6.2. Blending

Curtailment + composition of phrasal prototypes: ad-lib v ‘to speak without notes / preparation’ from Latin ad libitum ‘at pleasure’; subchaser n from submarine chaser. A derivational CW + clipping for 1 of its stems teen-ager. The jocular & ironical Lib-Labs (Liberal Labour MP’s) = clipping, composition & ellipsis + imitation of reduplication all in 1 W.

Blends, blendings, fusions / portmanteau Ws (L. Carroll). His blends: chortle v <chuckle+snort; mimsy a<miserable+flimsy; galumph v<gallop+triumph; slithy a< slimy+lithe. Blends = formations that combine 2 Ws & include the letters / sounds they have in common as a connecting element.

Snob = an abbreviation for sine nobilitate, written after a name in the registry of fashionable English schools to indicate that the bearer of the name did not belong to nobility. 1 of the recent examples is bit, the fundamental unit of information, short for binary digit. Paratroops; bloodalyser & breathalyser – apparatuses making blood & breath tests, slimnastics (slim + gymnastics).

The analysis into ICs: a blend = a W with the 1^st constituent represented by a stem whose final part is missing, & the 2^nd constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing. The 2^nd constituent used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix –on: nylon, rayon (вискоза) formed from the final element of cotton.

Depending upon the prototype phrases, 2 types of blends: additive; restrictive. The additive type is transformable into a phrase consisting of the respective complete stems combined by the conjunction &: smog < smoke & fog. The elements may be synonymous, belong to the same semantic field / be members of the same LG class of Ws: French+English > Frenglish; smaze < smoke+haze. Pakistan made up of elements taken from the names of the 5 western provinces: the initials of the Ws Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir & Singh, & the final part of Baluchistan. Brunch, transceiver< transmitter + receiver; Niffles<Niagara Falls.

The restrictive type is transformable into an attributive phrase where the 1^st element is modifier of the 2^nd: cine(matographic pano)rama>Cinerama; medicare<medical care; positron<positive electron; telecast<television broadcast. A variation of the same type – superposition, formed by pairs of Ws having similar clusters of sounds which provoke blending: motel<motorists’ hotel; shamboo<sham bamboo (imitation bamboo); atomaniac<atom maniac; slanguage<slang+language; spam<spiced ham. Blends are on the rise, especially in terminology & trade advertisements.

6.3. Graphical abbreviations. Acronyms

The close connection between the oral & written forms of the language → difficult to differentiate clippings formed in oral speech from graphical abbreviations. The latter often pass into oral speech & become widely used in conversation.

During & after World War I the custom became popular to call countries, governmental, social, military, industrial & trade organisations & officials by initial abbreviations derived from writing: the USSR, the U.N., the U.N.O., MP. The tendency today is to omit fullstops between the letters. Some abbreviations appear in both forms.

If the abbreviated written form lends itself to be read as though it were an ordinary English W & sounds like an English W, it is read like one. The Ws thus formed = acronyms. This way of forming new Ws is becoming more & more popular in political & technical vocabulary: UNO – United Nations Organisation, NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, SALT – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Acronyms are often homonymous to ordinary Ws; sometimes intentionally. The National Organisation for Women – NOW. Technical terminology: jato – jet-assisted take-off; laser – light amplification by stimulated emission radiation; maser – micro-wave amplification & stimulated emission radiation; radar – radio detection & ranging.

Acronyms became popular → special dictionaries: D.D. Spencer’s “Computer Acronym Handbook” (1974).

The other subgroup – initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading: B.B.C.; G.I. – Government Issue, a metonymical name for American soldiers on whose uniforms these letters are stamped; M.P., P.M. – Prime Minister; S.O.S., T.V.

The term abbreviation is also used for a shortened form of a written W / phrase used in a text in place of the whole. Omission of letters from 1 / more parts of the whole: abbr – abbreviation, bldg – building, govt – government, wd–word, doz / dz – dozen, ltd – limited, B.A. – Bachelor of Arts, N.Y. Sometimes the part / parts retained show alteration: oz for ounce; Xmas. Doubling of initial letters – plural forms as pp / p.p. for pages, ll for lines / cc for chapters. These are not separate Ws, only graphic signs / symbols representing them. The unabbreviated W is pronounced.

A specific type of abbreviations, no parallel in Russian: Latin abbreviations read as their English equivalents: ad lib (ad libitum) – at pleasure, a.m. (ante meridiem) – in the morning’, cf. (conferre) – compare; e.g. (exempli gratia) – for example; i.e. (id est) – that is; p.m. (post meridiem) – in the afternoon; viz (videlicet) – namely, sometimes read viz. Actual letters are also read in: a.m., e.g., i.e., p.m.

An feature of ME – the use of initial abbreviations for famous persons’ names: G.B.S. –George Bernard Shaw.

Initial abbreviation retains the valency of the prototypes. The difference in distribution ← a change of lexical / LG meaning. Abbreviations receive the plural & Possessive case inflections: M.P.’s, P.O.W.’s (prisoner of war); the V paradigm: okays, okayed, okaying. Like all Ns they can be used attributively: BBC television, TV program, UN vote.

A specifically English W pattern – initial abbreviations in which the 1^st element is a letter & the 2^nd a complete W: A-bomb, V-sign.

There is no uniformity in semantic relationships between the elements: Z-bar – a metallic bar with a cross section shaped like the letter Z; Z-hour – zero-hour ‘the time set for the beginning of the attack’, U – upper classes in U-pronunciation, U-language. Non-U is its opposite. Non-U speakers are those whose speech habits show that they do not belong to the upper classes. U-boat ‘a submarine’.