Interest in word formation is probably as old as interest in language itself as dr bauer points out in his introduction many of the questions that scholars are asking now were also being asked in the seventeenth eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. English word formation is a 1983 book by laurie bauer in which the author considers the relationship between word formation and other areas of linguistics without trying to provide a fully fledged theory of word formation the book has been credited as the first detailed study of present day english word formation content the book is composed of nine chapters in which he discusses english . English word formation laurie bauer professor laurie bauer bauer laurie no preview available 1983 common terms and phrases able acceptable added adjective affixes allow alternation analysed appear apply approach assumed base bauer become chapter chomsky clear combining common complex compounds concerned considered contain conversion . Laurie bauer english word formation cambridge cambridge university press 1983 pp xiv 311 volume 29 issue 2 john t jensen