Contents Introduction Chapter I. Theoretical review to abbreviations

1.2. Shortening in Modern English
The shortening of words means substituting a part for a whole. E.g. demo ( demonstration ), dub (double ), vac ( vacuum cleaner ), doc ( doctor), Mrs ( misses ). A shortened word is in some way different from its prototype in usage. The shortened word and its full from have the same lexical meaning but differ only in stylistic reference. Ex. exam ( colloq ) examination ( neutral ), Chapman ( neutral ), chap ( colloq ). Shortened words are structurally simple words rand in most cases have the same lexical meaning as the longer words from which they are derived. Shortening is not a derivational process because there are no structural patterns after which new shortened words could be built therefore we can not say that shortening is a derivational word formation. We must distinguish lexical abbreviations and clippings. Abbreviations consist of the first letters of a word group or a compound word ( CPSU, YCL, USA, BBC. NATO ) or the component of a two member word group H ( hydro- gin ) bomb, V- Day,Victory Day is shortened. The last one is not changed. Clipping consists in the cutting off of one or several syllables of a word. In many cases the stressed syl- labes are preserved. Ex: Sis ( sister ), Jap (Japanese ), doc ( doctor ).
Clipping is classified into the following types depending on which part of
the word is clipped: 1) Words that have been shortened at the end:
ex: ad ( advertisement ), doc ( doctor ), sis ( sister ), vac ( vacuum cleaner ); 2) Words that have been shortened at the beginning: ex: car ( motorcar ), phone ( telephone ); 3) Words in which syllables have been omitted from the middle the so called syncope. Ex: math’s ( mathematics ), specs ( spec-) .Clippings and abbreviations have some peculiarities as simple words. They take the plural endings and that of the possessive case. They take grammatical inflexions. Ex: exams, docs, cars, doc’s they are used with articles: the USA a lab etc. They may take derivational affixes: YCL- er, M.P- ess hanky ( from handkerchief ), unkil ( from uncle ). Clippings do not always coincide in meaning with the original word. Ex: doc and doctor have the meaning one who practices medicine, but doctor is also the highest degree given by a university to a scholar or scientist and a person who has received such degree whereas doc is not used with these meanings. Among abbreviations there are homonyms. One and the same sound and graphical complex may be different words. Ex: vac- vacation; vac- vacuum cleaner. In abbreviations we stress each letter. Ex: TUC [ ‘ti:’ju:si:]- Trade Union Congress. If they are pronounced in accordance with the rules of phonetics we stress the first syllable. Ex; NATO [ ‘neitou ], UNO [ ‘ju:nuo ].Sound interchange may be defined as an opposition in which, words or word forms are differentiated due to an alternation in the phonemic composition of the root. The change may affect the root vowel, as in food= feed or root consonant as in speak v= speech n, or both as for instance in life n, live v. It may also be combined with affixation: strong adj- strength n or with affixation and shift of stress as in ‘democrat= de’mocracy. The process is not active in the language at present and oppositions like those listed above survive in the vocabulary only as remnants of previous stages. Synchronically sound interchange should not be considered as a method of word- building at all, but rather as a basis for contrasting words belonging to the same word- family and different parts of speech or different lexico- grammatical groups. The causes of sound interchange are two fold and one should learn to differentiate them from the historical point of view. Some of them are due to ablaut or vowel gradation characteristic of Indo European languages and consisting in a change from one to another vowel accompanying a change of stress. The phenomenon is best known as a series of relations between vowels by which the stems of strong verbs are differentiated in grammar ( drink- drank- drunk and the like ). However, it is also of great importance in lexicology because ablaut furnishes distinctive features for differentiating words. The examples are: abide v- abode; beam v- burden n; bite v-blt n. The other group cases is due to an assimilation process conditioned by the phonemic environment. One of these is vowel mutation, otherwise called umlaut, a feature characteristic of Germanic languages and consisting in a partial assimilation to a succeeding sound, as for example the fronting or raising of a back vowel caused by an [ i ] or [ i ] originally standing in the following syllable but now either altered or lost. This accounts for such oppositions as full adj- fill adj, knot n- knit v. The consonant interchange was also caused by phonetic surroundings. Thus, the oppositions speak v= speech n, bake v= batch n are due to the fact that the palatal OE [ k ] very early became [ ts ] but was retained in verbs because of the position before the consonants [ s ] and [ e ] in the second and third persons singular. As voiced consonant in verbs contrasting with an invoiced one in nouns results from the fact that in ME verbs this final of the stem occurred in intervocalic positions which made it voiced, whereas in nouns it ended the word or was followed by a consonant ending.
