THE CATEGORIAL CONTINUUM OF ENGLISH ...

Ellglish Sludies, 2004, I, pp. 63-76 00 I 3-838x/04/0 1-0063/$ I 6.00 (;) 2004, Taylo r & Francis Ltd.

n Routledge ~ \..

Taylor & Frands Group

THE CATEGORIAL CONTINUUM OF ENGLISH BLENDS 1. Introduction Blending is a very productive source of words in present day English, although as Bauer (1983: 26)' remarks, the limits of the category are not easy to draw, since 'blending tends to shade off into compounding, neo-c1assical compounding, affixation, clipping, and . .. acronyming'. A simple but useful characterization of blends is provided by Kelly (1998: 579),2 who defines these items as words 'formed by snipping components from existing words and stitching the components together either through simple concatenation or through concaten~tion coupled with overlap of shared phonological segments' . Algeo (1991: 10)3 specifies that blends are obtained by joining ' two or more forms', and that at least part of one must be shortened. In a corpus-based study on the structure of these items, Kelly (1998) found out that blends are not so unpredictable as they may seem from the point of view of the order and breakpoints of their constituents. He analysed the order and boundary patterns of 320 conjunctive blends of two constituents (i.e. items of the type exemplified by smog), and concluded that the first word in the source unit tends to be shorter and more frequent than the second, and denotes more typical members of the category. The author hypothesizes that these features could predict and account for the initial position of that word in the source phrase. Consider the following examples: '''donkephant'' may have won out over "eledonk" because "donkey" contains fewer syllables than "elephant". Similarly, "smog" may have had an advantage over "foke" because "smoke" is a more frequent. word than "fog" ... Some examples with the prototype first are "spork" ("spoon" and "fork" from the kitchen-utensils category), " tangelo" (" tangerine" and "pomelo" from the fruit category), .. . relative to each other, one was ranked higher in the norm (e.g. spoon and tangerine in the cases here)'. (pp. 581; 583). Concerning the boundaries between blend constituents, the author observed that 'they fall primarily at major phonological joints, such as syllable, onset, and rime boundaries' (p. 579). He verified that breaks' at onset-rhyme boundaries (that is, between the prevocalic consonants in the syllable - the onset - and the group formed by the vowel or nucleus and the post-vocalic consonants or coda) were significantly more common than breaks at body-coda boundaries (that is, between the onset+nuc1eus on the one hand and the coda on the other). For example, dink pairs the onset of deck with the rhyme of prink. Lastly, Kelly's research also confirmed that the constituents of blends tend to be La urie Bauer, English Word Formation (Cambridge, 1983). M.H. Kelly, 'To " brunch" o r to " brench "; Some Aspects of Blend Structure', Linguistics, 36/3 ( 1998), 579-90. ) John A lgco (eel ), F!/iy Yl'lIrs 1I111OIIg 1111' NI' )V Words (C;llnbridge, 199 1). I

6]

PAULA LOPEZ RUA /

dipped and arranged so that their boundaries involve identical or similar phonemes, for instance, Idl in radome ('RADar + DOME'),4 or Idl and It I in clantastical (,CLANDestine + fanTASTICAL '). The analysis of blends put forward in this paper also comprises the morphological categories of initialisms, abbreviations and clippings. Besides, the category of blends includes a peripheral subtype sometimes called clipped or clipping compounds, that is, compounds in which the constituents are initial splinters (see below) joined with a low degree of phonic integration - i.e. with simple clustering - for example Alcan: 'ALaska + CANada'. Such an analysis is necessary in order to complete the account of the categorial structure of blends because the extension of any category is ultimately determined by the extension of neighbouring categories. As regards abbreviations, it must be remembered that they cannot be regarded as proper instances of word-formation devices; nevertheless, the identification of in-between cases with respect to the rest of the categories allows its inclusion in the present description. In the sections that follow, the defining features and the centre-periphery structure of blends will be outlined, and the in-between cases registered in the corpus - both actual and potential hybrids - will be discussed and eventually located in a categorial continuum which extends to compound words. 2. The extension of blends: category structure and formation patterns What follows is a parameter-based account of the category of blends, which allows both the description of the prototypical cases and the location of the remaining members within the category. The parameters - numbered I to 6 below - were implicitly considered in the description of adjacent categories (abbreviations, clippings and initialisms). Therefore, borderline cases were analysed by taking into account the values displayed by typical items of those neighbouring categories with respect to the same features: 1. Number and Type of source form (i.e. the morphosyntactic unit subject to shortening): one or more; a word or a phrase. 2. Pronunciation of the resulting form: unexpanded (ordin ary word or letter names), or expanded (source form). 3. Orthography: small letters, capitals, or mixture. 4. Degree of shortening: from maximum (one or two initials replacing one source word), to medium or minimum (the resulting form retains splil1lers or even complete words of the source). The term splil1ler was taken from Lehrer (1996: 361-2),5 who describes it as follows: 'splinters are parts of words in blends which are intended to be recognized as belonging to a target word, but which are not independent formatives. Examples are the two splinters br and unch in brunch, or dyn and (n ) elic in the blend dynelic < dynamic + magnetic, where the n belongs to both splinters' . This definition, however, was adapted to the particularities of the present case, since I am dealing not only with blends but also with other types of shortenings: therefore, I regard as splinters those graphic and phonemic sequences which are neither inflectional nor derivati onal morphemes, nor combining forms (eleclro-, -scope), but whose length 4

