Word formation

1. Word formation In English and Arabic Presenter Almoatasim Bellah Shaqfa Instructor Prof. Dr. Walid Amer

2. Objectives • To clarify the morphological symmetries and divergences between the two languages. • To enable translators and linguists identifying the origin of words. • To less and minimize falling in translation mistakes between two languages. • To identify linguistic students how words are formed and invented.

3. Definition of word formation • “ It is the science of creating new semantic entities in a language”. Eman M. M. Elesawy,2002 • “ It is that branch of the science of language which studies the patterns on which a language forms new lexical units". Hans Marchand,1969

5. Word formation processes are classified into two main categories: Additive processes • Morphological "additions" are annexed to the base. • These additions might be free morphemes (discrete autonomous words) or bound morphemes (affixes). • Additive processes include compounding, derivation and reduplication. Reductive processes • ln reductive processes certain parts are cut off the lexical item and the remaining parts stand up in representation for the original word. • Reductive processes include clipping, initialization, acronyms and blending.

6. First, Addictive Processes1. Derivation • Crystal (2000) defines derivation as the process of "building new words by adding derivational affixes ,which do not apply regularly to an entire class of words, but only to some subset ". • Adding strings of prefixes and suffixes can produce such monster words, as Crystal (2000) says, e.g. indestructibility and antidisestablishmentarianism. • Affixes may be adjoined to both native, e.g. tender - tenderize and non-native words, (French) e.g. author – authorize, nature – naturalize.

7. 2. Compounding • Putting two or more words together to make a new word with; meaning in some way different ,if only in being more specific ,from that of its separate elements injuxtaposition -for instance ,a "blackboard" is not the same thing as a "blackboard"' . . . • Compounds in English can function as any part of speech. They can be verbs as in highlight ,nouns wishbone ,adjectives foolproof, adverbs overheard , prepositions without or participial -ed adjectives as in open-minded. • 3 types of compound word- closed compound words e.g. grandmother- open compound words, e.g. full moon- hyphenated compound words, e.g. six-pack

8. 3. Reduplication • It is a repetitive process where , as Hatch states, "all or parts of the words are repeated to add quantity, intensity, or smallness qualities by repetition or elongation.“ • It is used in many languages of the world differently, here are some examples:- Vietnamese to modify and intensify adverbials e.g. nho' nho' (smallish).- Ilocano, (the major language in Philippine) is used for pluralizing words e.g. talan (field) , tatalan (fields).- In English is used for:Diminutive and endearment e.g. teeny, tiny earrings.Endearment e.g. sweety, the syllable -y ,/i/.exaggeration e.g. tit for tat (one deed done in repayment of another)

9. Second category, Reductive processes1. blending • Crystal (1981) defines a "blend" as "the result of two elements fusing to form a new word or construction. • Examplebreakfast +lunch gives the blend brunch • Blends are used heavily in Press and advertising .They save space at printing and create a catch-the-eye effect for the reader.

10. 2. Clipping • A process where a syllable or more is cut off the word in order to produce a shortened form.Clipped forms may be roots or affixes. • Examples of affixes- Bus is a clipping of omnibus- Influenza is clipped to flu- laboratory to lab • Examples of roots- Exam of examination- dorm of dormitory- fridge of refrigerator.

11. 3. Initialization and Acronyms • An acronym , as defined by Pyles, is "a word coined up from Greek 'akros' meaning 'tip' and onyma i.e. name. " Thus an acronym literally means "tip of a name". • Initialization(abbreviations),  a reductive process where only the initials of a group of words ,of a phrase or even of a title are clustered together into a group of letters written capitalized ,in conjunction one to the other or separated by full stops. • A distinctionbetween acronyms and initializations is that letters in initializations are pronounced as individual separate phonemes inFBI which stands for "Federal Bureau of Intelligence",etc. Whereas in acronyms letters are pronounced as a sequence of undivided phonemes e.g. UNRWA. • In acronyms letters are not written separated by dots and in most cases only the first letter is capitalized as in Yip "Youth International Party". Sometimes acronyms are treated as mere ordinary words ; no capitalizations are used. This happens when they refer to an ordinary object or device in everyday life rather than to a name of an organization e.g. laser and radar.

