Pavlk2017EnglishLexicologyI-1

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INITIALISMS

Initialisms, in common with acronyms, are produced from the initial letters of multiword expressions, but they are always spelled out (i.e. we do not read them as words), e.g. missing in action → MIA / em aɪ eɪ/, be back later → BBL / bi: bi: el/, etc.

GRAPHICAL ABBREVIATION

This type of shortening is restricted to written language. That is, graphically abbreviated words are never pronounced as abbreviations – they always have their original long form when we use them in spoken language, e.g. October →

Oct. /ɒk təʊbə/, road → Rd /rəʊd/, etc.

EXERCISES

1 Underline clipped words in the following sentences. What are their full forms?

(a)The demo has a five-minute time limit but gives you a precise feel for the game.

(b)Hugo’s bro John played bass guitar.

(c)Please excuse me for arriving late – the bus was delayed.

(d)Get off your butt and do some work!

(e)Wasn’t that Cynthia, who worked in the deli?

(f)Did you get my memo about the meeting?

(g)She works in a chemistry lab.

(h)I took a cab to the airport.

(i)We needed more sales reps on the road to compete with the big boys.

(j)Some guides and camp managers claim to know safe swimming spots, others say the crocs know them too.

(k)He jettisoned his parachute but died after his reserve chute failed to open in time.

(l)The band first played together at a high school prom.

(m)He was wearing a pair of sunnies.

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2 What do the following abbreviations stand for? Distinguish between acronyms, initialisms, and graphical abbreviations.

3 Use the following clipped words in the sentences below. Give their full forms.

(a)Former prime minister said he regrets not buying nuclear _______s for Australia.

(b)Have you paid your tennis club _______ yet?

(c)He’s a Vietnam _______.

(d)I need a new pair of _______.

(e)It is a _______ to make people pay for goods they hadn’t actually received.

(f)Look at my _______, the resemblance is stunning.

(g)Many celebrities develop a working class accent to increase their street

_______.

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(h)One of the players was injured during the match, so a _______ was brought on.

(i)She’s very hot and shivery, so I think she must have _______.

(j)The property has many interesting features and all mod _______s.

(k)Whales and _______s may not much resemble each other nowadays, but retain some hints of kinship.

(l)He went to pick up his girlfriend, dressed in a _______ and carrying a red rose.

(m)We had to take the dog to the local _______.

(n)Granddad took out his pipe and filled it with ________.

(OALD, CALD, LDCE)

4 What are the familiar (shorter) versions of the following names?

5 Write the clipped forms of the following words.

6 Now work in pairs and form a short dialogue, using the clipped words in exercises 3, 4, and 5.

Example:

A:My bro Gus has just bought an electric guitar from an online shop.

B:Did he have it delivered by UPS?

A:Yes, and it was paid by COD.

B:All he needs now is a pair of sunnies and he will look like a rock star.

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A:

B:

A:

B:

7 What is the graphical abbreviation of these words?

8 Translate these Slovak shortened words into English. Compare their wordformation in the two languages.

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5.2 Blending

Blending is a process in which (normally) two words merge into one. Since this process involves combining two root morphemes, it can be thought of as a special case of compounding. In the prototypical cases of blending, the final part of the first word and the initial part of the second word are clipped and the remaining parts are glued together, e.g. br(eakfast) + (l)unch → brunch, sm(oke) + (f)og → smog, etc. The blended word may be the result of either single clipping or double clipping:

SINGLE CLIPPING – only one word is clipped

emot(ion) + icon → emoticon stay + (va)cation → staycation

DOUBLE CLIPPING – both words are clipped

sit(uation) + com(edy) → sitcom sm(oke) + (f)og → smog

Since the word blending refers to merging parts of two successive morphemes, it is necessary to distinguish between blending on the one hand, and compounding combined with some form of abbreviation (e.g. clipping or initialism) on the other. For example, the lexemes blog (web + log) and high-tech (high + technology) contain no blending – they are just cases of compounding combined with initial or final clipping. Therefore, a combination of two roots can be called blending only if either the final part of the first morpheme or the initial part of the second morpheme (or both) are clipped.

