the word formation processes in national...

THE WORD FORMATION PROCESSES IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

ARTICLES ON SCIENCE (A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY)

A Thesis

Submitted to Faculty of Letters and Humanities

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of Sastra One (S1)

FARAADISA LILA ARISTY

1113026000114

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH

JAKARTA

2018

i

ABSTRACT

Faraadisa Lila Aristy, The Word Formation Processes in National Geographic

Articles on Science (A Morphological Study). A Thesis: English Letters

Department, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, State Islamic University Syarif

Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2018.

This research aims to find out the word formation processes used in

National Geographic articles on science and how they are formed as an existence

words or a new word in dictionary. The writer took six articles that are found from

nationalgeographic.com, in February 2018 as the corpus. The study is using

qualitative method by collecting the selected words to twenty three data which is

classifying the kinds of word formation processes based on George Yule and the

data will be described descriptively.

The research uses structural morphology theory to analyze the data

through four steps by identifying morpheme, then, analyzing the word formation

processes, morphophonological process, and dictionary. The writer found 23 data

that has analyzed, and the most common processes are twelve compounding,

seven derivation, two acronym, and two initialism. Moreover, there are seven

kinds of word formation which are not found such as coinage, backformation,

borrowing, blending, clipping, multiple processes and conversion.

Keywords: Word formation, Structural Morphology, National Geographic.

ii

APPROVAL SHEET

THE WORD FORMATION PROCESSES IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

ARTICLES ON SCIENCE (A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY)

A Thesis

Submitted to Faculty of Letters and Humanities

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of Sastra One (S1)

Faraadisa Lila Aristy

1113026000114

Approved By:

Advisor,

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH

JAKARTA

2017

iii

LEGALIZATION

Name : Faraadisa Lila Aristy

NIM : 1113026000114

Title : The Word Formation Processes in National Geographic Articles on

Science (A Morphological Study)

The thesis entitled above has been defended before the Letters and

Humanities Faculty’s Examination Committee on January 17th, 2018. It has

already been accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

strata one.

Jakarta, January 17th, 2018

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my

knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by

another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the

award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institutes of higher

learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in this text.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Gracious

Alhamdulillahirabbil’Alamin, all praises and gratitude be to Allah SWT,

the Lord of the Universe, with His guidance and blessing that helped the writer in

accomplishing this thesis. Blessing and peace be upon the greatest and the last

prophet Muhammad SAW, his family, and his companions.

I would like to take this opportunity to give sincerest gratitude to my

beloved parents, Mr. Abdul Latief Syukri and Mrs. Lina Arifin, for all their

endless prayer, love, advice, patience, motivation, and support in financially and

spiritually during the process of making this thesis. I also want to give gratitude to

my advisor, Mrs. Sholikatus Sa’diyah, M.Pd. who spared the precious time to help

and guide me in completing this thesis.

I also would like to deliver gratitude who has given their supports and

motivations in accomplishing this thesis to the following person:

1. Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil, M.Ag., the Dean of Letters and Humanities

Faculty.

2. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd., the Head of English Letters Department.

3. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Letters Department.

4. All the Lectures in English Letters Department for teaching and guiding

her patiently during her study from the first until the last semesters.

5. All members of English Language and Literature Department 2013,

especially the members of Baling; Dini Zakiah, Steffi M. Atsa, Dhita

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Novianti, Aninda Aghnia Isnaini, Nanda Saraswati, Dimas Fajar

Adriansyah, Ahmad Syopian, and Yudhistira T. Wiratama, who always

belongs to the writer from the beginning to the very end of thesis, thanks

for the supports, the silly things, friendship, and togetherness.

6. To her best friends; Amalia Nur Sabrina, Putri Ayu Firdina, Lisya Vernita

Fanny, Amalia Dhaifina who always gives the support and motivate the

writer to accomplish this thesis.

7. To Tomcat’s Fam; Rimasyah Kartasasmita, Dea Rizki Darmawan, Gusti

Rahmad Rizaldy, Benni Adam, Fachrul Rozi, Rezky Fadlillah, Ayu W.

Inayah, Dhella Oktafianty, Dwi Harwanto, Fiona Marlina, and Irwan Budi

thanks for the support, friendship, and memories.

The suggestion and criticism will be accepted to improve this thesis.

Hopefully, this thesis will be beneficial for all the people who read it.

Jakarta, December 2017

Faraadisa Lila Aristy

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LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 2.1 Steps of the Structural Morphology………………………………… 11

viii

LIST OF TABLE

Table 3.1 Classification of the Data Collected………………………………….. 22

Table 3.2 Sample data that will be analyzed……………………………………. 24

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................i

APPROVAL SHEET .......................................................................................ii

LEGALIZATION ............................................................................................iii

DECLARATION ..............................................................................................iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...............................................................................v

LIST OF FIGURE ...........................................................................................vii

LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................ix

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ....................................................................1

A. Background of the Study .................................................................1

B. Focus of the Study ...........................................................................4

C. Research Question ...........................................................................4

D. Objective of the Study .....................................................................4

E. Significance of the Study .................................................................5

F. Research Methodology ....................................................................5

1. The Method of the Research ...................................................5

2. The Technique of Data Collecting and Data Analysis ............6

3. The Instrument of the Research ..............................................6

4. The Unit of Analysis ..............................................................7

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................8

A. Previous Research ...........................................................................8

B. Concept ............................................................................................10

1. Morphology ............................................................................10

2. Theory of Morphology ...........................................................11

3. Word and Lexeme ..................................................................12

4. Morpheme ...............................................................................13

5. Word-formation Processes .....................................................14

a. Coinage ..............................................................................15

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b. Borrowing ..........................................................................16

c. Compounding .....................................................................16

d. Blending .............................................................................17

e. Clipping ..............................................................................17

f. Backformation ....................................................................18

g. Conversion .........................................................................18

h. Acronym ............................................................................19

i. Derivation ...........................................................................20

j. Multiple Processes ..............................................................20

CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS ......................................................22

A. Data Description .............................................................................22

B. Data Analysis ..................................................................................23

CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ............................51

A. Conclusions .....................................................................................51

B. Suggestions ......................................................................................52

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................53

APPENDICES ..................................................................................................56

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Language as an important role for human beings, that the language as a

tool to obtain effective communication in everyday life. As human beings,

according to Webster we use the language to communicate with peoples, which is

aim to propose the idea, thought and express their emotions. According to Yendra

(2), language as a system of communication that is used by human in verbal and

written. To communicate use verbal language is considered informal, because it is

not as complicated as written language. However, the written language is

considered to formal than verbal language, such as electronic news, in order to

make the readers can easily understand information that is given by the author.

According to Chaer (53), in the society, the relation of language with human

makes the language is not constants and always changes. In general, the language

can be system of sounds that has meaning and it makes the language is always

changing and evolving.

In many languages, the word as the unit of systems writing, it can be the

unit that is important for the occurrence and classification of main stress (Bauer 4-

6). The language as a system of writing that has meaning, and it has a grammatical

words which able to arrange the words. However, the language is not only a single

system but it is some subsystems such as subsystem phonology, morphology,

syntax, and semantic. According to Chaer (36), in linguistic, subsystem and

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grammatical has a listed from the lowest level to the highest level. One of levels

as morphology, there is a level of morphemes and also a word, the word as a field

of morphology into the biggest unit that the word examining the structure and

how the words are formed. Furthermore, Aronoff and Fudeman discussed (2) that

the branch of linguistics, morphology refers to the mental system that relates to

the word formation. In general, the word formation processes occurred by the

merger of other morphemes into the words, in which, morphemes as the minimal

parts that arrange into the words.

The process of word formation is not only to examine the existence words

but also to establish the new words. Yule distinguished (52-56) that there are ten

kinds of word formation processes such as coinage, borrowing, compounding,

blending, clipping, backformation, conversion, acronyms, derivation and multiple

processes. For instance, the word formation that occurs in National Geographic

news, such acronyms, the word WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is created by a first

letter of each word but it cannot be pronounced as words itself. Then, derivation,

the word connection is a derivation from affixation. When the morpheme connect

is a verb and added by suffix –ion, it joined together with the morpheme connect

and creates a new word connection. And then, the word lab is clipping from

laboratory which has more than two syllables, and takes the first syllables from

that word then creates a new word lab. In general, the diverse writing needs

completely a grammatical that the language uses a letter of words as a basic

element for writing, in which, creates a letter into a word then composes those

words into a sentence.

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The word formation processes occurred by the merger of other morphemes

into words, in which, morphemes is about using the smallest unit that arrange into

the words. The morphemes as known as free morphemes and bound morphemes.

When the words can stand alone, it can be said free morphemes, and when the

words cannot stand alone that means it can be said bound morphemes. For

instance, when the word unstable, it can be classified as prefix un- and base of the

word stable. In which, the prefix un- is bound morphemes because it means ‘not’

and it cannot stand alone, and then base of word stable is free morphemes.

Besides, when the word formation processes is more common, then it will be

pretended to be more effective (Katamba 66-67). Hence, the word formation

processes according to Bauer (84) is the productivity from the affixes that given

by freely, it defined as the possibility to arrange with affixes as a new complex

word.

As told above, this research concerns to analyze about how the words are

formed in National Geographic articles on science. It is the largest scientific and

educational institutions in the world and it has an improvement in academic

writing differs from other institutions, because National Geographic creates the

contents even in highly visual and storytelling to attract the reader attentions.

Besides, the writer will analyze using Structural Morphology Theory that relates

to word formation processes. The purpose is not only to understand the words but

also to know how the words are formed in electronic news. This research will

elaborate the process of word formation that contains in National Geographic

articles on science.

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B. Focus of the Study

According to the discussion above, this research will analyze using

Structural Morphology Theory that focused on how the words are formed in the

word formation processes. The process of word formation that will be analyzed

such as coinage, borrowing, compounding, blending, clipping, back formation,

conversion, acronym, derivation, and multiple processes.

C. Research Question

Based on the background of the study above, the issues that arise to be

formulated as follows:

1. What are the kinds of word formations that appear in National Geographic

articles on science?

2. How does the word formations processes occur in National Geographic

articles on science according to Structural Morphology Theory?

D. Objective of the Study

According to the research questions, this research aim to the following:

1. To find out the kinds of word formation that appears in National

Geographic articles on science.

2. To analyze the word formation process that occurs in National Geographic

articles.

