17. Correlation between compound and free phrases

There is a regular correlation between the system of free phrases and compounds. Correlation embraces both the structure and the meaning of compound words. It underlies the entire system of productive present-day English composition conditioning the derivational patterns and lexical types of compounds. The structural correlation reveals 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 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 consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts, as a result of which the new form receives some linguistic value of its own. The part retained doesn’t change phonetically, hence the necessity of spelling changes (dub-double, fridge, frig – refrigerator, 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.

Shortening is sometimes called clipping. The process often applies 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 produce verbs by conversion (to phone, to vet). They also serve as bases for 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 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 between 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 between shorten words and the prototypes in the second group is irrelevant 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 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.