English LexicologyMorphological Processes (II): Compounding

Week 6

Instructor: Liu Hongyong

Compounding

Compounding is a word-formation process consisting of combining two or more roots to form a compound .

airmail air force air-conditioner

flowerpot flower pot flower-pot

airline air line air-line

girlfriend girl friend girl-friend

Spelling is not a reliable criterion to determine the compound status.

CompoundingCompounding

Root (Primary) compounds: consisting of two roots

N N: housewife, boy friend, arm-chairA N: blackbird, blue-collar, V N: rattlesnake, pick pocket, 司機 , 跑堂 , 戒指 , 掌櫃 V V:看守 , 翻譯 , 調度 , 指揮A A: icy cold, dark blue

Synthetic (Verbal) compounds: consisting of a verb and the participants of the action designated by the verb.

Truck driver, hand-made, fashion designer論文指導老師 , 飛機設計師 , 播音員 , 理髮師 , 探險隊 ,

Verb: 指导

Participants: 老师（ Agent: 施事），论文（ Patient: 受事）

The Concept of Headedness

A compound may have a head.

arm-chair: chair

A head assigns its categorial features to the word of which it is the head.

part of speech

part of speech

Percolation ( 浸透 )

A general well-formedness condition, commonly referred to as Percolation, ensures that a word and its head have the same features.

Head Feature Percolation ( 核心特征浸透原则） If is the head of , and are associated with same

features.

Percolation

black en black board

A V A N

blacken blackboard

head feature percolationhead feature percolation

Right-hand Head Rule (RHR)

How to specify the head of a compound?

Williams (1981) proposes the following rule:

Right-hand Head Rule (RHR)

In morphology we define the head of a morphologically complex word to be the right-hand member of that word.

Williams, E. 1981. On the notions ‘Lexically Related’ and ‘Head of a Word’, Linguistic Inquiry 12, 245-274.

Further on Head of Compound

a.

N [plural]

N N [plural]

 

Canada geese

  

Selkirk, E. O. 1982.

b.

N [singular]

  Adv N [singular]

  over dose

Percolation of number feature

and share share the same set the same set of featuresof features

Endocentric Compounds

Semantically, an endocentric compound indicates a sub-grouping within the class of entities that the head denotes. Thus, a schoolboy is a kind of boy,

a bedroom is a kind of room, and

a teapot is a kind of pot.

The first word in each case functions as a modifier of the head

which specifies the meaning of the head more precisely.

向心複合詞向心複合詞

HeadHead心心

Examples of Endocentric Compound (Nouns)

N N A N V N 　　　　　　　ＮＶ（＋ affix ）arm-chair hotdog swearword house-keeper 　　

　　　　　bookcase grassgreen

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　 baby-sitter 　　　　　　　　

motor-car high-court 　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　 pencil sharpener 　　　　　　　　　

skyline blackboard　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

地板 白菜 飛船　　　　　　　飛機駕駛員毛筆 青天 抽屜　　　　　　　食品儲藏櫃火車站 大腦 插圖　　　　　　　服裝設計師

ConsistentConsistent　　 with the with the

RHRRHR

More ExamplesN Ｖ ＮＶ

地震 冬至

海嘯 春分

頭昏 headache

心悸 rainfall

胃潰瘍 heart attack

耳鳴 earthquake

The compounds The compounds are nouns.are nouns.

Consistent with Consistent with the RHR?the RHR?

Examples of Endocentric Compound （ Adjectives ）

N A A A V A

漆黑 痛苦

筆直 強硬

面熟 溫暖

肉麻　 寒冷 垂直

膚淺 美麗 透明

心酸　 偉大 紮實

雪白 寬闊 逼真

ConsistentConsistent　　 with the with the

RHRRHR

Examples of Endocentric Compound Verbs (Chinese)

N V ＶＶ A V

槍斃 打擊 輕視鬼混 猜想 重視

瓦解 放置 苦笑

醋溜 開放 速成

油炸 收留 小看

步行 投訴 整合

體貼 關閉 優選粉刷 依靠 優勝

ConsistentConsistent　　 with the with the

RHRH ＲＲ

Other Examples

ＶＶ A V

呼吸 難道出入 博學

舉止

得失

起伏

死活

出納

開關

Still consistentStill consistent　　 with the RHwith the RH

Ｒ？Ｒ？

Verbal Compounds

One class of endocentric compounds, verbal compounds, is special in that they exhibit quite consistent semantic readings that match the syntactic characteristics of the compounds.

Verbal compounds have these properties: A complex head adjective or noun, which is derived from a

verb (music teacher); The non-head part is interpreted as a participant of the action

designated by the verb (music is the thing that is being taught);

The meaning of the compound is transparent.

