Word Formation Processes in English and Bangla

Chapter-One

Morphology

This chapter introduces basic concepts needed for the study and description of morphology. Morphology is an integral part of linguistics. It deals with the study of word structures and partially their meanings. The term morphology has been taken from the field of biology where it is used to denote the study of the forms of plants and animals. It was first used for linguistic purposes in 1859 by the German linguist August Schleicher (Salmon 2000), to refer to the study of the form of words. In present-day linguistics, the term 'morphology' refers to the study of the internal structure of words, and of the systematic form-meaning connection between words.

"For English, morphology means devise ways of describing the properties of such disparate items as a, horse, took, indescribable, washing machine, and antidisestablishmentarianism. A widely recognized approach divides the field into two domains: lexical or derivational morphology studies the way in which new items of vocabulary can be built up out of combinations of elements (as in the case of in-describe-able); inflectional morphology studies the ways words vary in their form in order to express a grammatical contrast (as in the case of horses, where the ending marks plurality)."

(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003)

It is also interested in how the users of a given language understand complex words and invents new lexical items. As morphology is concerned with word forms it is parallel to phonology (which describes how words are pronounced), it is also related to lexical studies as the patterns examined by morphology are used to create new words. Furthermore, it is also linked with semantics as it deals with the meanings of words.

Scholars differentiate between derivational morphology and inflectional morphology. The former is concerned with the relationships of different words, and with the ways in which vocabulary items can be built from some elements, as in un-speak-able; while the latter deals with the forms of one word that it takes up depending on its grammatical functions in a sentence. When it comes to English it appears that it rather takes advantage of derivational morphemes rather than inflectional ones.

Morphemes in morphology are the smallest units that carry meaning or fulfill some grammatical function. The word house itself consists of one morpheme, and because it can stand by itself it can be called a free morpheme. In the word houses there are two morphemes house, which is free, and s whish is a bound morpheme, because it cannot stand by itself as it would have no meaning. In the second example above the bound morpheme s was attached to house – a free morpheme, which in this case can be also called a stem. Stem is what a bound morpheme is attached to.

What is more, free morphemes can be subdivided into two categories: lexical morphemes and inflectional morphemes. Lexical morphemes are words that have some meaning – verbs, adjectives, nouns, like for example print, house, pretty, fire, go, girl. As there is no problem in adding new entities to this group of words they are treated as an open class of words. Functional morphemes, on the other hand, are a closed class of words, articles, prepositions, pronouns which do not carry any meaning on their own, but only fulfill a grammatical function.

Not only free morphemes are subdivided, there is a similar situation with bound morphemes which are subdivided into derivational and inflectional morphemes. Derivational morphemes are those morphemes which produce new words, or change the function of a word. It is achieved by means of prefixes or suffixes in case of English and infixes in other languages, like Arabic. Inflectional morphemes do not create new words, but only show grammatical functions of a word. A good example of an inflectional language could be Latin which has numerous case endings for nouns, as well as endings for verbs and adjectives.

Although this division seems to be quite clear cut there are some difficulties in analyzing certain words. Let’s take the word ‘reactor’ as an example. On the basis of the information above it could be stated that it consists of two morphemes: a stem actor and a derivational morpheme re-, which is obviously not the case. Moreover there are problems with the English plural, for instance it is easy to identify morphemes in the word houses (house – lexical free morpheme + s bound inflectional morpheme), but what about tooth and teeth? In order to solve such problems linguists introduced a term morphs which are the forms that represent morphemes. For instance in the word dogs, the morph s represents the morpheme ‘plural’ and in the word oxen the morph is en. There is a number of other peculiarities in a language like English, however morphology is still more highly developed for inflectional languages.

Chapter-Two

Word Formation Processes - Some Definitions

This chapter is concerned with some definitions of word formation processes. A language can be enriched by words from various sources and creates new words and expressions from the resources of the language itself. This phenomenon is known as word formation process.

"Most English vocabulary arises by making new lexemes out of old ones--either by adding an affix to previously existing forms, altering their word class, or combining them to produce compounds. These processes of construction are of interest to grammarians as well as lexicologists. But the importance of word-formation to the development of the lexicon is second to none. After all, almost any lexeme, whether Anglo-Saxon or foreign, can be given an affix, change its word class, or help make a compound. Alongside the Anglo-Saxon root in kingly, for example, we have the French root in royally and the Latin root in regally. There is no exclusiveness here. The processes of affixation, conversion, and compounding are all great levelers."

(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003)

According to Bauer (1983: 33), “word formation deals with the formation of new lexemes”

Yule (1996: 64) defines 'word formation processes' as "the study of the processes whereby new words come into being in a language".

Kortmann (1999: 58) talks about those processes which enlarge the vocabulary and therefore create new lexemes.

In my opinion, by dividing the phrase 'word formation processes' into its components the term almost explains itself, namely 'the processes of the formation of words', thus this may be a very appropriate definition.

Chapter-Three

Stages of establishment

Until a new word can be regarded as a member of the language it has to pass three different stages. These stages are called 'nonce formation', 'institutionalization' and 'lexicalization' (Bauer 1983). The term 'establishing' acts as a generic term for this whole process (Schmid 2005).

The first stage, nonce formation, describes the first use of a new coined word (Schmid 2005). The meaning of the 'ad hoc formation', which is another name for it, is mostly transparent so that its meaning can be developed from the meaning of its constituents (Kortmann 1999). Bauer defines nonce formation as “a new complex word coined by a speaker/writer on the spur of the moment to cover some immediate need” (Bauer 1983). It is said that nonce formations are very widespread in the language of advertising and press (Kortmann 1999).

