Ways of forming compound words.

Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of composition but also by means of :

a) reduplication, e.g. too-too, and also by means of reduplication combined with sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,

b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to micky-mouse, can-do, makeup etc,

c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to bloodtransfuse, to fingerprint, etc ,

d) analogy, e.g. lie-in ( on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone-in, brawn-drain (drain of muscles)(on the analogy with brain-drain) etc.

Classifications of english compounds

1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:

a) nouns: baby-moon, globe-trotter,

bahuvrihi compound nouns: adjective stem + noun stem (metonymical relations):high-brow, lazy-bones.

b) adjectives: free-for-all, power-happy, dog-tired, life-long, peace-loving, good-looking, man-made, home-made, well-red.

c) verbs: to honey-moon, to baby-sit, to henpeck, hi-jack, etc. (pseudo-compounds( H. Marchand)

d) adverbs: downdeep, headfirst,

e) prepositions: into, within,

f) numerals: fifty-five.

2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are divided into:

a) neutral, formed by joining together two stems without any joining morpheme, e.g. ball-point, to window-shop,

b) morphological with components joined by a linking element : vowels «o» or «i» or the consonant «s», e.g. «astrospace», «handicraft», «sportsman»

c) Syntactical with the components joined by means of form-word stems, e.g. here-and-now, free-for-all, do-or-die .

3. According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:

a) compound words proper which consist of two stems, e.g. to job-hunt, train-sick, go-go, tip-top ,

b) derivational compounds: stems + affixes, e.g. ear-minded, hydro-skimmer, teenager, narrow-minded, schoolboyishness, Romeo-and-Julietishness (phrasal derivation).

c) compound words consisting of three or more stems, e.g. cornflower-blue, eggshell-thin, singer-songwriter,

d) compound-shortened words (contracted compounds),

e.g. tourmobile, V-day, motocross, intervision, Eurodollar, Camford.

4. According to the relations between the components compound words are subdivided into:

a) Subordinate compounds with one of the components being the semantic and the structural centre and the second component is subordinate; these subordinate relations can be different:

comparative relations, e.g. honey-sweet, eggshell-thin,

Limiting relations, e.g. breast-high, knee-deep,

Emphatic relations, e.g. dog-cheap;

objective relations, e.g. gold-rich;

cause relations, e.g. love-sick,

space relations, e.g. top-heavy;

time relations, e.g. spring-fresh;

subjective relations, e.g. foot-sore, etc.

b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent. Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has two functions, e.g. secretary-stenographer, woman-doctor, Oxbridge, etc.

Such compounds are called additive. This group includes also compounds formed by means of reduplication, e.g. fifty-fifty, pretty-pretty (ironical), never-never, no-no, blah-blah and also compounds formed with the help of rhythmic stems (reduplication combined with sound interchange, ablaut combinations) e.g. criss-cross(rhythmical), chit-chat (idle talk), sing-song(monotonous voice), walkie-talkie.

5. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into compounds with direct order, e.g. kill-joy, and compounds with indirect order, e.g. nuclear-free, rope-ripe .

TYPES OF COMPOUNDS

'grandfather

P honetically< 'arm'chair

STRESS PATTERN washing 'machine

boormaking

G raphically< he-dog

sing (-) song

Structurally The 2d IC makes the head-member structural and semantic centre

But! a turncoat

a head – hunter

a red tape

Semantically completely (doorbell)

• M otivation< partially (flower bed)

non-motivated (gate-crasher)

• part of speech:

• Endocentric compounds (determinant and derterminatum are explicit): brothers-in-law, a slow-coach

• Exocentric compounds (zero determinatum): highbrow, killjoy, cut-throat, scarecrow.

• L exical polysemantic

meaning monosemantic