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E. Significance of the Study

Theoretically, the research hopefully can be useful for people who study

in Linguistics that concerns about the word formation processes, in order to

increase the knowledge of morphology, especially to understand the formation of

a new word. Practically, this research is expected to be useful for people who do

not study in Linguistics to understand about language and the process of word

were formed.

F. Research Methodology

1. The Method of the Research

The research is using qualitative method, it aims to describe and examine

the data that relates to study of word formation in Morphology. This research

will conducted using qualitative approaches because the data will analyze

descriptively, Litosseliti stated (52) that qualitative approaches is useful in the

research, by focusing to answer sets research of problems in clearly and detail

because the qualitative approaches are concerns with structures and patterns.

2. The Technique of Data Collecting and Data Analysis

The data collecting of the research is using documentation technique

which based on written sources. According to Arikunto (158) that finding

information with method of data collected, it through the books, newspaper,

magazines and other literary works. The writer obtains the information about

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the same research and the data collecting relevant to problem that will

examines, the technique of collecting data as follows:

1. Searching the articles on nationalgeographic.com.

2. Reading the articles on nationalgeograohic.com.

3. Collecting the data from National Geographic articles on science

that contains a new form of word.

After the data has been collected, the next steps are data analysis as

follows:

1. Writing down the words on data card. Then, using random sampling

to filter out some of the data that makes the data analysis easier.

2. Analyzing and identifying the data using Structural Morphology

Theory for the process of word formation.

3. Classifying the data based on the kinds of word formation.

4. Finding the words meaning in oxforddictionary.com and

dictionary.cambridge.org.

5. Drawing a conclusion about the word formation processes of the

data that has been analyzed.

3. The Instrument of the Research

This research uses data card as an instrument to classify the words that

are found in National Geographic articles on science and

oxforddictionary.com and dictionary.cambridge.org, according to Subroto

(34) data cards is relevant data that written in the card. Then, marks the words

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that contain the kinds of word formation, and examines the data using

Structural Morphology Theory.

4. Unit of Analysis

The unit analysis of this research is electronic news which taken from

National Geographic articles on science in February 2018. The title of the

articles as follows:

1. Partial Solar Eclipse and 6 More Can’t-Miss Sky Events in February.

Published February 1st, 2018.

2. Pictures Show a Decade of SpaceX Making Spaceflight History.

Published February 6th, 2018.

3. Elon Musk’s Tesla in Space Could Crash Into Earth. Published

February 15th, 2018.

4. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Soon Dissapear… Published February

21st, 2018.

5. Weird Life Found in Earth’s Driest Soil. Published February 26th,

2018.

6. Universe’s First Stars Detected? Get the Facts. Published February

28th, 2018.

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Previous Research

This research will analyze about word formation that has been done before

without existences of the same discussion. There are some relevant previous

studies that related to this topic. In this section, the writer will review four

previous studies to this research. The first research was written by Bahrul Hanif

(2015) that entitled “The Analysis of Word Formation of Soccer Terms in The

Jakarta Post’s Articles”. The research use morphological study that focused on

the word formation in soccer terminology, which is The Jakarta Post as the data

analysis. The researcher took twelve different articles of soccer terms in The

Jakarta Post 2014 – 2015, then, the data contained the types of word formation

will be classified into a table. Based on the data analysis, the research have found

7 types of word formation which are derivation, compound, initialism,

reduplication, acronym, clipping, and blending.

The second research made by Novia Fajriani (2015) entitled “English

Word Formation Analysis in The Jakarta Post’s Sci-Tech Articles 2014”. The

study is focused on the formations of words in the articles of The Jakarta Post,

and the writer chose 9 articles that related to technology terms on January –

March 2014. The research is analyzed by using four different dictionaries online

which are Oxford Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster

Dictionary, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The writer found

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57 words in the articles and chosen 27 words that classified on 8 types of word

formation which are eponyms, acronyms, inflection, compounding, initialism,

derivation, blending, and clipping. The third research made by Wei Liu and

Wenyu Liu (2014) that was came from Journal of Arts and Humanities in China.

The study is entitled “Analysis on the Word-formation of English Netspeak

Neologism”. The purpose of the study is to know typical of netspeak neologism

with the types of word formation, the data collected was examined by empirically

where the data chosen from www.wordspy.com. The website is offered people to

classify all the new words in different categories, and the writers chose the parts

of internet in computer category as the data analysis. And also, the writers found

210 words in the data that contained the processes of word formation which are

compounding, blending, affixation, acronyms, conversion, clipping, old words

with new meaning, and coinage.

The last research is from International Journal of Education and Research

in Malaysia that was written by Siti Zubaidah Binti Mustafa, Mageswari D/O

Kandasamy, and Mohamad Subakir Mohd Yasin (2015). The research entitled

“An Analysis of Word Formation Process in Everyday Communication on

Facebook”. The purpose of the research is to describe the word formation process

that is used by Malaysian Facebook users in everyday communication. The users

using the most common word formation which are abbreviation such as clipping,

acronyms, and combination of letters, then, blending and the use of emoticons on

Facebook.

http://www.wordspy.com/

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As the previous studies above, the writer found the same topic that will be

analyzed using Structural Morphology Theory on the word formation processes.

The writer is interested to analyze about the process of word formation that is

occurred in electronic news, especially on National Geographic articles on

science, and it is not yet found in the previous research.

B. Concept

1. Morphology

Morphology is one of the branches of linguistics, which means

morphology as the study of word structures or the forms of words. According

to Aronoff and Fudeman (2), morphology as a branch of linguistics that related

to the internal structure of words and how the word formed. Also, Lieber (2)

stated that morphology is the study of word formation that involves how the

new words are coined in the language and how the kinds of word formed it

depends on how the words are used in sentences. Moreover, Katamba (3)

argued that until nineteenth-centuries, morphology did not appear as a different

sub-discipline of linguistics in the field of the word structures, and also, in

twentieth-century, morphology had controls in linguistics.

However, according to Yule (62-63), morphology is originally used in

biology, the term of morphology meant the study of forms but in the middle of

the nineteenth-century, morphology also used to analyze and describe the types

of basic elements in a language. It can be concluded that morphology as told

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above is one of the fields of linguistics which concerns to word structures and

each of word formation has the types.

2. Theory of Morphology

The theory of morphology is classified into two types, which are structural

morphology and generative morphology. Ba'dulu and Herman (14) has

discussed that structural morphology relates to how the language is produced

by the speaker. Meanwhile, generative morphology uses a different approach

which focuses to the competence theory. This research will focus on the

structural morphology, because the data based on when the speaker produced

the language.

The structural morphology has four steps to analyze the word, which are

(1) list of morphemes, (2) word formation, (3) morphophonological process,

and (4) dictionary (Ba'dulu and Herman 25). These steps will put into a table

belows:

Figure 2.1 Steps of the Structural Morphology (Ba'dulu and Herman 17)

List of Morphemes

Word Formation

Morphophonological

Process

Dictionary

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The first step is identifying all of the morphemes, either free morpheme or

bound morpheme, from the data that has been collected. The second is word

formation, which describes how the process morphemes of a language arranged

in a group to form a word in a language. The third step is morphophonological

process, which explains how the process of morphophonolgy which occurs in

the merger of morphemes, such as assimilation, deleting, adding, substitution,

and changing. The last step is dictionary.

3. Word and Lexeme

As the linguists defined about morphology above, the words are related to

the morphology. According to Lieber (3) that a word as a set of language that

consist of one or more morphomes, and the word itself in language can be

stand alone. Harley (4) defined that a word is the minimal elements of language

that has meaning. In general, the word can be described as smallest unit of

language that has meaning and consists of more than one morpheme. In which,

the word are divided into single words and complex words, for instance, the

word chair is a simplex word because it consists only one morpheme, but the

word unplug is a complex word which consists of more than one morpheme,

with prefix un- and root plug.

Lexeme occurs in the words which has basic units of language, it includes

to the lexical category which are noun, verb, and adjective. In Hippisley and

Stump’s book, Spencer argued (27) that generally, the term of word as similar

as the term of word-form, and the term lexeme as the important aspect of word

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in language. Moreover, Lieber (5) stated that lexeme as parts of words that

distinct only in the end of grammatical which are singular, plural, present, past,

and participle in forms of a noun, verb, and pronoun, and lexeme itself can be

counted. Which means the term lexeme is component of words that differ only

at the end of grammatical, and belongs to the lexical category. For instance, the

words print, prints, printing, printed are from the verb lexeme ᴘʀɪɴᴛ and those

words can be seperated into a minimal unit –s, -ing, and –ed, the minimal unit

of word defined as morphemes. And then, the next paragraph will discuss

about morphemes from the linguists.

4. Morpheme

As explained before, morphology is a study that related to word and the

word is related to morpheme. According to Yule (63) that morpheme is a

minimal unit that has meaning and grammatical function, that refers to indicate

the shape of past tense or plural. Lieber (32) also defined that morphemes as a

shape of words that has meaning in the minimal units of word. It can be

understood by defining morpheme from the linguists that the term morphomes

is described as a minimal part of the word that has meaning and it cannot be

divided by the words. For example, the word reopened has one minimal unit of

meaning that is the word open, and re- includes to minimal unit of meaning

which means ‘again’ to indicate repetition, and a minimal unit of grammatical

on the word reopened is –ed which means to explain time in the past.

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Morphemes can be classified into two parts which are free morphemes and

bound morphemes. Based on Minkova and Stockwell (69) has discussed that

free morphemes as the words that can stand alone, and differs from bound

morphemes as the words that cannot stand alone by its own words.

Furthermore, Yule (63) argued that two kinds of morphemes has a big

differences which are free morphemes is morphemes itself as an individual

words that can stand alone, then, bound morphemes is the morphemes that

cannot stand alone and generally by adding to other forms. For example, the

word undressed and tourists, free morphemes in that words are dress and tour

because as an individual words, those word can stand alone without by adding

any forms. It differs from bound morphemes such as un-, -ist, -ed, -s, those are

classified as affixes which means that all of prefixes and suffixes are included

in bound morphemes and it cannot stand alone without joined in base word.

From the definiton above, it can be concluded that free morphemes as an

independent words that can be rised by itself without any affixes, and bound

morphemes cannot be rised by itself without joined to the base word, it also

affected the meaning of the words. After describing the definition of two parts

of morphemes, the next sub-topic will discuss and describe about word

formation in morphological theory.

