Telescoping as a specific type of word formation in modern English (based on Internet resources)

Abstract

The article studies an unusual type of shortening known in English linguistics as telescope words. It is well known that Lewis Carroll was the first to introduce this new type of shortening and defined it using the term telescope words. It was one of his purposes to create a pun. Later this type of word formation proved to be highly productive in the English language. Some linguists suggest that this phenomenon is based on an incidental slip of the tongue and blending of one or two sounds of the full prototype’s clipped components in free speech. Other linguists believe that telescope words are simply blends, but it is not exactly so because the two groups are different from the point of view of their formation. Telescoping is a two-stage process which involves clipping of the final part of the fi rst component of a two-word group and the initial component of the second on the second stage. Unlike blending these parts of a new formation are joined by a morphemic seam. The empiric evidence suggests that telescope shortenings are widely used not only in fiction, but also in slang, advertising slogans and mass media. They are usually a part of the intended pun. It is worth mentioning that the Russian language borrows a lot of English words, many of which get assimilated on different levels and then enrich its vocabulary. Nowadays among English borrowings there appear some telescope words, which are used to nominate new objects and phenomena of reality. One of such examples is the widely used telescope word of the English origin – glamping. Telescoping as a special type of lexical shortening (clipping) was borrowed by the Russian language, resulting in the formation of some Russian telescope words, for example, банкомат (ATM), паркомат (parking meter) and some other words.

Keywords

• telescope words
• morphemic seam and morphemic fragments
• linguistic creativity
• pun
• english borrowings
• assimilation