Transcript Morphology
English Lexicology Morphological Processes (III): Minor WordFormation 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 CIA very important person ISBN International Standard Book Number ROM WTO read-only-memory BO VD MIT body odor SCNU AI VOA UFO South China Normal University IMF International monetary fund Central Intelligence Agency World Trade Organization venereal disease Massachusetts Institute of Technology artificial intelligence Voice of America Unidentified flying object More examples of acronyms laser lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation AIDS TEFL Acquired immune deficiency syndrome TSSL Teaching English as a second language TOEFL TESOL Test of English as a foreign language OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries SARS NATO UNESCO DINK Severe acute respiratory syndrome Teaching English as a foreign language Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages North Altlantic Treaty Organization United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization dual income no kid 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 demo exam fridge (dormitory) (demonstration) (examination) (refrigerator) photo memo bus maths (photograph) (memorandum) (omnibus) (mathematics) bike ad gym (bicycle) (advertisement) auto copter prof (automobile) (helicopter) (professor) (gymnasium) 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 Which word is older? Which word do we have first? donate donation edit editor ept inept daydream daydreamer Back-formation Back-formation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly thought to be its derivative. howword can Iby It involves the shortening of aBut longer judge which is cutting away an imagined/supposed derivational right? suffix. editoredit edit + or edit 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 donate donation typewrite eavesdropper typewriter Back-formation Affixation Back-formation Back-formation are created by analogy according to the following proportion (比例式). writer: write :: peddler: ? peddle revision: revise :: television: ? televise write is to writer as peddle is to peddler. revise is to revision as televise is to television. seemingly similar, actually opposite Words from Proper Names Classification of Nouns Nouns Common Nouns Count N Singular N Mass N Plural N Proper Names 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 scandals Koreangate 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Catch22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). An instance of clipping professor prof A clipping When pronounced casually, the first unstressed syllable may be omitted. ’fessor An aphetic form