Types of Word Formations on Instagram Hashtags.
TYPES OF WORD FORMATIONS
ON INSTAGRAM HASHTAGS
LUH PUTU LAKSMI PREMA DEWI
1201305057
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Ida Sang
Hyang Widhi Wasa. The Almighty God, for the endless blessings that enable me
to finish this study and could be completed as I planned. Secondly, my sincere
gratitude is extended to Prof. Dr. Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha, M.A., as Dean of
Faculty of Arts Udayana University.
In this occasion, I also express my great thanks to Dr. Ni Luh Kt. Mas
Indrawati, Dip. TEFL, M. A., as the Head of English Department and also as my
first supervisor, and Prof. Drs. Ketut Artawa, M.A., Ph.D., as my second
supervisor, for their patience and have given me a valuable guidance and
correction during completing this study. My sincere appreciation and gratitude are
extended to Putu Ayu Asty Senja Pratiwi, S.S., M.Hum., as my academic
supervisor, all of lecturers of English Department for their assistance and valuable
knowledge throughout my academic years, and all staffs members of Faculty of
Arts for their kindly assistance.
I dedicated this study to my beloved family, my father Ir. I Nyoman Merta,
my mother Ni Nyoman Arnasih, my sisters Made Rahayu Sai Maheswara and Ni
Nyoman Dewi Ratna Iswara, for their greatest supports, motivations, patience and
love. Special thanks to my beloved close friend, A.S. who always give me support
when I am feeling down and also accompanied me during this process. My special
thanks are also extended to my friends, Dian Leorita, Agus Ardian, Teja Arya, and
i
all my friends who could not be mentioned one by one for making colorful days
throughout my academic years, and also for KKN Belimbing’s big family
especially Belimbing Diskotik that have supported me in finishing this study.
Last but not least, I realized that this study is still far from being perfect.
Any suggestions and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated to make
this study better. Hopefully, this study will be useful for everyone, particularly for
those who are interested to learn about morphology.
Denpasar, December 2015
Luh Putu Laksmi Prema Dewi
ii
ABSTRACT
The title of this study is Types of Word Formation on Instagram Hashtags.
The aims of this study were to classify and describe the types of word formation
on Instagram hashtags and also to determine the meanings contained on Instagram
hashtags.
The data of this study were taken from social media, Instagram, an online
mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service. The method
that was used to collect the data was documentation method through taking note
technique. Descriptive qualitative method was used to analyze the data. The
quantitative method was related to percentage of the types of word formation of
hashtags found on Instagram. The steps were searching photos using hashtags on
Instagram which related to word formation types, then they were classified and
analyzed into several types of word formation using theory proposed by Lieber
(2009). The meanings of hashtags found also were also described using a theory
proposed by Chaer (2007).
This result showed that there are eight types of word formation found on
Instagram hashtags, they are: (1) affixation; (2) compounding; (3) coinage; (4)
blending; (5) acronym; (6) initialism; (7) clipping; and (8) multiple processes. In
terms of the meaning, there are three kinds of meanings; (1) lexical meaning; (2)
grammatical meaning; and (3) contextual meaning.
Keyword: word formation, meaning, Instagram, hashtags
iii
ABBREVIATIONS
N
: Noun
V
: Verb
Adj
: Adjective
Adv
: Adverb
Prep
: Preposition
+
: Added with
=
: Become
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Affixation Process (Prefix re-)
Table 2. Affixation Process (Suffix -ie)
Table 3. Compounding Process
Table 4. Coinage Process
Table 5. Blending Process
Table 6. Acronym Process
Table 7. Initialism Process
Table 8. Clipping Process
Table 9. Multiple Process
Table 10. The Number of Types of Word Formation on Instagram Hashtags
v
LIST OF CHART
Chart 1. The Percentage of Word Formations Types on Instagram Hashtags
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………...…………………… i
ABSTRACT ……………………………...……………………………… iii
ABBREVIATIONS……………………………...…………….………… iv
LIST OF TABLES……………………………...………………..……… v
LIST OF CHARTS……………………………………………………… vi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………….…………… 1
1.1 Background of Study …………………………..……………
1
1.2 Problems of Study .……………………………………...……
2
1.3 Aims of Study …………………………………………......…
2
1.4 Scope of Discussion …………………..………………...……
3
1.5 Research Methods ……….….…………………………...…… 3
1.5.1 Data Source …………………….…..……………...…… 4
1.5.2 Method and Techniques of Collecting Data …..………
5
1.5.3 Method and Techniques of Analyzing Data ……..……
5
1.5.4 Method and Techniques of Presenting Data …..………
6
CHAPTER II LITERARY REVIEWS, CONCEPTS&THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK……………………..………………..……………...…… 7
2.1 Literary Reviews ………………………..…………….....…… 7
2.2 Concepts ……………………………..……...…………...…… 11
2.2.1
Morphology………………………….…………...…… 12
vii
2.2.2
Morpheme ………………....……..……………...……
12
2.2.3
Root, Stem, and base .…………..........…..……..……
13
2.2.4
Semantics ...……………..……………...….............…
14
2.2.5
Instagram...……………..……………...…..............…
14
2.2.6
Hashtag ...………………..……………....…..............
15
2.3 Theoretical Framework………….…………………….…...… 15
2.3.1
Types of Word Formation …….……...…………..…
15
2.3.1.1 Major Process …………...……….….…..…
16
2.3.1.2 Minor Process …………...…………..…..… 19
2.3.2
Lexical, Grammatical, and Contextual Meaning ....… 24
CHAPTER III FINDINGS ANG DISCUSSIONS ...…………...…..… 25
3.1 Affixation ……...………………………..……..………...…… 25
3.2 Compounding ……………………………..……………...…… 28
3.3 Coinage ……...………………………..……..…………...…… 32
3.4 Blending ……………………………..……...…………....…… 33
3.5 Acronym ……...……………..…………..……..………...…… 36
3.6 Initialism…………………………………..……...……...……
37
3.7 Clipping …….....………………..……..………………...……
40
3.8 Multiple Process………………………...…...…………...…… 42
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION ………………………..…………..…… 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………….………………….…...…… 53
APPENDICES ...……………………...…..…………………….…...…… 5
viii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of Study
Language plays an important role in our daily communication. As a tool
of communication, it is constantly in the process of change. That may occur
because of developing technologies, particularly the internet. By the
invention of internet, social media appear as media of communication.
Social media is an online media where human are able to interact with each
other without any limits, space and time. Thus, people start to use and create
new, simple, short, and meaningful language.
One of the new social media which attract people’s attention is
Instagram which becomes media of photo and video sharing. This social
media contributes in making some ‘new words’ which are related to word
formation types. Lieber (2009) stated that word formation processes
including affixation, compounding, conversion, coinage, coinage, backformation, blending, acronym and initialism, and clipping.
Word formation types can be found on Instagram’s caption on photo or
video which is using ‘hashtag’. It is the ‘#’ symbol before a word or series
of words that all run together without a space. Thus, hashtag often made of
‘new words’ which is becoming a trend and used in daily life nowadays.
