{"id":307,"date":"2018-10-06T12:48:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T10:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogg.nord.no\/frankenreads\/?p=307"},"modified":"2021-12-23T12:01:36","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T11:01:36","slug":"language-and-prometheus-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/2018\/10\/06\/language-and-prometheus-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"Language and Prometheus\u2019 Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Patrik Bye<\/a>, Nord University<\/p>\n

With\u00a0Frankenweek<\/em>\u00a0approaching we can admit another addition to the slowly but steadily growing list of \u2018Frankenwords\u2019. Many Frankenwords bear on features of the evolving technological matrix we have created and in which we now increasingly live. In the supermarkets there are now, for example, transgenic\u00a0Frankenfoods<\/em>, like\u00a0Frankenfries<\/em>, that are made from blight-resistant potatoes. For some, the availability of such foods engender\u00a0Frankenfears<\/em>\u2014concerns, irrational or not, that we might have about consuming them. At the cutting edge biochemists like Craig Venter are attempting to engineer working artificial\u00a0Frankencells<\/em>\u00a0using a minimal number of genes. And speaking of genes, we might mention the\u00a0Frankengene<\/em>, certain variants of which have been connected to increased fear-related behavior, such as the intense horror experienced by some of us when we watch horror films…<\/p>\n

Frankenwords are a type of\u00a0portmanteau<\/strong>, a new word created by recombining parts of existing words. Just like Frankenstein\u2019s creature, these parts cannot be combined in a random fashion. In the case of the Frankenwords we\u2019ve just been talking about,\u00a0Franken<\/em>–\u00a0is a\u00a0prefix<\/strong>\u00a0that can only attach to bases of a particular sound shape. The base has to be either a word of one syllable, as in\u00a0Frankenpet<\/em>\u00a0(genetically engineered to resist parasitic infection), or\u00a0Frankenmom<\/em>\u00a0(see the\u00a0definition<\/a>\u00a0on Urban Dictionary), or a sequence of two syllables with the stress on the first, like\u00a0Fr\u00e1nkenf\u00f2rest<\/em>\u00a0(think pest-resistant trees with genetically enhanced carbon-absorption capacity),\u00a0Fr\u00e1nkenw\u00e8enie<\/em>\u00a0(Tim Burton\u2019s reanimated bull terrier in the movie of the same name).\u00a0Franken<\/em>–\u00a0does\u00a0not\u00a0combine with words of two or more syllables with the stress on the second, so a *Fr\u00e1nkenpot\u00e0to<\/em>\u00a0is not a possible Frankenword, but a\u00a0Frankenspud<\/em>\u00a0or a\u00a0Fr\u00e1nkent\u00e0ter<\/em>\u00a0is. Native speakers of English know this rule without ever having been explicitly taught it. It\u2019s latent in the knowledge of language, or grammar, that English speakers acquire as children.<\/p>\n

Another example of a repurposed and recycled word-part, one that attaches following the base this time, is the ubiquitous\u00a0–gate<\/em>. In becoming the prototype of the modern political scandal,\u00a0Watergate<\/em>\u00a0has over the last half-century spawned legion terms for controversies in politics and popular culture too numerous to mention, all with this suffix. One example is\u00a0Rinkagate<\/em>, again topical with the BBC series\u00a0A Very English Scandal<\/em>, which dramatises the events that ended the political career of Jeremy Thorpe, leader of the British Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. Thorpe was implicated in a botched murder attempt whose only casualty was the Great Dane\u00a0Rinka<\/em>, who was in the intended victim\u2019s charge at the moment of the attempt.<\/p>\n

A vast number of portmanteau words are actually\u00a0blends<\/strong>, like\u00a0smog<\/em>, a blend of\u00a0smoke<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0fog<\/em>. Lewis Carroll, author of\u00a0Alice in Wonderland<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Alice through the Looking Glass<\/em>, and originator of the term\u00a0portmanteau<\/em>, was himself an outstanding creator of blends. Many of them can be found in his poem\u00a0The Jabberwocky<\/em>, whose nouns, adjectives and verbs are entirely inventions of Carroll\u2019s, including words like\u00a0frumious<\/em>, from\u00a0fume<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0furious<\/em>, or\u00a0slithy<\/em>, from\u00a0lithe<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0slimy<\/em>. In its role as articulators of new phenomena and experiences, media and journalism are also a living source of blends.\u00a0\u00a0Belligerati<\/em>,\u00a0blogorrhea<\/em>,\u00a0chugger<\/em>,\u00a0croissandwich<\/em>,\u00a0nontroversy<\/em>,\u00a0slacktivism<\/em>,\u00a0tweople<\/em>, and\u00a0wikillectual<\/em>\u00a0are just some of the blends that capture the spirit of the particular times in which we live.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Original illustration of the The Jabberwocky, by Sir John Tenniel<\/small><\/p>\n

