2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo B Introduction to English Linguistics prof. Hugo Bowles Lesson 5 Word formation

CLASSIFYING MORPHOLOGY MORPHOLOGY INFLECTION WORD FORMATION DERIVATION COMPOUNDING

•

CONVERSION

swim • when a word changes its word class

to swim

(verb)

a swim

(noun)

• to rain CONVERSION rain • to bicycle a bicycle • to cheat a cheat

NATO, CNN •

INITIALISMS

see slide 21 ff.

ping-pong, teeny-weeny •

REDUPLICATION

• a lexeme with two identical, or very similar, constituents

motel, brunch, heliport •

BLENDING

• when a word is made out of shortened forms of other words • BR-eakfast + l-UNCH = BRUNCH

• motel • heliport BLENDING • mo-tor? + ho-tel • heli-copter + air-port

gas •

CLIPPING

• when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form gasoline gas

hamburger CLIPPING burger delicatessen microphone deli mike

edit, televise, demo •

BACK FORMATION

• When a word of one type is reduced to form a word of

a different type

editor

edit

BACK FORMATION • television

televise

• demonstration

demo

•

HYPOCORISM

Aussie • A longer word is reduced to a single syllable and then -y or -ie is added • Australian Auss + -ie Aussie

HYPOCORISM • moving picture move + ie movie

quack, woof •

ONOMATOPEIA

• When a word is created to sound like the thing it names

Darwinian •

EPONYM

• when a word is derived from the name of a person

EPONYMY •

Buzz Lightyear

is derived from Buzz Aldrin the astronaut •

Garibaldi biscuits

were marketed in England after Garibaldi’s visit (and you can still buy them)

•

COINAGE

nylon, aspirin • the invention of a totally new word This often occurs with scientific names and trade names of new products

Quiz (1) • • • • • • •

vet

= clipping

fantabulous

= blending (

fanta

stic + fa

bulous

)

Google

= coinage (a new invention)

to Google

(vb) = conversion from

Google

( noun)

doc

= clipping (from

doctor

)

zig-zag

=reduplication

fahrenheit

= eponym

Quiz (2) • • • •

‘Sob!’

= onomatopeia

hankie

= hypocorism

AIDS

= acronymy

to biograph

= back-formation from

biography

(noun) •

infotainment

= blending (

info

rmation + enter

tainment

) •

to party

= conversion from

party

(noun)

INITIALISMS Acronymy • When the form is pronounced as a single word (NATO, AIDS) Alphabetism • When the form is pronounced by its letters (BBC, CNN)

INITIALISMS IN TEXT MESSAGES (1) • Initials used as WORDS y

Why?

q

Queue

ruok

Are you OK?

cu See you

INITIALISMS IN TEXT MESSAGES (2) • Initials used for elements in COMPOUND WORDS gf

girlfriend

dl

download

w/e

weekend

INITIALISMS IN TEXT MESSAGES (3) • Initials used for words in PHRASES cwot

complete waste of time

imo

in my opinion

np

no problem

INITIALISMS IN TEXT MESSAGES (4) • Initials used for words in ELLIPTICAL or WHOLE SENTENCES lol

Laughing out loud

jk

Just kidding

swdyt

So what do you think?

cmb

Call me back

INITIALISMS IN TEXT MESSAGES (5) • Initials used for words in EXCLAMATIONS omg

Oh my God!

Yyssw

Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, whatever !

Original languages alcohol Arabic piano Italian yoghurt Turkish boss Dutch pretzel German zebra Bantu croissant French robot Czech lilac Persian tycoon Japanese 27

ofis Semantic borrowing khobbi boykot Russian rajio konpyu-ta kissu Japanese le zapping le midwife le showbiz French 28

Calques - loan translations • from skyscraper to grattaciel • from ubermensch to superman • from hot dogs to perros calientes • from boyfriend to boifurendo 29

Grammaticalisation what’s the rule?

Singular pizza hamburger walkman panino Plural Italian pizze amburger walkman?

panini Plural English pizzas hamburgers walkmans?

panino(e)s panini(e)s 30

Other types of semantic change • euphemism • politically correct language 31

Euphemism • a long illness • economical with the truth • adult video • industrial action • cancer • liar • pornography • strike 32

Politically correct language •

Political correctness

(often abbreviated to

PC

) is a term used to describe language or behaviour that is intended to provide a minimum of offence, particularly to racial, cultural, or other identity groups. A text that conforms to the ideals of political correctness is said to be

politically correct

.

33