The use of word formation types in Instagram hashtags can be seen in these
two following examples. Example of acronym is ‘#TBT’ which known as
‘throwback Thursday’. While other example is ‘#selca’, blend of words ‘self
and camera’ which is adopted blending process. These words are commonly
used by Instagrammers, in order to make them easier in adding caption for
photos or videos.
Based on the background above, this study was conducted to examine
the types of word formation found on Instagram hashtags. Furthermore, by
knowing the types of word formation on each hashtag, the meaning
contained in each hashtags also will be determined.
1.2
Problems of the Study
Based on the background above, there are two research problems
discussed in this study, they are:
1. What types of word formation are found on Instagram hashtags?
2. What meanings are contained in hashtags found on Instagram?
1.3
Aims of the Study
Due to the background and problems which were being proposed above
considering the types of word formation, some purposes are formulated as
follows:
1. To classify and describe the types of word formation on Instagram
hashtags.
2. To determine the meanings contained on Instagram hashtags.
1.4
Scope of Discussion
The discussions of this study were limited in order to focus the writing
and to avoid a broad discussion, as follows:
1. This study focused in finding out and analysing the types of word
formation and the findings were classified and analyzed by using theory
of word formation process proposed by Lieber (2009).
2. The word formation types that will be analysed are affixation,
compounding, conversion, coinage, backformation, blending, acronym
and initialism, and clipping.
3. Hashtags which chosen to analyse were the hashtags that are belong to
the types of word formation.
4. The meanings contained on the word formation types specifically the
lexical meaning, grammatical, and contextual meaning based on Chaer
theory (2007).
1.5
Research Methods
Research is one of the effects involved to find and examine the truth of
something. Methodology is a procedure required to do research well.
Therefore research method is the systematic steps which are used in
producing a scientific study. Research method is very important for the
validity of the research in this study, methodology include the data source,
method and technique of collecting data, and method and technique of
analysing data. The followings are the detail expression of three:
1.5.1
Data Source
The data used in this study were taken from social media,
Instagram, an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social
networking service. Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and
Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010. It contains photos
shared by its users from around the world. Photo captions which
using hashtags and related to word formation types were used in this
research.
1.5.2
Method and Techniques of Collecting Data
The data were collected using documentation method from
social media, Instagram. Documentation method means that the data
were taken from the written material (hashtags on Instagram).
Furthermore, several photos which contained hashtags will be
captured as screenshots. The screenshots of Instagram photos will be
printed. The photo caption was read and hashtags which used word
formation types were identified. The technique of collecting the data
was taking note in order to sort and classify them into the types of
word formation. The hashtags used as the data in this research are 33
words taken randomly out of 34 hashtags. The data were collected
through some techniques as follows:
1. First step was determining Instagram hashtags which commonly
used and listing the hashtags.
2. Second step was searching photos using hashtags which related
to word formation types. It was followed by selecting 33
hashtags that could be the best representation for the analysis.
3. Thus, the data was read carefully in order to get better
understanding of it.
1.5.3
Method and Techniques of Analysing Data
Descriptive qualitative method is used to classify and analyse
the types of word formation and the meaning found in word
formation. Qualitative method was one of the major approaches to
research methodology that relied on reasons or meaning behind
various aspects of behaviour and did not involve measurement or
statistics. Descriptive meant that the data were analysed by
explaining or describing it in words or sentences. The quantitative
method is related to the percentage of the categories of the word
formation types that construct hashtags. The collected data were
classified into eight types using word formation theory proposed by
Lieber (2009) and the meaning that constructed hashtags which
using word formation were described using the theory proposed by
Chaer (2007).
1.5.4
Method and Techniques of Presenting Data
This study uses descriptive method in presenting the analysis.
First, in order to answer the first research question, the data were
classified into the types of word formation, by showing the data in
the form of table. The table consists of name of the hashtags which
were typed italic, the abbreviation, and the word formation types.
The discussion of each hashtag was presented descriptively based on
the word formation types. Second, the analysis of those data based
on meaning was presented descriptively. The last, the percentage of
word formation types that construct hashtags was presented using a
pie diagram.
CHAPTER II
LITERARY REVIEWS, CONCEPTS, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1.1
Literary Reviews
There are several researches related to this topic of study which also
discussed about word formation process which occur in study of word
structure, morphology. Therefore the literature reviews were needed in order
to know how the other researchers analyse the topic, thus we can avoid the
possibility of duplication. There are some theses and journal related to this
topic are reviewed.
Ingriani (2009) in her thesis, “An Analysis of Word Formation
Processes used in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)” discusses about word
formation processes in which the data was taken from IRC (Internet Relay
Chat) as communication media which connected to people around the
world. The data were collected using observation method and taking note
technique. Furthermore, data was presented using formal method (table) and
informal method (descriptive). She concluded that there are four processes
which dominantly used for chatting expression in IRC: (1) Clipping
expression 41%; (2) Acronym expression 20%; (3) Pronounced alike
expressions 26%; and (4) Blending 13%. However, there are some
differences and similarities between this study and her study. Similar to her
study, this study also use communication media as data source.
7
Furthermore, the aims of this study are to classify the types of word
formation found on Instagram hashtags and to determine the meaning which
contained in each hashtags. That is different from Ingriani’s research which
merely focuses on identifying word formation of new uncommon expression
in IRC (Internet Relay Chat) which related to process of word formation.
Another difference is Ingriani’s research merely used one theory proposed
by Yule, whereas this study uses two theories proposed by Lieber (2009)
and Chaer (2007).
A thesis entitled “Word Formation in Music Magazine Total Guitar”
compiled by Sika Karisman (2012) has aims to describe and to explain the
word formation that occurs in music terms and to understand meaning
contained in the words formation in terminological of music so as produce a
new term. The data of this thesis were taken from Total Guitar Magazine.
This research used descriptive analysis as its method which focusing on the
word formation. This research used several theories, they are: word
formation theory by Lieber (2009,) McMannis (1998), McCharty (2002),
O’grady (1996), also meaning theory by Saeed (1997). The result of this
research shows that the processes of word formation that occurs are
affixation, compounding, coinage, acronyms, and clipping. In semantic
terms, there are terminology meaning, word meaning, grammatical meaning
and lexical meaning of music terms. However, there are some differences
and similarities between this study and her study. Sika’s study used
magazine as data source, contrast to this study which uses Instagram as data
source. Furthermore, this study focuses on the types of word formation
found on Instagram hashtags and the meaning which contained in each
hashtags which is different from Sika’s research which discusses about the
word formation, he meaning, and terminology. The similarity is she used the
same theory to this study, word formation theory proposed by Lieber
(2009).
Lisa Candra Dewi (2014) in her research entitled “Meaning and Word
Formation of Slang Words in ‘Gangster Squad’ Movie Script” discusses
about types of slang, types of meaning of slang, and how the slang words
were formed by using word formation processes. She concludes that there
are two types of slang occur; primary and secondary slang. From seven
types of meaning, there are only four types found in the slang used in the
movie script. Furthermore, the collected data were analysed based on
several theories; theory of slang proposed by Chapman (1988), meaning
theory proposed by Leech (1981) and word formations theory proposed by
Plag (2003). The data were collected through documentation and taking
note. However, there are some differences and similarities between this
study and her study. Lisa used movie script as data, different from this study
which using social media as data source. As mentioned in chapter one, this
study was aimed to classify the types of word formation found on Instagram
hashtags and to determine the meaning which contained in each hashtags.