12. other Processes Employed in English Word formation1. Shifting • Shifts are cases where language development results in the change of meaning of the lexical item thus leading to the creation of a new word bearing the same orthography yet with a new different meaning. • Semantic shifts may expand, limit or replace the original meanings of words. • Examples- Anglo-Saxon, meat meant "food"; today, it means a certain type of food.- deer which once meant "wild animals" in general.- pretty once meant "ingenious".- minister used to mean servant.

13. 2. Borrowing • languages borrow words from each other. • Borrowing is one of the most vital and influential processes in English word formation. • Examples- wigwam, wampum, and tomahawk from the Indian languages- adobe and corral from the Spanish- Arabic / sherbetets

14. 3. Coining • Coining, is sometimes called word-manufacture . It is the process of inventing new words. • This phenomenon is especially common in cases where industry requires a new and attractive name for a product. • Examples of some coinages, wireless, hypermarket, kleenex, xerox.

15. 4. Conversion • A process where existing lexical items change their part of speech in order to create new items bearing the same meaning but belonging to different grammatical categories. • It is considered derivation by adding a zero-morpheme to the base (root). • Examples- verb from noun (pen/penning)- verb from preposition (up/upped)- N. from Adj. ( commercial/commercials)adj. from phrasal verbs (breakaway)- Adj to V like (better, rough and tame)

16. 5. Backformation • O"Grady defines the process of backformation as : A process that creates a new word removing a real or supposed affix from another word in the language...A major source of backformations in English has been words that end with –or or -er and have meanings involving the notion of an agent, such as editor, peddler, swindler, and striker. Examples swindle , edit, communicate. • Sometimes verbs are backformed from adjectives Examples ill-treat , ill-use • Other examples housekeep from housekeeper, wordprocessfrom wordprocessor ,orient from Orientate, enthuse from enthusiasm , donate from donation and lase from laser.

17. 6. Eponyms • Words adopted from proper names are called eponyms. • For example Maverick is a name of a major of San Antonio who refused to brand his cattle. The word maverick came then to become a term for unbranded cattle ,and later for anyone who took an independent stand. • Sandwich is the name of the fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), said to have spent twenty-four hours at the gaming table with no other refreshment than slices of meat between slices of bread. • The word boycott is the name of a retired British army captain Boycott who oversaw estates in Ireland and refused to give humanitarian concessions to his Irish tenants. They hated him so much that they ostracized him and boycott became a synonym for rejection and isolation .

18. Eponyms • Eponyms can be names of places as in Camembert (cheese) and Limousine (car) which are names of places in France . • Charlestonthe dance is also the name of an American city. Tabasco (a sauce)is the name of a river in Mexico. • Frankfurter comes from Frankfurt, mayonnaise from Mayon, roman(type) from Roma, etc.

19. 7. Analogic Creation • Coining brand new words is a totally different process from analogic creation. Whereas coining invents and innovates brand new lexical items, analogic creation is a process that depends on parody and creating items similar to an existing model. • For example Dacron, Teflon and Orlon are all names for industrial products created in analogic creation to the word nylon.

20. 8. Idioms and Proverbs • Forming idioms is one way of forming complex lexical items in English besides compounding and derivation. • An idiom is a phrase whose meaning can not be predicted from the individual meaning of the morphemes it comprises. • Examples, stir up trouble or the heart of the manner

21. ArabicWord formation Helal (1995) categorized word formation in Arabic into eight processes: derivation al?eshteqaq, blending (alnaht), Mutation and metathesis (al?ebdal wa alqalb coining (al?ertegal), analogic creation(alqeyas), Arabicization(borrowing) translation (altargamah) metaphoric usage (shifts and idiomatic usage) (olhaqeeqah wa almagdz).

