Complex Words in English

This book presents a comprehensive account of present-day word formation in English.

Starting with a discussion of some basic issues, including the definition of 'word', motivation, lexicalization, productivity, the relevance of historical information and the usefulness of dictionaries and other data-bases, the book then moves on to describe in detail a variety of prefixing, suffixing and compounding patterns - all illustrated with copious up-to-date examples.
Other topics that are explored in-depth include diminutives, backformation and other effects of reanalysis, Latin and Greek based formations and sound symbolism.

Many examples are given in context. The comprehensive coverage allows an instructive overview and comparison of patterns and of the many and diverse factors relevant to the notion of productivity.
Throughout, the discussions are placed in the context of other recent and less recent work in the area and the book also contains a useful extensive bibliography.


Table of Contents
Preface
1 Preliminaries
2 Transposition
3 Prefixes
4 Suffixes
5 Particles
6 Noun compounds
7 Adjective compounds
8 Verb compounds
9 Stem formations
10 Phonaesthemes
11 Reanalysis
12 Overview
References
General index
Index of word-elements