Minor types of word-formation

§1. Shortening / clipping
- significant subtraction, in which part of the original word or word group is taken away.
- 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 linguistic value of its own.
demo from demonstration
fridge from refrigerator
vac from vacuum cleaner

Causes of shortening
"the strain of modern life"
the demands of rhythm
loan word assimilation
Need for stylistic/emotional colouring

Characteristics of the new word
No phonetic changes, but may be spelling changes
dub (double), mike (microphone), trank (tranquilizer)
Give rise to new words
vacuum cleaner → a vac → to vac
fancy n (from fantasy), fancy v, fancier n, fanciful a, fancifully adv, fancifulness n, fancy-ball n, fancy-dress n, fancy-work (a word-family)
Belongs to the same part of speech as the prototype.
Usually follows the syllabic principle of word division,
pep (sl.) 'vigour', 'spirit' from pepper, or plane from aeroplane
exceptions:
prep (school sl.) 'homework' from preparation
Have pronounced stylistic colouring as long as their connection with the prototype is alive, so that they remain synonyms
hanky from handkerchief; ma from mama; nightie from nightdress (nursery slang)

Typical English patterns
Most shortened words are nouns
Verbs are rarely shortened, but for
to rev from to revolve and to tab from to tabulate
to phone, to taxi, to vac, to vet are not curtailed, but converted words
Shortened adjectives are very few and mostly reveal a combined effect of shortening and suffixation
comfy (comfortable), dilly (delightful), imposs (impossible), mizzy (miserable)

The correlation of a curtailed word with its prototype
The curtailed form is a variant or a synonym differing from the full form quantitatively, stylistically and sometimes emotionally
doc (doctor), exam (examination), Becky (Rebecca), Frisco (San Francisco), Japs (the Japanese).
can substitute their prototypes
render one of the possible meanings of the prototype (are monosemantic)
to dub (from double) 'to make another sound recording in a cinema film in a different language'.
The curtailed form is a separate word, the denotative or lexico-grammatical meaning of it being very different
fan (from a fanatic); fancy (fantasy); miss (mistress).
develop semantic structures of their own

Types of shortening
According to the clipped part:
final clipping (or apocope)
ad, advert (advertisement); coke (coca-cola); ed (editor); fab (fabulous)
initial clipping (or aphesis) creates separate lexical units with a meaning very different from that of the prototype
cute a, n (Am) (acute); to mend (amend); a story (history); to tend (attend).
Final and initial clipping may be combined (only the middle part remains).
flu (influenza); frig or fridge (refrigerator); tec (detective)
medial clipping (or syncope)
maths (mathematics), specs (spectacles)

§ 2. Ellipsis
is the omission of a word or words considered essential for grammatical completeness but not for the conveyance of the intended lexical meaning (shortening of phrases chiefly set expressions).
sitdown (sitdown demonstration)
daily (daily newspaper)
finals (final examinations)
perm (permanent wave)
pop (popular music)

§ 3. Blending / telescoping
Blends (fusions, portmanteau words) are words that combine two words and include the letters or sounds they have in common as a connecting element.
They have 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.

br
unch
eakfast
l
+
= brunch
Bit (the fundamental unit of information) short for binary digit
bloodalyzer and breathalyzer for apparatuses making blood and breath tests
slimnastics (blend of slim and gymnastics)

Types of blends
Additive blends
transformable into a phrase consisting of the respective complete stems combined by the conjunction and:
smoke + fog = smog 'a mixture of smoke and fog'.
French + English = Frenglish
slang + language = slanguage
Restrictive blends
transformable into an attributive phrase where the first element serves as modifier of the second
medicare ← medical care;
positron ← positive electron;
telecast ← television broadcast
motel ← motorists' hotel

§ 4. Abbreviation and acronymy
words formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts of a phrasal term

Types of orthoepic correlation between written and spoken forms
1) Acronym is a written form which reads as an ordinary English word
UNO ['junou] — United Nations Organization
NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
SALT — Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
laser - light amplification by stimulated emission radiation

2) Initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading, i.e. pronounced as a series of letters.
B.B.C. ['bi:'bi:'si:] — the British Broadcasting Corporation
M.P. ['em'pi:] - Member of Parliament
P.M. - Prime Minister
S.O.S. ['es'ou'es] — Save Our Souls, a wireless Morse code-signal of extreme distress

