Shortening. Types of shortening

1. Conversion.

Conversion, one of the principal ways of forming words in Modern English, is highly productive in replenishing the English word-stock with new words. The term “conversion” refers to the numerous cases of phonetic identity of two words belonging to different parts of speech. As a rule we deal with root-words, although there are exceptions. This phenomenon may be illustrated by the following cases: work – to work, love – to love, paper – to paper, brief – to brief, wireless – to wireless, etc.

It is fairly obvious that in the case of a noun and a verb not only are the so-called initial forms (i.e. the infinitive and the common case singular) phonetically identical, but all the other noun forms have their homonyms within the verb paradigm, cf. my work - I work, public works - he works; my dog - I dog, the dog's head - many dogs - he dogs, etc.

It is necessary to call attention to the fact that the para­digm plays significant role in the process of word-formation in general and not only in the case of conversion. Thus, the noun cooker (cf. gas-cooker) is formed from the verb to cook not only by the addition of the suffix - er, but also by the change in its paradigm. As the paradigm is a morphological category, conversion can be described as a mor­phological way of forming words.

Synchronically we deal with pairs of words related through conversion that co-exist in contemporary English. As one of the two words within a conver­sion pair is semantically derived from the other, it is of great theoretical and practical importance to determine the semantic relations between words related through conversion. Summing up the findings of the linguists who have done research in this field we can enu­merate the following typical semantic relations.

I. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs).

This is the largest group of words related through conver­sion. The semantic relations between the nouns and verbs vary greatly.

If the noun refers to some object of reality (both animate and in animate), the converted verb may de­note:

l) action characteristic of the object, e.g. ape n — ape v  — 'imitate in a foolish way'; butcher n — butcher v  — 'kill ani­mals for food, cut up a killed animal';

2) instrumental use of the object, e.g. screw n  — screw v  — 'fasten with a screw'; whip n  —whip v  — 'strike with a whip';

3) acquisition or addition of the object, e.g. fish n  — fish v  — 'catch or try to catch fish'; coat n— 'covering of paint' — coat v — put a coat of paint on';

4) deprivation of the object, e.g. dust n — dust v  — 'remove dust from something'; skin n — skin v — 'strip off the skin from'; etc.

II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives). The verb generally referring to an action, the converted noun may denote:

1) instance of the action, e.g. jump v — jump n — 'sudden spring from the ground'; move v —move n — ‘a change of posi­tion';

2) agent of the action, e.g. help v — help n — 'a person who helps'; s witch v — 'make or break an electric circuit' — switch n — 'a device for making or breaking an electric circuit';

3) place of the action, e.g. drive v — drive n — ‘a path or road along which one drives'; walk v — walk n — ‘a place for walking';

4) object or result of the action, e.g. peel v — peel n — ‘the outer skin of fruit or potatoes taken off; find v — findn — ‘something found, esp. something valuable or pleasant’; etc.

These are the most frequent types of conversion.

There are cases of conversion of adjectives into nouns (substantivation of adjectives). Here we must distinguish full and partial substantivation. Full substantivation is when the adjective becomes the noun and possesses all its categories: relative a – relative n, criminal a – criminal n. Partial substantivation – when the adjective have only some features of the noun. It may be used with the article the without any endings in the plural: old – the old, young – the young.

2. Compounds and free word-groups.

Word-composition is a highly productive type of word-building when new words are produced by combining two or more smaller words. The result of this process is c o m p o u n d s, i.e. words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms. In a compound word the components have semantic integrity and structural cohesion which make them function in a sentence as a separate lexical unit, e.g., week-end, time-table, blackboard.

Word-composition may be studied from synchronic and diachronic point of view.

Synchronically we concentrate our attention on such problems as:

1) the principal features of compounds in Modern English which help to distinguish, them from other structural types of words and from free phrases;

2) the structure of compounds in Modern English, in particular, their semantic structure;

3) different principles underlying different classifications of compounds.