After the loss of endings the voiced ness was retained and grew into a distinctive feature is a long series of cognate verbs and also some adjectives differing in this way. Observe for example, the opposition of voiced and unvoiced consonants in the following advise v advice n, bathe v bath n, clothe v cloth n.
As the difference in the root vowels of these verbs and nouns, it is caused by the fact that the root syllable in verbs was open, whereas in nouns it was closed. Observe the analogy between plurals in [ -vz ] correlated with singulars in [-f ] and verbs in [ -v ] correlated with nouns in [ -f ]: shelf n Sing- shelves n. Pl- shelve v. It will be recalled in this connection that the systematic character of the language may manifest itself in the analogy between word- building processes and word inflection. It is worthy of note that not only are these processes similar, but they also develop simultaneously. Thus, if some method is no longer productive in expressing grammatical categories, we shall also observe a parallel loss of productivity in expressing lexical meaning. This is precisely the case with root inflection. Instances of root inflection in the formation of the plural of nouns ( goose- geese, tooth- teeth) or the Past Indefinite and Participle II of verbs ( sing- sang- sung, drive- drove- driven, tear- tore- torn ) exist in the language as the relics of past stages and although in the case of verbs the number of ablaut forms is still very great, no new verbs are inflected on this pattern. The same may be said about word- building by sound interchange. The type is not productive. No new words are formed in this way, yet sound interchange still stays in the language serving to distinguish one long established word from another. Synchronically, it differentiates parts of speech, it may signal he non- identity of words belonging to different parts of speech: full adj- fill v; ‘food n- feed v; or to different lexico- grammatical sets within the same part of speech:
fall intransitive v fell causative v. Derivation often involves phonological changes of vowel or consonant strong adj- strength n; heal v- health n; deep adj- depth n. Major derivative alternations involving changes of vowel and or consonant and sometimes stress shift in borrowed words are as follows: delicacy n- delicate n.Some long vowels are retained in quality and quantity; others are shortened and there seems to be no fixed rule; e.g. [ a: ] tends to be retained: artistn:: artistic adj; [ э: ] is regularly shortened: ‘permit n, permit v. Backformation is a term borrowed from diachronic linguistics. It denotes the derivation of new words by subtracting a real or supposed affix from existing words through misinterpretation of their structure. The process is based on analogy. The words beggar, butler, cobber or typewriter look very much like agent nouns with the suffix- er /- or, such as actor or painter. Their last syllable is therefore taken for a suffix and subtracted from the word leaving what is understood as a verbal stem. In this way the verb butle ‘to act or serve as a butler’ is derived by subtraction of- er from a supposedly verbal stem in the noun butler. Butler has widened its meaning. Originally it meant “ the man- servant having charge of the wine “. It means at present “ the chief servant of a rich household who is in charge of other servants, receives guests and directs the serving of meals “. These examples are sufficient to show how structural changes taking place in back- formation became possible because of semantic changes that preceded them. In the above cases these changes were favoured by contextual environment. This paved the way for phonic changes. Assimilation loss of sound the like, which in their turn led to morphemic alternations that became meaningful. Semantic changes often influence the morphological structure by modifying the relations between stems and derivational affixes. Structural changes, in their turn, depend on the combined effect of demotivation and analogy conditioned by a higher frequency of occurrence of the pattern that serves as model. Provided all other conditions are equal, words following less frequent structural patterns are readily subjected to changes on the analogy of more frequent patterns.The very high frequency of the pattern verb stem+ er’ ( or its equivalents ) is a matter of common knowledge. Nothing more natural therefore than the prominent part this pattern plays in backformation. The process of back- formation has only diachronic relevance. For synchronic approach burlier- butler is equivalent to painter- paint, so that the present day speaker may not feel any difference between this relationships. The fact that butler is derived from butler through misinterpretation is synchronically of no importance. Some modern examples of back- formation are to lose v- a verb used about the function of the apparatus called laser. Among the formation there is a specific group that has at tracted special attention of several authors and was even given several different names: Blends, blending, fusions or portmanteau words.The process of formation is also called telescoping because the words seem to slide one another like sections of a telescope. Compare also snob which may have been originally an abbreviation for sine- nobilities, written after a name in the registry of fashionable English schools to indicate that the bearer of name did not belong to nobility. One of the most recent examples is bit, the fundamental unit of information, which is short of snare digit. Other examples are: the already mentioned paratroops and the words bloodalyzer and breathalyzer for apparatuses making blood and breath, tests.
