Author’s name:
Gulnara K. Gimaletdinova, Liliia K. Khalitova – Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
Abstract:
This research examines blending in the English language and aims to clarify the derivational capability of splinter components in blends. The popularity of creative word formation and the rapid growth of blends formed by analogy necessitate the study of the productivity of splinters in blends. Despite continued research on blending as a submorphemic method of word formation, there is no consistency in the use of terminology regarding the status and derivational capability of splinter components. The data were collected via the iWeb corpus (The Intelligent Web-based Corpus, https://www.english-corpora.org/iweb/). Using corpus analysis, we identified free splinter morphemes (quasi-suffixes) (N = 29) and unique blends (N = 4,070); the latter were also grouped into families of blends. We argue that the term “quasi-suffix” most accurately reflects the morphemic status of blend fragments, shifting the emphasis to word-forming potential. Thus, fragments are not equated with suffixes, since, firstly, the term contains the element “quasi,” and secondly, the grouping and systematization of quasi-suffixes and blends is thereby facilitated. The productivity of each quasi-suffix was studied using the iWeb corpus; the total number of marked lexemes was 169,767 units. The result of this systematization is a reverse dictionary of modern English blends that includes over 4,000 blends forming an alphabetical list of words spelled in reverse order, so that words sharing the same quasi-suffix appear together. This principle enables the visualization of families of blends, which is convenient for the study of quasi-suffixes. Our research suggests that despite the increase in the number of blends in the English language, the principle of analogy and the dependence of secondary blends on their producing lexemes, including stylistic coloring, remain stable. This indicates that the derivational potential of quasi-suffixes is limited and does not allow for the transition of quasi-suffixal morphemes to suffixes.
| Section | LANGUAGE AND CULTURE |
| DOI: | 10.47388/2072-3490/lunn2026-73-1-45-59 |
| Downloads | 125 |
| Key words | blending; quasi-suffix; creative word formation; the English language; reverse dictionary |