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1、Analysis of English Word Formation 英语构词法分析 Abstract 词汇是我们在英语学习过程中最大的障碍。然而，英语构词法能够帮助我们很 好的辨别并正确理解英语，同时也可以在短时间内增加我们的词汇量，英语构 词法是学习英语的有效途径和强有力的“武器” ，在所有的英语构词法中，词缀 法能够生成的新单词是最多的也是最广泛，它被认为英语学习的最佳途径之一。 除了词缀发以外，复合法、转类法、混成法、截短法、首字母拼音法、逆向构 词法也都是英语学习的有效途径 Vocabulary is one of the main obstacles of English stud
2、y. However English word formation can help us recognize English words, understand them correctly, and enlarge our vocabulary quickly. It is an efficient way and powerful weapon for English study. Among them，affixation is the strongest one to form a great range of vocabulary, and it is claimed to be
3、one of the best ways of learning English. Besides, compounding, conversion, blending, clipping, acronyms, back-formation are also efficient ways of learning English. In the paper the ways and characteristics of word formation is analyzed form these aspects: affixation, compounding, conversion, blend
4、ing. Key words: English, lexicology, word formation, affixation （关键字：英语、词汇学，构词法，词缀法） Introduction The expansion of vocabulary in modern English depends chiefly on word formation. There is a variety of means being at work now. The most productive are affixation, compounding and conversion. Talking ab
5、out word formation patterns means dealing with rules. But not all words which are produced by applying the rule are acceptable. The acceptability is gained only when the word have gained an institutional currency in the language. Therefore rules only provide a constant set of models from which new w
6、ord are created from day to day. Rules themselves are not fixed but undergo changes to a certain extent. For instance, affixes and compounding processes may become productive at one time or lose their productivity. By word formation processes, we concentrate on productive or on productive rules. Whi
7、le applying the rules, we should keep in mind that there are always exceptions. In my opinion, the most important principle for all these rules of word formation is economy. Chapter 1 the function of English word formation 1.1 Word formation is an effective way to enlarge our English vocabulary. Now
8、adays, more and more people have taken notice of learning English. The number of the people who begin to learn English has increased at a high speed. How can we improve our English effectively is undoubtedly the focus of our attention. Generally speaking, vocabulary and grammatical rules are keys to
9、 learning English well. Among the two aspects, vocabulary apparently plays a more important role. Vocabulary is the foundation of language. If a language learner doesnt have enough vocabulary to express his or her opinions and understand other people, even if his or her grammatical rules and pronunc
10、iations are excellent, but he can not communicate with others well, he shouldnt be a good language learner. Under the influence of traditional teaching mode, teachers often emphasis more on grammatical rules and pronunciations than vocabulary. As a result, students spend a lot of time on remembering
11、 new words, but the results are not so efficient. However if we have a knowledge of English word formation, the results will be not that bad. Word formation is really an effective way to enlarge our English vocabulary. 1.2 Word formation can help us have a better comprehension of an article. When we
12、 are reading a new article, we often encounter with some new words that we have never seen before. In this case, most of us will leave out the new word and go on with the following sections. However, this is not a good habit. If we want to improve our English, we have to take every new word seriousl
13、y either look them up in the dictionary or search for the internet. But dont you think that these methods are inefficient? If we know something about English word formation, maybe the article would not be so difficult for us to understand. In this way, we can guess the meaning of the new word accord
14、ing to what we have learned about English word formation. It has been proved that our guess is correct in most cases. So we say word formation can help us have a better comprehension of a new article. 1.3 Many new words can be derived based on the rules of word formation Recent years, the use of com
15、puters as a medium of communication has given birth to a new language phenomenon-cyber language. A large amount of cyber language has sprung up. Not all the new vocabulary can be recognized by human society. Some new words only emerged in a very short time and then disappeared, however, there are st
16、ill a lot of words are shared by many people. Finally, these words are recognized by the whole human society. Some are even added to the reversed dictionary. Can we say that these words are unreasonable and irrational? The answer is absolutely “No”. Most of the new words that have been recognized ar
17、e derived based on certain rules of word formation. For example, the sentence “3QU” is widely used in the chatting room on the internet by foreigners. This is also known as one important characteristics of English word-productivity. So it is necessary for us to learn English word formation. Chapter
18、2 Affixation Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to bases. This process is also known as derivation, by which new words derived from old or base forms. The words that are created in this way are called derivatives. According to the