At the second stage, institutionalization, the new formed word “starts to be accepted by other speakers as a known lexical item” (Bauer 1983). More and more people use it and it is regarded as an 'item-familiar', that means as an individual known word (Schmid 2005).

 The final stage, lexicalization, is when the vast majority use this word and the former transparency got lost to a great extent, e.g. blackmail, understand (Kortmann, 1999; Schmid, 2005) A lexeme can be counted as lexicalized "when, because of some change in the language system, the lexeme has, or takes on, a form which it could not have if it had arisen by the application of productive rules", e.g. length formed out of long and the suffix -th (Bauer 1983: 48; Kortmann 1999).

Chapter-Four

Primary Word Formation Processes

This chapter is devoted to primary word formation processes in detail section by section.

4.1 Compounding

This Section focuses on compounding which is the process of joining two or more words to form a single word. Compound can be written with a space or with a hyphen, for example, Black market, Father-in-law compounds are found in all word classes.

4.1.1 Noun + Noun

The most common type of word formation is the combination of two (or more) nouns in order to form a resulting noun:

Noun + Noun = Noun

Examples: landmine, wallpaper, toothbrush

The first of the two compounds may be descriptive or both compounds may create a whole new meaning altogether. It is also possible to form words whose components are equally important to or descriptive of its meaning, for example, a washer-dryer refers to an object combining two functions.

There are, of course, many more different ways how compound nouns can be related to each other and how their new meanings can be explained grammatically. In most cases, however, the nature of these compounds is self-explanatory, and their meanings are quite comprehensible even for those who encounter them for the first time.

Note that compound nouns usually appear as two separate words, only those more commonly used, those found in every-day language, and usually compounds with no more than three syllables are found as one word. Hyphens (-) between the segments of a compound noun are absolutely exceptional. Examples:

windowsill (the sill attached under a window), shopwindow (a shop's window), doorkey (a key for the door), bookpage (a page in a book), silverspoon (a spoon made of silver), waterpipe (a pipe that carries water), dockyard (a yard for docks), fireman (somebody who fights fire), wallpaper ("paper" one glues to walls), Independence Day (anniversary of the Declaration of Independence), office supply (goods for office use), water shortage (shortage of water), labour riot (employees rioting), television set (a set for watching television), headache (an aching head), snowfall (snow falling), answerphone (a phone that answers), air-conditioner (a machine conditioning air), gunfight (a fight carried out with guns)

4.1.2 Verb + Noun

Here verbs describe what is done with an object or what a subject "does", in short, a new noun is formed, usually referring to something concrete, and the verb defines the action related to it:

Verb + Noun = Noun: draw + bridge = drawbridge.

A drawbridge is a bridge that can be inclined in order to allow ships to pass, or "drawn". Here, the noun is the direct object.

hitman = a man who carries out "dirty jobs", or, who "hits". Here, the word as part of speech is the subject.

Besides that, both segments can be related in other ways, i.e. the noun may stand for a adverb of place: walkway = people walk on the walkway.

The usual rules apply to spelling. More examples:

Walkway (a way to walk on), runway (a strip of flat land where aircraft start or land ["run"]), filter-paper (paper used for filtering liquids or gases), driveway (a road leading to a garage or a building), payday (the day one receives his or her salary), paycheck (a check used for the payment of wages or salaries),

4.1.3 Noun + Adjective

Nouns and adjectives can also be compounded in the opposite order:

Noun + Adjective = Adjective

Camera + shy = camera-shy (Shy in respect of appearing or speaking before cameras).

In this case, the resultant is an adjective, while the noun explains the objective.

Another possibility is that the noun supports the adjective, i.e. as an intensifier:

Dirt-cheap = cheap as dirt; paper-thin = thin as paper

Those rules are also applied to the linking of nouns and participial adjectives:

English-speaking; soul-destroying; frost-bitten

More common and shorter compounds appear as one word whereas those longer and less common are linked by a hyphen. More examples of all subtypes:

waterproof (proof or resistant against water), seaworthy (a ship withstanding the dangers of the sea), airworthy (an aircraft safely flyable), blameworthy (a person deserving blame), book worthy (something worth being published), trustworthy (somebody who can be trusted), jet black (deep black), footsore (having a sore foot), heart-sick (a person suffering from heart disease), seasick (being sick from the effects of a stormy sea), home-made (made privately at home), power-mad (mad about or craving power), color-blind (unable to discriminate colors other than black and white and grey),

4.1.4 Other Compounds

There are various other types of compounds. A selection of which is shown below.

Adjective + Adjective

bitter-sweet, deaf-mute, aural-oral, Anglo-Saxon

Adjective + Participle

far-reaching, far-fetched, narrow-minded, single-minded, high-climbing, low-yielding, red-painted, bare-handed

4.2 Derivation

Derivation is one of the most important processes of forming new words. It involves the process of affixation.

4.2.1 Prefixes

In contrast to compounding, affixation links so-called prefixes and suffixes, which are not independent words, to words of all types. The type of affix determines the effect the affixation will have on the word. Here, we discuss supportive and opposing prefixes. They are used to express support for or disapproval of whatever is expressed by the word they're attached to.

Supportive and opposing Prefixes (Prefixes of attitude)

pro = on the side of, supporting: pro-choice, pro-life, pro-market, pro-libertarian; added to: nouns, adjectives of denomination.

anti = against, counteracting: anti-missile, anti-social, antibody, anti-abortion, anti-regulatory; = antagonistic: anti-hero, antichrist; added to: nouns, adverbs, denominal adjectives.

counter = in opposition to: to counteract, counter-revolution, counter-example, counter-espionage, counter-productive; added to: verbs, abstract nouns, adjectives.

contra = contrasting, against: contraception, contraindicate, contraflow, contradistinction; added to: abstract nouns, verbs.

