- •What Is Lexicology?
- •1.1 Definition of Lexicology
- •The Structure of the English Lexicon
- •2.1 Words and their Associative Fields
- •2.2 Word Families
- •2.3 Word Classes
- •2.4 Semantic, or Lexical, Fields
- •Synchronistic and Diachronistic Approaches to the Structure of the English Vocabulary
- •2.2 English Lexemes of Native Origin
- •2.3 Borrowed, or Loan, Lexemes
- •2.3.1 Borrowings from Latin
- •2.3.2 Scandinavian Borrowings
- •2.3.3 Loans from French
- •2.3.4 Spanish Loanwords
- •2.3.5 Borrowings from Italian
- •2.3.6 Loans from Dutch and German
- •2.3.7 Borrowings from Slavic, Hungarian, and Turkish
- •Classification of Borrowings according to the Degree of Assimilation
- •2.5 Etymological Doublets
- •2.6 Folk Etymology
- •The Word
- •3.1 Defining a Word
- •3.2 Morphological Structure of Words
- •3.2.1 Word Structure
- •3.2.2 Stems
- •3.2.3 Types of affixes
- •3.2.4 Derivational and Functional Affixes
- •Inflection of Derived or Compound Words
- •3.3 Cliticization
- •3.4 Internal Change/Alternation
- •3.5 Suppletion
- •3.6 Reduplication
- •Word Formation
- •4.1 Derivation
- •V ? Athe act of X’ing
- •V ? Vnot X
- •4.1.1 Types of Derivational Affixes
- •4.3.1 Classification of Compounds
- •4.3.2 Endocentric and Exocentric Compounds
- •4.4 Reduplication
- •4.5 Conversion
- •4.6 Blending
- •4.7 Backformation
- •4.8 Clipping
- •4.9 Acronyms and Abbreviations
- •Semantics
- •5.1 Types of Semantics
- •5.2 Linguistic Sign
- •5.3 Denotation
- •5.4 Connotation
- •5.5 Reference
- •5.6 Sense
- •5.7 Semantics and Change of Meaning
- •5.9 Sense Relations
- •5.9.1 Similarity of Sense
- •5.9.2 Oppositeness of Sense
- •5.9.3 Meaning Categories: Hyponymy
- •5.9.4 Meronymy
- •5.9.5 Related Meanings
- •5.9.6 Different Meanings: Homonymy
- •Homonyms
- •Homophones homographs homonyms proper
- •Phraseology
- •6.1 Definition
- •6.2 Classification of phraseologisms
- •6.3 The Origin of Phraseological Units
- •6.3.1 Native Phraseological Units
- •6.3.2 Borrowed Phraseological Units
- •6.4 Semantic Structure of Phraseological Units
- •6.5 Semantic Relations of Phraseological Units
- •6.5.1 Similarity of Sense
- •6.5.2 Oppositeness of Sense
- •Major Differences between American and British variants of the English Language
- •7.1 Differences in Vocabulary
- •7.2 Spelling Differences
- •7.3 Grammatical Differences
- •Lexicography
- •I need to add Types of Dictionaries
4.3.1 Classification of Compounds
As we discussed earlier, compounds consist of more than one root, but very often these roots do not belong to the same word class. Since the last element of a compound carries the lexical meaning, it also carries the grammatical meaning. As a general rule, the word class of the last element determines the class of the compound. Therefore, we classify compounds according to the word class: noun compounds, verb compounds, adjective compounds, adverb compounds, and special noun compounds.
Noun compounds are the ones whose first component belongs to any word class, e.g., a noun, an adjective, a verb, or an adverb, but the last element is a noun. Examples of noun compounds are the following:
N + N (modifier—head): doorbell, moonbeam, birdbrain, egghead, and eyewitness
Adj + N (modifier—head): blackboard, blackbird, highball, bluebonnet, and greenhouse
V + N (verb—object): daredevil, pickpocket, killjoy, and breakwater
Adv + N (not syntactic): afterthought Verb compounds are the ones whose first component belongs to any word class, e.g., a noun, an adjective, a verb, or an adverb, but the last element is a verb. Examples of verb compounds are the following:
N + V (Object—Verb): brainwash, browbeat
V + V (co-ordinate): dropkick, freeze-dry
Adj + V (not syntactic): whitewash
Adv+ V (modifier—head): downgrade, undercut
Adjective compounds are the ones whose first component belongs to any word class, except a verb, but the last element is an adjective. Verbs do not combine with adjectives. Examples of adjective compounds are the following:
N + Adj (not syntactic): seasick, snow-white
Adj+Adj (co—ordinate): metallic-green, blue-green
Adv+Adj (modifier—head): nearsighted
Adverb compounds are not numerous. The combination of two adverbs constitutes an adverb compound: throughout, into.
The last group contains special noun compounds: V + Adv=Noun compound. This class of compounds is the only one which does not follow the general rule. In this case neither of the components determines the word class of the compound. The noun compound drive-in is formed from the verb drive and the adverb in.
4.3.2 Endocentric and Exocentric Compounds
Compounds express a wide range of meaning relationships. Leonard Bloomfield offers a classification based on the “relation of the compound as a whole to its members” (1935, p.235). He makes the distinction between “endocentric and exocentric compounds.” Id. at 235. He borrows these terms from syntax and applies them to compounds. Most of the compounds are endocentric. A compound denotes a subtype of concept derived from its head, which is usually the last element of the compound, e.g., steamboat means a boat driven by steam power. “Headedness is shown most clearly by hyponymy: the compound as a whole is a hyponym of its head” (Bauer, n.d.). A compound word in which one member identifies the general class to which the meaning of the entire word belongs is called an endocentric compound (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, & Rees-Miller, 2001, p.713). An exocentric compound does not have a head. A compound whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of its parts (e.g., redneck) is called an exocentric compound. However, as Bloomfield notes, there are some compounds which can be endocentric and exocentric, depending on the meaning realized in the sentence. A good example is bittersweet. This compound is formed of two adjectives; therefore, it functions as an adjective endocentric compound, but it may not be a case if bittersweet is used to denote a poisonous Eurasian woody vine (Solanum dulcamara) or a North American poisonous woody vine (Celastrus scandens). In this instance, bittersweet functions as a noun; therefore, it is exocentric because “as a noun, it differs in grammatical function from the two adjective members” (Bloomfield, 1935, p. 135). Another example is bluebonnet. It is an endocentric compound if it denotes a wide flat round cap of blue wool formerly worn in Scotland. However, when it denotes one that wears such a cap or when it denotes the official Texas state flower, then it is exocentric. As it is seen in the above examples, when a compound functions the same as the head member, it is still considered as an exocentric compound because it is not a hyponym of its head. In the example of redneck, neck is the head component; however, in modern usage redneck is not a type of neck but a stereotyped person with rural, right-wing associations.