Specific features of forming compound words

Compound verbs

Most complex verbs in English is formed by reverse derivation or conversion. But along with them, there are verbs formed by compounding. Compound verbs verb + verb . The model is presented verbs to typewrite, to freeze-dry, to trickle-irrigate and others.

Compound verbs noun + verb

To brain-wash, to house-hunt, to fire-watch, to lip-read, to baby-sit, to bottle-feed, to chain-smoke, to window-shop, to sleep-walk etc.

Types of Compounds according types of speech.

Compound words may be classified

a) from the functional point of view;

b) from the point of view of the way the components of the compound are linked together.

c) from the point of view of different ways of composition.

a) Functionally compounds are viewed as words belonging to different parts of speech. The bulk of Modern English compound belong to nouns and adjectives: e.g. arm - chair, baby - sitter, boiling - point, knee - high, rain - driven, adverbs and connectives are represented by an insignificant number of words, e.g. indoors, within, outside and we may say that composition on the whole is not productive in adverbs and in connectives. It is of interest to note that composition in verbs in Modern English is not productive either. Verbs that are morphemically compound, such as to (goose flesh, (to) weekend; prove to be words of second derivation on the word - formation level [26,56p].

b) from the point of view of the means by which the components are joined together compound words may be classified into:

1) words formed by mere placing one constituent after another in a definite order, e.g.: door - handle, rain - driven. This means of linking the components is typical of the greater part of Modern English compounds in all parts of speech.

2) compound words whose components are joined together with a linking element, as in speedometer Fro - Asian; compounds of this type are found both in nouns and in adjectives but present a small group of words considerable restricted by the nature of their components, The components of compound words of this type are mostly joined with the help of the linking vowel [ou] and occasionally the vowel. In both cases the first component often contains a bound root. E.g. Fro - Asian, Sino - Japanese, Anglo Saxon, tragicomic other examples of compound words of this type are electro - dynamic, handicraft, handiwork. This group is generally limited to the names of nationalities and scientific terms. The components of compound nouns may also be joined with the help of the linking consonant [slz] e.g. sportsman, tradesman, saleswoman, bridesmaid, statesman, landsman and etc. This is also a very small group of words restricted by the second component, which is, as a rule, one of the three stems man - , woman - , people - , and the commonest of them being man.

c) Compounds are also classified according to different ways of compounding. There are two ways of composition and accordingly we distinguish two types of compounds: those formed exclusively after a composition pattern, the so called compounds and those formed by a simultaneous operation of two types of word - formation: composition and derivation, the so - called derivational compounds:

Compound words proper are formed by joining together stems of words already available in the language, with or without the help of special linking elements such as: door - step, age - long, baby - sitter, looking - glass, they constitute the bulk of English compounds in all parts of speech and include both productive and non - productive patterns.

Compound words are classified:

a) from the point of view of the way the components of the compound are linked together:

b) from the point of view of agreeing:

с) from the point of view of relationship between subject and predicate: first elements of such kind compound will be predicate:

Most frequently spread English compound words are:

1. Compound nouns

2. Compound adjectives

3. Compound adverbs

4. Compound verbs

Compound Nouns

Most English compound nouns are noun phrases that include a noun modified by adjectives or attribute nouns. Due to the English tendency towards conversion, the two classes are not always easily distinguished. Most English compound nouns that consist of more than two words can be constructed recursively by combining two words at a time. The compound science fiction writer, for example, can be constructed by combining the resulting compound with writer. Some compounds, such as salt and pepper or mother - of pearl, can be constructed in this way, however.

In general, the meaning of a compound is a specialization of the meaning of its head. The modifier limits the meaning of the head. This is most obvious in descriptive compounds, also known as Karmad haraya compounds, in which the modifier is used in an attributive or appositional manner. A blackboard is a particular kind of board which is generally black, for instance [32, 76p].

A compound word consists of two or more base words. Meaning of Compound word is often different from the separate base words. Compound words are mostly nouns, adjectives, and verbs.Compound words are of three types: A. Closed Compound Words: Words are joined together. There is no space or hyphen between the words. Examples: firefly / softball / redhead / keyboard / makeup / notebook. B. Hyphenated Compound Words: Words are joined together by a hyphen. Examples: daughter-in-law / over-the-counter / six-year-old |C. Open Compound Words: Words are not joined together. Words are open or separate. In other words, there is a space between the words. Examples: post office / real estate / full moon / half sister | Some general rules regarding use of hyphens: Compound Adjectives are often hyphenated-- If compound adjective precedes a noun, they are hyphenated -- low-paying job [low- paying is a compound adjective; job is a noun]; good-looking celebrity [good-looking is a compound adjective; celebrity is a noun] | Adverbs that end in -ly and compounded with another modifier are not hyphenated: quietly organized meeting / highly placed sources [24, 81p].

