If I’m being completely honest, compounding and slang have always been two of my favorite topics in linguists!  In English grammar, compounding is when new words are composed of two (or more) bases, roots, or stems. In other words, it is when you take free morpheme’s and combine them to make a completely new word. Some example’s of this would be; sunglasses, greenhouse and football. Slang words are usually formed by people throughout the decades. It’s when someone makes up a word of some sort that expresses something, whether it is old or new. Slang words are usually used by the younger age groups. When I think about slang when I was growing up, I feel like people normally uses it because they want to fit in or be cool. I feel like slang words typically spread by word of mouth. I remember growing up hearing all different kinds of phrases being passed around by my older siblings, after a while, I noticed I began to use them. A couple of different slang words would be lowkey, highkey, Hangry, Facebook, couchpotato, homeboy, homegirl, all-ears, ripoff, airhead. The meaning behind these words are, lowkey=to be quiet about it, highkey=the be loud about it, Hangry=to be hungry and angry, Facebook=a type of social media platform, couchpotato=when someone is lazy, Homeboy=a phrase someone uses to refer to a friend, Homegirl=a phrase someone uses to refer to a friend, all-ears=a phrase to imply that you are listening, Ripoff=when something is expensive or extremely overprices and airhead=someone who get easily mad or ticked off. I’m sure we have all used these kinds of words once or twice in our lives, especially as a younger generation. I even notice a lot of kids creating new slang words that I have never heard of before. The English language is truly amazing.

 

 

Works Cited:

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-compounding-words-1689894

https://www.britannica.com/topic/slang

https://www.mondly.com/blog/2019/11/26/45-popular-slang-words-from-around-the-world-and-their-meanings/

Many people may think “verbing” is a new innovation that all the young kids are doing nowadays but it has actually been a part of the English language all throughout history. In fact, the term “verbification” was coined in 1871 (Garber, 2013). Verbing or verbification, is the act of using a word that was not a verb as a verb (Fogarty, 2020). There is a pattern that is associated with verbing. It begins with a new verb being presented, then it becomes used more and more, it might even be seen or heard in the media and next thing we know, it becomes part of our lexicon. I have nosed around a bit and found a few examples of verbing that I would like to discuss. More recently, technology and social media has had a large influence on the popularity and use of verbed words. In many cases technology nor social media contributed to these verbed word’s development. An example of this that most people could relate to is “friending.” In 2004 Facebook, a social media platform came about. The way people would connect on this platform was to “friend” others (Garber, 2013). As Facebook became popular so did the use of the word “Friend,” “friended” and “friending.” You probably have heard someone say “friend me on Facebook,” or “she friended me on Facebook.” This use of  what was typically a noun, “friend” as a verb is an illustration of verbing at its finest! Now, most people might think this verb version of “friend” is a new concept that Mark Zuckerberg contributed to by inventing Facebook but they are wrong. This verb can actually be traced back 800 years!  A verbed word that is a direct result of technology is “uber.” In 2009 Uber, the worlds largest ride sharing company was founded. “Uber” prior to its explosive growth, seemed like a funny name to call a ride share company. Now it is a name (similar to Johnson and Johnson’s Q-tip) that almost everyone not only knows but uses as a way of referring to this sort of technology in general. Uber, which is a name of a company; therefore a noun, was quickly verbed and used by individuals to explain how they would get from point “A” to point “B” (Grammarly, 2020). Im sure you’ve heard someone say something like “I ubered home” or “Im going to uber to dinner tonight.” Just as quickly as this company exploded, so did the formation of the verbed word “uber.” Verbing is a process that has been an element of the english language throughout history, some even say its part of what makes English, English.  Without it, many words we have today wouldn’t exist!