Contrast to her study, this study would not discuss about the types of slang.
Similar to Lisa’s research, data of this research were also collected through
documentation and taking note. Furthermore, this study used several
theories; word formation theory proposed by Lieber (2009) and meaning
theory proposed by Chaer (2007).
Cristina Maria (2011) in her journal entitled “Word-Formation Types in
the English for Marketing” deals with some linguistic phenomena specific
to the language of marketing, such as: collocations, blends, clippings,
acronyms and abbreviations. The aim of this research is to deal with the
main issues related to the teaching of marketing vocabulary, the emphasis
being laid on several word-formation types very frequent in this vocabulary.
The similarity between this journal and this study is both analyze about
word formation types, such as: blending, clipping, acronym and
abbreviation. However, the differences is topic discussion of this journal is
related with marketing terms which is pedagogical implication, while this
study discusses about the linguistics terms and morphology specifically
about the word formation processes.
Veronika Burdová (2009) in her journal entitled “Student Slang”
represents comparisons between an English-Czech slang which used by the
students in Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. The aims of her
research are the current situation in use of slang terminology in the Czech
and American student field in a form of graphs showing the top slangs in
both languages, considering their word-formation processing with respect to
theoretical knowledge, and producing dictionary of all used slang words
among Czech and American students in various categories connected to
school. The similarity between this study and her study is both of the study
discusses about word formation processes. The differences can be seen from
the theory which is used to analysing the data. In her journal, Veronika
Burdová uses two theories which are related to word formation. The
theories are proposed by Yule (1996) and Eble (1996) while this study only
used one theory to analyse the types of word formation that is Lieber theory
(2009) and the rest is meaning theory proposed by Chaer (2007).
Furthermore, her journal also discusses about sociological properties of
slang, the phonological properties of slang, and the classification of slang
within non-standard varieties. While this study merely focuses on meaning
and the types of word formation processes.
1.2
Concepts
In conducting this research, there are several concepts that will be used
in relation to word formation process. The concepts of this study are based
on several ideas proposed by experts in the field of morphology and word
formation.
1.2.1
Morphology
Linguistics has several branches of study; a branch of linguistics
that studies the process of word formation is morphology. According
to Yule (1985:67), morphology is the study of the basic element of a
language, and the element is called a morpheme. Katamba (1993:19)
identifies morphology is the study of word structure. Lieber
(2009:15) defines morphology is the study of word formation,
including the ways new words are coined in the languages of the
world, and the way forms of words are varied depending on how
they are used in sentences.
1.2.2
Morpheme
From the definitions above, there is a term called morpheme.
Matthews in Bauer says that a morpheme can be defined as the
minimal unit of grammatical analysis (1983:14). Hatch and Brown
(1995:261) state that a morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit that
contains no smaller meaningful units. From the definition above, we
can make a conclusion that a morpheme is the smallest grammatical
unit that cannot be separated again and it has a meaning where one
or more morpheme can form a lexeme.
There are two kinds of morphemes; free morpheme and bound
morpheme. Yule (1996) defines that “Free morphemes that can stand
by themselves as single words‟, whereas “bound morphemes‟ are
those forms that cannot normally stand alone and are typically
attached to another form”.
Free morphemes occur as part of words. For example:
colourless and furiously. Colour and furious are free morphemes,
whereas -less, and -ly are bound morphemes. A bound morpheme is
morpheme that can only occur when it is attached to free
morphemes. Affixes are bound morphemes. Common English bound
morphemes include; -ing, -ed, -er, and pre-.
1.2.3
Root, Stem, and Base
A root, stem and base are terms used in linguistics. A root is a
form which is not further analysable, either in terms of derivational
or inflectional morphology. A stem is a form that concerns only
when it is dealing with inflectional morphology. A base is any forms
to which any kinds of affixes could be added (Bauer, 1983:20-21).
For example, word drive is a root as there is no affix attached to
it. If suffix –s is attached to it to indicate that the subject is third
person singular in the simple present tense, the word drive is called a
stem. If the word drive is attached by suffix –er and becomes driver,
the word drive is called base.
1.2.4
Semantics
Semantics is a branch of linguistics, which is the study of
language; it is an area of study interacting with those of syntax and
phonology. A person's linguistic abilities are based on knowledge
that they have. One of the insights of modern linguistics is that
speakers of a language have different types of linguistic knowledge,
including how to pronounce words, how to construct sentences, and
about the meaning of individual words and sentences (Saeed, 1997).
It has often been pointed out, and for obvious reasons, that
semantics is the youngest branch of linguistics (Ullmann 1962,
Greimas 1962). Furthermore, Chaer (2007) stated that “Semantics is
the study of the meaning of words and sentences or semantic is the
study of meaning communicated through language”.
1.2.5
Instagram
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing
and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures
and videos. A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a
square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, in
contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device
cameras. Users can also apply digital filters to their images. The
maximum duration for Instagram videos is 15 seconds.
Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger,
and launched in October 2010. The service rapidly gained
popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012.
Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store, Google Play,
and Windows Phone Store. The service was acquired by Facebook
in April 2012.
1.2.6
Hashtag
A hashtag is the ‘#’ symbol before a word or series of words
(all run together without a space). The purpose of the hashtag is to
categorize the images and make them searchable. The use of
hashtags on Instagram is to show how an image was created (the
applications or filters applied), the style applied (vintage, classic,
etc.), who the image is for (business, a certain purpose, etc.),
describe what is in the image, or to simply group with other similar
images. Because of its widespread use, the word, hashtag, was
added to the Oxford English Dictionary in June 2014.
1.3
1.3.1
Theoretical Framework
Types of Word Formation
Lieber in her book Introducing Morphology (2009:35) divided word
formation processes into two processes, major and minor.
1.3.1.1 Major Process
There are three most common ways of forming new words, such
as:
(1)
Affixation
New lexemes that are formed with prefixes and suffixes
on a base are often referred to as derived words, and the
process by which they are formed as affixation. There are two
kinds of affixes which are explained as follows: prefix is an
affix added at the beginning of a word like re-, un-, in-, etc.,
and suffix is an affix added to the end of a word like -ly, -er, ist, -s, -ing, –ed, etc. Languages frequently have affixes that
fall into common semantic categories. Among those
categories are:
a. Personal affixes: These are affixes that create ‘people
nouns’ either from verbs or from nouns. Among the
personal affixes in English are the suffix –er which
forms agent nouns (the ‘doer’ of the action) like writer or
runner and the suffix –ee which forms patient nouns (the
person the action is done to).
b. Negative and privative affixes: Negative affixes add the
meaning ‘not’ to their base; examples in English are the
prefixes un-, in-, and non- (unhappy, inattentive, non-
functional). Privative affixes mean something like
‘without X’; in English, the suffix –less (shoeless,
hopeless) is a privative suffix, and the prefix de- has a
privative flavour as well (for example, words like debug
or debone mean something like ‘cause to be with-out
bugs/bones’).
c. Prepositional and relational affixes: Prepositional and
relational affixes often convey notions of space and/or
time. Examples in English might be prefixes like overand out- (overfill, overcoat, outrun, outhouse).
d. Quantitative affixes: These are affixes that have
something to do with amount. In English we have affixes
like –ful (handful, helpful) and multi- (multifaceted).