1. Some compound words which are hyphenated in American English are not hyphenated in British English. Example: cash-back [American English]; cashback [British English]

2. Some compound words may have more than one form but these forms may belong to different parts of speech. Examples: bread and butter [open form] [noun], bread-and-butter [closed form] [adjective]; charge sheet [open form][noun], chargesheet [closed form] [verb]; fast track [open form] [noun], fast-track [hyphenated form] [adjective, verb]; first degree [open form] [noun], first-degree [hyphenated form] [adjective]; full time [open form] [noun], full-time [hyphenated form] [adjective, adverb]; gift wrap [open form] [noun], gift-wrap [hyphenated form] [verb]; hard core [open form] [noun], hard-core [hyphenated form] [adjective]; hard line [open form] [noun], hard-line [hyphenated form] [adjective]; road test [open form] [noun], road-test [hyphenated form] [verb]; second hand [open form] [noun], second-home [hyphenated form] [adjective]; Formation of compound words

Compound Words are formed in the following ways:

a) Compound words with adjective and adjective: adjective + adjective bittersweet / blue-black / red-hot / white-hot [25, 56p].

b) Compound words with adjective and noun: adjective + noun- blackboard / black man / bluebird / common room / concrete idea / deep-sea / electric light / fool play / free trade / full-length / high school / hot water / last-minute / loudspeaker / low-key / madman / midday / monthly ticket / nobleman / old boy / poorhouse / red heart / shorthand / smallpox / stronghold / sweetheart / wild boar / widespread |

c) Compound words with adjective and verb: adjective + verb - broadcast / clear-cut / dry-clean / fulfill / safeguard / whitewash |

d) Compound words with adjective and past participle: adjective + past participle - cold-blooded / kindhearted / long-haired / long forgotten / old-fashioned / short-sighted / well-known / well-mannered.

e) Compound words with adjective and present participle: adjective + present participle - free-standing / good-looking / hardworking / long-lasting / speed walking

f) Compound words with adverb (or preposition) and adjective: adverb (or preposition) + adjective - ingrown / over wide / under ripe .

g) Compound words with adverb (or preposition) and noun: adverb (or preposition) + noun - afterlife / afterthought / background / backdate / bypass / downstairs / downfall / forehead / foresight / in-group / in-service / inside / offshore / offspring / off-shoot / online / outlaw / outpatient / over change / overcharge / overripe / overdose / overnight / overweight / underground / underline / underworld / upgrade / upstairs

In determinative compounds, however, the relationship is not attributive. For example, a foot stool is not a particular type of stool that is like a foot. Rather, it is a stool for one's foot or feet. (It can be used for sitting on but that is not its primary purpose). In a similar manner, the office manager is the manager of an office, an armchair is a chair with arms, and a raincoat is a coat against the rain. These relationships, which are expressed by prepositions in English, would be expressed by grammatical case in other languages. Compounds of this type are also known as tatpurusha compounds [33, 68p].

But of the above types of compounds are called endo centric compounds because the semantic head is contained within the compound itself a blackboard is a type of board, for example, and a footstool is a type of stool.

However, in another common type of compound, the exocentric or ba huvrihi compound, the semantic head is not explicitly expressed. a red head, for example, is not a kind of head, but is a person with a red head, but a person with a head that is as hard and unreceptive as a block (i.e. stupid). And, outside of veterinary surgery, a lion - heart is not a type of heart, but a person with a heart like a lion (in its bravery, courage, fearlessness).

Exocentric compounds occur more often in adjectives than nouns. A barefoot girl, for example, is not a girl that is a bare foot, but a girl with a bare foot. Similarly, a V - 8 car is a car with a V - 8 engine rather than a car that is a V - 8, and a twenty - five - dollar car is a car with a worth of $ 25, not a car that is $ 25. The compounds shown here are bare, but more commonly, a suffixal morpheme is a added, esp. - ed. Hence, a two - legged person is a person with two legs and this is exocentric.

On the other hand, endocentric adjectives are also frequently formed, using the suffixal morphemes: - ing or -er/or. A car - carrier is a clear endocentric determinative compound: it is a thing that is a carrier of cars. The related adjective, car - carrying, is also endocentric: it refers to an object which is a carrying - thing.

These types account for most compound nouns, but there are other, rarer types as well. Coordinative, copulative compounds combine elements with a similar meaning, and the compound meaning may be a generalization instead of specialization. Bosnia - Herzegovina, for example, is the combined area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but a fighter - bomber is an aircraft that is both a fighter and a bomber. Iterative compounds repeat a single element, to express repetition or as an emphasis. Day - by - day and go -go - go are examples of this type of compound, which has more than one head [29, 62p].

Analyzability may be further limited by cranberry morphemes and semantic changes. For instance, the word butterfly, commonly thought top be a metathesis for flutter by, which the bugs do, is actually based on an old bubbe - maise that butterflies are petite witches that steal butter from window sills. Cranberry is a part translation from Low German, which is why we cannot recognize the element. The ladybird or ladybug was named after the Christian expression "our Lady, the Virgin Mary".

In the case of verb + noun compounds, the noun may be either the subject or the object of the verb. In playboy, for example, the noun is the subject of the verb (the boy plays), whereas it is the object in call girl (someone calls the girl).