The analysis into immediate constituents is- helpful in so far as it permits the definition of a blends a word with tie first constituent represented by a stem whose final part may be missing and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing. The second constituent when used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix- on is, for instance, well under way in such terms as nylon, rayon, solon, formed from the final element of coupon. Depending upon the prototype phrases with which they can be correlated two types of blends can be distinguished. One may be termed additive the second restrictive. Both involve the sliding together not only of sound but of meaning as well. Yet the semantic relations which are at work are different. The first, additive type is transformable into a phrase consisting of the respective complete stems combined by the conjunction, ex: smog smoke and fog “ a mixture of smoke and fog “. The elements may be synonymous, belong to the same semantic field or at least be members of the same lexico- grammatical class of words: sm ( oke )+ f ( og ) smog. Other example brunch breakfast and lunch. The restrictive type is transformable into an attributive phrase, where the first element serves as modifier of the second: positron positive electron, telecast television broadcast. An interesting variation of the same type is presented by cases of superposition, formed by pairs of words having similar clusters of sounds, which seem to provoke blending: motel motorists hotel. The element- ot is present in both parts of the prototype. Further example: atomanic atom manic, slanguage slang language. Blends although not very numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise, especially in terminology and also in trade advertisement.
1. Final clipping in which the beginning of the prototype is retained, is practically the rule and forms the bulk of the class: e.g. ad advert:: advertisement, coke:: coca- cola, ed – ‘editor, fab:: fabulous, gym:: gymnasium, lab:: laboratory, mac:: mackintosh, vegs:: vegetables and many others.
2. Initial- clipped words retaining the final part of the prototype are less numerous but much more firmly established as separate lexical units with a meaning very different from that of the prototype and stylistically neutral doublets, e.g. cute adj, n ( Am ):: acute, fend v:: defend, mend v:: amend, story n:: history, sport n:: disport, tend v:: attend. Cases like cello:: violoncello and phone:: telephone where the curtailed words are stylistically synonyms or even variants of their respective prototypes are very rare. Neologisms are few: e.g. chute:: parachute. It is in this group that the process of assimilation of loan words takes place.⁴
Final and initial clipping may be combined and result in curtailed words with the middle part of the prototype retained. These are few and definitely colloquial: e.g. flu:: influenza, frig or fridge:: refrigerator, tec:: detective.
It is worthy of note that what is retained is the stressed syllable of the prototype.
3. Curtailed words with the middle part of the word left out are equally few. They may be further subdivided into two groups: ( a ) words with a final clipped stem retaining the functional morpheme: math:: mathematics, specs:: spectacles, ( b ) contractions due to a gradual process of elision under the influence of rhythm and context. Thus fancy:: fantasy, ma’am:: madam may be regarded as accelerated forms.
It is also possible to approach shortened words on the basis of the structure characterizing the prototype. Then the two mutually exclusive groups are cases correlated with phrases. The length of the word giving rise to a shortening might result from its being a derivative, a compound or a borrowing. The observation of language material, however, can furnish hardly any examples of the second type all the word prototypes being derivatives, either native or borrowed, as is shown by all the examples quoted in the above paragraphs. The few exceptions are exemplified by tarmac, a technical term for tar- macadam, a road surface of crushed stone and tar originally named after the after the inventor ( J.L.Mc Adam, d.1836); also cabbie for cabman. But then- man in such cases is most often a semi- affix, not a free form and besides, the process of shortening is here combined with derivation as in mightier for nightdress.
The group we have opposed to the curtailed to forms of words is based on clipped, phrases, chiefly set expressions. These differ severable from word clippings as they result from a combined effect of curtailment, ellipsis and substation.