Negative Prefixes

A rough outline of negative prefixes and their usage is given below.

a = not, lacking in, not affected by, devoid of quality: atheist, amoral (not subject to moral standards), asymmetry, apolitical, asexual; added to: adjectives, nouns.

dis = not, absolute opposite of what is meant by the second element: disloyal, distrust, disagree, dislike, disfavour, disadvantage; added to: adjectives, abstract nouns, verbs.

un = not, the opposite of; before words of french origin: in-, il-(before l), im-(before p), ir-(before r). Note: These are the most commonly used prefixes of negation. Examples: unfair, unassuming, unexpected, unproductive, insane, injustice, intolerance, impatience, imperfect, irregular, illegal, incapable, illogical, improper, irrelevant; added to: adjectives, participles (only un-).

non = not, not regarded as: non-stop, non-interference, non-aggression, non-smoker, non-drip (paint), non-person, non-event; added to: varios types of words and expressions, mainly nouns and verbs.

Prefixes of Place (Locative Prefixes)

Locative prefixes determine the place, or relative place, or (relative) direction, of action or objects. Also, abstract nouns and processes or relations are determined in terms of locality. Perhaps a look at the following will provide a clear picture:

ante = before (locally): antechamber, anteroom; added to: nouns.

circum = around: circumnavigate, circumlocution, circumcision; added to: verbs, nouns.

extra = outside, beyond: extramarital, extracurricular, extrasensory, extra-pay; added to: adjectivs, nouns.

fore = in front, front part of: forefinger, foreskin, forecourt, forehead; added to: nouns.

in = inside, into: also il-, im-, ir- ingathering, indoors, in-patient (not impatient); added to: participles, nouns.

inter = between, in between: interracial, international, interdisciplinary, interrace; added to: adjectives, nouns.

intra = inside: intramural, intra-uterine, intravenous; added to: adjectives.

supra = above: supranational, supramundane; added to: adjectives.

sur = above: surtax, surcharge, surtitle; nouns, verbs.

tele = at a distance: telecommunication, television; added to: nouns, verbs.

trans = across: transatlantic, transnational, transsexual; added to: adjectives, geographical names.

ultra = beyond, excessively, extremely: ultra-violet, ultra-sonic, ultra-modest, ultra-thin, ultra-modern, ultra-orthodox; added to: adjectives.

under = below: underground, undercarriage, underclothes; added to: nouns; = too little; undercharge, underpay, undercook, undervalue: added to: verbs; = subordinate: under-secretary, underclass, underling; added to: nouns.

Additional locative prefixes: Prepositions determining direction, both locatively and figuratively applied: to bypass, to upgrade, to downsize, to undergo, to oversee.

Prefixes of Size, Degree and Status

These prefixes determine mostly nouns, and are self-explanatory to a large extent:

arch = highest, worst, chief: archbishop, arch-rival, archangel, archduke, arch-enemy; added to: nouns.

macro = large: macrocosm, macro-economic; added to: nouns.

micro = small: microtransmitter, micro-computer, microsurgery, micro-economics; added to: nouns.

mega = very large: megastar, megastore; added to: nouns.

mini = small: miniseries, minibreak, minicab, miniskirt; added to: nouns

Prefixes of Time and Order

These prefixes determine time and order, their meanings and usage are given below.

ante = before: antenatal, antedate; added to: adjectives.

ex = former: ex-wife, ex-president; human nouns.

fore = before: to foresee, to foretell, foregone; added to: verbs, participles, nouns.

mid = middle: mid-afternoon, midwinter, midnight; added to: nouns denoting points or periods of time.

neo = new, recent form of, revived: neo-colonialism, neo-conservative, neo-fascist; added to: abstract nouns, adjectives.

post = after: post-war, post-modernism, post-structuralism; added to: nouns denoting time, abstract nouns, adjectives denoting periods of time.

pre = before, pre-arranged before the time/period of: prepay, pre-existing, predate, preview, preschool, pre-war, pre-marital; added to: nouns, adjectives.

Prefixes of Number

Numeral prefixes the amount, quantity, or scope.

mono = single, one: monotheism, monorail, monoplane, monotonous; added to: nouns, adjectives.

uni = one: unidirectional, unidimensional, unilateral; added to: adjectives, nouns.

poly = many: polysyllabic, polytheism, polygraph; added to: adjectives, nouns.

multi = many: multi-faith, multinational, multimillionaire, multi-racial; added to: nouns, adjectives.

semi = half, partly: semicircle, semi-automatic, semi-conscious, semi-official; added to: nouns, adjectives.

demi = half, partly: demisemiquaver, demigod; added to:nouns in most cases.

Class-changing and converting Prefixes

The prefixes a-, be-, en- and em- have the primary effect to change the class (or type) of words, or, to convert.

a = added to verbs in order to form predicative adjectives (no synonymic explanation possible): afloat (A ships that's floating is afloat), aloft (An aircraft airborne is aloft).

be = added to nouns in order to form transitive verbs: to besiege (To surround to force into surrender), to beguile (To charm), to bewitch (To put a magic spell on); = added to adjectives in order to form transitive verbs: to becalm (To calm or to make calm), to belittle (To make something or somebody seem unimportant or of lesser value), to befoul (To make foul or dirty; to contaminate); = added to verbs in order to form transitive verbs, and, at the same time, as an intensifying force for verbs: to bedazzle (To bring someone into dazzlement), to becry (To bitterly cry about), to besmear (To make dirty), to bewail (To mourn, or express sorrow over), to bespatter (To cover with spots of dirt), to bespeak (To give evidence of); = added to nouns in order to form participial adjectives: bespectacled (Wearing spectacles), beribboned (Wearing ribbons), bewigged (Wearing a wig), besotted (Hopelessly in love with sb., but only in reference to men [women are infatuated]).

