Main types of word-formation: compounding and conversion Lecture

Main types of word-formation: compounding and conversion Lecture 8.

§ 1. Compounding is joining together two or more stems to form one compound word. Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms. The structural cohesion (unity) of a compound may depend upon: unity of stress, solid or hyphenated spelling, semantic unity, unity of morphological and syntactic functioning

Compounds are made up of a determining and a determined part. sunbeam determining part the basic part determined part (head element) serves to differentiate it from other beams undergoes inflection brothers-in-law, passers-by

1.1. Criteria of compounds Phonological criterion Usually there is a heavy stress on the first element in nouns (the only exception - nouns with all- and self-): 'self-con'trol Compound adjectives are double stressed: 'gray-'green, 'easy-'going, 'new-'born NB! Stress may have a distinctive function: ‘overwork 'extra work‘ vs. 'over'work 'hard work injuring one's health' 'bookcase 'a piece of furniture with shelves for books‘ vs. 'book'case 'a paper cover for books' ,man'kind 'the human race‘ vs. 'mankind 'men' (contrasted with women)

Graphic criterion No consistency in the language airline, air-line, air line; matchbox, match­box, match box; break-up, breakup; loudspeaker, loud-speaker Morphological criterion formal integrity – having a structure non-existent in a phrase shipwreck - (the) wreck of (a) ship connective elements are a sign of a compound rather than a phrase Anglo-Saxon, craftsman, beeswax, salesman, (they are few) difference in paradigm: still-lifes (not still lives)

Semantic criterion a combination forming a unit expressing a single idea which is not identical in meaning to the sum of the meanings of its components in a free phrase dirty work with the figurative meaning 'dishonorable proceedings‘ (they are few in English) (to rain) cats and dogs?, to pay through the nose? Syntactic criterion Starlit does not follow the syntactic patterns of English as particles can’t be modified by nouns a stone wall can be transformed into the phrase a wall of stone, but a toothpick cannot be replaced by a pick for teeth NB! none is reliable, only a combination

“The stone wall problem" rose garden life story book review crime report office management steel production language teacher stone wall Phrases and not words? The first element a noun used as an attribute or an adjective? English nouns are regularly used to form nominal phrases that are semantically derivable from their components but in most cases develop some unity of referential meaning

1.2. Peculiarities of English compounds Both immediate constituents of an English compound are free forms The regular pattern for the English language is a two-stem compound If more, the determining element is a compound rather than the determined part aircraft-carrier Words waste-paper-basket baby outfit village schoolmaster Phrases night watch­man Phrases easily turn into compounds four-year course last-minute changes the let-sleeping-dogs-lie approach He wasn't working-class enough The-man-I-saw-yesterday's daughter

1.3. Compounds are usually characterized by: 1) the relation of the whole to its members (idiomatic & non-idiomatic), 2) the relations of the members to each other (subordinative & coordinative), and 3) correlation with equivalent free phrases (syntactic & asyntactic; endocentric &exосentric)

1) Parts-to-the-whole relations: non-idiomatic, if the meaning of the whole is the sum total of the meanings of the components. They can be easily transformed into free phrases: flower-bed, homeland; night flight—'flying at night' idiomatic compounds are different in meaning from the corresponding free phrases (have petrified meaning): a night-cap - «a drink taken before going to bed at night», butterfingers - «a person who is likely to let things fall or slip through his fingers». blackboard wheel-chair (for invalids) and push-chair (for infants)

2) According to degree of semantic independence of components (element-to-element relations): subordinate compounds (one of the components is the semantic and structural centre and the second component is subordinate) Types of subordinative relations: comparative (world-wide, snow-white); instrumental or agentive relations (sunrise, dogbite); relations of purpose (bookshelf); emphatic relations (dead-cheap); functional relations (bathrobe, textbook); sex relations (he-goat); various relations of adverbial type (colour-blind), etc.

coordinative compounds (both components are semantically independent): reduplicative compounds made up by the repetition of the same base: goody-goody, go-go; compounds formed with the help of rhythmic stems: a walkie-talkie, boogie-woogie, chit-chat; additive compounds are built on stems of the independently functioning words of the same part of speech Afro-American, a secretary-stenographer;

