Word-Formation 词汇学论文构词法- (NXPowerLite).doc

Word-Formation Abstract : A further way besides borrowing in which the vocabulary of English has expanded to accommodate to the natural and social world in which it is used has been to employ means internal to the language itself for devising new word. This is the area of word-formation. Morphological productivity can be defined as the property of a given word formation process to be used to derive a new word in a systematic fashion. Most linguists divide the word-formation into major word-formation and minor word-formation . The major word-formational processes are : Affixation Compounding Conversion The minor word-formational processes are : Abbreviation Back formation Onomatopoeia Key Word : affixation, derivative, compounding, abbreviation, onomatopoeia 1 Affixation Affixation, also called derivation, is a process in which a free morph is combined with a bound morph, a prefix, or a suffix. It is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of bases . There are two types of derivative . One bases on free root with affix or bound root , the other bases on bound with affix or other bound root . 1.1 Types of affixes - prefixes - suffixes - infixes Modern English has a number of highly productive affixes. For example, the prefix over can be added to verbs which express activities to indicate that too much has taken place, i.e. something has been overdone, cf. overcook, overcoat, overstay. Likewise, the suffix –ness can be added to an adjective make a noun designating the quality express by the adjective, its nouniness, so to speak. Two types of derivative’s structure 1.2.1 Free root + affix/bound root 1) prefix + free root e.g.: Indefinite (a. uncertain), unforgettable (a. memorable) , minibus (coach) free + suffix e.g. : wealthy (a. rich) , successful (a, achieving aims) , extremely (adv, to a very high de.g.ree) , comfortably (adv. in a comfortable way) prefix +free root +