Recent Coinages of prefixed words

Here is a both complementary and concluding selection of current word formations, clarifying the importance of word formations in today's English:

anti-choice, bicultural, co-presenter, counter-culture, deselect, difunctional, disinvest, eco-tourism, Eurosceptic, ex-directory, gigabyte, hypertext, interface, intra-uterine, macrobiotic, maxiseries, megastar, microsurgery, minibreak, multimedia, neo-colonialism, non-proliferation, pan-African, paramedic, postmodernism, preschooler, proactive, reflag, retrofire, supergun, ungreen, unisex, up-market

Note that the usual rule of hyphenizing formations of more than three syllables is not followed in every case; the respective formation has already become received standard, constituting an independant word.

4.2.2 Suffixes

Suffixation is the process of adding a suffix at the end of a base word.  For example, the word teacher consist of the base teach and the suffix er.

Verb Suffixes

Here, suffixes, which fulfill the function of forming verbs from other word classes, are defined and explained.

-ify = to make, to cause: to simplify, to beautify, to classify, to personify, to countrify, to ladify, to prettify, to Frenchify; added to: nouns (i.e. beauty) and adjectives (i.e. pretty) in order to form (mainly) transitive verbs.

-ize = also -ise = to make, to treat in the way of: to scandalize, to civilize, to organize, to circularize, to mesmerize, to Americanize, to familiarize, to legalize, to nationalize, to soberize, to patronize, to materialize, to popularize, to prioritize, to privatize; added to: adjectives and nouns of romanic origin, but also proper names in order to form mainly transitive verbs. Note that to apologize, to botanize, to sympathize are not word formations in that respect, because the remaining stem wouldn't be an independent English word if "-ize" were taken away.

Adjective Suffixes

-able (also -ible on words of Latin or French origin) - words ending -able have to meaning "that can or deserves to be -ed" (in which "-ed" stands for any past participle); or, "that is able to do this"; or, “that can be done with it”: breakable, eatable, exchangeable, pitiable, readable, reliable, available, objectionable, treasonable, knowledgeable, agreeable, forgettable, unthinkable, intelligible, responsible, audible; added to: chiefly verbs of action. Note that certain combinations like demonstrable (to demonstrate), separable (to separate) or any one based on verbs ending -ate, retain only the stem of the base verb instead of the whole verb. Verbs ending -y change into -i; that, however, does not affect the choice of -able vs. -ible, which is solely determined by the verb's origin. Please beware that these forms are often used with negative prefixes: unthinkable. Also, it is possible to make a noun out of such adjectiv: The reliable (What can be relied on).

-al (also -ial) - meaning "of the nature of", "belonging to": natural, occasional, educational, coastal, tidal, accidental, managerial, musical, criminal, editorial, provisional, continental; added to: nouns in order to form primarily non-comparable adjectives. Note: continual, corporal, individual, royal etc. are not word formations in the English sense; however, they resemble the principles explained above.

-an (also -ian) - meaning "in the tradition of", "coming from", "of the nature of": African, Indian, Elizabethan, Victorian, republican; added to: chiefly proper names, geographical names, well-know personal names (Persons defining eras, ideas, or ideologies).

-less = devoid of: careless, harmless, restless, borderless, merciless; added to: nouns (antonym of -ful).

-like = of the nature of, behaving like: childlike, gentlemanlike, godlike; added to: nouns.

-ly = of the nature of, periodic recurrence: cowardly, kingly, earthly, monthly, daily; added to: nouns, denotions of time. This is not to be confused with the formation of adverbs, which happens when -ly is added to an adjective.

-some = productive of: burdensome, fearsome, quarrelsome, troublesome, tiresome, lonesome; added to: nouns,verbs,adjectives. It is highly advisable to consult a dictionary before forming your own combinations.

-ward = in the direction of: upward, eastward, onward, heavenward, homeward, landward, backward, forward (as from fore); added to: locative adverbs.

-y = of the nature of: funny, rusty, smelly, sleepy, choosy, bony, nervy, headachy, second-classy, catchy, sticky fishy, flimsy; added to: every concrete noun, some verbs.

Suffixes of concrete nouns

Noun suffixes will form nouns from every type of word.

-ant (as well as -ent) = who / that carries out, agentive and instrumental: informant, claimant, solvent, inhabitant, disinfectant, servant; added to: verbs. Consult your dictionary when in doubt.

-er = also -or in words of Latin origin: server, dreamer, cleaner, recorder; added to: verbs. Consult your dictionary when in doubt. These often denote person following their profession: baker, bookseller; = device or object fulfilling the task of: container, locker, boiler, mower; added to: verbs. = object, agency or means performing the task of: fixer-upper, do-gooder; added to: verbal phrases (verb + adverb); = denotation of origin of persons: Southerner, Londoner; added to: geographical names.

-ing = agentive: the working (a definite article is mandatory); added to: verbs; = activity: swimming, gardening, manufacturing; added to: verbs; = result: building, clothing, painting; added to: verbs. The result is either a gerund or a participle, according to the context.

-ee = passive, affected by: employee, interviewee, teachee, trustee, evacuee; added to: verbs. The resulting noun must denote a person.

