Please help me see if I indicate the word formation process responsible for the creation of each of these words right

Question

1) Blending: sitcom, serendipity, amphetamine, (the) chunnel, dystopia, guestimate, bonfire, stagflation, nostril, Amerindian, telethon, sci-fi, hazmat, aerobathon, telex, beefalo.
2) Compounding: what-not, (the) hereafter, brain-gain, gaffe- slack, walkie-talkie, loveseat, curve ball.
3) Conversion: to(laze), (to) network, (to) cohere, (to) make up, (to) total, (a) construct, automate, envelop, comb( your hair).
4) Clipping: (the) muppets, margarine, diesel, canary, psycho, van, Xerox, deli, typo, deactivate, pram, meg, flu.
5) Acronymy: curio, CD, RAM, scuba.
6) Derivation: televise, scavenge, humidifier.
7) Back-formation: bookie, elect.
8) Sound imitation: (a) ha-ha, boojum.

Clive · Accepted Answer

I'm not an expert on word formation and I am not familiar with some of these categories, but I have marked in bold some of your choices that puzzle me. Can you explain your thinking for each of them?

1) Blending: sitcom, serendipity, amphetamine, (the) chunnel, dystopia, guestimate, bonfire, stagflation, nostril, Amerindian, telethon, sci-fi, hazmat, aerobathon, telex, beefalo.
2) Compounding: what-not, (the) hereafter, brain-gain, gaffe- slack, walkie-talkie, loveseat, curve ball.
3) Conversion: to(laze), (to) network, (to) cohere, (to) make up, (to) total, (a) construct, automate, envelop, comb( your hair).
4) Clipping: (the) muppets, margarine, diesel, canary, psycho, van, Xerox, deli, typo, deactivate, pram, meg, flu.
5) Acronymy: curio, CD, RAM, scuba.
6) Derivation: televise, scavenge, humidifier.
7) Back-formation: bookie, elect.
8) Sound imitation: (a) ha-ha, boojum.

Huong Ho · Answer

I'm not sure about ' serendipity' and ' dystopia'. I just feel they are suitable for this kind more than 8 another kinds- ' amphetamine' is a name of drug, so I think it belongs to 'words from names'- 'gaffe-slack' consists of two constituents- (to) make up is converted from'  make-up' which is a noun- margarine=oleomargarine, diesel=Direct Interpretively Evaluated String Expression Language, so it belongs to acronymy.., -'canary' should belong to' word from names' because it originates from the Carany Island,- curio belongs to ' clipping' with the original word' curiousity' ,- CD stands for''compact disc', RAM stands forRandom Access Memory...,' elect' is made from the original word' election', 'boojum' seems like a sound.

Blue Jay · Answer

Serendipity could be classed as a word from a name, because it is derived from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka.
Dystopia is a combination of Dys + Utopia.
Amphetamine is a contraction of alphamethyl-phenethylamine.
I don't know what gaffe-slack is. Google couldn't help me. The only exact matches seem to be your question on here, and the text you got it from. I am puzzled why the authors of that work included it.
Diesel is usually taken to mean the type of engine, or the fuel for it, which comes from the name of the inventor, Rudolph Diesel.
Boojum is a word made up by Lewis Carroll meaning an imaginary dangerous animal. Do you have a category for nonsense words?
A ha-ha is a ditch with a wall on one side, designed so as to provide a barrier to livestock without blocking the view. Its name derives from the sound one might make when one finds it unexpectedly.
To make up has several meanings, but they all combine Make + Up.
I'm not sure if elect is a back formation from election. Both are derived from the same Latin root, but the two sources I checked say that elect came directly from Latin, but election came via Old French.

Huong Ho · Answer

I aslo don't know why gaffe-slack is included in this task. There are all 9 types , no type for nonsense word, but maybe it belongs to ' sound immitation' which the words are probably made by imitating the sound of animals. Thank you both for your help!

Clive · Answer

You also might want to look up the difference between an acronym (RAM, scuba) and an abbreviation (CD).

Huong Ho · Answer

I know the differences between an acronymy and an abbreviation. First, an acronymy always has its own pronunciation, distincts from the pronunciation of the longer form which it presents. An abbreviation doesn't have its own pronunciation. Second, an acronymy is a lexical item and can appear in a structural position in the sentence. Do you mean that ' CD' isn't an acronymy?

Clive · Answer

I think of CD as an abbreviation, because each letter is pronounced as a letter (cee dee).
Compare the pronunciation of FBI (eff bee eye) to that of NATO (nayto, sounds like potato).

Clive

Huong Ho · Answer

First, for example, you can say or write BBC's decision, but no abbreviation can behave like this. Second, where the combined initial letters follow the pronunciation patterns of English, the string can be pronounced as a word, such as NATO. However, if it happens to be unpronounceable, then each of letters is sounded out separately, such as BBC.

Clive · Answer

I find it hard to think of BBC as a word.

What would you consider to be an abbreviation that is not an acronym?

Clive

Huong Ho · Answer

In British tradition, words which are pronounced by spelling it out letter by letter, such as BBC, FBI are called 'initialism', while words are pronounced as ordinary words as NATO are called ' acronymy'. However, in American tradition, 'acronymy' is apllied to all, 'initialism' is not used. ' Abbreviation' includes initialsm, acronymy and shorthand.

Please help me see if I indicate the word formation process responsible for the creation of each of these words right

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