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Statistical Study of English Word Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

F. W. Harwood and
Alison M. Wright
F. W. Harwood
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
Alison M. Wright
Affiliation:
Oxford University
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Abstract

[A quantitative study of English word formation based on the data of the Thorndike-Lorge frequency list. Results cover (a) dimensions of the word-forming mechanisms of modern English, (b) measures of the relations between the major suffixes and word classes, and (c) the main equivalences symbolized by the major suffixes.]

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 32 , Issue 2-Part1: April-June , June 1956, pp. 260 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © 1956 by the Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 F. W. Harwood and A. M. Wright, Inflections of the English verb, noun and pronoun, Tasmanian education 9.2.68–82 (1954).

2 E. L. Thorndike and I. Lorge, The teacher's word book of 30,000 words (New York, 1944). We acknowledge with thanks the permission to use data from this list, kindly granted by the Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University.

3 H. Reichenbach, Elements of symbolic logic, Chapter 7 (New York, 1952).

4 O. Jespersen, A modern English grammar, Part 6 (London, 1946; abbr. J) ; E. Kruisinga, A handbook of present-day English 5 (Groningen, 1932; abbr. K); R. W. Zandvoort, A handbook of English grammar3 (Groningen, 1948; abbr. Z); E. A. Nida, Morphology: The descriptive analysis of words (Ann Arbor, 1946).

5 See Y. Bar-Hillel, A quasi-arithmetical notation for syntactic description, Lg. 29.47–58 (1953).