Adverb Suffixes

Adverb suffixes are, like most of the other ones, class-changing. Note that some adjectives (like friendly) cannot be converted into an adverb; when needed to be applied as such, an inserted paraphrase is necessary.

-ly = in that way. -ly is the standard way to form adjectives: easy - easily; important - importantly; and so on. -ly is added to: adjectives not ending -ly, phrases (matter-of-factly, full-heartedly, cold-bloodedly). It is also added to some neologisms: transbroomstickally. As for the aforesaid: friendly - in a friendly manner (this applies to all adjectives ending -ly).

-wise = in terms of ..., as far as ... is/are concerned: clockwise, notewise, moneywise; added to: nouns.

- ways = in the manner of: sideways, lengthways; added to: nouns.

Recent Coinages (Suffixes)

Below is a selection of current word formation using suffixes:

microwaveable, actional, gentrification, yuppiedom, finger-dried, faxee, leaderene, bagger, bimbette, additive-free, kissogram, wrinklie, gentrigy, networking, wimpish, ableism, survivalist, recyclability, confrontive, privatize, ecomanie, user-friendliness, returnik, retrophilia

4.2.3 Infixation

Infixation is a word element (a type of affix) that can be inserted within the base form of a word (rather than at its beginning or end) to create a new word or intensify meaning. The process of inserting an infix is called infixation. "English has no true infixes, but the plural suffix -s behaves something like an infix in unusual plurals like passers-by and mothers-in-law."

4.3 Conversion

Conversion is the process or shifting a word into a different word class without adding an affix (that would usually be called "derivation"). Next, we'll discuss how to form nouns denoting actions out of actional verbs.

Verbs of action into nouns

The rule: a verb becomes a noun: to swim -> a swim. Spelling does not change, neither is anything added.

The verb giving rise to this word formation must denote an action: to swim, to walk, to run, to read.

The resulting noun denotes a single action, a specific instance ("I had a good read"), instead of the action or activity as such: "I like running" would be correct, if the activity as such were to be considered. There are, however, some exceptions (work = working as such).

Examples:

to go for a walk, a long run, in the long run (long-term), a good stay, work (denoting the act of working as such), dislike, doubt, to be in the know (to know; only such use), laugh, offer, bore (person or thing that bores), rebel, sneak, drink (what someone drinks), find, reject, cure, polish, wrap, dump (where something is dumped), haunt, stop

Concrete Nouns into Verbs

Here, I'll demonstrate a widely used possibility to employ verbal expressions instead of nominal ones. Concrete nouns, usually denoting things, are converted into verbs meaning something related to the noun, as an action. This definition might sound abstract and weird, but the following examples will make the point clear:

The company´s headquarters really dwarf the other buildings (to dwarf st. = to make st. look small in comparison). Many drivers regularly floor the pedal when driving this road (to floor the pedal = to press it so that it reaches the floor of a car). The satellite failed to deorbit (to deorbit = to leave its path round the earth and return). It is necessary to balance one´s accounts (to balance = to arrange something [i.e. an account] so that things (expenditures/deposits) are in balance).

Other examples: to Xerox (to copy), to fax, to phone, to screen, to water, to fan, to litter, to bridge, to link, to cap, to bottle, to ID.

All of the resulting verbs are transitive.

Adjectives into Verbs

It is also possible, to form verbs from adjectives without altering the word:

The rule: an adjective becomes a verb: faint - to faint (to become faint), idle - to idle (to become idle), slim - to slim (to become slim), calm - to calm (to make calm), clean - to clean (to make clean), smooth - to smooth (to make smooth).

Applications: They consulted a shrink to smooth things out. While suffering for more than two years, he gradually slimmed.

Note that participial adjectives (colored, broken) may not be converted into verbs in this manner. Rather, you´ll need to reconvert these participles into verbs: to color, to break.

Remember that some adjectives change their form in order to become verbs: low - to lower, wide - to widen, weak - to weaken, strong - to strengthen, broad - to broaden, smart - to smarten, easy - to ease.

Other Word classes

There are still some other ways to change word classes without changing spelling, adding or removing parts:

Adverb into Verb: They tried to out him.

Auxiliary into Noun: That course is a must for someone like you.

Conjunctions into Nouns: Don't give me any ifs or buts.

Adverbs/Prepositions into Nouns: I haven't yet learned the ins and outs of the business.

Verb plus Adverb into Noun: I don't have the know-how.

Participles/Adverbs into Adjectives: The meeting had quite an up-cheering effect on the trustees. The theory is that humans, who are after all only jumped-up animals, ...

Conversions into nouns based on various word classes, especially on sentences and subordinate-clauses: Some local have-nots complained about being associated with do-no-gooders. The goings-on in the country made the president-to-be rethink his taking-care-of-business-approach. An auxiliary army of notorious do-gooders milled about town, pretending to provide help-to-help-oneself to the not-so-well-off, or, as they called them, the less-fortunate. The dowdy and apologetic I'm-a-servant-of-the-proletariat look has gone for good.

4.4 Back-formation

Back-formation is the process of deriving words by dropping what is thought to be a suffix or (occasionally) a prefix. It applies chiefly to the coining of verbs from nouns.

Examples: abled (disabled), to explete (expletive), to enthuse (enthusiasm), to liase (liason); to burgle (burglary), to edit (edition, editor), to peddle (peddler), to scavange (scavanger), to sculpt (sculptor, sculpture), to swindle (swindler, the swindle); to air-condition (air-conditioning), to baby-sit (baby-sitter), to brainstorm (brainstorming), to brainwash (brainwashing), to browbeat (browbeating), to dry-clean (dry-cleaner), to house-hunt (house hunter), to sightsee (sightseeing), to tape-record (tape-recorder); to articulate (articulate (a), articulation), to assassinate (assassination), to coeducate (co-education), to demarcate (demarcation), to emote (emotion), to intuit (intuition), to legislate (legislation), to marinate (marination), to orate (orination), to vaccinate (vaccination), to vacation (vacation), to valuate (valuation); to diagnose (diagnosis), to laze (lazy), to reminisce (reminiscene), to statistic (statistics), to televise (television).