Another example might be the prefix re- that means
‘repeated’ action (reread), which we can consider
quantitative if we conceive of a repeated action as being
done more than once.
e. Evaluative
affixes:
Evaluative
affixes
consist
of
diminutives, affixes that signal a smaller version of the
base (for example in English –let as in booklet or
droplet) and augmentatives, affixes that signal a bigger
version of the base. The closest we come to
augmentative affixes in English are prefixes like mega(megastore, megabyte).
(2)
Compounding
Compounds are words that are composed of two (or
more) bases, roots, or stems. We can classify compounds
more closely according to their forms.
a. Closed form
Closed form of compounding is a type of compounding
that derives from two words melded together forming a
single word. It most likely consists of short units that
often have been established in the language for a long
time. Examples of closed form are waterfall, keyboard,
newspaper, and so on.
b. Hyphenated form
The hyphenated form in is type of compounding which
two or more words are connected by a hyphen.
Compounds that contain affixes, as well as adjectiveadjective compounds and verb-verb compounds are often
hyphenated.
Compounds
that
contain
articles,
prepositions or conjunctions are also often hyphenated.
For example: open-minded, right-handed, well-being,
etc.
c. Open Form
The open or spaced form of compounding consists of
two or more word forming a single term. For instance:
post office, full moon, real estate, etc.
(3)
Conversion
In English it is possible to form new lexemes merely by
shifting the category or part of speech of an already existing
lexeme without adding an affix. This means of word
formation is often referred to as conversion or functional
shift.
a. Verb that comes from noun, example; to table
b. Verb that comes from adjective, example; to cool
c. Verb that comes from preposition, example; to out
d. Noun that comes from verb, example; a kick
1.3.1.2 Minor processes
Affixation, compounding, and conversion are the most
common ways of forming new words, at least in English. In
addition, there are a number of less common ways in which new
lexemes may be formed:
(1)
Coinage
It is of course possible to make up entirely new words
from whole cloth, a process called coinage. However, we
rarely coin completely new words, choosing instead to
recycle bases and affixes into new combinations. New
products are sometimes given coined names like Kodak,
Xerox, or Kleenex, and these in turn sometimes come to be
used as common nouns: kodak was at one time used for
cameras in general, and xerox and kleenex are still used
respectively for copiers and facial tissue by some American
English speakers. But it’s relatively rare to coin new words,
this happens perhaps because the words themselves give no
clue to their meaning. Context often clarifies what a word is
intended to mean, but without a context to suggest meaning,
the words themselves are semantically opaque. It is no
wonder that many of the pure coinages that creep into
English come from original product names: the association of
the coined word with the product makes its meaning clear,
and occasionally the word will then be generalized to any
instance of that product, even if manufactured by a different
company.
(2)
Backformation
There are words that historically existed as monomorphic
bases, but which ended in a sequence of sounds identical to
or reminiscent of that of certain affixes. When native
speakers come to perceive these words as being complex
rather
than
simple,
they create
what
is
called
a
backformation.
For example, historically the word burglar was
monomorphemic.
But
because
its
last
syllable
was
phonologically identical to the agentive –er suffix, some
English speakers have understood it to be based on a verb to
burgle. Arguably for those speakers, then, burglar is no
longer a simple word. Similarly the verb liaise has been
created from liaison. Another case for peddle and edit, both
of which are historically backformations from peddler and
editor, respectively. From the examples above we may
conclude that backformation process changes the word class
and the meaning of the word itself.
(3)
Blending
Blending is a process of word formation in which parts
of lexemes that are not themselves morphemes are combined
to form a new lexeme. Familiar examples of blends
(sometimes also called portmanteau words) are words like
brunch, a combination of breakfast and lunch, or smog, a
combination of smoke and fog. While not one of the major
ways of forming new words, blending is used quite a bit in
English in advertising, product naming, and playful language.
(4)
Acronyms and initialisms
When the first letters of words that make up a name or a
phrase are used to create a new word, the results are called
acronyms or initialisms. In acronyms, the new word is
pronounced as a word, rather than as a series of letters. For
example, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome gives us
AIDS, pronounced [eidz]. And self-contained underwater
breathing apparatus gives us scuba.
Initialisms are similar to acronyms in that they are
composed from the first letters of a phrase, but unlike
acronyms, they are pronounced as a series of letters. So most
people in the US refer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
as the FBI pronounced [ɛf bi ai]. Other initialisms are PTA
for Parent Teacher Association, PR for either ‘public
relations’ or ‘personal record’, and NCAA for National
College Athletic Association.
(5)
Clipping
People usually use the longer term if the situation is
more formal and the shorter term if the situation is more
informal. However, the new term may entirely replace the
longer original word but it does not change the word class
and the meaning of the word itself. Clipping is a means of
creating new words by shortening already existing words. For
instance, we have info created from information, blog created
from web log, or fridge from refrigerator. Although clippings
are often used in a colloquial rather than a formal register,
some have attained more neutral status. The word lab, for
example, is probably used far more frequently in the US than
its longer version laboratory.
The four types of clipping are back clipping, foreclipping, middle clipping, and complex clipping. Back
clipping is removing the end of a word as in gas from
gasoline. Fore-clipping is removing the beginning of a word
as in gator from alligator. Middle clipping is retaining only
the middle of a word as in flu from influenza. Complex
clipping is removing multiple parts from multiple words as
in sitcom from situation comedy.
1.3.2
Lexical, Grammatical, and Contextual Meaning
Chaer (2007:289) defines lexical meaning as a meaning possessed by
a lexeme without any context. It is the actual thing that is observed
through human senses. For example, the lexeme ‘horse’ has a lexical
meaning ‘a large animal with four long legs’. And lexeme ‘house’ has
lexical meaning ‘the building made for people to live in’.
Unlike lexical meaning, grammatical meaning is meaning possessed
by a stem because of grammatical process, such as affixation or tenses. For
example, in the affixation of suffix –s attached to a stem ‘chair’ produces
‘chairs’. It changes the meaning of the word ‘chair’ from one chair
(singular) into many chairs (plural). Grammatical meaning can include
information about number (singular vs. plural), person (first, second,
third), tense (past, present, future), and other distinctions as well. (Lieber,
2009:88).
Furthermore, Chaer (2007:290) stated contextual meaning is meaning
of a word within a certain context. For example, the question of ‘What is a
war?’ may have two different contextual meanings. They are as follows:
a. If teacher asks a child of preschool, the child will answer ‘That is
horrible’.
b. If we ask to a soldier, he will consider a war as an attitude to get
peace.