22. 1. Derivation(al?eshteqaq) الاشتقاق • Derivation in Arabic means generating a new word from an existing one in order to denote a new meaning and relation of receiving an action ,being the goal of an action, its place ,its doer, etc. • Example • Taqalnasa means to wear a qolonswah (a helmet) • tamanTaqa means to argue using logic ,to use logic in reasoning

23. Types of derivation in Arabic • Regular derivation employs the regular metric patterns of language. Words are generated to pre-known meanings. E.g. the combinationfa3eel to create exaggerative adjectival forms as in: Qateel “murdered”, Hazeen“sad”. • Irregular derivation: no exact or specific rule is followed to generate words. Words created from proper names and Arabized words where the base does not match any pattern in the language (musically derived). E.g. from Arabized word Tubaster/bastara from pasteurization. Amsarafrom proper name Mesr(Egypt). • Derivation using phones: so if a man pronounces the sound /h/, they say h?aha?a (to say /h/ ,to laugh). If 'th’ /ث/ they say tha?tha?a ( to say /ث/ ,to lisp ) .

24. 2. Arabizations (borrowings) التعريب • “Arabicization is a lexical item that Arab people of pure descent have adopted from a foreign language and used into theirs.” Magalat Almagma3 • Arabized words can be derived from too . • For example, • Allajam (the saddle) is an Arabicized word of Persian origin. The verb aljama is an Arabic derivative meaning ,,to saddle a horse,, • In modern age “tefezyun” is an Arabicization from English ,the verb tarfaza "televise" is an Arabic derivation from this root.

25. Methods of Arabizations • 1. Transcription/ interference/ transliteration ( النسخ الصوتي ) Is the literal spelling of English term in Arabic letters as it exactly pronounced. Examples: bank(بنك), computer(كمبيوتر), radio(راديو), virus(فايروس) • 2. Naturalization (التطبيع) This method is based on adapting the English term to Arabic pronunciation, alphabet, and grammar, by modifying its pronunciation only partly, changing the spelling of one or more of its letters into close Arabic ones, and using it in singular, plural, masculine, feminine or verb form. Example: Oxide(n) أكسيد, oxidate/oxidizeيؤكسد, oxidation/oxidizationأكسدة/تأكسد, oxidant/oxidizerمؤكسِد, oxidated/oxidizedمؤكسَد.

26. 3. Translation الترجمة • A method of Arabization, translation is the transmission of English technical terms into Arabic, using words that are already a part of Arabic language vocabulary. • Examples Geologyعلم الأرض, Geometry الهندسة, cellsالخلايا, capacityالسعة, bloodgroupزمرة الدم.

27. 4. Metaphoric and Non-metaphoric Speech الحقيقة والمجاز • using words figuratively to convey new meanings and give particular collocations. • Figurative usage of speech is classified into three types: • 1. Allegory: An allegory can be used to express different relations between two referents. The relation between the two referents is mostly something other than similarity . • 2. Metaphors and similes : Metaphors can be explicit or implicit (or as Arabic linguists put it "direct" or "indirect" ). Metaphors are employed if the relation between the two referents bears some of similarity and so are similes . • 3. Metonymy : A metonymy is used to qualify one of three things : an animate or inanimate referent, a characteristic in the referent ,a relation between two referents. In metonymy the lexical item is used to denote a new object not different from the original referent.

28. 5. Blendingالنحت • Helal defines blending as " the process whereby some letters are extracted from more than one word and appended together to create a new word .“ • Blending was well-known and used by old Arabs ,yet it is not as productive and generative in MSA as it is in Indo-European languages . • Blending in Arabic is subdivided into two types: • a)Auditory Blending: "Audition" and "hearing" were the norm for Arabs in their coinages and derivations. .Auditory blending creates words out of two lexical items or a whole sentence or a phrase. Blends created this way would have new different meanings from both parent words, and a different form too. Examples • Two words: ?emro? (man) +?alqays (the tribe of Qays)--+ emrolqays\belonging to?alqays tribe or to the famous poet emrolqays . • Blending from a sentence or a phrase: Besm+Allah +alrahman +alrahim (in the name of Allah the all • merciful, the ever-merciful) => besmelahirrahmanirahim.