3) Compound-to-free phrase relations 3.1.According to the order of lCs : syntactic - formed by merely placing components in direct order that resembles the order of words in free phrases: blacklist, handcuffs, a turnkey; asyntactic are compounds with indirect order (the order of bases runs counter to the order in which the motivating words can be brought together): oil-rich, rain-driven;

3.2. According to the clarity of functional roles of the elements: endocentric compounds Ashtray= a tray for ashes Hairbrush= a brush for hair Paperknife= a knife for paper exосentric compounds (the determined part is not expressed but implied) A killjoy - 'a person who throws gloom over social enjoyment‘; it is neither 'joy' nor 'kill’ cut-throat, dare-devil, scarecrow

According to the means of composition used to link the two ICs together: neutral-formed by joining together two stems without connecting elements: scarecrow, goldfish, crybaby; morphological - components are joined by a linking element, i.e. vowels “o” and “I” or the consonant “s”: videophone, tragicomic, handicraft, craftsman, microchip; syntactical - the components are joined by means of form-word stems: man-of-war, forget-me-not, bread-and-butter, face-to-face;

According to their structure: compounds proper are formed by joining together two stems: film-star, earthquake; compound-derived words (stem + affixes): long-legged, broad-minded, globe-trotter, a two-seater; compound-shortened words: h-bag, A-bomb; compounds where at least one of the constituents is a compound stem: wastepaper-basket;

Types of compound words According to the parts of speech compound words represent: nouns: night-gown, waterfall, looking-glass; verbs: to honeymoon, to outgrow; adjectives: peace-loving, hard-working, pennywise; adverbs: downstairs, ankle-deep; prepositions: within; numerals: thirty-seven;

§ 2. Conversion He was knocked out in the first round (noun). Round (verb) the number off to the nearest tenth. The neighbors gathered round (preposition) our barbecue. The moon was bright and round (adjective). People came from all the country round (adverb). Conversion is the type of word-formation which results in phonetic identity of initial word-forms of two words belonging to different parts of speech

Causes and characteristics 1) The English words lack formal signs marking the part of speech to which the word belongs. 2) Many affixes are homonymous and the general sound pattern does not contain any information as to the possible part of speech (maiden, whiten, wooden, often) Conversion is regular with monosyllabic words of a simple morphological structure It is a predominant method of English verb-formation

Terms used and their implications Conversion (but the original word continues its existence alongside the new one) Zero derivation (but it does not permit us to distinguish this type from sound interchange) Root formation (but the process can involve not only root words, but also words containing affixes and compounds) Transposition or functional change (but it implies that the process in question concerns usage, not word-formation)

Opinions on the means of word-formation of conversion I. Smimitsky: formation of a new word through changes in its paradigm H. Marchand, V. N. Yartseva: a combined morphological and syntactic way of word-building (change of paradigm and syntactic function) Derivation by adding a zero-morpheme I goø; we goø – functional zero-morphemes To look → look +ø(derivational) = a look

Semantic groups of converted words The items mainly produced in this way are verbs and nouns. 1. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs) may denote: a) instrumental use of the object: screw → to screw, eye → to eye; to hammer, to knife, to machine-gun, to pivot, to pump b) action characteristic of the object: ape → to ape; с) acquisition: fish → to fish; d) deprivation of the object dust → to dust.

2. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives) denote: a) an instance of an action: to move → a move; b) an agent of an action: to bore → a bore; bore, cheat, flirt, scold (mostly derogatory) c) a place of an action: to walk → a walk; d) result of the action: to cut → a cut burn, catch

Practical task # 7 Define the type of the compound, using the following oppositions idiomatic vs. non-idiomatic subordinative vs. coordinative syntactic vs. asyntactic endocentric vs. exосentric a) a wall-flower (a shy person who remains unnoticed at social events, especially a woman without a dance partner) b) a waterfall

2. State the type of semantic relation in the case of conversion used to coin a word in the phrase from a label on a bottle of wine “bottled in France” 3. What is “garden stone wall” a compound or a phrase?

4. Give a TRUE or FALSE answer “To milk” was derived from the noun “milk” and not vice versa. Conversion mostly affects polysyllabic words. “Blackboard” is a good example of an idiomatic compound. Conversion is more common in English than in Russian, because in the former there are no morphological part-of-speech markers. Compounds are mostly double-stressed.