CHAPTER 3.

BASE-REDUCING WORD BUILDING MECHANISMS

Main issues: A. Abbreviation; B. Clipping C. Ellipsis D. Contraction E. Back-formation Learning objectives When you have finished this chapter you will be able to: Describe the word building mechanisms which create new words or lexical formations by eliminating letters, groups of letters from already existing words; Distinguish between representations of abbreviation and clipping (with their specific word-creating mechanisms), lexical ellipsis and contraction; Use the adequate terminology and information to discuss about backformation.

Introduction The impulse to shorten words is an old one, and the many ways by which words may be reduced has resulted not only in a number of terms, but also in some degree of confusion with regard to the use of specialist terminology. This chapter will describe the way words may reduce their form by losing one or more front position, medial or final position syllables or by preserving only the initial letters, when they become the constituents of a new lexeme. The reduction to a couple or a string of letters has been described in a rich collection of metalinguistic terms, which include shortening, abbreviation, clipping, contraction, and reduction, the term reduction will be a cover term for the mechanisms which act upon words to restrict them so as to be easily understood and to allow speakers to use them and save both their time and energy. The terminological confusion characterizes the phenomena resulting in the reduction or subtraction of words, as Jespersen said; in order to clarify the theoretical aspects regarding these phenomena, this approach will start from etymological notes. Reductions include abbreviation, clipping, (lexical) ellipsis, contraction and back-formation. Irrespective of the mechanism which they result from, abbreviations have a high frequency of occurrence and publishing houses have compiled dictionaries to describe such formations generally or generically called abbreviations.

BASE-REDUCING WORD BUILDING MECHANISMS A. Abbreviation Etymologically, the verb abbreviate means to reduce to a shorter form and, lexicologically, abbreviation is essentially a process of shortening words. Words may be reduced to their initial letter, and this reduction divides them, from a phonetic perspective, into those being read as combinations of the alphabet letters (alphabetisms), and those being pronounced as simple words (acronyms), which suggest no reduction whatsoever. Abbreviation was a practice in use nearly 150 years ago. 1. Initialization The groups of words which are uttered by the letters of the alphabet are known as alphabetisms or initialisms, and they are very frequent in everyday speech, in the language of the media and readers come across them frequently in journalese, where time and space are crucial. Of the rich set of alphabetisms, the following were selected for practical purposes: VIP = very important person CV = curriculum vitae WHO = World Health Organisation PLO = Palestine Liberation Organisation ANC = African National Congress UN = United Nations MP = Member of Parliament PM = Prime Minister AGM = an annual general meeting NBC = National Broadcasting Company NUM = National Union of Mineworkers NSPCC = National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children POW = Prisoner of War PR = public relations ESP = English for Specific Purposes LSP = language for specific purposes AD = Anno Domini GI = Governmental Issue GP = general practitioner CO = Cartographic operations or Colorado Alphabetisms may be spelt in small letters, as in the examples below: a.k.a. = also known as asap = as soon as possible uv = ultra violet Alphabetisms may be spelt in small letters, with considerable difference in meaning, as in the examples: esp = extrasensory perception vs ESP above or km (kilometer) vs KM (Kansas Mapper).
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or with no difference, as in: kHz or KHz, in kW and KW Reductions of proper names are not unusual in English: MM, BB; such abbreviations are meaningful either to a small community who know the persons by their initials as well or only if the person whose name is abbreviated benefits from well established reputation. Abbreviations are practically used in all branches of sciences whose terminologies rely on common or special technical abbreviations, symbols and signs. Thus, in point of usage, these reductions may be divided into: - those shared by several scientific branches: o A.C. (alternative current), D.C. (direct current); - those peculiar to one science: o Names of elements or compounds, in chemistry (Ph phosphorus, S sulphur, CO2 , H2O, etc.) o Units of measure in physics (J joule, W for watt, Hz Hertz, etc.) Etymologically, abbreviations used in sciences may originate in Latin, and they are pronounced in their Latin form, as in the table below; nevertheless, there also are words which are read only in English: c.f. e.g. et. al. etc. i.e. p.m. a.m. op. cit. viz passim confer exempli gratia et alibi/alis et caetera id est post meridiem ante meridiem opera citato videlicet /pa:sm/ compare for example and elsewhere/others and so on that is in the afternoon in the morning In the work cited namely here and there

