Acknowledgements

After collecting complex words and researching English word formation for as long as I can remember, I decided to synthesize those experiences into an advanced, comprehensive and empirical study of relevant language, with a practical twist. My cumulative exposure to word formation through constant teacher-student interaction at my home institution has significantly contributed to the present project. For years, I have taught Word Formation and Morphology to undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw. The probing questions and nuanced interpretations of complex words which I encountered in class often led me to rethink and reformulate some of my earlier assumptions. To all those students who attended my Word Formation and Morphology classes and seminars, enlightening me morphologically, I would like to express my sincere gratitude.

Numerous editorial and specific tasks were actively and generously supported by an impressive number of people who can, and should, be named. I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the participation of a few patient helpers. As always, I am indebted to Sylwia Frankowska-Twardzisz – my personal 24/7 helpline service over the last 27 years – who (pre-/post-/re-)read the manuscript, each time finding convincing arguments for my continuous improvement of the text. Lorne Liesenfeld – friend and neighbour-linguist – served bowlfuls of his Zwiebelsuppe, patiently explaining to me the subtleties of German Wortbildung. Anne Dykstra generously provided me with so much detailed information about Frisian and Dutch morphology that I could barely absorb it at the time. I have been privileged to work with a small and informal research team called Writing Research Group, based at the Institute of Applied Linguistics. My colleagues and team members, Alisa Mitchel Masiejczyk, Dariusz Skotarek and Alasdair Cullen helped with endless but needful chores.

Alisa (re)read, and never misread, drafts of the entire manuscript, suggesting lexical and stylistic modifications, ranging from subtle improvements to substantial changes. Thanks to Alisa’s pair of sharp eyes and unparalleled writing skills, the quality of this text has been markedly improved. Dariusz, my doctoral student, conducted a worldwide Internet search for native-speaker language consultants of various languages, with extremely good results. He also helped with various automated cross-checks of the manuscript, without which I would have scrolled hundreds of pages for hours on end. Alasdair read all Introduction parts, providing me with practical suggestions and valuable comments.

This volume would not have assumed its present form, with the inclusion of hands-on activities involving forty-two languages, without the help of many. In order to guarantee the correctness of the content, at least one native speaker of each language was consulted. In most cases, two or three, and sometimes even four informants contributed their native-speaker judgements. The Translation parts in each section constitute the results of unprecedented collaborative work, involving four score and five fellow linguists from all over the world. Despite their own deadlines, teaching loads, research and administrative duties, they promptly responded to my often-baffling queries. Not only did they grade the acceptability of the translations earlier conducted by Google Translate, but they also offered their own constructive suggestions, provided alternate options and pointed out ambiguities or not-obvious translation traps. There were many email exchanges, generously offering detailed explanations of linguistic intricacies littering their languages. Knowing how easy it is to delete an unexpected email, I would like to sincerely thank the following colleagues (in alphabetical order):

Erjon Agolli, Nargiz Akhundova, Bistra Andreeva, Hanna Marie Solberg Andresen, Ana Ostroški Anić, Hediye Esra Arcan, Reili Argus, Xabier Artiagoitia, Miren Azkarate, Mirosław Bańko, Olga Baranova, Ergys Bezhani, Thomas Biermeier, Jekaterina Bliźniuk-Biskup, Peter Bojo, Vincenzo Nicolò Di Caro, Ken Ramshøj Christensen, Abril Velázquez Coca, Marta Pérez Diaz, Vladimir Dosev, Aidan Doyle, Adina Dragomirescu, Ina Druviete, Jakub Dunin-Borkowski, Edin Dupanović, Anne Dykstra, Katrine Rosendal Ehlers, Martin Everaert, Þórhallur Eyþórsson, Maciej Falski, Danil Fokin, Costas Gabrielatos, Peter Gilles, Elżbieta Górska, Daniela Hasa, Turo Hiltunen, Irena Hůlková, Haya Hussein, Sigita Ignatjeva, Violeta Januševa, Nejla Kalajdžisalihović, Renata Kamenická, Monika Kavalir, Shahla Kazimova, Jeong-Seok Kim, Claudine Kirsch, Ida Marie Thomsen Krarup, Naděžda Kudrnáčová, Péter A. Lázár, Vesna Lazović, Harold Lesch, Carsten Levisen, Lorne Liesenfeld, Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz, Frančiška Lipovšek, Ove Lorentz, Tomasz Łuszczek, Christine Martinez, Annagiorgia Migliorini, Diana Miteva, Kenji Miura, Luca Molinari, Janina Mołczanow, Magdalena Nigoević, Atsuko Nishiyama, Renáta Panocová, Dilek Peçenek, Zorana Perić, Cristina Procentese, Jelena Redli, Iwan Wyn Rees, Carlos Romualdo, Inesa Šeškauskienė, Fatma Shijaku, Hindrik Sijens, Eric Stachurski, Aneta Stefanova, Anders Steinvall, Eirik Tengesdal, Heli Tissari, Renáta Tomášková, Miklós Törkenczy, Dubravko Vencl, Liping Wang and Simone van Weteringen.

The translation tasks which I disseminated to language informants may have been perplexing and confusing at times, possibly causing misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the imperfect input. A few of the respondents expressed doubts or hesitation, requesting additional context. Being aware of the constraints accidently imposed on my informants, I wish to state here that any inaccuracies or possible mistakes resulting from these unavoidable limitations are solely my own responsibility. That is why I do not associate the language consultants with the translations in the text. In sum, I am to blame for any remaining flaws or errors.

I gratefully acknowledge the financial support which I received from the University of Warsaw’s Office for the “Excellence initiative – research university” (IDUB) Programme. Towards the end of my work on the manuscript, an “IDUB micro-grant” supported the completion of last-minute editorial and proofreading tasks.