4.2 Compounding
Definition: compounding (or composition)
is the formation of new words by joining
two or more bases.
A compound is a ‘lexical unit
consisting of more than one
base and functioning both
grammatically and semantically
as a single word’.
e.g.: bedroom reading-room dining room
solid
hyphenated
open
4.2.1 characteristics of compounds
1). Phonological features
The compounds and phrases are different in
stress pattern.
Compound
Free phrase
a ‘bluebird
a blue ‘bird
a ‘blackboard
a black ‘board
a ‘darkroom
a dark ‘room
Sometimes two compounds have
similar construction, but one may
have a compound accent, and the
other may have a phrase accent.
‘grass hopper
but
grass ‘roots
‘red brick
but
red ‘tape
‘back-formation but
back ‘yard
Besides, compounds
of the participial
adjective-noun kind
have phrase accent.
e.g.: split in’finitive
It is also common for
.
both components
of a compound to have
level stress.
e.g.: ‘short-’sighted
‘shrink-’wrap
2).Semantic Features
Semantically, compounds can be said to
have a meaning which may be related to
but cannot always be inferred from the
meaning of its component parts.
Sometimes, the lexical meaning of the
components are closely joined together
to create a compound with a meaning
which one can easily recognize.
e.g.: backdoor sunset
workday
However, one can not always tell
what the compound means by the
words it contains.
e.g.: dog days means the hottest days of the year —
in July and August
blue blood means the quality of being a
nobleman by birth
blue ribbon means an honor given to the winner of
the first prize in a competition
3). Grammatical Features
The one-wordness of compounds
decides that they tend to fill a single
grammatical slot in a sentence. They
can only make changes at the end of
the words rather than in the middle.
e.g.: loud-speaker(扩音器) has no forms
like *louderspeaker or *loudestspeaker .
He is the loudest speaker.
In this sentence, the loudest speaker is
only a free phrase but not a compound.
There are also exceptions,
although not very much.
e.g.: attorneys general(检察总长）
chiefs of staff(参谋长）
women doctors
4). Orthographical Features
As mentioned earlier, spelling conventions are
not often dependable because some compounds
can be written in all the three forms.
e.g.: airline air-line air line
The general tendency nowadays is
for compounds to be written ‘solid’
as they have gained permanent
status; otherwise they are written
open.
4.2.2 classification of compounds
Compounds are here
classified according to parts
of speech of the compounds,
i.e. as noun compounds,
adjective compounds and
verb compounds, which are
then subdivided by the
syntactic relation of the
compounding elements
(this relation is indicated by
syntactic paraphrase).
1. Noun compounds: This is the commonest
type, and new specimens are constantly being
formed. Noun compounds are subclassified
according to the syntactic relation of the
compounding elements:
(a) Subject and verb: The
verb may take the form of the
base or that of the base plus
–ing.
e.g.: crybaby— the baby cries
sunrise —the sun rises
revolving door—the door revolves
(b) Verb and object: The verb may take the form
of the base or that of the base+-ing.
e.g.: haircut—to cut the hair
pickpocket—to pick other’s pocket
scarecrow—to scare the crow
housekeeping—to keep house
dressmaking—to make dresses
(c) Verb and adverbial: Verbal noun
in –ing +adverbial (consisting of a
prepositional phrase)
e.g. : swimming pool—to swim in the pool
diving board— to dive from a board
drinking cup—to drink out of a cup
typing paper—to type on paper
(d) Subject and object
e.g. : sugar cane —the cane yields sugar
steamboat—steam power the boat
honeybee—the bee produces honey
television screen—the television has
the screen
(f) Appositive relation (subject
complement): the first element is
in apposition to the second one
e.g. : a peasant girl—the girl is a peasant
a pine tree— the tree is a pine
safety-belt—the belt is for safety
girlfriend—the friend is a girl
e) Restrictive relation: the first element restricts
the meaning of the second
e.g.: raindrop—a drop of rain
moonwalk—a walk on the moon
evening school—a school in the evening
tablecloth—a cloth for the table
breakfast time — time for breakfast
★ When the first element of a noun compound is
itself a compound, such a compound is called a
string compound.
e.g. test-tube baby --- one conceived by artificial
insemination, or developed elsewhere than in a
mother’s body.
