Word formation

All acronyms can be divided into two groups. Acronyms in the first group are often pronounced as series of letters: EEC (European Economic Community), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), PC (personal computer).

• All acronyms can be divided into two groups. Acronyms in the first group are often pronounced as series of letters: EEC (European Economic Community), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), PC (personal computer).
• Acronyms in the second group are pronounced according to the rules of reading: AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

Sound-interchange is the formation of a new word due to an alteration in the phonemic composition of the root of a word.

• Sound-interchange is the formation of a new word due to an alteration in the phonemic composition of the root of a word.

Sound-interchange can be of two types:

• vowel-interchange, e.g. full – fill; in some cases vowel-interchange is combined with suffixation, e.g. long – length;
• consonant-interchange e.g. believe – belief.

In reduplication new words are formed by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes or with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant, e.g. walkie-talkie, riff-raff, hurdy-gurdy.

• In reduplication new words are formed by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes or with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant, e.g. walkie-talkie, riff-raff, hurdy-gurdy.
• Some more examples:

bye-bye

chit-chat

walkie-talkie

Backformation is the formation of a new word by cutting off a real or supposed suffix, as a result of misinterpretation of the structure of the existing word.

• Backformation is the formation of a new word by cutting off a real or supposed suffix, as a result of misinterpretation of the structure of the existing word.
• This type of word-formation is built on analogy, e.g.

cobbler – to cobble,

blood transfusion – to blood transfuse