Jang, Hayeun. 2021. Atypical blending with proper names: A case study of Korean fandom names. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 27.1. 77- 98. This paper investigates the atypical characteristics of blending found in Korean fandom names. For blends as fandom names, the proper name and the existing word participate as sources, and if clipping occurs, a larger part of the proper name tends to be cut off compared to the existing word. As a result, many blending outputs are phonologically very similar or identical to existing words. In particular, blends with the same phonological form as existing words occupy the largest number in the fandom name dataset. This type of blend was evaluated as absolutely ill-formed, violating the Uniqueness constraint of blending. This paper interprets the creative and playful nature of the blending process as having been reinforced in fandom names  to  make  the  newly  created  name  attractive  and  easy  to  remember,  and evocative of the target proper name. This shows that when analyzing lexical blends, the social and pragmatic purposes of word-formation must be taken into account in addition  to  phonological  and  morphological  constraints. 

Keywords: atypical lexical blending, Uniqueness, naming, playful word-formation 

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