3. Linguistics chapter 5 Flashcards
What is neologism? Give an example about the spangler/hoover/ vaccuum cleaner.
Neologism is the new word itsel. Humans have no difficulty coping with the new words (spangler, spanglerism, spanglering etc) Meaning that we very quickly understand a new word, which is called neologism and accept the use of different form of that new word.
A man invented something he called an electric suction sweeper, became known as a spangler, people spanglering their floors, rugs and curtains, people who did it became known as spanglerish and had the behavior of spanglerism. But, he sold the invention to a business-man called William who sold it and named it “Hoover” the hoover became known as “Vacuum cleaner” all over the world.
What is etymology?
The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its etymology.
Many of our technical words come to us through Latin but have its origins in Greek (etymon “original form” + logia “study of” or entomology.
Greek and Latin are the sources of many English words, often describing things.
The evolution of new words and new uses of old words are signs of vitality and creativity shaped by the needs of its users.
What is borrowing? give a few examples of languages doing this.
One common source of new words in English is called the process of borrowing which is the taking over of words from other languages, but we don’t just borrow, we never give them back.
And English has adopted a number of words from other languages. Dope (Dutch) Piano (Italian) Shampoo (Hindi) Tornado (Spanish) Yogurt (Turkish) Sofa (Arabic) Pretzel (German). And sometimes a new sound comes along with new words like the voiced fricative /3/ became part of the English language through borrowed French words such as “measure” and “rouge”.
But other languages also borrow from English such as Japanese (suupaa/suupaamaaketto) for “supermarket” and (taipuraitaa) for “typewriter”. Hungarian “klub” and “futbal” and French “le stress” and “le whiskey” and “le weekend”.
In Brazilian Portugugese the English words have been turned into verbs for new activities (upar) “to upload” and (nerdar) “to surf the internet”.
What is calque/loan transition?
A special type of borrowing is described as loan-translation or calque. In this process, there is a direct translation of the element of a word into the borrowing language.
*French term “gratte-ciel” = “scrape-sky”
Dutch “wolkenkrabber” = “cloud scratcher”
German “Wolkenkratzer” = “cloud scraper” Are all calques for the English “skyscraper”.
*“Superman” = German “Ubermensch”
“Loanword” = German “Lehnwort”
*Spanish speakers eat “perros calientes” = “dogs hot” for “hot dogs”
*“Boyfriend” into japanese as “boyifurendo” but as a calque into chinese as “male friend”.
What is compounding? Key; noun+ adjectives.
Compounding is a joining of two separate words to produce a single form-> Thus, Lehn and Wort= Lehnwort in German.
English compounds are bookcase, doorknob, fingerprint, sunburn, textbook, wallpaper, waterbed, wastebasket
← All these examples are nouns but we can create compound adjectives “good-looking” and “low-paid”.
Create compunds of Adjective “fast” plus noun “food” as in a fast-food restaurant or a full-time job.
What is blending?
The combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term is also present in the process called blending but in blending, we typically take the beginning of one word and join it to the end of another word.
Smoke and fog become. →smog. Breakfast/lunch becomes →Brunch. Motor/Hotel→motel. Television/broadcast→telecast. Oxford/Cambridge →Oxbridge.
BUT in a few blends we combine the beginning of both words. Teleprinter/exchange→Telex Modulator/demodulator→ modem.
What is clipping?
-Similar to blending, the element of reduction is described as clipping; when a word of more than one syllable is reduced into a shorter form.
“Vax” for “vaccine”
“Fax” for “facsimile”
“Gas” for “Gasoline”
“Ad” for “advertisement”
“Cab” for “cabriolet” or
“Flu” for “influenza”
“Perm”, phone, plane, pubs.
Many use clipping with names as in Al, Ed, Liz, Mike, Ron, Sam. Educational environments seem to also encourage clipping as in “Chem, exam, gym, lab, math, phys-ed, poly-sci, prof and typo”.
What is hypocorism?
A particular type of reduction produces forms technically known as hypocorism and in this process a longer word is reduced to a single syllable, then -y or -ie is added to the end. This process results in words like;
Movie from “moving pictures”
Telly from “television”,
Aussie for “Australian” or
Barbie for “barbecue”
Toastie for “toasted sandwich”
Ready to take a sickie “a day for sick leave from work, weather for real sickness or not”.