5

From here onwards, letters and splin ters in the expanded expressions will be capitalized to evince the process of creation of the item . Adrienne Lehrer, 'Identifying and Interpreting Blends: An Experimental Approach', Cognitive Linguistics, 7/4 ( 1996), 359-90.

THE CATEGORIAL CONT IN UUM UI- t l'lu L I.:>n 01..,'-''',-,,,, makes them recognizable as shortenings of previous words; consequently, splinters tend to be syllables or larger than syllables in their sources, as Ox- and -bridge in Oxbridge ('OXford and CamBRIDGE'), or Digi- and -all in Digiralt (,DIGital Radar ALTimeter'). If they are shorter than syllables, their usual constituents are the syllable onset (i.e. the prevocalic consonant or consonants); the onset and the nucleus (prevocalic consonants + vowel); or the rhyme (vowel + post-vocalic consonants or coda); for example, SP- in SPIRE ('SPatial Inertial Reference Equipment') , FLE- in FLEMIS (,FLExible Management Information System'), or smoand -og in smog (,SMOke and fOG'). 5. Degree of phonic integration of the constituents: high (so und intersection or overlap); medium (so und union); or low (sound agglutination or clustering). In general terms, the difference belween the values is that 'high' integration implies an assimilation of identical or similar sounds occurring in the constituents which are to be shortened and combined (for example, the sequence I-Aut-I in molel < MOTor + hOTEL; or the phonemes Ibl and Id! in bombron < BOMBardment squaDRON). In 'medium' integration there is no intersection of common so unds; lhe shortened parts of the sources are simply linked to fo rm either a syllable or at least a pronounceable sequence in the resulting form (for instance br- and -unch in brunch < BReakfast + lUN CH; or the initials of an acronym such as radar). Finally, in 'Iow' integration each original constituent contributes with a splinter which becomes an independent syllable in the resulting form; these syllables are then simply clustered in order to build the new item, as in Nab isco (,NAtional BIScuit COmpany'); another example of low integration would be the clustering of initials in typical alphabetisms such as BBC ('British Broadcasting Corporation'). (I. Mode of expression: speaking and writing, or only writing.

In all the categories each defining parameter provides a relative position and degree of typicality for each item. This relative measure and position adds to Ihose provided by the remaining parameters; consequently, the ultimate locaIion of the item is determined by its overall degree of typicality, which results from the particular combination of values displayed. In the same way as clippings, prototypical blends exhibit an unexpanded orthoepic pronunciation and two possible modes of expression, written and spoken. From the point of view of orthography, they are typically written in lower case (motel, brunch) ; blends combining capitals and small letters - such as HoReCa ('HOtel, REstaurant and CAfe keepers') - as well as those with alternative forms in capitals - for example Elint IELINT ('ELectronic INTelligence') or Fortran IFORTRAN ('FORmula TRANslation') - are more central than those written only in capitals (PLANNET: 'PLANNing NETwork') . As regards shortening and source form, prototypical blends result from clipping and joining two words, which may form a phrase in the original or not (cf. hombron: 'BOMBardment squadRON'; hurricoon: 'HURRICane + typhOON'). The most usual pattern is to join the end of the first word and the beginning of the second - that is, two splinters with m.edium shortening - as in /IIotel (, MOTor + hOTEL') or rockoon (,ROCKet + b allOON'). Other central (a lthough not prototypical) values and combinations are the following: I. Ul t:nds deriving from more than two words, either forming a phrase in the original or not. The number of sou rce words may be reflected in the result , although it is not compulsory: for example, CaMe Co (,CAtholic MEdia CO uncil'), compushity (,COMPUlsion + PUSH + necesSI T Y'), or SUBLANT ('SUBmarine forces , AtLANTic'). . Blend s with only the first o r the second element shortened - that is, with only one splinter,

