Neological verbs created with the Spanish suffixes '-ear' and '-izar'

Word-formation rules and new trends

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the neological verbs created with the suffix -izar and -ear in peninsular Spanish to identify any possible transgressions of the word-formation rules. First, I review the word-formation patterns of both suffixes, both in relation to the bases to which they are attached and the resulting verbal forms. To do this, I take into account morphosyntactic, semantic, and pragmatic restricitions. Based on the observed patterns, I classify the neological verbs obtained from written and oral media into the categories established in the methodology. Among these verbs, I identify some units that deviate from the morphosyntactic restrictions. In general, these transgressive creations are motivated by English verbs that do not have a fixed equivalent in the target language. Consequently, they have been adapted to Spanish language by adding either the verbalizing suffix -izar or -ear to the loanword. This new trend is especially productive with -ear. Besides, a few verbs with -izar are created by analogy with English verbs containing the verbalizing suffix -ize. In this case, the resulting forms deviate both from the morphosyntactic and the semantic restrictions. Apart from the units borrowed and adapted from English, only few of the remaining verbs deviate from the expected word-formation patterns. However, they do not convey a new pattern, but new features are added to an existing pattern.