2. compound
‘lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both grammatically
and semantically as a single word’
---Quirk et al 1985
•Characteristics of compounds
•Phonological features:
In compounds the word stress usually occurs on the first constituent whereas in noun phrase the second element is generally accented if there is only one stress. But it is not absolute as in bottle-green as well as in combing-form compound, socio-linguistic,
psycho-analysis.
2). Semantic features: every compound should express a single idea just as one word, i.e. it is idiomatic. e.g. green hand---inexperienced person
red meat---beef or mutton
3).grammaical features: the one-wordness of compounds can be seen in the way the expressions are handled morphologically.
e.g. He bad-mouthed me.
Plural forms of compound nouns usually take inflectional –s at the end, as in new-borns, three-year-olds, etc. But there are also exceptions if their one-wordness identity is apparent, as in brothers-in-law, lookers-on,etc.
4). Orthographical features: in most cases, compounds are written either ‘solid’ or ‘hyphenate’ as in flower-pot, flowerpot, flower pot. It largely depends on an individual’s preference. British speakers tend to hyphenate compounds while Americans like to write compounds like free phrases.
2. Formation of compounds
1). Noun compounds
subject+ verb daybreak dancing girl
verb+ object handshake meat delivery housekeeping
verb-adverbial Under this category, the adverbial can be subclassified as that of place, time, instrument and others.
Place: hiding-place drinking cup filmgoer table-talk
Time: sleep-walking day-dreamer night flight
Instrument: sewing machine handwriting gunfight
Others: shadow-boxing telephone call
Subject + object : air rifle power plant television screen
Subject + complement: girlfriend longboat chocolate bar safety-belt
2) Adjective Compounds
N + v-ing record-breaking
A + v-ing easy-going, high-sounding
N + a: warweary, thread-bare
A + a : bitter-sweet
N + v-ed :custom-built, town-bred
a(adv) +v-ed far-fetched, hard-won
n(a) +n-ed: short-sighted, lion-hearted
Num +n: ten-storey, four-leg
Num +n-ed: one-eyed, two-legged
Adv +v-ing: forth-coming
V-ed+adv: worn-out
⏹Adjective compounds can be paraphrased with reference to their internal grammatical relationship.
Verb+object: breath-taking life-giving
Verb+adverbial: fist-fighting home-made
Verb+predicative: sweet-smelling good-looking
noun-adverbial +adjective: homesick snow-white
Coordinating relation: sino-American phonetic-syntactic
⏹3) verb compounds
Through conversion: nickname(n)---to nickname moonlight(n)---to moonlight
Through backformation: lip-reading---to lip-read mass production---to mass-produce Exercise:
•What are the criteria by which to differentiate compounds from free phrases?
•Analyze the following compound words and explain their internal grammatical relationship. heartbeat brainwashing movie-goer baking power
far-reaching lion-hearted(非常勇敢的) boyfriend snap decision on-coming light-blue lovesick easy chair
Tax-free goings-on
⏹3) what are the usual methods to form compound verbs? Give examples
⏹4). Form compounds using the following either as the first or the second element of the compound as indicated and translate the words into Chinese.
well- -bound -work -worthy -woman –wide
-minded -style self- -related -proof once-
news- mock- -in-law home- half- ever-
-conscious -based。