Invented Words

[PROESL]

Has anyone ever heard people say "conversate" and "pronunciate" in place of "converse" and "pronounce"? If so, does it seem that these inventions are becoming more common? To put it mildly, I don't think highly of such invented words as these.

[arare]

Originally Posted by PROESL

Has anyone ever heard people say "conversate" and "pronunciate" in place of "converse" and "pronounce"? If so, does it seem that these inventions are becoming more common? To put it mildly, I don't think highly of such invented words as these.

Hello, I think these words are inventions maybe a mistake of literal translation but I don't think they are going to become common because they don't have any meaning.

[PROESL]

Originally Posted by arare

Hello, I think these words are inventions maybe a mistake of literal translation but I don't think they are going to become common because they don't have any meaning.

They are mistakes yes, and possibly the result of incorrect guessing of tranlations by using what one thinks is an appropriate and correct cognate. I know what you mean. But the thing is that I've heard native speakers of English say "pronunciate" and "conversate" as well, which is kind of interesting in a way.

[Hortence]

Originally Posted by PROESL

They are mistakes yes, and possible the result of incorrect guessing of tranlations by using what one thinks is an appropriate and correct cognate. I know what you mean. But the thing is that I've heard native speakers of English say "pronunciate" and "conversate" as well, which is kind of interesting in a way.

In French we say "converser" and "prononcer". These French words have three syllables like "conversate" and "prononciate". It seems to be a bad translation from French to English. Don't be surprised that these words are used by English speakers. Unfortunately, faults are common on the Internet and they propagate at high speed!!

[PROESL]

Originally Posted by Hortence

In French we say "converser" and "prononcer". These French words have three syllables like "conversate" and "prononciate". It seems to be a bad translation from French to English. Don't be surprised that these words are used by English speakers. Unfortunately, faults are common on the Internet and they propagate at high speed!!

Yes, this is true. However, I've also heard these words spoken offline by native speakers of English, which I find "interesting".

[Raymott]

I think it's wrong to call these words 'inventions'.
Invented words are rarely invented by mistake.

[konungursvia]

I agree those two are incorrect, but was going to tell you what Hortence said. In fact, there are many accepted words of the same ilk, like "orientate" and "differentiate" whih are based on "-er" verbs in French. So I think there are better battles to pick.

[orangutan]

Originally Posted by konungursvia

I agree those two are incorrect, but was going to tell you what Hortence said. In fact, there are many accepted words of the same ilk, like "orientate" and "differentiate" whih are based on "-er" verbs in French. So I think there are better battles to pick.

An interesting idea - they could be the result of French influence for all I know.

I was going to suggest that they were simply examples of "back-formation" - as if, for example, "pronunciation" was derived regularly from "pronunciate" rather than more irregularly from "pronounce". This is a frequent source of English words, including some which have become completely accepted into the language. (Of course French would be involved here too, though only historically.)

[konungursvia]

Yes, but the noun forms corresponding to "-iation" are all noun forms based on the same sort of French verbs we were talking about.

[PROESL]

It's true that new words spring up in the language. However, I would only have to ask what these words are a result of. How did they come about? If someone says "conversate", entirely unaware that this is not a word in existence and has no reason to say it other than the fact that it occurred to them to say it, then this means to me that the word came about through ignorance. I'm speaking here of a native English speaker that says something like "conversate" or "pronunciate". Another word that is certainly a result of simply not knowing is "pronounciatoin", which I've seen in writing produced by native speakers of English. I take this as more than simply an ordinary spelling error, as this would indicate, as well, a possible ignorance of how to pronounce such a basic word. When native speakers of English produce words such as "conversate", "pronunciate", an "pronounciation" this is a reflection of one's literacy level in one's very own language. The more intelligent and genuine inventing of words is done with a purpose, and this can obviously be seen by the many new words that have come about as a result of the Internet and electronic communication in general.