3) Shortened form of a written word or phrase used in a text in place of the whole for economy of space and effort. In oral speech the unabbreviated words are pronounced
bldg for building,
govt for government,
wd for word
ltd for limited,
B.A. for Bachelor of Arts,
N.Y. for New York State
some with alteration
oz (ounce);
Xmas (Christmas)
doubling of initial letters shows plural forms
pp/p.p. (pages)

4) Latin abbreviations which sometimes are not read as Latin words but substituted by their English equivalents.
a.m. (Lat ante meridiem) — in the morning;
cf. (Lat conferre) - compare;
e.g. (Lat exempli gratia) - for example;
ib(id) (Lat ibidem) — in the same place;
i.e. (Lat id est) - that is
Actual letters are also read in the cases:
a.m. ['ei'em], e.g., i.e., p.m.

5) abbreviations for famous persons' names and surnames
George Bernard Shaw is often alluded to as G.B.S. ['d3i:'bi:'es]
Herbert George Wells as H.G
6) the first element is a letter and the second a complete word.
A-bomb (atomic bomb), V-sign
7) popular (or jocular) etymology
Jeep 'a small military motor vehicle' comes from g.p. ['d3i:'pi:l (the initials of general purpose).
Okay, OK may be an illiterate misinterpretation of the initials in all correct

§ 5. Sound interchange
an opposition in which words or word forms are differentiated due to an alternation in the phonemic composition of the root.
the root vowel change
food – to feed
root consonant change
to speak - speech
life – to live
full – to fill;
whole – to heal;
knot – to knit;
tale – to tell
to bear - burden;
to bite - a bit;
to ride – a road;
to believe – a belief

§ 6. Distinctive stress
In English homographic, mostly disyllabic nouns and verbs of Romanic origin follow one pattern:
′conduct (“behaviour”)
to con′duct (“to lead or guide (in a formal way)”
accent, impact, compound, conflict, contest, contract, contrast, convict, digest, import, increase, insult, object (subject, project), perfume, permit, present, produce, progress, protest, rebel, record, survey.

Verbs retained this stress as many native disyllabic verbs were also stressed in this way:
be′come, be'lieve for'bid, for'get, for'give.
The native nouns are mostly forestressed and in the process of assimilation many loan nouns came to be stressed on the first syllable.
Same pattern is valid for adjectives and verbs:
'absent – to ab'sent;
'frequent - to fre'quent;
'perfect – to per'fect;
'abstract – to ab'stract.

It is NOT a regular pattern!
Forestressed
verbs and nouns:
comment,
exile,
figure,
quarrel,
focus,
process,
program
Verbs and nouns with the stress on the second syllable both:
accord,
account,
advance,
amount,
approach,
attack,
attempt,
concern,
defeat,
distress,
escape,
exclaim,
research

§ 7. Sound imitation (onomatopoeia or echoism)
is the naming of an action or thing by a more or less exact reproduction of a sound associated with it.
babble, blob, bubble, flush, gurgle, gush, splash
These words don’t reflect the real sounds directly, because the same sounds are represented differently in different languages
They are very expressive and sometimes it is difficult to tell a noun from an interjection.

Mostly they name sounds or movements in verb category, but verbs easily turn into nouns:
bang, boom, bump, hum, rustle, smack
Semantically:
sounds produced by human beings in the process of communication or in expressing their feelings:
babble, chatter, giggle, grunt, grumble, murmur, mutter, titter, whine, whisper
sounds produced by animals, birds and insects:
buzz, croak, crow, howl, moo, mew, neigh, purr, roar
the sound of water
bubble or splash
the noise of metallic things:
clink, tinkle
noise of forceful motion:
clash, crash, whack, whip, whisk

§ 8. Back-formation
the derivation of new words by subtracting a real or supposed affix from existing words through misinterpretation of their structure
has only diachronic relevance
beggar → to beg,
butler → to butle,
typewriter → to typewrite
pea comes from ME pese ← Lat pisa, but the English speakers thought that sweet peas(e) was a plural and turned the combination
peas(e) soup into pea soup
cherry from OFr cerise
The most productive type of back-formation in present-day English is derivation of verbs from compounds that have either -er or -ing as their last element.

Practical task # 8
1. Match the words and the types of word-formation at work in each case:
loss (←lose)
to vacuum-clean
to hiss
radar (radio detection and ranging)
hi-tech (style)
a granny
a docudrama
distinctive stress
ellipsis
Clipping
Blending
Sound interchange
Acronymy
Abbreviation
Back-formation
Sound imitation