Gotta Blend ‘Em All - Morphological Blending in Pokémon Names - European Conference on Language Learning 2024 Proceedings

Oct 12, 2026

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The paper examines Pokémon name creation through blending morphology, focusing on the blending theory of Mattiello (2013). It analyzes Pokémon names collected from a Pokémon database webpage, covering the three latest generations of Pokémon games. Using qualitative methods, the study classifies the collected names and describes blending processes morphotactically, morphonologically, and morphosemantically. Results highlight numerous morphonological blending variants used for naming, with expected value for advancing linguistic literacy in entertainment contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time5 min

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Abstract

1. Introduction

“Gotta Blend ‘Em All” Morphological Blending in Pokémon Names Budi Rahmat Setiawan, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia The European Conference on Language Learning 2024 Official Conference Proceedings Abstract Games are one of the most enjoyable entertainments because they can amuse people’s eyes, ears, and minds. All these entertainments always keep the novelty by providing intriguing stories, design, and ‘namings’. Pokémon is one game that always provides its fans with new names of new Pokémon. In this research, the writer would like to investigate word-formation theory limited to Blending theory. The study investigates Blending theory morphotactically, morphonologically, and morphosemantically by Mattiello (2013) . The object of this research is Pokémon names. This is chosen because many word formations are used to create Pokémon names. This research aims to find the kinds of Blending used in Pokémon names and how significant blending is used for naming the Pokémon. The data are collected from a webpage called Pokémon database. The data collected are the 3 latest generations of Pokémon games based on ‘Complete Pokémon Pokédex’ on said webpage. The analysis uses qualitative methods to answer the research questions. Pokemon names were collected, identified, classified, and then described. The findings found that there are many variants of Morphonological Blending used in naming the Pokémon. This research is expected to contribute to language research development and encourage other researchers to have a greater sense of literacy even when enjoying entertainment. Keywords: Blending, Linguistics, Morphology, Pokémon iafor The International Academic Forum [www.iafor.org](www.iafor.org) 1. Introduction Language is essential in human life. Language is not only used as means of communication, but it has become one of the major roles in entertainment. There are songs, novels, movies, and even games with their own distinctive language use. With the development of technology and the ease of having game consoles, more people know about the existence of games. Now people can play trending games even on their own mobile phones. Pokémon is one of the most famous games that can be found since decades ago. It has become one of the biggest companies with its ever-changing development since the release of its first game. Until now, there have been countless franchises of this company that release more spin-offs (non-official Pokémon-related games, anime, movies, etc. such as Detective Pikachu movie) . Even after decades, it is still growing and creating new features and characters. Pokémon was initially released as a computer game (Bulbapedia, n.d.) . However, nowadays there are many things related to Pokemon because the developer has created a full story and a whole world of Pokémon along with the rules in it (Bainbridge, 2014) . Moreover, the developer of Pokémon games always comes with new names, new regions, and new features in each update. This game is only one example of how the development of technology has successfully brought so many new terms and names (Rini & Moehkardi, 2016) . Pokémon names are somewhat similar to the reference to some creatures or things that we already recognize in real life. Some names are easy to understand whilst others need some research and are even arguable because of the ambiguous word used. Many people or parents argue that games can cause gaming disorder (Lemmens & Weergang, 2023) . It is true that many bad effects can be made because of addictions to games. However, there are even games that can help people for example for evacuation; i.e. Shelter Go Game (Mitsuhara & Shishibori, 2023) . There was even research that shows the impact on health of one spinoff of Pokémon called Pokémon Go games (Khamzina et al., 2020) . One research analyzes the relevance of Pokémon naming to its physical characteristics (Cipta et al., n.d.) ; and even the sound and symbols have been analyzed

FAQs

What theory and linguistic level does the study use to analyze Pokémon names?

The study uses Mattiello’s (2013) blending theory and examines blending morphotactically, morphonologically, and morphosemantically.

Where does the data for Pokémon names come from?

Data are collected from a webpage called the Pokémon database.

What does the research conclude about blending in Pokémon naming?

The findings show that many variants of morphonological blending are used for naming Pokémon.

Oct 12, 2026

Upload by Aria