, bespectacled,
B) Verbs, adj-transitive verbs, nouns bemused, befall, bedazzle,
befriend
EN- Nouns, verbs Endanger, endear, entitle,
enslave
A- Verbs, predicative adjectives Aflame, afloat

Number prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Example
UNI-, MONO- ‘One’ Unilateral, monotheism
BI-,DI- ‘Two’ Bilingual, dipole
TRI- ‘Three’ Tripartite
MULTI-, POLY- ‘Many’ Multi-racial, polysyllabic

Other prefixes
Prefixes Meaning Example
AUTO- ‘Self’ Autobiography
NEO- ‘New, revived’ Neo-gothic
PAN- ‘All, world-wide’ Pan-African
PROTO- ‘First, original’ Prototype
SEMI- ‘Half’ Semicircle
VICE- ‘Deputy’ Vice-president
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3.2 SUFFIXATION
Suffixation takes place when a suffix is added to the root in order to form a new word. Unlike prefixes,
suffixes frequently alter the word-class of the base; for example, the adjective happy is changed into
an abstract noun by adding the suffix -ness: happy -> happiness. We shall group suffixes not only by
the class of word they form (as noun suffixes, verb suffixes, etc) but also by the class of base they are
typically added to (DENOMINAL, ie. From noun, DEADJECTIVAL, DEVERBAL suffixes, etc).
More usefully, we may extend this latter terminology, where convenient, to the derived words
themselves, and talk of worker as a DEVERBAL noun, hopeful as DENOMINAL adjective, etc.
Suffixes will be grouped by the class of the word they form (as noun suffixes, verb suffixes, etc.) and
by the class of base they are typically added to:

1. Noun suffixes (suffixes that form nouns from nouns)

Category Added to Meaning Examples
occupational
- STER - EER Nouns ‘person engaged in an Gangster engineer
occupation or activity’
- ER Nouns ‘varied meanings, eg. Teenager, Londoner
inhabitant of X’
Category diminutive Added to Meaning Examples
or feminine
- LET Count nouns ‘small, unimportant’ Booklet, piglet
- ETTE Nouns a. ‘small, compact’ Kitchenette, statuette,
b. imitation flannelette, usherette.
c. female
- ESS Animate nouns ‘female’ Waitress
- Y, - IE Nouns Daddy, auntie
Category status Added to Meaning Examples
domain
- HOOD Nouns ‘status’ Boyhood
- SHIP (as for – hood) ‘status, condition’ Friendship,
dictatorship
- DOM (as for – hood) ‘domain, condition’ Kingdom, stardom
- OCRACY (as for – hood) ‘system of government’ Democracy
- (E) RY Chiefly nouns a. ‘behaviour’ a. Slavery
a. abstract nouns b. Refinery, nunnery
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b. concrete count b. place of activity or c. Machinery
nouns. abode
c. Non-count c. collectivity
nouns

Category other Added to Meaning Examples

- ING Count nouns ‘the substance of which N Panelling
is composed’
- FUL Count nouns ‘the amoun which N Mouthful
contains’

2. Noun / Adjective Suffixes (suffixes that form nouns and adjectives from noun an adjectives)
Category Added to Meaning Examples
- ITE Nouns ‘member of community Israelite, socialite
faction/type’
- (I) AN Nouns ‘pertaining to’ Indonesian, republican
- ESE (as for –(i) an) ‘nationality’ Chinese
- IST Nouns/adjectives ‘member of a party, Socialist, violinist
occupation’
- ISM Nouns/adjectives ‘attitude, political Idealism, communism
movement’