A black board is any board that is black, and equal prosodic stress can be found on both elements (or, according to psycholinguist Steven Pinker, the second one is accented more heavily.) A blackboard, compound, may have started out as any other black board, but now is a thing that is constructed in a particular way, of a particular material and serves a particular purpose; the word is clearly accented on the first syllable [27,38p].

Sound patterns, such as stresses placed on particular syllables, may indicate whether the word group is a compound or whether it is an adjective - + - noun phrase. A compound usually has a falling intonation: "blackboard", the "White House", as opposed to the phrases "black board". (Note that this rule does not apply in all contexts. For example, the stress pattern "white house" would be expected for the compound, which happens to be a proper name, but it is also found in the emphatic negation "No, not the black house; the white house!").

Classification of compound Words Based on Correlation

According to the type of correlation all productive types of compound words may be classified into four major classes:

1. Adjectival-nominal compounds comprise four subgroups of compound adjectives-three of them are proper and one derivational, they are built after the following formulas and patterns:

a, b) the n+a formula, e. g. snow-white, colour-blind, journey-tired correlative; with word-groups of the A + as+N,. A +prp+N type, e. g. white as snow, blind to colours, tired of journey. The structure is polysemantic;

c) the s+ved formula, e g. fear-stained, duty-bound, wind-driven correlated with word-groups of the type Ved with/by+N, e. g. stained with tears, bound by duty, etc. The distributional formula is monosemantic and is based on the instrumental relations between the components;

d) num+n formula, e. g. (a) two-day (beard), (a) seven-year (plan), (a) forty-hour (week) correlative with Num + N type of phrases, e. g. two days, seven years, etc. Adjectives of this subgroup are used only attributively;

e) the (a+n) + -ed pattern of derivational compounds, e. g. long-legged, low-ceilinged. This structure includes two more variants; the first member of the first component may be a numeral stem or a noun-stem (num+n) +-ed, (n+n) +-ed, e. g. one-sided, three-cornered, doll-faced, bell-shaped. Compounds of this subgroup are correlative with phrases of the type--with (having) + A+N, with (having) + Num+N, with (having)+N+N (or N+of+N), e. g. with (or having) a low ceiling, with (or having) one side, with (or having) three corners, with (or having) a doll face for with (or having) the face of a doll, with (or having) the shape of a bell.

The system of productive types of compound adjectives may be presented as follows[31, 76p].

2. Verbal-nominal compounds belong to compound nouns. They may all be described through one general distributional structure n+nv, i. e. a combination of a simple noun-stem with a verbal noun-stem. This formula includes four patterns differing in the character of the verbal noun-stem. They are all based on verbal-nominal word-groups, built after the formula V+N or V+prp+N:

a) [n+v+-er)] pattern, e. g. bottle-opener, stage-manager, baby-sitter, peace-fighter, is monosemantic and is based on agentive relations that can be interpreted as 'one who does smth';

b) [n+ (v+-ing)] pattern, e. g, rocket-flying, stage-managing, is monosemantic and may be interpreted as 'the act of doing smth';

c) [n+ (v+tion/-ment)] pattern, e. g. price-reduction, office-management, is monosemantic and may be interpreted as 'the act of doing smth';

d) compound nouns with the structure n+(v+ conversion), i, e. a combination of - a simple noun-stem with a deverbal noun-stem resulting from conversion, e. g. wage-art, dog-bite, chimney-sweep. The pattern is monosemantic.

3. V e r b a l v e r b compounds are a11 derivational compound nouns built after one formal n [(v+adv)+conversion] and correlative with phrases of the V+Adv type, a. g. a break-down from (to) break down, a hold-up from (to): hold up, a lay-out from (to) lay out. The pattern is polysemantic and is circumscribed by the manifold semantic relations typical of conversion pairs.

4. Nominal compounds are all nouns built after the most polysemantic distributional formula (n+n); both stems are in most cases simple, e. g. pencil-case, windmill, horse-race. Compounds of this class correlate with nominal word-groups mostly characterized by the N+prp+N structure.

Distributional formulas of Subordinative Compounds

The internal structure of subordinative compounds is marked by a specific pattern of order and arrangement in which the stems follow one another. The order in which the stems are placed within a compound is rigidly fixed in Modern English as the structural centre of the word is always its second component. Stems of almost every part of speech are found in compounds but they are combined to make up compound words according to a set of rigid rules for every part of speech. The choice of stems and the rules of their arrangement and order are known as distributional or structural formulas and patterns of compound words [29,102p].

As to the order of components subordinative compound words may be classified into two groups:

a) Syntactic compounds whose components are placed in the order that resembles the order of words in free phrases arranged according to the rules of syntax of Modern English.

The order of the stems in compounds, e.g. bluebell, slowcoach, mad - doctor (a+n) reminds one of the order and arrangement of the corresponding words in phrases like a blue bell, a slow coach, a mad doctor (A+N); compounds like, e.g. know - nothing, kill-joy, tell-tale made up on the formula v+n resemble the arrangement of words in phrases like (to) kill joy, (to) know nothing, (to) tell tales (V+N); the order of components in compounds consisting of two noun - stems door-handle, day-time (n+n) resembles the order of words in nominal phrases with the attributive function of the first noun as in stone wall, spring time, peace movement, etc.