What is less well recognized is that many of our most everyday words can be looked at usefully as recombining parts of some kind. Many words of one syllable in English recombine certain sound sequences that on close inspection turn out to have a relatively stable (if abstract) meanings associated with them. Many words beginning with the cluster\u00a0gl<\/em>-, for example, have something to do with vision, e.g.\u00a0glare,\u00a0glance,\u00a0glimmer,\u00a0gleam,\u00a0glow,\u00a0glower,\u00a0gloom<\/em>, and so on. These words form a family based on similarity of both sound structure and meaning. There are several other families of word like this. For example,\u00a0cl<\/em>–\u00a0is found in words designating sounds with abrupt onsets, such as\u00a0clank,\u00a0click,\u00a0clip clop<\/em>;\u00a0bl<\/em>–\u00a0in words for loud sounds induced by airflow, like\u00a0blat,\u00a0blast, and\u00a0blab<\/em>. The cluster\u00a0st<\/em>–\u00a0is found as the onset of many monosyllabic words referring to one-dimensional objects, like\u00a0stick,\u00a0stack,\u00a0stilt, <\/em>and\u00a0stock<\/em>, while\u00a0fl<\/em>–\u00a0is associated with two-dimensional surfaces, such as\u00a0floor,\u00a0flap, and\u00a0flake<\/em>. We can identify similar families based on the part of the syllable that carries the rhyme as well. Words ending in\u00a0–oop<\/em>\u00a0all have to do with curves or tracing a curved path of some kind:\u00a0loop,\u00a0hoop,\u00a0droop,\u00a0swoop,\u00a0stoop, and\u00a0scoop<\/em>.<\/p>\n

None of these properties are unique to English, of course. As Noam Chomsky was one of the first to point out, the capacity entailed in all human language can be thought of as a combinatorial engine. Portmanteau words are a powerful demonstration of how this combinatorial system allows us to generate large numbers of new words for new concepts, phenomena and experiences by recombining parts of existing words\u2014words which themselves are combinations of a very limited number of speech sounds. (In standard varieties of English there are 24 consonant sounds; General British, a.k.a. \u2018RP\u2019, has 19 vowel sounds, General American 15.) Linguists are apt to point to the uniqueness of this human combinatorial ability, but combinatorial language may be a result of relatively recent evolution of our species. The earliest remains of\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0are now dated to Morocco about 300 thousand years ago. Around seventy thousand years ago, however, something momentous occurred in human evolution.\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0expanded out of its geographical cradle, colonizing new niches throughout Africa, the rest of the Old World and, in time, the New. What event could possibly have driven this rapid expansion? An increasingly common view amongst paleoanthropologists is that it was the innovation of fully combinatorial language, a Promethean event that radically altered the conditions for the coordination of human activities within larger groups and polities and the cumulative development of culture and technology. If fully combinatorial language is indeed as recent as this, it may explain why, within the space of a few ten thousand years, we see the sudden appearance of the extraordinarily sophisticated cave art of Lascaux, Altamira, and Gabarnmung, the first tangible evidence of human storytelling, as well as the extinction of other human species, most notably the Neanderthals. Thus, while part of our biological endowment as behaviorally modern human beings, combinatorial language might also be thought of as the earliest human enhancement, one that paved the way for more recent revolutions in communication technology that include the invention of writing, and the storage of information on external devices from the clay tablets and parchment of antiquity to the hard-disks and internet servers of today, all the way up to the computer languages at the core of the Artifical Intelligence that is now promising, or threatening, depending on your perspective, to alter the human condition for good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rock carving of kangaroo at Gabarnmung cave<\/small><\/p>\n

Frankenstein and his creature are perhaps the most cogent symbol of the human urge to transcend the limits of the present and the capacity our technology has to loose itself of our own control of it. But if Frankenstein is the Modern Prometheus, as Mary Shelley styled her novel, then fully combinatorial language is surely the Original.<\/p>\n

\n

Literature<\/h3>\n

Beliaeva, Natalia. 2014. A study of English blends: From structure to meaning and back again.\u00a0Word Structure\u00a0<\/em>7<\/strong>\u00a0(1): 29-54.<\/p>\n

Bodle, Andy. 2016. Frankenwords: they’re alive! But for how long?\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, Friday 5 February. URL:\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/mind-your-language\/2016\/feb\/05\/frankenwords-portmanteau-blend-words<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bostrom, Nick. 2014.\u00a0Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies<\/em>. Oxford: Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n

