14. Shortening and blending.

Shortening of words involves the shortening of both the words and word groups. Distinction should be made between shortening of a word in written speech (graphical abbreviation) and in the sphere intercourse (lexical abbreviation). Lexical abbreviation is the process of forming a word out of the initial elements (either letters or morphemes). That’s why words that are made up by lexical abbreviation are called initials (UK, USA). To this group also belong acronyms. This is a kind of initial which is read by a single word (UNO). Clipping consists in cutting off 2 or more syllables of a word. Words that have been shortened at the end are called apocope: e.g.: doc (doctor). Words that have been shortened at the beginning are called aphaeresis: e.g.: phone (telephone). Words that have been shortened from the middle are called – syncope: e.g.: specs (spectacles); maths (mathematics). There also can be a combination: e.g.: frige (refrigerator

Word-building processes involve not only qualitative but also quan¬titative changes. Thus, derivation and compounding represent addi¬tion, as affixes and free stems, respectively, are added to the underly¬ing form. Shortening, on the other hand, may be represented as significant subtraction, in which part of the original word or word group is taken away. Moreover, every kind of shortening differs from deriva¬tion, composition and conversion in being not a new arrangement of existing morphemes, but often a source of new ones.

The spoken and the written forms of the English language have each their own patterns of shortening, but as the!re is a constant exchange between both spheres, it is sometimes difficult to tell where a given s Newly shortened words appear continuously; this is testified by num¬erous neologisms, such as demo n from demonstration; frig or fridge n from refrigerator; mike n from microphone; telly or TV n from televi¬sion set; trank n from tranquilizer; trannie n from transistor; vac n from vacuum cleaner, etc.

Many authors are inclined to overemphasize the role of "the strain of modern life" as the mainspring of this development. This is, obvi¬ously, only one of the reasons, and the purely linguistic factors should not be overlooked. Among the major forces are the demands of rhythm, which are more readily satisfied when the words are monosyllabic.

When dealing with words of long duration, one will also note that a high percentage of English shortenings is involved into the process ofhortening really originated.

loan word assimilation. Monosyllabism goes farther in English than in any other European language, and that is why shortened words sound more like native ones than their long prototypes. Curtailment may therefore be regarded as caused, partly at least, by analogi¬cal extension, i.e. modification of form on the basis of analogy with existing and widely used patterns. Thus, the three homonyms result¬ing from abbreviation of three different words, van 'a large covered ve¬hicle1, 'a railway carriage', the short for caravan] van 'the front of an army', the short for vanguard which in its turn is a clipping of the French word avant-garde; and van — a lawn tennis term, the short for advantage, all sound quite like English words. C f. ban n and v, can, fan, man, ran (Past Indefinite Tense of run), tan and the obsolete van 'wing' — a variant of fan.

Shortening of spoken words or curtailment consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (whether or not this part has previously been a morpheme), as a result of which the new form acquires some lin¬guistic value of its own.

The part retained does not change phonetically, hence the necessity of spelling changes in some of the examples above (dub : : double, mike : : microphone, trank : : tranquilizer, etc.).

The change is not only quantitative: a curtailed word1 is not mere¬ly a word that has lost its initial, middle or final part. Nor is it pos¬sible to treat shortening as just using a part for the whole as Ch. Hock-ett2 suggests, because a shortened word is always in some way dif¬ferent from its prototype in meaning and usage.

Shortening may be regarded as a type of root creation because the resulting new morphemes are capable of being used as free forms and combine with bound forms. They can take functional suffixes: "Ref's Warning Works Magic" (the title of a newspaper article about a foot¬ball match where the referee called both teams together and lectured them on rough play). C f. sing. — bike, bod,3 pi. — bikes, bods, Inf. — to vac,4 Part. I — vacking, Past Indefinite tense and Part. II — vacked. Most of these by conversion produce verbs: to phone, to vac, to vet, etc., in which the semantic relationship with the prototype remains quite clear. They also serve as basis for further word-formation by derivation or composition: fancy n (from fantasy), fancy v, fancier n, fanciful a, fancifully adv, fancifulness n, fancy-ball n, fancy-dress n, fcuicy-work n, etc.; or fantasmo 'supremely fantastic' from fa/itastic-\—mo on the anal¬ogy with supremo 'a chief.

It is interesting in this connection to compare the morphemes tele-in televi-sion and telecast. They are homonymous but not identical. Tele- in television is derived from Gr tele 'far', it is a combining form used to coin many special terms denoting instruments and processes.

BLENDING

Blendings (fusions) are formations that combine 2 words that include the letters or sounds that they have as a connecting element. e.g.: slymnastics. Also there is one more name for this phenomenon which is ‘portmanteau words’ which is created by Lewis Carroll. The 2nd constituent when used in a serious of similar blends may turn into a suffix, e.g. suffix ‘on’ – was formed from the final element of the word ‘cotton’. This process is very active in present day word form in the English language. e.g.: regonomics, workaholic. The process of formation is also called telescoping, because the words seem to slide into one another like sections of a telescope.