Initialisms also illustrate cases of facetious forms, as it is the case with TGIF which is the short for Thank God Its Friday. Some abbreviations are a must in the correspondence practice, easily noticeable on a letter/fax/envelope: /c/o enc P.S. N.B. asap care of enclosed postscript nota bene As soon as possible G. Brown, c/o Tim Smith ; the letter goes to Tim Smith Enclosed application form and CV Extra message after the letter has been ended used to call attention to something important Ring me asap

Not all of the initialisms use the first letters of the constituent words: PhD, for example, uses the first two letters of the word philosophy, and GHQ and TV take a letter from the middle of the word.
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BASE-REDUCING WORD BUILDING MECHANISMS 2. Acronyms The transition from alphabetisms to acronyms can be ambiguous, as abbreviations may be reduced to their initials, which are uttered as one word, as in the case of AIDS, BAFTA, BOSS, NATO, BASIC, UNO, UFO, UNESCO, UNICEF, MASH, AAA, laser, and radar. Etymologically, acronym comes from (<Greek acr- which means topmost; akro= extreme + Greek -onyma, name) and it is used to refer to a word formed from the initial letters of other words. This word is unrecorded before 1943. Some users restrict the denomination of acronym to a word that is pronounced syllabically, like an ordinary word rather than a sequence of the letters constituting it; but the distinction is not common in general use. Acronyms in this narrower sense were rare before 1930s (which is one reason why allegedly acronymic derivations of words are treated with suspicion). Most early acronyms arouse in beaurocracy and military use: flak was used to designate a German (1938). Some acronyms (radar and laser) have become so well established that their acronymic origin is all but forgotten; their spelling as ordinary words, without any capital letter or punctuation is an index of their assimilation or adoption by daily practice and usage and then by dictionaries. Many recent acronyms seem to have been created in reverse, with the creator aiming to create a suitable word and then to find an appropriate expanded form; this is particularly characteristic of the names of organizations ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), NOW (National Organization of Women) or CHIP (Childrens Health Insurance Program). The creation of facetious acronyms, mainly on the model of yuppie (probably from young urban professional + -ie), has been a popular recreation in recent years, but on a more serious level, acronyms have proliferated in technical use top such a point that the uninitiated may be baffled. Some abbreviations are only written forms; they are still pronounced as the full word: Mr, Dr, St (Saint or Street) The quest for time determines communicators to use abbreviations in the organization of language: PTO (P-T-O) = please, turn over NB (N-B) = please, note RSVP = (repondez, sil vous plait) For more examples of acronyms and abbreviations, visit http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/abbrev.html. Very few examples of abbreviate terms are pronounced in a hybrid form, i.e., with some elements pronounced alphabetically and some others acronymically: UEFA /jueifa/.

EXERCISES 1. Consider the examples below, underline the initialisms and use four of them in sentences of your own: Telecoms = telecommunications
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ESP = English for Specific Purposes / esp = extra sensorial perception km = kilometer MASH = mobile army surgical hospital kW = kilowatt PROLOG = programming Logic L = litre Asdic = Allied/Anti Submarine Detection Investigation Committee basic English = British, American, Scientific, International, Commercial [a simplified from of the E. language for international communication and for first steps into full E invented by Charles K.Ogden (1889 1957); it consist of a selected vocabulary of 850 essential words (Webster 1966: 122)] high tech = high technology SDO = Solar Dynamic Observer (American satellite) IT = Information technology 2. Look up the abbreviations below in a good dictionary and introduce them into sentences of your own: Pet E, Phar. B, Phar. D, Phar. M., Pac, 3. Use a good dictionary to find out the meaning of the following abbreviations: BAFTA, TNT, DDT, UFO, UMWA, CNN, BAA, EFL, LSP, PAC 4. Now choose two of them and introduce them in sentences of your own

