Introduction

This unit introduces the area of vocabulary, or lexis, in English. The two terms ‘vocabulary’ and ‘lexis’ are frequently used interchangeably and that convention is followed here. In this unit we look at the form of words. In the next unit we look at how words relate to other words in terms of their meaning.

Tasks

1 Morphology

‘This branch of linguistics investigates word structure and word formation. Every word consists of one or more morphemes – the smallest grammatical units carrying meaning’ (Johnson and Johnson 1998).

So, the word formation consists of two morphemes: form- and -ation. Formation consists of a stem to which a suffix (-ation) had been attached. (Notice here that, as is often the case, the stem can stand on its own – form – whereas the suffix -ation, like most affixes, cannot.)

How many morphemes can you count in this sign?

2 Word formation

There are a number of common ways of constructing words. For example:

• • affixation: that is, through the use of affixes (prefixes and suffixes), for example learner (learn + -er), remake (re + make);

• • compounding: by combining two or more existing words, for example screenplay, sunscreen, sunbathe;

• • conversion: by converting words from one part of speech to another, for example to screen (from a screen), makeup (from to make up);

• • blending: by merging two existing words or parts of words: blog (from web log), prequel (from pre- + sequel);

• • by some form of shortening: this may entail abbreviating (e.g. CD for compact disc), or clipping, e.g. sitcom (from situation comedy), app (from application). Or it may entail using acronyms – initial letters that are pronounced as if they were a word – as, for example, in SATs (standard assessment tests).

• a Do these same word-formation processes operate in another language you know?

• b In this extract, can you identify which of the above principles of word formation is exemplified in each of the underlined words?

Now that video editing has descended from its ivory tower and become an everyday cheap and easy-to-master activity, more and more people are shooting video on their phones. These multi-functional miracles have replaced the expensive and clunky camcorders of yesteryear and are capable of capturing high-definition video.

Many smartphones now feature dual microphones for cancelling background noise and echo and can produce surprisingly crisp sound.