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groups. The head of the word-group becomes the head-member of the
compound, i.e. its second component. The typical structural relations ex-
pressed in word-groups syntactically are conveyed in compounds only by
the nature and order of its bases.
Compounds of each part of speech correlate only with certain types
of
minimal variable phrases.
S e m a n t i c a l l y correlation manifests itself in the fact that the
semantic relations between the components of a compound mirror the se-
mantic relations between the member-words in correlated word-groups.
For example, compound adjectives of the
n+V
en
type, e.g.
duty-bound,
snow-covered,
are circumscribed by the instrumental relations typical of
the correlated word-groups of V
en
+
by/with
+
N
type regardless of the ac-
tual lexical meanings of the bases. Compound nouns of the n+n type, e.g.
story-teller, music-lover, watch-maker,
all mirror the agentive relations
proper to phrases of the
N
who
V+N,
cf.
a story-teller
and
one who tells
stories,
etc.
■ Correlation should not be understood as converting an actually func-
tioning phrase into a compound word or the existence of an individual
word-group in actual use as a binding condition for the possibility of a
compound. On the contrary there is usually only a p o t e n t i a l possi-
bility of conveying the same semantic content by both a word-group and a
compound, actually this semantic content is conveyed preferably either by
a phrase or by a compound word.
Correlation, it follows, is a regular interaction and interdependence of
compound words and certain types of free phrases which conditions both
the potential possibility of appearance of compound words and their struc-
ture and semantic type. Thus, the fact that there is a potential possibility of
individual phrases with the underlying pattern, for example,
as
A +
as
N
in
as white as snow, as red as blood
presupposes a potential possibility of
compound words of the
n+ a
type
snow-white, blood-red,
etc. with their
structure and meaning relation of the components preconditioned. It hap-
pens that in this particular case compound adjectives are more typical and
preferred as a language means of conveying the quality based on compari-
son.
Structural and semantic correlation by no means implies identity or a
one-to-one correspondence of each individual pattern of compound “words
to one phrase pattern. For example the
n + n
v
type of compound nouns
comprises different patterns, such as
ln+(v+ -er)]
—
rocket-flyer, shoe-
maker, bottle-opener;
[n+(
v
+
-ing)]
—
rocket-flying, football-playing;
[n+(v+ -ion)]
—
price-reduction.
All these patterns differing in the indi-
vidual suffix used in the final analysis correlate with verbal-nominal word-
groups of the
V+N
type (e.g.
to fly rockets),
the meaning of the active
doer (rocket-flyer) or the action
(rocket-flying)
is conveyed by the suf-
fixes. However the reverse relationship is not uncommon, e.g. one deriva-
tional pattern of compound adjectives
(n+a)
in words like
oil-rich, sky-
high, grass-green
corresponds to a variety of word-group patterns which
differ in the grammatical and semantic relationship between member-
words expressed in phrases by different prepositions. Thus compound ad-
jectives of this type may correspond to phrase patterns
A +
of
+ N,
e.g.
152
Table 1
e. g. case for (keeping) pencils; a suit
for driving
e. g. the neck of the bottle; the handle
of the door
e. g. a club in the country; a chair on
wheels
e. g. a door (that) is a trap; the doctor
is a woman
e. g. a fish like a sword; a hat like a
bowler
e. g. a mill worked by the wind; a
boat run by steam
pleasure-tired;
A+in+N,
e.g.
oil-rich; as
A
as
N,
e.g. grass-green.
An-
other example of the same type of correlation is the polysemantic
n+n
pat-
tern of nominal compounds which mirror a variety of semantic relations
underlying word-groups of the
N
+prp+
N
type, such as relations of resem-
blance (e.g.
needle-fish),
local and temporal relations (e.g.
country-house,
night-flight),
relations of purpose (e.g.
search-warrant),
etc. which in
word-groups are conveyed by prepositions or other function words. (Table
1) (see p. 153) represents the most common and frequent types of semantic
correlation between
n+n
pattern of compounds and various patterns of
nominal word-groups.
Compound words, due to the fact that they do not require any explicit
way to convey the semantic relationship between their components except
their order, are of much wider semantic range, leave more freedom for
semantic interpretation and convey meaning in a more compressed and
concise way. This makes the meaning of compounds more flexible and
situationally derived.
It follows that m o t i v a t i o n a n d r e g u l a r i t y of s e -
m a n t i c a n d s t r u c t u r a l c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h
f r e e w o r d - g r o u p s a r e t h e b a s i c f a c t o r s favour-
i n g a h i g h d e g r e e of p r o d u c t i v i t y of c o m p o s i -
t i o n and may be used to set rules guiding spontaneous, analogic forma-
tion of new compound words.
It is natural that those types of compound words which do not estab-
lish such regular correlations and that are marked by a lack or very low
degree of motivation must be regarded as unproductive as, for example,
compound nouns of the
a+n
type, e. g.
bluebell, blackbird, mad-doctor.
The description of compound words through
the correlation with variable word-groups
makes it possible to classify them into four
major classes: adjectival-nominal, verbal-nominal, nominal and verb-
adverb compounds.
