Processes of word formation in English and Hindi
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. These can be broadly divided into free
and bound morphemes. A free morpheme is a morpheme that can stand independently as a
word. On the opposite end, a bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand independently
as a word. For example, in the Hindi word, padhanā, padh is the free morpheme and nā is the
bound morpheme. These morphemes combine according to specific rules to form complex
words. The kinds of morphemes and the rules of their combination are specific to the language
being studied. This essay explores a few types of morphemes in Hindi and English in the
context of three processes of word formation common to both languages. It further connects
these processes to relevant concepts in phonetics and phonology.
The first process is Compounding, which refers to the process in which two or more free
morphemes are joined together to form a compound word. Generally, when compounds are
newly formed, the individual words have hyphens connecting them to the other words in the
compound. However, over time, when the compound has gained “a certain currency or
permanence” (Akmajian, 2001), it starts being spelled without the hyphen. English examples of
compound words would be handmade, created by joining hand and made, sunflower, made
from joining sun and flower, etc. In Hindi, words like indradhanush ‘इंद्रधनष ु ’, made from
combining indra ‘इंद्र’ and dhanush ‘धनष ु ’, and pāthshālā ‘पाठशाला’ (pāth ‘पाठ’ + shālā ‘शाला’)
would be examples of the same. All four words in the given examples belong to the category of
morphemes known as ‘open class words.’ This refers to a class of words to which you can add
infinitely more words. Nouns, adverbs, and adjectives fall into this category. Its opposite is
‘closed class words,’ a class of words that has a fixed number of elements and cannot be easily
added to. For example, there are only three articles in English: a, an, and the. Prepositions and
conjunctions are also classified as ‘closed classes.’
In English, compound words seem to have characteristic stress patterns. In a compound made
by joining two nouns, the main stress is on the leftmost member of the compound. For instance,
the word filmstar is pronounced with the heaviest accent on film (Akmajian, 2001). This seems
to be the case for Hindi as well. The heaviest accent in the word gulabjamun is on gulab.
New words can also be formed through the addition of affixes. An affix is a bound morpheme
that is attached either at the beginning, the end, or within a base morpheme. The kind that gets
attached to the end is called a suffix, the one at the beginning is called a prefix, and the one
within the base is called an infix. In Hindi, -wālā ‘-वाला’ is a suffix that can be attached to a noun
or verb. The resulting word is a masculine noun relating to the base word. For example, when
-wālā is added to the word doodh, meaning milk, the new word formed is doodhwālā, translating
to milkman. Chaiwālā (tea seller), akhbārwālā (newspaper boy), and puliswālā (policeman) are
other examples of words formed using this process.
The addition of the plural ending to a noun is another process of word formation. In English, the
plural morpheme -s (or -es) is added to the end of a noun to pluralize it. For example, the plural
form of book is books and that of branch is branches. In Hindi, a word is pluralized by adding ‘ए’
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. These can be broadly divided into free
and bound morphemes. A free morpheme is a morpheme that can stand independently as a
word. On the opposite end, a bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand independently
as a word. For example, in the Hindi word, padhanā, padh is the free morpheme and nā is the
bound morpheme. These morphemes combine according to specific rules to form complex
words. The kinds of morphemes and the rules of their combination are specific to the language
being studied. This essay explores a few types of morphemes in Hindi and English in the
context of three processes of word formation common to both languages. It further connects
these processes to relevant concepts in phonetics and phonology.
The first process is Compounding, which refers to the process in which two or more free
morphemes are joined together to form a compound word. Generally, when compounds are
newly formed, the individual words have hyphens connecting them to the other words in the
compound. However, over time, when the compound has gained “a certain currency or
permanence” (Akmajian, 2001), it starts being spelled without the hyphen. English examples of
compound words would be handmade, created by joining hand and made, sunflower, made
from joining sun and flower, etc. In Hindi, words like indradhanush ‘इंद्रधनष ु ’, made from
combining indra ‘इंद्र’ and dhanush ‘धनष ु ’, and pāthshālā ‘पाठशाला’ (pāth ‘पाठ’ + shālā ‘शाला’)
would be examples of the same. All four words in the given examples belong to the category of
morphemes known as ‘open class words.’ This refers to a class of words to which you can add
infinitely more words. Nouns, adverbs, and adjectives fall into this category. Its opposite is
‘closed class words,’ a class of words that has a fixed number of elements and cannot be easily
added to. For example, there are only three articles in English: a, an, and the. Prepositions and
conjunctions are also classified as ‘closed classes.’
In English, compound words seem to have characteristic stress patterns. In a compound made
by joining two nouns, the main stress is on the leftmost member of the compound. For instance,
the word filmstar is pronounced with the heaviest accent on film (Akmajian, 2001). This seems
to be the case for Hindi as well. The heaviest accent in the word gulabjamun is on gulab.
New words can also be formed through the addition of affixes. An affix is a bound morpheme
that is attached either at the beginning, the end, or within a base morpheme. The kind that gets
attached to the end is called a suffix, the one at the beginning is called a prefix, and the one
within the base is called an infix. In Hindi, -wālā ‘-वाला’ is a suffix that can be attached to a noun
or verb. The resulting word is a masculine noun relating to the base word. For example, when
-wālā is added to the word doodh, meaning milk, the new word formed is doodhwālā, translating
to milkman. Chaiwālā (tea seller), akhbārwālā (newspaper boy), and puliswālā (policeman) are
other examples of words formed using this process.
The addition of the plural ending to a noun is another process of word formation. In English, the
plural morpheme -s (or -es) is added to the end of a noun to pluralize it. For example, the plural
form of book is books and that of branch is branches. In Hindi, a word is pluralized by adding ‘ए’
