In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term[1] that can refer to either:
A common method of word formation is the attachment of inflectional or derivational affixes.
Main article: Morphological derivation |
Examples include:
Main article: Inflection |
Inflection is modifying a word for the purpose of fitting it into the grammatical structure of a sentence.[4] For example:
Examples includes:
Main article: Acronym |
An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of other words.[6] For example:
Acronyms are usually written entirely in capital letters, though some words originating as acronyms, like radar, are now treated as common nouns.[7]
Initialisms are similar to acronyms, but where the letters are pronounced as a series of letters. For example:
Main article: Back-formation |
In linguistics, back-formation is the process of forming a new word by removing actual affixes, or parts of the word that is re-analyzed as an affix, from other words to create a base.[5] Examples include:
The process is motivated by analogy: edit is to editor as act is to actor. This process leads to a lot of denominal verbs.
The productivity of back-formation is limited, with the most productive forms of back-formation being hypocoristics.[5]
Main article: Blend word |
See also: Portmanteau |
A lexical blend is a complex word typically made of two word fragments. For example:
Although blending is listed under the Nonmorphological heading, there are debates as to how far blending is a matter of morphology.[1]
Main article: Compound (linguistics) |
Compounding is the processing of combining two bases, where each base may be a fully-fledged word. For example:
Compounding is a topic relevant to syntax, semantics, and morphology.[2]
Main article: semantic change |
See also: conversion (word formation) |
There are processes for forming new dictionary items which are not considered under the umbrella of word formation.[1] One specific example is semantic change, which is a change in a single word's meaning. The boundary between word formation and semantic change can be difficult to define as a new use of an old word can be seen as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form.