English LexicologyMorphological Processes (III): Minor Word-Formation Processes

Week 7

Instructor: Liu Hongyong

Major word-formation processes

Affixation (Derivation) Compounding

Endocentric compounds Exocentric compounds

Conversion

Minor word-formation processes

Initialism and acronyms Clipping Blending Back formation Words from proper names Reduplication Aphesis

Initialisms

Initialism is the making of a new word by using the first letters of words, and the new word is called an initialism.

When initialisms are pronounced with the names of the letters of the alphabet, they may be called alphabetisms.

When initialisms are pronounced like independent lexical items, they are called acronyms.

BBC British Broadcasting Corporation

VIP very important person

CIA Central Intelligence Agency

ISBN International Standard Book Number

ROM read-only-memory

WTO World Trade Organization

BO body odor

VD venereal disease

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

SCNU South China Normal University

AI artificial intelligence

VOA Voice of America

UFO Unidentified flying object

IMF International monetary fund

laser lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation

AIDS Acquired immune deficiency syndrome

TEFL Teaching English as a foreign language

TSSL Teaching English as a second language

TOEFL Test of English as a foreign language

TESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome

NATO North Altlantic Treaty Organization

UNESCO United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization

DINK dual income no kid

More examples of acronyms

Clipping

Clipping involves the type of word-formation device in which only part of the stem is retained. The beginning may be retained as in lab (from laboratory), the end as in phone (from telephone), the middle as in flu (from influenza).

More examples of Clipping

dorm (dormitory) photo (photograph)

demo (demonstration) memo (memorandum)

exam (examination) bus (omnibus)

fridge (refrigerator) maths (mathematics)

bike (bicycle) auto (automobile)

ad (advertisement) copter (helicopter)

gym (gymnasium) prof (professor)

Blending

A blend may be defined as a new lexeme built from parts of two (or more) words or a word plus a part of another word, for example, brunch (breakfast + lunch); smog (smoke + mog).

Words formed in this way are called ‘blends’. Blending = clipping + compounding.

More examples of blending

smoke + fog smog

Oxford + Cambridge Oxbridge

motor + hotel motel

slang + language slanguage

American + Indian Amerind

slim + gynmastics slimnastics

Back-formation

donate donation

edit editor

ept inept

daydream daydreamer

Which word is older? Which word do we have first?

Back-formation

Back-formation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly thought to be its derivative.

It involves the shortening of a longer word by cutting away an imagined/supposed derivational suffix.

editoredit edit + or edit

But how can I judge which is

right?

The word edit is often cited as an example of back-formation. In other words, edit is not the source of editor, as dive is not the source of diver, which is the expected derivational pattern; rather, the opposite is the case.

Edit in the sense “to prepare for publication,” first recorded in 1793, comes from editor, first recorded in 1712 in the sense “one who edits.”

Diachronic evidence (历时证据 ):

editor: first recoded in 1712

edit: first recoded in 1793, almost a hundred years later.

More examples of back-formation

peddle peddler televise television

baby-sit baby-sitter housekeep housekeeper

daydream daydreamer mass-produce mass-production

greed greedy ept inept

vaccum-clean

vaccum-cleaner eavesdrop eavesdropper

donate donation typewrite typewriter

Back-formation

Back-formation are created by analogy according to the following proportion ( 比例式 ).

writer: write :: peddler: ?

revision: revise :: television: ?

write is to writer as peddle is to peddler.

revise is to revision as televise is to television.

peddle

televise

Affixation Back-formation

seemingly similar, actually opposite

Words from Proper Names

Common Nouns Proper Names

Count N Mass N

Singular N Plural N

Nouns

Classification of Nouns

Words from Proper Names

Another minor word-formation process is the creation of new words from proper names. The transition from proper names to common nouns is a gradual one.

Proper names People’s name Name of places Book names

A good example: sandwich

It originates from John Montagu (1718-92), Fourth Earl of Sandwich. He was so fond of gambling that he would not leave the gambling table to have a proper meal. He was said to eat while playing. Later,

people used his name to refer to all similar food.

Words from names of places

china:

champagne: a white wine made in the region of Champagne, France.

watergate: originally the name of an office building in Washington, D.C.

Watergate

The Watergate scandal began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972.

Investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that this burglary was one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon's staff.

watergate now means any political scandal involving abuse of power, bribery, and obstruction of justice

Why is a scandal always a -gate ?

President-related scandals伊朗门 白宫秘书门 情报门

Politics-related scandalsKoreangate cattlegate 虐囚门

All kinds of scandals电话门 艳照门 奶粉门

catch-22 ( 第 22 条军规 ; 令人左右为难的规定 )

Catch-22 is a satirical novel by the American author Joseph Heller (born 1923), first published in 1961.

It refers to a paradoxical Air Force rule by which a pilot is considered insane if he keeps flying combat missions without asking for a relief, but if he does ask for a relief, he is considered sane and may not be relieved.

例如，如果我是一位还没有发表过作品的作家，也就是说，我的作品没有在出版社出版过；我拿着我的作品去出版社商讨出版问题，出版社的人却对我说，他们不替没有发表过作品的人出版作品。如果所有的出版社都给我同样的答复，我岂不是就遇上 Catch-22 了！

评副教授必须承担过省级科研项目 , 而申请省级科研项目的人员必须具有副教授资格 , 这就是 catch-22 。

Reduplication

Reduplication is a special case of affixation process, where the affixes are phonologically underspecified, receiving phonetic expression by copying adjacent segments.

total vs. partial redupliacation

Reduplication

Total reduplication (Walpiri data from Nash, 1980) :

Singular Plural

Kurdu ‘child’ kurdukurdu ‘children’

Kamina ‘girl’ kaminakamina ‘girls’

Partial reduplication (Maori data from Katamba, 1993):

nui ‘big’ nunui ‘big plural’

moe ‘sleep’ momoe ‘sleep together’

*Only the first CV of a word is reduplicated.

Reduplication

quack-quack ( 嘎嘎 , 鸭子 ( 小儿语 ) )

zigzag (from German Zickzack (Zack: tooth)

seesaw (reduplication of what?)

Aphesis

Aphetic forms are a special kind of shortening characterized by the omission of the initial unstressed syllable as in ’scuse me (excuse me) and ’cause (because).

professor

prof ’fessor

When pronounced casually, the first unstressed syllable may be omitted.

An instance of clipping

An aphetic formA clipping