It is easy to guess that word formation is the process of the formation of new words in a particular language. This article will discuss the methods of word formation in the English language. So, in English today there are 4 such methods: conversion, compounding, stress change in the word and affixation. Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Conversion
Conversion is the process of forming a new word without any changes in its spelling and pronunciation. Conversion takes place when a word changes its meaning, becomes a new part of speech and performs a new syntactic function in a sentence. At the same time, as already mentioned, neither the spelling nor pronunciation changes. For example, the noun water (water) has formed a new word - the verb to water (water). You can find very, very many such examples in English, since it is such a conversion that is most common and acceptable.
Composition
Word formation in English by means of word-of-mouth is a combination of full-valued lexical units or their foundations into one complex word. A new unit can be written as a single unit, or through a hyphen (this develops historically). Examples include words such as birthday - birthday (birth + day), airman - aviator (air + man) and others. Compound words can also consist of two words written separately. In most cases, these are nouns, and one of them acts as an adjective. For example, shop window is a showcase.
Change stress in a word
Sometimes new words are obtained only after a change in stress. This method of word formation is similar to conversion. So, for example, the noun conduct (behavior) with emphasis on the first syllable turns into the verb to conduct (conduct) with stress on the second syllable.
Affixation
Word formation in English has its own characteristics. Typically, affixing — adding a suffix or prefix to the root — causes difficulties for language learners. The fact is that the prefixes and suffixes attached to the base of the word are so diverse that they will not work out very quickly and forever. So what is the point?
Prefixes are affixes (prefixes) that attach to the root at the beginning of a word, suffixes at its end. The new lexical units that result are called derivatives. Both prefixes and suffixes join different parts of speech and change their meaning. For example, from the name of the adjective happy one can form several words with affixation: the noun happiness (happiness), the adjective unhappy (unhappy), the adverb happily (happily). Prefixing helps to slightly change the meaning of a word (for example, create the opposite in meaning), indicate negation, and so on. Suffixing, in turn, often changes part of speech.
Conclusion
Word formation in English is a topic that needs to be studied very carefully, since the variety of options for the formation of a new word and its meaning from a particular lexical unit is very large. An incorrectly added ending can cause the foreign speaker to either not understand you or understand you incorrectly. In any English textbook you can find tables with the meanings of affixes, options for the formation of new words through conversion and stress change. The main thing is to spend enough effort and time for the topic to be learned, and you perfectly know all the nuances that word formation has in English! Exercise and repetition will help you in this difficult task.