Classification of compounds.

The great variety of compound types brings about a great variety of classifications. Compound words may be classified according: 1) to the type of composition and the linking elements; 2) according to the part of speech, to which the compound belongs to; 3) according to the structural pattern. It is also possible to subdivide compounds according to other characteristics.

The classification according the type of composition permits us to establish the following groups:

1) The predominant type is juxtaposition without connecting elements: heartache n; heart-beat; heart-broken adj.; heart-breaking adj;

2) Composition with a vowel or a consonant as a linking element. The examples are very few: electromotiveadj.; speedometer n; Afro-Asian adj; statesman n.

3) Compounds with linking elements represented by preposition or conjunction stems: down-and-out n; matter-of-fact adj.; son-in-law n; up-and-up adv.; up-to-date adj.

There are also a few other lexicalized phrases like devil-may care adj.; forget-me-not; pick-me-up n.

The classification of compounds according to the structure of immediate constituents distinguishes:

1) compounds consisting of simple stems: film-star;

2) compounds where at least one of the constituents is a derived stem: chair-smoker.

3) Compounds where at least one of the constituents is a clipped stem: maths-mistress (in Brit.English) and math-mistress (in American Eng.). The subgroup will contain abbreviations like H-bag (handbag) or Xmas (Christmas), but the first is not used in spoken language, and the second is considered sub-standard;

4) Compounds where at least one of the constituents is a compound stem: wastepaper – basket.

Lecture 5

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.005 сек.