ON INSTAGRAM HASHTAGS
LUH PUTU LAKSMI PREMA DEWI
1201305057
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Ida Sang
Hyang Widhi Wasa. The Almighty God, for the endless blessings that enable me
to finish this study and could be completed as I planned. Secondly, my sincere
gratitude is extended to Prof. Dr. Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha, M.A., as Dean of
Faculty of Arts Udayana University.
In this occasion, I also express my great thanks to Dr. Ni Luh Kt. Mas
Indrawati, Dip. TEFL, M. A., as the Head of English Department and also as my
first supervisor, and Prof. Drs. Ketut Artawa, M.A., Ph.D., as my second
supervisor, for their patience and have given me a valuable guidance and
correction during completing this study. My sincere appreciation and gratitude are
extended to Putu Ayu Asty Senja Pratiwi, S.S., M.Hum., as my academic
supervisor, all of lecturers of English Department for their assistance and valuable
knowledge throughout my academic years, and all staffs members of Faculty of
Arts for their kindly assistance.
I dedicated this study to my beloved family, my father Ir. I Nyoman Merta,
my mother Ni Nyoman Arnasih, my sisters Made Rahayu Sai Maheswara and Ni
Nyoman Dewi Ratna Iswara, for their greatest supports, motivations, patience and
love. Special thanks to my beloved close friend, A.S. who always give me support
when I am feeling down and also accompanied me during this process. My special
thanks are also extended to my friends, Dian Leorita, Agus Ardian, Teja Arya, and
i
all my friends who could not be mentioned one by one for making colorful days
throughout my academic years, and also for KKN Belimbing’s big family
especially Belimbing Diskotik that have supported me in finishing this study.
Last but not least, I realized that this study is still far from being perfect.
Any suggestions and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated to make
this study better. Hopefully, this study will be useful for everyone, particularly for
those who are interested to learn about morphology.
Denpasar, December 2015
Luh Putu Laksmi Prema Dewi
ii
ABSTRACT
The title of this study is Types of Word Formation on Instagram Hashtags.
The aims of this study were to classify and describe the types of word formation
on Instagram hashtags and also to determine the meanings contained on Instagram
hashtags.
The data of this study were taken from social media, Instagram, an online
mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service. The method
that was used to collect the data was documentation method through taking note
technique. Descriptive qualitative method was used to analyze the data. The
quantitative method was related to percentage of the types of word formation of
hashtags found on Instagram. The steps were searching photos using hashtags on
Instagram which related to word formation types, then they were classified and
analyzed into several types of word formation using theory proposed by Lieber
(2009). The meanings of hashtags found also were also described using a theory
proposed by Chaer (2007).
This result showed that there are eight types of word formation found on
Instagram hashtags, they are: (1) affixation; (2) compounding; (3) coinage; (4)
blending; (5) acronym; (6) initialism; (7) clipping; and (8) multiple processes. In
terms of the meaning, there are three kinds of meanings; (1) lexical meaning; (2)
grammatical meaning; and (3) contextual meaning.
Keyword: word formation, meaning, Instagram, hashtags
iii
ABBREVIATIONS
N
: Noun
V
: Verb
Adj
: Adjective
Adv
: Adverb
Prep
: Preposition
+
: Added with
=
: Become
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Affixation Process (Prefix re-)
Table 2. Affixation Process (Suffix -ie)
Table 3. Compounding Process
Table 4. Coinage Process
Table 5. Blending Process
Table 6. Acronym Process
Table 7. Initialism Process
Table 8. Clipping Process
Table 9. Multiple Process
Table 10. The Number of Types of Word Formation on Instagram Hashtags
v
LIST OF CHART
Chart 1. The Percentage of Word Formations Types on Instagram Hashtags
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………...…………………… i
ABSTRACT ……………………………...……………………………… iii
ABBREVIATIONS……………………………...…………….………… iv
LIST OF TABLES……………………………...………………..……… v
LIST OF CHARTS……………………………………………………… vi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………….…………… 1
1.1 Background of Study …………………………..……………
1
1.2 Problems of Study .……………………………………...……
2
1.3 Aims of Study …………………………………………......…
2
1.4 Scope of Discussion …………………..………………...……
3
1.5 Research Methods ……….….…………………………...…… 3
1.5.1 Data Source …………………….…..……………...…… 4
1.5.2 Method and Techniques of Collecting Data …..………
5
1.5.3 Method and Techniques of Analyzing Data ……..……
5
1.5.4 Method and Techniques of Presenting Data …..………
6
CHAPTER II LITERARY REVIEWS, CONCEPTS&THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK……………………..………………..……………...…… 7
2.1 Literary Reviews ………………………..…………….....…… 7
2.2 Concepts ……………………………..……...…………...…… 11
2.2.1
Morphology………………………….…………...…… 12
vii
2.2.2
Morpheme ………………....……..……………...……
12
2.2.3
Root, Stem, and base .…………..........…..……..……
13
2.2.4
Semantics ...……………..……………...….............…
14
2.2.5
Instagram...……………..……………...…..............…
14
2.2.6
Hashtag ...………………..……………....…..............
15
2.3 Theoretical Framework………….…………………….…...… 15
2.3.1
Types of Word Formation …….……...…………..…
15
2.3.1.1 Major Process …………...……….….…..…
16
2.3.1.2 Minor Process …………...…………..…..… 19
2.3.2
Lexical, Grammatical, and Contextual Meaning ....… 24
CHAPTER III FINDINGS ANG DISCUSSIONS ...…………...…..… 25
3.1 Affixation ……...………………………..……..………...…… 25
3.2 Compounding ……………………………..……………...…… 28
3.3 Coinage ……...………………………..……..…………...…… 32
3.4 Blending ……………………………..……...…………....…… 33
3.5 Acronym ……...……………..…………..……..………...…… 36
3.6 Initialism…………………………………..……...……...……
37
3.7 Clipping …….....………………..……..………………...……
40
3.8 Multiple Process………………………...…...…………...…… 42
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION ………………………..…………..…… 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………….………………….…...…… 53
APPENDICES ...……………………...…..…………………….…...…… 5
viii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of Study
Language plays an important role in our daily communication. As a tool
of communication, it is constantly in the process of change. That may occur
because of developing technologies, particularly the internet. By the
invention of internet, social media appear as media of communication.
Social media is an online media where human are able to interact with each
other without any limits, space and time. Thus, people start to use and create
new, simple, short, and meaningful language.
One of the new social media which attract people’s attention is
Instagram which becomes media of photo and video sharing. This social
media contributes in making some ‘new words’ which are related to word
formation types. Lieber (2009) stated that word formation processes
including affixation, compounding, conversion, coinage, coinage, backformation, blending, acronym and initialism, and clipping.
Word formation types can be found on Instagram’s caption on photo or
video which is using ‘hashtag’. It is the ‘#’ symbol before a word or series
of words that all run together without a space. Thus, hashtag often made of
‘new words’ which is becoming a trend and used in daily life nowadays.