Cohen, Jon. 2018. A glossary of Frankenwords.\u00a0Science<\/em>\u00a0359<\/strong>\u00a0(6372), 12 January, 2018.<\/p>\n

Doll, Jen. 2012. The Rise of the Frankenwords.\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>, November 1, 2012. URL:\u00a0https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/entertainment\/archive\/2012\/11\/frankenstein-word-monster\/321860\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Donald, Merlin. 1991.\u00a0Origins of the Modern Mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. <\/em>Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.<\/p>\n

Jean-Jacques Hublin, et al. 2017. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens.\u00a0Nature<\/em>\u00a0546<\/strong>, 289\u2013292<\/p>\n

Pullum, Geoff. 2012. Frankenwords.\u00a0The Chronicle of Higher Education.<\/em> Lingua Franca: Language and writing in academe. October 31, 2012. URL:\u00a0https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/blogs\/linguafranca\/2012\/10\/31\/frankenwords\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rhodes, Richard. 1994. Aural images. In L. Hinton, J. Nichols, and J. J. Ohala (eds.)\u00a0Sound Symbolism, <\/em>276\u2013292. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n

Tattersall, Ian. 2012.\u00a0Masters of the Planet: The search for our human origins.<\/em> New York: Palgrave Macmillan.<\/p>\n

Wells, J. C. 1982.\u00a0Accents of English 1: An Introduction<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Patrik Bye, Nord University With\u00a0Frankenweek\u00a0approaching we can admit another addition to the slowly but steadily growing list of \u2018Frankenwords\u2019. Many Frankenwords bear on features of the evolving technological matrix we have created and in which we now increasingly live. In the supermarkets there are now, for example, transgenic\u00a0Frankenfoods, like\u00a0Frankenfries, that are made from blight-resistant … Continue reading Language and Prometheus\u2019 Gift<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[12],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-entries"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padC0F-4X","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":683,"url":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/2019\/05\/25\/post_\/","url_meta":{"origin":307,"position":0},"title":"“In the university whither I was going I must form my own friends…”","author":"Jessica","date":"25\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"While attending the American Literature Association conference in Boston, I could not resist the opportunity to visit a fellow Frankenreads project participant, Professor Deidre Lynch of Harvard University, and deliver a copy of Litteraria Pragensia. We had quite a lively chat about Frankenstein, the international impact of Frankenreads, and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukategorisert"","block_context":{"text":"Ukategorisert","link":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/category\/ukategorisert\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/05\/IMG_1589-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/05\/IMG_1589-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/05\/IMG_1589-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/05\/IMG_1589-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/05\/IMG_1589-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/05\/IMG_1589-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":556,"url":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/2018\/11\/08\/thoughts-on-margaret-saville\/","url_meta":{"origin":307,"position":1},"title":"Thoughts on Margaret Saville","author":"Jessica","date":"08\/11\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"At my recent lecture on Frankenstein, I mentioned the novel's famously contorted narrative structure: I'm particularly interested in the way that Mrs. Margaret Saville functions as the unseen, unheard, but ultimate arbiter of narrative, for it is only through her release of Captain Walton's letters that the story is known\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukategorisert"","block_context":{"text":"Ukategorisert","link":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/category\/ukategorisert\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/11\/structure-of-Frankenstein-300x226.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/2018\/09\/16\/two-carcasses-passing-in-the-ice-phipps-and-frankenstein\/","url_meta":{"origin":307,"position":2},"title":"Two Carcasses Passing in the Ice: Phipps and Frankenstein","author":"Andrew McKendry","date":"16\/09\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By: Andrew McKendry, Nord University Like many such expeditions, Robert Walton\u2019s quest for the North Pole becomes most interesting when it gets derailed; fortunately for us, Walton is waylaid by the exhausted Victor Frankenstein, whose tale of horror and woe\u2014an interruption to the anticipated account of arctic exploration\u2014proves one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Entries"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Entries","link":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/category\/blog-entries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/09\/Views-of-the-Land-1024x510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/09\/Views-of-the-Land-1024x510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/09\/Views-of-the-Land-1024x510.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":451,"url":"https:\/\/site.nord.no\/frankenreads\/2018\/10\/30\/continual-food-for-discovery-and-wonder\/","url_meta":{"origin":307,"position":3},"title":"“Continual food for discovery and wonder”","author":"Jessica","date":"30\/10\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As you prepare for tomorrow's read-a-thon and zombie walk, you might want to think about feeding your Frankenstein at the university cafeteria, Alexandria coffee bar, and Pennalet caf\u00e9 at some point during the day. 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