5. Word-formation Processes

In morphology, there is a process of word formation that occurred by the

merger of other morphemes into the words. This is a decision the process of

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word formation in our language, there are words that are not listed in the

dictionary, and how peoples are predicting it use the rules of word formation

and explain the word-formation processes. Yule (52) stated that in people’s

language, they can be easily understood by accepting different forms to create

a new word. The definition of word formation itself according to Meyer (151),

it is describing the methods of new lexicon by adding in language. It means

that the word formation processes occurred by adding a new words in

language. In Yule’s book, he classified the kinds of word formation processes

as follows:

a. Coinage

The processes of word formation at least common in English and

become invention of newly terms known as coinage (Yule 52). Yule also

stated that the invented trades name are the most typically used by

commercial products and occurs to be general terms in language. Lieber

(51) argued that the possibility coinage to invent the new word, but it is

infrequently to coinage totally new words instead choosing bases and

affixes into the new combinations. It means that coinage is creating new

terms of products and become general words in our everyday language.

For instance, teflon, kodak, kleenex, aspirin and vaseline. The word kodak

that is used for the term camera in everyday language. However, there is

some complicated technical origin such as teflon -> te(tra)-fl(our)-on, but

it tends to be general terms after the coinage in language.

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b. Borrowing

Borrowing is kinds of word formation processes to create new

word by taking over of words from other languages (Yule 54). While,

Meyer (180) argued that borrowing is a method to obtain the new word

from connection with another language. English is the most borrowed

from Latin, Greek, and French. Also, other languages had denoted words

into the dictionary. For instance, the word croissant is taking over from

French, and the word sofa is borrowed from Arabic. Moreover, Yule also

added the other languages had borrowed from English terms such as in

Japan, the word suupaamaaketto has borrowed from the terms of English

which is supermarket. In general, the term of borrowing is taken from

other languages to make a new word especially in English.

c. Compounding

The definition of compounding according to Booij (75) that a

process creating of new words by joining of two words into the larger

ones. However, Yule (54) defined that compounding is the merger of two

separate words to generate a single pattern. This means that compounding

has pairs of word which can obtain a new word and meaning. Also,

Minkova and Stockwell (9) has discussed about compounding that the

important to produce of new word is inserting two words by composing

those words become clearly words. From the definition above, it can be

concluded that compounding is the one of word formation processes which

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obtains a new word from combining two separate words. From the

explanation, it can take an example, the word bookcase is noun form, it

merger from the word book + case that means a cabinet with shelves to

keep books. Then, the word fast-food is compound adjectives from fast

(adj.) + food (noun) that means a quick meal from restaurant which served

foods.

d. Blending

The word formation processes that combining parts of lexeme and

morphemes into a new shape of lexeme called blending (Lieber 53).

According to Yule (55), that blending is a way to produce a new term of

word by combining the two words at the beginning of word and the other

last word. So that, blending as the result from a new form of word which

two words are combined at the beginning one and the end of others word.

For examples, telecast occurred by combining two words between

television and broadcast because it is not formed through the same

morphemes at two words but it is formed from the beginning of word and

the one last word.

e. Clipping

The definition of clipping is reducing the word into one or two

syllables (Harley 95). Generally, the word is clipped relates to the word

that people are commonly used. Moreover, in Meyer’s book (181) stated

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that the shortening of words into one known as clipping. It means that

clipping occurs when the word is cut either the beginning or the ending

into the short form more than one syllable. For examples, from Yule’s

book (55) as follows: the word influenza is reduced into flu which the

word flu is syllable that is stressed. And then, the word facsimile is

reduced into fax which have one syllable is taken from the base word.

f. Backformation

Backformation is one the process of word formation that obtained

the new word by deleting the end of word (Plag 37). Besides, Yule (56)

stated that the reduction word from one type to another type which usually

a noun and the other one is a verb. So that, the backformation as a new

word that created by removing suffix and usually a noun form is reduction

into a verb form. The examples of backformation such as seduct is

reduction from the word seduction which created by removing suffix –ion.

The word emote is reduction from a noun form emotion by reducing –ion

to be a verb form emote.

g. Conversion

Conversion is kinds of the word formed by changing of base

category. The strong statement from Yule (56) that the functional of word

is changed by a noun form to a verb form which usually used without any

reduction. Furthermore, Minkova and Stockwell (8) has discussed about

19

conversion that the converted between a noun form into a verb form and it

is not a new one in lexicon. It can be concluded that conversion is a way of

word formed by changing a noun into a verb and there is no reduction on

it, but generally create a new verb from a noun has broad meanings. For

instance, verb to bread is conversion from noun bread because it is

changing the category of base from a noun into a verb such ‘to put bread

(crumbs) on something which means food categorized by mixing and

baking flour, water and yeast, or to clown is conversion from clown such

‘to act like a clown’. Hence, the new word meaning is more predictable

when it conversion from noun to verb.

h. Acronym

Carstairs-McCarthy (65) argued that acronym is combining the

first letter from each words but it does not mean that string of first letter

can be said an acronym. It means that the acronym is the shortening of

words and the pronounced is like a word not letter by letter. In Yule’s

book the study of language (55) has discussed that the acronyms formed a

new word by the first letters of other words, but it can be disappeared

become in daily terms such as the word radar is acronyms from the daily

terms ‘radio detecting and ranging’.

However, the word CD is form of acronyms that is called

initialisms, by combining each first letters from ‘compact disk’ where the

pronounced is like a letter by letter of each word. According to Lieber

20

(53), initialisms are composed from the first letters of word which are

similar to acronyms, but the pronounced is like letter by letter. In addition,

sometimes the speaker is not recognized from some new acronyms or

initialisms meaning, generally they direct to use it.

i. Derivation

Derivation is the way of correlates with lexemes through

affixation. Booij (51) argued that to proccess derivation of the base

function, the language users is enable to create a new lexeme. In which,

lexemes has lexical category such as noun, verb, and adjective. Yule (57)

defined that derivation is the word formation processes by producing a

new word that is found in English word. In general, derivation as the

process of new word formed by adding affixation which the category and

meaning differs from the base. For example, the verb lexeme PERFORM is

derived that relates to noun performance and performer which each words

are contains suffix –ance and –er.

j. Multiple Processes

Multiple processes is the word formation process where the

possibilities to seek the movements of create the specific word with more

than one process (Yule 58). It means that to create a new word, it should

be combined using more than one process of word formation. For

example, the term snowball is compounding in which the word snow +

21

ball were combined into noun form snowball, then, it can be conversion to

be a verb form.

22

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH FINDINGS

A. Data Description

In this data description, the writer would like to analyze the data which are

collected from National Geographic articles on Science in February 2018. They

are “Partial Solar Eclipse and 6 More Can’t-Miss Sky Events in February” on

February 1st, 2018, “Pictures Show a Decade of SpaceX Making Spaceflight

History” on February 6th, 2018, “Elon Musk’s Tesla in Space Could Crash Into

Earth” on February 15th, 2018, “Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Soon Disappear…”

on February 21st, 2018, “Weird Life Found in Earth’s Driest Soil” on February

26th, 2018, and “Universe’s First Stars Detected? Get the Facts” on February 28th,

2018.

The data have been collected and classified into four kinds of word

formation which are derivation, acronym, compounding, and initialism.

Moreover, it will be analyzed using the Structural Morphology Theory and

focused on the word formation processes. The following is the table of data

description that is collected from National Geographic articles on science in

February 2018 which has been classified.

Table 3.1 Classification of the Data Collected from National Geographic

Articles on Science in February 2018

No. Article Kinds of Word Formation Data

1. Partial Solar Eclipse

and 6 More Can’t-

Derivation Pollution

Sunlight

23

Miss Sky Events in

February (February

1st, 2018)

Compounding Nightfall

Sky-watchers

2. Pictures Show a

Decade of SpaceX

Making Spaceflight

History (February 6th,

2018)

Compounding

Spaceflight

Milestone

3. Elon Musk’s Tesla in

Space Could Crash

Into Earth (February

15th, 2018)

Derivation Collides

Encounter

Compounding Crash-landing

Earth-crossing

Acronym NEOs

4. Jupiter’s Great Red

Spot May Soon

Disappear…

(February 21st, 2018)

Derivation Vaguely

Compounding

Mega-storm

Spacecraft

Superheats

Acronym NASA

5. Weird Life Found in

Earth’s Driest Soil

(February 26th, 2018)

Derivation Membranes

Compounding Windswept

Initialism

ATP

UV

6. Universe’s First Stars

Detected? Get the

Facts (February 28th,

2018)

Derivation Photons

Galaxies

Compounding Frameworks

B. Data Analysis

This analysis will be used the documentation technique to analyze the

data. From data collected, the data will be identified in data card to analyze based

on the kinds of word formation and the Structural Morphology Theory. Moreover,

the data that have been collected are assembled into a table. As a support this

research, Oxford Dictionary of English and Cambridge Dictionary are the main

dictionary to find out the words has already listed or not.

24

From 23 words that are found in six articles, all of the data puts into the

table below for sampling data that will be analyzed.

Table 3.2 Sample Data that will be analyzed

No. Kinds of Word Formation Data

1.

Derivation

Pollution

Collides

Encounter

Vaguely

Membranes

Photons

Galaxies

2.

Compounding

Sunlight

Nightfall

Sky-watchers

Spaceflight

Milestone

Crash-landing

Earth-crossing

Mega-storm

Spacecraft

Superheats

Windswept

Frameworks

3. Acronym NEOs

NASA

4. Initialism ATP

UV

The principals of structural morphology can be classified into four steps in

organizing the process of developing a word:

25

1. Derivation

Data 1

Word : Pollution

Sentence : “Looking toward the western horizon from a dark region

with low light pollution.”

News : Partial Solar Eclipse and 6 More Can’t-Miss Sky Events in

February (February 1st, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Derivation

In the word pollution obviously consists of two morphemes, they are

pollute+-ion. The morpheme pollute is a free morpheme that can stand alone

without by adding the morphemes –ion. Then, the morpheme –ion is suffix that is

a bound morpheme that also cannot stand alone, because it linked to the free

morpheme pollute, and it located at the end of a word.

The word pollution is classified as derivation. When the affixes –ion is

linked to the root pollute. It is obviously that the word pollution has base pollute

List of Morphemes

Word Formation

Morphophonological

Process

Dictionary

26

and has been derived by added the affixes –ion while the word classes is changed

from verb to noun.

There is morphophonological process in the word pollution, because the

pronunciation does not the same as the base pollute. This derivation has been

listed in oxforddictionary.com which has a meaning the presence in or

introduction into the environment of a substance which has harmful or poisonous

effect. Pollution is damage caused to water, air, etc. by harmful substances or

waste (dictionary.cambridge.org).

