Lecture 4

Outline

1. Compounding.
2. Classification of compounds.
3. Criteria of compounding.
4. Borderline cases (semi-affixes).
 From conversion to
compounding…

Conversion may be combined with compounding,
e.g. a drawback, a setup, a workout, a hangover, a handout, a
takeover, blackmail, to shortlist/longlist/blacklist
 Compounding

Ingo Plag (2003: 135) proposes that “a compound is a
word that consists of two elements, the first of which is
either a root, a word or a phrase, the second of which
is either a root or a word.”
 Compounding

Definition:

Compounding (word composition) is a way of forming

new words by joining together two or more stems that
occur in the language as free forms (separate words,
mostly stems of notional parts of speech).

There are several classifications of compound words.

 Compounding
classification

According to the way the stems are joined, we can single out:
a) compounds made by juxtaposition without any
connecting elements, e.g. weekend, timetable, timeline,
whitewash, sunburn, heart-break, hunting-knife;
b) compounds with a vowel or a consonant as a linking
element between the stems, e.g. Anglo-Saxon, sociopolitical,
tachometer, tragicomic, statesman, sportsman;
c) compounds with linking elements represented by
prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns: e.g. mother-in-law, up-
to-date, down-and-out, eye-to-eye, hide-and-seek, what’s-her-name,
brother-in-arms, man-of-war.
 Compounding
classification

According to the structure of stems we distinguish:
a) compounds consisting of simple stems, e.g. chessboard,
doormat, sunset, breakup, breakdown, bookworm;
b) compounds in which at least one of the stems is a
derivative, e.g. film-producer, dishwasher, film-maker, whistle-
blower, shareholder;
c) compounds in which at least one of the stems is clipped
(shortened), e.g. TV set, V-neck, U-shape, GM-foods,
biochemistry, X-mas, whodunit;
d) compounds in which at least one of the stems is a
compound by itself, e.g. newspaper-ownership, wastepaper-
basket.
 Compounding
classification

According to the relations between the stems, all
compounds can be divided into
- endocentric
- exocentric
 Compounding
classification

In endocentric compounds one of the stems is the main (head) and
the other describes, characterizes it, serves to differentiate it from
similar ones.
e.g. a pen-holder (a card-holder, a shareholder, or a pencil-holder),
a course-book (an exercise-book/note-book/cookbook/reference book),
spacecraft (airship, spaceship, spaceman, airman, seaman).
The main component is also grammatically the most important
part which undergoes morphological changes: sunbeams, brothers-
in-law, textbooks.

In exocentric compounds we cannot distinguish the main stem,

thus making the status of stems equal (no head), e.g. a cut-throat,
scarecrow, go-slow.
 Bahuvrihi

In English, Bahuvrihi can be defined as compounds
where the last component is usually a noun, while the
whole word is either a noun or an adjective. The first
element is stressed. They often describe people by
means of synecdoche:
Pickpocket, cut-throat, flatfoot, half-wit, lazybones, fatbones,
fathead, bonehead, highbrow, lowlife, redhead, tenderfoot…
 Compounding
classification

According to their conformity to current grammatical
patterns of the language, compounds can be divided
into syntactic (a sea-shore (a shore of the sea), shoe-maker (a
person making shoes)), which conform to the patterns and
may be transformed into corresponding word
combinations, and asyntactic, which do not (babysitting
(not sitting babies), bookmaker (not a person who makes
books), a breadwinner (not a person who wins bread).
 Compounding
classification

According to the degree of their motivation,
compounds may be divided into idiomatic and non-
idiomatic. Idiomatic compounds are different in
meaning from the corresponding word combinations,
e.g. a whiteboard might be not white or board, since it can
be made of plastic or other materials (+
blackmail/blackbird).
In non-idiomatic compounds the meaning is equal to
the sum of the meanings of its components,
e.g. course-book, airmail, e-mail.
 Compounding
classification

According to the degree of semantic independence,
there are 2 types of relations between the stems in
compounds:
coordination and subordination
Therefore, compounds can be divided into coordinative
and subordinative compounds.
 Compounding
classification

In coordinative compounds the stems are semantically
equally important, e.g. fighter-bomber, oak-tree, girlfriend,
Afro-American,

Plus reduplicative and phonically variable rhythmic

twin forms: goody-goody, bye-bye, fifty-fifty, hush-hush,
chit-chat, flip-flop etc.
 Compounding
classification

 In subordinative compound words, the elements are
structurally and semantically unequal, but they are
based on the dominance of the head member
(usually the second stem): stone-deaf (adj), lifelong
(adj), road-building (n), baby-minder (n).
Criteria of compounding

It is not always easy to differentiate a compound word
from a word combination.
There are several criteria to help with this task.
Unfortunately, no one type of criteria is normally
sufficient for establishing the status of a lexical unit, is
relevant by itself.
We need at least two of them to be sure.
Criteria of compounding