A syntactic compounds whose stems are not placed in the order in which the corresponding words can be brought together under the rules of syntax of the language. For example it is universally known that in free phrases adjectives cannot be modified by adjectives, noun modifiers cannot be placed before adjectives or participles, ye t this kind of a syntactic arrangement of stems is typical of compounds among which we find combinations of two adjective stems, e.g. red-hot, bluish-black, pale-blue; words made up of noun - stems placed before adjective or participle stems, e.g. oil-rich, tear-stained, etc.

Both syntactic and asyntactic compound words in each part of speech should be described in terms of their distributional formulas. For example, compound adjectives are mostly formed of noun, adjective or participle stems according to the formulas n+a, e.g. oil-rich, world-wide; n+ved11 For conventional symbols see `Word - Formation', § 8. , e.g. snow-covered, home-grown; a+a, e.g. pale-green, red-hot, etc.

Borderline between compound words and free word-groups

Compound words as inseparable vocabulary units taking shape in a definite system of grammatical forms and syntactic characteristics are generally clearly distinguished from and often opposed to free word-groups. Their inseparability finds expression in the unity of their structural, phonetic and graphic integrity [27,296p].

2.2 Compound words and free word groups

Compound words as inseparable vocabulary units are on the one hand clearly distinguished from free word-groups by a combination of their specific stress pattern, spelling and their distributional formulas. On the other hand, compound words in Modern English lie astride the border between words and word-groups and display many features common to word-groups, thus revealing close lies and parallelism with the system of free phrases.11 Prof. A. I. Smirnitsky as far back as the late forties pointed out rigid parallelism existing between free word - groups and derivational compound adjectives which he termed “grammatical compounds". The linguistic analysis of extensive language data proves that there exists a rigid correlation between the system of free phrases and all types of subordinative compounds. The correlation embraces both the structure and the meaning of compound words and seems to be the pivot point of the entire system of productive present-day English composition. The analysis of the structural and semantic correlation between compound words and free word-groups enables us to find the features most relevant to composition and set e system o; ordered rules for productive formulas after which an infinite number of new compounds constantly appear in the language.

Structural Correlation.

There is a correlation and parallelism between the structure of subordinative compound words and corresponding phrases, which manifests it in the morphological character of the components. Compound words are generally made up of the stems of those parts of speech that form the corresponding free word-groups. The stem of the central member or she head22 See `Word-Groups and Morphological Units', § 3. of the word-group becomes the structural and semantic centre of the compound, i.e. its second component. e.g. heart-sick, is made up of the stems of "the noun' heart and adjective sick which form the corresponding phrase sick at heart, with the adjective sick for its head; man-made consists of the stems of the words that make the corresponding phrase made by man; door-handle similarly corresponds to the handle of the door, clasp-knife to the knife that clasps, etc. In all these cases the stem of the head-member of the word-group, in our case sick-, made-, handle- becomes the structural centre of the corresponding compound, i.e. its second component.

The order of the stems coincides with the word-order in word-groups only in the case of syntactic compounds, such as, e.g., blackboard, mad-doctor, pickpocket, tell-tale, etc., in which the structural centre takes the same place as the head of corresponding word-groups.

In compounds each part of speech correlates only with certain structural types of phrases. For example, productive compound adjectives reveal correlation mostly with adjectival-nominal word-groups,11 Adjectival-nominal word-groups is a conventional term of this type of word-groups. i.e. word-groups whose heads are adjectives (or Numerals and Participles) of the type A+prp+N, Ved+ by/with+N, with+A+N, e.g, adjectives oil-rich, heart-sick correspond to word-groups rich in oil, sick at heart (i.e., n+a>A+prp+N); duty-bound, smoke-filled to bound by duty, filled with smoke (i.e., n+ved+Ved+by/with+N); low-ceilinged to with a low ceiling {[(a+n) +ed] >with+A+N}. Productive compound nouns correlate mostly with nominal word-groups (consisting of two nouns), verbal-nominal and verb-adverb word-groups, e.g.. Moonlight, diving-suit, correspond to the light of the moon, a suit for diving" (i.e. n+n>N+prp+N): proof-reader, peace-fighting to (to) read proofs, (to) fight for peace (i.e., n+nv>V+N, V+prp+N), etc. So it follows that the distributional formulas of compound words in each part of speech are circumscribed by the structure of correlated word-groups [30,126p].

Semantic Correlation.