65 64

~Ild therefore medium to minimum shortening - such as repunil (,REPeating UNIT') or warmedy ('WARM family coMEDY'). Bolton (1982: 358)6 considers that items of this kind 'are not strictly blendwords because one of the words remains in its complete form', and suggests the denomination 'semi-blends' or 'blend-compounds'. In my opinion, the fact that one or more source words are retained in the resulting form is not relevant for the centrality of the blend, which must be established on the basis of other factors, fundamentally the degree of 'blending' or integration of the constituents (see below). On these grounds it is possible to differentiate items like airtei ('AIR + hoTEL') and broasted (,BROiled +ROASTED '): both have the same structure (word + splinter) but the latter is more central due to the higher degree of phonic integration of the constituents.

3. Blends where all the constituents have their last part clipped, as in telex (TELEprinter EXchange'). This group is the most interesting for the establishment of the fuzzy area between blends and acrony ms, since it includes exemplars whose combinations of va lues favour their location in the direction of acronyms, for example, blends of two words composed of CVIVC groups with low degree of phonic integration (arbo: 'ARthropod-BOrne'; Buna: 'BUtadiene + NAtrium'); blends of three or more words containing CVIVC groups with low integration (A/nico : 'ALuminium, NIckel and CObalt'); or items with the sources and integration above mentioned but including among their constituents some three-letter splinters (Nabisco: 'NAtional BIScuit COmpany'; Inbucon: 'INternational BUsiness CONsultants'). Orthography also contributes to this progression of the categorial periphery towards acronyms: from combinations of capitals and lower case (AcSoc: 'ACoustic SOCiety'; TriBeCa: 'TRIangle BElow CAnal Street'), to items with alternative or unique forms in capitals, for example: Ba/un IBALUN: 'BALanced UNbalanced (transformer),; CoCoMo ICOCOMO: 'COnstructive COst MOdel'; BODEPE: 'BOiler DEsign and PErformance'; or DESIRE: 'DEsign by SImulation and REndering of parallel architectures' . Actually, the borderline cases between acronyms and blends are items which do not differ greatly from those mentioned above, for example Co/idar (,COherent Light Detection And Ranging') or HIREWIMP ('HIgh REsolution WInd Measure Program'). Their peripheral or in-between status seems to be recognized by Bauer (1983:238) in his remark that 'it is certainly unusual for blends to use the beginnings of the two words which are to be blended, but it cannot be ruled out as impossible; and while it is normal for acronyms to use the beginnings of words, the clearest cases use only the initial letters' .

As regards the parameter 'phonic integration', the degree of centrality of blends correlates with the degree of fusion of their constituents. The most typical blends exhibit high integration under the shape of sound intersection or overlap (group I below); fairly typical blends show medium integration with sound union (group 2); finally, in less typical blends the degree of integration is low, since the constituents - which tend to be syllabic - are simply concatenated or clustered (group 3). A quantitatively significant sUbtype of group 3 consists of items with two or more initial splinters, which Adams (1973: 137r regards as falling 'within the range of .. . blends', although she refers to them as 'compounds of clipped elements' (in this study they will be called clipped compounds). When more than two constituents are involved, it is possible to come across combinations of degrees of fusion; for example, in syntopicon ('SYNopsis + TOPIC + lexICON') clustering and intersection coexist. 1. Examples of group I (intersection): bit (,BInary digIT') , bombron (,BOMBardment squaDRON'), g/aspha/t ('GLASs + ASPHALT'). narcoma (,NARCOtic + COMA'). Oxfam 6 7

W.F. Bolton, A Living Language. The History and Structure of English (New York, 1982). Valerie Adams, An Introduction to Modern English Word-Formation (London, 1973).

