17. Correlation between compound and free phrases

There is a regular correlation (соотношение) btwn the system of free phrases and compounds. Correlation embraces (охватывает) both the structure and the meaning of compound words. It underlies (подразумевает) the entire (всю) system of productive present-day English composition conditioning (обусловленную) the derivational patterns and lexical types of compounds. The structural correlation reveals (показывает) itself in the morphological character of components range of basis, the order and arrangement. But it’s important to emphasize that correlation relations embrace only minimal non–expended nuclear types of phrases. The bases brought together in compound words are built only on the stems of those parts of speech that may form corresponding word groups. The head of the word group becomes the head member of the compound, so it’s 2-component. The typical structural relations expressed in word groups syntactically are conveyed (выражены) in compounds only by the nature and order of its bases. Compounds of each part of speech correlate only with certain types of minimal variable phrases.

18. Shortening

Shortening is the means of word formation which consists in the reduction (сокращении) of a word to one of its parts, as a result of which the new form receives some new form of linguistic value of its own. The part retained (сохраненная часть) doesn’t change phonetically, but changes in spelling (dub-double, vac - vacuum cleaner, mike – microscope, trank – tranquilizer). Shortening may take any part of a word, usually a single syllable, and throw away the rest: lab, phone – telephone, plane – airplane, flu – influenza (грипп).

Shortening is sometimes called clipping. The process often applies (употребляется) not just an existing word but to a whole phrase, thus the “zoo” is shortening from “zoological gardens”. The change is not only quantitative, a shortened word is always in some way different from its prototype in meaning and usage. They can take functional suffixes (bike – bikes). Most of these produced (получающихся) verbs by means of conversion (to phone, to vet). They also serve as bases of further word–formation by derivation or compounding (e.g.: fancy (n.) – is formed from fantasy, to fancy (v.) – fanciful (adj.), fancy-dress (n.) – compounding).

19. Correlations of a clip with its prototype

2 possible developments should be pointed out:

1) The shortened form may be regarded (считаться) as a variant or a synonym differing from the full form quantitatively, stylistically, emotionally. The prototype is usually stylistically and emotionally neutral (doc – doctor, exam – examination). The same with proper names: Becky – Rebecca, Frisco – San Francisco, Japs – Japanese. The connection btwn the prototype and the short form is not lost.

2) In the opposite case the connection can be established only etymologically. The meaning may be changed so much that the clipping becomes a separate word and a pair of etymological doublets comes into being (chap = chapman, fan – fanatic, fancy - fantasy, miss – mistress). The relationship btwn shorten words and the prototypes in the second group is irrelevant (не имеют отношения) to the present-day vocabulary system and is a matter of diachronic study.

Words belonging to the first group can be replaced by their prototypes and show in this way a certain degree of interchangeability (в-заменяемости) while the doublets are never equivalent lexically as there is no context where the prototype can replace the shortened word without a change of meaning.