It has already been mentioned that curtailed words from compounds are few; cases of curtailment combined with composition set off against phrasal prototypes are slightly more numerous, e. g. ad-lib v ‘to speak without notes or preparation’ from the Latin phrase ad libitum meaning ‘at pleasure’; subchaser n from submarine chaser. A curious derivational compound with a clipping for one of its stems is the word teen-ager (see p. 35). The jocular and ironical name Lib-Labs (Liberal Labour MP’s, i.e. a particular group) illustrates clipping, composition and ellipsis and imitation of reduplication all in one word.

Among these formations there is a specific group that has attracted special at-tention of several authors and was even given several different names: blends, blendings, fusions or portmanteau words. The last term is due to Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”. One of the most linguistically conscious writers, he made a special technique of using blends coined by himself, such as chortle v <chuckle+snort; mimsy a<miserable+flimsy; galumph v<gallop+triumph; slithy a< slimy+lithe.1 Humpty Dumpty explaining these words to Alice says “You see it’s like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word.” The process of formation is also called telescoping, because the words seem to slide into one another like sections of a telescope. Blends may be defined as formations that combine two words and include the letters or sounds they have in common as a connecting element.

Compare also snob which may have been originally 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. One of the most recent examples is bit, the fundamental unit of information, which is short for binary digit. Other examples are: the already mentioned paratroops and the words bloodalyser and breathalyser for apparatuses making blood and breath tests, slimnastics (blend of slim and gymnastics).

The analysis into immediate constituents is helpful in so far as it permits the definition of a blend as a word with the first constituent represented by a stem whose final part may be missing, and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing. The second constituent when used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix -on is, for instance, well under way in such terms as nylon, rayon,-silon, formed from the final element of cotton.

Depending upon the prototype phrases with which they can be correlated two types of blends can be distinguished. One may be termed additive, the second restrictive. Both involve the sliding together not only of sound but of meaning as well. Yet the semantic relations which are at work are different. The first, i.e. additive type, is transformable into a phrase consisting of the respective complete stems combined by the conjunction and, e. g. smog<smoke and fog ‘a mixture of smoke and fog’. The elements may be synonymous, belong to the same semantic field or at least be members of the same lexico-grammatical class of words: French+English> Frenglish; compare also the coinage smaze <smoke+haze. The word Pakistan was made up of elements taken from the names of the five western provinces: the initials of the words Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir and Singh, and the final part of Baluchistan. Other examples are: brunch<breakfast and lunch’, transceiver< transmitter and receiver; Niffles<Niagara Falls.

The restrictive type is transformable into an attributive phrase where the first element serves as modifier of the second: cine(matographic pano) rama>cinerama. Other examples are: medicare<medical care; positron<positive electron; telecast<television broadcast. An interesting variation of the same type is presented by cases of superposition, formed by pairs of words having similar clusters of sounds which seem to provoke blending, e. g. motel<motorists’ hotel: the element -ot- is present in both parts of the prototype. Further examples are: shamboo<sham bamboo (imitation bamboo); atomaniac<atom maniac; slan-guage<slang +language; spam<spiced ham. Blends, although not very numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise, especially in terminology and also in trade advertisements.

15. borrowings in English

By a borrowing or loan-word we mean a word which came into the vocabulary of one language from another and was assimilated by the new language.

After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans these two opposing peoples come into peaceful contact. Trade is carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things. The first among them are new things to eat. It has been mentioned that Germanic cattle-breeding was on a primitive scale. Its only products known to the Germanic tribes were meat and milk. It is from the Romans that they learn how to make butter and cheese and, as there are naturally no words for these foodstuffs in their tribal languages, they are to use the Latin words to name them (Lat. butyrum, caseus). It is also to the Romans that the Germanic tribes owe the knowledge of some new fruits and vegetables of which they had no idea before, and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables enter their vocabularies reflecting this new knowledge: cherry (Lat. cerasum), pear (Lat. pirum), plum (Lat. prunus), pea (Lat. pisum), beet (Lat. beta), pepper (Lat. piper). It is interesting to note that the word plant is also a Latin borrowing1 of this period (Lat. planta).

Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: cup (Lat. cuppa), kitchen (Lat. coquina), mill (Lat. molina), port (Lat. portus), wine (Lat. vinum).

