Contraction (grammar)
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In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. This often is a result of a common sequence of words, or, as in French, to maintain a flowing sound. However, contraction has gained a broader meaning both in linguistics and other areas of language research. Based on the latest definitions, contraction is shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters. [ISO 4:1984]
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[edit] English
In English, contractions are usually but not always either negations or combinations of pronouns with auxiliary verbs, and in these cases always include an apostrophe. Negations are generally in the form of doesn't for does not, or wouldn't for would not, where the apostrophe stands for the missing "o" in not (this is not always the case, as in won't for will not). The second category is generally in the form of pronoun + to be, as in "It's cold today" or "We're going downtown," where the apostrophe again stands for a missing vowel, either "i" or "a". The second category also often uses a form of to have, as in "He's gone to bed" or "We've finally gotten there." In this case, the apostrophe stands for the missing "h" plus "a". It should be noted, though, that only British English allows to have to contract when it is the primary verb (as with the phrase "I've a date today"). Although uncommon in written English, people often use complex contractions such as wouldn't've for would not have. Although these can look awkward in print, they are not necessarily incorrect. It is not acceptable in formal written English to use contractions such as "I've" or "can't."
The only commonly-used English contraction that does not fall into any of the above categories is "let's", a contraction of "let us" that is used in forming the imperative mood in the first-person plural (e.g. "Let's go"). Use of the uncontracted "let us" is uncommon in spoken English and sounds extremely formal.
Many people writing English confuse the possessive form of the pronoun it with its contractions. The possessive form has no apostrophe (its), while the contraction of it is or it has does have an apostrophe (it's). See List of frequently misused English words.
Outside the English contractions described above, contractions are virtually the same concept as portmanteaus.
[edit] French
The French language has contraction forms similar to English, as in C'est la vie ("That's life"), where c'est stands for cela+est ("that is"). In general, any monosyllabic word-final, non-silent e will contract if the following word begins with a vowel. For example the common words que (qu'-), je (j'-), and de (d'-). Unlike in English, however, these contractions are mandatory: one would never say (or write) *ce est or *que elle.
[edit] Italian
Both French and Italian use a form of contraction combining the article le (French masculine form of "the") or la (French and Italian feminine form of "the"). For instance, in French, there is the phrase L'état c'est moi (Louis XIV: "I am the state," or, literally, "The state is me").
[edit] Spanish
Spanish also has some contractions, such as the variant trecientos (three hundred) for tres cientos. Spanish also has two mandatory phonetic contractions: al (to the) for a el, and del (of the) for de el (not to be confused with a él, meaning to him, and de él, meaning his or, more literally, of him.)
Common Spanish, yet distinctly vulgar, slang holds another contraction, pa'que, which is a shortened form of para que, or "so that" or "in order that" or "just so". It is used, among other places, in the title for a documentary by Rosie Perez, «Yo soy Boricua, pa'que tú lo sepas!»[1] ("I am Boricua, just so you know it!", or less formally, "I'm a Boricua, just for your information!").
A related contraction in Spanish is pa for the word para (for, in order). It can be found most notably in the Tito Puente song Oye como va. The lyrics containing the contraction are as follows:
| Spanish | Literal English | Informal English |
|---|---|---|
| Oye como va | Listen to how goes | Check out |
| Mi ritmo | My rhythm | My rhythm |
| Bueno pa gozar | Good for enjoying, | It's great to groove to, |
| Mulata | Mulata | Girl |
[edit] Portuguese
In Portuguese, contractions are common. Several prepositions regularly contract with certain articles and pronouns. For instance, de (of) and por (by; formerly per) combine with the definite articles o and a (masculine and feminine forms of "the"), producing do, da (of the), pelo, pela (by the). The preposition de contracts with the pronouns ele and ela (he, she), producing dele, dela (his, her). In addition, some verb forms contract with enclitic object pronouns: e.g., the verb amar (to love) combines with the pronoun a (her), giving amá-la (to love her). See also crasis.
[edit] German
In German prepositional phrases, one can often merge the preposition and the article; for example, von dem becomes vom, zu dem becomes zum, or an das becomes ans. Some of these are so common that they are mandatory. In informal speech, also aufm for auf dem, unterm for unter dem, etc. are used, but would be considered incorrect if written.
[edit] Ancient Greek
In Ancient Greek there are several types of contraction, for example in verbs with a stem in ε (epsilon) affect their conjugations. There are also α (alpha) and ο (omicron) contractions in verbs,but ε contractions also happen in nouns and verbs. Example: phil-e-o, I love (Latin transcription for clarity). To the verb stem, phil-, usually the endings -ō, -eīs, -eī, -omen, -ete, -ousin are added. But with the -e-, they go to philō, phileīs, phileī, philoumen, phileite, philousi (that is, I love, you love, he loves, we love, you love, they love)
[edit] Japanese
Modern Japanese based on katakana often uses contraction from the two first syllables of a composed name to create a new word, a famous example is "プリクラ" (purikura, "puricula"), with "kura" being the Japanese pronunciation for the English "clu" syllable. "Puricula" is the contraction of "プリントクラブ" (Purintokurabu Japanese pronunciation of Print Club) a popular kind of automatic photo machine. Another example is "アメフト" (amehuto), which is the Japanese word for American football. Amehuto is the contraction of "American football" (アメリカンフットボール, amerikanhuttoboru). The Japanese for PC is "パソコン" (pasocon) contraction of "パーソナルコンピューター" (pasonarucompyutaa for Personal Computer). Another recent example is "モガ" (moga) who designate americanized young girls, a girl who breaks from the traditional Japanese culture. Moga is the contraction of "モダンガール" (modangāru for Modern Girl). Some popular brands are actually contractions, including Pokémon (ポケモン), the popular Anime/merchandising line, from "Pocket Monster" (ポケットモンスター, pokettomonsutaa). An older famous trademark is "ファミコン" (famicon the NES), contraction of ファミリーコンピューター (famiriikonpyuutaa, from Family Computer).
