MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
KYRGYZ NATIONAL UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER
ZHUSUP BALASAGYN

INDIVIDUAL WORK OF A
STUDENT
THEME: Compound shortened words.

 Done by:Zhumashova Altynai 

Group: LA-2-17(4)
Checked by: Osmonova D.E

Bishkek – 2020
Ways of forming compound words

Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of

composition but also by means of:

a) reduplication, e.g. too-too, and also by means of reduplicatin combined with

sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,

b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to micky-mouse, can-do, makeup etc,

c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to bloodtransfuse, to

fingerprint etc ,

d) analogy, e.g. lie-in ( on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone-in, brawn-drain
(on the analogy with brain-drain) etc.

Shortening is a way of word-formation when part of the original word or

word group is taken away.

A new word:

 belongs to the same part of speech as a the original word (e.g. demo –
demonstration)
 has the same lexical meaning as the original word
 capable of being used as a free form
 can take functional affixes (e.g. a bike - bikes)
 mostly monosemantic
A new word:

 may serve as basis for further word-formation by derivation and composition

e.g. fancy (noun) fantasy (shortening)

fancy (noun) to fancy (conversion)

fancy (noun) fancier, fanciful (derivation)

fancy (noun) fancy-ball, fancy-dress (composition)

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A new word:

 differs from the original word stylistically or emotionally, characteristic of

colloquial speech
e.g. Becky Rebecca (diminutive)

Japs the Japanese

exam examination (college slang)

hanky handkerchief (nursery word)

o’er over (bookish, poetic style)

nouns e.g. prof professor

verbs e.g. to rev to revolve

adjectives (very few) e.g. dilly delightful (jargonism)

interjection e.g. Shun! attention

Types of shortening

 final clipping (apocope) - a word is shortened at the end

e.g. ed editor, ref referee

initial clipping (apheresis) – a word is shortened at the beginning

e.g. phone telephone,

chute parachute

 medial clipping (syncope) – some syllables or sounds are omitted from the
middle of a word
e.g. maths mathematics

specs spectacles

fancy fantasy

 a word is clipped both at the end and at the beginning

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e.g. flu influenza

tec detective

fridge refridgerator

Word-building process involve not only qualitative but also quantitative

changes. Thus derivation and compounding present addition, as affixes, and free
stems. Shortening on the other hand may be represented as significant subtraction,
in which part of the original word is taken away.

The spoken and the written forms of the English language have each their
own patterns of shortening. But as there is a constant exchange between the two
spheres it is very difficult to say where a given shortening really originated.

As a type of word building shortening of spoken words is also called

clipping or curtailment; Newly shortened words appear continuously; this is
testified by numerous neologisms, such as dub (v), a cinema term meaning “to
make another recording of the sound-track in a film in a different language” (from
double); frig or frige (n) from refrigerator; mike (n) from microphone, or telly or
TV from television, vac – from vacuum cleaner, etc.

Some authors consider the main reason for the development of shortening –
“the strain of modern life”, but it’s only one of the reasons. There are purely
linguistic factors which shouldn’t be overlooked. Among the major forces are the
demands of rhythm, which are more readily satisfied when the words are
monosyllabic.

When dealing with words of long duration, one will also note that a high
percentage of English shortenings is involved into the process of loan words
assimilation.

Shortening of spoken words consists in the reduction of the word to one of

its parts (whether or not this part has previously been a morpheme), as a result of
which a new form acquires some linguistic value of its own.

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 The part retained doesn’t change phonetically, hence the necessity of
spelling changes in some of the examples above (dub – double; mike – mick). The
change is not only quantitative: a shortened word is not merely a word that has lost
its initial, middle or final part. Nor it is possible to treat shortening as just using a
part for the whole as Hockett suggests, because a shortened word is always in
some way different from its prototype in meaning and usage. Moreover, every kind
of shortening differs from derivation, composition and conversion in being not a
new arrangement of existing morphemes, but often a source of new ones.

So, shortening may be regarded as a type of root creation because the

resulting new morphemes are capable of being used as free forms and combine
with bound forms. They can also take functional suffixes; bike – bikes, vac –
vacking (PI) – vacked (PII). They also serve as basis for further word formation:
fancy (n) – from fantasy – fancy (v), fancier (n), fanciful (adj.), fancifully (adv.),
fancifulness (n), fancy-ball (n), fancy-dress (n), fancy-work (n) etc.

It is interesting in this connection to compare the morphemes tele – in

television and telecast. They are homonymous but not identical. Tele – in
television means “far”, vision at a distance, such as in telephone, telescope,
telecommunication.

+Tele – in telecast doesn’t mean “far”. It is a new development – the

shortened variant of television rendering a special new notion. Let’s try to follow
the transformation: television – vision at a distance; telecast – a broad cast at a
distance – tele (broad) cast - a television broadcast. In this new capacity tele –
enters many combinations: telefilm, teleprompter, telestar, televiewer, etc.-
something connected with television.