Examples of English Verbal Compounds

NOUNS [Noun-verb-er]N

NOUNS [Noun-verbing]N

ADJECTIVES [Noun-verb-en]A

ADJECTIVES [Noun-verb-ing]A

moneylender bear-baiting hand-written God-fearing

gamekeeper hay-making computer-based awe-inspiring

shoemaker brick-laying hand-sewn self-seeking

bookseller sheep-shearing time-worn eye-catching

anteater sight-seeing guilt-ridden breath-taking

Examples Verbal Compounds (Chinese) VOS (have OVS form; V and O are both disyllabic)

OVS （ No VOS form ）

VOS (No OVS form)(V and O are both monosyllabic)

製造謠言者 ( 謠言製造者)

文學愛好者 造謠者　（＊謠造者）

發放貸款銀行 ( 貸款發放銀行 )

資料分析員 播音員　（＊音播員）

販賣毒品集團 ( 毒品販賣集團 )

飛機設計師 教書匠　（＊書教匠）　

資格審查小組 ( 審查資格小組 )

論文指導教師 管家婆　（＊家管婆）

宗教信仰者 ( 信仰宗教者 ) 人口統計中心 負心漢　（＊心負漢）

金錢崇拜者 ( 崇拜金錢者 ) 成果鑒定委員會 投資者　（＊資投者）

A Question

a. Nouns

[Noun-Verb-er]N

daydreamer

b. Nouns

[Noun-Verb-ing]N

Sunday closing

c. Adjectives

[Adjective-Verb-ing]A

hard-working

low-flying

Are these compounds Verbal Compounds?

Exocentric Compounds

Compounds need not always contain a head. Such compounds are called exocentric compounds.

The meaning of an exocentric compound is opaque. It is impossible to work out what an exocentric compound means from the sum of the meanings of its parts.

異心複合詞異心複合詞

Examples of Exocentric Compounds (English) Pickpocket: it is not a pocket, but a person who picks things

out of other’s pocket illegally.

Blue collar: it is not a collar, but a person who wears blue-collared uniform at work.

Laptop: it is not the top of one’s lap, but rather the portable computer.

Blockhead: it is neither a kind of block nor a kind of head but rather an idiot.

Turncoat: it is not a kind of coat but a renegade.

Cantonese VO compounds

炖冬菇 開夜dan6 dung1 gu1 hoi1 ye3

stew mushroom open night‘to undermine somebody’ ‘to work night shift’爬頭 起底paa4 tau4 hei2 dai2

clime head lift bottom‘to overtake’ ‘to reveal one’s background’打尖 呷醋daa2 zim1 happ6 cou3

hit2 sharp drink vinegar‘jump a queue’ ‘be jealous of’丢架 甩底diu1 gaa2 lat1 dai2

dump supporting framework discard bottom‘to loose face’ ‘to stand （ somebody ） up’

Mandarin VO Compounds

盯梢 勞駕ding1 shao1 lao2 jia1

stare top of tree labor an honored presence‘to shadow (somebody)’ ‘to trouble somebody with‘to work night shift’ something’

缩水 開心suo1 shui3 kai1 xin1

shrink water open heart‘to shrink in water’ ‘be happy’

Morphological processes:Morphological processes:

root affix new word

final ize finalizefinalize

Compounding

Affixation

root root new word (compound)

white board whiteboardwhiteboard

Word structure of derived words: Word structure of derived words: Affixation is orderedAffixation is ordered

happinesshappiness

happy -ness

A Aff

happiness

NThe suffix determines grammatical category of the newly derivedword. So it serves as head of the word.

(N)

[[[[ ]] ]]

unhappinessunhappiness

Aff A

un-happy

A

un- happy -ness

N

N

It selects an adjective word. It does not change the grammatical category of the root.

head of the newly derived word

unhappiness

[ ][ ][ ]

** [ unun - [ [[ [ happy happy ] - nessness ]]]

happy -ness

A Aff (N)

N

un-

Aff

No relation can be established to form one structural unit (constituent). The affix “un-” selects an adjectival (A) root/base, but not a nominal (N) one.

[ ]* [ ]

Word Structure of Word Structure of EEndocentric ndocentric CCompoundsompounds

wordword wordword

new wordnew word

compoundingcompounding

right-right-headedheaded

apple pie

applepie

A diagnostic on head featuresA diagnostic on head features

apple pie

applepie s

applepies

a kind of piea kind of piess

* a kind of applea kind of appless

derivation of a new wordderivation of a new word

Number inflection on Number inflection on the wordthe word

(turning the lexical word into agrammatical word)

ss

Inflection does Inflection does notnot apply apply to part of a wordto part of a word

* appleappless pie pie

head of compoundhead of compound

Word structure of Word structure of eexocentric compoundsxocentric compounds

跑 堂

者 / 员 …

跑堂

V N

N

N

The head is covert

V N

跑堂 is not a kind of hall

running hall

跑堂 is a kind of person

SSynthetic compoundsynthetic compounds

鋼琴演奏家

演奏 V

鋼琴 N （ object ）

家 N （ agent ）

a persona person

a pianoa piano

What is the compound What is the compound formation mechanism?formation mechanism?

鋼琴 演奏 家

V N

NN

N

modifier-modifiee relation偏正關係

The head of aThe head of a 　　 comcompound remains consipound remains consistentstent

The head determines the grammatical category of the newly derived word

Word Structure of Word Structure of

SSyntheticynthetic CCompoundsompounds