Like all other structural types of words compound words are characterized by nonseparability, i.e. structural and semantic nonseparability (the term of Smirnitsky), which finds expression in the graphic, phonetic, morphological and semantic integrity.

1) the graphic indication of nonseparability is a solid or hyphenated spelling, e.g., railway, ice-cream, war-path. This criterion is not reliable, as the same unit may exist in solid and hyphenated spelling, or with a break between the components, e.g., air-line, airline, air line; headmaster, head-master, head master; loudspeaker, loud-speaker, loud speaker.

2) the phonetic indication of nonseparability is the unity of stress.

Compound words have three stress patterns:

a) a high or unity stress on the first component (blackboard, honeymoon, ice-cream);

b) a double stress, with a primary stress on the first component and secondary stress on the second component (blood-vessel, washing-machine);

c) both ICs have level stress, e.g., compound adjectives are double stressed (gray-green, new-born, easy-going, icy-cold).

'overwork – extra work;	'overwork – hard work injuring one’s health;
'mankind – men, contrasted with women;	'mankind – the human race;
'bookcase – a piece of furniture with shelves for books.	'bookcase – a paper cover for books.

3) the morphological indication of nonseparability is the specific order and arrangement in which bases follow one another. The orderin which the two elements are placed within a compound is rigidly fixed: it is the second element that makesthe head-member of the word, i.e. its structural and semantic centre, e.g., chess-board, notice-board, sign-board. Then, the connectivу elements which ensure the integrity, leave no doubt that a combination is a compound. These elements are few, they are: - s- (craftsman), - o- (Anglo-Saxon), - i- (handiwork).

4) the semantic indication of nonseparability is the semantic integrity of the compound, i.e. a compound word has a single semantic structure irrespective of the amount of components, and expresses only one meaning.

When viewed from the semantic structure compound words fall into:

a) semantically transparent (fully or partially motivated) and b) semantically non-transparent (lack motivation altogether, idiomatic). The meaning of semantically transparent compounds is made up of the combined lexical meaning of the bases and the structural meaning of the pattern, e.g., life-boat – a boat for saving lives from wrecks, boat-life – life on board the ship; a fruit-market – market where fruit is sold, market-fruit – fruit designed for selling. There are compounds that are completely motivated, like sky-blue, foot-pump, tea-taster; and partially motivated, like hand-bag, flower-bed, handcuffs, a castle-builder (" a flower-bed " its not a piece of furniture, " a castle-builder " is not a builder, but a dreamer, one who builds castles in the air).

There are compounds that lack motivation, it is impossible to deduce the meaning of a compound from the lexical meaning of the bases and one meaning of the pattern, e.g., eye-wash – smth said or done to deceive a person; f iddlesticks – nonsense, rubbish; a night-cap – adrink taken before going to bed at night.

We spoke about different criteria, graphic, phonetic, morphological and semantic, which help to distinguish compound words from free phrases, but no one type of criteria is sufficient for establishing whether the unit is a compound or a phrase. In the majority of cases we have to depend on the combination of two or more types of criteria.

3. Classification of compounds.

Compound words may be described from different points of view and consequently may be classified according to different principles.

They may be viewed from the point of view of:

1) relations between components,

2) the part of speech to which the compound belongs;

3) the type of composition and the linking element,

4) the type of that are brought together to form a compound,

5) correlation between compounds and free phrases.

Classification from the point of view of general relationship and degree of semantic independence of components, the compound words fall into two classes:

a) coordinative (often termed copulative or additive),

b) subordinative (often termed determinative).

In coordinative compounds the two components are semantically equally important. Here we distinguish:

a) reduplicative compounds which are made up by the repetition of the same base, e.g., bye-bye, fifty-fifty;

b) the compounds made by joining the phonically variated rhythmic twin forms, e.g., zig-zag, chit-chat, sing-song, helter-skelter, a walkie-talkie;

c) additive compounds which are built on stems of the independently functioning words of the same part of speech, e.g., a queen-bee, an actor-manager, a secretary-stenographer.

