Word Formation Questions Medium
Word formation and word derivation are both processes in linguistics that involve creating new words. However, there is a difference between the two.
Word formation refers to the process of creating new words by combining existing words or word parts. This can be done through various methods such as compounding, blending, conversion, and borrowing. In word formation, the meaning and form of the new word are often influenced by the constituent parts used to create it. For example, the word "bookshelf" is formed by combining the words "book" and "shelf."
On the other hand, word derivation involves the creation of new words by adding affixes (prefixes or suffixes) to existing words. These affixes can change the meaning, part of speech, or grammatical function of the base word. For instance, the word "happiness" is derived from the base word "happy" by adding the suffix "-ness" to indicate the state or quality of being happy.
In summary, word formation involves creating new words by combining existing words or word parts, while word derivation involves creating new words by adding affixes to existing words.