APPLYING THE PROROTYPICALITY APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH LEXICAL BLENDS WITH AN ABBREVIATED COMPONENT

Abstract

The paper identifies two large groups of lexical blends with an abbreviated component, i.e. blends whose first component is orthographically represented by a single letter (an initial) and blends whose first or second component is an initialism (acronym or abbreviation). The aim of the paper is to outline the similarities and differences between splinters and abbreviated word parts emphasizing the problems with defining the term “splinter” and respectively the problems with defining blending as a word-formative process. We suggest a tentative definition of the term “lexical blend with an abbreviated component” and try to explain why it is preferable to adopt the prototypicality approach when analysing English blends of the type.