Phraseology and Culture in English

2. Data 
We shall briefly present some data illustrating the formal properties of mul-
tiword units within environmental language: affixes, compounds, phrases, 
collocations, catch-phrases, acronyms and blends. 
Assessing the separability of the components of multiword units is one 
way to determine whether to define it as a compound, affix or lexical 
phrase. In written language, hyphens tend to disappear when the word is 
treated as a whole, and new words can then be generated according to nor-
mal lexico-grammatical rules. However, in many cases, our data include 
multiple occurrences of multiwords with variant spellings, again reflecting 
the fact that the lexical development of environmental language is still in 
process.
2.1. Affixes 
Whilst it would be interesting to comment on the very heavy use of existing 
affixes for abstract noun formation (see Goatly 1996), we will comment, 
instead, on new, emerging affixes in the context of environmental dis-
course.
2.1.1. eco-
The most important environmental affix is eco- (pronounced either [ekç] or 
[ikç]) derived from the adjective ecological. Some former lexical phrases 
using this affix have been shortened because of their centrality to environ-
mental discourse (“ecological system” Æ “ecosystem”). This shortening then 
allows the recursive use of “ecosystem” in compound and phrase formation 
(“ecosystem boundary”, “ecosystem classification”). 
An interesting environmental multiword is eco friendly, formed of the 
prefix eco- plus the suffix -friendly (see Section 1.2). This unusual word for-
mation is possible because both affixes retain a portion of their original mean-
ings. The bleaching effect of affixation becomes noticeable during attempts 
to classify things as “eco friendly”. It is difficult to define what eco- is, and 
what relationship the thing must have with eco- that determines whether or 
not it is, in fact, “eco friendly”. We note that the use of “friendly” as an 
affix no longer permits stages of comparison, but is a fixed state of being. 

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Melina Magdalena and Peter Mühlhäusler 
Although eco-, like -friendly, has suffered some semantic bleaching 
through its wide usage, it has also acquired a specialist emotive meaning.
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Unlike ecological, which is found more often in economic and scientific 
texts such as “Environmental Impact Statements”, we encountered eco- pre-
dominantly in moral discourse (“eco-catastrophe”, “eco-economy”, “eco-
feminist”, “eco-tourism”).
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The choice of eco- often denotes ingroup / out-
group associations (“eco-citizen”, “eco-dork”, “eco-pioneers”, “eco-freaks”), 
whereas ecological places more distance between “the environment” and 
whatever is associated with it (“ecological health”, “ecological system”, 
“ecological budget”). 
Close examination of one pair of terms, ecological justice and eco-
justice, demonstrates the emotive difference inherent in the use of the eco-
prefix, and provides a clear example of the in-group / out-group connota-
tions. Whereas “ecological justice” is a fairly abstract term which places the 
responsibility for justice externally, by locating it within the environment, 
which itself metes out consequences, “eco-justice”, which carries the value-
loaded component eco-, is far more concrete, associated more closely with 
the intentions and actions of specific humans who mete out justice on be-
half of the environment.
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2.1.2. bio-
A second prevalent affix is bio-, shortened from “biological”. Biodiversity
(biological + diversity) is a common environmental word, but bio- is also 
added onto many other words, with the effect of extending their meaning to 
‘environmentally acceptable’. A biohome is not a house in which living 
organisms may or do reside, but rather a dwelling which is certified as ad-
hering to certain stringent ecological conditions (imposed by human au-
thorities). Similarly, bioeconomics is not simply the economics of life, but 
economics based on ecological principles.