Table Of ContentExtra-grammatical Morphology in English
Topics in English Linguistics
82
Editors
Elizabeth Closs Traugott
Bernd Kortmann
De Gruyter Mouton
Extra-grammatical Morphology
in English
Abbreviations, Blends, Reduplicatives,
and Related Phenomena
by
Elisa Mattiello
De Gruyter Mouton
ISBN 978-3-11-029386-9
e-ISBN 978-3-11-029539-9
ISSN 1434-3452
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
ACIPcatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenappliedforattheLibraryofCongress.
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableintheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de.
”2013WalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston
Printing:Hubert&Co.GmbH&Co.KG,Göttingen
(cid:2)(cid:2)Printedonacid-freepaper
PrintedinGermany
www.degruyter.com
Preface
The purpose of this book is to fill a gap in word-formation studies, specifi-
cally with regard to that part of morphology termed “extra-grammatical”. In
the past, phenomena such as clippings, acronyms, blends, and reduplicatives
were generally excluded from English grammars and major theoretical mor-
phological works, or else they were marginalised to a peripheral, irrelevant,
secondary role in morphology, subordinate to what is to be considered inside
morphological grammar. Recently, however, there has been a significant
increase in the attention devoted to phenomena that lie outside grammatical
morphology, probably as a result of their extensive use in the coinage of
neologisms in all languages, and especially in English. Yet these phenomena
have been hitherto investigated only individually by scholars, and more for
their relevance to the phonological system than as a set of processes that
pertain to irregular morphology.
The aim of the present volume is to explore morphological extra-
grammaticality thoroughly and systematically, and to define the topic not
only as the negative counterpart of grammatical morphology, but as a sub-
discipline per se, comprising a number of different phenomena worthy of
attention in English on account of their high frequency and wide exploitation
in many different fields and communicative settings. The data included dem-
onstrates the role of abbreviatory devices and similar creative processes not
only in informal language and oral communication, areas which have already
been noted in the literature, but also in more formal contexts, including pro-
fessional jargon and scientific discourse.
Many people have played a role in the writing of this book. First and
foremost, I would like to thank Lavinia Merlini Barbaresi, who has encour-
aged me and supported this project from the very outset. Her feedback and
insightful observations on earlier drafts of the manuscript have been invalu-
able.
Many thanks are also due to Wolfgang Ulrich Dressler for his useful re-
marks on the abbreviatory phenomena examined in chapter 3. I am also very
grateful to Roberto Peroni for his discussions and critical comments on the
theoretical chapter. Other people provided useful comments or information
at various stages of the project: Maurizio Gotti, Bernd Kortmann, Elke Ron-
neberger-Sibold, Elizabeth Closs Traugott, and the participants at several
vi Preface
conferences. Naturally, all remaining errors are solely my own responsibil-
ity.
I also wish to thank Antonio Bertacca, Marcella Bertuccelli Papi, and
Susan George for their constant encouragement and support in the course of
my work. I am also indebted to Stephen James Coffey, who patiently read
through the book and suggested many improvements as a native speaker of
English, excellent reviewer and experienced linguist. I also warmly thank my
postgraduate student Maria Letizia Malatesti for many discussions on the
subject.
I dedicate this book to my family and, in particular, to my three-year-old
daughter Matilde, who has amused me since the first months of her life with
creative formations, original reduplicatives, and abbreviations of all kinds.
