3. Classification of compounds.
Compound words may be described from different points of view and consequently may be classified according to different principles. They may be viewed from the point of view of: 1) relations between components, 2) the part of speech to which the compound belongs; 3) the type of composition and the linking element, 4) the type of that are brought together to form a compound, 5) correlation between compounds and free phrases.
Classification from the point of view of general relationship and degree of semantic independence of components, the compound words fall into two classes:
a) coordinative (often termed copulative or additive),
b) subordinative (often termed determinative).
In c o o r d i n a t i v e compounds the two components are semantically equally important. Here we distinguish a) reduplicative compounds which are made up by the repetition of the same base, e.g., bye-bye, fifty-fifty; b) the compounds made by joining the phonically variated rhythmic twin forms, e.g., zig-zag, chit-chat, sing-song, helter-skelter, a walkie-talkie; c) additive compounds which are built on stems of the independently functioning words of the same part of speech, e.g., a queen-bee, an actor-manager, a secretary-stenographer.
In s u b o r d i n a t i v e compounds the components are neither structurally nor semantically equal in importance but are based on the domination of the head-member which is the second component. This second component influence the part-of-speech meaning of the whole compound, e.g., stone-deaf, age-long (adj), a baby-sitter, a wrist-watch (nouns).
According to the part of speech to which the compound belongs there are:
a) compound nouns within which we distinguish e n d o c e n t r i c compound nouns (the referent is named, by one of the elements, e.g., blackboard, bedroom, madman) and e x o c e n t r i c the combination of both elements names the referent, e.g., pickpocket a thief, dare-devil "a murderer", turncoat "a renegade";
b) compound verbs among which we distinguish verbs formed by means of conversion from the stems of compound nouns, e.g., to blackmail, to blacklist, to pinpoint, to nickname, to honeymoon and verbs formed by b a c k – f o r m a t i o n from the stems of compound nouns, e.g., to baby-sit (from baby-sitter), to stage-manage (stage-manager), to house-keep (house-keeping), to play-act (play-acting), to playact (play-acting).
They are often termed pseudo-compound verbs, because they are created as verbs not by the process of composition but by conversion and back-formation.
c) compound adjectives, e.g., snow-white, light-blue, peace-loving, hard-working, man-made, safety-tested, heart-broken, well-read.
According to the type of composition and the linking element the compounds may be classified into:
1) Words formed by merely one constituent after another in a definite order, which may be a s y n t a c t i c (the order of bases runs counter to the order in which the motivating words can be brought together under the rules of syntax of the language. E.g., adjectives cannot be modified by preceding adjectives, but – red-hot, bluish-black, pale-blue; noun modifiers are not placed before adjectives or participles, yet – oil-rich, rain-driven) and s y n t a c t i c (the components are placed in the order that resembles the order of words in free phrases, e.g., blue-bell, mad-doctor, blacklist, day-time).
2) Compound words whose components are joined together with a special linking element: a) Indo-European link vowel "o" (gasometer, speedometer, electro-dynamic, video-phone, video-disc); b) Latin link "i" (handicraft, tragicomic); c) OE Genetive case "s" (spokesman, towns-man, statesman, sportsman, saleswoman, bridesmaid); d) possessive case " s" (crow's feet – морщины у глаз; cat's paw – легкая рябь на воде; dog's nose – джин с пивом).
Compounds may also be classified according to the type of components that are brought together to make a compound. There are compounds proper and derivational compounds. C o m p o u n d s p r o p e r are formed by joining together bases built on the stems or on the word-forms of independently functioning words with or without the help of special linking element, e.g., door-step, age-long, babysitter, looking-glass, handiwork, sportsman. D e r i v a t i o n a l c o m p o u n d s , e.g., long-legged, three-cornered, differ from compounds proper in the nature of bases and their second component. The two components of the compounds are the suffix "-ed" meaning "having" and the base built on a free word-group "long legs".
According to the correlation between compounds and free word-groups it is possible to classify compounds into four major classes: adjectival-nominal, verbal-nominal, nominal and verb-adverb.
1. A d j e c t i v a l – n o m i n a l compounds have one following patterns: compound adjectives of n + a pattern (snow-white, age-long, care-free); compound adjectives of num + n pattern (two-day beard, a seven-day week); derivational compound adjectives of (a/n + n) + ed pattern (long-legged, bell-shaped, doll-faced).
2. V e r b a l – n o m i n a l compounds have one derivational structure n + nV, i.e. a combination of a noun-base with a deverbal suffixal noun-base (bottle-opener, stage-manager, peace-fighter, rocket-flying, office-management, price-reduction).
3. N o m i n a l compounds are nouns of highly productive derivational pattern n + n; both bases are simple stems (horse-race, pencil-case, windmill).
4. V e r b a 1 - a d v e r b i a l compounds are derivational nouns built with the help of conversion according to the pattern (v + adv) + conversion (a breakdown, a castaway, a runaway).