COMPOUNDS

and BLENDS
GROUP 4
WHAT ARE COMPOUNDS?

Words formed by combining roots, and the

much smaller category of phrasal words,
that is items that have the internal structure
of phrases but function syntactically as
words.
Three forms of
compound words:

Closed form

Hyphenated
form

Open form
Closed form
The words are melded together.

firefly keyboard
secondhand redhead
softball crosstown
notebook childlike
makeup
Hyphenated form

The words are separated with hyphens.

mass-produced over-the-counter
daughter-in-law six-pack
master-at-arms six-year-old
Open form

The words are simply separated with a

space apart from each other.

post office full moon

real estate half sister
middle class attorney general
Compounds Vs.
Phrases
Compounds Phrases
A combination of two Similarities Free roots are joined
or more free roots that in a single syntactic
acts as a single word unit but remain
Can be written in as a Consist of more than
distinct words
single word, hyphenated one free root and
or not maybe semantically The order of
The order of elements opaque elements in a
in a compound tends
to be nonliteral
phrase is literal
Compounds Vs.
Phrases
Compounds Phrases
Externally modified (at Similarities Internally modified
a single word (at the single word
boundary) Cohesive semantics boundaries)
They move a sentence They move in the
as a whole Equally unified
sentence in parts
notions
Carry only one
Carry more than
primary stress
one primary stress
Internal Coherence

Singular Plural

Compound manhole manholes

Phrase man-of-war men-of-war
External Mobility

Compound Phrase

Cross-examination Check out

The lawyer conducted the He checked out the witness.

cross-examination.

The cross-examination was He checked the witness out.

conducted by the lawyer.
Stress

Compound Phrase

stónewàll stóne wáll

sáfeguàrd sáfe guárd

bréakdòwn bréak dówn

The Semantics and the
Syntax of Compound

Both the semantics and the syntax of

compound are complex.
The Semantics of
Compounds

are not simply a sum of the meaning of the

parts; that is, if we know the meaning
of the two roots, we cannot necessarily
predict the meaning of the compound.
The Semantics of Compounds
The various ways in which the meanings of
the roots of these compounds interact with
home:

homeland land which is one’s home

homemade something which is made at home

homebody someone who stays at home

homestead a place which is a home

homework work which is done at home

homerun a run to home

A person who makes (cares for) the
homemaker home
The Syntax of
Compounds
Any combination of parts of speech seems
possible, with almost any part of speech resulting.
One principle which holds is that the word class of
the compound is determined by the head of the
compound, or its rightmost member, whereas the
leftmost member carries the primary stress. The
only exception to this rule is a converted compound.
The Syntax of Compounds

Converted Compounds

Prt + V > N outcast, downpour, outbreak, offspring (converted

prefixed or compound V)
V + Prt > N put-down, drop-out, lockout, sit-in, fallout, runaway
(converted phrasal V)
N+V>N bloodshed, bus-stand, sunrise, handshake, nosebleed
(converted V)
A+N>V strong-arm, blacklist, brownbag, mainstream
(converted N)
The Syntax of Compounds

Converted Compounds

N+N>A seaside, coffee-table, back-street (converted N)

A+N>A redneck, blue-collar, solid-state (converted N)

V + Prt > A tow-away, see-through, wrap-around (converted

phrasal V)
The Syntax of
Compounds

In addition to combining two roots, compounds may

contain derivational or inflectional affixes; when the
present or past participle inflectional suffix
(represented by -ing and –en)
The Syntax of Compounds

Compounds containing affixes

N + V + -ing > A man-eating, seed-bearing, heart-breaking, life-giving

A + V + -ing > A easygoing, hard-hitting, good-looking, quick-cooking

N + V + -en > A manmade, hand-woven, housebroken, crest-fallen

A + V + -en > A high-born, widespread, far-fetched, new-found

The Syntax of Compounds
Compounds involving
conversions and back formations

N+V>V babysit, carbon-date, head-hunt, skydive, housekeep

(backformations)

A+V>V free-associate, double-book, fine-tune, whitewash

(backformations)
Syntactic Patterns of Compounds
Compound Nouns

Nouns formed by compounding

N N > N
air plane airplane

V N > N
fast food fast-food
Syntactic Patterns of Compounds

Compound Nouns

The commonest type of compound in English.

