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Юриспунденкция

Lecture 6.

Shortening

One of the characteristic features of the English vocabulary is a large number of shortened words. It is a feature of English to use laconic structures in syntax and in morphology as well as in the lexical system.

As we know, due to the levelling of endings in the Middle English period, the number of short words grew and the demand of rhythm dictated the appearance of more and more of such words. That is one of the main reasons why there are so many monosyllabic words in English now.

As for borrowed words, they have undergone the same process of shortening in the course of assimilation as most of native words are monosyllabic. Shortened borrowed words sound more English than their long prototypes. Shortenings have been recorded since 15^thcentury and shortening is more and more productive now.All shortenings can be divided into two large groups: lexical and spelling shortenings.

Lexical shortenings in their turn are divided into clipped words and initial shortenings.

In clipped words a part of the word is clipped, cut off.

Clipped words are divided into four groups:

1) aphaeresis [ae'fiansis]— clipping of the first part of the word, i.e. shortening by dropping the beginning of the word. Sometimes the abbreviated form is a new word and in other cases it is the same word but belongs to another sphere of speech style, e.g.:

history — story, between — tween, telephone — phone, omnibus — bus, motor-car — car

2) syncope ['sinkapi] - the middle of the word is clipped, i.e. it is shortening by dropping a letter or an unstressed syllable in the middle of the word, e.g.:

market — mart, spectacles — specs,

mathematics — maths,

Syncope is common in poetry, e.g. e’er, n’er. Rhythm dic- iiile.s the necessity of syncope here. But the forms are only shortened in such a case, new words do not appear. However there are cases when syncope gives a new word, e.g. thorough — through. Syncope is common in proper names too, e.g. Catherine — Kate, Louise — Lucy, etc.

3) apocope [a'pokapi] — it is shortening by dropping the last letter or syllable, e.g.:

photograph — photo, laboratory — lab, preparation — prep, public house — pub, gymnastics — gym;4) the combination of aphaeresis with apocope, i.e. the beginning and the end of the word are clipped, e.g.: influenza — flu, avant-garde — van, vanguard, refrigerator — fridge, professor — fess (popular language).

The second group of lexical shortenings is called initial shortenings. They are formed when a word-combination is shortened and only initial letters of each word are taken. The rules of reading such initial shortenings are the following:

1) In some cases we have alphabetical pronunciation of each letter in the shortening, e.g.:

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation),

RAF (Royal Air Force),

MP (‘member of parliament’ or ‘military police’)

PM. (Prime Minister).

2) In other cases, we pronounce initial shortenings as if they were separate words. Such shortenings are called acronyms. This way of pronunciation of initial shortenings becomes more and more popular, e.g.:

NATO ['neitouj](North Atlantic Treaty Organization),

UNO ['ju.nou] (United Nations Organization),

UNESCO [ju'neskou] (United Nations Economic Scientific and Cultural Organization).

What way of reading initial shortenings is to be used is traditional. We should simply memorize the way of reading this or that shortening.

Sometimes we have compound shortened words' when the first, or the first and the second words in a word combination are shortened and the last word is not shortened.

E.g. H-bomb (hydrogen bomb),

VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day).

In lexical shortenings we can see the change of the spelling to preserve the pronunciation.

E.g. library — libe,

microphone — mike, bicycle — bike.

In initial shortenings we can see the formation of plural and the possessive case.

E.g. MP’s or MPs.

In some cases suffixes or prefixes are added.

E.g. ex — POW (prisoner of war).

All the above-mentioned peculiarities of spelling, pronunciation and word-building mark the fact that lexical shortenings are token for separate words.

Spelling shortenings, the second big group of shortenings, are different: they are not taken for new words and are shortened only in spelling, not in pronunciation. They are pronounced as whole English words even if they are of a foreign origin.

Spelling shortenings exist in the language since Old English. They came into English from Ancient Greece and Roman Empire.

There are two large groups of spelling shortenings in modern English:

1. Those borrowed from Latin. In such cases in the spelling we have initial letters of Latin words but we pronounce the full forms of the corresponding English words:

E.g. a.m. (ante meridian) -— in the morning, p.m. (post meridian) — in the afternoon, cf. (confere) — compare, i.e. (id est) — that is, e.g. (exampli gratia) — for example, ff. (felice) — the following pages,

As for 'a.m.. p.m.’ we may sometimes read them in a shortened way (Latin letters are pronounced) due to the latest trend; ‘etc.’ can be pronounced in Latin in official speech (previously ‘and so on’ was usual).

2. Native spelling shortenings.

There are some semantic groups of native spelling shortenings:

a) forms of address — E.g. Mr, Mrs, Ms;

b) units of weight, time, distance, electricity — E.g. min. — minute,

sec. — second, in — inch, m — metre, pt — pint, ft — feel, v — volt, cm — centimetre;

c) military ranks, scientific degrees, etc. — E.g. capt. — captain, BSc. — Bachelor of Science,

PhD.- Doctor of Philosophy;

d) names of offices:

Govt. — government,

Dept. Department.

Spelling shortenings have different principles of their structure

1) One initial letter is spelled, in plural this letter is doubled. E.g. p. (page), pp. (pages).

2) The first syllable is taken in the spelling. E.g. min (minute), sec (second).

3) Only consonants (initial and final) are spelled. E.g. pt (pint), ft (feet).

4) In compound words the initial letter of each component is taken in the spelling. E.g. G.M.T. — Greenwich Meantime, ms — manuscript.

For spelling shortenings it is typical to have homonyms:

E.g. ‘p’ can denote: page, participle, penny, post, president, pressure.

The reading of these shortenings depends on the context.

When a shortened word appears in the language the full form may:

1) disappear: E.g. avanguarde — vanguard, van, mobile vulgus — mob, fanaticus — fan;

2) remain but have a different meaning with the shortened form. E.g. courtesy — curtsy,

3) remain but belong to another part of speech. E.g. to estrange v. — strange adj.

4) remain and belong to some other style:

E.g.

Colloquial style doc prof lab phone mike

Neutral style doctor, professor, laboratory, telephone, microphone.

In most cases, the shortened form belongs to the colloquial style and the full form to the neutral style. But there are some cases when the shortened form belongs to the neutral style and the full form is archaic and belongs to the bookish style.

Neutral style cinema bus taxi cab sport

Bookish style cinematograph, omnibus, taxi motor, cabriolet, desport.

So we have covered the main ways of English word-building: derivation, conversion, composition and shortening. But as was indicated earlier, there also exist seven secondary ways of word-building in English.

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