6. Compound words

1. The criteria of compounds

2. Semi-affixes

3. Classification of compounds

I

Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms.

In describing the structure of a compound one should examine three types of relations, namely the relations of the members to each other; the relations of the whole to its members; and the correlation with equivalent free phrases.

Some compounds are made up of a determining and a determined part, which may be called the determinant and the determinatum.

E.g. A compound is indivisible. It’s impossible to insert words or word-groups between its members.

A sunbeam, a bright sunbeam, a bright and unexpected sunbeam. But no insertion is possible between sun and beam, for they are not words they are morphemes. The second stem beam is the basic part the determinatum. The determinant serves to differentiate it from other beams.

The determinatum is the grammatically most important part which undergoes inflection: sunbeams, brothers- in –law, passers-by etc.

As for the semantics of the compounds, their meanings are not a mere sum of the meanings of their components. A compound is often very different in meaning from a corresponding syntactic group.

E.g. blackboard and black board not every black board is a teaching aid and vice-versa.

On the other hand there are non-idiomatic compounds with a perfectly clear motivation. Here we add the meanings of constituents to create the meaning of a whole.

E.g. seaman – when was first used there was no doubt (a profession connected with sea).

As English compounds consist of free forms, it is difficult to distinguish them from phrases.

E.g. phrase “the top dog” – a person occupying the foremost place;

a compound “underdog” – a person who has the worst of an encounter.

Thus separating compounds from phrases and also from derivatives is no easy task, and scholars are not agreed upon the question of relevant criteria.

E.Nida writes, that “the criteria for determining the word units in a language are of three types: 1) phonological; 2) morphological; 3) syntactic. No one type of criteria is normally sufficient for establishing the word unit. Rather the combination of two or three types is essential”.

He doesn’t mention the graphic criterion (namely spelling). It is a mistake, in ME the written form is as important as the oral.

We can see in the dictionaries of different authors and even of the same author that some words are spelled differently: headmaster – head-master, airline – air line – air line.

The lack of infirmity in spelling is the chief reason why many authors consider this criterion insufficient. Some combine it with the phonic criterion or stress.

There is a marked tendency in English to give compounds a heavy stress on the first element. Some scholars consider this unity of stress to be of primary importance.

Thus, Bloomfield writes: ”Wherever we hear lesser or least stress upon a word which would always show a high stress in a phrase, we describe it as a compound member: `ice-cream is a compound but `ice `cream is a phrase although there is no denotative difference in meaning.

E.g. `blackboard, `black `board; `blackbird, `black `bird etc.

This rule doesn’t hold good with adjectives. Compound adjectives are double stressed: `gray-`green, `easy-`going, `new-`born.

Adjectives expressing emphatic comparison are heavily stressed on the first element: `snow-white, `dog-cheap.

Moreover, stress can be no help in solving the problem of compounds because word stress may depend on phrasal stress or upon syntactic function of the compound.

E.g. light-headed has a single stress when it’s used attributively, in other cases the stress is even.

Besides, the stress may be phonological and help to differentiate the meaning of compounds:

`overwork – “extra work”

`over `work – “hard work injuring ones health”

`bookcase – “a piece of furniture”

`book `case – “ a paper cover for books”

As for morphological criteria they are manifold.

Smirnitsky compares the compound shipwreck and the phrase (the) wreck of (a) ship. They comprise the same morphemes. Although they don’t differ in meaning, they stand in different relation to the grammatical system of the language. From this example it follows that a word is characterized by structural integrity non-existent in a phrase.

We should remember E.Nida that no one type of criteria is normally sufficient for establishing whether the unit is a compound or a phrase. We have to depend on the combination of different types of criteria. But even then the ground is not very safe and we meet here a “stone-wall problem” that has received so much attention in linguistic literature.

II

The problem of distinguishing a compound from a derivative is actually equivalent to distinguishing a stem from an affix.

In most cases the task is simple enough. The immediate constituents of a compound are free forms and a combination containing bound forms as its immediate constituents, is a derivative.

But there are cases which present difficulties.

Thus such nouns as man, berry, land are very often used as the second element in a word. They seem to have acquired valency similar to that of affixes. As you remember they are called semi-affixes. Such elements as –like, -proof, and –worthy can be referred to as semi-affixes as well.

III

Classification of compounds

The great variety of compound types brings about a great variety of classifications. Compound words can be classified according to the type of a composition and the linking element; according to the number of stems; according to the number of constituent parts; according to the part of speech to which the compound belongs; according to the structural pattern within a part of speech.

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

1) The predominant type without any linking element: heartache, heart-brake.

2) Composition with a vowel or a consonant as a linking element: speedometer, statesman.

3) Compounds with linking elements presented by preposition or conjunction stems: matter-of-fact; up-to-date; son-in-law; forget-me-not; what’s-her-name (n).

4) Compound-derivatives or derivational compounds: kind-hearted; old-timer; teenager.

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

1.Compounds consisting of simple stems: film-star

2.Compounds where one of the constituents is a derived stem: chaine-smoker.

3.Compounds where at least one of members is a clipped stem: maths-mistress; H-bag (handbag) or X mas (Christmas).

4.Compounds in which at least one of the constituents is a compound stem: wastwpaper-basket.