Semantically, the relations between the components of a compound mirror the semantic relations between the member-words in correlated word-groups. The semantic relations established between the components, for example, in compound adjectives built after n+ved formula, e.g. duty-bound, snow-covered are circumscribed by the instrumental relations typical of the members of correlated word-groups of the type Ved + by /with+N regardless of the actual lexical meanings of the stems; compound adjectives of the (a+n)+ed pattern like long-legged, straight-backed mirror possessive relations found between words in correlated word-groups of the with+A+N type, e.g. with long legs, with a straight back; compound nouns built after the pattern n+(v+-er)--letter-writer, bottle-opener, traffic-controller display agentive semantic relations typical of word-groups 'one who writes letters'; 'the thing that opens bottles' built after the general formula N that V+N.

Structural and semantic correlation by no means implies a one-to-one correspondence of each individual pattern of compound words to one word-group formula or pattern. For example the n+nv formula of compound nouns comprises different patterns such as [n+(v+-er)] rocket-flyer, bottle- opener, cover-shooter, [n+(v+-ing] street-fighting, rocket-flying, cover-shooting; both patterns correlate in the final analysis with verbal-nominal word-groups of one formula--V+N or V+prp+N,e.g. to flyrockets, to fight in the streets, to shoot from a cover. However, the reverse relationship is not uncommon, e;g. one distributional formula of compound adjectives (n+a) in words like age-long, sky-high, colour

blind corresponds to a variety of individual word-group patterns which differ in the grammatical and semantic relations between member-words expressed by the preposition, thus, compounds journey-tired, girl-shy, oil-rich, world-wide correspond to tired of journey (A+of+N), shy before girls (A+before+N); rich in oil (A+in+N);wide as the world (A+as+N). Nominal compound made up of two simple noun-stems (n+n) may serve, as another example of the semantic correlation between formulas of compound nouns with a variety of individual patterns of nominal word-groups. Compound nouns like doorstep, hand-bag, handcuffs incorporate manifold semantic relations found between member-words of various patterns of the general formula of word-groups N+prp+N. Nominal compounds appear to express freely in a concise form what can be expressed only in a more elaborate and complicated periphrastic way by word-groups. "It should be remembered that the semantic relations in some cases may be interpreted differently [33, 166p].

Even the few examples given as illustration lead us to the conclusion that the structure of compound words, as a rule, is more concise and of much wider semantic range than the structure of correlated word-groups due to the fact that compound words do not require any elaborates way to express the relationship between their components except their order. Therefore compound words which establish regular correlative relations with word-groups are on the one hand motivated and on the other hand serve as patterns, or sets of structural and semantic rules guiding the spontaneous formation of new compound words. Consequently motivation and regular semantic and structural correlation between compound words and word-groups may be regarded as factors which arc most conducive to high productivity of compound words. It is natural that formulas which do not establish such regular correlative" relations and which result in compound words characterized by lack or very low degree of motivation, must he regarded as unproductive, for example, compound nouns built after a+n formula, e. g. blackbird, bluebell, mad-doctor, etc., are marked by lack of motivation or high degree of idiomaticity, hence the formula a+n for compound nouns is unproductive for Modern English.

Diachronic approach to compound words.

Like all other linguistic phenomena compounding may be approached synchronically and diachronically. If a synchronic treatment concentrates on structural and semantic features relevant for productive patterning of compound words, the diachronic treatment is concerned with the various changes compound words undergo in the course of time and the way compound words appear in the language. Once a compound has been formed it is subject to all the phonological changes affecting English polysyllabic words. Various changes in the phonetic structure and stress pattern of compound words may result in a number of changes in its morphemic structure. The separate morphemes in a compound may become fused or even lost altogether; the meanings of the components may also fuse in the course of time into a newer meaning or become forgotten. As a result of this process, known as the process of simplification, compound words may undergo such radical changes that they may be even transformed into derived or simple words. For illustration of historical development of the morphemic structure of compounds [29,130p] .

There are many words in Modem English that do not in any way differ from the bulk of simple words and yet have undergone the process of simplification and may be traced back to their original compound structure.

2.3 Ways of Forming Compounds. Sources of Compounds

The actual process of building compound words may take different forms:

1) Compound words a rule are built spontaneously after productive distributional formulas of the given period. Formulas productive at one time may lose their productivity at another period. Thus at one time the process of building verbs by compounding adverbial and verbal stems was productive, and numerous compound verbs like, e, g. outgrow, overturn, overthrow (adv+v), were formed. The structure ceased to be productive and today no verbs are built in this way [28, 276p].

2) Compounds may be the result of a gradual process of semantic isolation and structural fusion of free word-groups. Such compounds as forget-me-not-- 'a small plant with blue1 flowers', scarecrow (from an earlier scare-the-crows)--'a figure used to scare birds away from crops', pickpocket (from pick the pocket)--'one who steals from pockets', bridesmaid--'an unmarried woman attending the bride at a wedding', bull's-eye--'the centre of a target; a kind of hard, globular candy", mainland--'a continent' all go back to free phrases which became semantically and structurally isolated in the course of time. The words that once made up these phrases have lost, within these particular formations, their integrity, their part-of-speech meaning and the whole phrase has become isolated in form, specialized in meaning and thus turned into an inseparable unit--a word acquiring semantic and morphological unity.