66

IOXFA M (,OXFord committee for FAMine relief), robomb (,ROBOt + BOMB'), s[urb ('SLUm + subURB'), smog ('SMOke + fOG ').

2. Examples of group 2 (union): avionics ('AVIation + electrONICS'). E/evon (,ELEVator + ailerON'), linac ('LINear + ACcelerator'). pulsar/PULSAR ('PULSating stAR'), redox ('REDuction OXidation'), skort ('SKirt + shORT'), thermistor (,THERMal resISTOR'). 3. Examples of group 3 (clustering): A/can ('ALaska + CANada'), flaretrol ('FLARE + conTROL'), hi/or ('HIgh-level FORecast'), medflation ('MEDical inFLATION'), metsat (,METeorological SATellite'), PENVAL ('PENetration eVALuation'), Tacsatcom ('TACtical SATellite COMmunications'), ve/cro « French VELours CROc/ui : 'hooked velvet').

Together with the rest of the parameters, this scale of integration contributes to generate overall measures of typicality, so that the items can be distributed on the grounds .of the combination of values displayed. Besides the features mentioned above, two other characteristics may be of help in the organization of blends, namely word-stress and what Marchand (1969)8 calls 'the psychological unity' of the combination, that is, the degree of semantic integration of the constituents; differences in centrality may result from the additional values provided by these parameters. Prototypical blends tend to exhibit a stable correlation of formal and semantic fusion plus single stress, for example, motel, smog, or transistor ('TRANSfer reSISTOR'); fairly typical blends as. far as formal integration - for example Comintern: 'COMmunist INTERNational' , quasar: 'QUASi StellAR (object)', or varactor: 'VARiable ReACTOR' - are less central than the former group due to compound stress, which emphasizes the independence of the constituents; clipped compounds like Sci-fi (,SCIence Fiction'), Soweto ('SOuth-WEstern TOwnships'), or TEXACOITexaco ('TEXAs COmpany') have semantic cohesion and simple or compound stress, but are less central due to lower formal integration; finally, items such as ADCONSEN ('with ADvice and CONSENt of the senate'), Benelux ('BElgium + NEtherlands + LUXembourg'), Chicom (,CHInese COMmunist'), or O/tel IOFTEL (,OFfice of TELecommunications') are peripheral blends with compound stress and low degree of phonic and semantic integration. The group of most peripheral blends is integrated by items exhibiting irregularities or infrequent patterns, for example: blends in capitals; blends with respelled or rearranged constituents (BIZNET: 'American BUSiness NETwork'; QUATRAIN: 'TRAINing in QUAlity management systems'); blends including midclipped words or discontinuous splinters (chortle: 'CHuckLE + snORT' ; sfiction: 'STatIC fiCTION'); blends with mid-splinters (PHIBPAC: 'amPHIBious forces, PACific'); graphic or visual blends (awkword: 'awkward + word'; I'llfsonality: 'purse + personality'); or alphanumeric blends (A UDETEL-2: . AUDio DEscription for TELevision for the visually disabled and elderly'). Ailchinson (1987)9 mentions other types of blends which could also be regardell as peripheral, namely non-intentional word combinations resulting from seH

'I

Hans Marchand, The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formatioll. A Synchronic-Diachronic Approach (Munich, 1969). .lean Aitchinson, Words in the Mind. An Introduction to the M enta/ Lexicon (Oxford, 1987).

