Blending

Blending

Examples: flush (flash + blush) beefburger (beef + hamburger) Eurasia (Europe + Asia) Blending is the formation of new words b

y combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word or vice versa.

Blending

Names of such words: blends pormanteau words

Blending

Patterns of blending 1. head + tail 　 autocide (automobile + suicide) 撞车自

杀 　 motel (motor + hotel) 汽车旅馆 　 cremains (cremate + remains) 骨灰

Blending

2. head + head 　 comsat (communications + satellite) 通讯卫星 Amerind (American + Indian) 美印地安

人 　 sitcom (situation + comedy) 情景喜剧 fansub (fanatic + subtitle) 　影迷字幕

Blending

3. head + word 　 medicare (medical + care) 医疗照顾制

度 　 telequiz (telephone + quiz) 电话测试 　 autocamp (automobile + camp) 汽车

野营

Blending 4. word + tail netizen (net + citizen) 网民 lunarnaut (lunar + astronaut) 登月宇航员 bookmobile (book + automobile)

流动书店 workfare (work + welfare) 劳动福利

Blending

autocide (automobile + suicide) 撞车自杀 sitcom (situation + comedy) 情景喜剧 autocamp (automobile + camp) 汽车野营 workfare (work + welfare) 劳动福利 All the examples are nouns.

Blending

A few verbs: guestimate (guess + estimate) 估猜 breathalyse (breath + analyse) 　　　　

　 　　　　对呼吸测酒分析

Words of such are less than formal.

Clipping

Clipping

Definition plane (aeroplane) exam (examination) taxi (taximeter cabriolet) Clipping is to shorten a word by cutting a

part off the original and using what remains instead.

Clipping Types of clipping: 1. Front clipping quake (earthquake) scope (telescope) 2. Back clipping memo (memorandum) disco (discotheque)

Clipping

3. Front and back clipping flu (influenza) fridge (refrigerater) 4. Phrase clipping pub (public house) zoo (zoological garden)

Clipping

Changes: fridge (refrigerator) bike (bicycle) coke (cocoa cola) telly (television) pram (perambulator)

Clipping

The changes are made to conform to the English ways of spelling and pronunciation.

Such words are informal, generally used in conversations.

Acronymy

Acronymy Definition: Acronymy is the process of forming new

words by joining initial letters from names of social and political organizations or technical terms.

Words made as such are initialisms (alphabetism)or acronyms.

Acronymy Initialisms Initialisms pronounced letter by letter A.D. (Anno Domini) B.C. (Before Christ) VOA (Voice of America) WTO (World Trade Organization)

Acronymy Exceptions: TV (television) TB (tuberculosis) ID (identification card/ identity card)

Acronymy Acronyms Acronyms pronounced as normal

words AIDS (acquired immune deficiency

syndrome) CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) One letter from each of the words.

Acronymy WAVES (Women Appointed for Voluntary

Emergency Service) TOEFL (teaching of English as a foreign

language) laser (lightwave amplification by

stimulated emission of radiation)

radar (radio detecting and ranging)

Acronymy Taking one or more letters from one wor

d and leaving out others. Hybrid words: G-man (Government man) D-Day (Decimalization Day) V-Day (Victory Day) Acronymy is very productive.

Sound Reduplication

Sound Reduplication

Examples: goody-goody 好好先生 willy-nilly 乱七八糟 / 不管怎样 shilly-shally 优柔寡断 Sound reduplication is a repetition of a w

ord form with a little or no change.

Sound Reduplication

Four types of reduplication: 1. Words imitating natural sounds (equal

to onomatopeic words) tick-tuck 滴答滴答 ha ha ha 哈哈哈 bow-wow 汪汪汪 cock-a-doodle-doo 喔喔喔

Sound Reduplication

2. words suggesting alternating movements

ping-pang 乒乓 seesaw 跷跷板 / 上下起伏 flip-flop 啪嗒啪嗒

Sound Reduplication

3. Words suggesting ‘instability, non-sense, insincerity, vacillation’, etc.

fingle-fangle 标新立异 miz-maze 迷津 / 头脑混乱 higgledy-piggledy 杂乱无章 dilly-dally 三心二意 / 浪费时

间

Sound Reduplication

4. Words for intensifying teeny-weeny 小小的 tip-top 顶尖的 / 出色的 super-duper 了不起 / 出色

Sound Reduplication

汉语重叠 1. AABB 热热闹闹 哭哭啼啼 吃吃喝喝 2. ABB/BBA 红希希 黑乎乎 梆梆硬 滚滚圆 3. ABAB 哗啦哗啦 讨论讨论

Sound Reduplication

4. A 里 AB 俗里俗气 傻里傻气 莽里莽撞 5. AA 个个 张张 迢迢 堂堂 声声 项项 想想 看看 走走 读读 问问 写写

Backformation

Backformation

Examples: editor edit butler butle laser lase diagnosis diagnose Backformation is to make new words by r

emoving the so-called suffixes.

Backformation

Source words for backformation: 1. Abstract nouns enthusiasm enthuse donation donate emotion emote

Backformation

2. Human nouns sculptor sculpt author auth loafer loaf

Backformation

3. Adjectives drowsy drowse lazy laze

Backformation

4. Compound nouns and others merrymaking merry-make eavesdropping eavesdrop mass-production mass-produce

Backformation

Almost all the back-formed words are verbs.

They are all informal.

Commonization of Proper Nouns

Commonization Definition Commonizaton is formation of new word

s by changing proper names into common words.

banting = reducing weight by going on a diet 节食减肥疗法

Banting = a doctor who developed this cure, hence his name

Commonization Types of proper names: 1. Names of people ampere French physicist Ampere farad British physicist Faraday ohm German physicist Ohm volt Italian physicist Volta watt Scottish inventor Watt

Commonization protean Proteus, a sea deity

with the power to assume different forms

meaning: able to assume different forms or characters; versatile

Commonization quixotic Don Quixote in the novel

Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantés

meaning: extravagantly romantic, idealistic, chivalr

ous

Commonization bobby Sir Robert Peel, founder of

London police in early 19th century

meaning: policeman (BrE)

Commonization 2. Names of places china from China meaning: porcelain champagne from Champagne in France meaning: wine (of that name) rugby from a British Rugby School meaning: ball game of rugby

Commonization 3. Names of books utopia from Sir Thomas More's boo

k Utopia meaning: an imaginary perfect society odyssey from Homer's epic

The Odyssey meaning: a long journey full of

hardships

Commonization 4. Tradenames nylon 尼龙 ( 音译 ) orlon 奥纶 ( 音译 ) dacron 的确良 ( 音译 ) rayon 人造丝 ( 义译 ) frisbee 飞碟 ( 义译 )

Commonization Form and part of speech: boycott (n & v) 19th century

Landlord Captain Boycott

meaning: refusal or refuse to do business with

Commonization cabal (n & v) Clifford, Ashley,

Buckingham, Arlington, laude

rdale (British Ministers)

meaning: clique or make secret plans for political acti

on

Commonization Adding suffixes adjective suffix: -ic, -an, -al, -ist, -ese,

-ish, -esque Examples: colossal, irenic, stentorian,

Micawberish, picaresque Noun suffix: -ism, -(i)ne, -age, -ade, -ia,

-ity, -ry Examples: solecism, morphine, sabotag

e, pasquinade, magnolia

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