WORD FORMATION Compounding composition Criteria of compounds

WORD FORMATION • Compounding/composition – Criteria of compounds. – Classification of compounds. • Secondary ways of word formation.

Recommended literature: • Антрушина, Г. Б. , Афанасьева, О. В. , Морозова, Н. Н. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие для студентов. – 3 -е изд. , стереотип. – M. : Дрофа, 2001. - С. 104 -120. • Arnold I. V. The English word. – M. : Высш. школа, 1986. – С. 108 -133, 134 -152. • Харитончик З. А. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие. –Мн. : Выш. шк. , 1992. – С. 177 - 187, 188 -191. • Дубенец Э. М. Лексикология современного английского языка: лекции и семинары. Пособие для студентов гуманитарных вузов. – М. : «Глосса. Пресс» , 2002. – С. 37 -45, 58 -70.

Compounding/Composition is the way of word building when a word is formed by joining two or more stems to form one word. • I. V. Arnold: Compounds are words consisting of at least 2 stems, which are characterized by semantic integrity and structural cohesion.

• R. S. Ginsburg distinguishes between 2 levels of analysis: derivational and morphemic. • E. g. to nickname, to baby-sit, to honeymoon • On the morphemic level these are compound words, • On the derivational level these are words created by either conversion (to nickname, to honeymoon) or by back formation (to babysit) => they are derivatives.

Compound words are characterized • by semantic integrity and structural cohesion. • Structurally compounds are characterized by the specific order of arrangement in which stems follow one another.

The lexical meaning of a compound • may be a sum of meanings of its constituents, i. e. they may be motivated, e. g. tablecloth, shoemaker, bookshelf; • the lexical meanings of the constituents may be fused together to create a new additive meaning, i. e. partially motivated, e. g. handbag – a bag to be carried in the hand -> additive meaning: a women’s bag to keep money and other stuff; flowerbed), • the meaning of a compound has nothing to do with the meanings of its constituents, i. e. nonmotivated or idiomatic, e. g. a sweet tooth, a chatter box.

Main features of compounds • The unity of stress; • Solid or hyphenated spelling; • Semantic unity; • Unity of morphological and syntactic functioning.

Criteria of compounds • Eugene Nider: Criteria for determining the word units in a language are of 3 types: phonological, morphological, and syntactic. • Charles Bally suggested the graphic criterion, • Otto Jesperson – the semantic criterion.

The phonological criterion • compound words are, as a rule, characterised by 1 main primary stress (and a secondary stress) in compound, while in free word combinations both components are stressed: • /blackboard - /black /board; • /laughing gas - /laughing /boys.

The morphological criterion • the structural integrity of compounds enables compounds to function as an inseparable unit and has 1 paradigm.

The syntactic criterion • The components of compounds can t have modifiers. E. g. compare: sky – blue (adj. ), but: blue sky -> very blue sky. • The semantic criterion • A combination of words refers to the number of concepts/notions = the number of words, a compound refers to 1 concept : Its colour; kind of colour.

The graphic criterion • everything written in one word or hyphenated is considered a compound and the words written separately are elements of a combination e. g. a tall boy – a tallboy

Classifications of compounds • Compounds may be classified in accordance with different principles: • -part of speech reference: Noun honeymoon, Verb to babysit, Adjective power-happy; • -the way components are joined: • neutral compounds (without a linking element) to window-shop; • morphological compounds (with a linking element) handicraft; • syntactical compounds free-for-all, do-or-die, here-and-now;

- the syntactic relations between the stems (coordination or subordination) • compounds fall into coordinative and subordinative. • In coordinative compounds the constituents are semantically and structurally equal. The coordinative compounds may be subdivided into • 1. additive actor – manager, secretary –stenographer • 2. reduplicative tic-tic, hash-hash • 3. words with varied rhythmic form of the same stem: willy- nilly, tic-toc, drip – drop.

• In subordinative compounds the components are neither semantically nor structurally equal. • Their relation is based on the domination of 1 component over the other. The 2 nd component is usually a structural and semantic center of a compound, e. g. ship – wreck, inn – keeper, tooth – brush

-the order of components: syntactic compounds in which the components are put in the same order as in a free word group (direct word order): sun -rise <= the sun rises, blackbird <= a black bird, long-tailed <= long tail, killjoy<= to kill joy; • asyntactic compounds in which the order of the components is not the same as in a free word-group (indirect word order): sky-blue <= blue sky, lamp-lit <= to lit a lamp, well-dressed <= to dress well, mud-stained <= stained with mud. •

-structure: • compounds proper (2 root stems): to job-hunt; • compound-affixed words: videoplayer; • compounds of 3 or more stems: cornflower-blue, singer-songwriter; • compound-shortened words: V-day, motocross, AIDSphobia, motel;

Semi-affixes • The words with such elements as -man, -land, -like, –proof, -worthy stand between compounds and derived words because the mentioned elements • 1) have all the features of a stem and preserve the semantic associations with the free form and • 2) their meaning has become so generalized that it is close to the meaning of an affix: • • • Sportsman, policeman, seaman, countryman (man = -er, -or); Ireland, Scotland, motherland, wonderland; Businesslike, ladylike, starlike; kissproof, fireproof, foolproof, bulletproof; Trustworthy, praiseworthy, seaworthy.

Secondary ways of word formation • Shortening/clipping can be of different types: • initial clipping – the initial part of a word is clipped: phone <= telephone, bus<= omnibus • final clipping - the final part of a word is clipped: vac <= vacations, cab<= cabriolet, lab <= laboratory; • initial and final clipping – frige <= refrigerator; • Acronyms are words made of initial letters of a word group: UNO, BBC, MP, PM, NATO, USA, EU, etc.

Blending • is a way to combine elements of two words to create one, so it includes 2 word building processes: clipping and composition: smog<= smoke + fog, brunch<= breakfast + lunch, Oxbridge<= Oxford + Cambridge; edutainment <= education + entertainment, slanguage <= slang +language, • medicare <= medical care; • •

Back-formation/reversion • is such a way of word building when a new word is produces not by adding an affix to a stem but by subtracting an affix. • It is normally used to create a verb from a noun: • beggar => to beg, • burglar => to burgle, • baby-sitter => to baby-sit, • television =>to televise.

Stress and sound interchange: • import- to import, export – to export, conduct –to conduct; • sing-song, bleed-blood, feed – food. • Lexicalization • is a process of turning a word form into a separate lexical unit: Customs, arms, irons, glasses.

Sound imitation/onomatopoeia • is a way of coining a word by imitating different sounds produced in nature by animals: bark, croak, miaow; people: giggle, gargle, groan; things: crack, etc; • Reduplication – • doubling a stem, either without phonetic changes: bye-bye, or with variation of a root sound: ping-pong, riff-raff (the disreputable elements of society), dilly -dally (wasting time)

• -structure: compounds proper (2 root stems): to job-hunt; • compound-affixed words: videoplayer; • compounds of 3 or more stems: cornflowerblue, singer-songwriter; • compound-shortened words: V-day, motocross, AIDSphobia, motel;