Data 2

Word : Collides

Sentence : “It collides with the planet nearest and dearest to all our

hearts.”

News : Elon Musk’s Tesla in Space Could Crash Into Earth


Word

Formation

: Derivation

The word collides consists of two morphemes, there are collide and –s.

The morpheme collide is a free morpheme that can stand alone as a word without

by adding –s. Then, the morpheme –s is a suffix, it added to the morpheme collide

which placed at the end of the morpheme, because –s is a bound morpheme that

cannot stand alone and has no meaning.

The kind of word formation in the word collides directs to derivation. It

occurs when the suffix –s is attached to the root collide. It is clearly that the word

27

collides derived from collide, even when the suffix added to the base collide, the

word classes is still the same as verb form.

There is no morphophonological process in the word collides, because the

pronunciation is still the same as base. The word collides has been listed in

oxforddictionary.com, it has a meaning hit by accident when moving. In

dictionary.cambridge.org, collides is especially of moving objects to hit

something violently. This word has already been confirmed as an official word in

both dictionaries.

Data 3

Word : Encounter

Sentence : “The car’s next particularly close encounter with Earth

will occur in 2091.”



Word

Formation

: Derivation

In the word encounter, it has three morphemes which can be seen from en-

+count+–er. The morpheme –en is a prefix which is a bound morpheme that

cannot stand alone and has no meaning without attached to the morpheme count.

Then, the morpheme count is a free morpheme which is the root of the word

encounter that can stand alone and has a meaning without by adding suffix –en

and –er, and the morpheme –er is a suffix which is a bound morpheme that also

cannot stand alone and has no meaning without attached to the morpheme count.

28

The word encounter is classified as derivation. It happens when the affixes

–en and –er are attached to the word count which creates a new word encounter

which has a different meaning. Then, it does not change the word classes as verb

form.

There is no morphophonological process in the word encounter, because it

does not change the pronunciation as when base count. The word encounter has

been listed in oxforddictionary.com, it has a meaning unexpectedly be faced with

or experience something hostile or difficult. In other dictionary, encounter is to

experience something, especially something unpleasant

(dictionary.cambridge.org).

Data 4

Word : Vaguely

Sentence : “And that shape, Orton says, is much less stable than its

current, vaguely oval configuration.”

News : Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Soon Disappear… (February

21st, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Derivation

This word vaguely consist of two morphemes, there are vague+-ly. The

first morpheme vague is a free morpheme that can stand alone as word, and the

second the suffix –ly is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone without joined

to other words. These two morphemes cannot be divided into smaller pieces

which has meaning.

29

The word vaguely is classified as derivation. This word formation happens

when the suffix –ly joined together with the free morpheme vague which creates a

new word vaguely, the word classes is still the same as adjective form. It is clearly

that the word vaguely has base vague.

In the word vaguely has no morphophonological process, because the

pronunciation vaguely has no special change as base vague when it pronounced.

The word vaguely has already been listed in dictionary, the word vaguely means

in a way that is uncertain, indefinite or unclear; roughly (oxforddictionary.com).

Vaguely is not clearly expressed, known, described, or decided

(dictionary.cambridge.org). It has been confirmed as an official word of English.

Data 5

Word : Photons

Sentence : “The primordial hydrogen gas is absorbing photons at

rates that are at least two times higher than predicted.”

News : Universe’s First Stars Detected? Get the Facts (February

28th, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Derivation

The word photons has more than one morpheme, there are photon+-s.

First, the free morpheme is photon that can stand alone as word. Second, the

suffix –s is a bound morpheme that joined to the free morpheme photon, because

it cannot stand alone as word without joined to other morphemes. So, it can be

30

said the word photons has two morphemes and it cannot be divided into smaller

pieces which has meaning.

The kind of word formation in this word directs to derivation which occurs

when the suffix –s is joining to the free morpheme photon, and it creates a new

word photons which the word classes is still the same as noun form.

The morphophonological process does not occur in this word, because the

pronunciation has no special change and it still the same as the base photon when

it pronounced. The word photons has been listed in oxforddictionary.com which

has a meaning a particle representing a quantum of light or other electromagnetic

radiation. While, in dictionary.cambridge.org has a meaning a single unit of light.

Data 6

Word : Galaxies

Sentence : “For instance, it’s possible the detection is a sign of

galaxies behaving in unpredicted ways.”


28th, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Derivation

The word galaxies consists of two morphemes, there are galaxy and –es.

The morpheme galaxy is a free morpheme that can stand alone as a word without

by adding –es. Then, the morpheme –es is a suffix, it added to the morpheme

galaxy which placed at the end of the morpheme, because –es is a bound

31

morpheme that cannot stand alone and it cannot be divided into smaller pieces

which has meaning.

The kind of word formation in the word galaxies directs to derivation. It

occurs when the suffix –es is linked to the root galaxy. It is clearly that the word

galaxies derived from galaxy, even when the suffix added to the base galaxy, the

word classes is still the same as noun form.

There is no morphophonological process in the word galaxies, because the

pronunciation is still the same as base. The word galaxies has been listed in

oxforddictionary.com, it has a meaning a system of millions or billions of stars,

together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction. In

dictionary.cambridge.org, galaxies is one of the independent groups of stars in the

universe. This word has already been confirmed as an official word in both

dictionaries.

Data 7

Word : Membranes

Sentence : “They also saw evidence of a molecule called ATP–cells’

universal currency for storing and transporting energy–as

well as the building blocks for cell membranes.”

News : Weird Life Found in Earth’s Driest Soil (February 26th,

2018)

Word

Formation

: Derivation

32

The word membranes has more than one morpheme, there are

membrane+-s. First, the free morpheme is membrane that can stand alone as

word. Second, the suffix –s is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone without

joined to the free morpheme membrane. So, it can be said the word photons has

two morphemes and it cannot be divided into smaller pieces which has meaning.

The kind of word formation in this word directs to derivation which occurs

when the suffix –s is joining to the free morpheme membrane, and it creates a new

word membranes which the word classes is still the same as noun form.

The morphophonological process does not occur in this word, because the

pronunciation has no special change and it still the same as the base membrane

when it pronounced. The word membranes has been listed in

oxforddictionary.com which means a microscopic double layer of lipids and

proteins forming the boundary of cells and organelles. Meanwhile, membranes is

the outer covering of a cell (dictionary.cambridge.org). This word usually used to

substances and structures in the body.

2. Compounding

Data 8

Word : Sunlight

Sentence : “But thus ethereal light is actually caused by sunlight

reflecting off ancient dust suspended between the planets.”



Word

Formation

: Compounding

33

The word sunlight consists of two morphemes. It is clearly because there

are two free morphemes that each word can stand alone and have a meaning, they

are sun and light. Based on kinds of morpheme that sun and light are free

morphemes, because they can stand alone without by adding any forms and they

cannot divided into smaller pieces which has a meaning.

The word sunlight is classified as compounding of word formation. The

word sun is a free morpheme that merges with the other free morpheme light. It

creates into a new word which is sunlight as compound noun. From the process

before, it can be said that the head of a compound word is light.

In this word, there is no morphophonological process which means the

word sunlight has created by merging two words. It merges the words sun and

light without deleting or changing any letters and the pronunciation of the word

sunlight is still the same as when it was separated by the words sun and light.

The word sunlight is listed in oxforddictionary.com which has a meaning

as light from the sun. Meanwhile, in dictionary.cambridge.org sunlight is the light

that comes from the sun. This word has been confirmed as an official word of

English.

Data 9

Word : Nightfall

Sentence : “Look for the Alpha Centaurids after local nightfall on the

8th and before dawn the next day.”


34


Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word nightfall obviously consists of two morphemes. It can be seen

from kinds of morphemes that the morphemes night and fall are free morphemes,

because those two morphemes can stand alone as word and have a meaning.

Moreover, the word night and fall have the different word classes which are verb

and noun form.

The kind of word formation in the word nightfall is compounding which

divides into two morphemes, they are night and fall. It happens when the word

night joined together with another free morpheme fall which creates a new word

nigthfall as compound noun.

There is no morphophonological process in the word nightfall, because the

pronunciation is still the same as when they are split into night and fall. In

oxforddictionary.com, nightfall is the onset of night; dusk. In another dictionary,

nightfall has a meaning the time in the evening when it becomes dark

(dictionary.cambridge.org). This word also has been listed in both dictionaries,

usually used for describe days and times of day.

Data 10

Word : Sky-watchers

Sentence : “Sky-watchers in the Southern Hemisphere will get to

watch a modest meteor shower on this night...”

35



Word

Formation

: Compounding

In the word sky-watchers consists of more than one morpheme, there are

sky+watch+–er+–s. First, the morpheme sky is a free morpheme, because it can

stand alone without by adding any forms. Second, watch also is a free morpheme

that can stand alone and has a meaning. Last, the morphemes –er and –s as a

suffix which is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone, because it attached to

the morphemes sky and watch. It can be concluded that the word sky-watchers has

four morphemes.

The kind of word formation in the word sky-watchers is categorized as

compounding. It happens when the word sky merges into watch which classifies

as free morpheme. Meanwhile, the suffixes –er and –s joined to the word sky-

watch, it gives different form, and it creates a new word sky-watchers. This word

can be seen in oxforddictionary.com that the head of a compound word is sky.

The word sky-watchers have no morphophonological process, because like

the pronunciation sky-watchers, it is still the same when the word sky and watch

were separated, it does not change or delete any letters. Sky-watchers has already

been listed in oxforddictionary.com which has a meaning observe or monitor the

sky, especially for celestial objects or aircraft. Meanwhile, sky-watchers is not

listed in dictionary.cambridge.org.

36

Data 11

Word : Spaceflight

Sentence : “Which has been pushing boundaries for commercial

spaceflight as part of CEO Elon Musk’s vision to one day

put humans on Mars.”

News : Pictures Show a Decade of SpaceX Making Spaceflight

History (February 6th, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word spaceflight obviously consists of two morphemes, which are

space+flight. The first morpheme space is a free morpheme that can stand alone

as word without by adding other morphemes, and the second morpheme flight

also is a free morpheme that can stand alone without joined to the morpheme

space. These two morphemes cannot be divided into smaller pieces which has a

meaning.

The word spaceflight is classified as compounding, which occurs when the

free morpheme space merges into the morpheme flight which also classifies as

free morpheme, and it creates a new word spaceflight as compound noun, which

can be seen in dictionary that the head of a compound word is flight.

