Neologisms or Word Formation Processes

Neologisms

Or

Word Formation Processes

Languages are living entities. They keep expanding their lexicons (vocabularies) by using different processes. The methods commonly used by all languages for creating new words are the same. These methods are discussed in brief below.

1. Coining

Entirely new words which did not exist earlier keep entering the lexicons of languages almost regularly. This happens when speakers invent (or coin) new words to name new concepts or objects entering their culture. They just put together a new sequence of sounds to match the new meaning.

2. Acronym Formation

An acronym is originally an abbreviations using the initials of the words of a term or by combining parts of different words in the term. With the passage of time, these abbreviations come to be used as words. In course of time, people even forget their origin and remember them as words. Radar (radio detecting and ranging), laser (light amplification stimulated by emission of radiation), aids (auto-immune deficiency syndrome), dos (disk operating system) are some examples of acronyms. In India, PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union) is an acronym of the origin of which the present generation knows nothing.

3. Alphabetic Abbreviation  

`Alphabetic abbreviations are formed in the same way as acronyms. They differ from acronyms in that instead of being pronounced as a word, each of their letters is pronounced individually. UNO (United Nations Organisation), PC (personal computer), ICU (Intensive Care Unit), CD (Compact Disk), IT (Information Technology), LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) and www (World Wide Web) are some common alphabetic abbreviations used by people these days. Most of the people use them but do not know their full form.

4. Clipping

Sometimes, the spelling of a word is shortened by the users by clipping apart a part of the word or by retaining the first and the last letter of the word. The clipped segment begins to be used as a word in place of the longer word without changing the pronunciation. Prof. for professor, Dr. for doctor, Mr. for mister are some popular clippings used by people these days.

4. Blending

Blending is the process in which parts of two words are taken and then joined together into a new word representing the meaning of the two words together. Camcorder (from camera and recorder), infomercial (from informative and commercial), infotainment (from information and entertainment), netiquette (from internet and etiquette), bit (from binary digit), and trashware (from trash software) are some common blends used these days.

5. Generified Words

Sometimes, the name of a popular brand of a product comes to be used to represent the object itself irrespective of its brand. Shank (for a wash basin), Kleenex for facial tissues and Xerox for photocopying) are common examples of generified words. Google is a very popular example. It was originally the name of an internet search engine but it has come to be used for searching for information on the internet.

6. Proper Nouns

Quite frequently, the name of a person comes to be associated with some trait, quality, act or behaviour of the person and gives rise to a word representing that trait etc. Narcissism from the name of Narcissus, an ancient king, who was always lost in admiring his own looks has come to mean the habit of self-glorification. Similarly, mesmerise from the name of F. A. Mesmer who gave the concept of animal magnetism and guillotine which is the name of an instrument of execution from the name of its inventor Joseph Guillotin are some other examples of such words.

7. Direct Borrowings

Languages keep borrowing words from other languages. English has many words which have come from Greek, Latin and other European languages like French, German, Spanish etc. Many Hindi words bazaar, dharna etc. have also entered English dictionaries.

8. Indirect Borrowings

Sometimes, languages literally translate words from other languages to denote certain concepts. Firewater and iron horse are literal translations of words from Native American meaning alcohol and railroad train.

9. Meaning Change

An existing word can assume a new meaning in course of time. This can happen in many ways.

       I.            Change in Part of Speech

                Words belonging to one part of speech may begin to be used as another part of speech.              People, which was originally a noun is also used these days as a verb.

     II.            Metaphorical extension

                When languages do not have the right word for certain purposes, they take an existing word and extend its meaning seeing a similarity between the two concepts. Thus ship has come to be used for a space vehicle. Docking, navigation, sailing, crew and captain are other words which have entered the domain of space from the space of shipping. We digest an idea, swallow an insult, bite off more than we can chew. All these expressions are examples of metaphorical extension.

  III.             Broadening

Sometimes, words can broaden their meaning by extending their meaning to a field formerly not covered by the. The word cool once referred to a certain style of jazz music. It has now become a general term indicating approval of the thing in question.

 IV.             Narrowing

Conversely, a word may narrow down its meaning by withdrawing itself from some area/s which it used to cover. The word meat at one time meant any type of solid consumable food but now it refers only to edible animal flesh.

               

    V.            Semantic Drift

         Semantic drift means a change of meaning. The word lady is a compound word made up by              combining two old words meaning bread and kneader. Thus its original meaning was                            kneader of bread. Now it means a respectable woman.

vi. Reversal

     Sometimes, a word comes to have a meaning which is the opposite of its original meaning.                 For example, the word bad has come to have a positive connotation in American slang. On the           other hand, the word square which meant honest or upright has come to have a negative                       connotation referring to anything hopelessly conventional and uncomprehending of new things.

16. Derivational Processes

New words are also formed through different derivational processes.

        I.         
   Co     Compounding

Two words are joined together to form a new word. Sickroom, bathtub, red-hot are some examples of compound words. We may even have compounds combining more than two words. Such words generally belong to the same part of speech as that of the word on the right hand which is known as the headword. Compounds are sometimes written with a hyphen between the two words and sometimes without it. The stress is generally on the first component. The meaning of compounds is not always predictable from their constituents though most of the time, it is.

      II.            Affixation

New words are also formed by affixing prefixes and suffixes to existing words. We can derive nouns from verbs by adding –er or –or, adjectives from verbs by adding –able, nouns from verbs by adding -ion  to words ending in /t/.

17. Backformation

                Sometimes, some letters at the end of a word are mistakenly taken to be a suffix. Backformation is the process of forming new words by deleting the supposed suffix. For example, laser is an acronym in which the letters er at the end are not a suffix added to the verb lase to derive a noun referring to the person who performs that action. But wrongly presuming them to be an agentive suffix, we have now got a new verb which means to spread radiation.