29. Blending النحت • b )Regular Blending: extrapolating a letter or more of one of the two items and affixing to the other either initially (prefix), medially (prefix) or finally(suffix) • Two words عرم/عرمرم ،عبدشمي نسبة الى عبدشمس، عبدري نسبة الى عبدالدار،جلمود اختصار لـ جلد وجمد“. • Tree Words حيعل وتعني حي على الفلاح • Four words بسمل وتعني بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم • More than four حوقل أو حولق وتعني لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله

30. Analogic Creation القياس • The process throughwhich an Arabic speaker generates new lexical items using the analogy andsymmetry of existing models. • Analogic creation involves modeling words to words, patterns to patterns or even usages to usages in order to achieve linguistic growth and also to preserve the regularity of linguistic phenomenon.

31. Analogic creation in Arabic includes three main processes • a)Extending the meaning of an Arabic item to a foreign one. This is done for no reason other than their being similar or identical in form (metrical pattern) or function. e.g. khamr means wine • b)Patterning words of the same morphological build together so that their semanticity is predictable by the speaker or learner. e.g. booklet كتيب , leafletوريقة. • c) Words that are morphologically similar though functionally are treated different as belonging to one category even if only in form. • e.g. Words ends with (t,h) in Arabic treated as feminine whichever their singular form might be.

32. 7. Coining/coinageالارتجال • Three ways for coinage • Revival (الاحياء) Also called engendering (التوليد). It is the use of an old, dead word with a new meaning. Its old meaning usually ignored. Examples • Train (قطار): used to mean “a line of camels”. now, it is used to indicate the Arabized word “train”. • Telephone(الهاتف): used to mean “a person whose voice is heard, but not seen.” now, it used to Arabize the word telephone.2. 2. Neologism المستجدات New word, ideas and expressions which were not known in Classical Arabic. e.g. Psychologyعلم النفس, calculatorآلة حاسبة , spaceship سفينة فضاء 3- coining new words that never existed before. E.g. Entifada

33. 8.Metathesis and Mutation: القلب والابدال a) Metathesis القلب • one of the radicals of the trilateral root is forefronted over the others . • The new entry would have the same core meaning of the mother entry but with minor lexical differences expressing fine semantic shades or gradations . e.g. ya?esaand ?ayesa(todespair) أيس و يأس b) Mutation الابدال • a linguistic phenomenon where one of the consonantal radicals of the trilateral root is replaced with a new different consonant. • For example in waswosah (to whisper, or to insinuate evil or bad thoughts to) when (s) is replaced with (sh) , a new word results which is washwoshah (meaning to whisper softly and neutrally to some person)

34. 9. Acronyms • In Arabic some acronyms are found in the Koran such as: حم ،٬ ﻁس ،٬ ﻳﺱ ،٬ ﻁﻪ ،كهيعص . • Other acronyms that exist in Modern Standard Arabic like ،٬ اﺍلاﻭبكاليونسكو ،٬ اﺭﺍمكوﻭ ،٬ الاﻭابك،٬ اليونسيف ،٬ الناتوﻭ are borrowed from English. • Abbreviations ﻡ/ﺙ (مترﺭ في الثانية) ،٬ كم/سا (كيلومتر في اﺍلساعة) ،٬ ﺵ (شاﺭع) ،٬ ﺹ (صفحة)

35. 10. Onomatopoeia • It is a modified type of coining in which a word is formed as an imitation of some natural sound associated with the object or action involved. • English • tinkle, buzz, pop, moo, bow-wow, mew, chickadee • Arabic • مواء ﺍلقطﻁ ،٬ خرﻳر اﺍلماء ،٬ اﺯﯾﻳز ﺍلطائرﺍت ،٬ نباح ﺍلكلب ،٬ عوﺍء ﺍلذئب ،٬ زئير ﺍلاسد ،خوار ﺍلبقرﺭ ،٬ خشخشة ﺍلحلي ،٬ ﺩوﻭﻱّ ﺍلمدافع ،٬ ثرثر،٬ جرجر،٬ خرخر ،٬ شرشر

36. References • Eman M. M. Elesawy. (2002) Word-formation in Modern Standard Arabic and English A Corpus-based Study. MiniaUniversity,Egypt. • Hasan Ghazala. (1995) Translation as problems and solutions. • Reima Al-Jarf. (1994)A Contrastive Analysis of English and Arabic Morphology for Translation Students. • النحت في اللغة العربية