Verbal strategies - Word coinage — AQA GCSE French
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Verbal strategies - Word coinage explained
Word coinage involves inventing new words by adapting English or French vocabulary, often by adding a French-sounding ending to an English word.
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While sometimes used by learners, this strategy usually produces words that do not exist in French. Even if the invented word does exist, it frequently carries a completely different meaning from the one intended, leading to confusion. Because it is rarely effective in promoting clear communication, examiners do not reward it highly. Students are strongly advised to avoid word coinage unless absolutely all other communication strategies, such as paraphrasing, describing features, or explaining functions, have completely failed during a speaking assessment.
Your focus
- Recognise the risks and limitations of inventing words based on English vocabulary.
- Evaluate alternative communication strategies to use instead of word coinage.
- Apply word coinage only when all other methods of conveying a message have been exhausted.
Verbal strategies - Word coinage exam tips
Examiner Tips
- 💡Prioritise paraphrasing or describing an object's function over inventing a new word based on English.
- 💡Be aware of false friends where a French word looks like an English word but means something completely different.
- 💡If you must guess a word, try to base it on a known French root rather than an English one, but only if no other strategy works.
Common Mistakes
- Adding a French accent or ending to an English word and assuming it will be understood; correction: avoid word coinage as it usually produces non-existent words or false friends.
- Relying on word coinage as a primary communication strategy; correction: use word coinage only as an absolute last resort if all other strategies fail.
- Believing that an invented word that sounds French will promote communication; correction: invented words rarely promote communication and often have a different, unintended meaning.