[Ads-l] query on -s truncation

Sun May 31 16:46:19 UTC 2015

I was thinking of Chas earlier, but figured the -s is part of the original, so it's not really an -s truncation of the same kind, but an -rle- deletion.  More seriously, an abbreviation (Cha's) of (sorta) the same kind as Mr. or Mrs.   Or "Bros." < "Brothers".  In any case, not the same as Babs < Barbara, where the -s is tacked on rather than retained.

LH

> On May 31, 2015, at 11:11 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Serendipitously I re-encountered an abbreviation that apparently
> follows the pattern under discussion in the naming domain:
> 
> Charles => Chas.
> Charles F. Lummis => Chas. F Lummis
> 
> [ref] 1900, September-October, The Land of Sunshine: The Magazine of
> California and the West, Edited by Chas. F. Lummis, Volume 13, Number
> 4, In the Lion's Den by Chas. F. Lummis, Start Page 291, Quote Page
> 292, The Land of Sunshine Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California.
> (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
> 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3DYUI1AQAAMAAJ-26&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=ppU5Zojl00r1nTuCFTyfajxALpRFfefn03qUTu2omTs&e= 
> 
> Garson
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: query on -s truncation
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> One more reference I forgot to mention (the earliest scholarly
>> discussion I've seen, from 2010):
>> 
>> Vanessa McCumber, "-s: The latest slang suffix, for reals"
>> Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, University of Victoria, Vol
>> 20, No 1 (2010)
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__journals.uvic.ca_index.php_WPLC_article_viewFile_5676_2202&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=rXB_9m5KFMSiJhqO9adTGfei69kwvT472xD48b_zMJk&e= 
>> 
>> The paper covers past uses of the "-s" suffix, including as a clipped
>> form of the "-sy" hypocoristic. Under "-s suffix 2," OED2 gives the
>> examples "Babs," "Toots," "ducks," and "moms." (That's relevant to the
>> discussion of "Babs" for "Barbara" elsethread.)
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 3:03 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 1:03 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> On May 27, 2015, at 9:14 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> A colleague off-list wonders if anything has been published on the
>>>>> truncation process described by one of her students, who is working on
>>>>> them, as
>>>>> 
>>>>> "-s truncation of adjectives and adverbs by younger speakers, yielding
>>>>> for example 'totes', 'awks', 'adorbs', from 'totally', 'awkward',
>>>>> 'adorable', etc."
>>>>> 
>>>>> Seems like I vaguely recall something on this but I can't remember
>>>> what. Anyone?
>>>> 
>>>> a little bit on on my blog, with references to ADS-L:
>>>> 
>>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__arnoldzwicky.org_2013_12_31_amaze_&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=xgwyvIEqWalAswzCHXc-jMXmnqpx1TXU7bO2wL-zCcA&e= 
>>> 
>>> At the 2014 ADS conference in Minneapolis, there was a relevant paper
>>> by Sravana Reddy, Joy Zhong, and James Stanford, "A Twitter-Based
>>> Study of Newly Formed Clippings in American English." The paper is
>>> discussed here:
>>> 
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.npr.org_sections_alltechconsidered_2014_01_16_263096375_researchers-2Dare-2Dtotes-2Dstudying-2Dhow-2Dppl-2Dshorten-2Dwords-2Don-2Dtwitter&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=m64ubW0IMmS1YBjd9kwCr6YW8H1fGc_EToqVhERc56g&e= 
>>> 
>>> That paper followed up on Kenny Baclawski's 2012 LSA poster
>>> presentation, "A Frequency-Based Analysis of the Modern -s Register-
>>> Marking Suffix," summarized here:
>>> 
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onpoint.wbur.org_2014_01_24_abbevs-2Dthe-2Dlike-2Dhow-2Dweb-2Dwords-2Dare-2Dcrossing-2Dover&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=wh-yaYj3Ayljav_4QHfJw3OP3sLFIfrIfgOCMEfj78M&e= 
>>> 
>>> See also Mark Liberman's Language Log post on a recent paper by Lauren
>>> Spradlin, "_OMG the Word-Final Alveopalatals are Cray-Cray Prev_: A
>>> Morphophonological Account of _Totes_ Constructions in English":
>>> 
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu_nll_-3Fcat-3D24&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=466icG0s1g5EUYRf05XpyUzFomngnAtBCuW-zLpUzW0&e= 
>>> 
>>> A few other items of interest:
>>> 
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.bostonglobe.com_ideas_2011_10_15_totes-2Dpresh_s63iarzfURe4xU1gCzBQjI_story.html&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=Vb2QxVflyArLDHv4PJcvpuXw58NTkhHMMtDFA_aAOiI&e= 
>>> "Totes presh," Erin McKean, Boston Globe, Oct. 15, 2011
>>> 
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__chronicle.com_blogs_linguafranca_2012_01_20_totes-2Dcray-2Dcray-2Dabbrevs_&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=VMqdWXt5mViUDTQRCH28XEMkmWqaeRIiMGecp_U77VA&e= 
>>> "Totes Cray-Cray Abbrevs," Ben Yagoda, Lingua Franca (Chronicle blog),
>>> Jan. 20, 2012
>>> 
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www2.canada.com_edmontonjournal_news_story.html-3Fid-3Dcb579da7-2D5a9f-2D43c9-2D8ae3-2Ddf783b7ee47e&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=l2_pjeI1ECqiOgqvIMO1XQZjBTYgnou8lM7Wayen-QA&s=ZLxwr1FIp0fxYK2wC02pzeZTMIFNlh54-Rn72olWWuA&e= 
>>> "Why all the cray-cray words?" Elizabeth "Libsies" Withey, Edmonton
>>> Journal, Dec. 18, 2013
>> 
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> 
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