There is no morphophonological process in this word, because this

processes does not have a special change in deleting or adding any letters, it only

merge two words into the one word without changing the pronounce when the

word spaceflight is separated into space and flight.

37

This word has been listed in dictionary. In oxforddictionary.com,

spaceflight is a journey throough space. However, spaceflight is not listed in

dictionary.cambridge.org. It is easy to know the meaning of spaceflight, because

it is a well-known word. Usually, this word is used to describe space travel.

Data 12

Word : Milestone

Sentence : “The milestone moment for SpaceX included the launch

from Florida’s Cape Canaveral, as well as near-

simultaneous landings of the Falcon Heavy’s reusable side

boosters.”

News : Pictures Show a Decade of SpaceX Making Spaceflight

History (February 6th, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word milestone consists of more than one morpheme, they are mile

and stone. The first morpheme mile as a free morpheme that can stand alone as

word without by adding any forms, the second morpheme stone is also as a free

morpheme that can stand alone without attached to the morpheme mile. So, it can

be said that the word milestone has two morphemes and cannot be divided into a

smaller pieces which has a meaning.

The kind of word formation of the word milestone directs to compounding.

It happens when the word mile joined into the word stone and creates the new

word milestone as compound noun. From the process before, it can be said that

the head of a compound word is stone.

38

This word has no morphophonological process, which means there is no

specific change in that word especially the pronunciation, it still the same as when

the word milestone are separated into two words mile and stone. The word

milestone has been listed in oxforddictionary.com, this word means a stone set up

beside a road to mark the distance in miles to a particular place. Milestone is a

stone or post at the side of the road that shows the distance to various places,

especially to the nearest large town (dictionary.cambridge.org), and it has been

confirmed as an official word of English.

Data 13

Word : Crash-landing

Sentence : “Rein and his colleagues calculated that there’s virtually no

chance of the car accidentally crash-landing on Mars.”



Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word crash-landing obviously consists of three morphemes. The first

morpheme is crash as a free morpheme that can stand alone as word without join

to other morphemes, and the second morpheme is land that also as a free

morpheme, the last morpheme is –ing is a suffix as bound morpheme that cannot

stand alone without joined to the morphemes crash and land. So, it can be said

that the formation of the word crash-landing has three morphemes which are

crash+land+–ing.

39

The word crash-landing is categorized as compounding, that occurs when

the free morpheme crash merges to the word land which also as a free morpheme.

Meanwhile, the suffix –ing joined to the word crash-land then it creates a new one

crash-landing. Moreover, the word crash-landing as compound verb and the head

of compound word is land.

As the process before, there is no morphophonological process because the

pronunciation of the word crash-landing is still the same as when they are

separated into the words crash and land. This word crash-landing has been listed

in oxforddictionary.com which has a meaning (of an aircraft) land roughfly in an

emergency, typically without lowering the undercarriage. Meanwhile, in

dictionary.cambridge.org crash-landing is to land an aircraft suddenly because of

an emergency sometimes resulting in serious damage or injuries.

Data 14

Word : Earth-crossing

Sentence : “Both numbers, perhaps not surprisingly, are roughly in

line with what scientist expect for the class of small bodies

on Earth-crossing orbits termed Near-Earth Objects, or

NEOs.”



Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word earth-crossing obviously consists of three morphemes, which

are earth+cross+–ing. The morpheme earth is a free morpheme that can stand

40

alone without by adding other morphemes. However, the morpheme cross is also

as a free morpheme that can stand alone as a word, and the morpheme –ing is a

suffix which is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone without joined to the

free morpheme cross. These three morphemes cannot be divided into smaller

pieces which has a meaning.

The word earth-crossing is classified as compounding. This formation

occurs when the word cross merged to the word earth, and the suffix –ing joined

to the word earth-cross and it creates a new word earth-crossing which has a

different meaning. Furthermore, this word as a compound noun which has the

head of compound word is earth.

This word does not have a morphophonological process, because there is

no special change in deleting any letters in the word earth-crossing, and the

pronunciation is still the same as when they are split into earth and cross. The

word earth-crossing is not listed in oxforddictionary.com and

dictionary.cambridge.org.

Data 15

Word : Mega-storm

Sentence : “Scientists aren’t quite sure what happen to the shrinking

mega-storm.”


21st, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

41

The word mega-storm consists of more than one morpheme, they are mega

and storm. The first morpheme mega as a free morpheme that can stand alone as

word without by adding any forms, the second morpheme storm is also as a free

morpheme that can stand alone without attached to the morpheme mega. So, it can

be said that the word mega-storm has two morphemes and cannot be divided into

a smaller pieces which has a meaning.

The kind of word formation of the word mega-storm directs to

compounding. It happens when the word storm joined into the word mega and

creates the new word mega-storm. From the process before, it can be said that the

head of a compound word is storm.



the word mega-storm are separated into two words mega and storm. The word

mega-storm is not listed in oxforddictionary.com and dictionary.cambridge.org.

Data 16

Word : Spacecraft

Sentence : “When the Voyager spacecraft flew by in the 1970s,

scientists estimated that observation put the Spot at just

14,500 miles wide.”


21st, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

42

The word spacecraft obviously consists of two morphemes, which are

space+craft. The first morpheme space is a free morpheme that can stand alone as

word without by adding other morphemes, and the second morpheme craft also is

a free morpheme that can stand alone without joined to the morpheme space.

These two morphemes cannot be divided into smaller pieces which has a meaning.

The word spacecraft is classified as compounding, which occurs when the

free morpheme space merges into the morpheme craft which also classifies as free

morpheme, and it creates a new word spacecraft as compound noun, which can be

seen in dictionary that the head of a compound word is craft.

There is no morphophonological process in this word, because this

processes does not have a special change in deleting or adding any letters, it only

merge two words into the one word without changing the pronounce when the

word spacecraft is separated into space and craft.

This word has been listed in dictionary. In oxforddictionary.com,

spaceflight is a vehicle used for travelling in space. However, spacecraft is a

vehicle used for travel in space (dictionary.cambridge.org). It is easy to know the

meaning of spacecraft, because it is a well-known word. Usually, this word is

used to describe space travel.

Data 17

Word : Superheats

Sentence : “It used to measure several Earths across, it stretches deep

into the planet’s atmosphere, and it somehow superheats

the air above it to temperatures hotter than lava.”

43


21st, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

In the word superheats consists of more than one morpheme, there are

super+heat+–s. First, the morpheme super is a free morpheme, because it can

stand alone without by adding any forms. Second, heat also is a free morpheme

that can stand alone and has a meaning. Last, the morphemes –s as a suffix which

is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone, because it attached to the

morphemes heat. It can be concluded that the word superheats has three

morphemes.

The kind of word formation in the word superheats is categorized as

compounding. It happens when the word super merges into heat which classifies

as free morpheme. Meanwhile, the suffixes –s joined to the word superheat, it

gives different form, and it creates a new word superheats. This word can be seen

in ed.oxforddictionary.com that the head of a compound word is heat.

The word superheats have no morphophonological process, because like

the pronunciation superheats, it is still the same when the word super and heat are

separated, and it does not change or delete any letters. Superheats has already

been listed in oxforddictionary.com which has a meaning heat a liquid under

pressure above its boiling point without vaporization. Meanwhile, superheats is

not listed in dictionary.cambridge.org.

44

Data 18

Word : Windswept

Sentence : “Chile’s Atacama Desert is about as close as you can get to

Mars without hitching a ride on a rocket: salty, windswept,

and so bone dry, it’d be easy to mistake it for being

lifeless.”


2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word windswept consists of more than one morpheme, they are wind

and swept. The first morpheme wind as a free morpheme that can stand alone as

word without by adding any forms, the second morpheme swept is also as a free

morpheme that can stand alone without attached to the morpheme wind. So, it can

be said that the word windswept has two morphemes and cannot be divided into a

smaller pieces which has a meaning.

The kind of word formation of the word windswept directs to

compounding. It happens when the word wind joined into the word swept and

creates the new word windswept. From the process before, it can be said that the

head of a compound word is swept.



the word windswept are separated into two words wind and swept. The word

windswept has been listed in oxforddictionary.com, this word means of a place

exposed to strong winds. In dictionary.cambridge.org has a meaning of places,

45

open to and not protected from strong winds. This word has been confirmed as an

official word of English.

Data 19

Word : Frameworks

Sentence : “I will be more comfortable once we’ve had a chance to try

and think about how to fit this into frameworks about how

we understand dark matter and galaxies...”


28th, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Compounding

The word frameworks obviously consists of three morphemes, which are

frame+work+–s. The morpheme frame is a free morpheme that can stand alone

without by adding other morphemes. However, the morpheme work is also as a

free morpheme that can stand alone as a word, and the morpheme –s is a suffix

which is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone without joined to the free

morpheme work. These three morphemes cannot be divided into smaller pieces

which has a meaning.

The word frameworks is classified as compounding. This formation occurs

when the word frame merged to the word work, and the suffix –s joined to the

word work, then, it creates a new word frameworks which has a different

meaning. Furthermore, this word as a compound noun which has the head of

compound word is frame.

46

This word does not have a morphophonological process, because there is

no special change in deleting any letters in the word frameworks, and the

pronunciation is still the same as when they are split into frame and work. The

word framworks has been listed in oxforddictionary.com which means an essential

supporting structure of a building, vehicle, or object. Frameworks is a system of

rules, ideas, or beliefs that is used to plan or decide something


3. Acronym

Data 20

Word : NEOs

Sentence : “’I did a quick estimate that Earth collides with several

Roadster-size NEOs every year, and such collisions are

usually unremarkable,’ she says.”



Word

Formation

: Acronym

The word NEOs consist of four morphemes, it is short for Near-Earth

Objects. There are three free morphemes that can be stand alone which are; the

first morpheme near is a free morpheme and the second morpheme earth that also

as a free morpheme, the last morpheme is object. The morpheme –s is a suffix

which is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone without joined to the

47

morpheme object. So, the formation in the word NEOs has four morphemes which

are near+earth+object+-s.

The word NEOs is classified as acronym. Furthermore, the

morphophonological process occurs in this word which means the word NEOs

takes from the first letters of each word which are near, earth, and objects. Then,

it created by omitting the others letters into a new word NEOs. The pronounced is

like saying a word.

The word NEOs is not listed in oxforddictionary.com, but NEOs is

abbreviation for near-earth object: an object in space such as an asteroid, comet,

or meteoroid that sometimes passes close to the earth (dictionary.cambridge.org).