3. Deverbal Suffixes (verb-^noun suffixes) (suffixes than form nouns from verbs)
Category Added to Meaning Examples
- ER, OR Verbs ‘agentive and instrumental’ Driver, receiver
- ANT Verbs ‘agentive and instrumental’ Inhabitant, disinfectant
- EE Verbs Passive Employee
- ATION Verbs a. ‘state of action’ a. exploration
b. ‘institution’ b. organization
- MENT Verbs ‘state, action’ Amazement
- AL Verbs ‘action’ Refusal, dismissal
- ING Verbs a. ‘activity’ a. driving
b. ‘result of activity’ b. building
- AGE Verbs ‘activity, result of activity’ Drainage
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4. De-Adjectival Suffixes (adjective-noun suffixes) (suffixes than form nouns from adjectives)
Category Added to Meaning Examples
- NESS Adjectives -> ‘state, quality’ Happiness
Abstract nouns
- ITY (as for – ness) ‘state, quality’ Sanity
- CY Adjectives ending ‘state, quality’ Excellency, militancy
in ‘ant-ent’
- DOM Nouns/adjectives ‘state’ Boredom, freedom

5. Verb Suffixes
Category Added to Meaning Examples
- IFY Nouns, adjectives ‘causative’ Simplify
- IZE / -ISE (as for – ify) ‘causative’ Popularize
- EN Adjectives à a. causative a. deafen
verbs b. become X b. sadden
6. Adjective Suffixes
Category Added to Meaning Examples
- FULL Nouns ‘having, giving’ Useful, helpful
- LESS Nouns ‘without’ Childless
- LY Nouns ‘having the qualities of’ Cowardly
- LIKE Nouns ‘having the qualities of’ Childlike
-Y Nouns ‘like…, covered with’ Creamy, hairy
- ISH Nouns a. belonging to a. Turkish
b. foolish
a. non-gradable b. having the character of
b. gradable
- IAN Nouns ‘In the tradition of…’
- AL Adjectives Criminal, editorial
(also –ial, -ical)
- IC (Heroic)
- IVE Attractive, affirmative
(also –ative, -itive)
- OUS Virtuous, courteous
(also –eous, -ious)
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- ABLE Transitive verbs with ‘readable’, ‘drinkable’
- IBLE passive meaning
- ED Adjectives derived ‘wooden’, ‘leaden’
from names of
material
- IC Adjectives and language ‘Germanic’, ‘specific’
names

7. Adverb Suffixes
Category Added to Meaning Examples
- LY Adjectives ‘in a…manner’ Happily, strangely
- WARD (S) Adverbs, nouns ‘manner / direction’ Backwards
- WISE Nouns a. ‘in the manner of…’ a. crabwise
a. adverbs of manner b. ‘as far as…is concerned’ b. weather-wise
b. viewpoint adverbs

