1,721,043 research outputs found
A corpus-based analysis of new English blends
Full text linkThis study investigates lexical blending from a synchronic perspective, with special focus on new blends in English. It analyses a sample of 245 English blends dated 1950-2010, from both quantitative and qualitative viewpoints, with the purpose of reassessing the importance of the blending phenomenon in terms of 1) its suitability in the coinage of new specialized vocabulary, and 2) its regularity in the creation of words containing frequent splinters. From the theoretical viewpoint, the study contributes to the issue of whether blending should be considered an extra-grammatical phenomenon of word-creation or a regular process of word-formation. It supports the claim that while some blends (e.g. gla-ma ← glamour + grandma) are unique instances, others are part of series (e.g. eatertainment, irritainment, shoppertainment, all obtained from the splinter -tainment ← entertainment), and therefore show a tendency towards greater regularity and productivity. The goal of the study is fourfold. First, it aims at identifying the contexts/registers which favour the formation of blend words, ranging from slang/colloquial registers to specialized domains. Second, this study addresses the question of whether blends are created with the intention of designating a new referent or to give a new name to an existing referent. Third, the study focuses on a particular type of blending, called ‘attributive’ or ‘headed’, which displays an endocentric relation with its head, as in rockumentary (← rock + documentary) and Clintonomics (← Clinton + economics). In particular, some attributive blends will be viewed as possible schema models for new lexical blends, with the second splinter -umentary and -(o)nomics as potential combining forms or secreted affixes for novel formations.Cette étude examine l’amalgame lexical à partir d’une perspective synchronique. En particulier, elle analyse une collection de 245 nouveaux mots-valises en anglais, datés 1950-2010, d’un point de vue quantitatif et qualitatif. L’analyse a l’objectif de réévaluer l’importance de l’amalgame 1) pour inventer un nouveau lexique spécialisé, et 2) pour créer des mots qui contiennent des fractomorphèmes réguliers. D’un point de vue théorique, l’étude contribue à la question: l’amalgame est-il un phénomène extra-grammatical de création de mot ou un procès régulier de formation de mot? L’étude affirme que certains mots-valises sont des cas uniques (p.ex. gla-ma ← glamour + grandma), tandis que d’autres font partie de séries des mots (p.ex. eatertainment, irritainment, shoppertainment viennent du fractomorphème -tainment ← entertainment) et tendent vers la régularité et la productivité. L’étude a quatre objectifs. D’abord, elle vise à montrer les contextes/registres qui privilégient la formation du mot-valise, et qui vont du langage familier au langage de spécialité. Deuxièmement, l’étude vise à répondre à la question suivante: les mots-valises sont-ils créés pour designer des nouveaux référents ou pour donner un nouveau nom à un référent existant? Troisièmement, l’étude se concentre sur l’amalgamation dite ‘attributive’ ou ‘endocentrique’, comme rockumentary (← rock + documentary) et Clintonomics (← Clinton + economics). Les mots-valises attributifs sont décrits comme des modèles possibles ou schémas pour des amalgames lexicaux nouveaux, dont les seconds fractomorphèmes -umentary et -(o)nomics sont des affixes secrétifs potentiels pour des nouveaux mots
Nominalization in English and Italian normative legal texts
No full textThis paper investigates nominalization in English and Italian legal discourse. In particular, it inspects the syntactic structure of complex noun phrases in the two languages and identify their crucial pragmatic functions and effects in a textual dimension and in relation to the type of discourse.
The investigation of English and Italian data taken from normative legal texts will show that, although in Italian there is a greater tendency towards nominal style than there is in English, nominalization is a common feature of both legal Italian and legal English (Altieri Biagi 1974; Cortelazzo 1990; Gotti 1991; Williams 2004b; Di Renzo Villata 2007; Garzone 2008). Data will also show that, in both languages, nominalization meets many of the requirements of legal writing (Bhatia 1993). Firstly, it contributes to the formal register and highly impersonal style of legal documents. Secondly, it prevents ambiguity and favours precision. Lastly, it may sacrifice concision, generality and simplicity to gain all-inclusiveness, specificity and complexity.
