In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing
word, e.g. happiness and unhappy from happy, or determination from determine.
It often involves the addition of a morpheme in the form of an affix, such as -ness, un-
and -ation in the preceding examples.
Derivation stands in contrast to the process of inflection, which means the formation of
grammatical variants of the same word, as with determinedetermining/determined.
Derivational patterns Derivational morphology often involves the
addition of a derivational suffix or other affix.
Such an affix usually applies to words of one lexical category and changes them into
words of another such category.
For example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs.
Examples of English derivational patterns and their suffixes:
adjective-to-noun: -ness adjective-to-verb: -ise in British English
or -ize in American English and Oxford spelling adjective-to-adjective: -ish
adjective-to-adverb: -ly noun-to-adjective: -al
noun-to-verb: -fy verb-to-adjective: -able
verb-to-noun: -ance verb-to-noun: -er
However, derivational affixes do not necessarily alter the lexical category; they may merely
change the meaning of the base, while leaving the category unchanged.
A prefix will rarely change lexical category in English.
The prefix un- applies to adjectives and some verbs, but rarely to nouns.
A few exceptions are the derivational prefixes en- and be-.
En- is usually used as a transitive marker on verbs, but can also be applied to adjectives
and nouns to form transitive verbs: circle → encircle; but rich → enrich, large → enlarge,
rapture → enrapture, slave → enslave.
Derivation can also occur without any change of form, for example telephone and to telephone.
This is known as conversion, or zero derivation.
Derivation that results in a noun may be called nominalization.
This may involve the use of an affix, or may occur via conversion.
Derivation and inflection Derivation can be contrasted with inflection,
in that derivation produces a new word, whereas inflection produces grammatical variants of
the same word.
Generally speaking, inflection applies in more or less regular patterns to all members
of a part of speech, while derivation follows less consistent patterns.
However, it is important to note that derivations and inflections can share homonyms, that being,
morphemes that have the same sound, but not the same meaning.
For example, when the affix -er, is added to an adjective, as in small-er, it acts as
an inflection, but when added to a verb, as in cook-er, it acts as a derivation.
Derivation and other types of word formation Derivation can be contrasted with other types
of word formation such as compounding.
For full details see Word formation.
Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes – they are meaningful units, but can only
normally occur when attached to another word.
In that respect, derivation differs from compounding by which free morphemes are combined.
It also differs from inflection in that inflection does not create new lexemes but new word forms.
Productivity Derivational patterns differ in the degree
to which they can be called productive.
A productive pattern or affix is one that is commonly used to produce novel forms.
For example, the negating prefix un- is more productive in English than the alternative
in-; both of them occur in established words, but faced with a new word which does not have
an established negation, a native speaker is more likely to create a novel form with
un- than with in-.
See also Agglutination
Collocation Inflection
Nominalization Word formation
Word root References
Speech and Language Processing, Jufarsky, D. & Martin J.,H.
External links http:www.sil.orgGlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsDerivation.htm