Chapter-Five

Other Word Formation Processes in English

In this chapter some other word formation processes are introduced though we have already mentioned some processes which are considered to be primary.

5.1 Clipping

Clipping is a shortening of a word by the omission of one or more syllables.

Examples: bike (bicycle), decaf (decaffeinated coffee), fan (fanatic), exam (examination), phone (telephone), fax (facsimile), fridge (refrigerator), hyper (hyperactive), intercom (intercommunication system), lab (laboratory), medic (medical student/doctor), memo (memorandum), mike (microphone), movie (moving picture), photo (photograph), pub (public house), zoo (zoological gardens), maths (mathematics).

5.2 Acronyms

Acronyms are another abbreviator device. The usually resulting word class is that of a noun: ECU (European Currency Unit), scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), email (electronic mail).

5.3 Blending

Blends are also used for abbreviator purposes. Here, two or more complementing components constitute the basis for the resultant. These components are omitted of one or more syllables before compounded to the blend.

Examples:

Bit = binary + digit,

Camcorder = camera + recorder,

Contraception = contrasting + conception,

Glitterati = glitter + literati,

Modem = modular + demodulator,

Motel = motor + hotel,

Smog = smoke + fog,

Transistor = transfer + resistor.

5.4 Borrowing

It is the most common source of new words in English. The original English word stock comes from the Germanic language that the Anglo-Saxon invaders brought with them what they colonized Britain. Later on, especially often the Norman Conquest, hundreds of French words was absorbed into English. Many words from Latin and Greek were also adopted during the Middle English period. Later on, words from other language such as Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Italic, German, Japanese, and American English entered into English. Some examples of loan words are given below:

Pizza (Italian), Café (French), Index (Latin), Pathos (Greek) Armada (Spanish), Zero (Arabic, Fax (American English)

Special kind of borrowing is “calque” or “loan translation”. In this process there is a direct translation of the elements of the words into the other language. For example, Hot Dogs comes from translation of Spanish words Ferros (dog) and Calientes (Hot)

5.5 Coinage

Coinage is not a common process in English. It is the process of inventing a word or phrase. IPod, Xerox, Aspirin, Zipper are some example of recently invented words.

Chapter-Six

Word Formation Processes in Bangla

শব্দের অর্থ- বৈচিত্র্যের জন্যে নানাভাবে তার রূপ- রূপান্তর সাধন করা হয়। এভাবে বিভিন্ন অর্থে ব্যবহার-উপযোগী করে তলার জন্যে শব্দ তৈরি করার প্রক্রিয়াকে এক কথায় শব্দগঠন বলে। বিভিন্ন উপায়ে শব্দ গঠিত হলেও শব্দগঠন প্রধানত ‘উপসর্গ’, ‘প্রত্যয়’, ‘সমাস’, ‘সন্ধি’, ‘শব্দদ্বৈত’- এই পাঁচটি উপায়ে হয়ে থাকে।

Word Formation with Prefix

Prefix plays an important role in word formation. Prefix is such kind of element which cannot express its meaning alone because it has no meaning of it’s own. Being added at the begining of a word it produces a new word. Placed at the beginning of a word it changes the meaning of a word. For example, if we add ‘প্র’ prefix at the very beginning of the word ‘ভাত’ we get a new word ‘প্রভাত’ that gives a different meaning. The prefixes those are used in Bangla language are not the pure Bangla prefixes. Most of them have come from Sanskrit language. Besides, some prefixes have come from other languages like Arabic, Farshi, English etc. So, the prefixes used in Bangla are of three kinds- 1. Bangla Prefix, 2. Totshomo or Sanskrit prefix and 3. Foreign prefix. 

1. Bangla Prefix: There are twenty one Bangla prefixes in Bangla language. Those are- অ-,অঘা-,অজ-, আ-, আড়-, অনা-, আন-, আব-, ইতি-, উন-, কদ-, কু-, নি-, পাতি-, বি-, ভর-, রাম-, স-, সা-, সু-, হা-।

Word formation processes adding Bangla prefixes

উপসর্গ	মূলশব্দ	গঠিত নতুন শব্দ
অ	চেনা	অচেনা
অঘা	চন্ডী	অঘাচন্ডি
অজ	মূর্খ	অজমূর্খ
আ	ধোয়া	আধোয়া
আড়	চোখে	আড়চোখে
অনা	বৃষ্টি	অনাবৃষ্টি
আন	চান	আনচান
আব	ছায়া	আবছায়া
ইতি	হাস	ইতিহাস
উন	পাঁজুরে	উনপাঁজুরে
কদ	বেল	কদবেল
কু	সঙ্গ	কুসঙ্গ
নি	খোঁজ	নিখোঁজ
পাতি	হাঁস	পাতিহাঁস
বি	ফল	বিফল
ভর	পুর	ভরপুর
রাম	ছাগল	রামছাগল
স	ঠিক	সঠিক
সা	জোয়ান	সাজোয়ান
সু	নাম	সুনাম
হা	ভাতে	হাভাতে

Generally Bangla prefixes are added at the beginning of the root word.