The use of word formation types in Instagram hashtags can be seen in these
two following examples. Example of acronym is ‘#TBT’ which known as
‘throwback Thursday’. While other example is ‘#selca’, blend of words ‘self
and camera’ which is adopted blending process. These words are commonly
used by Instagrammers, in order to make them easier in adding caption for
photos or videos.
Based on the background above, this study was conducted to examine
the types of word formation found on Instagram hashtags. Furthermore, by
knowing the types of word formation on each hashtag, the meaning
contained in each hashtags also will be determined.
1.2
Problems of the Study
Based on the background above, there are two research problems
discussed in this study, they are:
1. What types of word formation are found on Instagram hashtags?
2. What meanings are contained in hashtags found on Instagram?
1.3
Aims of the Study
Due to the background and problems which were being proposed above
considering the types of word formation, some purposes are formulated as
follows:
1. To classify and describe the types of word formation on Instagram
hashtags.
2. To determine the meanings contained on Instagram hashtags.
1.4
Scope of Discussion
The discussions of this study were limited in order to focus the writing
and to avoid a broad discussion, as follows:
1. This study focused in finding out and analysing the types of word
formation and the findings were classified and analyzed by using theory
of word formation process proposed by Lieber (2009).
2. The word formation types that will be analysed are affixation,
compounding, conversion, coinage, backformation, blending, acronym
and initialism, and clipping.
3. Hashtags which chosen to analyse were the hashtags that are belong to
the types of word formation.
4. The meanings contained on the word formation types specifically the
lexical meaning, grammatical, and contextual meaning based on Chaer
theory (2007).
1.5
Research Methods
Research is one of the effects involved to find and examine the truth of
something. Methodology is a procedure required to do research well.
Therefore research method is the systematic steps which are used in
producing a scientific study. Research method is very important for the
validity of the research in this study, methodology include the data source,
method and technique of collecting data, and method and technique of
analysing data. The followings are the detail expression of three:
1.5.1
Data Source
The data used in this study were taken from social media,
Instagram, an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social
networking service. Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and
Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010. It contains photos
shared by its users from around the world. Photo captions which
using hashtags and related to word formation types were used in this
research.
1.5.2
Method and Techniques of Collecting Data
The data were collected using documentation method from
social media, Instagram. Documentation method means that the data
were taken from the written material (hashtags on Instagram).
Furthermore, several photos which contained hashtags will be
captured as screenshots. The screenshots of Instagram photos will be
printed. The photo caption was read and hashtags which used word
formation types were identified. The technique of collecting the data
was taking note in order to sort and classify them into the types of
word formation. The hashtags used as the data in this research are 33
words taken randomly out of 34 hashtags. The data were collected
through some techniques as follows:
1. First step was determining Instagram hashtags which commonly
used and listing the hashtags.
2. Second step was searching photos using hashtags which related
to word formation types. It was followed by selecting 33
hashtags that could be the best representation for the analysis.
3. Thus, the data was read carefully in order to get better
understanding of it.
1.5.3
Method and Techniques of Analysing Data
Descriptive qualitative method is used to classify and analyse
the types of word formation and the meaning found in word
formation. Qualitative method was one of the major approaches to
research methodology that relied on reasons or meaning behind
various aspects of behaviour and did not involve measurement or
statistics. Descriptive meant that the data were analysed by
explaining or describing it in words or sentences. The quantitative
method is related to the percentage of the categories of the word
formation types that construct hashtags. The collected data were
classified into eight types using word formation theory proposed by
Lieber (2009) and the meaning that constructed hashtags which
using word formation were described using the theory proposed by
Chaer (2007).
1.5.4
Method and Techniques of Presenting Data
This study uses descriptive method in presenting the analysis.
First, in order to answer the first research question, the data were
classified into the types of word formation, by showing the data in
the form of table. The table consists of name of the hashtags which
were typed italic, the abbreviation, and the word formation types.
The discussion of each hashtag was presented descriptively based on
the word formation types. Second, the analysis of those data based
on meaning was presented descriptively. The last, the percentage of
word formation types that construct hashtags was presented using a
pie diagram.
CHAPTER II
LITERARY REVIEWS, CONCEPTS, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1.1
Literary Reviews
There are several researches related to this topic of study which also
discussed about word formation process which occur in study of word
structure, morphology. Therefore the literature reviews were needed in order
to know how the other researchers analyse the topic, thus we can avoid the
possibility of duplication. There are some theses and journal related to this
topic are reviewed.
Ingriani (2009) in her thesis, “An Analysis of Word Formation
Processes used in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)” discusses about word
formation processes in which the data was taken from IRC (Internet Relay
Chat) as communication media which connected to people around the
world. The data were collected using observation method and taking note
technique. Furthermore, data was presented using formal method (table) and
informal method (descriptive). She concluded that there are four processes
which dominantly used for chatting expression in IRC: (1) Clipping
expression 41%; (2) Acronym expression 20%; (3) Pronounced alike
expressions 26%; and (4) Blending 13%. However, there are some
differences and similarities between this study and her study. Similar to her
study, this study also use communication media as data source.
7
Furthermore, the aims of this study are to classify the types of word
formation found on Instagram hashtags and to determine the meaning which
contained in each hashtags. That is different from Ingriani’s research which
merely focuses on identifying word formation of new uncommon expression
in IRC (Internet Relay Chat) which related to process of word formation.
Another difference is Ingriani’s research merely used one theory proposed
by Yule, whereas this study uses two theories proposed by Lieber (2009)
and Chaer (2007).
A thesis entitled “Word Formation in Music Magazine Total Guitar”
compiled by Sika Karisman (2012) has aims to describe and to explain the
word formation that occurs in music terms and to understand meaning
contained in the words formation in terminological of music so as produce a
new term. The data of this thesis were taken from Total Guitar Magazine.
This research used descriptive analysis as its method which focusing on the
word formation. This research used several theories, they are: word
formation theory by Lieber (2009,) McMannis (1998), McCharty (2002),
O’grady (1996), also meaning theory by Saeed (1997). The result of this
research shows that the processes of word formation that occurs are
affixation, compounding, coinage, acronyms, and clipping. In semantic
terms, there are terminology meaning, word meaning, grammatical meaning
and lexical meaning of music terms. However, there are some differences
and similarities between this study and her study. Sika’s study used
magazine as data source, contrast to this study which uses Instagram as data
source. Furthermore, this study focuses on the types of word formation
found on Instagram hashtags and the meaning which contained in each
hashtags which is different from Sika’s research which discusses about the
word formation, he meaning, and terminology. The similarity is she used the
same theory to this study, word formation theory proposed by Lieber
(2009).
Lisa Candra Dewi (2014) in her research entitled “Meaning and Word
Formation of Slang Words in ‘Gangster Squad’ Movie Script” discusses
about types of slang, types of meaning of slang, and how the slang words
were formed by using word formation processes. She concludes that there
are two types of slang occur; primary and secondary slang. From seven
types of meaning, there are only four types found in the slang used in the
movie script. Furthermore, the collected data were analysed based on
several theories; theory of slang proposed by Chapman (1988), meaning
theory proposed by Leech (1981) and word formations theory proposed by
Plag (2003). The data were collected through documentation and taking
note. However, there are some differences and similarities between this
study and her study. Lisa used movie script as data, different from this study
which using social media as data source. As mentioned in chapter one, this
study was aimed to classify the types of word formation found on Instagram
hashtags and to determine the meaning which contained in each hashtags.
