portmanteau

[Robert A. Blust]

Dear all,

This whole matter of how neologisms might arise through blending in
Austronesian languages generally is discussed in my 'Austronesian root
theory':53ff (1987).  As can be seen from the examples given there and the
problems that they raise, a theory of neologism through blending raises
perhaps as many problems as it solves.

Bob Blust

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-AN-LANG at anu.edu.au [mailto:owner-AN-LANG at anu.edu.au]On
Behalf Of potet
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 1:05 AM
To: AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
Subject: Re: portmanteau


"A strong case could be made that neologizing through the creation of
"portmanteau" blends is a long-standing feature in many AN (or at least WMP)
languages.  The language I work on, Sundanese, is rife with such blends--
I've collected dozens of examples (usually formed by combining
root-morpheme-final syllables).  Interestingly, like Tagalog, many of the
best-known examples are food terms. [...] This same neologizing process is
used to create more humorous words, some of which have become
well-established enough to be cited in Sundanese dictionaries. [...] A
similar formation is created by compounding two so-called "verbal
anticipators," iconically representing a sequence of two actions occurring
in rapid succession [...] A related phenomenon in Sundanese is the creation
of pseudo-blends known as "kirata," in which a pre-existing word is treated
as a portmanteau in order to provide an often humorous gloss.  This type of
recomposition can be found in many Indonesian languages. [...]" Benjamin G.
ZIMMER

>>From all the answers given so far, it is pretty obvious the phenomenon is
fairly widespread in Austronesia. I think we should now try and see how old
it is. If it already occurred a long time ago - which I believe - we should
take it into account when we consider reconstructions.

I gestured at it in my article "Tagalog monosyllabic roots" (Oceanic
Linguistics, Vol. 34, No. 2, Dec. 1995, pp. 345-374), § 10.3 p. 367.

_dalíri?_ "finger" (N&S: 102) probably from *di? > *dí?di? > *díri? >
d-al-íri?
has its ending cut off and replaced by _-ut_ in
_dalírot, dumalírot / dalirútin _ "to poke sb. with one's finger etc."
(N&S: 102, for the conjugation see _dulárit_)
 > _dulárit, dumulárit / dularítin_ (N&S: 113) > _dulárot_ "ditto" (N&S: 13)

The following series is even more interesting.
 _alípin_ "slave" (N&S: 9) either from a lost stem *_alíp_, itself from the
root *_dip_, or a loanword.
_alipunyá?_ "lowly servant, blind follower" (Pang.)
    _alipunyá _"taken care of" (N&S: 9 [no glottal stop indicated]), a
synonym of alíla "taken care of" (N&S: 7)
NOTE. In N&S's Span. gloss, _cuidado_ does not seem to be the noun that
means "care", but the past participle of the verb _cuidar_ "to take care
of".
_alipúris_  "lowly servant, blind follower" (Pang., not in N&S)
_alipustá?_ "humiliation; despicable" (Pang.)
    _alipustá_ "to despise [no conjugation pattern supplied]" (N&S: 365)
_alipuypóy_ "sycophant" (Pang., not in N&S)
    NOTE. alipuypóy "caterpillar" (N&S: 365), a synonym of ulálo (N&S: 213)

N&S = Noceda & Sanlucar 1754, 1860
Pang. = Panganiban 1972

This how I see things.
1) In all the terms already entered in N&S, except _alípin_, _ali-_ is only
a regular prefix, cf. _múra_ "cheap, discredited" (N&S: 203) and _alimúra_
"(quite) cheap, discredited" (N&S 8).
2) Then,  the sequence _alip-_ took on the value of " toady" because of
_alípin_ "slave", and probably also because the items *_pustá?_ and *_púris_
are morphans, hence the new values of the term in Pang.
_Alipúris_, which is not in N&S may be a fairly recent coinage.
_Alipuypóy_ may have been given its new meaning by analogy.


Jean-Paul G. POTET. B. P. 46. 92114 CLICHY CEDEX. FRANCE.