On the English Word Formation

郭娜

【Abstract】The memory of English vocabulary is a real challenge for every English learner. But it has its own inherent rules. English word formation is an important part of English lexicology. It reveals the way of word formation， the principle of organization and the analysis of the method. And it is a very effective method to learn vocabulary and to enlarge English learner vocabulary.

【Key words】English vocabulary； word formation； vocabulary learning

1. Introduction

Vocabulary learning plays an important role in English learning. English word formation is one of the important methods in vocabulary learning. It studies the internal structure of the word from the origin of vocabulary and the composition of vocabulary in a variety of methods， such as derivation， compounding， conversion， blending and so on. Teachers do not give enough attention to vocabulary teaching under the influence of traditional English teaching method. Students spend a lot of time to remember words without better results. In the following part the author will take several common word formation methods as an example， to illustrate the importance of word formation in English vocabulary learning through the analysis of the definition of the word formation method， word constitution and listing the specific examples of vocabulary.

2. The application of word formation

2.1 Derivation

Derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word， such as happiness and unhappy from the root word happy， or determination from determine. It often involves the addition of a morpheme in the form of an affix， such as -ness， un-， and -ation in the preceding examples. Most of the words in English are derived from the addition of affix. Root is the basic part. It expresses the basic meaning of the word. The root can be derived from a large number of words. Affix can be divided into prefix and suffix. On the one hand， a prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example， when the prefix in- is added to the word door， it creates the word indoor. In- means into， inside， upon and on. So the meaning of indoor is within doors. On the other hand， a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings， which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives， and verb endings， which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry grammatical information or lexical information. The suffix of -ness usually changes adjective word into noun. In conclusion， a word has different meanings in different contexts. We should first grasp the basic meaning of the root and meaning of the affix， then according to different context to infer specific meaning when learning English vocabulary.

2.2 Compounding

Compounding is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. It occurs when two or more words are joined to make one longer word. The meaning of the compound may be similar to or different from the meanings of its components in isolation. The component stems of a compound may be of the same part of speech， such as in the case of the English word footpath， composed of the two nouns foot and path. However， they may belong to different parts of speech， such as in the case of the English word blackbird， composed of the adjective black and the noun bird. Compounding is the oldest word formation method of English new words. It is the most common and simple method. Several common compounding words are based on a combination of the various parts of speech to distinguish.

2.3 Conversion

Conversion， also called zero derivation， is a kind of word formation. It is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form. For instance， the noun green in golf is derived ultimately from the adjective green. Conversions from adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common in English. The creation of a verb by converting a noun or other word plays an important role in word conversion， such as telephone， screen and water and so on. This word formation makes it easy to understand new words by context. After we have mastered the basic semantics of simple words， we can connect the basic meaning of the context to guess its meaning if it appears in different parts of speech.

3. Conclusion

Language learning is based on the mastery of vocabulary. English learners should understand the basic structure of English vocabulary and know the rules of the formation of English affix when they learn it. In brief， they will receive twice the result with half the effort as long as we grasp the English words affixation method and use the scientific methods to draw inferences about other cases from one instance.

References：

[1]Chomsky，N.Aspects of the Theory of Syntax[M].Cambridge， MA，MT Press，1965.

[2]Schmitt，N.Vocabulary in Language Teaching[M].Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，2000.