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Clipping: Examples and Observations

Clipping is the process of forming a new word by dropping syllables from an existing polysyllabic word, such as "cellphone" from "cellular phone". Clipped forms generally have the same meaning but are more informal. Examples include "ad" from "advertisement" and "doc" from "doctor". Clipping is common in student speech, where terms like "prof" and "poli-sci" are used. While some see clipping as a degradation of language, it is now an accepted part of English vocabulary.

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1K views

Clipping: Examples and Observations

Clipping is the process of forming a new word by dropping syllables from an existing polysyllabic word, such as "cellphone" from "cellular phone". Clipped forms generally have the same meaning but are more informal. Examples include "ad" from "advertisement" and "doc" from "doctor". Clipping is common in student speech, where terms like "prof" and "poli-sci" are used. While some see clipping as a degradation of language, it is now an accepted part of English vocabulary.

Uploaded by

Dani Silva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Clipping

In morphology, clipping is the process of forming a new word by dropping one or


more syllables from a polysyllabic word, such as cellphone from cellular phone. In
other words, clipping refers to part of a word that serves for the whole, such as ad
and phone from advertisement and telephone, respectively. The term is also known
as a clipped form, clipped word, shortening, and truncation.
A clipped form generally has the same denotative meaning as the word it comes
from, but it's regarded as more colloquial and informal. Clipping also makes it easier
to spell and write many words. For example, a clipped form may replace the original
word in everyday usage—such as the use of piano in place of pianoforte.

Examples and Observations


According to the book, "Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction," Some of the
most common products of clipping are names—Liz, Ron, Rob, and Sue, which are
shortened forms of Elizabeth, Ronald, Robert, and Susan. The authors note that
clipping is especially popular in the speech of students, where it has yielded forms
like prof for professor, phys-ed for physical education, and poli-sci for political
science.
However, many clipped forms have also been accepted in general usage: doc, ad,
auto, lab, sub, porn, demo, and condo. The authors add:
"A more recent example of this sort that has become part of general English
vocabulary is fax, from facsimile (meaning 'exact copy or reproduction')."

Other examples of clipped forms in English include biz, caps, celebs, deli, exam, flu,
gator, hippo, hood, info, intro, lab, limo, mayo, max, perm, photo, ref, reps, rhino,
sax, stats, temp, thru, tux, ump, veep, and vet.

Clipping Basics
"As noted, clipped words form through a social process, such as students preferring
to use shortened forms of common terms, as noted in 'Contemporary Linguistics.'
The same kind of social forces lead to the creation of clipped words in other
English-speaking countries such as Britain," says David Crystal, a leading authority
on language.
"There are also several clippings which retain material from more than one part of
the word, such as maths (UK), gents, and specs....Several clipped forms also show
adaptation, such as fries (from french fried potatoes), Betty (from Elizabeth), and Bill
(from William)."

Clipped words are not abbreviations, contractions, or diminutives. True, an


abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. But abbreviations often end
with a period, such as Jan. for January, and are clearly understood to be stand-ins
for the full term. A contraction is a word or phrase—such as that's, a form of that
has—that has been shortened by dropping one or more letters. In writing, an
apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters. A diminutive is a word form or
suffix that indicates smallness, such as doggie for dog and Tommie for Thomas.

Types of Clipping
There are several types of clipping, including final, initial, and complex.
Final clipping, also called apocope, is just what the term implies: clipping or cutting
off the last syllable or syllables of a word to form the clipped term, such as info for
information and gas for gasoline. Initial clipping, also called apheresis, is the clipping
of the initial part of the beginning of the word, also called fore-clipping, according to
the Journal of English Lexicology. Examples of fore-clipping include bot for robot and
chute for parachute.
"Complex clipping, as the name implies, is more involved. It is the shortening of a
compound word by preserving and combining its initial parts (or first syllables)," says
ESL.ph, an online site for learning English as a second language. Examples include:

● Sci-fi for science fiction


● Sitcom for situation comedy
● Grandma for grandmother
● Perm for permanent wave
● Shrink for head shrinker

As you see, clipped words are not always respectful terms. Indeed, some great
literary figures vigorously opposed them, such as Jonathan Swift, who made his
feelings clear in the tellingly named "A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and
Ascertaining the English Tongue," first published in 1712. He saw clipping as a
symptom of "barbaric" social forces that had to be tamped down:
"This perpetual Disposition to shorten our Words, by retrenching the Vowels, is
nothing else but a tendency to lapse into the Barbarity of those Northern Nations
from whom we are descended, and whose Languages labour all under the same
Defect."

So, the next time you hear or use a clipped word, do so knowing that it is considered
acceptable in English, but remember that these shortened terms have a long and
somewhat controversial history.

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