Shortening is the process and the result of forming a word out of the initial elements (letters, morphemes) of a word combination.

Types of shortening: clipping, blending, abreviation and acronyms.

C l i p p i n g is a type of word-building shortening of spoken words. The part retained does not change phonetically, hence the necessity of spelling changes, e.g., double:: dub, microphone:: mike, tranquilizer:: trank.

According to whether it is the final, initial or middle part of the word that is cut off we distinguish:

1) i n i t i a l clipping e.g., phone (telephone), story (history), chute (parachute);

2) f i n a l clipping e.g., cap (captain), gym (, gymnastics), lab (laboratory), ed (editor);

3) m e d i a l clipping e.g., fancy (fantasy), ma'am (madam).

Final and initial clipping may be combined and result in the curtailed words with the middle part of the prototype retained, e.g., flu (influenza), frige (refrigerator), tec (detective).

If we approach the shortened word from the point of view of the structure of the prototype we distinguish two groups:

1) shortened words correlated with w o r d s, e.g., cabbie (cabman), nightie (nightdress), teeny (teenager);

2) shortened words correlated with p h r a s e a, e.g., finals (final examinations), perm (permanent wave), pop (popular music), pub (public house), taxi (taximeter-cab).

Abbreviation is the word formation process in which a word or phrase is shortened. BBC,FBR

Written Abbreviations Apr. – April; dept. – department; Dr. – doctor; Jr. – Junior Mr. – Mister

Spoken-Written Abbreviations B.C.E. – Before Common Era; HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus; VIP – very important person

Acronyms are words formed by the word formation process in which an initialism is pronounced as a word. For example, AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome that is spoken as the word aids. NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization; NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration; PIN – personal identification number; radar - radio detection and ranging; scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus; Benilux

 

B l e n d i n g is a type of compounding by means of merging parts of words into new one word. The process of formation is also called t e l e s c o p i n g, because the words seem to slide into one another like sections of a telescope. E.g., brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog), smaze (smoke + haze), slimnastics (slim + gymnastics). It seems practical to distinguish the following groups of blends:

1) coining a new word from the initial elements of one word and the final elements of another, e.g., drunch (drink + lunch), skort (skirt + short);

2) coining a new word by combining one notional word and final element of another word, e.g., manglish (man + English), radiotrician (radio + electrician);

3) combining the initial elements of one word with a notional word, e.g., mobus (motors + bus), l egislady (legislative lady).

Such coinages are often formed with a playful or humorous intent and have a stylistic status. They can convey various shades of emotive colouring (irony or mockery), which makes them most active in different types of slang: dopelomat (dope + diplomat), Yanigan (Yankee + hooligan), nixonomics (Nixon + economics).

Blends, although not very numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise, especially in terminology and also in trade advertisements.