The Branches of Morphology "Onomatopeia"

1570s, from Late Latin onomatopoeia, 

from Greek onomatopoiia "The making of a name or word" 
(in imitation of a sound associated with thething being named), from onomatopoios, 

from onoma (genitive onomatos) "word, name" + a derivative of poiein "compose, make"

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

=>All words which were spontaneously acquired seemed to be instances of onomatopoeia
(Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882 Various)

 

=>Onomatopoeia, formations of words resembling in sound that of the things denoted by them. (The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Edited by Rev. James Wood)

For instance, saying, “The gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more meaningful description than just saying, “The stream flows in the forest.” The reader is drawn to hear the sound of a “gushing stream” which makes the expression more effective. In addition to the sound they represent, many onomatopoeic words have developed meanings of their own. For example, “whisper” not only represents the sound of people talking quietly, but also describes the action of people talking quietly.

Examples of Onomatopoeia :

The buzzing bee flew away.

The sack fell into the river with a splash.

The books fell on the table with a loud thump.

He looked at the roaring sky.

The rustling leaves kept me awake.

The different sounds of animals are also considered as examples of onomatopoeia.

You will recognize the following sounds easily :

1)   Meow

2)   Moo

3)   Neigh

4)   Tweet

5)   Oink

6)   Baa

Groups of Onomatopoeic Words

Onomatopoeic words come in combinations as they reflect different sounds of a single object. For example, a group of words reflecting different sounds of water are; plop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, drip etc. Similarly, words like growl, giggle, grunt, murmur, blurt, chatter etc. denote different kinds of human voice sounds. Moreover, we can identify a group of words related to different sounds of wind, such as; swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, whisper etc.

Onomatopoeia Examples in Literature

Onomatopoeia is frequently employed in literature. Below, a few Onomatopoeia examples are highlighted in bold letters :

Example 1 :

“The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees…”

(‘Come Down, O Maid’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Example 2 :

“Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark!
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, ‘cock-a-diddle-dow!'”

(Ariel in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act One, scene 2)

Example 3 :

“He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling.”

(For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway)

Onomatopoeia and Phanopoeia

Onomatopoeia, in its more complicated use, takes the form of phanopoeia. Phanopoeia is a form of onomatopoeia that describes the sense of things rather than their natural sounds.

D. H Lawrence in his poem “Snake” illustrates the use of this form :

“He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom
And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the
edge of the stone trough
And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,
And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness
He sipped with his straight mouth,…”

The rhythm and length of the above lines, along with the use of “hissing” sounds, create a picture of a snake in the minds of the readers.

Function of Onomatopoeia

Generally, words are used to tell what is happening. Onomatopoeia, on the other hand, helps the readers to hear the sounds the words they reflect. The beauty of onomatopoeic words lies in the fact that they are bound to have an effect on the readers’ senses whether they are understood or not. Moreover, a simple plain expression does not have the same emphatic effect that conveys an idea powerfully to the readers. The use of onomatopoeic words helps create emphasis.

References :

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/onomatopoeia

http://literarydevices.net/onomatopoeia/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1GC1yWdM_c

The Branches of Morphology "Acronymy and Blending"

ACRONYMY

Acronyms are words formed by the word formation process in which an initialism is pronounced as a word. 

For example, HIV is an initialism for Human Immunodeficiency Virus that is spoken as the three letters H-I-V. However, AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome that is spoken as the word aids. 

An acronym is a pronounceable word formed from the first letter or first few letters of each word in a phrase or title. Sometimes the newly-combined letters create a new word that takes the place in everyday language. Using this shortened form of a word or phrase can speed up communication.

Examples of acronyms include :

      1.      AKA - Also Known As

2.     ASAP - as soon as possible

3.     AWOL - absent without leave

4.     LASER - Light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation.

5.     NATO - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

6.     NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

7.     NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement

8.    OPEC - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

9.    PIN - Personal Identification Number

10.  RADAR - Radio detecting and ranging

11.   RAM - Random Access Memory

12.  SCUBA - Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

13.  TESOL - Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

14.  UNICEF - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.

15. UFO - Unidentified Flying Object

Acronyms are related to the word formation process of abbreviation.

BLENDING

Blending is the word formation process in which parts of two or more words combine to create a new word whose meaning is often a combination of the original words. In blending you sound out a sound or phoneme and combine it with the next sound or phonemes of a word form the word itself.

For example :

a) advertisement + entertainment → advertainment

b) biographical + picture → biopic

c) breakfast + lunch → brunch

d) chuckle + snort → chortle

e) cybernetic + organism → cyborg

f) guess + estimate → guesstimate

g) hazardous + material → hazmat

h) motor + hotel → motel

i) prim + sissy → prissy

j) simultaneous + broadcast → simulcast

k) smoke + fog → smog

l) Spanish + English → Spanglish

m) spoon + fork → spork

n) telephone + marathon → telethon

o) web + seminar → webinar

Here are some e.g. of blending :

-     When you blend the sounds /b/a/t/ they be come the word bat.

-     When you blend the syllables /ba/na/na/ together, they make the word banana.

