Morphology for speech therapists

Word formation processes
Novelty keeps a language alive. For this purpose, it ought to be flexible enough to give place within itself to new words. These words are added to a language through different processes of formation called the morphological processes.
a) Coinage
It is the invention of totally new terms. In English it is one of the least common processes. ‘Xerox’ is the name of the first American company that manufactured the photocopier machine. Later people coined the synonym for photocopy by the same word, e.g., I want a Xerox copy of this document (meaning a photocopy). The terms wherefrom the words are coined might be obscure or technical in their use, but once coined, the words are used in common discourse of daily life (Yule, 1997).

b) Borrowing
It means adopting words from other languages. One may find the word ‘garma masala’ in an English dictionary (borrowed from Urdu). The word ‘monsoon’ is derived from the Arabic word ‘mousem’ meaning season. A special type of borrowing is called ‘calque’ or ‘loan-translation’. In this process a word is translated from another language into the next language. For instance the German word ‘U¨bermensch’ is translated into English as Superman (Yule, 1997).


c) Compunding
It is done by joining two words of the same language together. For instance, ‘black’ joins ‘board’ to make ‘blackboard’. This is a process of the formation of new words that is followed in almost all types of languages.

d) Blending
It is done by combing to separate forms to introduce a new term. The beginning of one word is joined to the end of the other. The offsprings of a tiger and a lioness in a zoo at Arizona were called ‘tigons’. Other examples may be brunch, motel, infotainment, etc (Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers, 1995). (Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers, 1995)

e) Clipping
It is process of reduction in which a word is reduced to a syllable. Commonly, we see a girl named Elizabeth nicknamed Liz. The Word ‘facsimile’ is reduced to ‘fax’. The word ‘advertisement’ is reduced to ‘ad’. ‘situation comedy’ to ‘sitcom’ (Yule, 1997).

a) Backformation
It is a kind of reduction of a syntactic category into another category. Normally we see a noun reduced to a verb. For instance, the word donation (a noun) is reduced to donate (a verb).
A specific kind of backformation used mostly in British and Australian English is called Hypocorism. In it a word is first reduced to a single syllable, then a ‘y’ or ‘ie’ is added to it. For instance, the word bookmaker is converted to bookie, or breakfast to brekky, etc.

b) Conversion
A change in the function of a word without any reduction is called conversion. For instance, the word ‘paper’ is used as a noun. But in the sentence ‘he is papering the walls’ it is used as a verb. Other examples can be butter, water, print etc. the conversion process even changes other syntactic categories, e.g., verbs becoming nouns, nouns used as adjectives etc. sometimes phrases (phrasal verbs in particular) act as nouns. For instance, ‘turn over’ in the sentence ‘he is waiting for a turnover’.

c) Abbreviations and Acronyms
Abbreviation is a combination of the initial letters of a phrase or term comprising a number of words with each letter pronounced individually. For instance, Lahore Development Authority is abbreviated as LDA.
Acronym is a kind of abbreviation that can be pronounced like a word instead of pronouncing each letter separately. For instance Water and Power Development Authority is abbreviated W-A-P-D-A and pronounced WAPDA.

d) Derivation (adding affixes)
In this process affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes) are added to a word changing its syntactic category. For instance, foolish (adj) + -ness (suff) = foolishness (noun). Infixes are also inserted within a word. For instance, goddammit is changed into goddoubledammit (McCarthy, 1982)

e) Metaphorical extensions (broadening, narrowing and reversals)
This is a process of not adding any affixes to a word but rather changing the meaning of a word and its scope. We can also say that it modifies the meaning of a word, thus, creating new uses for old ones (Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers, 1995). Hrnish (1995) says that finding no right expression for certain purposes in a language, the speakers often take an existing one and extend its meaning in a recognizable way. For instance, the word ‘ship’ is equally used for a spaceship too. The word ‘navigation’ is used for internet browsing. In this way the language seems to have augmented (renewed its meaning). This is a kind of metaphorical extension in which a word from one realm is described into another. Another example can be the use of physical words related to the use of food in abstract functions, as in the following sentences;

i) I’ll have to chew on this idea.
ii) He couldn’t swallow this poem.
iii) The teacher will give us time to digest the lesson.

Broadening
Sometimes the meaning of a word is broadened. For example, the slang word ‘cool’ was originally a part of the professional jargon of Jazz musicians. With the passage of time the word has come to be applied to almost anything conceivable, not just music; and it no longer refers to a certain genre of style. Now it is a general term used to give the approval of something (Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers, 1995).



Narrowing
Like broadening, the meaning of a word can narrow down too. A typical example is the meat. In the past the term referred to any solid consumable food. But now it is used only for solid edible flesh of animals (Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers, 1995).

Reversals
It means that the meaning of a word refers back to the meaning in the past. For instance, the American slang word ‘bad’ has come to have positive connotations with roughly the meaning ‘emphatically good’. Akmajian, Demers, Farmer and Harnish (1995) see the words ‘square’ and ‘straight’ having positive connotations as used in the American movies in 40s. the same words seem to have negative connotations in the late 50s and into the 60s, meaning hopelessly conventional and old-fashioned. After the sixties, both the terms reversed back to their old meanings as in 40s (Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers, 1995).

Note: Students will be appreciated for (1) pointing out any permissible corrections, and (2) Finding any resource materials that can help improve this note.

Bibliography
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The Academic Committee, G. (August 2001). English Course for B.A & B.Sc. (4th ed.). Lahore, Pakistan Kitabistan Paper Products
Yule, G. (1997). The Study of Language (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.