2. Totshomo or Sanskrit prefix: There are twenty Totshomo or Sanskrit prefixes in Bangla language. Those are- প্র-, পরা-, অপ-, সম-, নি-, অনু-, অব-, নির-, দুর-, বি-, অধি-, সু-, উৎ-, পরি-, প্রতি-, অতি-, অপি-, অভি-, উপ-, আ-।

উপসর্গ	মূলশব্দ	গঠিত নতুন শব্দ
প্র	ভাব	প্রভাব
পরা	জয়	পরাজয়
অপ	কার	অপকার
সম	পূর্ণ	সম্পূর্ণ
নি	বৃত্তি	নিবৃত্তি
অনু	করণ	অনুকরণ
অব	নত	অবনত
নির	অক্ষর	নিরক্ষর
দুর	ভাগ্য	দুর্ভাগ্য
বি	শুদ্ধ	বিশুদ্ধ
অধি	পতি	অধিপতি
সু	কণ্ঠ	সুকণ্ঠ
উৎ	নয়ন	উন্নয়ন
পরি	পূর্ন	পরিপূর্ন
প্রতি	ধ্বনি	প্রতিধ্বনি
অতি	প্রাকৃত	অতিপ্রাকৃত
অপি	নিহিতি	অপিনিহিতি
অভি	যাত্রী	অভিযাত্রী
উপ	কণ্ঠ	উপকণ্ঠ
আ	সমুদ্র	আসমুদ্র

3. Foreign prefix:      

English Prefixes: ফুল-, হাফ-, হেড-, সাব-; Arabic prefixes: আম-,খাস-, লা-, গর-; Farshi prefixes: কার-, দর-, না-, নিম-, ফি-, বদ-, বে-, বর-, ব-, কম-; Urdu and Hindi prefix: হর-।

Word Formation with Suffix

Suffix produces new words when it is added at the end of a root word. For example: ঢাকা+আই= ঢাকাই। In Bangla language suffixes are of two kinds- ১. কৃৎ suffix বা ধাতু suffix; ২. তদ্ধিত suffix বা শব্দ suffix ।

1. কৃৎ suffix:

The suffixes which are added with a root word and produce a new meaningful word are called কৃৎ suffix. For example: কর্তা = √কৃ+তৃন, নাচন= √নাচ+অন etc.

There are two types of কৃৎ suffixes in Bangla language. These are- 1.Bangla কৃৎ suffix and 2. Sanskrit কৃৎ suffix.

Bangla কৃৎ suffix: অক, অন, অন্ত, আইত, আও, আনি, ইয়ে, উক, উনি, উয়া

Sanskrit কৃৎ suffix: অক, অন, অনীয়, ইত, ইষ্ণু, উক, ত, তব্য, তৃন, বর  

2. তদ্ধিত suffix or word suffix:

The suffixes which are added with a root word or main part of the root word and produce a new meaningful word are called তদ্ধিত suffix. For example: ঢাকা+আই= ঢাকাই।

There are three types of তদ্ধিত suffixes---

1.       Bangla তদ্ধিত suffix = আ, আই, আমি, আরি, আল, আলা, আলি, ই, উ, উক

2.       Sanskrit তদ্ধিত suffix = ইক, ইম, ইমা, ঈন, ঈয়সি, ঈয়ান, ত্ব, তর, মান

3.       Foreign তদ্ধিত suffix = আনা, খানা, চা/চি, ওয়ান, খোর, দার  

Word Formation with Somash

One of the best ways of word formation is Somash. The word Somash means reduction, generalization and turning more than one word into one word. The word formation process in which  two or more than two words which are revelent in meaning being connected together forms a new word is called Somash. For example: প্রাণ যাওয়ার ভয়= প্রাণভয়; মন হরন করে যে নারী= মনোহারিণী etc.

There are six kinds of Somash in Bangla language:

1. Dondo Somash
2. Totpurush Somash
3. Bohubrihi Somash
4. Kormodharoy Somash
5. Obboyivab Somash
6. Digu Somash

1. Word formation process with Dondo Somash:

Both the words before and after the conjunctions  ‘এবং’, ‘ও’, ‘আর’ dominate in Dondo Somash. After the formation of a word with the process of Dondo Somash, the conjunctions  ‘এবং’, ‘ও’, ‘আর’  are omitted. For example: চন্দ্র ও সূর্য = চন্দ্র-সূর্য

2. Word formation process with Totpurush Somash:

The case or relationship-index of the word before are omitted and the word after dominate in Totpurush Somash. For example: ধানের ক্ষেত= ধানক্ষেত। Here the word after ‘ক্ষেত’ dominates and after being Somash-bound the ending of the word before ‘র’ has been omitted. In this Somash, in the word before there are endings from second to seven and being Somash-bound the endings of the word have been omitted.

3. Word formation process with Bohubrihi Somash:

In the Bohubrihi Somash, naither the   Somash-bound word before nor the word after domiates rather another word related with it dominates. For example: বহু ব্রীহি (ধান) আছে যার = বহুব্রীহি। Here neither ‘বহু’ nor ‘ব্রীহি’ has the dominance, rather here dominates he who has a lot of paddy. There are eight kinds of Bohubrihi Somash. Those are-

