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UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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| Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris |
| This thesis furnishes a clear idea on the current scenario of word-formation in Tamil, particularly in the Malaysian context. A total of 496 words have been collected as data for this study from the nationwide published Malaysian Tamil newspaper; 'Malaysia Nanban'. This study by and large answered technical questions: word-formation processes, genres and classes of words and identifying linguistic and grammatical weakness and conflicts. Field study has been conducted to answer social questions such as: attitudes of language users, their expectation and suggestions for better word-formation in Tamil. It was found that the language users were not very satisfied with the current progress of word-formation in Tamil. The result obtained from the questionnaire demonstrates that the language users are supportive of language development, particularly in word-formation. The analysis of this study has been divided into three sections based on the source of data viz. newspaper, questionnaire and test sheet. The analyses show that there are thirteen word-formation processes from which compounding are the most popular among them. The study also identified words which are formed by combining more than one process. Based on the analysis it was noted that the genre viz. science and technology acquired the largest amount of words, proving this genre requires more attention to meet the needs of language users. Apart from answering the research questions, this study has contributed a model entitled 'Model of Stages of Word-Formation' . This model aimed at integrating the stages of word formation in a cohesive manner. The core intention of this model was to incorporate each stage of word-formation to help make the whole process effective and efficient for utilization. In other words, this model tries to present a wellknit word-formation course of action for new words more systematically. It can help reduce the rate of word rejection by language users by serving to form compatible words. |
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