B. Clipping This is another mechanism based on the shortening of the existing word, shortening which does not entail a change of meaning. Clipping, also known as shortening, curtailing, contraction is rather old, as its history starts in the Middle English period, as back as the 13th century. It has proved to be really productive all along the last two centuries. Abbreviation is similar to clipping in that they both may be understood to have both a broad and a restricted meaning, which is not to be confused for contracted, although the metalanguage seems to make no distinction between the two. To clip will be used to denote the process of cutting off elements of a word. The clipped words may be classified according to, at least, two principles (a) the semantic principle and (b) the formal principle. Based on the first of the foregoing, the contracted words are subdivided into (1) synonymic variants of the lexeme which stand for the prototype and (2) semantically different variants of the lexeme they originate in.
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BASE-REDUCING WORD BUILDING MECHANISMS The synonymic variants of the prototype may be illustrated by examples as phone (< telephone), ad (<advertisment), mike (<microphone), flu (<influenza), maam (<madam), telly (<television), etc. The semantically different variants of their prototypes which have developed meanings of their own are exemplified by the term story (<history): in a former period of its use, this word meant (1) a historical narrative/anecdote, (2)a book of history and (3)historic writing/records, but they all have obsolete. Nowadays the word has restricted its meaning so as to denote a narrative of real or fictitious events designated for the entertainment of the hearers or readers. According to the formal principle, words may lose their initial, or their central, or even their final part, which allows for their classification into four basic types of clipping: aphaeresis or fore-clipping: the initial part of the word is clipped: motor-car car periwig wig omnibus bus acute cute alligator gator amend mend proper names : Elisabeth Beth Antony Tony syncope or medial clipping designates the loss of some phonemes the middle part of the word. fantasy fancy madam maam pacificist pacifist spectacles specs Special poetical forms: ever eer, never neer, whatever whater, whichever whicher apocope or back-clipping: the final part of the word is clipped. Unlike the preceding word forming mechanisms, this one is very productive: doc doctor ad advertisment maths mathematics curio curiosity croc crocodile rep representative sec second The advertising industry largely uses such types of clippings, many trade names being contracted forms of well-known words: Lix (<luxury), Brillo (<brilliant), Fab (<fabulous). *Proper names : Ron (<Ronald), Cleo (< Cleopatra), Di (< Diana), Vic (<Victor or < Victoria), Al (<Alexander) etc. double clipping is the fourth category of clipped words which are doubly clipped, losing thus both the initial and the final part. They are quite few in the daily vocabulary and they may be exemplified both by common and by proper nouns: flu (<influenza), fridge (<refrigerator), teck (<detective) and
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proper names: Liz (< Elisabeth), Liv (<Olivia), Gus (<Augustus), etc. As the forms of clippings can be identical, clipping is one of the major sources of homonymy in English. For example, cab may stand for the following: (1) cabbage, (2) cabriolet, (3) cabin, (4) cabinet, and (5) cable. The careful consideration of the context is essential in decoding a text, especially in the case of foreign students of English.

EXERCISES 1. Group the examples below into the columns of the following table: bro, info, phone, bus, memo, sec, bike, lab, mike, maam, chap, mob, oer, coon, aphaeresis syncope apocope

2. Translate the text below and comment on the English clippings and their Romanian versions: The student goes to the varsity, studies under a prof, takes an exam and enjoys a vac. (Woods 1969:120) 3. Match the clipped words in column A with their full-forms in column B 1. prenup 2. toon 3. wellies 4. pro 5. bio 6. gym (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) Wellington boots professional biographical information prenuptial contract cartoon (awards) biology gymnasium physical education

(Lexical) Ellipsis The term comes from the Greek lleipsis, which means omission. Therefore, lexical ellipsis is a special form of clipping consisting in the omission of a word usually used in a phrase: a private was originally a private soldier, a superior, a superior officer, finals, final examinations. The result of this procedure is the change of the grammatical category of the word, the newly formed thus being converted into something else. Ellipsis can be accompanied by the back-clipping of the first term: Graduate student grad
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BASE-REDUCING WORD BUILDING MECHANISMS Medical student med Pocket book poke Popular concert pop Preliminary examination(s) prelim(s) Public house pub Zoological garden zoo Ellipsis can equally be accompanied by the back-clipping of the first term and its suffixation: Grandmother granny Moving picture movie

