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Originally Posted by Tori Hello!
My question is about back formation in English and especially how verbs are formed in this way. I need examples to understand it and also, if possible, links to know the question thouroughly.
Thank you in advance. Tori |
Welcome
Backformation, also called clipping, is a word formation process that shifts a word's function from one category to another. That is, it's a functional shift: by clipping off a word's suffix, the word's function changes. Take, for example, the noun
television and the verb
televise, which entered into English when the Television was invented. First, the noun
television was coined (from tele-, a prefix meaning at a distance, + vision, meaning to see), and then the suffix -ion was clipped off, giving a new word, the verb
televise.
With backformations, specifically verbs, the verb is created from the noun, which is the opposite of what we expect. Generally, -ion is added to verbs to create nouns, and not the other way around:
Affixation
Verb,
revise => add -
ion => Noun,
revision Backformation
Noun,
television => clip -
ion => Verb,
televise
So when we see, say, the word
television, we automatically assume that it is made from the verb
televise + -ion, but it's not. It's the other way around:
televise is made from the noun
television.
To be able to tell if a given word is a backformation, one has to know about the history of the English language or has to invest in a dictionary that lists backformations.
Where does backformation come from?
Backformation is based on analogy, or a partial similarity with other words in the language:
Analogy revise : revision :: televise : television
Read as, revise
is to revision
as televise
is to television
Check out these sources: http://www.kprecht.net/Intro/English...0Formation.htm English Word Formation Processes: backformation
http://www.bartleby.com/185/27.html
Examples of backformation
back formation in English 
Re: back formation in English 
Would you have a few examples? 
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