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two or more other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.

Most blends are formed by one of the following methods:

1. The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other (see portmanteau). For example, brunch is a blend ofbreakfast and lunch.

2. The beginning of two words are combined. For example,cyborg is a blend of cybernetic and organism.

3. Two words are blended around a common sequence of sounds. For examples, the word californication, from a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers,  is a blend of California and fornication, and the word motel is a blend of motor and hotel.

4. Multiple sounds from two component words are blended, while mostly preserving the sounds’ order. Poet Lewis Carroll was well known for these kinds of blends. An example of this is the word slithy, a blend of lithe and slimy.This method is difficult to achieve and is considered a sign of Carroll’s verbal. A recent example is stagflation, a blend of stagnation and inflation.

References :

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/esl-teaching-tips/59719-forming-new-words-abbreviations-acronyms-and-eponyms/

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-acronyms.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/acronyms/

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/esl-lesson-plans/59679-forming-new-words-compounds-clipping-and-blends/
http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/blendterm.htm

The Branches of Semantics "Metonymy, Synecdoche and Hyperbole"

A.  METONYMY

Metonymy is a cognitive phenomenon—not just a figure of speech—with a considerable role in the organization of meaning (semantics), utterance production and interpretation (pragmatics), and even grammatical structure. It is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. The same metonymic principles that relate different senses of a word serve to create and retrieve novel meanings in actual language use. The interpretation of grammatical structure (construction meaning) seems to be sensitive to metonymic principles. Furthermore, metonymic processes play a crucial role in semantic change and in grammaticalization.

Metonymy, Synecdoche and Metaphor

Metonymy is often confused with another figure of speech called synecdoche. They resemble each other but are not the same. Synecdoche refers to a thing by the name of one of its parts. For example, calling a car “a wheel” is a synecdoche. A part of a car i.e. “a wheel” stands for the whole car. In a metonymy, on the other hand, the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular thing, but is not a part of it. For example, “Crown” which means power or authority is a metonymy.

Metonymy is different from a metaphor. A metaphor draws resemblance between two different things as in “You are sunlight and I moon” – Sun And Moon from Miss Saigon. Sunlight (and moon) and human are two different things without any association but it attempts to describe one thing in terms of another based on a supposed similarity. Metonymy, however, develops relation on the grounds of close associations as in “The White House is concerned about terrorism.” The White House here represents the people who work in it.

Examples of Metonymy

=> England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government)
=> The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force)
=> The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office)
=> Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help)

Metonymy Examples in Literature

 

Example 1 :

The given lines are from Shakespeare’s “Julies Caesar” Act I.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

Mark Anthony uses “ears” to say that he wants the people present there to listen to him attentively. It is a metonymy because the word “ears” replaces the concept of attention.

Example 2 :

This line is from Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”.

“I’m mighty glad Georgia waited till after Christmas before it secedes or it would have ruined the Christmas parties.”

Scarlett uses “Georgia” to point out everything that makes up the state: citizens, politician, government etc. It is a metonymy extremely common in the modern world, where a name of a country or state refers to a whole nation and its government. Thus, it renders brevity to the ideas.

Example 3 :
These lines are taken from “Out, Out” by Robert Frost.

“As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling”

In these lines, the expression “The life from spilling” is a metonymy that refers to spilling of blood. It develops a link between life and blood. The loss of too much blood means loss of life.

Function of Metonymy

Generally, metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism i.e. it gives more profound meanings to otherwise common ideas and objects. By using metonymy, texts exhibit deeper or hidden meanings and thus drawing readers’ attention.  In addition, the use of metonymy helps achieve conciseness. For instance, “Rifles were guarding the gate” is more concise than “The guards with rifles in their hands were guarding the gate.”

Furthermore, metonymy, is employed to add a poetic color to words to make them come to life. The simple ordinary things are described in a creative way to insert this “life” factor to the literary works.

B.  HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole is the use of obvious and deliberate exaggeration. Hyperbolic statements are often extravagant and not meant to be taken literally. These statements are used to create a strong impression and add emphasis. We use hyperbole frequently in everyday language, saying things like “I’m so hungry I could eat a cow,” or “We had to wait forever for the bus.” Hyperbole sometimes makes usesimile or metaphor to create the effect of exaggeration, such as “He’s as strong as an ox.”

Here are some more common examples of hyperbole :

=>The suitcase weighed a ton.
=>I’m so angry, I could kill him!
=>I’ve asked you not to do that a thousand times.
=>If he doesn’t call by tonight, I will absolutely die.
=>She’s as skinny as a toothpick.

Examples :

Below are a few more common examples of hyperbole often used in everyday conversation.

1)   A girl wants to point out the embarrassment her friend will feel :

     She’s going to die of embarrassment!
=>This does not mean that the girl will be sick or her heart will stop due to embarrassment. Instead, hyperbole is used to emphasize how embarrassing the situation is.

2) A student is eagerly waiting for spring break :

     Spring break will never come.

=>This example, like “I haven’t seen you in a million years!” serves to emphasize a length of time. When looking forward to vacation, sometimes it seems as if time has slowed down or as if the final ring of the bell will never come. We know that this is not true, but we use hyperbole to point out how slow time seems to move.