Data 21

Word : NASA

Sentence : “…suggest the storm once spanned more than 30 degrees

in longitude and was more of a “Great Red Sausage,” says

Glenn Orton of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.”


21st, 2018)

Word

Formation

: Acronym

The word NASA comes from National Aeronautics and Space

Administration, it consists more than two morphemes in this word. There are

nation+-al+aeronautics+space+administration. First, the morpheme nation,

aeronautics, space and administration is also as a free morpheme that can stand

48

alone without joined into the other morpheme. Second, the morpheme -al as a

bound morpheme which is a prefix that cannot stand alone without attached to the

morpheme nation. So, it can be concluded that the formation of word NASA has

five morphemes.

The word NASA is classified as acronym, which occurs when the word

NASA takes from the initial word National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

So, it creates a new word NASA. The pronounced is like saying a word and it has a

morphophonological process. Moreover, the word NASA has already been listed in

oxforddictionary.com and dictionary.cambridge.org. NASA abbreviation for

National Aeronautics and Space Administration: the US government organization

that is responsible for space travel and the scientific study of space


4. Initialism

Data 22

Word : ATP

Sentence : “They also saw evidence of a molecule called ATP–cells’

universal currency for storing and transporting energy–as

well as the building blocks for cell membranes.”


2018)

Word

Formation

: Initialism

49

The word ATP consist of two morphemes, it is short for Adenosine

triphosphate. There are two free morphemes that can be stand alone which are;

the first morpheme adenosine is a free morpheme and the second morpheme

triphosphate that also as a free morpheme. So, the formation in the word ATP has

two morphemes which are adenosine+triphosphate.

The word ATP is classified as acronym. Furthermore, the

morphophonological process occurs in this word which means the word ATP

takes from the first letters of the word adenosine and triphosphate. Then, it

created by omitting the others letters into a new word ATP. The pronounced is like

saying letter by letter.

The word ATP has already been listed in oxforddictionary.com and

dictionary.cambridge.org. ATP is adenosine triphosphate: an important chemical

in the cells of living organisms that stores energy and releases it when it is needed


Data 23

Word : UV

Sentence : “Just a bit of moisture, and life can persist and make that

area–with very little water, high UV irradiation rates, and

chemical stresses–a habitat, at least a transient one.”


2018)

Word

Formation

: Initialism

50

The word UV consists of one morpheme, it is short for Ultraviolet. The

morpheme ultraviolet is a free morpheme that can stand alone as a word.

The word UV is classified as acronym. Furthermore, the

morphophonological process occurs in this word which means the word UV takes

from the first letters of the word Ultra and Violet, then, it created by omitting the

others letters into a new word UV. The pronounced is like saying a letter by letter

in a word not like saying a word.

The word UV has been listed in oxforddictionary.com and

dictionary.cambridge.org which means abbreviation for Ultraviolet, this word

usually used for giving out light.

51

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

From the previous chapters, the writer deduces a conclusion of this

research that there are 23 data has been collected that contained the kinds of word

formation in six articles from National Geographic articles on science, in

February 2018. This research has explained the study of morphology and word

formation processes based on George Yule. The writer collected 23 data that has

been analyzed in previous chapter from National Geographic articles on science.

Based on analyzing the data, not all the kinds of word formation occurred

in data analysis. However, there are seven from ten kinds of word formation

processes that are not found in this research such as coinage, borrowing,

backformation, clipping, blending, multiple processes and conversion. From 23

data that has been analyzed, there are 7 derivation, 12 compounding, 2 acronym,

and 2 initialism.

There are four steps in structural morphology to analyze the word

formation processes. Those are identifying morpheme, word formation,

morphophonological process and dictionary. However, in some word formations

that are analyzed have no morphophonological process or no changes in

pronunciation.

52

B. Suggestions

The writer would like to suggest to the readers to do the same research

about the word formation processes in morphological study, in order to increase

the knowledge about developing the new kind of word. For further discussion,

there are many interesting aspects for the process of word formation that can be

analyzed.

For the object of this research the writer selected a written language from

six articles on science in nationalgeographic.com to be analyzed. Moreover, it is

very important to have a further understanding about the words and its form. The

writer suggests to do further research about the word formation process on spoken

language as in talk show, movie, or songs.

53

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Aronoff, Mark and Kirsten Fudeman. What is Morphology? United Kingdom:

Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Pdf.

Ba'dulu, Abdul Muis and Herman. Morfosintaksis. Jakarta: PT. Rineka Cipta,

2005. Print.

Bauer, Laurie. English Word-Formation. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Pdf.

Booij, Geert. The Grammar of Words An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology.

United States: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew. An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and

Their Structure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002. Print.

Chaer, Abdul. Linguistik Umum. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta, 2003. Print.

Fajriani, Novia. English Word Formation Analysis in the Jakarta Post's Sci-Tech

Articles 2014. Jakarta: UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, 2015. Pdf.

Hanif, Bahrul. The Analysis of Word Formation of Soccer Terms in the Jakarta

Post's Articles. Jakarta: UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, 2015. Pdf.

Harley, Heidi. English Words: A Linguistic Introduction. UK: Blackwell

Publishing, 2006. Pdf.

Hippisley, Andrew and Gregory Stump, The Cambridge Handbook of

Morphology. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pdf.

Katamba, Francis. Morphology. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Pdf.

Lieber, Rochelle. Introducing Morphology. New York: Cambridge University

Press, 2009. Print.

Litosseliti, Lia, ed. Research Methods in Linguistics. London: Continuum, 2010.

Print.

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Liu, Wei and Wenyu Liu. "Analysis on the Word-formation of English Netspeak

Neologism." Journal of Arts & Humanities (2014): 22-30. Pdf.

Meyer, Charles F. Introducing English Linguistics. New York: Cambridge

University Press, 2009. Print.

Minkova, Donka and Robert Stockwell. English Words: History and Structures.

New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print.

Mustafa, Siti Zubaidah Binti, Mageswari D/O Kandasamy and Mohamad Subakir

Mohd Yasin. "An Ananlysis of Word Formation Process in Everyday

Communication on Facebook." International Journal of Education and

Research (2015): 261-274. Pdf.

Plag, Ingo. Word-Formation in English. New York: Cambridge University Press,

2003. Pdf.

Subroto, Edi. Pengantar Metode Penelitian Linguistik Struktural. Surakarta:

Sebelas Maret University Press, 1992. Print.

Yendra. Mengenal Ilmu Bahasa (Linguistik). Yogyakarta: Deepublish, 2016. Pdf.

Yule, George. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Pdf.

—. The Study of Language. Third Edition. New York: Cambridge University

Press, 2006. Pdf.

Dictionaries:

Oxforddictionary.com

Dictionary.cambridge.org

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https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/skywatching-guide-february-solar-

eclipse-meteors-moon-space-science/. accessed on March 5th, 2018 00.27.

Web.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-

pictures-milestones-space-science/. accessed on March 5th, 2018 00.34.

Web.

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https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/spacex-falcon-heavy-tesla-

roadster-orbit-earth-sun-space/. accessed on March 5th, 2018 00.36. Web.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/jupiter-great-red-spot-disappear-

10-years-space-science-spd/. accessed on March 5th, 2018 00.45. Web.

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atacama-desert-mars-science/. accessed on March 5th, 2018 01.09. Web.

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edges-space-science/. accessed on March 5th, 2018 01.25. Web.

56

APPENDICES

Partial Solar Eclipse and 6 More Can’t-Miss Sky Events in

February

Get ready to see sprinkling of meteors, a Martian showdown, a “false down,” and

more amazing celestial sights.

- See more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/skywatching-guide-

february-solar-eclipse-meteors-moon-space-science/

By Andrew Fazekas P U B L I S H E D F E B R U A R Y 1 , 2 0 1 8

The coming month heralds the return of a cosmic pyramid, a series of

stunning lunar pairings, and a partial solar eclipse. You’ll even have the

chance to spy on Mars meeting up with its mythical rival.

So, dust off those binoculars and mark your February calendar!

Z O D I A C A L L I G H T— F E B R U A R Y 2 - 1 6

Starting today at about an hour after sunset and for the following two

weeks, keen sky-watchers in the Northern Hemisphere can hunt down one of

the most elusive astronomical phenomena: the zodiacal light.

Best seen from rural areas, this pyramid-shaped light is easily

mistaken for the glow from a far-off city just over the horizon, and it is

sometimes called the false dawn. But this ethereal light is actually caused by

sunlight reflecting off ancient dust suspended between the planets. The best

time to catch the ghostly sky light is about an hour after sunset, looking

toward the western horizon from a dark region with low light pollution.

A L P H A C E N T A U R I D S — F E B R U A R Y 8

Sky-watchers in the Southern Hemisphere will get to watch a

modest

meteor shower on this night, as Earth plows through a cloud of debris left

behind by an unknown comet.

Known as the Alpha Centaurids, this annual shower seems to

radiate

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/e/patricia-edmonds.html

57

from the constellation Centaurus—home to the closest star to our sun, the

red

dwarf Proxima Centauri. (What’s more, this nearby star hosts a potentially

habitable planet.)

The shower is usually just a trickle, with rates of about half a dozen

shooting stars an hour. However, these rates can sporadically increase to

about 25 meteors an hour. Look for the Alpha Centaurids after local

nightfall

on the 8th and before dawn the next day.

M O O N M E E T S S A T U R N — F E B R U A R Y 1 1

Early risers on the 11th should look for the waning crescent moon

posing next to the ringed planet Saturn, which will be hanging low in the

southeast sky an hour before sunrise.

M A R S A N D A N T A R E S — F E B R U A R Y 1 2

At dawn, look toward the southeastern sky for two distinctly

orangehued dots of light—the red planet Mars and the red giant star

Antares. One of

the brightest stars in the constellation Scorpio, Antares means “rival of

Mars,”

a Greek name based on the star’s similar color and brilliance in our skies.

But while Mars is about a third the size of Earth, Antares is so large

that if it replaced our sun, its outer atmosphere would reach beyond the

red

planet’s orbit.

On the 12th, the apparent gap between the two bright objects will be

only five degrees, equal to the width of your three middle fingers held at

arm’s

length. In reality, Mars is about 140 million miles away from Earth, on

average, while Antares is a whopping 600 light-years distant.

PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE — FEBRUARY 1 5

In the late afternoon on the 15th, a partial solar eclipse will greet

58

skywatchers across Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Antarctica.

During the eclipse, the moon will glide between Earth and the sun and

block part of the solar disk. How big a bite the moon takes out of the sun will

depends on your location. The farther south you go, the more of the solar orb

will get covered up during the peak.

