undesirables: undesirable (stem or base, not root)
desired: desire (root, stem or base)
3.2 Compounding 复合构词法
Questions: 1. What is compounding? 2. What are the relative criteria of a
Base/ 词基: any form to which affixes of any kind can be added.
undesirables = un + desire + able + s
Base: desirable → desire (base) undesirable → desirable (base) undesirables → undesirable (base)
compound? 3. The classification of compounding?
What is compounding?
Compounding / composition: a wordformation process consisting of joining two or more bases to form a new unit. e.g. flowerpot= flower + pot machine-independent = machine + independent back
E.g.
E.g. flowerpot workday backyard
Note: we can infer the meaning from the meaning of its component parts
red tape
(官样文章，烦琐拖沓的公事程 序)
dog days
（the hottest day of the year）
its component parts
back
The classification of compounding?
Compounds are classified according to parts of speech of the compounds and subdivided by the syntactic relation of the compounding element.
Base/词基: any form to which affixes of any kind can be added.
2) denationalized denationalized = de + nation + al + ize + d Root:
nation Stem:
denationalize Base:
national → nation
nationalize → national
denationalize → nationalize
denationalized → denationalize
desirable: desire (root or base, not stem)
undesirable: desirable (base, not root, not stem)
Hyphenatedflower pot
2. Phonological criterion: Compound accent: a main stress on the first element and secondary stress on the second element. Normal phrase accent: a secondary stress on the first element and the main stress on the second element.
Root/ 词根: is not further analyzable, either in terms of derivational or inflectional morphology
Stem/ 词干: the part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed.
Chapter 3(构词法)
3.1 General Remark 概述 3.2 Compounding 复合构词法 3.3 Derivation 派生构词法
3.3.1 Prefixation 加前缀 3.3.2 Suffixation 加后缀 3.4 Conversion 词类转换法
The differences between “root”, “stem” and “base”?
E.g. black list blackboard blue bottle
3. Semantic criterion:
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.
The relative criteria of a compound
1. Orthographic criterion:
Compounds are written in three ways, that is, solid, hyphenated and open.
E.g. flowerpot
Solid: flowerpot
flatfoot
(a policeman)
blue blood
(the quality of being a nobleman by birth)
blue ribbon
(an honor given to the winner of the first prize)
Note: we cannot infer the meaning from the meaning of