Composition

Word-composition or compounding is another way of coining new words. Compound words are lexemes consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms. In a compound word the immediate constituents obtain integrity and structural cohesion that make them function in a sentence as a separate lexical unit.

The integrity of a compound word is manifested in its indivisibility, i.e. the impossibility of inserting another lexeme or word-group between its elements. If, for example, speaking about a sunbeam we can insert some other words between the article and the noun (a bright sunbeam, a bright unexpected sunbeam, a bright unexpected and very warm sunbeam) because an article is a separate word, no such insertion is possible between the stems sun and beam, for they are not words (lexemes) but morphemes.

Structurally compound lexemes are characterized by the specific order an arrangement in which bases follow one another. The order in which the two bases are placed within a compound is rigidly strict in Modern English and it is the second immediate constituent that makes the head-member of the word. The head-member preconditions both lexico-grammatical and semantic features of the first component.

Phonetically compounds are marked by a new stress-pattern, different from the stress in motivating words.

Graphically most compounds are spelt either solidly or with a hyphen. The two types of spelling typical of compounds, however, are not rigidly observed. And there are numerous cases (especially compounds of the n + n type) when the lexemes are spelt with a break between the components (arm chair, money order, blood poisoning and the like).

Semantically compound lexemes are motivated words. The meaning of a compound may be derived from the combined lexical meanings of its components. At the same time, the morphological stem of a polysemantic lexeme may produce several derivational bases for a compound to be built. The morphological stem of a polysemantic lexeme board stands for the following meanings:

· a flat piece of wood square or oblong;

· thick, stiff paper;

· authorized body of men.

The set of compound based on the derivational base of the first meaning (because all derivational bases are monosemantic) comprises lexemes chess-board, notice-board, key-board, diving board, etc. The second meaning is realized in the compounds like paste-board, carboard. The third meaning is found in the lexemes school-board, board-room.

The lexical meaning of a compound lexeme is derived from also from the structural pattern the word is built on. A change in the order and arrangement of the bases with the same meanings brings about a change in the lexical meaning of a compound. For example, a life-boat is a boat of special construction for saving lives from wrecks or along the coast, while boat-life means life on board the ship. It follows that the lexical meaning of a compound word is derived from the combined lexical meanings of its components and the structural meaning of its distributional pattern.

The derivational patterns in compounds may be monosemantic and polysemantic. For example, the pattern n + a = A (snow-white, worldwide) is polysemantic:

· semantic relations of comparison (sky-blue = as blue as the sky);

· various relations of adverbial type (colour-blind = blind to colours).

The lexical meanings of both components are closely fused together to create a new semantic unit with a new meaning which is not found in any of the bases. For example, a hand-bag is essentially ‘a bag, designed to be carried in the hand’, but it is also ‘a woman’s bag to keep money, papers, face-powder and the like’.

The bulk of compound lexemes are monosemantic and motivated but motivation varies in degree. There are completely, partially and non-motivated compounds. Completely motivated compounds are those whose lexical meaning is easily derived from the components: foot-pump, tea-taster. Partially motivated units are those in which at least one immediate constituent is used metaphorically: flower-bed, castle-builder. Non-motivated compounds do not reveal obvious connection between the word-meaning, the lexical meanings of the bases and the meaning of the pattern: eye-wash – ‘something said or done to deceive a person’, fiddlesticks – ‘nonsense, rubbish’.

Sometimes the motivated and the non-motivated meanings of the same word are so far apart that they are felt as two homonymous lexemes: a night-cap – ‘a cap worn in bed at night’ and ‘a drink taken before going to bed at night’.

Compound lexemes may be described from different points of view and classified according to different principles. According to the relations between the immediate constituents compounds are divided into coordinative (copulative, additive) and subordinative (determinative).

In coordinative compounds the two immediate constituents are semantically equally important: fighter-bomber, oak-tree, Anglo-American and so on. Coordinative compounds make up a comparatively small group of words. Coordinative compounds fall into three groups:

1. Reduplicative compounds which are made up by the repetition of the same base as in goody-goody, fifty-fifty, hush-hush, etc. They are partially motivated, mostly restricted to the colloquial layer, are marked by a heavy emotive charge and possess a very small degree of productivity.

2. Phonically variated rhythmic twin forms which either alliterate with the same initial consonant but vary in vowels as in clap-trap, walkie-talkie, helter-skelter. This subgroup is often referred to pseudo-compounds owing to the doubtful morphemic status of their components. The constituent members of these compounds are in most cases unique, carry vague or no lexical meaning of their own, and are not found as stems of independently functioning words. They are motivated mainly through the rhythmic doubling of fanciful sound clusters. Such lexemes are restricted to the colloquial layer, are marked by emotive charge and have very low productivity.

3. Compounds built on stems of the independently functioning words of the same part of speech which stand in the genus-species relations as in queen-bee, actor-manager. They denote a person or an object that is two things at the same time. Here belongs a group of adjectives denoting nationalities: Anglo-Saxon, Sino-Japanese, Afro-American in which one of the immediate constituents is a bound root-morpheme. This are fully motivated lexemes with a very limited degree of productivity.

In subordinative compounds which make the bulk of Modern English compound lexemes the immediate constituents are neither structurally nor semantically equal but are based on the domination of the head-member which is, as a rule, the second one.

Functionally compound words are viewed as different parts of speech. It is the head-member of the compound that is indicative of the grammatical and lexical category the compound lexeme belongs to. Compounds are found in all parts of speech, but the majority of them are nouns and adjectives.

