“Brevity is the soul of crypt” Reduced noun phrases in English: Uses and underlying processes

Abstract

In this paper, we will make some observations about the different kinds of reduced or shortened form of noun phrases in English. Departing from earlier treatments such as those by Marchand (1969), or Bauer (1983), we will offer a new analysis, classifying them into two main categories: “reduction to key letters of the full form”, namely written note forms, initialisms and acronyms, and “reduction to key elements of the complete form”, i.e. front-, end-, and mid-remnants, extremity-remnants, complex remnants, compound remnants, blending, and expanded remnants. Our aim is to analyse the various processes that produce these forms of formal reduction in order to show how these apparently disparate phenomena are connected. Furthermore, we hope to show that the various processes and principles which govern formal reduction are systematic. In doing so, we will highlight how they contribute to the creativity of language (see Chomsky 1965, 1975). Our analysis will also give a discussion of the stylistic conventions of English, where traditionally longer forms may be replaced by reduced forms for reasons of economy (especially in technical and scientific discourse). Furthermore, we will discuss their use in the context of slang as a means of crypticity, that is to constitute vital elements of anti-languages (Halliday 1976). In this way, the increasing use of reduced forms in English has implications not only for economy but also for comprehensibility, especially in the context of English as an international language or as a lingua franca.