UNIVERSITATEA SPIRU HARET

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

LIMBA ENGLEZA CONTEMPORANA

Potoroaca Ana-Silviana
Anul III, FR

30. 11.2010

1
 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WORD FORMATION

1. Comment briefly upon the characteristics that oppose primary word-formation

processes to secondary ones. Define and illustrate the former.

Primary word formation processes are characterized by their not operating on the bases of
pre-existing lexemes. In fact it means the appearing or discovery of new referents, in the
need to refer to a certain entity trigger the creation of a new label.
The main processes of primary word formation are: coining- producing words out of
nothing; extension – the production of new common nouns out of proper names;
borrowing – taking over and gradually adapting to the native word formation of words for
other languages.

In contrast, the secondary word formation processes are starting from pre-existing words
and they enrich the vocabulary of a language by the account of the internal resources of
that language.

Secondary word formation processes have to main strands:

1. Major word formation processes
2. Minor word formation processes

Major word formation processes are seen as very productive. They use :

A) Derivation – based on derivational rules by adding derivational affixes to the words

and is grounded on the principle of relatedness.
e.g. stable – unstable
Derivation includes two basic types – suffixation and prefixation. Also the derivational
affixes can be:
- class - maintaining – as in : child- children, relation – relationship, ( keeping in
the noun class)
- class - changing - as in : to love (verb) – lovely (adjective)
Most prefixes are class-maintaining the exceptions being :
a- way( noun) – away ( adverb, adjective)
be- love ( verb) – beloved (adverb)
en- rich (adjective) – enriched (adverb)

Suffixes can be class-maintaining or class-changing but they are both class

determining :
Noun- relation- relationship
Noun – adjective – mercy – merciless; friend – friendly

B) Compounding is the process based on the combination of at least two free morphemes.
The resulting meaning is more or less significantly different from the sum of the
meanings of the components.
Compounds ca be:

2
 - Welded – forming one graphical word – e.g. newspaper, pullover, blackboard,
bathroom.
- Hyphenated – forget-me- not, man-made,
- Separate graphical words or open – washing machine, bus stop,

C) Conversion – it’s the changing of word class without any formal change within the
word. This is a very productive word formation process.
E.g. fear noun – to fear verb

2) Minor word formation process- are usually unpredictable but not rare.
Minor process uses for different tools :
- Clipping- shortening the initial word. It can be back-cliping ( lab – laboratory) ; fore
clipping ( phone – telephone), fore-and aft clipping ( flu- influenza).
- Blending – fusing of elements of two words ( brunch- breakfast + lunch)
_ Acronymy – forms new words, having specific reference, by combining the initial
letters of several preexistent words, which come to be associate in a relatively stable
syntagm. ( TV, VCR, DVD, CD, NATO,)

2. Supply formal and semantic arguments to explain the following plural forms:
soldiers of fortune, vacuum-cleaners,brothers – in - law , waste-paper baskets
,newspaper , fisherman, man –made, bus-stop, fingerprint, swan-song.
Soldier of forture -the first element is usually pluralized where the noun is postmodified
by a prepositional phrase, an adjective, an adverb, or an infinitive.
Vacuum- cleaners - most compound words take the plural particle “s” to the end of the
word.
Brothers –in- law- noun take on the plural because there is a prepositional construction
that follows it.
Waste-paper baskets - the noun basket is pluralized in the compound word.
Newspaper- is not pluralized, the plural being newspapers by pluralizing the RHR noun.
Fisherman – not pluralized, the plural being fishermen.
Man-made – does not have a plural.
bus-stop,fingerprint,swan-song- don’t have a plural.

3. Identify the word formation processes : jazz, duke, beep, watt, xerox,
malaria,kindergarten, vodka, childhood, guitar, phone, flu, ad, motel, brunch, laser,
NATO,bye-bye, i.e., AD, betw. .

Jazz- primary word formation process: coining

Duke- primary word formation process: coining
Beep- primary word formation process: coining
Watt- primary word formation process: extension
Xerox- primary word formation process: extension
Malaria- primary word formation process: borrowing
Kindergarten- primary word formation process: borrowing
Vodka- primary word formation process: borrowing
Childhood – secondary word formation process: major - derivation, class- maintaining

3
Guitar- primary word formation process: borrowing
Phone – secondary word formation process: minor – fore clipping
Flu - secondary word formation process: minor- fore and aft clipping
Ad - secondary word formation process: minor- back clipping
Motel - secondary word formation process: minor – blending
Brunch - secondary word formation process: minor – blending
Laser - secondary word formation process: minor – acronymy
NATO - secondary word formation process: minor – acronymy
Bye- bye - secondary word formation process: minor- reduplication
i.e. - secondary word formation process: minor acronymy
A.D - secondary word formation process: minor - acronymy
Betw - secondary word formation process: minor- acronymy.