19、 position affixes occupy in words, affixation falls into three subcategories: pre-fixation, in-fixation and suffixation. Pre-fixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to bases, which do not generally change the word-class of the base. That is to say, prefixes do not change the part o
20、f speech of a word. Their chief function is to modify its meaning, although there are exceptions. In my opinion, prefixes can be divided into: negative prefixes, pejorative prefixes, prefixes of degree or size, prefixes of time and order, and so on. Suffixation is the formation of new words by addin
21、g suffixes to bases. Their primary function is to change the grammatical function of the base, such as the change of the word class with a slight modification of meaning, though there are a few exceptions. Suffixes can be divided into noun suffixes, adjective suffixes, adverb suffixes, and verb suff
22、ixes. I can give you an example. The word “countless”, “-less” change the part of form and show the negative meaning of the stem. Infixes are not so common and they usually show a kind attitude of the speaker and will not change the part of form and meaning of words. Chapter 3 Compounding Compoundin
23、g is the formation of new words by joining two or more bases. Words formed in this way are called compounds. So a compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word (Quirk).Compounds can be written solid, hyphenated and op
24、en. Compounds have remarkable characteristics which are different from noun phrases. It comes down to three major ones: 1) Phonological features. In compounds the word stress usually occurs on the first constituent whereas in noun phrases the second element is generally accented if there is only one
25、 stress. In cases where there are two stresses, the compound has the primary stress on the first element and the second stress, if any, on the second, whereas the opposite is true of free phrase. 2) Semantic features. Compounds differ from free phrases semantically. Every compound should express a s
26、ingle idea just as one word. The meaning of a free phrase can not be inferred from the two components of itself. Nevertheless, a lot of compound are transparent, that is to say, the meaning can be obtained from the separate elements of compounds. But the two elements are inseparable and the change o
27、f the element would result in the loss of the original identity. 3) Grammatical features. Two elements of a compound each plays a separate grammatical role, which can be seen in the way the expressions are handled morphological. For example, compound nouns often show their plural forms by taking inf
28、lectional s at the end. Though there are exceptions, their one-wordness identity is apparent. Chapter 4 Conversion In English learning, students will often confused with words which have two or more part of form. Many of such conditions are caused by conversion. Conversion is the formation of mew wo
29、rds by converting words of one part of speech to those of another part of speech, without changes in morphological structures but in function. Words created in this way are new only in a grammatical sense. Words produced by conversion are primarily nouns, adjectives and verbs. The most productive, h
30、owever, is the conversion that takes place between nouns and verbs. It deserves nothing that conversion is not only a change of grammatical function of the item involved but with it the different range of meaning is originally carried. Chapter 5 Blending Blending is a very productive process and man
31、y coinages are resulting from blending have become well established. Moreover, they can sever as models for new formation. It is not the Combination of two words directly, but to combine parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word. This kind of word formation is called blending. This pr
32、ocesses including: The first part of the first word +the last part the second word. The whole part of the first part +the last part the second word. The first part of the first word +the first part the second word. The whole part of the second word + the first part of the first word. The overwhelmin
33、g majority of blends are nouns; very few are verbs and adjectives are even fewer. Blends are mostly used in writing related to science and technology, and newspapers and magazines. Though many of them have already achieved currency in English, they are still considered by the serious-minded people t
34、o be slang and informal. However, it is advisable not to use such words too often, particularly in formal writing. Conclusion Language develops with the development of society and vocabulary is sensitive to the changes of society. Some old words are abandoned and some new ones are created. Most of t
35、he new words in English are created according to certain rules and conformed to certain methods. These rules and methods are closely related to English word formation. So it is essential, as well as important, for us to learn word formation, especially for the students of English major. 参考文献： 外语语言文学系列教程 张维友 英语词汇学教程 2009 学术论文 魏红 构词法是迅速扩大英语词汇量的有效方法 2009 期刊论文 丁琳 徐玲 English word formation processes 2009 期刊论文 张莉 浅谈英语构词法中的词缀发 2008 广州大学学报 卢春媚 浅谈英语构词法 2002