Lexical Blending. Analysis of blends found in magazines according to the typology of Adrienne Lehrer and Elke Ronneberger-Sibol

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics grade: 17 University of Potsdam language: English abstract: This research paper deals with the topic of lexical blending. There newly created words through this process of word formation are called blends or hybrids or portmanteau words. The latter was popularized in Lewis Carroll''s poem Through the Looking Glass in which he for example describes a frabjous day a day that is both fabulous and joyous. One of the first blends known of which is still in our vocabulary is the word smash. It is a blend of smack and mash which is known since early 1700. Smash is a perfect example of a blend that is very well integrated into the modern Standard English. Therefore most likely most people would not have defined it as a blend. So this example indicates that it is sometimes difficult to identify a word as a blend and moreover to identify its constituents.