Most of the syntactic compound nouns of the (a+n) structure, e. g. bluebell, blackboard, mad-doctor, are the result of such semantic and structural isolation of free word-groups; to give but one more example--highway was once actually a high way for it was raised above the surrounding countryside for better drainage and ease of travel. Now we use highway without any idea of the original sense of the first element.

Composition of compound words.

This type of word-building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the three most productive types in Modern English, the other two are conversion and affixation. Compounds, though certainly fewer in quantity than derived or root words, still represent one of the most typical and specific features of English word-structure.

There are at least three aspects of composition that present special interest.

The first is the structural aspect. Compounds are not homogeneous in structure. Traditionally three types are distinguished: neutral, morphological and syntactic.

In neutral compounds the process of compounding is realised without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems, as in blackbird, shop-window, sunflower, bedroom, tallboy, etc. There are three subtypes of neutral compounds depending on the structure of the constituent stems.

The examples above represent the subtype which may be described as simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affixless stems.

Compounds which have affixes in their structure are called derived or derivational compounds. E. g. absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, lady-killer, film-goer, music-lover, honey-moon-er, first-nighter, late-comer, newcomer, early-riser, evildoer. The productivity of this type is confirmed by a considerable number of comparatively recent formations, such as teenager, babysitter, strap-hanger, fours-eater ("car or boat with four seats"), double-decker ("a ship or bus with two decks"). Numerous nonce-words are coined on this pattern which is another proof of its high productivity: e. g. luncher-out ("a person who habitually takes his lunch in restaurants and not at home"), goose-flesher ("murder story") or attention getter in the following fragment:

"Dad," I began ... "I'm going to lose my job." That should be an attention getter, I figured [32, 225p].

The third subtype of neutral compounds is called contracted compounds. These words have a shortened (contracted) stem in their structure: TV-set (-program, -show, -canal, etc.), V-day (Victory day), G-man (Government man "FBI agent"), H-bag (handbag), T-shirt, etc.

Morphological compounds are few in number. This type is non-productive. It is represented by words in which two compounding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, e. g. Anglo-Saxon, Franko-Prussian, handiwork, handicraft, craftsmanship, spokesman, statesman.

In syntactic compounds (the term is arbitrary) we once more find a feature of specifically English word-structure. These words are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs, as in the nouns lily-of-the-valley, Jack-of-all-trades, good-for-nothing, mother-in-law, sit-at-home. Syntactical relations and grammatical patterns current in present-day English can be clearly traced in the structures of such compound nouns as pick-me-up, know-all, know-nothing, go-between, get-together, whodunit. The last word (meaning "a detective story") was obviously coined from the ungrammatical variant of the word-group who (has) done it.In this group of compounds, once more, we find a great number of neologisms, and whodunit is one of them. Consider, also, the two following fragments which make rich use of modern city traffic terms.Randy managed to weave through a maze of oneway-streets, no-left-turns, and no-stopping-zones ...(From A Five-Colour Buick by P. Anderson Wood) "... you go down to the Department of Motor Vehicles tomorrow and take your behind-the-wheel test."

The structure of most compounds is transparent, as it were, and clearly betrays the origin of these words from word-combinations. The fragments below illustrate admirably the very process of coining nonce-words after the productive patterns of composition [26, 258p].

"Is all this really true?" he asked. "Or are you pulling my leg?"

Charlie looked slowly around at each of the four old faces... They were quite serious. There was no sign of joking or leg-pulling on any of them.

"I have decided that you are up to no good. I am well aware that that is your natural condition. But I prefer you to be up to no good in London. Which is more used to up-to-no-gooders."

(From The French Lieutenant's Woman by J. Fowles)

"What if they capture us?" said Mrs. Bucket. "What if they shoot us?" said Grandma Georgina. "What if my beard were made of green spinach?" cried Mr. Wonka. "Bunkum and tommyrot! You'll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. ...We want no what-iffers around, right, Charlie?"

The first of the examples presents the nonce-word leg-pulling coined on the pattern of neutral derivational compounds. The what-iffing and what-iffers of the third extract seem to represent the same type, though there is something about the words clearly resembling syntactic compounds: their what-if-nucleus is one of frequent patterns of living speech. As to the up-to-no-gooders of the second example, it is certainly a combination of syntactic and derivational types, as it is made from a segment of speech which is held together by the -er suffix. A similar formation is represented by the nonce-word breakfast-in-the-bedder ("a person who prefers to have his breakfast in bed").

Another focus of interest is the semantic aspect of compound words, that is, the question of correlations of the separate meanings of the constituent parts and the actual meaning of the compound. Or, to put it in easier terms: can the meaning of a compound word be regarded as the sum of its constituent meanings?

To try and answer this question, let us consider the following groups of examples.

(1) Classroom, bedroom, working-man, evening-gown, dining-room, sleeping-car, reading-room, dancing-hall.

This group seems to represent compounds whose meanings can really be described as the sum of their constituent meanings. Yet, in the last four words we can distinctly detect a slight shift of meaning. The first component in these words, if taken as a free form, denotes an action or state of whatever or whoever is characterised by the word. Yet, a sleeping-car is not a car that sleeps (cf. a sleeping child), nor is a dancing-hall actually dancing (cf. dancing pairs).