In legal discourse, nominalization gives actions and concepts ontological relevance, emphasizing the authoritativeness of the law and increasing its control over the addressee. Furthermore, it creates a network of lexico-semantic references allowing the writer to refer back to previously introduced ideas, and the reader to follow the logical progression of the text and to compensate for his/her interpretative difficulties with the continuity and stability of reference of the text
An Introduction to English Slang: A Description of its Morphology, Semantics and Sociology
No full textSlang is a widespread phenomenon in English, but, despite its pervasiveness, it has been marginalized or neglected in linguistics. Does it exhibit the same word-formation mechanisms as the standard language? In other words, is it the result of well-established grammatical rules? Or is it outside regular grammar? Again, is slang internally organized in terms of semantic relations and lexical fields, or is it rather a disorganized, complex lexicon made up of vague words and polysemous expressions?
In an attempt to describe slang, there is a general tendency to treat it as a merely social concept reinforcing cohesiveness within a group, or as a level of usage below stylistically neutral language. Slang commonly overlaps with other non-standard varieties such as cant, jargon, dialect, or even with bad language.
This book explores slang from a different angle. Slang is defined both as a group-related variety and as an informal vocabulary of more general use. It is characterized by many extra-grammatical formations which distinguish it from standard English, but also by formations which conform to regular patterns. Besides, it is viewed as a complex lexical system on account of the difficulty it entails in cognitive processing and meaning disambiguation. Yet, such lexical complexity may be exploited by speakers who wish to communicate clandestinely or secretly. In this view, slang offers intriguing issues for a theoretical debate, and new paths for linguists who are attracted by what is original, trendy and pioneering
A morphopragmatic analysis of English and Italian negative prefixes
No full textPragmatic investigations of negation have hitherto concentrated on syntactic aspects of the language, such as the negation of predicate expressions (Hübler, 1987), the negation of the contrary (Hoffmann, 1987) and litotes (Caffi, 1989). However, there are no morphopragmatic studies on affixal negation previous to the present contribution (see Dressler and Merlini Barbaresi, 1994).
This paper explores the regular pragmatic effects produced by English negative prefixes (dis-, in-, non-, un-) and by their Italian counterparts (dis-, in-, non-, s-). In both languages, pragmatic meanings are associated with the feature [cautious] when negative derived words are functional to politeness and euphemistic reticence (cf. E. unsuccess vs. flop / It. insuccesso vs. fiasco), and with the feature [detached] when they help the speaker to save his/her own face and, simultaneously, to prevent the hearer’s negative reaction, as in the case of understatement (cf. E. inelegant vs. rude / It. indelicato vs. villano). From a dynamic perspective, negative derived words are used to modify the illocutionary force of speech acts, esp. towards downgrading. So, according to the context, they may favour either altruistic or egoistic mitigation.
Gli studi pragmatici sulla negazione si sono finora occupati di aspetti sintattici, come la negazione di un predicato (Hübler, 1987), del contrario (Hoffmann, 1987) e la litote (Caffi, 1989). Tuttavia, prima del presente contributo, non ci sono stati studi morfopragmatici sugli affissi negativi (v. Dressler and Merlini Barbaresi, 1994).