The etymological structure of the English vocabulary

Etimology – branch of lexicology, which deals with the different possesses of assimilation or adaptation of the English words The English vocabulary is very rich. From the point of view of etymology, English vocabulary can be divided into 2 parts: 70% of borrowings in English language, 30% of native words. Borrowings usually take place under 2 circumstances: 1) when people have a direct contact with another people; 2) when there is a cultural need to borrow a word from another languages. ROMANIC BORROWINGS. Latin borrowings: they are divided into 3 periods: 1) 5 century, words are connected with trade (pound, inch, kitchen, wall, port); 2) the time of Christianity, words are connected with religion (Latin words: alter, cross, dean; Greek words: church, angel, devil, anthem); 3) time of renaissance, words were borrowed after great vowel shift (17 century) (item, superior, zoology, memorandum, vice versa, AM, PM). French: the largest group of borrowings is French borrowings. Most of them came into English during the Norman Conquest. Normans belong to the race of scand. origin but during their residence in Normandy they had given up the native language and adopted the French dialect. During 3 centuries after the Norman Conquest French was the language of the court, of the nobility. There are following semantic groups of French borrowings: 1) words relating to government (administer, empire, state); 2) ~military affairs (army, war, battle); 3) ~jurisprudence (advocate, petition, sentence); 4) ~fashion (luxury, coat, collar); 5)~jewelry (topaz, pearl); 6)~ food and cooking (lunch, cuisine, menu); 7)~literature and music (pirouette, ballet). Italian: cultural and trade relations between England and Italy in the epoch of renaissance brought in many Italian words: 1) musical terms: concert, solo, opera, piano, trio; 2) political terms: manifesto; 3) geological terms: volcano, lava. Among the 20th century Italian borrowings, we can mention: incognito, fiasco, and graffiti. Spanish: a large number of such words was penetrated in English vocabulary in 1588 when Phillip 2 sent a fleet of armed ships against England (armada, ambuscade); trade terms: cargo, embargo; names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, guitar; names of vegetables and fruits: tomato, tobacco, banana, ananas. GERMANIC BORROWINGS: Scandinavian: By the end of the Old English period English underwent a strong influence of Scandinavian due to the Scandinavian conquest of the British Isles. As a result of this conquest there are about 700 borrowings from Scandinavian into English (pronouns: they, them, their; verbs: to call, to want, to die; adj: flat, ill, happy; noun: cake, egg, knife, window. German: in the period of Second World War such words were borrowed as: luftwaffe (возд. авиация); bundeswehr (вооруженные силы ФРГ). After the Second World War the following words were borrowed: Volkswagen, berufsverbot ( запрет на профессию ( в ФРГ )), and some other words(cobalt, wolfram, iceberg, rucksack). Dutch: Holland and England have had constant interrelations for many centuries and more then 2000 Dutch words were borrowed into English. Many of them are nautical terms and were mainly borrowed in the 14th century, such as: skipper, pump, keel, dock; and some words from everyday life: luck, brandy, boss. Russian: Among early Russian borrowings there are mainly words connected with trade relations, such as: rubble, kopeck, sterlet, vodka, and words relating to nature: taiga, tundra, steppe. After the October revolution many new words appeared in Russia, connected with the new political system, new culture, and many of them were borrowed into English: collectivization, udarnik, Komsomol and also translation loans: five-year plan, collective farm. One more group of Russian borrowings is connected with perestroika, suck as: glasnost, nomenclature, and apparatchik. Native words are divided into 3 basic groups: 1) the words which have cognates (words of the same etymological root, of common origin) in many Indo-European languages. For ex: family relations: father (Vater), mother, daughter, son; parts of human body: foot, heart, nose; wolf, cow, cat; numerous verbs: stand, sit; the numerals from 1 to 100; heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star. 2) the words, which have cognates with words of the language of the Germanic group. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the I-E group/ For ex: parts of human body: head, hand, arm, finger; animals: bear, fox; natural phenomena: rain, frost; human dwellings and furniture: house, bench; adj: green, blue, old, good, small, high; verbs: see, hear, tell, say, drink, give. 3) the English element proper. Ex.: bird, boy, girl, woman, lord, always. Assimilation – the process of adaptation phonetic, gram. and semantic features of language. 3 basic types: phonetical – sounds are adopted; grammatical – when a borrowed word occurs (спутник); semantic – connected with the meaning of the word.

International words. It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages and not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts, which are significant in the field of communication. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e.g. philosophy, chemistry, biology; sports terms: football, baseball, tennis; foodstuffs and fruits imported from exotic countries: coffee, chocolate, banana, grapefruit; clothing: pullover, shorts.

Etymological doublets – are pairs of words, which have one and the same original form, but which have acquired different forms and even different meanings during the course of linguistic development. Ex: the words shirt and skirt etymologically descend from the same root. Shirt is a native word, skirt is a Scandinavian borrowings. Their phonetic shape is different, and yet there is a certain resemblance, which reflects their common origin. Their meanings are also different but easily associated: they both denote articles of clothing. Etymological triplets (groups of three words of common root) – hospital (Lat) – hostel (Norm. Fr) – hotel (Par. Fr).

Translation-Loans. This term is equivalent to borrowing. They are not taken into the vocabulary of another language more or less in the same phonetic shape in which they have been functioning in their own language, but undergo the process of translation. It is obvious that it is only compound words, which can be subjected to such an operation, each stem being translated separately. Ex: collective farm (колхоз); wonder child (Wunderkind); five-year plan (пятилетка)