I. A d j e c t i v a l - n o m i n a l comprise four subgroups of com-
pound adjectives, three of them are proper compounds and one deriva-
tional. All four subgroups are productive and semantically as a rule moti-
vated. The main constraint on the productivity in all the four subgroups is
the lexical-semantic types of the head-members and the lexical valency of
the head of the correlated word-groups.
Adjectival-nominal compound adjectives have the following patterns:
1) the polysemantic
n+a
pattern that gives rise to two types:
a)
compound adjectives based on semantic relations of resemblance
with adjectival bases denoting most frequently colours, size, shape, etc. for
the second IC. The type is correlative with phrases of comparative type
as
A
+as +
N,
e.g.
snow-white, skin-deep, age-long,
etc.
b)
compound adjectives based on a variety of adverbial relations. The
type is correlative with one of the most productive adjectival phrases of
the
A
+
prp
+
N
type and consequently semantically varied, cf.
colour-
blind, road-weary, care-free,
etc.
2) the monosemantic pattern
n+v
en
based mainly on the
154
§ 35. Correlation Types
of Compounds.
Productive Types of Compound Adjectives
Table 2
Free Phrases
Compound Adjectives
Compounds Proper
Derivational
Compounds
Pattern
Semantic Relations
1) (a). as white as snow
snow-white
—
n + a
relations of resemblance
(b). free from care; rich
in oil; greedy for power;
tired of pleasure
care-free, oil-rich,
power-greedy, pleasure-
tired
—
n + a
various adverbial relations
c o v e r e d
w i t h
snow;
bound by duty
snow-covered
duty-bound
—
n + v
en
instrumental (or agentive
relations)
3) two days
(a) two-day (beard) (a)
seven-year (plan)
— ‘
num + n
quantitative relations
w i t h ( h a v i n g ) long legs
—
long-legged
[(a + n) + -ed]
possessive relations
instrumental, locative and temporal relations between the ICs which are
conditioned by the lexical meaning and valency of the verb, e.g.
state-
owned, home-made.
The type is highly productive. Correlative relations
are established with word-groups of the
V
en
+
with/by
+
N
type.
3)
the monosemantic
пит
+
п
pattern which gives rise to a small and
peculiar group of adjectives, which are used only attributively, e.g. (a)
two-
day
(beard), (a)
seven-day
(week), etc. The type correlates with attributive
phrases with a numeral for their first member.
4)
a highly productive monosemantic pattern of derivational compound
adjectives based on semantic relations of possession conveyed by the suf-
fix -ed. The basic variant is [(a+n)+
-ed],
e.g.
low-ceilinged, long- legged.
The pattern has two more variants:
[(пит
+
n)
+
-ed), l(n+n)+ -ed],
e.g.
one-sided, bell-shaped, doll-faced.
The type correlates accordingly with
phrases
with (having) +
A+N,
with (having)
+
Num
+
N,
with
+ N + N
or
with
+ N +
of
+ N.
The system of productive types of compound adjectives is summarised
in Table 2.
The three other types are classed as compound nouns. Verbal-nominal
and nominal represent compound nouns proper and verb-adverb deriva-
tional compound nouns. All the three types are productive.
II. V e r b a l - n o m i n a l compounds may be described through
one derivational structure
n+n
v
,
i.e. a combination of a noun-base (in most
cases simple) with a deverbal, suffixal noun-base. The structure includes
four patterns differing in the character of the deverbal noun- stem and ac-
cordingly in the semantic subgroups of compound nouns. All the patterns
correlate in the final analysis with
V+N
and
V+
prp
+N
type which depends
on the lexical nature of the verb:
1)
[
n+(v+-er)
]
,
e.g.
bottle-opener, stage-manager, peace-fighter.
The
pattern is monosemantic and is based on agentive relations that can be in-
terpreted ‘one/that/who does smth’.
2)
[
n
+(
v
+
-ing)],
e.g.
stage-managing, rocket-flying.
The pattern is
monosemantic and may be interpreted as ‘the act of doing smth’. The pat-
tern has some constraints on its productivity which largely depends on the
lexical and etymological character of the verb.
3)
[n+(v+ -tion/ment)],
e.g.
office-management, price-reduction.
The
pattern is a variant of the above-mentioned pattern (No 2). It has a heavy
constraint which is embedded in the lexical and etymological character of
the verb that does not permit collocability with the suffix
-ing
or deverbal
nouns.
4)
[n+(v
+
conversion)],
e.g.
wage-cut, dog-bite, hand-shake,
the pat-
tern is based on semantic relations of result, instance, agent, etc.
III. N o m i n a l c o m p o u n d s are all nouns with the most
polysemantic and highly-productive derivational pattern
n+n;
both bases
re generally simple stems, e.g.
windmill, horse-race, pencil-case.
The
pattern conveys a variety of semantic relations, the most frequent are the
relations of purpose, partitive, local and temporal relations. The pattern
correlates with nominal word-groups of the
N+
prp
+N
type.
IV. V e r b - a d v e r b compounds are all derivational nouns, highly
productive and built with the help of conversion according to the
156