Questo studio esplora gli effetti pragmatici regolarmente prodotti dai prefissi negativi inglesi (dis-, in-, non-, un-) e da quelli italiani (dis-, in-, non-, s-). In entrambe le lingue, i significati pragmatici sono associati al tratto [cautious] quando i derivati negativi servono alla cortesia e alla reticenza eufemistica (cfr. E. unsuccess vs. flop / It. insuccesso vs. fiasco), e al tratto [detached] quando servono a salvare la faccia del parlante e, simultaneamente, a prevenire reazioni negative dell’ascoltatore, come nel caso dell’understatement (cfr. E. inelegant vs. rude / It. indelicato vs. villano). In prospettiva dinamica, i derivati negativi sono usati per modificare la forza illocutoria degli atti del discorso, in particolare verso l’attenuazione. Possono dunque favorire, a seconda del contesto, la mitigazione altruistica o quella egoistica
Understatement and overstatement: The language of politicians in the UK and in Italy
No full textQuesto studio mette in luce due divergenti tendenze nel discorso politico britannico e italiano. Da un lato, i politici britannici prediligono strategie linguistiche pacate, moderate, tipiche dell’understatement. Dall’altro lato, i politici italiani tendono a esagerare, usando forme iperboliche ed estreme che caratterizzano l’overstatement. Lo studio, basato sull’analisi di citazioni politiche tratte da raccolte, quotidiani online, programmi televisivi, ecc., ha lo scopo di mostrare: 1) le modalità linguistiche dei due fenomeni e la loro relazione con il linguaggio figurato; 2) le funzioni che essi assolvono e gli effetti che producono; e 3) la loro efficacia in due ambiti culturali diversi, britannico vs italiano.
I risultati di questo studio rivelano aspetti interessanti sull’interculturalità che vanno oltre le differenze interlinguistiche. Il popolo anglosassone si sente ben rappresentato dall’atteggiamento pacato dei suoi leader, mentre quello italiano è scisso fra coloro che preferiscono modelli politici ironici, umoristici e non modesti e coloro che privilegiano, al contrario, figure politiche dal linguaggio sottile ed eufemistico
Blend recognisability in English as a Foreign Language: An experiment
No full textRecognisability is one of the major constraints that most linguists place on lexical blends and their well-formedness. Blends indeed display an unpredictable output that is not transparently analysable into morphemes, and their source words are difficult to recognise. The possible combinatory patterns of the source lexemes, the different portions that are retained in the final blend, and their semantic contribution to the overall meaning increase the number of variables and classificatory criteria for blends, thus decreasing predictability of the output given an input. For students of EFL, lexical blends are even more difficult to access due to the fact that the language in which they are formed is not their native language.
Recognisability is one of the major constraints that most linguists place on
lexical blends and their well-formedness. Blends indeed display an unpredictable output
that is not transparently analysable into morphemes, and their source words are difficult to
recognise for both hearers and readers. The possible combinatory patterns of the source
lexemes, the different portions that are retained in the final blend, and their semantic
contribution to the overall meaning increase the number of variables and classificatory
criteria for blends, thus decreasing predictability of the output given an input. For students
of EFL, lexical blends are even more difficult to access due to the fact that the language in
which they are formed is not their native language. This paper reports on results from an
experiment on 18 Italian students who were tested on English blends. The participants
were asked to identify the source words and meanings of a number of blends selected
according to different (phonological, morphotactic, semantic) criteria. The results of the
experiment show that the recognisability of English lexical blends by Italian native
speakers depends on 1) the type of characteristics that the blend displays (overlap between
the source words, semantic weight of the source words, headedness, same prosodic
structure as one of the source words), 2) the category (substitution vs. overlap, coordinate
vs. attributive) to which the blend belongs, and 3) the context where it is used. In general,
the experiment sheds some light on the type of processes (e.g., decomposition and textual
reference) involved in the recognition and accessibility of English lexical blends
Extra-grammatical Morphology in English: Abbreviations, Blends, Reduplicatives, and Related Phenomena
No full textExtra-grammatical morphology is a hitherto neglected area of research, highly marginalised because of its irregularity and unpredictability. Yet many neologisms in English are formed by means of creative mechanisms, which deserve attention and a more systematic study.
