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 inade quate. In this paper we consider how these devices can be expressed fo rmally, allowing them to be used in word- and sentence-generation, for dictionary expansion, and the like. The paper begins with some typica l word-formation rules drawn mostly from French. Attention is drawn to some features of these rules which must be captured in any formal rep resentation. The formal representation of a basic lexical transformati on is presented in some detail, along with a number of examples. A com puter implementation of the transformation system is described, togeth er with a range of applications. A discussion of static and dynamic ge neration leads to the concept of an inverted transformation.