Blending, back-formation, reduplication in English and ukrainian

Blending, which is a rather productive type of compounding in English. It has in recent decades become familiar in Ukrainian as well.

Blends or "telescoped" words are formed by confrontation (поєднання) of two (in Ukrainian) or even more truncated (усічених) words or roots of words, for example: avia(tion) + (electr)onics > avionics, fan(tasy) + (maga)zine > fanzine, mo(torist) + (ho)tel > motel,sm(ock) + (f)og > smog, meri(t) + (aristocracy > meritocracy, fl(y) +(h)urry > flurry, etc.

There exist some ways of making blends or types of blanding in English. The main of them are as follows:

1. Blends which are made up from the initial part of the first word or word-group and the complete second word consisting of a root morpheme or a stem only: e.g. cinem(a) + actress = cinematress, para(liticgas) + bomb = parabomb, super(sonic) + jet = superjet, etc.

2. By combining the root morpheme/stem of the first word and the stem of the trancated initial part of the second word: e.g. hay + (si)lage -haylage (силосна яма), pay + (pa)triotism = paytriotism, etc.

3. By combining blends of the initial stem and the final part of the second word: e.g. man + (En)glish = Manglish, radio + (elec)trician = rediotrician etc.

All Ukrainian (like Russian) blends are generally restricted to similar contaminations in which truncated are final elements of the initial words/ word-groups and the initial/final elements of the succeeding words as in пірам(ідон) + (кофе)їн — пірамеїн, ас(пірін) + ко-фе(ї)н-аскофен.

etc.

Back-formation (reversion) is a rather productive type of wordformation in English, where many short words are inferred from longer words. It is in this way that verbs are derived from nouns: e.g. own< owning, beg < beggar, reminisce < reminiscence, etc.

English compound verbs are often formed by back-formation from compound nouns: to aircondition < air conditioning, to baby-sit <baby sitter etc.

Similarly formed are also English verbs from adjectives: luminisce< luminiscent, reminisce < reminiscent etc.

Also nouns are formed quite in the same way from adjectives: greed < greedy, nast < nasty etc.

Back-formation in Ukrainian is restricted only to nouns which are formed from verbal (or rather from their infinitival) stems. E.g.: біг < бігати, брід < бродити, піт < пітніти etc.

Reduplication is more productive in English than in Ukrainian.

Engl. e.g. fifty-fifty, goody-goody, hush-hush (secret), pooh-pooh, so-so.

Ukr.: де-де, ні-ні, ледве-ледве, так-так, ось-ось.

Unlike Ukrainian the English language is especially rich in rhymed reduplications which are rare in our colloquial speech. E.g. boogywoogie, fliggerty-glibberty (frivolous), helter-skelter (in disordered haste) etc.

Note. Pertaining to English only are also compounds with postpositives like camp-out (sleep in open air, not in tent),

walk-over (easy task, easy victory), walk-up (apartment without a lift).

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