In subordinative compounds the components are neither structurally nor semantically equal in importance but are based on the domination of the head-member which is the second component. This second component influence the part-of-speech meaning of the whole compound, e.g., stone-deaf, age-long (adj), a baby-sitter, a wrist-watch (nouns).

According to the part of speech to which the compound belongs there are:

a) compound nouns within which we distinguish end ocentric compound nouns (the referent is named, by one of the elements, e.g., blackboard, bedroom, madman) and exocentric the combination of both elements names the referent, e.g., pickpocket a thief, dare-devil "a murderer", turncoat "a renegade";

b) compound verbs among which we distinguish verbs formed by means of conversion from the stems of compound nouns, e.g ., to blackmail, to blacklist, to pinpoint, to nickname, to honeymoon and verbs formed by back – formation from the stems of compound nouns, e.g., to baby-sit (from baby-sitter), to stage-manage (stage-manager), to house-keep (house-keeping), to play-act (play-acting), to playact (play-acting).

They are often termed pseudo-compound verbs, because they are created as verbs not by the process of composition but by conversion and back-formation.

c) compound adjectives, e.g., snow-white, light-blue, peace-loving, hard-working, man-made, safety-tested, heart-broken, well-read.

According to the type of composition and the linking element the compounds may be classified into:

1) Words formed by merely one constituent after another in a definite order, which may be a syntactic (the order of bases runs counter to the order in which the motivating words can be brought together under the rules of syntax of the language. E.g., adjectives cannot be modified by preceding adjectives, but – red-hot, bluish-black, pale-blue; noun modifiers are not placed before adjectives or participles, yet – oil-rich, rain-driven) and syntactic (the components are placed in the order that resembles the order of words in free phrases, e.g., blue-bell, mad-doctor, blacklist, day-time).

2) Compound words whose components are joined together with a special linking element:

a) Indo-European link vowel "o" (gasometer, speedometer, electro-dynamic, video-phone, video-disc);

b) Latin link "i" (handicraft, tragicomic);

c) OE Genetive case "s" (spokesman, towns-man, statesman, sportsman, saleswoman, bridesmaid);

d) possessive case " s" (crow's feet – морщины у глаз; cat's paw – легкая рябь на воде; dog's nose – джин с пивом).

Compounds may also be classified according to the type of components that are brought together to make a compound. There are compounds proper and derivational compounds. Compounds proper are formed by joining together bases built on the stems or on the word-forms of independently functioning words with or without the help of special linking element, e.g., door-step, age-long, babysitter, looking-glass, handiwork, sportsman. Derivational compounds, e.g., long-legged, three-cornered, differ from compounds proper in the nature of bases and their second component. The two components of the compounds are the suffix "-ed" meaning "having" and the base built on a free word-group "long legs".

According to the correlation between compounds and free word-groups it is possible to classify compounds into four major classes: adjectival-nominal, verbal-nominal, nominal and verb-adverb.

1. Adjectival – nominal compounds have one following patterns: compound adjectives of n + a pattern (snow-white, age-long, care-free); compound adjectives of num + n pattern (two-day beard, a seven-day week); derivational compound adjectives of (a/n + n) + ed pattern (long-legged, bell-shaped, doll-faced).

2. Verbal – nominal compounds have one derivational structure n + n_{V ,} i.e. a combination of a noun-base with a deverbal suffixal noun-base (bottle-opener, stage-manager, peace-fighter, rocket-flying, office-management, price-reduction).

3. Nominal compounds are nouns of highly productive derivational pattern n + n; both bases are simple stems (horse-race, pencil-case, windmill).

4. Verbal - adverbial compounds are derivational nouns built with the help of conversion according to the pattern (v + adv) + conversion (a breakdown, a castaway, a runaway).

4. Shortening. Types of shortening.

Word-building processes involve not only qualitative but also quantitative changes. Thus, derivation and compounding represent addition as suffixes and free stems respectively are added to the underlying form. Shortening, on the other hand, may be represented as subtraction, in which part of the original word is taken away. The types of shortening are: clipping, blending, abbreviation and acronyms.

