Principles of classification of compounds.

A compound is a word composed of more than one free morpheme.

English compounds may be classified in several ways, such as the word classes or the semantic relationship of their components.

Compound words may be classified according to the type of composition and the linking element; according to the part of speech to which the compound belongs; and within each part of speech according to the structural pattern (see the next paragraph). It is also possible to subdivide compounds according to other characteristics, i.e. semantically, into motivated and idiomatic compounds

1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:

a) nouns: baby-moon;

b) adjectives: power-happy;

c) adverbs: headfirst;

d) prepositions: into, within;

e) numerals: fifty-five.

2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are

subdivided into:

a) neutral, which are formed by joining together two stems without any

joining morpheme: ball-point;

b) morphological where components are joined by a linking element:

astrospace, handicraft, sportsman;

c) syntactical where components are joined by means of form-word stems,

e.g. do-or-die.

3.According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:

a) compound words proper which consist of two stems: to job-hunt, train-

sick;

b) compound-affixed words, where besides the stems we have affixes: ear-

minded, hydro-skimmer, astrophysical;

c) compound words consisting of three or more stems: cornflower-blue,

singer-songwriter;

d) compound-shortened words, e.g. V-day, Eurodollar, Camford.

4. According to the relations between the components compounds are

subdivided into:

a) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic

centre and the structural centre and the second component is subordinate:

honey-sweet, gold-rich, love-sick, Tom-cat;

b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically

independent. Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has

two functions. Such compounds are called additive: Anglo-Saxon,

woman-doctor. There are also tautological compounds. They are formed

by means of reduplication: no-no, fifty-fifty or with the help of rhythmic

stems: criss-cross, walkie-talkie.

5. According to the meaning of the whole compound we can point out

idiomatic and non-idiomatic compounds. Idiomatic compounds are very

different in meaning from the corresponding free phrase: a blackboard is

quite different from a black board. Non-idiomatic compounds are not

different in their meaning from corresponding free phrases: airmail,

speedometer.

The alphabets of the Germanic people..

The Runic alphabet

The oldest of these alphabets (for the Germanic tribes) is the runic alphabet. It was created in the II - III centuries AD and was applied till the Late Middle Ages. The runic alphabet is a common Germanic script, it was used by all Germanic tribes, East Germanic, North Germanic, as well as West Germanic tribes. The runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet, not to be found in languages of other groups. Runic alphabet was used by various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. It was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianization by around AD 700 in central Europe and by around AD 1100 in Northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Northern Europe. Until the early 20th century runes were used in rural Sweden for decoration purposes. The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Runes (around 150 to 800 AD), also called Futhark; the Younger Runes (800–1100), which was further subdivided into Danish and Swedish-Norwegian; and the Anglo-Saxon Runes (400 to 1100 AD). The name of the alphabet futhark or fuÞark originated from the first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, K. Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.

The Gothic alphabet The Gothic alphabet was invented around the middle of the 4th century AD by Bishop Ulfilas (311-383 AD), the religious leader of the Visigoths, to provide his people with a written language and a means of reading his translation of the Bible. It is based on the Greek alphabet, with some extra letters from the Latin and Runic alphabets. The alphabet consisted of 27 letters. The Gothic alphabet is preserved in a single written record of the Gothic language, known as Codex Argenteus. The Codex Argenteus, "Silver Codex", is a 6th century manuscript, originally containing bishop Ulfilas's 4th century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. Of the original 336 folios, 188 have been preserved, containing the translation of the greater part of the four gospels. It is written on red parchment with silver and golden letters. The decoration is limited to a few large, framed initials and, at the bottom of each page, a silver arcade which encloses the monograms of the four evangelists. In modern publications of the Gothic bible, mostly Latin transliteration is used.

The Latin Alphabet The Latin alphabet spread among Germanic tribes alongside their conversion into Christianity. The Roman Catholic church banned religious services in vernaculars, therefore in countries, where Christianity penetrated directly from Rome, religious services were conducted in the Latin language. At churches and monasteries special schools were founded were the language of instruction was the Latin language. The very first Germanic words written in the Latin script were place names and proper names. Later appeared glosses in manuscripts and with the spread of Christianity the Latin alphabet came to be used for writing in Germanic languages. The first written records in the Latin script appear from VII – IX centuries in the West Germanic languages, while the North Germanic language start using Latin for their writings from XII – XIII centuries as a result of later Christianization of Scandinavian countries. The Latin alphabet was created in the VIII – VII centuries BC on the basis of Western Greek and Etruscan alphabets.

Билет № 11

1. Which language is the most important in the West Germanic group? And why?

The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages and include German, English,Scots, Dutch, Afrikaans, the Frisian languages, Low German languages and Yiddish. The other branches are North Germanic and the extinctEast Germanic. English is part of the North Sea Germanic branch of the West Germanic languages.