3.3 COMPOUNDING
As Quirk states, a compound is a unit consisting of two or more bases. There is no one formal criterion
that can be used for a general definition of compounds in English. Compounding or composition is
roughly speaking the process of putting two words together to form a third, as in the following
examples: ‘oil-paper’, ‘paperclip’ or ‘wallpaper’. These words re called compounds and they are
independent from the type of class of the new word, the number of elements involved, if they are
written as one or two words or if they are hyphenated, and so on. Most authors used to talk about
three different criteria when dealing with compounds:
• Orthographic criteria: according to this criteria compounds may be:
a) Solid: bedroom
b) Hyphenated: tax-free
c) Open: Reading material
• Phonological criteria: Compounds can often be identified as having a main stress on the first element
and a secondary stress on the second element. Hence, "blackbird" and "black bird" have a different
stress pattern.
• Semantic criteria: Compounds can be seen to be isolated from ordinary syntactic constructions by
having a meaning which may be related to, but cannot simply be inferred from the meaning of its
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elements. For example, "darkroom" or "greenhouse": "a darkroom" (a room used for photographic
processing) is not just "a dark room" since most dark rooms are not darkrooms.
The normal way of classifying compounds is by the function they play in the sentence as nouns,
verbs, adjectives, etc. Thus the following taxonomy:
A. Compound Nouns
a) Noun + Noun:
The compound nouns consisting of two nouns is the largest subgrouping of compounds.
Examples: tea table, teapot, card-room.
b) Adjective + Noun: Examples: Fast-food, good-bye.
c) Particle + Noun Examples: over-kill
d) Verb + Particle: The majority of words of this form are nominalizations of phrasal verbs,
and it is arguable that these are not strictly compounds at all. Examples: fallout, drawback.
e) Noun + Verb: Examples: Sunshine, nosebleed.
f) Verb + Noun; Two cases.
• When the noun is the direct object of the verb > exocentric compounds. Examples;
pickpocket, cut-throat.
• Where the noun is not the direct object of the verb > endocentric compounds.
Examples: goggle-box.
g) Verb + Verb; It is not very productive. Examples: make-believe.
h) Phrase compounds; Examples: son-in-law, lady-in-waiting.
Compound nouns may be countable, uncountable, singular or plural; according to this, they can be
grouped as follows:
a) Common countable compound nouns: bank account, high school, post office, car park,
letter box, pen-friend.
b) Common uncountable compound nouns: birth control, make up, income tax, fast-food,
remote control, social security.
c) Common singular compound nouns: Cost of living, human race, mother-tongue.
d) Common plural compound nouns: Armed forces, human rights, yellow pages, winter
sports.
B. Compound Adjectives
Compound adjectives are made up of two or more words, usually written with hyphens between them.
The forming of compound adjectives is a productive feature in English. Compound adjectives are
formed according to a large number of different patterns; the most common and least restricted
patterns for forming compound adjectives are:
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a) Adjective or number + noun + "-ed": e.g. "red-haired".
b) Adjective or adverb + past participle: e.g. "low-paid".
c) Adjective, adverb or noun + present participle: e.g. "good-looking".
Some less common and more restricted patterns for forming compound adjectives are:
a) Noun + past participle: e.g. "wind-blown".
b) Noun + adjective: e.g. "duty free".
c) Adjective + noun: e.g. "deep-sea".
d) Past participle + adverb: e.g. "run-down".
e) Number + singular count noun: e.g. "five-page".
A few compound adjectives are made up of more than two words and they are often written with
hyphens when they are used in front of nouns and without hyphens when they are used as the
complement of a link verb: e.g. "It was a free-and-easy relationship", "That book is out of date". Some
compound adjectives are borrowed from foreign languages, especially from French and Latin. For
example: "He was left hors de combat". Next, we shall outline some groups of compound adjectives:
a) Compound qualitative adjectives: absent-minded, easy-going, second-class, old-fashioned,
open-minded, well-known, well-dressed.
b) Compound classifying adjectives: audio-visual, brand-new, long-distance, duty-free, part-
time, top-secret, tax-free, first-class.
c) Compound colour adjectives: blood-red, sky-blue, snow-white, royal-blue, nut-brown.
C. Compound Verbs
Most compounds verbs are written with a hyphen, but some compounds verbs can be written with a
space between the words, and some as single words. The patterns for forming compounds verbs are:
- Noun + Verb: e.g. "sky-dive".
- Verb + Noun: e.g. "shun-pike".
- Verb + Verb: e.g. "free-dry".
- Adjective + Verb: e.g. "double-book".
- Particle + Verb: e.g. "overbook".
These are the groups of compound verbs:
a) Intransitive compound verbs: baby-sit, ice-skate, water-sky, hitch-hike, roller-skate.
b) Transitive compound verbs: dry-clean, tape record, ill-treat, spoon-feed.
c) Compound verbs used in transitive or intransitive clauses: bottle feed, short-circuit, tie-dye,
sight-read, mass-produce.
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4. CONCLUSION
Word-formation has proved to be a useful device to enrich the English language, whether it be by
prefixation, suffixation or compounding. Yet, the productiveness of word-formation is
rather limited in that not all words that result from the application of the rule are
acceptable, as opposed to what happens with syntax.
Apart from the most recurrent devices (prefixation and suffixation), we have also pointed out others
which also result efficient, such as conversion, back-formation, clipping, blends... All in all, it could
be stated that word-formation is a useful device that enables students to overcome communication
problems, for they will be able to infer the meaning of most words by the affixes attached to the base.