Contrast to her study, this study would not discuss about the types of slang.
Similar to Lisa’s research, data of this research were also collected through
documentation and taking note. Furthermore, this study used several
theories; word formation theory proposed by Lieber (2009) and meaning
theory proposed by Chaer (2007).
Cristina Maria (2011) in her journal entitled “Word-Formation Types in
the English for Marketing” deals with some linguistic phenomena specific
to the language of marketing, such as: collocations, blends, clippings,
acronyms and abbreviations. The aim of this research is to deal with the
main issues related to the teaching of marketing vocabulary, the emphasis
being laid on several word-formation types very frequent in this vocabulary.
The similarity between this journal and this study is both analyze about
word formation types, such as: blending, clipping, acronym and
abbreviation. However, the differences is topic discussion of this journal is
related with marketing terms which is pedagogical implication, while this
study discusses about the linguistics terms and morphology specifically
about the word formation processes.
Veronika Burdová (2009) in her journal entitled “Student Slang”
represents comparisons between an English-Czech slang which used by the
students in Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. The aims of her
research are the current situation in use of slang terminology in the Czech
and American student field in a form of graphs showing the top slangs in
both languages, considering their word-formation processing with respect to
theoretical knowledge, and producing dictionary of all used slang words
among Czech and American students in various categories connected to
school. The similarity between this study and her study is both of the study
discusses about word formation processes. The differences can be seen from
the theory which is used to analysing the data. In her journal, Veronika
Burdová uses two theories which are related to word formation. The
theories are proposed by Yule (1996) and Eble (1996) while this study only
used one theory to analyse the types of word formation that is Lieber theory
(2009) and the rest is meaning theory proposed by Chaer (2007).
Furthermore, her journal also discusses about sociological properties of
slang, the phonological properties of slang, and the classification of slang
within non-standard varieties. While this study merely focuses on meaning
and the types of word formation processes.
1.2
Concepts
In conducting this research, there are several concepts that will be used
in relation to word formation process. The concepts of this study are based
on several ideas proposed by experts in the field of morphology and word
formation.
1.2.1
Morphology
Linguistics has several branches of study; a branch of linguistics
that studies the process of word formation is morphology. According
to Yule (1985:67), morphology is the study of the basic element of a
language, and the element is called a morpheme. Katamba (1993:19)
identifies morphology is the study of word structure. Lieber
(2009:15) defines morphology is the study of word formation,
including the ways new words are coined in the languages of the
world, and the way forms of words are varied depending on how
they are used in sentences.
1.2.2
Morpheme
From the definitions above, there is a term called morpheme.
Matthews in Bauer says that a morpheme can be defined as the
minimal unit of grammatical analysis (1983:14). Hatch and Brown
(1995:261) state that a morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit that
contains no smaller meaningful units. From the definition above, we
can make a conclusion that a morpheme is the smallest grammatical
unit that cannot be separated again and it has a meaning where one
or more morpheme can form a lexeme.
There are two kinds of morphemes; free morpheme and bound
morpheme. Yule (1996) defines that “Free morphemes that can stand
by themselves as single words‟, whereas “bound morphemes‟ are
those forms that cannot normally stand alone and are typically
attached to another form”.
Free morphemes occur as part of words. For example:
colourless and furiously. Colour and furious are free morphemes,
whereas -less, and -ly are bound morphemes. A bound morpheme is
morpheme that can only occur when it is attached to free
morphemes. Affixes are bound morphemes. Common English bound
morphemes include; -ing, -ed, -er, and pre-.
1.2.3
Root, Stem, and Base
A root, stem and base are terms used in linguistics. A root is a
form which is not further analysable, either in terms of derivational
or inflectional morphology. A stem is a form that concerns only
when it is dealing with inflectional morphology. A base is any forms
to which any kinds of affixes could be added (Bauer, 1983:20-21).
For example, word drive is a root as there is no affix attached to
it. If suffix –s is attached to it to indicate that the subject is third
person singular in the simple present tense, the word drive is called a
stem. If the word drive is attached by suffix –er and becomes driver,
the word drive is called base.
1.2.4
Semantics
Semantics is a branch of linguistics, which is the study of
language; it is an area of study interacting with those of syntax and
phonology. A person's linguistic abilities are based on knowledge
that they have. One of the insights of modern linguistics is that
speakers of a language have different types of linguistic knowledge,
including how to pronounce words, how to construct sentences, and
about the meaning of individual words and sentences (Saeed, 1997).
It has often been pointed out, and for obvious reasons, that
semantics is the youngest branch of linguistics (Ullmann 1962,
Greimas 1962). Furthermore, Chaer (2007) stated that “Semantics is
the study of the meaning of words and sentences or semantic is the
study of meaning communicated through language”.
1.2.5
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing
and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures
and videos. A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a
square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, in
contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device
cameras. Users can also apply digital filters to their images. The
maximum duration for Instagram videos is 15 seconds.
Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger,
and launched in October 2010. The service rapidly gained
popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012.
Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store, Google Play,
and Windows Phone Store. The service was acquired by Facebook
in April 2012.
1.2.6
Hashtag
A hashtag is the ‘#’ symbol before a word or series of words
(all run together without a space). The purpose of the hashtag is to
categorize the images and make them searchable. The use of
hashtags on Instagram is to show how an image was created (the
applications or filters applied), the style applied (vintage, classic,
etc.), who the image is for (business, a certain purpose, etc.),
describe what is in the image, or to simply group with other similar
images. Because of its widespread use, the word, hashtag, was
added to the Oxford English Dictionary in June 2014.
1.3
1.3.1
Theoretical Framework
Types of Word Formation
Lieber in her book Introducing Morphology (2009:35) divided word
formation processes into two processes, major and minor.
1.3.1.1 Major Process
There are three most common ways of forming new words, such
as:
(1)
Affixation
New lexemes that are formed with prefixes and suffixes
on a base are often referred to as derived words, and the
process by which they are formed as affixation. There are two
kinds of affixes which are explained as follows: prefix is an
affix added at the beginning of a word like re-, un-, in-, etc.,
and suffix is an affix added to the end of a word like -ly, -er, ist, -s, -ing, –ed, etc. Languages frequently have affixes that
fall into common semantic categories. Among those
categories are:
a. Personal affixes: These are affixes that create ‘people
nouns’ either from verbs or from nouns. Among the
personal affixes in English are the suffix –er which
forms agent nouns (the ‘doer’ of the action) like writer or
runner and the suffix –ee which forms patient nouns (the
person the action is done to).
b. Negative and privative affixes: Negative affixes add the
meaning ‘not’ to their base; examples in English are the
prefixes un-, in-, and non- (unhappy, inattentive, non-
functional). Privative affixes mean something like
‘without X’; in English, the suffix –less (shoeless,
hopeless) is a privative suffix, and the prefix de- has a
privative flavour as well (for example, words like debug
or debone mean something like ‘cause to be with-out
bugs/bones’).
c. Prepositional and relational affixes: Prepositional and
relational affixes often convey notions of space and/or
time. Examples in English might be prefixes like overand out- (overfill, overcoat, outrun, outhouse).
d. Quantitative affixes: These are affixes that have
something to do with amount. In English we have affixes
like –ful (handful, helpful) and multi- (multifaceted).
