Transcript 二. Back-formation逆生法I. Definition

BACK-FORMATION
----By the fourth group
二. Back-formation逆生法
 I. Definition:
 Back-formation is an abnormal type of wordformation where a shorter word is derived by
deleting an imagined affix from an already
existing longer word in the vocabulary.
 beg ← beggar
 edit ← editor
 The nouns beggar, editor appeared first in the
English language , and then the verb beg and
edit.
 The majority of back-formed words are verbs, for
verbs can develop (or generate) a number of
nouns, and various types of participial adjectives.
 大多数逆生词是动词，因为（通过派生法）动词
可以派生出许多名词和各种分词形容词。
 to create →
 creator, creation, creating, created
 Therefore, when people come across one or
more apparently deverbal nouns, they often
take it for granted that there must be a
corresponding verb.
 (因此,当人们遇到一个或更多的貌似由动词转化而
来的名词时, 他们想当然认为与该名词一定有一个
与之对应的动词).
 II. Classification:
 According to its origin, back-formation may
be formed from the following parts of speech
(词类).
 A. Verbs back-formed from nouns ending in –
er , -ar , -or, -sion , -tion, etc.（P.82）
 to automate(使自动化) ←automation
 to edit← editor
 to televise(电视播送)to televise← television
 to appreciate← appreciation
to negate(否定; 否认)← negation
to butch（屠宰）← butcher
to destruct ← destruction
to audit（审计）← Auditor（审计员）
to spring-clean(大扫除)←spring-cleaning
to proofread（校对）←proofreader
 B. Verbs back-formed from nouns in
other forms or from adjective:
 to diagnose←
 diagnosis（noun）
 to enthuse (使热心，表示热心)←
 enthusiasm (noun)
 to laze（懒惰，混日子）←
 lazy (adjective)
 to drowse (打瞌睡)←
 drowsy (adjective)
 C. Many new back-formation verbs come
from compounds:
 to house-keep ←housekeeper
 to sight-see ←sight-seeing
 D. A few nouns back-formed from adjective
 greed (n.) ← greedy (adjective)
 gloom（昏暗, 阴暗）(n.)← gloomy (adjective）
Caution：
 Some back-formations in English come
from words ending in –s that were singular
but were mistaken for plurals,such as
sherry(from the earlier sherris,taken as a
plural),and pea(from pease).And this
device is also used to produced nonce
words,such as pensable(from
indispensable )and gainly(from ungainly).
Conclusion:
Back-formed words created by backformation can be used to enhance
different styles of writing: some in political
or scientific styles of writing, some in
colloquial or journalistic style.
In modern English, a number of backformation words have become the
common core in the English vocabulary,
such as air-condition, automat, beg, edit,
televise, etc.