Works Cited

Fogarty, M. (2020, March 17). Verbification of a noun. Quick and Dirty Tips. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/verbification-of-a-noun

Garber, M. (2013, July 25). ‘friend,’ as a verb, is 800 years old. The Atlantic. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/friend-as-a-verb-is-800-years-old/278109/

Grammarly. (2020, December 23). The basics of verbing nouns. The Basics of Verbing Nouns | Grammarly Blog. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://www.grammarly.com/blog/the-basics-of-verbing-nouns/

Language has changed over time due to social class, religion, and many other features. There are two different word formation processes called derivation and compounding. Compounding is a type of word formation that involves taking two or more lexemes, combining them, and forming a new word. Every compound word can be put into two categories, endocentric and exocentric. Endocentric words are compound words that have a head. An example of this would be bottle factory. The head of the word is factory and this compound words is describing a type of factory.  Another type of compound words is exocentric. Exocentric words are always nouns. These words do not have a head and there is no category to the word. An example would be hot dog. Hot dog is not describing a type of dog; it is just two words put together.  Many slang words over the generations have been created using this word formation. Compounding is one of the most widespread ways of creating new words and this can be seen in slang words. Slang has both endocentric and exocentric words. Slang as defined by Merriam Webster dictionary is, “an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech.” Examples of slang words that have been created through compounding are hangry, Spanglish, deadass, baby daddy, sugar daddy, baby momma, badass, frenemy, bromance, and low key. Looking at the examples I gave, each word seems to combine two words in order to create a “simpler” word that is than used to describe someone. A person who is hangry means the person is so hungry, they are angry. Although this can not be used to describe every slang word’s word formation, this can help to see how so many slang words have come to be.

 

Booij, G. E. (2005). The grammar of words: An introduction to linguistic morphology. Oxford Univ. Press.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Slang definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slang

Where do slang words come from? Wonderopolis. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/where-do-slang-words-come-from

Kittelstad, K. (n.d.). 30 examples of slang words from the past and today. Examples. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/20-examples-of-slang-language.html

 

What is slang? Well according to the urban dictionary and to summarize it slang is basically a shortened way of saying something, but also stands for or means something else. While there is slang in all languages the one in english is the one I am more familiar with. So slang basically has a certain age group to it. It is mostly seen in the youth. But i use that word very lightly because it does not limit its self to the youth or teens, as anyone can use it and any demographic does use it. While slang is mostly seen in speech it is not limited to just speech and can be seen in text too. But since it is in speech seen mostly it is slightly harder to pin point the exact word that is being said as it is kinda hard to spell a slang word

So with slang it is mostly seen as compounding, which is the combining of already existing lexemes. Basically a compound word, an example I actually used earlier would be the word ‘kinda’ this word is a combination of the words ‘kind’ and ‘of’ creating the word ‘kinda’ meaning almost like or relatively too. more examples of this type of compounding is ‘yall’ (you + all), ’bouta'(about + to), ‘gonna'(going + to), ‘shoulda'(should + of), ‘woulda'(would + of), ‘coulda'(could +of), ‘hangry'(hungry + angry), and ‘trynna'(trying + to). These examples of compounding are the type of slang words that stick to the meaning of their original words. Where one could imply the meaning of the word without actually ever hearing the word of just from context clues.

There is another part of slang as mention earlier that the word may stand for soe thing else, so where one can simply not know what the word means from context clues or they actually need the word defines to them for them to know. This can come in the form of compounding or deprivation. we know what compounding as mentioned before is, but deprivation is taking in a lexeme and an affix and then having a word come out from that. For deprivation not many slang words come to mind but a couple would be ‘trashy’ and ‘edgy’. These do mean what is implied by them though. Some words that done mean as implied by them would be compounding mostly but also a mix such as: ‘lit’ ‘in my bag’ ‘cappin’ ‘stunnin’ and ‘bussin’. These words or phrases have a different meaning than one can see from just the words. If one is not familiar with the words then it would be hard to see the meaning of the words and get the jist of what is being said.

References

Real definitions for real slang words. The Online Slang Dictionary | Real definitions. Real slang. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2021, from http://onlineslangdictionary.com/.

