Lecture 5. Compound words (2 hrs)

Objective. To inform the students of the modern approaches to the definition of compound words, their classification; to raise the students’ awareness of the specific features of the English compounds; to develop cognitive skills of analyzing & summarizing the information, distinguishing between major & minor aspects, categorizing & estimating relevant facts.

Glossary: structural cohesion, integrity, semantic unity of compound words, determinant, determinatum, semantic motivation, non-idiomatic (transparent) compound words, idiomatic compound words, stone wall problem, pseudo compounds

Plan

1. Approaches to definition of compound words

2. Criteria of compounds

3. Specific features of the English compounds

4. Classification of compounds

5. Pseudo compounds

5.1. Definition of compound words

CW consist of at least 2 stems which occur in the language as free forms. In CW the ICs obtain integrity & structural cohesion that make them function in a sentence as a separate lexical unit: I’d rather read a time-table than nothing at all.

The structural cohesion of CW may depend upon unity of stress, solid / hyphenated spelling, semantic unity, unity of morphological & syntactic functioning, / upon the combined effect of phonetic, graphic, semantic, morphological / syntactic factors.

The integrity of CW ← its indivisibility (impossibility of inserting a W / W-group between its elements). We can insert a W between the article & the N in a sunbeam (a bright sunbeam), because the article is a separate W. No such insertion is possible between the stems sun & beam, for they are morphemes here.

The structure of CW – 3 types of relations: 1) of the members to each other; 2) of the whole to its members; 3) correlation with equivalent free phrases.

1) Some CWs are made up of a determining & a determined part (determinant & determinatum). Sunbeam: the 2^nd stem is the determinatum. The determinant sun differentiates it from other beams. The determinatum is the grammatically most important part which undergoes inflection: sunbeams, passers-by.

2) Non-idiomatic (transparent) CWs have a clear motivation: the meanings of the constituents add up in creating the meaning of the whole & name the referent directly / figuratively (seaman ‘a man professionally connected with the sea’). The same kind of motivation → airman, aircraft, airship. Spaceman, spacecraft, spaceship, built on the same model, are readily understood when heard for the 1^st time. The logical integrity of the new combinations is supported by solid spelling & the unity of stress. The meaning is related to the meaning of the parts & can be inferred from it. The non-idiomatic CWs are easily transformed into free phrases: air mail → mail conveyed by air, night flight → flying at night.

CWs, very different in meaning from the corresponding free phrase (a blackboard - a black board), are called idiomatic. CW may become idiomatic because 1 of its elements is not used in the language in the same meaning. Blackmail has nothing to do with mail ‘post’. In the 16^th century mail meant ‘payment’ / ‘tax’.

Semantic relationships between the ICs of CWs: copulative, existential, spatial & other types. Phrases correlated with CWs by means of transformational analysis show objective, subject / predicative, attributive & adverbial relations: house-keeping :: to keep house, well-being :: to be well. In the majority of cases CWs manifest some restrictive relationship between the ICs.

The types of restrictions show great variety. Purpose / functional relations: bathrobe, raincoat, classroom, notice-board, suitcase, identity-card, textbook. Local relations: dockland, garden-party, sea-front. Comparison: blockhead, butter-fingers, floodlight, goldfish. The material / elements the thing is made of: silverware, tin-hat, waxwork, clay-pipe, gold-foil. Temporal relations: night-club, night-duty, summer-house, day-train, season-ticket. Sex-denoting CWs: she-dog, he-goat, jack-ass, Jenny-ass, tom-cat, pea-hen. The agent (cock-crowing), the instrument (pin-prick). There are also tautological compounds: pathway, roadway & the French translation loan courtyard.

3) Comparing CWs with phrases containing the same morphemes

Ashtray hairbrush paperknife

a tray for ashes a brush for hair a knife for paper

CWs that conform to grammatical patterns current in ME are syntactic (seashore). If they do not, they are asyntactic (baby-sitting). In the 1^st type the functional meaning &distribution coincide with those of the elements of a free phrase, no matter how different their lexical meaning is. Substituting a CW for a free phrase: A slow coach moves slowly. A slow-coach moves slowly. In these CWs the 2 constituents are the determinant & the determinatum. Such CWs are endocentric.

CWs where the determinatum is not expressed but implied: a killjoy ‘a person who throws gloom over social enjoyment’ is neither ‘joy’ nor ‘kill’. In the free phrase ‘kill’ is V in the Imperative Mood, ‘joy’ is N on which the action of the V is directed. The essential part of the determinatum is implied & understood but not expressed. H. Marchand: these CWs have a zero determinatum stem, they are exocentric (cut-throat, dare-devil, scarecrow), their determinatum is outside.