48 Back-Formation is a process of omitting suffixes from the bases to form
new vocabularies Katamba, 1994. It is in line with Bauer 1988a, p.238 who defines that back-
formation is “the formation of words by the deletion of actual or supposed affixes in the longer words” cited by Mattiello, 2010, p.129. It is
exemplified by esacalate from escalator, edit from editor, beg from beggar Plag, 2002 and Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish 2010.
Suffix deletion in slang back-formation forms new words with new lexical category. Verbs can be created by back-forming nouns Mattiello, 2008.
Furthermore, Mattiello 2008 reveals nouns are built through deleting the suffix in adjective. It is exemplified by pea-brain from pea-brained, Yid from Yiddis,
and dill from dilly Mattiello, 2008
15 Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a word-building process that uses sound symbolism to build new word. The words enter the language by using the sound imitation which
is associated with the object or activity they refer to Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams, 2011. Their idea is supported by Katamba 1994. He states that in
onomatopoeia,
t
he sounds reflect some aspects of the meaning of the words that are represented. Onomatopoeic slang words are exemplified by the squits, which
means „a case of diarrhea‟, and jink , which express the idea of nimble motion Thorne, 2007; Ayto, 1998
b. Changing the Meaning of the Words or Meaning Modification
49 Changing the meaning of the words can be another alternative to form new
word. In this process, new meaning is associated to the words that exist before Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer Harnish, 2010. Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer, and
Harnish 2010 state that there are several ways to form new words by changing the meaning of the words.
1 Change in the Part of Speech
According to Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish 2010 “a word
c an be modified by changing its category.” Changing the part of speech or
conversion can be called as zero-derivation, zero-affixation, or functional shift Mattiello, 2008. She defines it as a process that consists of the syntactic change
of a word without any corresponding formal change. For example, it occurs in the word ponytail Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer Harnish, 2010. Akmadjian,
Demers, Farmer, and Harnish 2010 state at the beggining ponytail is a noun and it refers to a hairstyle in which the hair is tied up at the back of the head so it looks
like a horse‟s tail. They add that now ponytail has another function as a verb to ponytail that means a process to tie the hair in the back of the head.
Marchand 1966 classifies conversion which is generally discovered in English conversion into some types, namely: from verb to noun, and the opposite
of it, from adjective into verb, and from particle to verb cited in Mattiello, 2008. Besides, Mattiello 2008 also proposes the other types. For example, noun is a
conversion result from adjectives, adverbs, proper names, numerals, pronouns, and interjections. Meanwhile, adjectives can be obtained from nouns,
50 prepositions, and combining forms. Therefore, adjectives and prepositions are
converted to adverbs Mattiello, 2008.
2 Metaphorical Extension
Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish 2010 define metaphorical extension as “Another way in which the meaning of an existing word is modified,
thus resulting in new uses”. In metaphorical extension, the existing meanings extend to create a new meaning without making a new word. It means that the
existing word is used in new way and with the new meaning. Metaphorical extension happens in the word spit which is from the physical of realm of food
and digestion now it uses into meantal realm and interpersonal exchange of ideas Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer Harnish, 2010. The employment of word spit as
the member of realm food and digestion is exemplified by sentence “Children are
eating a watermelon then spitting t he seeds”. In that sentence, spit means „to
force out the content of the mouth‟. Meanwhile, spit which means „to say or shout words quickly and angrily‟ is represented in sentence: “Spit it out, Jack I want to
know the truth ”
It is also presented by swallow. The word swallow is possible to have two meanings; f
or example, “Grandma cannot swallow her meal”. In this case, swallow
means „to make food in your mouth move into your stomach by using the throat‟. However, in the sentence “Don‟t just swallow their suggestions, Bill”, the
word spit has a significance “to accept something without question or
disagreement expression”.
51
3 Broadening
In broadening, new meaning is also applied to the existed word but the use of word becomes broader Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer Harnish, 2010. In
another word, broadening is the process of using existed word with new meaning widely. This concept is represented by dogge. According to Fromkin, Rodman,
and Hyams 2011, at the beginning, dogge refers to a specific breed of dog. However, it was eventually broadened to embody all members of the species
canis familiaris. Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer, and Harnish 2010 state the exampling of broadening is presented by cool. At first, cool
is used to denote “a specific artistic sty
le of jazz musician” but, now it is used widely to indicate “approval of the thing in question” p.34.
4 Narrowing
Narrowing means a process of taking a more restricted meaning than before Radford, Atkinson, Britain, Clahsen Spencer, 2009. The words that
the meaning encompassed all member of certain thing before become narrowed. Thus, their meaning just covers particular context. Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer,
and Harnish 2010 suggest that narrowing occurs in meat. They say, previously, meat referred to al
l solid edible food. Nowadays, it refers to „an edible animals‟flesh‟.
5 Semantic Drift
52 Semantic drift is the change in the meanings of the word Akmadjian,
Demers, Farmer, Harnish, 2010. Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams 2011 call it as meaning shift. In this process, the meaning of existed word changes and created
new meaning. Based on Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams 2011, semantic shifting is exemplified by lust
which meant „pleasure‟ without any negative meaning or sexual overtone. Moreover, they state that the process is experienced by fond.
During Romeo and Juliet era, it meant „foolish‟ but now it means „having a great liking for someone or something‟ Fromkin, Rodman Hyams, 2011.
6 Reversal
The definition of reversal is a process when the meaning of a word reverses Akmadjian, Demers, Farmer Harnish, 2010. The sense drifts from
positive to negative or vice versa. For an instance, once, badass had negative meaning „really bad‟. Then, it is shifted into „really good‟. Moreover, Akmadjian,
Demers, Farmer, and Harnish 2010 reveal the exampling of reversal is square which meant „honest‟ in 1930s and 1940s and the meaning changed into negative
denoting „anyone or anything very conventional and uncomprehending by the more modern things‟
.
c. Derivational Morphology
