Dissertations:

5. Коваленко Г. М. Англійська лексика моди ХХ-ХХІ століть: Дис... канд. філол. наук: 10.02.04 / Г.М. Коваленко. — К., 2005. — 244 с.

6. Левицкий А.Э. Функциональные изменения в системе номинативных единиц современного английского языка: Дис... д-ра филол. наук: 10.02.04 / А.Э. Левицкий. — К., 1999. — 396 л.

7. Омельченко Л.Ф. Английская композита: структура и семантика: Дис... доктора филологических наук: 10.02.04. – К., 1989. – 477 с.

8. Руда О. В. Префіксальні конверсивні пари в англійській мові: семантика, парадигматика, термінотвірність: Автореф. дис... канд. філол. наук: 10.02.04 / О. В. Руда. — Львів, 2007. — 20 с.

9. Полюжин М. М. Диахронно- семантический аспект префиксального словообразования в английском языке: Дис... д-ра филол. наук: 10.02.04 / Полюжин Михаил Михайлович. — М.; Ужгород, 1993. — 416 c.

3.3 COMPOUNDING

Definition of compounds / Endocentric vs exocentric compounds / Bahuvrihe /Compounds spelling / Stress patterns / Chief grammatical relations between compound components / Compound nouns / Compound nouns of verbal origin / Compound adjectives / Compound verbs / Compound prepositions / Multicomponent compounds /

A compound is a word (lexeme) that consists of more than one free morpheme (more than one lexical stem). Compounding is considered to be the most productive word-building model in contemporary English (Зацний, 1998).

On the surface, there appear to be two (or more) lexemes present, but in fact the parts are functioning as a single item, which has its own meaning and grammar. So, “flower-­pot does not refer to a flower and a pot, but to a single object. It is pronounced as a unit, with a single main stress, and it is used grammatically as a unit – its plural, for example, is flower­-pots, and not *flowers-­pots.

The unity of flower-pot is also signalled by the orthography, but this is not a foolproof criterion. If the two parts are linked by a hyphen, as here, or are printed without a space ('solid'), as in flowerpot, then there is no difficulty. But the form flower pot will also be found, and in such cases, to be sure we have a compound (and not just a sequence of two independent words), we need to look carefully at the meaning of the sequence and the way it is grammatically used. This question turns up especially in American English, which uses fewer hyphens than does British English” (Crystal, 1995, p.129). Unlike a word-combination, a real compound acts as a grammatical unit, has a unified stress pattern, and has a meaning which is in some way different from the sum of its parts.

According to the correlation between meaning and structure, compounds can be described either like endocentric or like exocentric. An endocentric compound consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and a modifier, which restricts this meaning. For example, the English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Obviously, an endocentric compound tends to be of the same part of speech (word class) as its head.

The English language is typically a left-branching language, which means that the modifying components of the compound usually go before the head component.

Exocentric compounds do not always have a head, and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from their constituent parts. For example, the English compound white-collar (meaning office-worker) is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents. For example, a must-have is not a verb but a noun.

The type of exocentric compounds where the head component of the word denotes a certain object, possessed by the object denoted by the whole compound, of a quality denoted by the modifying component, is called bahuvrihe. In other words, the meaning of this type of compound can be glossed as ‘(one) whose B is A’, where B is the second element of the compound and A the first.

Thus, a redhead is the person whose hair (head) is red. Similarly, a blockhead is also not a head, but a person with a head that is as hard and unreceptive as a block (i.e. stupid). And someone who is barefoot is not a foot – they're someone with a foot that is bare. And, outside of veterinary surgery, a lion-heart is not a type of heart, but a person with a heart like a lion (in its bravery, courage, fearlessness, etc.).

Compounds Spelling

• The solid or closed form in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short (monosyllabic) units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are housewife, lawsuit, wallpaper, etc.

• The hyphenated form in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. Compounds that contain affixes, such as house-build(er) and single-mind(ed)(ness), as well as adjective-adjective compounds and verb-verb compounds, such as blue-green and freeze-dry, are often hyphenated. Compounds that contain particles, such as mother-of-pearl and salt-and-pepper, are also often hyphenated.

• The open or spaced form consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as distance learning, player piano, lawn tennis, etc.

Usage in the US and in the UK differs (with the US English preferring open forms and UK English preferring hyphenated forms) and often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a hard-and-fast rule; therefore, open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound noun, such as the triplets container ship, container-ship and containership; as well as particle board, particle-board and the odd-looking particleboard.

Stress Patterns, such as stresses placed on particular syllables, may indicate whether the word group is a compound or whether it is an ‘Adjective + Noun’ phrase. A compound usually has a falling intonation: bláckboard, the Whíte House, as opposed to the phrases bláck bóárd. Note that this rule does not apply in all contexts. For example, the stress pattern whíte house would be expected for the compound, which happens to be a proper name, but it is also found in the emphatic negation "No, not the black house; the white house!"

Compounds are most readily classified into types based on the grammatical relations between their components. Earthquake, for example, can be paraphrased as 'the earth quakes’, and the relation of earth to quake is that of subject to verbal predicate. Popcorn can be paraphrased as 'the corn pops', and the relation of corn to pops is also that of subject to verbal predicate. The order of the elements (as in this example) does not necessarily correspond to that found in a grammatical sentence. Similarly, a crybaby is also subject + verbal predicate ('the baby cries'), despite its back ­to­ front appearance. Scarecrow is verb + object ('scares crows'). Some involve slightly trickier grammatical relations such as playgoer, windmill, goldfish, and homesick.

Compound Nouns

The majority of endocentric English compounds have a noun in base with modifying adjectives or nouns. The ‘Noun + Noun’ is the most productive word-building structure in contemporary English (e.g. flight-attendant). Compound nouns frequently have adjectives as modifying components (e.g. big-board).

In general, the meaning of a compound noun is a specialization of the meaning of its head. The modifier limits the meaning of the head. This is most obvious in descriptive compounds, in which the modifier is used in an attributive or appositional manner. A nightclub is a kind of club which (generally) functions at night.

In determinative compounds, however, the relationship is not attributive. For example, a footstool is not a particular type of stool that is like a foot. Rather, it is a stool for one's foot or feet (it can be used for sitting on, but that is not its primary purpose). In a similar manner, the office manager is the manager of an office; an armchair is a chair with arms, and a raincoat is a coat against the rain.

Compound Nouns of Verbal origin

A type of a fairly common compound is formed of a verb and its object, and in effect transforms a simple verbal clause into a noun (spoilsport, killjoy, spendthrift, cutthroat, know-nothing).

A special kind of composition is incorporation, of which noun incorporation into a verbal root is most prevalent (backstabbing, breastfeed). The noun incorporated into a verb is usually an instrument of an action. Object incorporation is also quite common: secret-keeper, pamphlet-maker. Another model of incorporation is Preposition + Verb: an outcry, a bypass, a downshift.

Compound Adjectives

A compound adjective is a modifier of a noun. It consists of two or more morphemes of which the left-hand component limits or changes the modification of the right-hand one, as in the dark-green dress, dark limits the green that modifies dress.