1) Graphic (orthography) criterion:
solid or hyphenated spelling proves that the unit is a
compound word.
However, English spelling is not consistent enough,
e.g.
free trade, body language, overflow, ice-cream,
horse-trade, airline, air-line, air line;
bedroom, living-room,
matchbox, match-box, or match box.
Criteria of compounding

2) Phonological (stress) criterion:
compounds usually have a single stress on the first
syllable (left-hand stress):
ice-cream, blackboard (compare: a black board – each
word is equally stressed).
Criteria of compounding

However, the rule doesn’t apply to
1. adjectives which are always double-stressed:
go-slow, new-born, easy-peasy, easy-going, snow-white
2. logical stress:
A night train, not a freight train,
An apple cake, not a chocolate cake
3. the stress helping to differentiate the meaning of
compounds
e.g. mankind, ‘toy factory vs toy ‘factory
4. Regional differences: dry-ˈclean (BrE) vs ˈdry-clean (AmE)
Criteria of compounding

3) Semantic criterion: A compound expresses a single
idea, which is not identical in meaning to the sum of the
meanings of its components in a free phrase (e.g.
blackbird, dirty work, clean work, white-collar).
But it cannot be applied to clearly motivated
compounds (e.g. landslide, rainfall) or to idiomatic
phrases (e.g. it rains cats and dogs, Hobson’s choice, mare’s
nest).
Criteria of compounding

4) Syntactical criterion is based on comparing a
compound and the phrase comprising the same
morphemes.
e. g. black birds can be modified by very (very black
birds) and it is impossible with the compound
blackbirds.
However, the criterion cannot serve to distinguish
compounds from set expressions in which the words
cannot be modified either: black market, black list
(cannot say a very black list).
Criteria of compounding

5) Morphological criteria include:
а) formal integrity (e.g. shipwrecks may be wrecks of a ship or
wreck of several ships or wrecks of several ships; window-
cleaner does not clean just one window, the same about
speechwriting, copyright, speechreading or lip-reading. The plural
number present in the corresponding phrases is neutralized
in compounds.) But such examples are not numerous;
b) connective elements (e.g. Anglo-Saxon, craftsman,
statesperson). But there are very few words like that.

No criterion is sufficient by itself.

 Semi-affixes
(borderline cases)

Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish a compound
from a derivative either.
Such elements as man, berry, land, etc. have acquired
valency similar to that of affixes.
They are now unstressed, their lexical meaning is
somewhat weakened, e.g. like, proof, worthy. The
elements like this may be called semi-affixes.
e.g. shockproof, waterproof, summerlike, moisture-proof,
minimarket, mini-crisis, mini-skirt, macroeconomy, maxi-
dress.
 Borderline cases continued

 The factors conducing to transition of free forms into
semi affixes are high semantic productivity,
adaptability, high valency and brevity.
 Stone wall combinations

The problem of whether adjectives can be formed via
conversion from nouns has been controversial.

At present, in English there are numerous word

combinations like:
pay rise, sunrise, moonlight, paper document
Stone wall combinations

The structure of these combinations can be regarded as adjective + noun.

O.Yespersen proved it as follows:

i. Stone denotes a quality of the noun wall
ii. Stone stands before the word it modifies, as adjectives in the function of an attribute
do in English
iii. Stone is used in the singular form though its meaning is mainly plural, and
adjectives in English have no plural forms.
iv. There are some cases when the first component is used in the
comparative/superlative degree (the bottomest end of the scale)
v. The first component can have an adverb which characterizes it, and it is typical of
adjectives to be characterized by adverbs, e.g. a purely family meeting
vi. The first component can be used in the same syntactical function with a proper
adjective to characterize the same noun, e.g. lonely bare stone houses.
vii. After the first component the pronoun “one” can be used instead of a noun, e.g. I
will not take a ham sandwich, but a cheese one.
Stone wall combinations

Many scholars, however, believe that the first
component of these combinations is a noun in the
function of an attribute because in modern English
almost all parts of speech and word groups can be used
in the function of an attribute,
e.g. the then president (adverb), a thirty-year-old woman (a
word group).
Stone wall combinations

 Bauer (2003, 135-136) notes that
 Compounds are similar to phrases by formation, since
they are sequences of lexemes,
 whereas
 Idioms are formed through rules of syntax.
 Frequently the meaning of a N+N compound is
indistinguishable from the meaning of an Adj + N.
 (1) atom bomb vs atomic bomb
 (2) verb paradigm vs verbal paradigm
 (3) language development vs linguistic development
Stone wall combinations

 In possessive case phrases, it is possible to
differentiate compounds from phrases.

 Compounds Phrases

 dog house vs dog’s house

 lawyer fees vs lawyer’s fees
 Sunday lunch vs Sunday’s lunch
 

 Thank you for your attention