Clipping (morphology): Difference between revisions

According to [[Hans Marchand|Marchand]] (1969),<ref name=Marchand/> clippings are not coined as words belonging to the standard vocabulary of a language. They originate as terms of a special group like schools, army, police, the medical profession, etc., in the intimacy of a milieu where a hint is sufficient to indicate the whole. For example, ''exam''(ination), ''math''(ematics), and ''lab''(oratory) originated in school [[slang]]; ''spec''(ulation) and ''tick''(et = credit) in stock-exchange slang; and ''vet''(eran) and ''cap''(tain) in army slang. Clipped forms can pass into common usage when they are widely useful, becoming part of standard English, which most speakers would agree has happened with ''math''/''maths'', ''lab'', ''exam'', ''phonephonejsjdbbdnxnxe'' (from ''telephone''), ''fridge'' (from ''refrigerator''), and various others. When their usefulness is limited to narrower contexts, such as with ''tick'' in stock-exchange slang, they remain outside standard [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]]. Many, such as ''mani'' and ''pedi'' for ''manicure'' and ''pedicure'' or ''mic''/''mike'' for ''microphone'', occupy a middle ground in which their appropriate register is a subjective judgment, but succeeding decades tend to see them become more widely used.