New words from old: A formalism for word-formation

Many languages make use of word-formation devices to allow speakers or writers to create new words when the existing vocabulary proves inadequate. In this paper we consider how these devices can be expressed formally, allowing them to be used in word- and sentence-generation, for dictionary expansion, and the like. The paper begins with some typical word-formation rules drawn mostly from French. Attention is drawn to some features of these rules which must be captured in any formal representation. The formal representation of a basic lexical transformation is presented in some detail, along with a number of examples. A computer implementation of the transformation system is described, together with a range of applications. A discussion of static and dynamic generation leads to the concept of an inverted transformation.Michael Levison is Professor and Head of the Department of Computing and Information Science at Queen's University at Kingston. His research interests currently centre on natural language generation and editing systems. He has written many articles on computer applications in literary and linguistic studies.Greg Lessard is an Associate Professor in the Department of French Studies at Queen's University. A linguist, his research interests include computational modelling of natural language performance (including second language learner French and linguistic humour) and computer-aided textual analysis (including repeated string and complex textual structures.)