Ellipsis is defined as the omission of a word or words considered essential for grammatical completeness but not for the conveyance of the intended lexical meaning, as in the following example: Police summonses are being served in an effort to stop the big sit down planned for September 17 ( “ Daily Worker “ ), where sit- down stands for sit down demon station, S. Cullman following Broad emphasizes the social causes for these. Professional and other communities with a specialized sphere of common interests are the ideal setting for ellipsis. Open on for open fire on, and put to sea are of wartime and navy origin, and bill of exchange comes from business circles; in a newspaper office daily paper and weekly paper were quite naturally shortened to daily and weekly. It is clear from the above examples that unlike other types of shortening, ellipsis always results in a change of lexico- gravimetrical meaning and therefore the new word belongs to a different part of speech various other processes are often interwoven with ellipsis. For instance: finals for final examinations are cases of ellipsis combined with substantiation of the first element, whereas prelims for preliminary examinations results from ellipsis, substantiation and clipping. Eg. also modes ( from Modern jazz ). Other examples of the same complex type are perm:: permanent wave, pop:: popular music, 2 prom:: promenade concert, at which at least part of the audience is not seated and can walk about, pub:: public house- an inn or tavern, taxi:: taxi- cab, itself for from taximeter cab. Inside this group a subgroup with prefixed derivatives as first elements of prototype phrases can do distinguished, e.g. co- ed ‘a girl student at a co- educational institution’, co- op ‘co- operative store or society’, non- com ‘a noncommissioned officer’, prefab a’ prefabricated house or structure’ to prefabricate means ‘to manufacture component parts of buildings prior to their assembly on a site.10
It has already been mentioned that curtailed words from compounds are few; cases of curtailment combined with composition set off against phrasal prototypes are slightly more numerous, e.g. ad- lib v ‘to speak without notes or preparation’ from the Latin phrase add labium meaning ‘at pleasure; sub chaser in from submarine chaser. ⁵
A curious derivational compound with a clipping for one of its stems is the word teen- anger ‘
‘ a person between 13 and 19 ‘, i.e ‘ a person in his or her teens’.
The jocular and ironical name lib labs ( Liberal and labor party members )
Must rates clipping, composition and ellipsis and imitation of reduplication all
in one word.
Among these formation there is a specific group that has attracted special attention of several authors and was even given several differ names : blends, blue dings, fusions airport an tea words. The last terms is due to Lewis Carroll, the author of ‘ Alice in Wonderland ‘ and ‘Through the looking Glass’ . One of the most linguistically conscious writers, he made a special technique of using blends coined by himself , such as shortly The analysis into constituents is helpful in so far as it permits the definition of a blend as a word with the first constituent represented by a stem whose final may be missing and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing . The second constituent when used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix on is, for instance, well under way in such terms as nylon, rayon, salon, formed from the final element of cotton.
Depending upon the prototype phrases with which they can be correlated two types of blends can be distinguished. One may be termed additive, the second restrictive. Both involve the sliding together not only of sound but of meaning as well. Yet the semantic relations who are at work are different. The first, i.e. additive type is transformable into a phrase consisting of the respective complete stems combined by the conjunction and: e.g. smog < smoke and fog a mixture of smoke and it amaze , he said Pakistan was made up of elements taken from the names of the five western provinces: the initials of Punjab, Afghanis, Kashmir and Singh and the final part of Baluchiston. Other examples are: brunch breakfast and lunch, transceiver, transmitter and receiver, Niffles-Niagara Falls. The restrictive type is transformable into an attributive phrase where the first element serves as modifier of the second : cinematographic panorama Cinerama. Other examples are: positron < positive electron; telecast< television broadcast. An interesting variation of the same type is presented by cases of superposition , formed by pairs of words having similar clusters of sounds, which seem to provoke blending, e.g a motel – ot - is present in both parts of the prototype. Further examples are: < shampoo< Sham bamboo ( imitation bamboo), egomaniac < atom maniac ; language < slang + language , Wareham - war orphan. Blends, although not very numerous altogether , seem to be on the rise , especially in terminology
and also in trade advertisements.
Curtailed words arise in various types of colloquial speech and have for the most part a pronounced stylistic coloring as long as their connection with the prototype is alive, so that thy remain synonyms. When the connection with the prototype is lost, the curtailed word may be stylistically neutral: e.g brig, cab, cello and pram. Stylistically colored shortened words may belong to any variety of colloquial style. They are especially numerous in various branches of slang : etc. Familiar colloquial style gives such examples as bobby , cabbie, mac and max from maximum, movies. Nursery words are often clipped : grand, granny , hanky from nightdress, pinkie from pinafore. Stylistic peculiarity often goes hand in hand with emotional coloring as is revealed in the above diminutives. School and college slang, on the other hand, reveal some sort of reckless if not ironical attitude to the things named : caf from cafeteria ‘ self – service restaurant’ , digs from diggings ‘lodgings ‘ , ec, eco from economics , home esc, lab math’s , prelims, prep, prof, trig , undergred , vac, varsity . Service slang is very rich in clipped words ; some of them penetrate the familiar colloquial style. A few examples are: demob from demobilize, divvy n from civilian, op n from non- combatant, corps n from corporal, serge n from sergeant.
The only types of clippings that belong to bookish style are the poetical contractions, such as e’en, e’er, ne’er, o’er.