Composition
Composition can be defined as the formation of a lexical unit out of two or more stems, usually the first differentiating, modifying or qualifying and the second identifying. The last element expresses a general meaning, whereas the prefixed element renders it less generally. This type of word-building is one of the three most productive types in Modern English. Compounds represent one of the most typical and specific features of English word-structure.
There are at least three aspects of composition that present special interest.
The first is structural aspect. Compounds are not homogeneous in structure.
Traditionally three types are distinguished: neutral, morphological and syntactic.
There are three subtypes of neutral compounds. Neutral compounds that are formed without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems and are called simple neutral: blackbird, sun-flower, shop-window, лікар-терапевт, місто-побратим. Neutral-derived compounds are formed by means of some affix: blue-eyed, new-comer, golden-haired. Neutral contracted compounds are those in which one of the parts is contracted: TV-set, V-day.
Morphological compounds are few in number and formed by means of some linking element: Anglo-Saxon, handicraft, жовтоблакитний, доброзичливий. This type is non-productive.
Syntactic compounds are formed from segments of speech: Jack-of-all- trades, pick-me-up, go-between, Jack-in-the-box, stay-at-home, не-сьогодні- завтра.
According to the type of relationship between the components compound words can be coordinative and subordinative.
Coordinative are the compounds in which neither of the components dominates the other, both are structurally and semantically independent: secretary- stenographer, actor-manager, лікар-кардіолог. The constituent stems belong to the same part of speech. They are divided into three groups: additive, reduplicative and those formed by joining the phonetically variated rhythmic forms.
Additive compounds denote a person or an object that is two things at the same time: actor-manager is an actor and a manager at the same time. Лікар- кардіолог is лікар and кардіолог at the same time.
Reduplicative compounds are the result of the repetition of the same stem:
fifty-fifty, tick-tick. Such words in the Ukrainian language are not considered to be compounds.
Compounds which are formed by joining the phonetically variated rhythmic forms of the same stem are: drip-drop, ding-dong, helter-skelter.
Coordinative compounds of the last two groups are mostly restricted to the colloquial layer and are characterised by a heavy emotive charge.
Subordinative compounds are the words in which the components are not equal either semantically or structurally. The second component is the structural centre, the grammatically dominant part of the word, which imparts its part-of-
speech meaning to the whole word: stone-deaf, age-long, wrist-watch, baby-sitter, миротворець, самозахист.
According to the order of components subordinative compounds are divided into syntactic and asyntactic.
Syntactic are the words the components of which are placed in the order of words in free phrases: bluebell, slow-coach, know-nothing.
Asyntactic are the words whose stems are not placed in the order that resembles the order of words in a free phrase: red-hot, tear-stained, oil-rich.
It should be mentioned that among compound words the group of bahuvrihi is pointed out. The term bahuvrihi is borrowed from the grammarians of ancient India. Its literal meaning is “much-riced”. These are the compounds consisting of A+N stems and naming a thing metonymically: Big wig, green-horn, lazy-bones одчайдух, жовтобрюх. Semantically bahuvrihi are almost invariably characterised by a depreciative, ironical, emotional tone.
Another focus of interest is the semantic aspect of compound words, that is, correlation of the separate meanings of the constituent parts and actual meanings of the compound. Or to put it in easier terms: can the meaning of a compound word be regarded as its constituent meanings? To try to answer this question, let us consider the degree of motivation in compounds.
According to the degree of motivation compound words can be motivated, partially motivated and non-motivated.
Motivated compounds are those whose meanings are the sum of meanings of their components: blackboard, classroom. These compounds represent ones whose meanings can really be described as the sum of their constituent meanings.
Partially motivated compounds are those in which one of the components has changed its meaning: chatter-box, not a box but a person and lady-killer kills no one but is merely a man who fascinates women. In such compounds the meanings of the whole cannot be defined as the sum of the constituent meanings. This process of change of meaning has gone so far that the meaning of one or both constituents is no longer in the least associated with the current meaning of the corresponding free form, and the speech community accepts such illogical word groups as white blackbird, pink bluebells and so on. And non-motivated compounds are those in which neither of the elements preserves its meaning:
ladybird is not a bird, but insect, bluebottle may denote both a flower and an insect but never a bottle, tallboy not a boy but a tall piece of furniture.
Compound words can be further classified from the functional point of view. Functionally compounds are viewed as words belonging to different parts of speech. The bulk of modern English compounds belong to nouns and adjectives:
hot-dog, slow-coach, worldold. Adverbs and connectives are represented by an insignificant number of words: outside. Composition in verbs is not productive either: to rough-house, to backbite.
In the English language compound words can be graded according to frequency in the following way: nouns – adjectives – verbs. In the Ukrainian
language the scheme will be the following; adjectives – nouns – verbs.