The best place to see the event from land will be near the southern tip

of South America. For instance, the eclipse will cover up to 40 percent of the

sun over the city of Ushuaia, Argentina, while Buenos Aires will get to see

only 17 percent coverage. You can find out what time the eclipse will peak for

different cities along its path at EclipseWise.com.

Remember to always use proper eye protection while viewing the sun,

even during an eclipse.

MOON HITS A BULL’S EYE — FEBRUARY 2 3

This evening, look for the first quarter moon as it glides through the

constellation Taurus, the bull. The bull’s eye, the bright orange star

Aldebaran, will be less than five degrees to the lower right of the moon for

most sky-watchers. And for observers in northeastern North America,

Europe, and northern Asia, the star will be so close it’ll be briefly hidden by

the moon during what’s called a lunar occultation.

M O O N M E E T S R E G U L U S — F E B R U A R Y 2 8

As soon as darkness falls on the 28th, look for the majestic

constellation Leo to rise above the eastern horizon. The nearly full moon

will

seem to perch just above the star Regulus, which marks the heart of the

heavenly lion. The star will even appear to glide behind the moon for

observers in most of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.

Clear skies!

Andrew Fazekas, the Night Sky Guy, is the author of Star Trek: The

Official Guide to Our Universe and host of NG Live! Mankind to Mars

presentations. Follow him on Twitter, and Facebook.

59

Picture Show a Decade of SpaceX Making Spaceflight

History

While chasing CEO Elon Musk’s dream of sending humans to Mars, the private

company has set a number of industry records.

- See more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/spacex-falcon-heavy-

launch-pictures-milestones-space-science/

By Michael Greshko P U B L I S H E D F E B R U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 8

Against a bright blue sky and the clamor of roaring applause, SpaceX's

Falcon Heavy rocket completed a (mostly) successful first flight on February 6,

2018. The huge rocket is now the most powerful launch vehicle in operation,

rivaling the capabilities of the Saturn V rocket that sent humans to the moon

during the Apollo era.

The milestone moment for SpaceX included the launch from

Florida's

Cape Canaveral, as well as near-simultaneous landings of the Falcon

Heavy's

reusable side boosters. However, the central core—which was supposed to

land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean—failed to properly fire its

engines

and slammed into the sea at about 300 miles an hour.

Still, the rocket's upper stage and payload, a cherry-red Tesla

Roadster, are now orbiting Earth and preparing for a final engine fire that

will

place the electric sports car and its dummy-astronaut passenger into orbit

around the sun.

Falcon Heavy's overall success caps a decade of firsts for SpaceX,

which has been pushing boundaries for commercial spaceflight as part of

CEO

Elon Musk's vision to one day put humans on Mars. Here are some of the

other records SpaceX has set during the new race to space.

Michael Greshko writes online science news stories on everything from animal

behavior to space and the environment.

60

Elon Musk’s Tesla in Space Could Crash Into Earth

Each long loop around the sun brings the sports car a bit closer to a fiery meeting

with our home world, researchers calculate.

- See more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/spacex-falcon-heavy-

tesla-roadster-orbit-earth-sun-space/

By Nadia Drake

P U B L I S H E D F E B R U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 8

Launched last week aboard SpaceX’s new Falcon Heavy rocket, Elon

Musk’s interplanetary Tesla Roadster is currently on a lazy cruise around the

sun. But the car’s journey may come to an end in the not-too-distant future

when—in a twist of karmic fate—it collides with the planet nearest and

dearest to all our hearts.

“The Tesla will likely impact the Earth within a few tens of millions of

years,” says Hanno Rein of the University of Toronto.

At least, that’s Rein’s best guess, which is based on simulations

probing the future wanderings of the 2008 Tesla Roadster. The car, hitched to

the second stage of the Falcon Heavy and carrying a dummy named Starman,

is already listed as a “solar system body” in a catalogue maintained by NASA’s

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Watch Musk react to the Falcon Heavy launch.)

Rein and his collaborators recently decided to spin that body’s orbit

forward by several million years and see which paths the car might take as it

loops around the sun on the solar system’s most epic road trip. Currently in

an orbit that intersects the paths of both Earth and Mars, the Roadster will be

kicked around a bit by close encounters with these planets early on.

While that makes it a bit tricky to determine the car’s far-future path

with precision, if scientists run enough simulations, they can see which

eventual outcomes are the most likely. Regardless of where its exact demise

occurs, the Roadster only has a few tens of millions of years to live, the team

says.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/b/jason-bittel.html

61

I N C R E A S I N G L Y C L O S E E N C O U N T E R S

The Roadster’s near future, however, is certain. The car’s next

particularly close encounter with Earth will occur in 2091, when it will be

within one lunar distance of our planet. It may even be easily visible with the

right kind of telescope; though it’s not large enough to be readily

distinguished from the myriad objects that routinely blow by us, the car’s

reflectance—or spectrum—should set it apart.

“It will have a lot of close encounters with Earth initially,” Rein says.

“A bit later, it will also have close encounters with Venus and Mars. During

every close encounter, it will change its orbit a little.”

Rein and his colleagues calculated that there’s virtually no chance of

the car accidentally crash-landing on Mars. But there is a six-percent chance

the Tesla will collide with Earth in the next million years, and a 2.5-percent

chance of it colliding with Venus. Both numbers, perhaps not surprisingly, are

roughly in line with what scientists expect for the class of small bodies on

Earth-crossing orbits termed Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs.

After that initial million-year timeframe passes, each time the car

zooms by, its chance of colliding with one of the two sister planets goes up,

Rein says, such that there’s an 11-percent chance of it smashing into Earth

after three million years.

“The probability of a collision increases with time, because the

collision rate is relatively constant,” Rein explains.

S T A R - C R O S S E D S P A C E C A R ?

Renu Malhotra, an expert in planetary dynamics at the University of

Arizona, says the work Rein and his colleagues have done is solid. Despite

being a rather unique object out in deep space, the Roadster behaves about

the same as a natural object of about the same mass and size.

“I did a quick estimate that Earth collides with several Roadster-size

NEOs every year, and such collisions are usually unremarkable,” she says.

62

But Malhotra suspects the most likely demise for the Roadster will be

a collision with none other than the biggest star in its vicinity, perhaps within

a few million years, rather than tens of millions.

“I would think that the most probable end is collision with the sun,”

she says. “And the second most probable end is collision with Earth, as is the

case for NEOs."

Don’t fear, though. Even if the Roadster does eventually reunite with

its home world, it will happen so far in the future that you won’t be around to

care, and it won’t present any sort of threat to the planet anyway. The car is so

small that most of it will likely burn up upon entry in Earth’s atmosphere—

whatever that may be like at that far future point.

“It's possible that some debris could survive entry. It would get very

hot but is also coming in so fast it might not have time to all melt,” says Jonathan

McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “I

think bets are it would all melt, but definitely not a sure thing.”

Nadia Drake is a science journalist who writes the National Geographic blog No

Place Like Home.

63

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Soon Disappear…

...or it may not. Scientists aren’t quite sure what will happen to the shrinking

mega-storm.

- See more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/jupiter-great-red-

spot-disappear-10-years-space-science-spd/

By Nadia Drake

P U B L I S H E D F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 8

Aside from its size, the planet Jupiter is perhaps best known for the

roiling vermilion tempest that swirls south of its equator. The storm, which is

big enough to comfortably swallow Earth, is appropriately (if not creatively)

known as Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

The Great Red Spot has been a fixture of Jupiter’s cloudy visage for

centuries and is among the most recognizable features in the solar system.

But it won’t always be there. In fact, the Great Red Spot is shrinking, and

recently, news stories reported that it could vanish within the next 10 or 20

years.

Wait—is that true? Let’s find out.

So, Jupiter. Big storm there, eh?

Yep. The Great Red Spot is in fact a gigantic storm. It used to measure

several Earths across, it stretches deep into the planet’s atmosphere, and it

somehow superheats the air above it to temperatures hotter than lava.

How long has it been there?

It’s unclear. But we do know that it’s been visible since at least the

early 1800s, and is perhaps the same storm people spotted in the 1600s. At a

minimum, it’s in the neighborhood of 200 years old.

How come it’s still around? Storms on Earth don’t last near

as long.

It’s true: While some storms stick around for a while on other planets,

storms on Earth generally tend to be mercifully short. Neptune (which is

stormy in general) had a similarly large, obvious spot darkening its face for a

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/b/jason-bittel.html

64

couple of years around the time the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by in 1989 (it

was gone when the Hubble Space Telescope took a look in 1994). And Saturn

grew a storm so tremendously large that it completely wrapped around the

planet and smashed into itself. That one only hung around for about a year,

though.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure what’s fueling Jupiter’s massive,

persistent storm (this is an area of active research), but they suspect that its

position between two jet streams may be helping stabilize and prolong its

existence.

But it’s shrinking.

Yes.

Since when?

Since as long as we’ve been observing it. Older observations, from the

late 1800s, suggest the storm once spanned more than 30 degrees in

longitude and was more of a “Great Red Sausage,” says Glenn Orton of

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But the storm’s shape is changing, most

significantly in width, and as time marches on it’s becoming less oval and

more circular.

Way back when, the storm stretched more than 25,000 miles across.

When the Voyager spacecraft flew by in the 1970s, scientists estimated that

the Spot was just 14,500 miles wide. In 2014, a Hubble Space Telescope

observation put the Spot at just 10,250 miles across, and by last spring, it

spanned just 10,140 miles.

So when will it disappear entirely?

Truth is, scientists have no idea. But if you measure the rate at which

the Great Red Spot has been shrinking, and extrapolate linearly from that, it

looks like the spot will vanish completely in about 70 years, says Amy Simon

of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Problem is, “we know for certain it doesn’t work like that at all,” she

says.

65

So what’s the deal with this 10 to 20 year timeframe?

That’s the approximate time at which the storm—if it continues

shrinking at its current rate—will become roughly circular. And that shape,

Orton says, is much less stable than its current, vaguely oval configuration.

“It’s unlikely that the GRS will be stable if it’s ‘narrower’ than it is ‘tall,’

although another opinion is that it might stabilize in a circular form,” Orton says.

So, once it reaches circularity, it’s anyone’s guess what happens next.

The storm could equilibrate and continue sticking around, or it could

dissipate. “I’m unaware of any theoretical models for the Great Red Spot

dynamics in this state,” Orton says. “This is all guesswork, so it puts future

observers on notice to see what’s going to happen to this unique vortex.”

