BLENDING (Morphology and syntax)

     A. Blending

    The term blending refers to a combination of two or more forms, where at least one has been shortened. The shortening can be by simple omission of a part of a word or it can be a result of overlapping sounds or letters (Algeo 1977:47). Gries defines blending as follows: 

Blending involves the coinage of a new lexeme by fusing parts of at least two other source words of which either one is  shortened in the fusion and/or where there is some form of  phonemic or graphemic overlap of the source words. (Gries 2004:639) 

B.     Types of Blend

1.      Blends with overlapping

Overlapping in these blends might take place with overlapping as the only type of shortening of the words. The most common pattern is the one where the final part of the first word overlaps the first part of the second word. The overlap can be one phoneme or several. One xample of this is slanguage from slang and language. Blends with overlapping may also include all of one form and the first or last part of the other word. In those cases it is the spelling of the word that tells us it is a blend:

            Sinema “adult film” = sin + cinema  

            Cellebrity ”famous criminal” = cell + celebrity   

            Cartune “musical cartoon” = cartoon + tune  

There is one type of overlapping blend that is not very common. In such blends one form is inserted into another; the overlapping might be complete or partial. In-sin-uation for example, meaning insinuation of sin, is created by a fusion of the two words insinuation and sin (Algeo 1977:49). In those words it is the inserted element that is stressed.

  

2.      Blends with clipping

Blends with clipping have no overlapping. Instead one part or more is omitted. There are different patterns that are used when creating these kinds of blends. One is to keep the whole part of the first word and the last part of the second word. 

            Foodoholic = food + alcoholic

            Fanzine = fan + magazine 

Another alternative is to keep the whole second word and only use the first part of the first word.

             Eurasia = Europe + Asia  

When both words are clipped it is common to use the first part of the first word and the last part of the second part. Two widely used blends are examples of this combination:

            Brunch = breakfast + lunch  

            Smog = smoke + fog  

A fourth alternative is to combine the first parts of both or all elements. 

            Agitprop = agitation + propaganda  

            Aldehyde = alcohol + dehydrogenatum 

Algeo believes that acronyms belong to this class of blends rather than being a seperate type of word-formation (Algeo 1977:50).

3.      Blends with clipping and overlapping

Some blends are created by using both clipping and overlapping. There are many variations of patterns to this word-formation. The words that follow are some examples.  

                  Californication = California + fornicate 

                  Suspose = suspect + suppose  

                  Hungarican = Hungarian + American

                  Motel = Motor + hotel  (Algeo 1977:52)  

C.     Conclusion

Blends deal with the action of abridging and then combining various lexemes to form a new word. However, the process of defining which words are true blends and which are not is more complicated. The difficulty comes in determining which parts of a new word are “recoverable” (its root can be distinguished).

There are many types of blends, based on how they are formed. Algeo, a linguist, proposed dividing blends into three groups:

1.      Phonemic Overlap: a syllable or part of a syllable is shared between two words

2.      Clipping: the shortening of two words and then compounding them

3.                  Phonemic Overlap and Clipping: Shortening of two words to shared syllable and then compounding.

REFERENCES

learningenglishtobeeasy.blogspot.com

Wikipedia. List of Portmanteaux. [Online] Available at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portmanteaux (accessed November 4, 2014)

Enarsson, A. 2006. New Blends in the English Language.