The shift of meaning becomes much more pronounced in the second group of examples.

(2) Blackboard, blackbird, football, lady-killer, pick pocket, good-for-nothing, lazybones, chatterbox [26, 135p].

In these compounds one of the components (or both) has changed its meaning: a blackboard is neither a board nor necessarily black, football is not a ball but a game, a chatterbox not a box but a person, and a lady-killer kills no one but is merely a man who fascinates women. It is clear that in all these compounds the meaning of the whole word cannot be defined as the sum of the constituent meanings. The process of change of meaning in some such words has gone so far that the meaning of one or both constituents is no longer in the least associated with the current meaning of the corresponding free form, and yet the speech community quite calmly accepts such seemingly illogical word groups as a white blackbird, pink bluebells or an entirely confusing statement like: Blackberries are red when they are green.

Yet, despite a certain readjustment in the semantic structure of the word, the meanings of the constituents of the compounds of this second group are still transparent: you can see through them the meaning of the whole complex. Knowing the meanings of the constituents a student of English can get a fairly clear idea of what the whole word means even if he comes across it for the first time. At least, it is clear that a blackbird is some kind of bird and that a good-for-nothing is not meant as a compliment.

(3) In the third group of compounds the process of deducing the meaning of the whole from those of the constituents is impossible. The key to meaning seems to have been irretrievably lost: ladybird is not a bird, but an insect, tallboy not a boy but a piece of furniture, bluestocking, on the contrary, is a person, whereas bluebottle may denote both a flower and an insect but never a bottle.

Similar enigmas are encoded in such words as man-of-war ("warship"), merry-to-round ("carousel"), mother-of-pearl ("irridescent substance forming the inner layer of certain shells"), horse-marine ("a person who is unsuitable for his job or position"), butter-fingers ("clumsy person; one who is apt to drop things"), wall-flower ("a girl who is not invited to dance at a party"), whodunit ("detective story"), straphanger (1. "a passenger who stands in a crowded bus or underground train and holds onto a strap or other support suspended from above"; 2. "a book of light genre, trash; the kind of book one is likely to read when travelling in buses or trains") [31, 186p].

The compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the separate meanings of their constituent parts (2nd and 3rd group listed above) are called idiomatic compounds, in contrast to the first group known as non-idiomatic compounds.

The suggested subdivision into three groups is based on the degree of semantic cohesion of the constituent parts, the third group representing the extreme case of cohesion where the constituent meanings blend to produce an entirely new meaning.

The following joke rather vividly shows what happens if an idiomatic compound is misunderstood as non-idiomatic.

Patient: They tell me, doctor, you are a perfect lady-killer.

Doctor: Oh, no, no! I assure you, my dear madam, I make no distinction between the sexes.

In this joke, while the woman patient means to compliment the doctor on his being a handsome and irresistible man, he takes or pretends to take the word lady-killer literally, as a sum of the direct meanings of its constituents.

The structural type of compound words and the word-building type of composition have certain advantages for communication purposes.

Composition is not quite so flexible a way of coining new words as conversion but flexible enough as is convincingly shown by the examples of nonce-words given above. Among compounds are found numerous expressive and colourful words. They are also comparatively laconic, absorbing into one word an idea that otherwise would have required a whole phrase (cf. The hotel was full of week-enders and The hotel was full of people spending the week-end there).

Both the laconic and the expressive value of compounds can be well illustrated by English compound adjectives denoting colours (cf. snow-white -- as white as snow).

In the following extract a family are discussing which colour to paint their new car.

"Hey," Sally yelled, "could you paint it canary yellow, Fred?"

"Turtle green," shouted my mother, quickly getting into the spirit of the thing.

"Mouse grey," Randy suggested.

"Dove white, maybe?" my mother asked [22, 266p].

"Rattlesnake brown," my father said with a deadpan look...

"Forget it, all of you," I announced. "My Buick is going to be peacock blue."

It is obvious that the meaning of all these "multi-coloured" adjectives is based on comparison: the second constituent of the adjective is the name of a colour used in its actual sense and the first is the name of an object (animal, flower, etc.) with which the comparison is drawn. The pattern immensely extends the possibilities of denoting all imaginable shades of each colour, the more so that the pattern is productive and a great number of nonce-words are created after it. You can actually coin an adjective comparing the colour of a defined object with almost anything on earth: the pattern allows for vast creative experiments. This is well shown in the fragment given above. If canary yellow, peacock blue, dove white are quite "normal" in the language and registered by dictionaries, turtle green and rattlesnake brown¹ are certainly typical nonce-words, amusing inventions of the author aimed at a humorous effect.

Sometimes it is pointed out, as a disadvantage, that the English language has only one word blue for two different colours denoted in Russian by синий and голубой.