১. সমানাধিকরণ বহুব্রীহি

    বিশেষণ + বিশেষ্য

    বিশেষ্য  + বিশেষণ

২. ব্যধিকরণ বহুব্রীহি

    পূর্বপদ ও পরপদ কোনটিই বিশেষণ নয়।

৩. ব্যতিহার বহুব্রীহি

    পূর্বপদে ‘আ’ এবং উত্তরপদে ‘ই’ যুক্ত হয়।

৪. মধ্যপদলোপী বহুব্রীহি

    ব্যাসবাক্যের মধ্যপদ তথা উপমা পদ লুপ্ত হয়।

৫. নঞর্থক বহুব্রীহি

    পূর্বপদে নেতিবাচক অব্যয় এবং পরপদে বিশেষ্য

৬. সহার্থক বহুব্রীহি

    পূর্বপদে সহ অর্থে স-উপসর্গ এবং পরপদে বিশেষ্য

৭. সংখ্যাবাচক বহুব্রীহি

    পূর্বপদে সংখ্যাবাচক শব্দ এবং পরপদ বিশেষ্য

৮. অলূক বহুব্রীহি

    পূর্বপদে বিভক্তি লোপ পায় না।

4. Word formation process with Kormodharoy Somash:

In Kormodharoy Somash, the word before of the Somash-bound word is the same as the adjective of the word after and the meaning of the word after dominates. There are several kinds of Kormodharoy Somash.

    

১. সাধারণ কর্মধারয়ঃ কাঁচা যে কলা = কাঁচাকলা

২. উপমান কর্মধারয়ঃ কুসুমের মতো কোমল= কুসুমকোমল

৩. উপমিত কর্মধারয়ঃ চাঁদের মতো মুখ= চাঁদমুখ

৪. রূপক কর্মধারয়ঃ মোহ রূপ নিদ্রা = মোহনিদ্রা

৫. মধ্যপদলোপী কর্মধারয়ঃ অষ্ট অধিক দশ = অষ্টাদশ

5. Word formation process with Obboyivab Somash:

In this kind of Somash, there is an obboy in the first part and a noun in the last part of the word and from the point of view of meaning the word before dominates.

Since prefix is one kind of obboy, all words formed adding prefix belong to Obboyivab Somash. Generally Obboyivab Somash is formed by adding অনু, উপ, আ, প্রতি, নিঃ, যথা, অনা, উৎ, ফি, হর etc. For example বনের সমীপে = উপবন, দিন দিন = প্রতিদিন etc.

6. Word formation process with Digu Somash: In Digu Somash, in the first part there exists numeral word and in the later part Somash occurs adding nouns and the total expresses a sum. In the word before of Digu Somash, there occur দু (two), তে/ত্রি (three), চতুঃ/চৌ (four),পঞ্চ (five) etc numeral adjectives. The meaning of the word before dominates here. For example: চৌ রাস্তার সমাহার = চৌরাস্তা, ত্রি কালের সমাহার = ত্রিকাল etc.

           

Word Formation with Shondhi

Shondhi has a great role in the formation of words in Bangla language. When two adjacent sounds mingle together, it calls Shondhi. Actually, Shondhi refers to sound changing. the purpose of Shondhi is to bring simplicity in pronunciation and beautification into sound. A sound changes mingling two two adjacent sounds as a result of rapid pronunciation and thus new words are formed according to the rules of Shondhi.

Ø  Word formation with Sanskrit shoroshondhi

অন্যান্য=অন্য+অন্য, অ+অ=আ, অ- ধ্বনি আ- তে রূপান্তর।

Ø  Word formation with Sanskrit banjonshondhi

প্রচ্ছদ=প্র+ছদ, অ+ছ=অ+চ্ছ; ছ- ধ্বনির চ্ছ- এ রূপান্তর।

Ø  Word formation with Sanskrit bishorgoshondhi

মনোনয়ন=মনঃ+নয়ন, অঃ+ন=ও+ন; অঃ রূপান্তর হয়ে ও হয়েছে।

Ø  Word formation with Bangla shoroshondhi

অর্ধেক=অর্ধ+এক, অ- ধ্বনি লোপ হয়েছে।

Ø  Word formation with Bangla banjonshondhi

পাঁজ্জন= পাঁচ+জন, চ- ধ্বনি জ- ধ্বনিতে রূপান্তর; উচ্চারণে, কিন্তু লেখায় নয়।

Word Formation with Duplication

Duplication means repeating the same, synonymous or near-synonymous word twice. In bangla, using a same word twice or somewhat with changing gives an extended meaning rather than using that word once. For example: ‘আমি জ্বর বোধ করছি’। Here ‘জ্বর’ refers to the one’s state of suffering from fever. But in ‘আমি জ্বর জ্বর বোধ করছি’ the doublings ‘জ্বর জ্বর’ refers to feeling fevourish not actual fever. Bangla has preference for pairings and doublings. We find this in compound verbs, in adverbs, in onomatopoeia and in the reduplication of verb forms. word duplications are of three kinds. Those are discussed below:

1.      Word duplication: The first word, either a noun or an adjective, is echoed by a meaningless rhyming word with a different initial consonant. This consonant is often ট but other consonants also occur. For example: আরাম-টারাম, বই-টই etc.   

2.      Reduplication: Doubled adjectives, nominative and locative nouns have a variety of effects such as approximation almost, intensity very, gradual build-up, multiplicity, pervasiveness. For example: কানে-কানে, মনে-মনে etc.   

3.      Onomatopoeia: Onomatopoeia add colour, flavour and spice to the Bangla language. For example: কড়কড়, ধপধপ etc.  

Chapter-Seven

Conclusion

In this investigative work I have presented some word formation processes in English and Bangla. The vocabulary of English and Bangla consists of several hundred thousand words, and without an extensive vocabulary, communication in English and Bangla just cannot occur in a meaningful way. In addition, a good understanding of English and Bangla is essential for the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language and Bangla as our mother tongue to communicate effectively. A language is enriched with its vocabulary. If we want to keep pace with a language we have to know them vastly. Coming to the summing up of this paper, to me, using a language in different aspect of life successfully depends partly on knowing about its vocabulary of that language.