Derivation is a interesting process in which lexemes and affixes are combined to make new lexemes. This process can be displayed in many words across the English language, such as active, where the verb “act” is combined with the suffix “I’ve” to create the new lexeme “active”, which is an adjective. The same goes for the word drivable, which takes the verb drive and attaches able to create the adjective drivable. This is a very productive process that can be found in various slang words as well. Instead of researching the common slang words, I choose 10 common slang terms I personally use or hear others around me use that also entails the process of derivation. The 10 words I chose are selfie, shortie, trashy, salty, twinning, thugging, adulting, ghosted, friended, and snatched. People may commonly know a type of derivation that can be referred to as “verbing”, which is when you take a noun or an adjective and add the suffix “ing” to create a word. The suffix “ing” is very productive in the derivational process of creating a verb. This is exhibited in my favorite examples, “twinning”, “thugging”, and “adulting”. All words have the input of a noun and when attached to “ing” create the output of a verb. I believe these words are considered slang because the suffix “ing” normally attaches to a verb, so this does not follow the rules or format that is usually seen in the derivational process using “ing”. Two other examples I find interesting are the slang words “shortie” and “selfie” because the suffix “ie” can attach to both a noun and an adjective. “Shortie” has the input of an adjective and the output of a noun. Meanwhile, “selfie” has an input and output of a noun. This is also demonstrated through other words like “sweetie” or “doggie”. With this information, one can conclude that the template for this particular affix would look like this: [[X]y ie]N y= A, N. All the examples are similar in the sense that they use productive processes to create slang terms but don’t seem to follow the rules of the lexical category it’s attaching to, which is shown in “verbing” when “ing” is attached to nouns instead of verbs.

I was very indecisive when choosing a final topic for my paper, however, I do find the differences of slang among the generations of Gen X (1967-1982) and Gen Z/Millennials (1983-2010) very interesting. I want to explore this topic because as I went deeper into my college career, I’ve gained many friends of different age groups and would like to discover any differences in the way they speak. Personally, I’ve noticed differences among the slang used in my friends who are in their 20’s (Millennials/Gen Z) versus my friends in their 40’s (Get X). Examples of slang I’ve heard among my friends who are considered Gen X are “headbanger”, “chill pill”, and “diss”. I did some research into these words and it is true that they became popular in the 70’s. “Headbanger” is used to describe a really good song, “chill pill” is used as a way to say “calm down”, and “diss” is used as another word for “insult”. As for my millennial friends, they say words like “Low key” and “clap back”, which became popular in the 2010’s. “Low key” is used to describe something that is not intense or can be considered subtle. Meanwhile, “clap back” is used as a word to describe a counter insult. There are some words I feel that both generations use, such as, “dude”, “trippin”, and “dope”. I have also noticed that some slang change meanings throughout generations. For example, “dope” was used to refer to drugs and can still be used in that context by people who are Gen X. Meanwhile, for millennials, “dope” is used to refer to something that is considered cool. These variations are what interests me and I hope I don’t change my mind on this topic.

1. Applesauce: Endocentric. [[apple]N [sauce]N] N
2. Meatloaf: Endocentric. [[meat]N [loaf]N]N
3. Honeydew: Exocentric. [[honey]N [dew]N]N
4. Eggplant: Exocentric. [[egg]N [plant]N]N
5. Milkshake: Exocentric. [[milk]N [shake]v]N

1. Suffix “ment”:  -ment, [[X]V ment]N. Enjoy to enjoyment, manage to management, excite to excitement, etc.
2. Suffix “ize”: -ize, [[X]N ize]V. Memory to memorize, apology to apologize, actual to actualize.
3. Enjoyment to enjoymentize, management to managmentize, and excitement to excitementize don’t seem to be well formed. This might have to do with the idea that the suffix “ment” is somehow correlated to the meaning of results or processes so it would be difficult formulate verbs from these particular nouns. It is rare to see words with multiple suffixes (at least that I know of) so to there must be some rule or format where you can’t add a suffix to a word that already has a suffix. For this particular instance this seems to be the case, however, I’m curious to see how this plays out with other’s examples. It is easier to find cases of multiple suffixes when it comes to the suffixes being noun affixes. Like the word “accountability” comes to my head. You have the initial word “account”, which is a verb but then you add the suffixes “able” and then after “ity”. These suffixes are both noun affixes so with this in mind, it seems plausible that multiple suffixes are possible as long as they are noun affixes. I can’t find examples where there are multiple verb affixes added to a word.

Simplex words are words that contain a single morpheme. In other words, simplex words cannot be broken down into smaller parts. On the other hand, complex words are words that contain two or more morphemes that can be broken down and can stand alone. In my opinion, the following words: forbid, forget, forgive, forgo, forswear are all complex words for the simple fact that they can be broken down into two parts, systematically. All the words contain the preposition, “for”, and a verb attached. Every word has these two parts that can stand alone and have their own meanings. But they come together, systematically, to create these new complex words.