Simon says that the storm’s fate depends on what’s powering it, and

whether further changes are happening slowly or quickly.

“Slow changes allow for the storm to adjust in various ways, while

sudden changes would more likely cause disruption,” she says. “Based on the

current info we have, I would guess if it were to stabilize it will likely happen

in the next decade or less.”

So we don’t really know when the Great Red Spot will

disappear….?

Nope. But it is changing, and obviously so.

Nadia Drake is a science journalist who writes the National Geographic blog No

Place Like Home.

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Weird Life Found in Earth’s Driest Soil

Extreme microbes detected in the hyper-arid Atacama Desert hint at the ways

organisms might eke out a living in the Martian underground.

- See more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/weird-life-found-

earth-driest-soil-atacama-desert-mars-science/

By Michael Greshko P U B L I S H E D F E B R U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8

Chile's Atacama Desert is about as close as you can get to Mars without

hitching a ride on a rocket: salty, windswept, and so bone dry, it'd be easy to

mistake it for being lifeless.

But a new study confirms that within these seemingly barren soils, life

is waiting patiently for its chance to thrive. A few feet beneath the Atacama's

surface, exceptionally hardy strains of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes

have adapted to withstand punishing dryness, damaging ultraviolet radiation,

and extreme saltiness.

Most of the time, these critters are inactive, but when liquid water

makes its infrequent appearance, the microbes awake from their slumber and

shudder to life. (Find out how weird our home world really is in One Strange

Rock, premiering March 26 on National Geographic.)

The discovery, published today in the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences, demonstrates the incredible abilities of life on Earth to

thrive in surprising places. What's more, the find hints at how life may have

eked out a living on Mars after the planet's surface largely dried up billions of

years ago. Perhaps Martian microbes have even hung on until today, waiting

deep underground for the exceptionally rare dribble of water.

R O U S E D B Y R A I N

In comparison to Mars, which hasn't seen rain in eons, the Atacama

may look paradise. But by Earth standards, the Chilean desert is hellishly dry.

Some areas receive less than a quarter inch of rain a year, or less than one percent

of the 20th-century average for annual rainfall in the continental

United States. It's been so dry for so long, salts brought in on the wind have

accumulated without being washed away.

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To withstand bouts of dryness, organisms could feasibly dehydrate

themselves and go inactive, but it's hardly a given that this hibernation will

work. While the organisms may be protected from some damage, because

they're inactive, their natural repair mechanisms aren't working.

“It's kind of darned if you do, darned if you don't,” says National

Geographic grantee Penelope Boston, the director of NASA's Astrobiology

Institute.

Previous studies had found signs of microbial life in the Atacama's

hyper-arid soils, but it was possible that these microbes were wind-borne

interlopers that promptly died in the harsh landscape. To tell whether

anything truly lives there, researchers would need to track the soils over time,

to see how they responded to changes in their environment.

In March 2015, a team led by Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist

at Technical University Berlin, ventured into the Atacama weeks after a years'

worth of rain fell in the region and triggered floods and dramatic flower

blooms in some areas.

The team dug trenches up to three feet deep in areas they chemically

determined were otherwise untouched by humans. They returned in 2016 and

2017 to collect more samples, to see how any microbes present changed as the

desolate landscape dried out once again.

Back in the lab, team biologists examined the soil and found DNA,

which revealed that wetter areas closer to Chile's coastline had larger, more

diverse microbial populations than drier spots farther inland. They also saw

evidence of a molecule called ATP—cells' universal currency for storing and

transporting energy—as well as the building blocks for cell membranes.

As the soils dried out after the 2015 rains, researchers watched as ATP

levels decreased—exactly what you'd expect to see if microbes awakened by

rain had reentered hibernation.

The findings are a testament to “the amazing adaptability of life even

to sustain itself...where it rains sometimes only once a decade,” says

SchulzeMakuch. “Just a bit of moisture, and life can persist and make that area—

with very little water, high UV irradiation rates, and chemical stresses—a habitat,

at least a transient one.”

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D R I L L I N G F O R C L U E S

Researchers say that the results could help inform future searches for

life on Mars, but let there be no mistake: Mars is even less hospitable than the

Atacama.

The red planet's far thinner atmosphere and lack of a planetary

magnetic field mean that solar and cosmic radiation easily reaches the

surface. These rays can damage cells directly and spawn powerful oxidants,

including the chemicals that make up bleach.

“These things just eat up organic compounds, so it's very unlikely that

any life exists on the surface of Mars,” says study co-author Samuel Kounaves,

a Tufts University chemist and former lead scientist for NASA's Phoenix Mars

lander.

Future missions to Mars will have to dig many feet underground to

have a shot at finding life. At least one mission in the queue fits this bill: The

European Space Agency's ExoMars rover, due to land in 2020, has a drill

capable of digging more than six feet underground.

In the meantime, research will continue in the Atacama and other dry

spots on Earth, giving scientists valuable, if imperfect, clues to the nature of

our rust-colored neighbor.

“They’re absolutely critical,” says Boston of these earthly sites. “But

none of them are Mars.”

Michael Greshko writes online science news stories on everything from animal

behavior to space and the environment.

69

Universe’s First Stars Detected? Get the Facts.

Painstaking new work suggests that the burning balls of gas started forming about

180 million years after the cosmos burst into being.

- See more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/first-stars-universe-

big-bang-edges-space-science/

By Nadia Drake P U B L I S H E D F E B R U A R Y 2 8 , 2 0 1 8

Stars are our constant companions in the night sky, but seas of

twinkling lights weren’t always a feature of the cosmos. Now, scientists

peering back into deep time suggest that the earliest stars didn’t turn on until

about 180 million years after the big bang, when the universe as we know it

exploded into existence.

For decades, teams of scientists have been chasing—in fact, racing—to

detect the signatures of these first stars. The new detection, from a project

called EDGES, is in the form of a radio signal triggered when light from those

stars began interacting with the hydrogen gas that filled primordial empty

space.

If the signal stands up to scrutiny, the detection simultaneously opens

up a new line of cosmological inquiry and offers a few conundrums to tackle.

“The era of cosmic dawn has been entirely uncharted territory until

now,” says physicist Cynthia Chiang of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in

South Africa. “It's extremely exciting to see a new glimpse of this slice of the

universe's history, and the EDGES detection is the initial step toward

understanding the nature of the first stars in more detail.”

C O S M I C D A W N

Shortly after the universe was born, it was plunged into darkness. The

first stars turned on when hot gas coalesced around clumps of dark matter, then

contracted and became dense enough to ignite the nuclear hearts of

infant suns.

As those early stars began breathing ultraviolet light into the cosmos,

their photons mingled with primordial hydrogen gas, causing it to absorb

background radiation and become translucent. When that happened, those

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hydrogen atoms produced radio waves that traveled through space at a

predictable frequency, which astronomers can still observe today with radio

telescopes.

The same process is going on in modern stars as they continue to send

light into the cosmos. But the radio waves produced by those first stellar

gasps have been traveling through space for so long that they’ve been

stretched, or redshifted. That’s how astronomers identified the fingerprints of

the earliest stars in radio waves detected by a small antenna in Western Australia.

“The first indication of the signal emerged within weeks of turning on

the instrument in 2015,” says Judd Bowman of Arizona State University, a

coauthor of the study presenting the results in Nature. “At first we assumed it

was a problem with the instrument, because it was larger than anything we

expected.”

Bowman and his team spent the last two years working to rule out any

possible errors that might mimic a signal from the end of the cosmic dark

ages.

“As we progressed through dozens of tests, we gained confidence that

it is really a signal from the sky,” he says. “But it is important for another

team with a different instrument to confirm the detection.”

Chiang, who is on one of the other teams searching for the same signal,

agrees: “They rightfully suggest that the next step is to confirm the

measurement with other experiments,” she says.

“This type of measurement is incredibly difficult because of the

extreme sensitivity to systematic errors, and the EDGES team has done an

impressive and thorough job at investigating low-level instrumental effects.”

F R O M L I G H T T O D A R K

If the signal is real, it presents a challenge for some scientists who’ve

been thinking about how the early universe worked. For starters, the time

frame during which these earliest stars emerged lines up well with some

theories, but it’s not exactly bang on with others.

“It’s very weird in a variety of ways,” says UCLA’s Steven Furlanetto,

who studies how galaxies form and produce stars. “That may be an indication

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of exotic physics, which would be extremely exciting to a whole lot of people.”

For instance, it’s possible the detection is a sign of galaxies behaving in

unpredicted ways.

In previous work, Furlanetto and his colleagues started with actual

observations of the earliest known galaxies, and then rewound the cosmic

clock using computer models, searching for the age at which a signal from the

first stars might appear. The universe’s first galaxies are thought to be small,

fragile, and not that great at birthing stars, so Furlanetto wouldn’t expect the

signal to peak until about 325 million years after the big bang.

But if the first stars had already furnished enough light to make their

presence known 180 million years after the big bang, those early galaxies

must be doing something different.

“The simplest explanation would be that at early times, these very

small things are able to form stars more efficiently than they do at other

times,” he says. “This is pretty dramatically different in terms of our physical

understanding of galaxies.”

As well, the primordial hydrogen gas is absorbing photons at rates that

are at least two times higher than predicted. That’s problematic for some

ideas about the temperature of the early universe. It means that either the

primordial gas was colder than expected, or background radiation was hotter.

Intriguingly, a second paper appearing today in Nature suggests that

interactions with dark matter are one way to cool the gas to a temperature

where it could absorb more photons.

Dark matter makes up the bulk of the universe’s mass, but it doesn’t

behave like normal matter and has proven tricky to understand. It regularly

evades direct detection, and scientists are struggling to pin down, what,

exactly it is and how it has influenced the structure of the universe through

time.

“It would be extremely exciting if this was a signal of dark matter, and

it's not impossible,” says Tracy Slatyer of MIT.

But, she notes, it’s way too early to accept that conclusion. An alternate

possibility is that there are simply more photons for the hydrogen gas to

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absorb, though it’s not obvious where all those photons would come from in

the early universe. So she and others are waiting for independent

confirmation of the EDGES result before diving too deep into the possible

dark matter scenarios.

“I will be more comfortable once we’ve had a chance to try and think

about how to fit this into frameworks about how we understand dark matter

and galaxies,” Furlanetto says. “Because it is so unusual in comparison to our

expectations, I do worry that it is something entirely unrelated. I have no idea

what that could be.”

Nadia Drake is a science journalist who writes the National Geographic blog No Place

Like Home.

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