This book analyses creative phenomena like abbreviation, blending and reduplication. It demonstrates that, although they are not rule-bound, these phenomena are partially predictable on the basis of analogical patterns, and generally comply with criteria of well-formedness, as well as with principles of contextual suitability
Abbreviations in English and Italian scientific discourse
No full textSeveral studies on English and Italian specialized discourse have demonstrated that in scientific,
legal and technical language there is a general tendency towards complex noun
phrases (Altieri Biagi 1974; Cortelazzo 1990; Gotti 1991, 2003, 2005; Williams 2004; Garzone
2008; Mattiello 2010). However, due to the increasing popularization of some forms of
scientific discourse (Mattiello forthcoming b), there seems to be also an opposite tendency to
use abbreviations such as initialisms (e.g. MRI ← Magnetic Resonance Imaging, SSI ←
Stazione Spaziale Internazionale ‘International Space Station’), acronyms (e.g. CAT ←
Computerized Axial/Computer-Assisted Tomography, GAVI ← Global Alliance for Vaccines
and Immunization, TAC ← Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata), clippings (e.g. chimp ←
chimpanzee, psi ← parapsicologia ‘parapsychology’), and related items to condense information
into smaller units, especially when they are highly accessible to the whole community,
or even lexicalized (AIDS, DNA, HIV, lab, NASA, UFO) (Brinton & Traugott 2005).
Although these formations are generally neglected by morphologists (Aronoff 1976; Scalise
1984; Spencer 1991; Haspelmath 2002), or marginalized to expressive (Zwicky & Pullum
1987) or extra-grammatical morphology (Dressler & Merlini Barbaresi 1994; Dressler 2000;
Conti & Mattiello 2008; Mattiello forthcoming a), they are widely exploited in specialized
discourse because of their (a) naming function, i.e. they assign concepts, phenomena and
processes specific labels which can circulate internationally, and (b) economy (Zipf 1949;
Martinet 1955), i.e. they avoid redundancy and favour textual efficiency.
This study investigates the terminology used in two scientific journals written in English –
Nature and Science – and in two Italian translated versions of English journals – the American
magazine National Geographic and the Australian magazine Nexus New Times – to
show that scientific language often makes use of abbreviatory operations for various reasons.
First, they help create social closeness, especially among in-group experts. Second,
they help maintain textual cohesion, anaphorically referring to previously introduced concepts
and ideas. Third, they catch the reader’s attention, especially when they are used cataphorically
in news headlines. Cross-linguistically, this study will show that, in texts translated
from English, Italian often leaves English abbreviations untranslated, because they
refer to worldwide concepts, are amply recognized at an international level, and have acquired
a status as words (Bat-El 2000; Kreidler 2000; Fradin 2003)
Metaphor in tourism discourse: Imagined worlds in English tourist texts on the web
No full textTourism discourse is a type of specialised discourse (Cappelli 2006; Gotti 2006) typically characterised by stylistic choices and linguistic strategies of persuasion. In English promotional tourist websites suasion is specially achieved through metaphoric language use.
This study investigates tourism metaphors within the framework of relevance-oriented lexical pragmatics (Wilson and Carston 2007, 2008; Sperber and Wilson 2008; Carston forthcoming). The primary aims of the study are to show that: a) metaphor is a subvariety of lexical broadening, and often combines with hyperbole to produce suasive effects, as in the last paradise on earth; b) in tourist texts, metaphor interpretation does not always involve the construction of ad hoc concepts such as ‘paradise’, based on information made accessible by the encyclopedic entry of the encoded concept; c) metaphors may be interpreted literally, too, and metarepresented so as to activate a mental image that evokes an imagined world (Davidson 1984; Levin 1993; Camp 2006)
Transitional Morphology: Combining Forms in Modern English
No full textCombining Forms (CFs) are a major morphological phenomenon in Modern English, yet while they have been discussed in some morphological literature, no full-length study has been devoted to this topic so far. This pioneering book addresses that gap by providing a framework in which CFs are marked as distinct from their neighbouring categories such as abbreviations and blending. It splits CFs into four distinct categories – neoclassical (e.g. bio-therapy, zoo-logy), abbreviated (e.g. e-reader, econo-politics), secreted (e.g. oil-gate, computer-holic) and splinters (e.g. docu-from documentary in docudrama). It shows that the notion of CF spans a wide spectrum of processes, from regular composition to abbreviation, from blending to analogy, and schema. Modern and emerging English CFs are analysed by adopting a corpus-based approach, and measuring their realised, expanding, and potential productivity. Comprehensive yet accessible, it is essential reading for researchers and advanced students of morphology, English historical linguistics, corpus linguistics, and lexicography
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