Essay | Modes of Modern English Vocabulary Development

Creation refers to the formation of new words by using the existing materials, namely roots, affixes and other elements. In modern times, this is the most important way of vocabulary expansion. There is a variety of means to produce words. The most productive are affixation, composition and conversion. Let's focus on one of them: composition.

According to the research, words produced through composition constitute 28% to 30% of all the new words. It is also called compounding which is a way to join two words to make a new special meaning. The result is called "compound." When a word which is needed does not exist, all one has to do is choose a free words and hyphenate them. That's how a compound is created. This is the common practice of journalists. This is probably accounts for the high productivity of compounds.

Noun compounds occur in several fields. There are...
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