Pistoia, November 2012
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1. Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.1. Lexical status of items . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2. Key references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3. Organisation of the work . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2. The theoretical framework . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1. Extra-grammatical formations in Generative Morphology . 20
2.2. Extra-grammatical formations in Naturalness Theory . . 22
2.2.1. Natural Morphology . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.2. Natural Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.3. Extra-grammatical morphology . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.1. Extra-grammatical vs. expressive morphology . . 30
2.3.2. Extra-grammatical vs. marginal morphology . . . 32
2.3.3. Extra-grammatical vs. grammatical morphology . . 36
2.3.4. Grammaticality and regularity of extra-grammatical
morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3.5. Extra-grammaticality and language change . . . 43
2.3.6. Fundamental notions . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.3.7. Definition and properties of extra-grammatical
morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3. Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.1. Definition, delimitation, and classification . . . . . . 67
3.1.1. Definition of clipping . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.1.2. Delimitation: Clipping vs. other processes . . . . 70
3.1.3. Classification and structure of clippings . . . . 72
3.1.4. Definition of acronyms and initialisms . . . . . 82
3.1.5. Delimitation: Acronyms and initialisms vs. other
processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.1.6. Classification of acronyms and initialisms . . . . 87
3.1.7. Acronyms and initialisms: Further remarks . . . 93
3.2. Abbreviations as extra-grammatical phenomena . . . . 95
viii Contents
3.2.1. Irregularities in abbreviations . . . . . . . 97
3.2.2. Regularities in abbreviations . . . . . . . . 101
3.2.3. Predictability in abbreviations . . . . . . . 105
3.2.4. Criteria of well-formedness . . . . . . . . 109
4. Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.1. Definition, delimitation, and classification . . . . . . 112
4.1.1. Definition and main features . . . . . . . . 112
4.1.2. Delimitation: Blending vs. other processes . . . . 115
4.1.3. Classification and structure of blends . . . . . 118
4.1.4. Blends: Further remarks . . . . . . . . . 125
4.2. Blending as an extra-grammatical phenomenon . . . . 127
4.2.1. Irregularities in blends . . . . . . . . . . 128
4.2.2. Regularities in blends . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.2.3. Predictability in blends . . . . . . . . . 135
4.2.4. Criteria of well-formedness . . . . . . . . 138
5. Reduplicatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.1. Definition, delimitation, and classification . . . . . . 144
5.1.1. Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.1.2. Delimitation: Reduplication vs. other processes . . 146
5.1.3. Classification and structure of reduplicatives . . . 148
5.2. Reduplication as an extra-grammatical phenomenon . . 159
5.2.1. Irregularities in reduplicatives . . . . . . . 160
5.2.2. Regularities in reduplicatives . . . . . . . 162
5.2.3. Predictability in reduplicatives . . . . . . . 165
5.2.4. Criteria of well-formedness . . . . . . . . 167
6. Minor phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.1. Back-formation: Definition, delimitation, and classification 170
6.1.1. Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.1.2. Delimitation: Back-formation vs. other processes . 173
6.1.3. Classification and structure of back-formed words . 174
6.2. Back-formation as an extra-grammatical phenomenon . . 179
6.2.1. Irregularities in back-formation . . . . . . . 180
6.2.2. Regularities in back-formation . . . . . . . 182
6.2.3. Predictability in back-formation . . . . . . . 183
6.2.4. Criteria of well-formedness . . . . . . . . 184
6.3. Infixation: Definition, delimitation, and classification . . 185
6.3.1. Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Contents ix
6.3.2. Delimitation: Infixation vs. other processes . . . 187
6.3.3. Classification of infixes . . . . . . . . . 188
6.4. Infixation as an extra-grammatical phenomenon . . . . 192
6.4.1. Irregularities in infixation . . . . . . . . . 192
6.4.2. Regularities in infixation . . . . . . . . . 194
6.4.3. Predictability in infixation . . . . . . . . 196
6.4.4. Criteria of well-formedness . . . . . . . . 197
6.5. Phonaesthemes: Definition, delimitation, and classification 198
6.5.1. Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
6.5.2. Delimitation: Phonaesthemes vs. other
morpho(no)logical concepts . . . . . . . . 202
6.5.3. Classification of phonaesthemes . . . . . . . 202
6.6. Phonaesthemes as an extra-grammatical phenomenon . . 206
6.6.1. Irregularities in phonaesthemes . . . . . . . 207
6.6.2. Criteria for identification . . . . . . . . . 208
7. Extra-grammatical formations in use . . . . . . . . 210
7.1. Principles of contextual suitability . . . . . . . . 212
7.2. Typical contexts and domains . . . . . . . . . 215
7.3. Contextualising extra-grammatical phenomena . . . . 216
7.3.1. Clippings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.3.2. Acronyms and initialisms . . . . . . . . . 225
7.3.3. Blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
7.3.4. Reduplicatives . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
7.3.5. Back-formation, infixation, and phonaesthemes . . 244
8. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Sources for data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Lexical index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Subject index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