★ Compound nouns can also be formed from phrasal
verbs. This type is very common in contemporary
English.
e.g.: sit-in
dropout
phone-in
breakdown setback take-off
2. Adjective compounds: Adjective compounds
are also subclassified according to the syntactic
relation of the compounding elements
(a) Subject and verb: The verb is in the form of
past participle.
e.g.: thunder-struck (大吃一惊的)
weather-beaten (饱经风霜的)
suntanned
(晒黑的)
(b) Verb and object: the verb is in the form of
present participle
e.g.: fault-finding ---to find fault
peaceloving ---to love peace
record-breaking---to break records
(c) Verb and adverbial: The verb is in the
form of present participle or past participle
e.g.: hardworking---to work hard
well-behaved---to behave well
everlasting---to last forever
(d) verb and predicative
e.g.: sweet-smelling---to smell sweet
good-looking---to look good
(e) coordinating relationship: The two adjectives
are in a coordinating relationship
e.g.: bittersweet ---sweet but bitter
Anglo-French---relation between
Great Britain and France
(f) noun and adjective
(1) The noun denoting respect. It is very
productive type with certain adjectives that
complemented by preposition+noun
e.g.: taxfree ---free from tax
seasick ---sick due to sailing on the sea
fireproof ---proof against fire
watertight---tight against water
(2) The noun denoting the thing with which the
adjective is compared (as+ adjective+ as+ noun,
adjective like noun)
e.g. :ocean green ---as green as ocean
crystal-clear ---as clear as a crystal
shoulder-high ---as high as shoulders
knee-deep----so deep as to reach the knees
★ Adjective compounds may also be formed from :
(a) Phrasal verbs:
e.g.: No one will listen to your made-up stories.
(You made up your stories.)
We like your well brought-up children.
(You have brought up children well.)
(b) adverbial phrases:
e.g.: They kept a round-the-clock watch on the house.
(they watched the house round the clock.)
The police made an on the spot (then and there)
inspection.
(The police inspected the case on the spot.)
(c) From proverbs and idiomatic expressions:
e.g.: My grandmother displayed a neverto-be-too-old-to-learn spirit. (from the
proverb ”One is never too old to learn.” )
He told the whole story in a
matter-of –fact tone. (from “as a
matter of fact.” )
(d) From an attributive clause:
e.g.: a jet-propelled plane(=a plane
that is propelled by jet)
a machine-independent tool
(=a tool that is independent of
a machine)
3. Verb compounds: Verb compounds fall into
two main groups according to their method of
formation:
(a) Those formed by back-formation: Backformation is a “reversal” of derivation
e.g.: house-keep is formed by deleting –ing and
–er from housekeeping and housekeeper,
which entered the language much earlier.
to vacuum clean---from vacuum cleaner
to babysit---from babysitting and babysitter
to windowshop---from window-shopping
(b) Those formed by conversion. In this
case, the verb compounds are converted
from noun compounds
e.g.: to nickname
they nicknamed him “fats” because
of his weight.
to honeymoon
to machine-gun
to outline
to snowball
These verb compounds are very often
used in colloquial speech.
For example: among the noun compounds, such words
as listed below are not classified:
has-been: a person or thing that was
formerly popular or effective but is no
longer so
beginner’s luck: good luck supposed to
attend beginners at games, etc.
e.g. :up-to-the-minute information is more
vivid than the latest information.
a schoolboy is more concise than a
boy attending school.
Adjective compounds like coffee-potfresh, dew-bright and lemon-fragrant, often
seen in advertising, are particularly vivid