A compound and a word-combination

A further aspect of composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination.

The graphiccriterion of distinguishing between a word and a word-group seems to be sufficiently convincing, yet in many cases it cannot wholly be relied on. The spelling of many compounds, tallboy among them, can be varied even within the same book. In the case of tallboy the semantic criterion seems more reliable, for the difference in the meanings of the word and the word-group certainly points to the highest degree of semantic cohesion in the word: tallboy does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture. Moreover, the word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts (1.a young male person; 2.big in size), whereas the word tallboy expresses one concept.

Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept.

The phonetic criterion for compounds may be treated as that of a single stress. The criterion is convincingly applicable to many compound nouns, yet does not work with compound adjectives:

cf. ‘blackbird, ‘tallboy,

but: ‘blue-‘eyed, ‘absent-‘minded.

Still, it is true that the morphological structure of these adjectives and their hyphenated spelling leave no doubt about their status as words and not word-groups.

Morphologicalandsyntacticcriteria can also be applied to compound words in order to distinguish them from word-groups.

In the word-group a tall boy each of the constituents is independently open to grammatical changes peculiar to its own category as a part of speech: They were the tallest boys in their form.

Between the constituent parts of the word-group other words can be inserted: a tall handsome boy.

The compound tallboy – and any other compound – is not subject to such changes. The first component is grammatically invariable; the plural form ending is added to the whole unit: tallboys. No word can be inserted between the components.

All this leads us to the conclusion that, in most cases, only several criteria (semantic, morphological, syntactic, phonetic, graphic)can classify a lexical unit as either a compound word or a word-group.

Semi-Affixes

Some building materials may be advertised as fireproof. Certain technical devices are foolproof meaning that they are safe even in a fool’s hands. All these words, with –proof for the second component, stand between compounds and derived words in their characteristics. On the one hand, the second component seems to bear all the features of a stem and preserves certain semantic associations with the free form proof. On the other hand, the meaning of -proof in all the numerous words built on this pattern has become so generalized that it is certainly approaching that of a suffix.

The component -proof, standing between a stem and an affix, is regarded as a semi-affix.

Another example of semi-affix is -man in a vast group of English nouns denoting people: sportsman, gentleman, salesman, statesman, policeman, etc.

Semantically, the constituent -man in these words approaches the generalized meaning of such noun-forming suffixes as -er, -or, -ist (e.g. artist). It has moved so far in its meaning from the corresponding free form man, that such word-groups as woman policeman or Mrs. Chairman are quite usual.

Other examples of semi-affixes are -land (e.g. Ireland, Scotland, fatherland), -like (e.g. ladylike (изящная)), businesslike, starlike, etc.), -worthy (e.g. seaworthy (мореходный), trustworthy (надёжный)).

Shortening (Contraction)

Thiscomparatively new way of word-building has achieved a high degree of productivity nowadays, especially in American English.

Shortenings (or contracted/curtailed words) are produced in two different ways. The first is to make a new word from a syllable (rarer, two) of the original word. The latter may lose its beginning (as in phone made from telephone, fence from defence), its ending (as in vac from vacation, ad from advertisement) or both the beginning and ending (as in flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator).

The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word group: U.N.O. from the United Nations Organization, B.B.C. from the British Broadcasting Corporation, M.P. from Member of Parliament. This type is called initial shortenings. They are found not only among formal words, such as the ones above, but also among colloquialisms and slang. So, g. f. is a shortened word made from the compound girl-friend. The word, though, is ambiguous: g. f. is also for grandfather.

It is commonly believed that the preference for shortenings can be explained by their brevity and is due to the ever-increasing tempo of modern life. Yet, confusion and ambiguousness are quite natural consequences of the modern overabundance of shortened words.

Both types of shortenings are characteristic of informal speech in general and of uncultivated speech particularly. The history of the American okay seems to be rather typical. Originally this initial shortening was spelt A.K. and was supposed to stand for all correct.

Here are some more examples of informal shortenings. Movie (from moving-picture), specs (from spectacles).

Undergraduates’ informal speech abounds in words of the type: exam, prof (from professor), lab, vac.