What is backformation?
Another type of reduction is known as backformation, usually a noun, and the noun is reduced to form a word of another category, usually a verb.
Television=televise,
Donation = donate,
Emotion = emote,
Enthusiasm = enthuse,
Choreography= choreograph
Worker = work.
Exeptions are editor, sculptor, sculpt, babysitter, beggars, burglar, peddlers and swindlers will babysit, beg, burgle, peddle and swindle.
What is conversion?
noun-verb-ajdective
Conversion is a change in the function of a noun-word that comes to be used as a verb (without any reduction).
Bottled ->We bottled the home-brew.
Butter-> Have you buttered the toast?
Chair->Someone has to chair the meeting; Vacation-> They’re vacationing in Florida.
Verbs becoming nouns
Guess= A guess
Must= A must
Spy= A spy
Phrasal verbs also become nouns
To print out,= A printout
To take over= A takeover
Wants to be= Wannabe
Verbs can also become adjectives
See through= see-through material
Stand up= Stand-up comedian
Adjectives can become verbs
A dirty floor= To dirty
An empty park = To empty
Adjectives become nouns
Some crazy ideas= A crazy
Those homeless people = The homeless
Some terms have a negative sense “to doctor”<- negative. Nouns-> total and verb-> run around is not negative but if you total->verb your car and your company gives you the runaround-> noun. You will have a double sense of the negative.
What is coinage? It is the invention of what? Give an example of new product concepts and acitivities?
Coinage is the act of inventing a new word. It means the invention of totally new terms.
The most typical sources are invented names for commercial products that become general terms (usually without capital letters) for any version of that product. The (older) examples are: aspirin, nylon, vaseline and zipper; recent examples are granola, kleenex, teflon and xerox.
The most noticeable example of coinage is the word google. Which was misspelling for the word googol, in the creation of the word Googleplex, which later became the name of a company (Google), the term google has become a widely used expression meaning “to use the internet to find information” To google.
New products and concepts (ebay) and new activities (“Have you tried ebaying it?”) are the usual sources of coinage.
What are acronyms? In what different ways can they be pronunced?
Acronyms are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.
CD = Compact disk
SPCA = Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals
←Here the pronunciation consist of saying each separate letter. But usually acronyms are pronounced as new single words
Such as NATO; NASA;UNESCO ← These are still capital letters but many acronyms have become everyday terms
“radar” radio detection and ranging.
“Sim” subscriber identity module”.
Names for organizations with acronyms
(MADD) Mothers against drunk driving.
(WAR) Women against rape.
We don’t usually think of their component meanings, innovations such as the (ATM) automatic teller machine (PIN) personal identification number, are regularly used as repeated elements “Sometimes I forget my PIN number when I go to the ATM machine”.
What is derivation? How is derivation accomplished?
Derivation is the most common word formation process.
Derivation is a large number of small “bits” of the English language and these small “bits” are described as affixes.
Some familiar examples are the elements; un-; mis-; pre-; ful-; less-; ish-; ism-; and ness.
As in unhappy; misrepresent; prejudge; joyful; careless; boyish; terrorism and sadness.
What are prefixes and suffixes? How many of them are there?
Some affixes are added to the beginning of the word and these are called prefixes.
Other affixes are added to the end of the word and these are called suffixes.
All English words formed by derivation have either prefixes or suffixes or both.
Mislead→has a prefix.
Disrespectful→ has both a prefix and a suffix.
Foolishness→ has two suffixes.
English= 90 prefixes and 110 suffixes.
What are infixes? Tell me about the language Khmu and their infix.
Another type of affix, is infix, but it is not normally used in English, but found in other languages.
The affix infix is incorporated inside another word, usually used in fortuitous or aggravating circumstances by emotionally aroused English speakers:
Hallebloodylujah!
Absogoddamlutely!
Aladamnbama
Fanflippintastic!
“To drill”–> Verb=see
“A drill” –> Noun=srnee
From these examples we can see a regular pattern where the infix “rn” is added to verbs to form nouns.