Clipping is a type of word-building shortening of spoken words. Shortening consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts, as a result of which the new form acquires some linguistic value of its own. The part retained does not change phonetically, hence the necessity of spelling changes, e.g., double:: dub, microphone:: mike, tranquilizer:: trank.

The generally accepted classification of shortened words is based on the position of the clipped part.

According to whether it is the final, initial or middle part of the word that is cut off we distinguish:

1) initial clipping (or aphesis, i.e. a pheresis, from Greek "aphairesis" - a taking away), e.g., cap (captain), phone (telephone), story (history), chute (parachute);

2) final clipping (or a pocope, from Greek "apokoptein" - cut off), e.g., cap (captain), gym (gymnasium, gymnastics), lab (laboratory), ed (editor);

3) medial clipping (or syncope, from Greek "syncope" a cutting up), e.g., fancy (fantasy), ma'am (madam).

Final and initial clipping may be combined and result in the curtailed words with the middle part of the prototype retained, e.g., flu (influenza), frig (refrigerator), tec (detective).

If we approach the shortened word from the point of view of the structure of the prototype we distinguish two groups:

1) shortened words correlated with words, e.g., cabbie (cabman), nightie (nightdress), teeny (teenager);

2) shortened words correlated with phrasea, e.g., finals (final examinations), perm (permanent wave), pop (popular music), pub (public house), taxi (taximeter-cab).

Unlike conversion, shortening produces new words in the same part of speech. The bulk of shortened words are nouns. Verbs are rarely shortened, e.g., rev (revolve), tab (tabulate). To phone, to taxi, to vac and others are converted nouns. Clipped adjectives are also very few, e.g., comfy (comfortable), awk (awkward), impos (impossible), mizzy (miserable).

Blending is a type of compounding by means of merging parts of words into new one word. The process of formation is also called telescoping, because the words seem to slide into one another like sections of a telescope. E.g., brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog), smaze (smoke + haze), slimnastics (slim + gymnastics).

It seems practical to distinguish the following groups of blends:

1) coining a new word from the initial elements of one word and the final elements of another, e.g., drunch (drink + lunch), skort (skirt + short);

2) coining a new word by combining one notional word arid the final element of another word, e.g., manglish (man + English), radiotrician (radio + electrician);

3) combining the initial elements of one word with a notional word, e.g., mobus (motors + bus), l egislady (legislative lady).

Such coinages are often formed with a playful or humorous intent and have a stylistic status. They can convey various shades of emotive colouring (irony or mockery), which makes them most active in different types of slang: dopelomat (dope + diplomat), Yanigan (Yankee + hooligan), nixonomics (Nixon + economics).

Blends, although not very numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise, especially in terminology and also in trade advertisements.

Abbreviation is a type of shortening when words are formed from the initial letters of each part of a phrasal term. Abbreviations are pronounced as a series of letters, i.e. the alphabetical reading of the letters is retained. E.g., B.B.C. (The British Broadcasting Corporation), M.P. (Member of Parliament), P.M. (Prime Minister), T.V. (Television), Y.C.L. (The Young Communist League).

A specific type of abbreviations having no parallel in Ukrainian is represented by Latin abbreviations, which are not read as Latin words but substituted by their English equivalents, e.g., a.m. (ante meridium) – in the morning; p.m. (post meridiem) – in the afternoon; i.e. (id est) – that is; cp. (comparare) – compare; e.g., (exempli gratia) – for example.

Acronyms (from Greek "acros" end + "onym" name) are abbreviated words formed from the initial letters of word-combination; the abbreviated written form lends itself to be read as though, it were an ordinary English word and sounds like an English word. E.g., NATO /neitou/ - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, UNO /ju:nou/ - United Nations Organization, SALT /solt/ - Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, radar – radio detecting and ranging; laser – light amplification stimulated emission radio; maser – microwave amplification stimulated emission radio.

Christian names in acronyms:

Fred – fast reading electric device;

Oscar – orbiting satellite;

Eva – electronic velocity analyzer.