Morphology (continued …)

M

Word structure

In morphology, word structure is described in terms of roots and affixes

Simple words consist one morpheme – the root

fun, go, danger

Complex words consist more that one morpheme – the root + affix(es)

funny, goes, endanger

Languages have three principal ways of extending their vocabulary:

invention of entirely new words

borrowing from other languages

formation of new words from already existing words and word parts

Invention of new words

This is very rare

It is much easier for languages to either incorporate new meanings to existing words or borrow from another language than to make new words from scratch

Borrowing from other languages

Most language users have borrowed words from other languages and incorporated them into their own.

Deriving new words

Some ways in which new words are built from existing ones, in English are:

compounding

Shortening

Acronyms

blends

back formation

functional shift or conversion

semantic shift (metaphorical Extension)

Compounding

Compounding is a very common form of creating new words in English. It is the combination of two words to form one.

e.g.

waterbed

Shortening

Shortenings of various sorts are a popular means of multiplying the words of a language.

e.g.

feds  –  federal agents

Acronyms

These are words formed by joining the initial letters of an expression and pronouncing them as a word.

e.g.

FIFA

Blends

Blends are words created by combining parts of existing words.

e.g.

motel  – motor + hotel

Backformation

Words that are formed (again) from derivations of existing words to include a different meaning.

e.g.

computer

originally formed by adding –er to (existing) verb compute (calculate using a mathematical function) then, the computer was invented machine that computed (in the mathematical sense), however now compute has been back-formed carrying the meaning ‘to use a computer’

 

Functional Shift

In some languages (e.g. English) words belonging to one lexical category get converted to another lexical category without any overt markings on the words itself.

e.g.

local (noun; adjective)

Semantic Shift

This occurs when existing words take on new meaning by shrinking or extending their domain or usage.

When a word undergoes a functional shift in meaning, they do not replace the old one, but instead extend their range of application.

e.g.

Computer users today use a mouse and bookmark an Internet address.

Semantic Shift

Functional shifts create metaphors, then the metaphorical use of the words often leads to new meanings that come to seem perfectly natural and hence all but lose their metaphorical content.

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