Blending

Blending

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Examples: flush (flash + blush) beefburger (beef + hamburger) Eurasia (Europe + Asia) Blending is the formation of new words by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word or vice versa.

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Names of such words: blends pormanteau words

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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Types of clipping:

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

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

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

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The changes are made to conform to the English ways of spelling and pronunciation. Such words are informal, generally used in conversations.

Acronymy

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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.

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

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

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Acronyms Acronyms pronounced as normal words AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) One letter from each of the words.

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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)

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Taking one or more letters from one word and leaving out others. Hybrid words: G-man (Government man) D-Day (Decimalization Day) V-Day (Victory Day) Acronymy is very productive.

Sound Reduplication

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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 word form with a little or no change.

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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

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2. words suggesting alternating movements ping-pang 乒乓 seesaw 跷跷板/上下起伏 flip-flop 啪嗒啪嗒

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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

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

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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

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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

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Examples: editor edit butler butle laser lase diagnosis diagnose Backformation is to make new words by removing the so-called suffixes.

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

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2. Human nouns sculptor sculpt author auth loafer loaf

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3. Adjectives

drowsy lazy

drowse laze

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

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Almost all the back-formed words are verbs. They are all informal.

Commonization of Proper Nouns

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Definition Commonizaton is formation of new words 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

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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

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protean

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meaning:

Proteus, a sea deity with the power to assume different forms able to assume different forms or characters; versatile

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quixotic

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meaning:

Don Quixote in the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantés extravagantly romantic, idealistic, chivalrous

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bobby

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meaning:

Sir Robert Peel, founder of London police in early 19th century policeman (BrE)

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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

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3. Names of books utopia from Sir Thomas More's book Utopia meaning: an imaginary perfect society odyssey from Homer's epic The Odyssey meaning: a long journey full of hardships

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4. Tradenames nylon 尼龙 orlon 奥纶 dacron 的确良 rayon 人造丝 frisbee 飞碟

(音译) (音译) (音译) (义译) (义译)

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Form and part of speech: boycott (n & v) 19th century Landlord Captain Boycott meaning: refusal or refuse to do business with

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cabal (n & v)

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meaning:

Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, lauderdale (British Ministers) clique or make secret plans for political action

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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, sabotage, pasquinade, magnolia

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