But this seeming inadequacy is compensated by a large number of adjectives coined on the pattern of comparison such as navy blue, cornflower blue, peacock blue, chicory blue, sapphire blue, china blue, sky-blue, turquoise blue, forget-me-not blue, heliotrope blue, powder-blue. This list can be supplemented by compound adjectives which also denote different shades of blue, but are not built on comparison: dark blue, light blue, pale blue, electric blue, Oxford blue, Cambridge blue [34,86p].

A further theoretical aspect of composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination.

This question has a direct bearing on the specific feature of the structure of most English compounds which has already been mentioned: with the exception of the rare morphological type, they originate directly from word-combinations and are often homonymous to them: cf. a tall boy -- a tallboy.

In this case the graphic criterion of distinguishing between a word and a word-group seems to be sufficiently convincing, yet in many cases it cannot wholly be relied on. The spelling of many compounds, tallboy among them, can be varied even within the same book. In the case of tallboy the semantic criterion seems more reliable, for the striking difference in the meanings of the word and the word-group certainly points to the highest degree of semantic cohesion in the word: tallboy does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers supported by a low stand.

Moreover, the word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts (1. a young male person; 2. big in size), whereas the word tallboy expresses one concept.

Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept and some of them are characterised by a high degree of semantic cohesion .

The phonetic criterion for compounds may be treated as that of a single stress. The criterion is convincingly applicable to many compound nouns, yet does not work with compound adjectives:

cf. 'slowcoach, blackbird, 'tallboy,

but: bluе-'eyed, 'absent-'minded, 'ill-'mannered.

Still, it is true that the morphological structure of these adjectives and their hyphenated spelling leave no doubt about their status as words and not word-groups.

Morphological and syntactic criteria can also be applied to compound words in order to distinguish them from word-groups.

In the word-group a tall boy each of the constituents is independently open to grammatical changes peculiar to its own category as a part of speech: They were the tallest boys in their form.

Between the constituent parts of the word-group other words can be inserted: a tall handsome boy.

The compound tallboy -- and, in actual fact, any other compound -- is not subject to such changes. The first component is grammatically invariable; the plural form ending is added to the whole unit: tallboys. No word can be inserted between the components, even with the compounds which have a traditional separate graphic form [24, 223p].

All this leads us to the conclusion that, in most cases, only several criteria (semantic, morphological, syntactic, phonetic, graphic) can convincingly classify a lexical unit as either a compound word or a word group.

2.4 Compounding and forms of components

There are three forms of compound words: The closed form, in which the words are melded together, such as firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike, crosstown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook;

the hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, six-pack, six-year-old, mass-produced; and the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general.

How a word modified by an adjective -- "a little school," "the yellow butter" -- is different from a compound word -- " a high school," "the peanut butter" -- is a nice and philosophical question. It clearly has something to do with the degree to which the preceding word changes the essential character of the noun, the degree to which the modifier and the noun are inseparable. If you were diagramming a sentence with a compound word, you would probably keep the words together, on the same horizontal line.

Modifying compounds are often hyphenated to avoid confusion. The New York Public Library's Writer's Guide points out that an old-furniture salesman clearly deals in old furniture, but an old furniture salesman would be an old man. We probably would not have the same ambiguity, however, about a used car dealer. When compounded modifiers precede a noun, they are often hyphenated: part-time teacher, fifty-yard-wide field, fire-resistant curtains, high-speed chase. When those same modifying words come after the noun, however, they are not hyphenated: a field fifty yards wide, curtains that are fire resistant, etc. The second-rate opera company gave a performance that was first rate.

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives are hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers: the highest-priced car, the shorter-term loan. But this is not always the case: the most talented youngster. Adverbs, words ending in -ly, are not hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers: a highly rated bank, a partially refunded ticket, publicly held securities.

Sometimes hyphenated modifiers lose their hyphens when they become compound nouns: A clear decision-making process was evident in their decision making. The bluish grey was slowly disappearing from the bluish-grey sky. This is not always so, however: your high-rise apartment building is also known as a high-rise.

When modifying a person with his or her age, the compounded phrase is hyphenated: my six-year-old son. However, when the age comes after the person, we don't use a hyphen. My son is six years old. He is, however, a six-year-old.

Compounding

There are two features distinguishing English compounds from compounds in other languages. Firstly, both immediate constituents of the English compound are free words, i.e. they can be used as independent words with a distinct meaning of their own (unlike in Russian where the combining elements are mostly bound forms e.g. руководство). E.g. schoolboy, mankind. The cases like socio-political and Anglo-Saxon (with bound forms) are quite rare in English.

Secondly, they are, as a rule, two-stem compounds. (Unlike, e.g. in the German language).

All English compounds are also characterized by distinguishing orthographical and phonetic features: all compounds are spelt either as one word (bedroom) or are hyphenated (blue-eyed); the one-word compounds are stressed on the first syllable (ґladybird), the hyphenated ones have two stresses (ґill-ґmannered)

Because of the great variety of compound types there also exists a great variety of their classifications. The three classifications most commonly referred to are those according to the type of composition, according to the structure of the immediate constituents, and according to the semantic structure type.

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