neologism
words created without any connections to existing old words or roots. eg. google, dog, blizzard, jam, slang words
when is a word no longer a neologism
- when it is accepted by the public/ in a dictionary
- must be popular use in newspapers/novels for about 10 years
compounds
- two words or phrases are joined together and neither word loses a portion.
- new-born, boyfriend, spreadsheet, upmarket, road-rage, think-tank, laptop, hard-drive, Facebook
Blends
- also knows as portmanteau words
- created by combining parts of two words in such a way that both lose a portion.
malware
malicious + software
phubbing
phone + snubbing
acronyms
-sound like words but they are never punctuated, NATO, MOOC, AIDS, CAT scanner, Soweto, radar, sonar, scuba
abbreviations
2 types: initialism and clippings
Initialism
contracted form of a phrase. each word is individually pronounced.
-UCT, HIV, BBC, HTTP
Clippings
- created by removing a syllable or more from a word.
- telephone- phone
- aeroplane- plane
- taxi- taximeter
- fan- fanatic
- cab- cabiolet
- emails
Conversions
- a new grammatical function for a word
- usually has ‘to’
- to chair
- to google
Eponyms
- derived from names of people
- braille, pasteurize, sandwich, sadism, chauvinism, boycott, bloody Mary, mentor
Toponym
- derived from names of places
- champagne, jeans (Genoa). denim (de Nimes), bedlam (St Mary of Bethlehem insane asylum), hamburger
Affixation
- use of prefixes and suffixes
- Latin and Greek roots changed to English words
Pejoration
- degeneration of words
- attitude
- crafty
- silly
- vulgar
Amelioration
- elevation of words
- nice
- chancellor
- geek
- sick
Gerundives
Latin verbs that end in -andus, -a, -um and -endus that are about obligation now are English nouns mostly ending in -um or -a -memorandum -corringendum -addendum -agenda -propoganda -graduand
