Blending 拼缀法

 Task: Point out how the following words are made.

Smog, Sci-fi, Airtel, Medicare, skylab

smog （smoke +   fog）

fog intensified by smoke 

sci-fi   (science + fiction)  of, relating to, or being science fiction

airtel (air + hotel)         hotel situated at or close to an airport

medicare (medical + care)  a government program of medical care, esp. for the aged

skylab (sky + laboratory)   United States space station; in orbit from 1973 to 1979 

 Five types of blending according to their morphological structures

Head + tail: The first part of the first word + the last part of the second one:

Head + head: the first part of the first word + the first part of the second one

Head + word: the first part of the first word + whole form of the second one

Word + tail: whole form of the first word + the last part of the second one

Word + head: whole form of the first word + first part of the second one

 Features of Blends

The overwhelming majority of blends are nouns, very few are verbs and adjectives are even fewer.

The relation of the components of a blend can be classified into two kinds: the two parts may enjoy equal status and can be connected by “and” as in “brunch” or one component is the modificator of the other as in “psywar”.

Particularly common in commercial and journalistic language (newspapers and magazines) and in writing related to science and technology

 

3.2  Clipping   截短法

Types of clipping

Front clipping   Back clipping   Front and back clipping   Phrase clipping

Front clipping 首部截短

The deletion occurs at the beginning of the word.

quake (earthquake), copter (helicopter), bus (omnibus), phone (telephone)

Back clipping 词尾截短

The deletion occurs at the end of the word. 

ad (advertisement), lib (liberation) 自由党, prof (professor), dorm (dormitory), lab (laboratory), memo (memorandum)

Front and back clipping首尾部截短

flu (influenza), tec (detective), fridge (refrigerator), jams (pajamas)

•     Clipping may give rise to alterations in spelling and pronunciation.

Bike (bicycle), mike (microphone), coke (Coca cola), pram (perambulator)

This change in form and sound is possibly due to the informality typical of clipped forms.

For convenience and casualness in speech, people often omit one or two syllables from a word; and then when it is written down, a new spelling form is coined to suit the oral form. 

Phrase clipping短语截短

This involves the shortening of a phrase.

Pop (popular music), pub (public house), perm (permanent waves), zoo (zoological garden), Gents (Gentlemen's Room)

Features of clippings

Clippings may give rise to alterations in spelling and pronunciation.

Clippings may vary with social classes, groups or occupations, certain locutions are peculiar to their own groups.

The sportsman has ref (=referee). The schoolgirl has her hols(=holidays) and prep (=preparation of school work). But the college students has his exam, prof, math, lab, trig and gym.

A few of the clipped words like taxi, plane, bus are now accepted in the common core vocabulary of the English language. They have replaced their originals and some people are no longer aware that bus was clipped from omnibus and taxi from taxicab.

Stylistically speaking, clipped words are generally used in less formal situations than their full-length equivalents. Most of them are regarded to be informal and colloquial. But there are still some cases in which the original forms are regarded as bookish and people prefer the clipped words. e.g lunch (luncheon)

 

Acronymy 首字母缩略法

Definition

Two types of acronyms depending on the pronunciation of the words.

4.6.1. initialisms首字母缩略词

Definition

Classification

4.6.2. acronyms 首字母拼音词

Definition

Classification

3.3.1 Initialisms首字母缩略词

Initialisms are words formed by acronymy and pronounced as a sequence of letters. Two kinds of Initialisms.

Letters represent full words字母代表整个词: VOA   Voice of America

Letters represent constituents in a compound or just parts of a word: TV    television字母代表一个复合词的构成成分或词的一部分

 

      ID    identification or identity card

Acronyms首字母拼音法

A true acronym is a word formed from the initial letters but pronounced as a normal word.

A real innovation of the 20th century and has originated spontaneously in the military jargon of the First World War.

It remains a favorite with the military, but is also used by academics, bureaucrats, corporations, children, and all other classes of word coiners. Structurally, 3 kinds of acronyms:

Pure acronyms ( formed from initial letters only) 纯粹的首字母拼音词

Hybrid acronyms like radar (formed with more than initial letters)混合的首字母拼音词

Radio detecting and ranging

Syllabic acronyms, like Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) 首字母拼音词

A syllabic abbreviation (SA) is an abbreviation formed from (usually) initial syllables of several words, such as Interpol for International police国际警察组织.