‘Chivido’ and the beauty of blending

If what prevails on Nigerian entertainment scene had a way of instantly influencing English dictionaries, the likes of Oxford, Cambridge and Collins would have gained a new entry from our zone in the past few days. The new term would have been ‘Chivido’, the trending creation combining the names of star artiste, Davido, and his just-married wife, ‘Chioma’. So popular has it become that not even traditional media could resist using it: Chivido.

Interestingly, the term may have been casually or arbitrarily conceived — as others formed for similar occasions normally are — but the process of forming it is real in language. When you join a part of a word to the portion of another (or to the entirety of it), and form a new word from the exercise, the process is called blending.

Also called blend, it contrasts with compounding, which involves bringing the whole words together. Because we have discussed word formation on more than one occasion, I expect old members of this class to remember examples of both. These include brunch (breakfast + lunch) and Nollywood (Nigeria + Hollywood) for blending; and classroom as well as schoolchildren for compounding. Other examples of blend words are motorcycle (motor + bicycle), blog (web + log), sitcom (situation + comedy), biopic (biography + epic), Oxbridge (Oxford + Cambridge) and smog (smoke + fog).

A popular phenomenon

Blending, as we have in our own ‘Chivido’, is a universal phenomenon. That is why many experts have written about it, often with a tone of endorsement. For instance, on Studysmarter.co.uk, it is captured thus: “Blending in English grammar refers to the process of combining the sounds and meanings of two words to create a new one. This linguistic phenomenon is also known as a “blend,” “portmanteau,” or “fusion.” It’s a common way of expanding the vocabulary in English and involves merging two different words in such a way that the characteristics of both are still recognizable.”

Also, another writer, Matt Norton, says on cambridge.org:  “Blend words are popular in modern English and there are a lot of possibilities for designing them. They are interesting because they can capture the mood of a time, e.g. Brexit, or they can form families of similar items. Blend words expand a language, adding new words and new concepts. They appear to exist in every language, and they are quite democratic in that it is easy for anyone to make up new ones which might end up becoming popular English words.”

Handling blending

In blending, certain factors should be noted. First, pronunciation convenience appears to dictate the arrangement of the cuts being combined, although the initial parts of the terms are often joined. Consider br + unch, which becomes brunch. Could it have been unchbr (unch + br) or lunbr? It would definitely have been phonologically odd.

The second factor is that, when speaking or writing, if you must use a new blend — the one you generated yourself — ensure that the context readily establish what it means. It will be counterproductive if your listener or audience cannot relate with the idea you are playing around.

Between blend and acronyms

Apart from the fact that blending is not the same as compounding, its products are also different from acronyms. Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of other words. Only the initial letters! Examples are NEMA, CAF, FIFA and WHO, respectively meaning the National Emergency Management Agency, Confederation of African Football and World Health Organisation. Compare them to these blend terms: malware (malicious ware) and email (electronic mail). There is a difference because the latter are generated from parts (not letters) of the original elements.