The Benefit if we learn Hyperbole

Hyperbole is often used in day-to-day speech to show emotion. For example, upon seeing your friend after a long absence, you may say, “I haven’t seen you in a million years!” This is not the case in reality. But, hyperbole is used to describe how long it felt since the last time you saw your friend. It shows different emotions such as happiness or excitement. Meanwhile, a situation with carrying a heavy suitcase like in section 1, shows emotions of annoyance or even pain!

Examples in Literature

American poet W.H. Auden writes in “As I Walked Out One Evening,”

I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you

Till China and Africa meet,

And the river jumps over the mountain

And the salmon sing in the street.

When will China and Africa meet? How can a river jump over a mountain? And when will salmon be intelligent enough to sing or evolved enough to walk the streets? Of course, none of these are literal projections for our future. W.H. Auden is using hyperbole to emphasize how long his love will last for his beloved.

References :

http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738632.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199738632-e-10

http://literarydevices.net/metonymy/

http://literaryterms.net/hyperbole/

http://www.literarydevices.com/hyperbole/

The Branches of Morphology "Compounding and Clipping"

A. COMPOUNDING

Compounding is a linguistic phenomenon that might at first glance seem straightforward. Bauer (2003: 40) defines a compound as “the formation of a new lexeme by adjoining two or more lexemes”. The combination of lexical categories called compounding. It consists of nouns, adjectives, verbs, or prepositions.

Examples :

1. Noun compounds

a)    greenhouse

b)   bluebird

c)    fire engine

d)   oil well

2. Verb compounds

a)    overlook

b)   underestimate

c)    dropkick

d)   breakdance

3. Adjective compounds

a)    red hot

b)   deep blue

c)    sky blue

d)   nation wide

Compound can be combined with other lexical categories to create larger compounds. The word formation processes responsible for derivation and compounding can interact with each other.

a)    dog food box

b)   baseball bat rack

Types of compounds

Compounds are used to express a wide range of semantic relationships in English.Some Noun+Noun compounds called endocentric :

EXAMPLE	MEANING
Steamboat	‘a boat powered by steam’
Air hose	‘a hose that carries air’
Fire truck	‘a vehicle used to put out fires’
Fire drill	‘a practice in the event of a fire’
Bath towel	‘a towel used after bathing’

In most cases, component of compound identifies the general class to which the meaning of the entire word belongs. In a smaller number of cases, the meaning of the compound does not follow from the meanings of its parts in this way. Thus, examples below called exocentric,

a) Greenbottle = a fly of the genus lucilia (not a type of bottle)

b) Redneck = an ultra-conservative; white working-class person (not a type of neck)

c) Sugar-daddy = a woman’s lover who is deemed to be both overgenerous and much too

     old for her (not a type of sugar-coated father)

Examples below are very striking differences between endocentric and exocentric compounds where the head of the compound has an irregular plural.

IN ENDOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS	IN EXOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS
Oak leaves	Maple leafs (Toronto’s NHL hockey team)
Wisdom teeth	Sabre tooths (extinct species of tiger)
Club feet	Bigfoots (members of an extinct tiger species)
policemen	Walkmans (a type of portable audio cassette player)

The exocentric compounds permit the plural suffix –s for words such as leaf, tooth, foot, and man, though these forms require an irregular plural when used elsewhere in the language.

B. CLIPPING

Clipping is the word formation process in which a word is reduced or shortened without changing the meaning of the word. Clipping differs from back-formation in that the new word retains the meaning of the original word. 

Types of Clipping

There are four main types of clipping. These include back clipping, fore-clipping, middle clipping and complex clipping. Below, please find definitions and examples of each.

1.    Back clipping : In back clipping, the first part of the word is kept. 

Examples :

a)    fax  (facsimile)

b)    gym  (gymnasium)

c)     memo (memorandum)

d)    ad (advertisement)

     e)    demo (demonstration)  

2.    Fore-clipping : In fore-clipping, the last part of the word is kept.

Examples :

a)   chute (parachute)

b)   phone (telephone)

c)    site (website)

d)   plane (airplane)

e)   burger (hamburger)

3.    Middle clipping :  In middle clipping, the middle of the word is kept.

Examples :

a)    flu (influenza) 

b)   fridge (refrigerator)

4.    Complex clipping : In complex clipping, part of the original compound is kept.

Examples :

a)    photo-op (photo opportunity)

b)   sci-fi (science fiction)

Other Example :

1. alligator – gator
2. examination – exam
3. gasoline – gas
4. influenza – flu
5. laboratory – lab
6. mathematics – math
7. photograph – photo
8. public house – pub
9. raccoon – coon
10. reputation – rep

References :

http://cowgill.ling.yale.edu/sra/morphology_ecs.htm

http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199695720.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199695720-e-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_(linguistics)

http://www.stgiles-international.com/student-services/english-language-tips/clippings-definitions-and-examples/
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/esl-lesson-plans/59679-forming-new-words-compounds-clipping-and-blends/