Urban dictionary. Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Urban+Dictionary

In linguistics, word formation is the process of creating a new word in which bound morphemes are added to a word. Compounding and derivation are both word formation processes that create new lexemes which are commonly verbs, nouns, or adjectives. Compounding words are formed when two or more lexemes combine into a single new word and derivation changes the form of a base word by adding affixes to it, placing it in a different lexical category. An example of this would be having a verb and creating into a noun. These compounded words are also described as free morphemes because they can stand alone, the only difference is, when separated, they have two completely different meanings. For many years slang has been created, modified, and used in our everyday lives with the help of social media and popular influencers. Slang differs when it comes to age groups and social groups; for example, slang words that were used in the 1970s would not be apparent to those who were born between the years 1990 and 2000. Some examples of slang words that are used today are “throwing shade” (compound slang) is when someone criticizes or disrespects someone verbally or nonverbally. “Crunk” isn’t really used as much but means getting crazy/ hig* and drunk, “periodttt” emphasizes the end of a statement, “crashy” is the mixture of one being crazy and trashy, “lowkey” is something that is described to be kept on the down low, and “highkey” is the opposite of lowkey where something described is emphasized. “Sus” is a shortened way to escribe someone or something that is suspect or suspicious. “GOAT” is also an abbreviated slang which means greatest of all time. “Big Mad” is honestly one of my favorites; it’s another way of saying one is extremely upset about something, and “shook” is when one is scared or shaken by something.

 

Citations:

Nordquist, R. (2020, February 4). The derivations of words used in English. ThoughtCo. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.thoughtco.com/derivation-words-term-1690438

Amy Morin, L. C. S. W. (2021, October 15). Teen slang words every parent should know. Verywell Family. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/a-teen-slang-dictionary-2610994

Introduction to final paper:

When most people think of William Shakespeare, they usually attribute his name to the numerous well-known plays and sonnets he created. However, what many people do not realize is that Shakespeare not only created such classic works of literature but has also created words and coined phrases in his writing that were not previously heard of before in history. There are several different types of word usage and formation found in Shakespeare’s plays. In order to invent new words/lexemes, Shakespeare used several processes, such as derivation, often adding prefixes and suffixes to words to form new meanings, like merging the prefix “un” with “real” to create the lexeme “unreal,” meaning something that is unbelievable or incredible. In addition, he used compounding, where two free morphemes are combined to form a new lexemes. An example of this is combining the free lexemes “be” and “dazzle” to form the word “bedazzle,” which can mean to decorate or to astound or impress. Shakespeare also used conversion in many ways: he took nouns and made them into verbs; for example, he adapted the noun champion to be used as a verb as in “to champion,” as seen in his play Macbeth, (Mabillard 1).

In order to investigate the words/phrases coined by the Bard, I will be looking at several sources including his own plays to determine if he was indeed the first to create/coin the formation and usage of these words. It is important to determine if Shakespeare was truly the origin of the word, so that it can be rightfully attributed to him and not to the times. To do this, I examined several sources that list words Shakespeare invented, to increase the credibility. Furthermore, I searched to see if the word appeared in any works prior to Shakespeare.

Sources:

1. Mabillard, Amanda. Words Shakespeare Invented Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html >.
2. McQuain, Jeff. Coined by Shakespeare: Words and Meanings First Penned by the Bard. Merriam-Webster, 1999. 

 

Slang is seen in every language all over the world. It’s used by thousands of people everyday. However, despite this wide range of use, slang is still seen in a negative light. Many people believe slang to be an improper way to use language. However, despite this people still do not hesitate to use slang. Therefore, the question remains. What is slang and why do people continue to use it despite its bad reputation?