Another example might be the prefix re- that means
‘repeated’ action (reread), which we can consider
quantitative if we conceive of a repeated action as being
done more than once.
e. Evaluative
affixes:
Evaluative
affixes
consist
of
diminutives, affixes that signal a smaller version of the
base (for example in English –let as in booklet or
droplet) and augmentatives, affixes that signal a bigger
version of the base. The closest we come to
augmentative affixes in English are prefixes like mega(megastore, megabyte).
(2)
Compounding
Compounds are words that are composed of two (or
more) bases, roots, or stems. We can classify compounds
more closely according to their forms.
a. Closed form
Closed form of compounding is a type of compounding
that derives from two words melded together forming a
single word. It most likely consists of short units that
often have been established in the language for a long
time. Examples of closed form are waterfall, keyboard,
newspaper, and so on.
b. Hyphenated form
The hyphenated form in is type of compounding which
two or more words are connected by a hyphen.
Compounds that contain affixes, as well as adjectiveadjective compounds and verb-verb compounds are often
hyphenated.
Compounds
that
contain
articles,
prepositions or conjunctions are also often hyphenated.
For example: open-minded, right-handed, well-being,
etc.
c. Open Form
The open or spaced form of compounding consists of
two or more word forming a single term. For instance:
post office, full moon, real estate, etc.
(3)
Conversion
In English it is possible to form new lexemes merely by
shifting the category or part of speech of an already existing
lexeme without adding an affix. This means of word
formation is often referred to as conversion or functional
shift.
a. Verb that comes from noun, example; to table
b. Verb that comes from adjective, example; to cool
c. Verb that comes from preposition, example; to out
d. Noun that comes from verb, example; a kick
1.3.1.2 Minor processes
Affixation, compounding, and conversion are the most
common ways of forming new words, at least in English. In
addition, there are a number of less common ways in which new
lexemes may be formed:
(1)
Coinage
It is of course possible to make up entirely new words
from whole cloth, a process called coinage. However, we
rarely coin completely new words, choosing instead to
recycle bases and affixes into new combinations. New
products are sometimes given coined names like Kodak,
Xerox, or Kleenex, and these in turn sometimes come to be
used as common nouns: kodak was at one time used for
cameras in general, and xerox and kleenex are still used
respectively for copiers and facial tissue by some American
English speakers. But it’s relatively rare to coin new words,
this happens perhaps because the words themselves give no
clue to their meaning. Context often clarifies what a word is
intended to mean, but without a context to suggest meaning,
the words themselves are semantically opaque. It is no
wonder that many of the pure coinages that creep into
English come from original product names: the association of
the coined word with the product makes its meaning clear,
and occasionally the word will then be generalized to any
instance of that product, even if manufactured by a different
company.
(2)
Backformation
There are words that historically existed as monomorphic
bases, but which ended in a sequence of sounds identical to
or reminiscent of that of certain affixes. When native
speakers come to perceive these words as being complex
rather
than
simple,
they create
what
is
called
a
backformation.
For example, historically the word burglar was
monomorphemic.
But
because
its
last
syllable
was
phonologically identical to the agentive –er suffix, some
English speakers have understood it to be based on a verb to
burgle. Arguably for those speakers, then, burglar is no
longer a simple word. Similarly the verb liaise has been
created from liaison. Another case for peddle and edit, both
of which are historically backformations from peddler and
editor, respectively. From the examples above we may
conclude that backformation process changes the word class
and the meaning of the word itself.
(3)
Blending
Blending is a process of word formation in which parts
of lexemes that are not themselves morphemes are combined
to form a new lexeme. Familiar examples of blends
(sometimes also called portmanteau words) are words like
brunch, a combination of breakfast and lunch, or smog, a
combination of smoke and fog. While not one of the major
ways of forming new words, blending is used quite a bit in
English in advertising, product naming, and playful language.
(4)
Acronyms and initialisms
When the first letters of words that make up a name or a
phrase are used to create a new word, the results are called
acronyms or initialisms. In acronyms, the new word is
pronounced as a word, rather than as a series of letters. For
example, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome gives us
AIDS, pronounced [eidz]. And self-contained underwater
breathing apparatus gives us scuba.
Initialisms are similar to acronyms in that they are
composed from the first letters of a phrase, but unlike
acronyms, they are pronounced as a series of letters. So most
people in the US refer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
as the FBI pronounced [ɛf bi ai]. Other initialisms are PTA
for Parent Teacher Association, PR for either ‘public
relations’ or ‘personal record’, and NCAA for National
College Athletic Association.
(5)
Clipping
People usually use the longer term if the situation is
more formal and the shorter term if the situation is more
informal. However, the new term may entirely replace the
longer original word but it does not change the word class
and the meaning of the word itself. Clipping is a means of
creating new words by shortening already existing words. For
instance, we have info created from information, blog created
from web log, or fridge from refrigerator. Although clippings
are often used in a colloquial rather than a formal register,
some have attained more neutral status. The word lab, for
example, is probably used far more frequently in the US than
its longer version laboratory.
The four types of clipping are back clipping, foreclipping, middle clipping, and complex clipping. Back
clipping is removing the end of a word as in gas from
gasoline. Fore-clipping is removing the beginning of a word
as in gator from alligator. Middle clipping is retaining only
the middle of a word as in flu from influenza. Complex
clipping is removing multiple parts from multiple words as
in sitcom from situation comedy.
1.3.2
Lexical, Grammatical, and Contextual Meaning
Chaer (2007:289) defines lexical meaning as a meaning possessed by
a lexeme without any context. It is the actual thing that is observed
through human senses. For example, the lexeme ‘horse’ has a lexical
meaning ‘a large animal with four long legs’. And lexeme ‘house’ has
lexical meaning ‘the building made for people to live in’.
Unlike lexical meaning, grammatical meaning is meaning possessed
by a stem because of grammatical process, such as affixation or tenses. For
example, in the affixation of suffix –s attached to a stem ‘chair’ produces
‘chairs’. It changes the meaning of the word ‘chair’ from one chair
(singular) into many chairs (plural). Grammatical meaning can include
information about number (singular vs. plural), person (first, second,
third), tense (past, present, future), and other distinctions as well. (Lieber,
2009:88).
Furthermore, Chaer (2007:290) stated contextual meaning is meaning
of a word within a certain context. For example, the question of ‘What is a
war?’ may have two different contextual meanings. They are as follows:
a. If teacher asks a child of preschool, the child will answer ‘That is
horrible’.
b. If we ask to a soldier, he will consider a war as an attitude to get
peace.