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Юриспунденкция

Lecture 5.

Composition

Compound words are formed by adding stems to each other. It is not easy to differentiate word-groups from compound words in English due to its poor morphology. In any language the following factors may serve as a help in discerning compound words and word- groups:

1) the unity of stress in compound words, e.g. 'blackboard;

2) the unity of spelling in compound words, e.g. blackboard, skyscraper, silver-fox;

3) the semantic unity (idiomaticity, i.e. the whole meaning of the compound word is not simply a sum of meanings of its components but it is different), e.g. chatter-box;

4) the morphological unity, i.e. compound words have morphological forms proper to words (e.g. one plural ending at the end of the word, not at the end of each component), e.g. a chatter-box, chatter-boxes;

5) the unity of syntactical functioning, i.e. a compound word fulfils the function of one member of the sentence (while in word-groups each word has its own syntactical function), e.g. These girls are chatter-boxes. ‘Chatter-boxes’ is a predicative in the sentence.

In English the criteria are not reliable. We can see many exceptions.

1. The unity of stress in compounds, but: e.g. 'singing-'bird — певчая птица.

That is a compound noun, but it has two primary stresses as if it were a word-group. So, the criterion of the unity of stress is not always reliable in English.

2. The unity of spelling, but:

e.g. quicksilver...

quick-silver...

quick silver — (all the variants of spelling are possible).

So, the criterion of the unity of spelling is not always reliable in English.

3. The semantic unity, but:

e.g. air-mail, spaceman,

seaman, airship.

All these compounds are not idiomatic, i.e. the meaning of the whole is a sum of the meanings of the components, and so the whole meaning is motivated, not idiomatic. Thus, the criterion of the semantic unity is not always reliable in English.

4. The morphological unity is not a criterion in English, because both in compounds and in word-groups, morphological forms do not differ:

e.g. stone wall, stone walls — a word-group,

singing-bird, singing-birds — a compound.

Attributes in English word-groups do not coordinate with the following noun, their morphological form does not change in coordination with the number or the gender of the noun. So the fact that compounds do not change the form of the components and the morphological form of the compound is changed only and on the whole, that an inflexion is only added to the whole compound proves nothing, because in English word-groups we see the same phenomenon.

5. The unity of syntactical functioning is the only reliable criterion in English.

In English compounds the integrity can be easily proved by their indivisibility: one cannot insert another word or a word-combination between the components of a compound word:

e.g. a sunbeam — ‘a bright sunbeam’, but ‘a sun bright beam’ is impossible, it does not sound correct.

It goes without saying that the method mentioned above is not scientific, it is based on intuition, or feel of the language. But as a help, it certainly can be used for practical purposes.

As English compounds usually consist of free stems, it is difficult to distinguish them from phrases:

e.g. top dog — a word-combination underdog — a compound noun

(we can only understand that the first is a word-combination and the second is a compound word according to their spelling and their stresses, but as we know those criteria are not reliable in many cases in English, so hearing lexical units we cannot always say exactly what is what).

English compounds possess two characteristic structural features:

1) the majority of them are formed with the help of free stems:

e.g. anyway, silverfox

In Russian the stems of compounds are often bound:

e.g. самовар,

самолет,

пароход, the first stem in the compounds is bound.

In English such compounds are met but they are not so often formed in that way:

e.g. Anglo-Saxon,

Indo-European, the first stem is bound.

2) the pattern which is most often used in English compounds is a two-stem pattern:

e.g. chatter-box.

seaport,

blackboard.

Compounds including more than two stems are not often built in English:

e.g. touch-and-go,

stick-in-the-mud.

A compound can be formed by means of convertion from a phrase:

e.g. a stay-at-home,

a do-nothing.

Compound adjectives can be built in English from phrases in the process of speech when the phrases are used in the function of an attribute:

e.g. We have done last-minute changes.

They could not take that out-of-date information into consideration.

English compounds can be formed not only by means of composition but also by means of conversion and backformation:

e.g. a black leg — to blackleg — conversion,

a baby sitter — to baby-sit — conversion and backformation.

Classification of Compound Words

According to their structure English compounds can be divided into three main and two subordinate types:

1) neutral compounds

2) morphological compounds the main types

3) syntactical compounds

Besides these there are also:

1) compound-shortened words,

2) compound-derived words. The subordinate types.

Neutral Type of Compounds

Neutral compounds are formed by joining together two stems without any joining morpheme. Such compounds are the most productive in English. They are divided into structural types and sub- types according to the part of speech and the meaning that is expressed.

Compound nouns of neutral type:

1) noun-noun structural type —

The first component characterizes the second one: e.g. silver-fox, sea-port;

2) gerund-noun type —

The first component denotes the designation of the second: e.g. looking-glass, skating-rink;

3) noun-gerund type —

The first component denotes an object, place or time of the action expressed by the second component: e.g. haymaking, nightflying;

4) adjective-noun type —

The first component characterizes the second: e.g. sleepyhead, heavy-weight;

5) noun-verb type —

The first component denotes an object of the action expressed by the second component: e.g. hair-do;

6) verb-noun type —

The first component characterizes the second: e.g. go-cart;

7) verb-verb type —

The first component characterizes the second one: e.g. swim-wear;

8) pronoun-noun type —

The first component denotes the gender of the second component. Such compounds are usually used in fables and fairy-tales:

e.g. he-goat, she-cat;

9) adverb- verb type —

The first component characterizes the second: e.g. downfall;

10) verb-adverb type —

These are compounds formed from phraseological units of the type ‘to give up’ by means of conversion: e.g. make-up, send-off, lock-out.

Compound Adjectives of Neutral Type:

1) adjective-adjective type: e.g. red-hot;

2) noun-adjective type: e.g. air-tight;

3) noun-participle type: e.g. home-made;

4) adverb-participle type: e.g. hard-earned;

5) participle-adverb type: e.g. a made-up (face);

6) numeral-noun type: e.g. a three-day (conference).

Compound Verbs of Neutral Type:

1) noun-verb type: e.g. to henpeek;

2) ad verb-verb type: e.g. to cross-examine;

3) noun-noun type: e.g. to April-fool;

4) adjective-noun type: e.g. to coldshoulder;

5) adjective-verb type: e.g. to broadcast.

Compound Adverbs of Neutral Type:

1) noun-adjective type: e.g. lip-deep;

2) adverb-noun type: e.g. downhill;

3) pronoun-noun type: e.g. anyway.

Compound Pronoun of Neutral Type:

1) pronoun- pronoun type: e.g. anyone.

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