67

lection errors or tongue-slips, for example, expose ('expect/suppose'), or tummach ('tummy/stomach'). The following summary of blend patterns is based on the analysis of all the blends registered in the corpus. On the grounds of the parameter 'degree of phonic integration', the items have been arranged in three groups, from the least to the most central: clusterings, unions and intersections. The parameter 'degree of shortening' has been resorted to for the distinction of two types within each group: on the one hand, items with different degrees of phonic integration but medium shortening (i.e. splinter-based), and on the other hand, items with different degrees of phonic integration but minimum or no shortening (i.e. blends retaining complete words or combining forms as constituents). Items from the latter type (slanguage, stellarator, electrocute) are the blends that lie closer to proper compounds. As regards clusterings of initial splinters, the corpus registers items whose constituents are either joined (hipot 'HIgh POTential'), or hyphenated (hi-fi or hifi: 'HIGH FIdelity'; Op-Ed: 'OPposite Editorial' page of a newspaper; pro-am: 'PROfessional and AMateur'), or spaced (bod biz: 'BODy BUSiness'). The summary does not include the few combinations of different degrees of integration in the same form (for example, Eureca: 'EURopean REtrievable CArrier', or wamoscope: 'WAve-MOdulated OScilloSCOPE'), nor some peripheral cases, such as alphanumerics or tongueslips. I. GROUP La.: c1usterings with only splinters. Patterns: a. ispl (initial splinter) + ispl = moped (,MOtor + PEDal'); sci-fi (,SCIence FIction'); Toshiba (,TOkyo SHIBAura denki KK ': Japanese corporation); voc-ed (,VOCational EDucation'). b. ispl + ispl + ispl = Alnico ('ALuminium + NIckel + CObalt'); FOR-ME-TOO (,FORmalists, MEthods and TOOls'); RECOVER (,REmote COntrol VERification') c. ispl + mspl (mid-splinter) = PENVAL ('PENetration eVALuation') d. ispl + ispl + mspl = COMCRULANT (,COMmander CRUisers, AtLANTic') e. ispl + fspl (final splinter) = ambucopter (,AMBUlance + heliCOPTER'); PERDEX ('PERmuted formula inDEX') f. mspl + ispl = PHIBPAC ('amPHIBious forces , PACific') g. ispl + resp. (respelled) ispl = REBECCA ('radar REsponder BEACon'), edblz (,EDucation BUSiness'; AmE slang) h. resp.ispl + ispl = BIZNET(' American BUSiness NETwork'); REDCAT(' READiness CATegory') i. resp.ispl + resp.ispl = Ceefax (BBC teletext service; < 'see facts ' /'seeing facsimile') j. ispl + disc. (discontinuous) splinter = Codel ('COordination in DEveLopment') k. The corpus includes a peripheral case of initial splinters combined with an abbreviation (No) which is read out unexpanded: NARANO ('NAme, RAte and service Number'). 2. GROUP Lb. : c1usterings including whole words or combining forms. Patterns: a. ispl + wd (word) = identikit ('IDENTIty + KIT'); geofile ('GEOgrapical FILE') b. ispl + isp\ + wd = Eximbank ('EXport IMport BANK') c. ispl + wd + ispl = CANFLAGPAC ('FLAG officer, PACific coast, CANada') d. wd + ispl = DA YSY ('DAY-to-day resource management SYstem') e. wd + fspl = airbrasive ('AIR + aBRASIVE'); radiobotage ('RADIO + saBOTAGE') f. resp.wd + ispl = wilco ('WILL COmply'); hi-fi (,HIGH FIdelity') g. resp.wd + fspl = TREKZINE (,TRECK magaZINE') h. comb. (combining) form (i.e. a Greek or Latin root) + ispl Ifspl Imspl = minicam (,MINIa-