For many, slang is known as an upgraded or, in lack of better terms, cooler, way to say a word. It is also seen as an easier way to communicate an idea or feeling to another person. An example of this can be seen in the word, lit. The “proper” definition of the word “lit” is when something has been ignited, as a verb, or to describe something that is ignited, as an adjective. However when using this term in “slang” the word’s meaning is then changed. In a different context, this word can mean “excellent” or “festive”, depending on the context the word was used in. Despite its uses, slang is still seen as an improper usage of words. In many countries, slang is seen as a language that is often, if not only, used by the younger generation. Therefore, many slang languages are often scrutinized or thought of as a childish language, thus, adding to the reason why slang is seen in such a negative light. However what many people in the older generations fail to realize is that language is often created and changed by the younger generation. This then causes the older language to be used less or to eventually become extinct. For example, in the article, “Is English Changing”, by the Linguistic Society of America, the article talks about the reasons why language changes. One of these reasons involves the younger generation in which it states, “Many of the changes that occur in language begin with teens and young adults. As young people interact with others their own age, their language grows to include words, phrases, and constructions that are different from those of the older generation. Some have a short life span (heard groovy lately?), but others stick around to affect the language as a whole.” As a consequence of this, the language begins to change slowly. The language begins to shift, until it becomes a new language that is similar to the older generation’s but is at the same time unrecognizable to it. Despite the fact that slang contributes a lot to the evolution of language, it will forever be seen negatively. However, everyday language is changing. As a consequence, this also means that new words will forever be created for each generation. 

 Now that we know what slang is, many people may still question, what exactly creates slang? We know that the younger generation is usually what creates slang, however, we do not know what exactly is the process in which a slang word can be created. By doing so we must first understand that new words are created by the process of morphology. Morphology is “…the set of principles that tell you how to combine free and bound morphemes into well-formed words.” As said in the textbook “The Grammar of Words”, by Greet Booij. In other words, new words are created through a function called compounding and derivation. In order to create a word by compounding, the words must be free morphemes. A free morpheme is when a word can stand alone and does not need to rely on a suffix in order to be a full word. An example of this can be words such as “greenhouse” or “treehouse” or slang words such as photobomb, throw-shade, air-sip, or dayroom. Another process in which new words can be created is derivation, in which we will be focusing on. In order to create new words using derivation, it will use a process that is the complete opposite for compounding. For example, instead of using two free morphemes, derivation will be using one free morpheme and one bound morpheme. A bound morpheme is a morpheme that must attach to another morpheme, meaning it can not stand on its own as a word and still make sense. An example that can show this can be the word “happiness” or “lonely” in which the free morpheme for the word ‘happiness’ is ‘happy’ and the bound morpheme is ‘-ness’. The same can be said for the word ‘lonely’ where the free morpheme is ‘lone’ because it can stand alone and still make sense and the bound morpheme is ‘-ly’ because it must connect to another morpheme in order to make sense. As a consequence, there are many slang words that have been created by the process of derivation. Some words include ‘adulting’, ‘ghosting’, ‘salty’, ‘walling’, or ‘wacky’. For the word ‘adulting’ the slang word’s meaning is self explanatory. This word means the action of someone acting as an adult. The free morpheme is ‘adult’ while the bound morpheme is ‘-ing’. The meaning of ‘ghosting’ is a bit similar and is again self explanatory. This means that a person is acting as a ghost. In a deeper context it means when a person disappears from another person’s social circle. Therefore, the word ‘ghost’ will act as a free morpheme and the ‘-ing’ is a bound morpheme. One last word with the suffix “-ing’ will be the word ‘walling’ pronounced [waɪlɪŋ]. This word derives from the word wail as in wailing and has formed into a new word meaning when someone acts crazy. In which the free morpheme would be ‘wall’ and the bound morpheme is again ‘-ing’. All these words ending in ‘-ing’ have something in common, in which the words begin as a noun and then change into a verb when ‘-ing’ is added. This is because, although ‘-ing’ is a bound morpheme, it still adds a different meaning when attached to a free morpheme. The bound morpheme, ‘-y’ on the other hand has a completely different meaning. For example, in the word ‘salty’ this word is used when someone is upset. In which the free morpheme is ‘salt’ and the bound morpheme is ‘-y’. The meaning for the word ‘wacky’ is when a person is acting or is weird. The free morpheme would be ‘wack’ and the bound morpheme is ‘-y’. These two words also share similarities in which they both have the bound morpheme ‘-y’. The meaning of this suffix is meant to characterize the person who is being described by these words. This actively demonstrates the process in how new words, or more specifically, slang words are created. 

