In terms of structure, distinction will be made between:

a) compounding by juxtaposition, e.g. blackboard, blackberry, ta­ble-linen, etc ;

b) compounding by means of the linking element o, e.g. Anglo-Saxon, Afro-Asian, gasometer, speedometer, etc

There is also a small group of English morphological compounds with the linking element s, such as craftsman, tradesman, sportsman.

c) derivational compounds coined with the help of the productive adjective-forming suffix -ed, such as: blue-eyed, kind-hearted, light-minded, long-tailed, long-bearded, etc.

The other frequently used line of classification concerns the rela­tion of compounds as a whole to its constituents. One can often apply to compounds the distinction between endocentric and exocentric con­structions which we meet in syntax. Compounds with two constituent elements, the determination and the determinant are endocentric, e.g. bedroom, madman, blackboard, etc Since a blackboard is a kind of board, and a bedroom is a kind of room we may say that these com­pounds have the same function as their head member; they are endo­centric

On the other hand, in whitewash and whitecap the resultant com­pound belongs to the form-class of no immediate constituent; they are exocentric. Examples are: pickpocket, overall. A pickpocket is neither a pick nor a pocket, an overall is neither over, nor all.

In such cases the determinatum lies outside the combination and is only implicitly understood, but not formally expressed.

Among exocentric compounds we also find the so-called bahuvrihi compounds denoting a person, animal or thing characterized by what is expressed in the compound.

Thus, for instance, using metonymy we often name a person for some striking feature of his or her appearance. Compounds denoting persons have in most cases a depreciative humorous or ironical colour­ing. The following are among them: bigwig (= person of consequence), blackmouth (= slanderer), greenhorn (= a raw, inexperienced person), highbrow ( sl. a learned person, an intellectual).

Derivational compounds. In the coining of the derivational com­pounds two types of word-formation are at work. The essence of the derivational compounds will be clear if we compare them with deriva­tives and compounds proper that possess a similar structure. Take, for example, honeymooner and mill-owner. The ultimate constituents of all three are: noun stem + noun stem + -er. Analysing into immediate constituents, we see that the immediate constituents (IC's) of the com­pound mill-owner are two noun stems, the first simple, the second de­rived: mill + owner, of which the last, the determinatum, as well as the whole compound, names a person. For the word honeymooner no such division is possible, since mooner does not exist as a free stem. The IC's are honeymoon + -er, and the suffix -er signals that the whole de­notes a person: the structure is (honey + moon) + -er.

The process of word-building in these seemingly similar words is different: mill-owner is coined by composition, honeymooner- by deri­vation from the compound honeymoon. Honeymoon being a compound, honeymooner is a derivative.

Another frequent type of derivational compounds are possessive compounds of the type kind-hearted: adjective stem + noun stem + -ed. Its IC's are a noun phrase kind heart and the suffix -ed that unites the elements of the phrase turns them into the elements of a compound adjective. Similar examples are extremely numerous. Compounds of this type can be coined very freely to meet the requirements of different situations.

The first element may also be a noun stem: bow-legged, heart-shaped and very often a numeral: three-coloured.

The derivational compounds often become the basis of further derivation. Cf. war-minded - war-mindedness; whole-hearted - whole-heartedness.

The process is also called phrasal derivation: mini-skirt > mini-skirted, Romeo-and-Julietishness. These are nonce-words, with some ironic or jocular connotation.

Reduplicative compounds The group consists of reduplicative compounds that fall into three main subgroups: reduplicative com­pounds proper, ablaut combinations and rhyme combinations.

Reduplicative compounds proper are not restricted to the repetition of onomatopoeic stems with intensifying effect, as it is sometimes sug­gested. Actually it is a very mixed group containing usual free forms, onomatopoeic stems and pseudo- morphemes. Onomatopoeic repeti­tion exists but it is not very extensive, hush-hush 'secret', murmur ( a borrowing from French). In blah-blah 'nonsense', 'idle talk' the constitu­ents are pseudo-morphemes which do not occur elsewhere. Nursery words such as quack-quack 'duck', Pops-Pops 'father' and many other words belong to the same type.

Non-imitative words may be also used in reduplication and pos­sess then an ironical ring: pretty-pretty 'affectedly pretty', goody-goody 'sentimentally and affectedly good'. The instances are not numerous and occur only in colloquial speech.

