英文版Analysis of English and Chinese Word Formation(2)

3. Affixation

Affixation method is a new method that consists of a root or words and affixes. It exists in both English and Chinese word formation. From the grapheme, there is no difference between Chinese affixes and roots; while in English, the difference is very big, but easy to distinguish. Both English and Chinese words have the prefixes and suffixes. Some common English prefixes are: meaning antisense, anti-, dis-, il-, im-, in-; meaning common :co-, col-, com-, con-; table "outward", extra-, over-; table

"beyond, too," and then, back to the "re-" - "semi-. While the Chinese are: old -, small -, O -, first -, second -, and - to -, etc. Suffixes in English and Chinese are also very large, such as occupation suffix in English: -an, -ant, -ar, -er, -ian; said: -ain, -al, meaning posts; -ary; says people from somewhere; -an, -er, -ese, people who do some action; -al, -ar, -or, ster; -ess, -ette, -ine ,meaning negative, etc. At the same Chinese also has the similar word suffixes, such as occupation: 师，士，员; relatives:人,夫,头;action: 者，人，徒;meaning of general people:子,生,友, etc.

4. Compounding

Two or more than two independent words are compounded in a certain order to form a new word, and this word formation is called compounding method. English compounds are mainly used to form nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, such as himself, everything, inside, sunshine, blackbird, football etc .For the Chinese, words can be said to be the main methods of word formation, which is mainly composed of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, but it is generally through the subject verb, verb, verb complement, coordinate and partial positive relationship, such as :subject predicate relationship:心疼、日出; verb object relationship:读书、拼图; verb complement relationship: 提高、揭露; parallel relationship: 长短、好坏; partial positive relationship: 冰箱、内衣.

5. Abbreviation

Abbreviation is the word shortening, which is characterized with strong new creative ability, especially prominent in scientific style and the style of newspapers and periodicals. In Chinese, for example: 地下铁路→地铁、高等学校→高校、北京大学→北大、中央电视台→央视、国有企业→国企etc. And English abbreviations mainly use letters of initials or extracting words. For example: Voice of America, VOA, World Trade Organization → WTO, December → Dec., address → ad., United Nations → UN, very important person, VIP etc.

B. Unique word-formation of English and Chinese

1. The unique word-formation in English: blending and inversion. Blending refers to cutting two original words,choosing one of the head or tail, and then splicing into a new word, such as SICOM (situation + comedy),psywar (psychological + war ) sitcom, psychological warfare, Motel (motor + hotel), Autolodge (auto + lodge ) . The inversion and the affixation are just the opposite. Affix affixes to form new words, and inversion is to get rid of the suffix to form new words. The using of inversion of words are mainly verbs, such as: Editor→ edit, peddler → peddle, beggar → beg etc.

2. The unique word formation in Chinese: reduplication

The reduplication is one of the common means of grammar in Sino Tibetan

Languages .It is by overlapping part or all of morphemes words. Nouns, pronouns, quantifiers in modern Chinese, verbs, adjectives and adverbs can form new words according to a certain format overlap.

For example: AA type想想、年年; AAB type --毛毛雨、悄悄话;

BAA type --热乎乎、黄澄澄; AABC type --历历在目、丝丝入扣;

BCAA --可怜兮兮、衣冠楚楚; AABB type -高高兴兴、规规矩矩;

ABAC --一言一行、各种各样; ABAB type -分析分析、痛快痛快;

AA -- 练一练、挑一挑etc.

Conclusion

From the analyses and comparison above, we can see that English and Chinese languages have many similarities in word formation. English belongs to the Indo European languages. It is alphabetic writing. Letters combine and generate syllables; Chinese belongs to the Sino Tibetan language family, which is an expressive tendency of syllable words. The morpheme is mostly monosyllabic morpheme, and it can be freely combined into words. Their differences make them have their own unique characters in word formation. But from a look on the whole, the similarities are still the mainstream in English and Chinese word formation. Mastering the similarities and differences between the two languages in word formation, is not only conducive to the expansion of vocabulary, but also beneficial to English and Chinese language study.

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