Each part of speech is characterized by its set of derivational patterns and their semantic variants. Compound adverbs, pronouns and connectives are represented by an insignificant number of lexemes, e.g. somewhere, somebody, inside, upright, otherwise, moreover, elsewhere, by means of. No new compounds are coined on this pattern. This is a closed set of lexemes.

Verbs are of special interest. There is a small group of compound verbs made up of the combination of verbal and adverbial stems that language retains from earlier stages, e.g. to bypass, to inlay, to offset, etc. This type is no longer productive and is rarely found in new compounds.

There are many polymorphic verbs that are represented by morphemic sequences of two root-morphemes, like to weekend, to gooseflesh, to spring-clean, but derivationally they are all words of secondary derivation in which the existing compound nouns serve as bases for derivation. They are often termed pseudo-compound verbs. They are presented by two groups:

1. Verbs formed by means of conversion from the stems of compound nouns as in to spotlight from a spotlight, to sidetrack from a side-track, to handcuff from handcuffs and so on;

2. Verbs formed by back-derivation from the stems of compound nouns, e.g. to baby-sit from a baby-sitter, to playact from play-acting, to housekeep from house-keeping, etc.

From the point of view of the means of composition compound lexemes may be classified into two classes:

1. Words formed by merely placing one constituent after another in a definite order (rain-driven, house-dog, pie-port, oil-rich, flower-bed) which is characteristic of the majority of the English compounds. The order of the components may asyntactic and syntactic. Asyntactic order is observed in compound lexemes in which the arrangement of the constituents run counter the rules of syntax. For example, adjectives cannot be modified by adjectives or preceding nouns. Yet, in compounds this is a typical way of connection. For example, red-hot, pale-blue, rain-driven, oil-rich. In syntactic compounds the components are placed according to the rules of syntax, e.g. blue-bell, spring-lock, door-handle, day-time.

2. Compound words with a special linking element, e.g. speed o meter, trag i comedy, state s man. Compounds of this type can be both nouns and adjectives, subordinative and additive but they are rather few in number. The coordinative compound adjectives linked with the help of the vowel “o” are limited to the names of nationalities and represent a specific group with a bound root for the first component, e.g. Sino-Japanese, Afro-Asian, Anglo-Saxon. The subordinative compounds belong to technical terms consisting of non-assimilated bound roots borrowed mainly from classical languages, e.g. electro-dynamic, technophobia, sociolinguistics, videodisc. A small group of compound lexemes represent the linking element “s” when the second component is –man, -woman, -people, e.g. sport s man, sale s woman, bride s maid.

According to the types of bases compounds are classified into compounds proper and derivational compounds.

Compounds proper are formed by joining together bases built on the stems or on the word-forms of independently functioning lexemes with or without the help of the linking element, e.g. door-step, age-long, baby-sitter, looking-glass, street-lighting, handwork, sportsman.

Derivational compounds differ from compounds proper in the nature of bases and their second component. For example the derivational compound tin-opener is built on the derivational pattern free phrase + suffix –er. The words of the free phrase lose their grammatical independence and are reduces to a derivational base. The second component of the lexeme tin-opener does not exist on its own in the English language. The derivational compound tin-opener should not be mixed up with such compounds proper as baby-sitter, shoe-maker, pen-holder which are built on the derivational pattern [noun + (verb + suffix –er)]. In this case the second component of the lexeme functions as an independent word and the whole compound proper consists of a simple stem (baby-, shoe-, pen-) and a derived stem (sitter, maker, holder).

Derivational compounds (or pseudo-compounds) are of subordinative type and fall into the following groups:

1. Derivational compound adjectives formed with the help of the productive adjectival suffix –ed applied to bases built on attributive phrases of the A + N, Num + N, N + N type (long-legged from long legs, three-cornered from three corners, doll-faced from doll face). Semantically they are motivated by transparent derivative relations with the motivating base built on the so-called phrasal verb and are typical of the colloquial layer of the vocabulary.

2. Derivational compound nouns are formed mainly by conversion applied to the bases built on the patterns V + Adv, V + N, A + N. The commonest type is the V + Adv pattern which converts verbs into nouns, e.g. a breakdown from to break down. The semantic group built on other derivational patterns belongs to partially motivated compound nouns, e.g. a turn-key (keeper of the keys in prison), a wet-blanket (one who kills enjoyment). These compounds are animate nouns though their second component belongs to inanimate objects. The meaning of the active agent is not found in either of the constituents but is imparted as a result of conversion applied to the word-group which is thus turned into a derivational base. These compounds are restricted in productivity because of its idiomaticity and stylistic and emotive colouring.

The actual process of building compounds may take different forms:

1. Compound words as a rule are built spontaneously according to productive distributional formulas of the given period. Formulas productive at one time may lose their productivity at another period. Thus at one time the process of building verbs by compounding adverbial and verbal stems was productive, and numerous compound verbs like outgrow, offset (adv + v) were formed. The structure ceased to be productive and today practically no verbs are built in this way.

2. Compounds may be the result of a gradual process of semantic isolation and structural fusion of free word-groups. Such compounds as forget-me-not (a small plant with blue flowers), bull’s-eye (the centre of a target; a kind of hard, globular candy), mainland (a continent) go back to free phrases which became semantically and structurally isolated in the course of time. The words that once made up those phrases have lost their integrity; the whole phrase has become isolated in form, specialized in meaning and thus turned into an inseparable unit – a word having acquired semantic and morphological unity. Most of the syntactic compound nouns of the A + N type (bluebell, blackboard) are the result of such semantic and structural isolation of free word-groups. For example, highway was once actually a high way, for it was raised above the surrounding countryside for better drainage and ease of travel. Now we use the lexeme without any idea of the original sense of the first component.