68

ture CAMera'); electrocute (' ELECTRO + exeCUTE'); Eurovest (,EUROpean inVESTments ltd.') i. resp.comb.form + ispl = foncon ('telePHONE CONversation') j. ispl Ifspl + comb.form = dictaphone ('DICTAte + PHONE') 3. GROUP 2.a.: unions with only splinters. Patterns: a . isp\ + ispl = cyborg ('CYBernetic ORGanism'); saint ('SAtellite INTerceptor') b. ispl + fspl = smust (,SMoke + dUST'); tenigue (,TENsion + fatIGUE') c. mspl + mspl = PHIBLANT ('amPHIBious forces , AtLANTic') d. ispl + resp.ispl = BRlGHED ('BRIGade HEADquarters') e. resp.ispl + ispl = pixel (,PICTure ELement') f. resp.ispl + fspl = MUZAC (,MUSic + KodAC') g. resp.fspl + ispl = LITEX ('searchLIGHT illumination EXercise') h. ispl + disc.spl = BRlGARTY ('BRIGade ARTillerY'); slValm ('SWitch ALarM ') l. disc.spl + ispl + resp.ispl = LORELCO ('LOweR ELevated serum CHOlesterol') 4. GROUP 2.b.: unions including whole words or combining forms. Patterns: a. ispl + wd = Altazimuth (,ALTitude AZIMUTH '); repunit ('REPeating UNIT') b. wd + fspl = petalOrium ('PET + sanATORIUM') c. resp.wd + ispl = NUSCAT ('NEW airborne SCATterometer') 5. GROUP 3.a.: intersections with only splinters. Patterns: a. ispl + ispl = Napalm ('NAPhthene and PALMit~te'); SATRACK ('SATellite TRACKing') b. ispl + ispl + ispl = BRINDEX (,association of BRItish INDEpendent oil EXploration companies') c. ispl + fspl = LOGRAM (,LOGical proGRAM'); tangelo (,TANGErine + pomELO') d. ispl + mspl = morab ('MORgan + aRABian': a type of horse) e. disc.spl + ispl = entreporneur ('ENTREPreNEUR + PORNography') f. disc.spl + fspl = chortle ('CHuckLE + snORT'); stiction ('STatIC + fiCTION') 6. GROUP 3.b.: intersections including whole words or combining forms. Patterns: a. wd + wd = aniseed (,ANISE + SEED'); s/anguage (,SLANG + LANGUAGE') b. wd + resp.wd = videot ('VIDEO + IDIOT') c. wd + ispl = MINEX ('MINE warfare EXercise') d. wd + ispl + ispl = Chinatex (,CHINA NATional TEXtiles') e. ispl + wd + ispl = RADATAC (,RADiation DATA ACquisition chart') f. wd + fspl = stellarator ('STELLAR + geneRATOR') g. ispl + wd = REACH ('REAssurance to EACH'); smice ('SMoke + ICE') h. ispl + ispl + ispl + wd = PROMADATA ('PROMotions MArketing and ADvertising DATA') i. ispl + resp.wd = intellivision ('INTELLIgent TELEVISION') j. resp.wd + fspl = botel ('BOAT + hOTEL'); tinner ('TEA + dINNER') k. comb.form + ispl = telex (,TELEprinter EXchange')

The last comment as regards the process of creation of blends concerns some cases where either of the processes involved - either clipping or blending - operates recursively. By recursivity of clipping, I understand the inclusion of an already existing clipped form as one of the constituents in the final blend, for example, in Avgas ('AViation + GASoline'), CLINFO ('CLINical INFOrmation'), or fanzine ('FAN + magaZINE'). Double blending takes place in examples such as modio (,MODem + raDIO'; modem < 'MODulator-DEModulator'), or SoSo ('SOuth of SOho'; SoHo /Soho < 'SOuth of HOuston St'). Finally, clipping and blending are combined in items like traxle, a rnidclipping of tr ( ans) axle, which comes from the blend of'TRANSmission' and 'AXLE'.

69

THE CATEGORlAL

I'/-\ULA LVI'!:::L. KUA

3. The borderline between blends and initialisms Some peripheral acronyms combine one or several initials (i.e. maximum shortening) with two or more adjacent splinters (i.e. medium shortening), the latter being either CVIVC combinations or larger letter groups. The splinters may exhibit different degrees of phonic integration, and one or more source elements may be retained with no shortening, as in arcosh: 'ARC Hyperbolic COSine', or DATA CORTS: 'DATA CORelation and Transfer System'. These atypical exemplars display the features of acronyms in the initialized segments and those of blends in the clipped segments. Therefore, they can be regarded as hybrids, although they could be placed closer to acronyms or to blends by considering their overall resemblance to the former or to the latter: for example, items composed of several initials plus two adjacent CVIVC groups are more on the side of acronyms (for instance, COCOSEERS: 'CO-ordinating COmmittee for Slavic and East European library ResourceS'; Saint: 'SAtellite INspector Technique'; or SIGFIDET: 'Special Interest Group on FIle DEscription and Translation'); conversely, items combining only one initial with two larger splinters (such as ECOMCON: 'Emergency COMmunications CONtrol'; or REACTS: 'REAder ACTion Service') are closer to blends, particularly if the splinters overlap. On the grounds of orthography, native or foreign origin, and the possible inclusion of numeric constituents, the exemplars belonging to this group of hybrids can be further arranged in the following types and subtypes with increasing peripherality: 1. TYPE 1: hybrids with the shortening and integration mentioned above and written only in lower case. For example: arcosech: 'ARC Hyperbolic COSEcant', read out Ig9kA\.1setJI Codesh: 'COnvention for a DEmocratic SoutH Africa' Euromap: 'EUROpean committee of MAchinery manufacturers for the Plastics and rubber industries' lcomos: 'International COuncil of MOnuments and Sites' lnfedop: 'INternational christian FEDeration Of trade unions of employees in Public service' Satcoma: ' SATellite COMmunications Agency' Tazara: TAnzania-ZAmbia Railway Authority'