EXERCISES

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word is derived from a longer form by omitting an imagined suffix, e.g. editor → to edit, lazy → to laze, etc. In back-formation, the longer (suffixed) word comes to be used in language first, and the shorter word is later derived from the longer one by means of reanalysis and analogy. That is, -or in editor and -y in lazy are reanalysed as suffixes and the remaining part of the word is seen as a root morpheme.

EXERCISES

1 Form verbs from the following words by means of back-formation.

2 Apply back-formation to the following words. Use them in the sentences below.

(a)A group of kids were loafing around outside.

(b)Don’t put that dress in the washing machine – the label says it should be

_________ed.

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(c)He _________es tables to help finance his tuition.

(d)The test is used to _________ a variety of diseases.

(e)He’s _________ing in his room because I wouldn’t let him have any more chocolate.

(f)I had another helping of ice cream out of pure _________.

(g)Mary said she would do the research for our project, but it’s been a week and she hasn’t done a thing. She’s such a _________.

(h)On every street corner there were traders _________ing their wares.

(i)She _________s on the tennis each year at Wimbledon.

(j)I want my colleagues to continue to _________ about the job and teach effectively.

(k)The new government has expelled all foreign _________s.

(l)I need to lose this _________ on my belly!

(m)Three people were killed and five _________ed in the crash.

(n)Weak coffee is one of my pet _________s.

(o)There are people who live in the dump and _________ garbage for a living.

(p)What’s all that _________ in the bathtub?

(q)I don’t want to hear any more of your _________ .

(r)She was caught trying to _________ a pair of jeans.

(OALD, CALD, LDCE)

5.4 Reduplication

Reduplication is a word-formation process in which two phonetically similar or identical morphemes or pseudo-morphemes are combined. Reduplication can be considered to be a special kind of compounding, although the individual components of reduplicatives are often meaningless and emotionally/stylistically coloured. Reduplicatives may be divided into rhyming and non-rhyming, or into full (the two morphemes are identical in every respect) and partial (the two morphemes are not identical).

EXERCISES

1 Fill in the first or the second component of the following reduplicatives. Explain their meaning.

(a)Stop shilly-shallying and make a decision now!

(b)He enjoys the ________-burly of political debate.

(c)The candidate gave a few unsatisfactory wishy-________ answers.

(d)I expect he’s out with his ________-farty friends.

(e)Have you tried this ice cream? It’s the bee’s ________, it really is.

(f)He won some money on the ________-gees.

(g)Going to night school might improve your chances of getting out of that

________drum job.

(h)She has these itsy-________ little hands and feet.

(i)He found himself drawn, _________-nilly, into the argument.

(j)They said, ‘Come in, sit down, blah, ________, ________, sign here’.

(k)Many of the country’s top scientists have joined the brain ________ to the US.

(l)Why is there such ________-mugger about the scheme?

(m)Woof! ________!’ he barked.

(n)I had a fender-________this morning, so I’ve got to go to the auto shop.

(o)The hotel was in a lovely location, but the facilities were only ________-

so.

(OALD, CALD, LDCE)

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2 Match the following reduplicatives with the correct meaning. Use them in the sentences below. Distinguish between various reduplication types.

(a)The shelves were covered with ornaments and useless knick-knacks.

(b)A few of the company ___________s have their own jets.

(c)Total nudity is still a definite ___________ on most of Europe’s beaches.

(d)The story was nothing more than idle ___________.

(e)Don’t you think that maybe it was just a ___________ bit strange?

(f)He likes to arrive with all the ___________, while I prefer to slip in the back door quietly.

(g)He was a ___________ little man.

(h)There was all sorts of ___________ going on at the party.

(i)If we had a fight I know I’d win, ___________.

(j)Mikey, do you need to go ___________?

(k)People were screaming and running ___________ down the steps to escape the flames.