Contraction The term was acknowledged in English in 14th century from the Latin contraction /contractionis, meaning a drawing together, and was used in lexicology in relation to those shortenings which are often marked by an apostrophe, and which usually concern transformations or reductions applicable in grammatical forms. Things seen from this perspective, there are three major types of contractions: - at the level of auxiliary verbs (Ill, youve) - at the level of forms: negative and interrogative-negative (dont, wont, shant, arent, etc. ) - at the level of pronouns (lets). Some lexicologists consider and describe elision as a variety of contraction. They are right to do so when their examples include apostrophe, the distinctive element of contraction as in Guns n Roses. But when examples include wanna see, gimme, leme there is no sign of distinction peculiar to contraction, so there no case of contraction. Bryson (1980: 76) considers contraction at the level of phrases: good bye God be with you, and hello, which was in OE hal beo thu or whole be thou, blimey (Blind me! rather vulgar)

Back-formation This word-creating mechanism has been used since the 14th century, and has become more active since the 19th century, even if under different names, such as back-derivation or regression. In the 1880s, back-formation denoted both the process and the result. Backderivation is a term which was introduced in the specialist vocabulary in the 1980s. Nowadays, this process is much used in the technical terminology to lase laser, hydrotrope hydrotropic. Synchronically considered, the back-derivation or back-formation is the
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process of forming new words by clipping already existing words. Diachronically, new words are formed due to a misinterpretation of the structure of the word. This misinterpretation is due to the analogy the speakers may resort to, in case they do not know too much about the word they use and due to the ignorance of the etymology of the word. It accounts for the creation of one word from another by removing rather than adding an element, which is a real or supposed affix. According to Jespersen (1982: 164), back-derivations owe their origin to one part of a word being mistaken for some derivative suffix (or, very rarely, prefix). The adverbs sideling, groveling and darkling were originally formed by means of the adverbial ending ling, but in phrases as he walks sideling, he lies groveling they look exactly like participles in ing. The consequence of this resembling was that the verbs to sidle, to grovel and to darkle were derived from them by the subtraction of ing. The Banting cure was named after one Mr. Banting, and the occasional verb to bant is, accordingly, a back-formation. When the ending y is subtracted, adjectives may become nouns or verbs: Adjective noun Greedy greed (1600) Adjective verb lazy to laze cosy to cose expletive to explete jeopardy to jeopardy frivolous to frivol Noun adjective difficulty difficult puppy pup petty pet The ending which usually produces nouns is dropped to produce verbs: Noun verb enthusiasm to enthuse donation to donate liaison to liaise television to televise resurrection to resurrect electrocution to electrocute accreditation to accredit television to televise housekeeping to housekeep laser to lase editor to edit Several verbs come from nouns in er, -ar, -or which were not originally agent nouns; butcher is in French boucher < bouch a buck, a goat with no corresponding verb, but in English it has given rise to the rare verb to butch and to the noun butch-knife. The oldest examples of back-derivations come from the 14th century, and
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BASE-REDUCING WORD BUILDING MECHANISMS they include the verb to backbite; the 16th century brought the verbs to partake, to soothsay and cornycatch (Shakespeare). Nowadays this process is much used in technical terminologies.

EXERCISES 1. Distinguish between back-clippings and back formations To televise (< television), sec (<second), doc (<document or < doctor), to intuit (<intuition), vet (<veterinarian), to grovel (<groveling), to sidle (<sideling), vivisect (<vivisection) 2. Read the etymological explanations of the words below and decide what mechanism they illustrate: to book-keep (<book-keeper), Jap (<Japanese), to dressmake (<dress-maker), to matchmake <match maker), to typewrite (< typewriter), to merrymake (merrymaker), to henpeck (<henpecked), to sunburn (< participle sunburnt), collate (< collation), partake ( < partaker/ part taker), bushwhack (< bushwhacker), tux (<Tuxedo, park and resort in the New York State), chap (<Chapman or tradesman in the 18th century), Paki (<Pakistani), commie (<communist), bolshie (<bolshevist). A . clipping B. back-formation

CONCLUSIONS
The reduction of words involves either the reduction of long syntagms or formations or the cutting off of ending, beginning, or middle syllables or both beginning and ending syllables. The reduction to initial letters of the longer strings of words results in three types of abbreviations: the words spelt in capital letters, the words spelt in small letters and the combinations of capital and small letters. Clippings not only become more and more numerous but they are more and more frequent in everyday speech. The less productive of the reducing mechanisms, back-formation differs from back-clipping in that the suffixes which are cut off were taken for grammatical suffixes.

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