Blend
Revision as of 14:05, 27 June 2007 by Linguipedia (talk | contribs) (New page: In morphology, the term '''blend''' is used for a lexeme that was deliberately created out of two (or more) base words by (often irregularly) deleting parts of the bases. :::*''"A ble...)
In morphology, the term blend is used for a lexeme that was deliberately created out of two (or more) base words by (often irregularly) deleting parts of the bases.
- "A blend is here defined as a deliberate creation of a new word out of two (or rarely more) previously existing ones in a way which differs from the rules or pattterns of regular compounding." (Ronneberger-Sibold 2006:157)
Term properties
The word-creation technique by which blends arise is called blending.
Examples
- English guesstimate from estimate + guess, Spanglish from Spanish + English
- German Bistrothek from Bistro + Diskothek
Synonyms
Origin
According to the OED, the word blend goes back to the early 20th century.
- "Blend-words, amalgams, or fusions may be defined as two or more words, often of cognate sense, telescoped as it were into one." (Pound 1914:1)
- "Words of the type of electrocute..are often called portmanteau words, or better, blends." (Baugh 1935:377)
References
- Baugh, A.C. 1935. Hist. Eng. Lang. x. (from OED s.v. blend)
- Cannon, Garland. 1986. Blends in English word-formation. Linguistics 24:725-753.
- Pound, L. 1914. Blends: Their Relation to Eng. Word Formation i. (from OED s.v. blend)
- Ronneberger-Sibold, Elke. 2006. Lexical blends: Functionally tuning the transparency of complex words. Folia Linguistica 40.1-2:155-181.
Other languages
German Wortverschmelzung