Ablaut combinations. The reduplicative compounds resemble in sound form the rhyme combinations like razzle-dazzle and ablaut com­binations like sing-song. These two types, therefore, are treated by many as repetition with change of initial consonant or with vowel inter­ inter­change. Ablaut combinations are twin forms consisting of one basic morpheme (usually the second), sometimes a pseudo-morpheme which is repeated in the other constituent with a different vowel. The typical changes are [i] -[se]:chit-chat, 'gossip' (from chat 'easy familiar talk'), dilly-dilly 'loiter', knick-knock 'small articles of ornament', riff-raff 'the

mob', shilly-shally 'hesitate', zigzag (borrowed from French), and [i] - [o]: ding-dong (said of the sound of a bell), ping-pong 'table-tennis', tiptop 'first rate'. The free forms corresponding the basic morphemes are as a rule expressive words denoting sound of movement.

Both groups are based on sound symbolism expressing polarity. With words denoting movement these words symbolize to and fro rhythm: criss-cross; the to and fro movement also suggests hesitation: shilly-shally (probably based on the question "Shall I?"); alternating noises: pitter-patter. The semantically predominant group are the words meaning idle talk: bibble-babble, chit-chat, clitter-clatter, etc.

Rhyme combinations. Rhyme combinations are twin forms consisting of two elements (most often pseudo-morphemes) which are joined to rhyme: flibberty-gibberty 'frivolous', harum-scarum 'disorganed', helter-skelter In disordered haste', lovey-dovey 'darling', mumbo-jumbo 'deliberate mystification, fetish'.

The choice of the basic sound cluster in some way or other is often not arbitrary but motivated, for instance, lovey-dovey is motivated in both parts, as well as willy-nilly. Hurry-scurry and a few other combina­tions are motivated in the first part, while the second is probably a blend if we take into consideration that in helter-skelter the second element is from obsolete skelt 'hasten'.

About 40% of these rhyme combinations ( a much higher percent­age than with the ablaut combinations)are not motivated: namby-pamby, razzle-dazzle. A few are borrowed: pow-wow 'a noisy assembly', mumbo-jumbo (from West African), but the type is purely English, and mostly modern.

The pattern is emotionally charged and chiefly colloquial, jocular, often sentimental in a babyish sort of way. The expressive character is mainly due to the effect of rhythm, rhyme and sound suggestiveness. It is intensified by endearing suffix -y, -sie and the jocular -ty, -dy. Semantically predominant in this group are words denoting disorder, trick­ery, teasing names for persons, and lastly some playful nursery words. ESaby-talk words are highly connotative because of their background.

The Historical development of English compounds. Com­pounding, one of the oldest methods of word-formation occurring in all Indo-European languages, is especially developed in Germanic lan­guages. English has made use of compounding in all periods of its exis­tence. Headache, heartache, rainbow, raindrop and many other com­pounds of the type noun stem + noun stem and its variant, such as manslaughter<OE manslasht with the deverbal noun stem for a second element, go back to Old English. To the oldest layer belong also the ad­jective stem + noun stem compounds: holiday, sweetmeat, and so on.

Some compounds (among them all those listed above) preserve their type in present-day English, others have undergone phonetic changes due to which their stems ceased to be homonymous to the cor­responding free forms, so that the compounds themselves were turned into root words.

In English, when a morpheme becomes the constituent of a com­pound, this does not affect its sound pattern. Exceptions to this rule sig­nify therefore that the formation cannot be regarded as a compound at the present stage of the language development, although it might have been the result of the compounding at some earlier stage. The degree of change can be very different. Sometimes the com­pound is altered out of all recognition. Thus, in the name of the flower daisy, or in the word woman composition as the basis of the word's origin can be discovered by the etymological analysis only: daisy < OE dae3 es ea 3 e 'day's eye'; woman < OE wifmann, i.e. 'woman person'.

Demotivation (the Ukrainian term деетимологізація) is closely connected with simplification, but not identical with it: rather they are dif­ferent aspects of changes that may occur simultaneously. Demotivation is in fact etymological isolation when the word loses its ties with other word or words with which it was formerly connected and associated ceases to be understood as belonging to its original word-family. For in­stance, kidnap' steal (a child) or carry off a person by illegal practice' lit­erally means ' to seize a young goat'. The second syllable is from an obsolete word nap, probably closely related to nab (a slang word for 'ar­rest'). In present-day English all associations with goats or nabbing are forgotten, the word is isolated from its etymological relatives and func­tions as a simple sign.