Shortening (Contraction)

This type of word-building is very productive. Shortenings are produced in different ways. The first is to make a new word from a syllable of the original word: phone made from telephone, fence from defence, flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator, props from properties.

The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word group: U.N.O from the United Nations Organization, M.P. from Member of Parliament. This type is called initial shortenings (аббревиация).

Sound-Imitation

Words created by this type are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimate (неодушевленный) objects.

English dogs bark (R. лаять). The English cock cries cock-a-doodle-do (R. ку-ка-ре-ку). In England ducks quack [kwaek] and frogs croak (R. крякать, квакать). English cats mew (R. мяукать).

Some names of animals and especially of birds and insects are also produced by sound-imitation: crow (ворона), cuckoo (кукушка), humming-bird (колибри), whip-poor-will [wipewil] (козодой жалобный), cricket (сверчок).

Back-formation (Reversion –обратное словообразование)

The earliest examples of this type of word-building are the verb to beg that was made from the French borrowing beggar, to burgle from burglar. In all these cases the verb was made from the noun by subtracting (вычитать) what was mistakenly associated with the English suffix -er. Examples: to baby-sit from baby-sitter, to force-land (совершать вынужденную посадку) from forced land, to blood-transfuse (переливать кровь) from blood-transfusion.

Seminar №5

1. Answer the following questions.

1. What are the main ways of enriching English vocabulary?

2. What are the principal productive ways of English word-building?

3. What do we mean by derivation?

4. What is the difference between frequency and productivity of affixes? Why can’t one consider the noun-forming suffix -age, that is commonly met in many words (cabbage, village, marriage), a productive one?

5. Give examples of your own to show that affixes have meanings.

6. Say what languages served as the main sources of borrowed affixes. Illustrate your answer by examples.

7. Which categories of parts of speech are especially affected by conversion?

8. What is understood by composition? What do we call words made by this type of word-building?

9. Which types of composition are productive in Modern English?

10. What are the two processes of making shortenings?

11. What minor processes of word-building do you know? Describe them and illustrate your answer with examples.

2. In the following examples the italicized words are formed from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate these derivatives into Russian and explain the difference in meaning.

1. a) Sally is the most amusing person in the world. b) Ann was wary, but amused. 2. a) He had a charming smile, almost womanish in sweetness. b) I have kept up with you through Miss Pittypat but she gave me no intimation that you had developed womanly sweetness. 3. a) She never makes the slightest effort to be pleasant. b) Why are you going to America? – To make my fortune, I hope. – How pleased your father will be if you do.