University of Michigan's Anne Curzan gives a great mini-lecture about slang words formed by clipping and how these words have the potential to become a standard part of the lexicon.
Showing posts with label clipping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clipping. Show all posts
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Clipping Cartoons (It's Much More Fun Than Clipping Coupons)
Clipping, back-formation, and affixing, that is.
Clipping is a word creation process that takes a historically, multi-syllabic word and removes one or more syllables to form a smaller word. Some examples are: ad from advertisement, gas from gasoline, phone from telephone, and flu from influenza.
Clipping is a word creation process that takes a historically, multi-syllabic word and removes one or more syllables to form a smaller word. Some examples are: ad from advertisement, gas from gasoline, phone from telephone, and flu from influenza.
Because clipping does not change the lexical category or semantic interpretation of a word, the above cartoon actually illustrates a word creation process called back-formation.
Back-formation is similar to clipping but it can change the lexical category and/or semantic interpretation of a word. Examples include: couth from uncouth, and the verb burgle from the noun burglar.
Back-formation is similar to clipping but it can change the lexical category and/or semantic interpretation of a word. Examples include: couth from uncouth, and the verb burgle from the noun burglar.
Affixing is the process of creating words by adding prefixes, suffixes or infixes.
Image credits here.
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