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