- Subtype 1.1.: borrowings belonging to Type 1. For example: Horito (the name of a technological institute, from Dutch HOger RIjksinstituut voor Technisch en Grafisch Ondenvijs) 2. TYPE 2: hybrids with two alternative spellings, one in capitals and another in lower case. For

example: Cinceastlant ICINCEASTLANT: 'Commander-IN-Chief EASTern aTLANTic area ' Colidar ICOLIDAR : 'COherent Light Detection And Ranging' Cospar ICOSPAR: 'COmmittee on SPAce Research' Hobos IHOBOS: 'HOming BOmb System' lmm'sat IIMARSAT: 'International MARitime SATellite' - Subtype 2.1.: borrowings belonging to Type 2. For example: Tokamakl TOKAMAK (, toroidal chamber and magnetic coil' < Russian TOroidalnya KAmera ee MAgnetnaya Katushka).

70

CON l1NUUM Vt' bNl.JLl~t1 JjL !::: I'IU;:'

_ Subtype 2.2.: hybrids of Type 2 with one form in capitals and another combining capitals and lower-case letters. For example: SNOMed ISNOMED ('Systematized NOMenclature of MEDicine'). 3. TYPE 3: hybrids with a single spelling in capitals. For example:

ACLANTREP: 'Allied Command AtLANTic REPorting system' ALPURCOMS: 'ALL-PURpose COMmunication System' JINTACCS: 'Joint INTeroperability of TACtical Command and Control System' KANUPP: 'KArachi NUclear Power Plant' NAREMCO: 'NAtional REcords Management COuncil' NOAMTRAC: 'NOrth AMerica TRAil Complex' ORSANCO: 'Ohio River valley water SANitation COmmission' PALINET: 'Pennsylvania Area Library NETwork' PAPERMAN: 'Payroll and Accounting PERsonnel MANagement' SACEUREP: 'Supreme Allied Commander EURope REPresentative'

_ Subtype 3.1.: borrowings belonging to Type 3. For example: REMECOM ('development of a network for monitoring the quality of household refuse' < French REseau de MEsures pour la Caracterisation des Ordures Menageres); or COP CON ('continental operations command'< Portuguese Comando de OPerafiJes do CONtinente). _ Subtype 3.2. : hybrids with a single spelling combining capitals and lower case. For example, FaFiCards: 'FActual FIlm CARD System' . 4. TYPE 4: alphanumeric exemplars. For example: COMANDOS I ('COnstruction and MAN -

agement of Distributed Office Systems').

A second set of deviant items occurring in the corpus can be classified eit.her as a group of hybrids of acronyms I alphabetisms and blends, or as peripheral blends whose marginal quality is due to the presence of one acronym or alphabetism as constituent instead of a stem, combining form , or splinter. In accordance with the patterns of blend formation , the initialism and the other constituent (splinter or full form) may display different degrees of phonic integration _ clustering, union or intersection - for example: GASER ('GAmma ray lASER,) ; NASTRAN (,NASa STRuctural ANalysis', where NASA/Nasa stands for 'National Aeronautics Space Administration'); PCNet (' PC + NETwork', where PC stands for 'Personal Computer'); RADARSAT ('RADAR SATellite'); TRUFOS ('TRUe UFOs', where UFO stands for ' Unidentified Flying Object'); or TVenus (' TV + VENUS'). Further examples of those items lying between inilialisms (acronyms or alphabetisms) and blends are the following: "I"!,pie: 'BLack yUPPIE IISky B: 'British SKY Broadcasting' (BSB + Sky; BSB: ' British S