Allomorph |
One morphological realization of a given functional transformation: dogs, oxen, children |
Bound morpheme |
A morpheme that cannot form a word by itself: en-, -ly |
Coinage |
The creation of a new word |
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Shortening forming a word out of initials (in the narrow sense, an acronym is pronounced as a word): radar, RAM |
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Shortening forming a word out of initials, which are spelled out: PDA, PSA, BBC |
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Shortening by dropping a supposed suffix: edit, enthuse |
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Shortening by combining two or more words: hangry, sext, smog |
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Adapting a foreign word to the target language: passé, sauna |
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Shortening by dropping the beginning or end of a word: ad, phone |
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The combination of preexisting words: telephone booth, no-hitter |
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As-is adaptation to a different word class: boot (v), impact (v) |
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Adaptation to a different word class or meaning through affixation: rewrite, tenderness |
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Using a personal name as a common noun: scrooge, mentor, volt |
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Without formal antecedent: quark |
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The element-for-element translation of a foreign word: foreword, thought experiment, Gehirnwäsche |
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Formation based on a sound associated with the concept being named: shriek, boom
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The adoption of a brand name into the general lexicon: aspirin, tupperware |
Derivational morpheme |
A bound morpheme that may be added onto a word to change its sense or grammatical category: un-, pre-, -ness, -ic
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Free morpheme |
A morpheme that can form a word by itself: fish, for, gone |
Functional morpheme |
A free morpheme that is a function word: of |
Inflectional morpheme |
A bound morpheme that conveys grammatical information: -ed, -ing, -s, -’s |
Lexical morpheme |
A free morpheme carrying lexical meaning: word |
Morph |
Any realization of a morpheme, regardless of form: bits, bids, buses |
Productivity |
Degree to which a process or morpheme continues to contribute new forms |
Semantic loan |
The borrowing of a foreign sense into an existing lexeme: überziehen to mean “overdraw” |