To sum up everything that has been stated so far, slang is an important tool for the creation of new words and is the prime reason why language changes in the first place. Slang has a huge effect on not only language but of the people who use it. This is because those who would often use language would be seen as less than or even as uneducated because of the improper ways the original words would be used. Although this is the mindset for slang and for those who use slang, without the use of slang, languages would not have evolved to the modern languages we have today. Therefore, slang is an important piece that helps languages thrive. 

Citations:

• “Is English Changing?” Linguistic Society of America, https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/english-changing.
• Booij, G. E. The Grammar of Words. Oxford University Press, 2004.

 

Word formation in slang; Derivation

What is slang? Slang is the term used to define the set of words/phrases that are considered informal and unconventional in the English language and are more than likely to be used in speech as opposed to writing. Slang is widely used amongst teenagers and certain groups of people. The words can range from being obscene to witty. Slang can be a way for people to connect and become friends or to just express how you feel without the pressure of prescriptive rules in English. People take on the descriptive approach when it comes to how they speak and express themselves. Slang can be created through various linguistic processes like blending, coinages, clipping, acronyms and more importantly, derivation. The morphological word forming process derivation is the process used to create these slang words that we hear in today’s day. Derivation utilizes affixation to create new words. Affixes such as prefixes and suffixes are added to a free morpheme. In slang, many of the words are created through derivation. For example, the slang terms; ghosted, ghosting, adulting, adulted, hipster, flexer, salty, snatched, sucker and bingeable are all words formed through derivation because they all have suffixes added to the end of already existing morphemes that can stand alone, the suffixes however, cannot. The word ghosted is the past tense of ghosting. Both words have the suffixes “ing” and “ed” and are added to the free morpheme “ghost.” Ghosting is a term used to emphasize the disappearance of someone in your life usually by means of their own without a trace, avoiding you, ditching you, withdrawing communication from you. This is derived from the word “ghost” itself because a ghost is not physically present in this world, they disappear whenever. In snatched, the suffix “ed” is added to the word “snatch.” Snatch is when someone abruptly grabs something away from you. The slang word snatched is used to emphasize how great someone looks, whether that be their makeup, hair, or clothes, people will say “wow your makeup looks snatched.” This signifies that said person grabbed someone’s attention away abruptly because of how marvelous they look.  In bingeable, the suffix “able” is added to the word “binge.” Binge is used to portray the act of doing something consecutively, for hours. Bingeable just means something can be done for long. In adulting, the suffix “ing” is added to the word “adult” and adulting is a term used by many today to emphasize that one is being responsible and displaying the characteristics/attributes of an adult to get tasks done. This slang term derives from the free morpheme “adult” which is a grown-up who is supposed to be responsible and disciplined. Adulted is the past tense of adulting. These are examples of how slang terms came to be through derivation, the free morphemes are emphasized and correlate with the outcome of the suffix added. For example, ghosting, adulting, flexer, and snatched all correlate to their stems but the word class is changed. Slang is not considered proper enough to be in the dictionary but some words are and are being updated every day because it can be viewed as like dialect. It is considered another language (though informal) and pertains to certain groups of people in an area.

 

Works cited

“Oxford Languages and Google – English.” Oxford Languages, https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/.

“Urban Dictionary” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/.

“Slang.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/slang.

Enan, Robin, et al. “The Newest Teen Slang Trends of 2021.” FamilyEducation, 23 July 2019, https://www.familyeducation.com/teens/newest-teen-slang-trends-2021.

Booij, G. E. The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. Oxford University Press, 2012.