The main stress of these words is on the left.

Most of these words are right-headed.

Compound Nouns

Examples of right-headed
compound nouns:

hair (noun) + net (noun) > hairnet (noun)

play (verb) + time (noun) > playtime (noun)

black (adjective) + board (noun) > blackboard (noun)

out (preposition) + post (noun) > outpost (noun)

 Compound Nouns

Two kinds of Noun-Noun (NN)

Compounds:
Primary or Root Compound
• A noun-noun (NN) compound, in which the right-hand noun is
not derived from a verb and whose interpretation is therefore
not precisely predictable on purely linguistic basis.
Examples:

hairnet butterfly net mosquito net

 Compound Nouns

Two kinds of Noun-Noun (NN)

Compounds:

Secondary or Verbal Compound

• The first element is interpreted as the object of the verb
contained within the second.

Examples:

crime prevention wish fulfillment hair restorer

Syntactic Patterns of Compounds
Compound Verbs

Verbs formed by compounding

N V > V
sky dive skydive

A V > V
high light highlight
Syntactic Patterns of Compounds
Compound Adjectives

Adjectives formed by compounding

N A > A
oil rich oil-rich

A A > A
squeaky clean squeaky-clean
Headed and Headless Compounds
Headless Compounds

• The word class of a compound is not determined

by any element inside them.
• Grammarians call it, exocentric, that is, having a
‘center’ outside themselves.

Examples:
Noun + Noun (NN) Compounds

faintheart loudmouth redshank

 Headless Compounds

Examples:
Verb + Noun (VN) Compounds

pickpocket killjoy cutpurse

Compounds Nouns

take-off sell-out wrap-up

Compounds Adjectives

over-budget offshore underweight

Headed and Headless Compounds

Headed Compounds

• Sometimes called endocentric

• Regarded as having an interval ‘center’

Examples:
Compound Nouns

lipstick crybaby mainland

 Headed Compounds
Examples:

Compounds Verbs

babysit fine-tune overeducate

Compounds Adjectives

icy-cold childproof seasick

Problems in the Analysis of
Compounds
Phrasal Verbs

They are made up of a verb and a particle or, sometimes, two

particles. The particle often changes the meaning of the verb.

A problem for the differentiation of compounds

and phrases is the phrasal verb.

• Older English preferred prefixed verbs such as, forget, understand,

withdraw, befriend, overrun, outdo, offset, and uproot.
• Modern English favors verbs followed by post verbal particles such
as run over, lead on, use up, stretch out, and put down.
 Phrasal Verbs

Semantic coherence of phrasal verbs

Examples:

break out — erupt, escape put off — delay

count out — exclude egg on — incite

think up — imagine put out — extinguish

take off — depart, remove put off — postpone

 Phrasal Verbs

The meaning of the combination of verb

and particle in the phrasal verb may be
opaque

Examples:

burn vs. burn down, up, on, out work vs. work out, up

eat vs. eat up, through wash vs. wash up, down, out

pay vs. pay up, off read vs. read through

 Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs exhibit internal

modification, carry two primary stresses,
and behave syntactically like phrases

Examples:
He burned down the house.

He burned the house down.

He burned the house right down.

*He burned right down the house.

*He burned right the house down.

Problems in the Analysis of
Compounds
Phrase Compounds

Words that are generally written as

compounds and have semantic unity.

A further problem in the analysis of

compounds is phrase compounds

• They are usually internally modified like a phrase.

• When they are inflected for the possessive,
however, they seem to show external modification
like a compound.
Phrase Compounds

A further problem in the analysis of

compounds is phrase compounds

• Some phrases had internal modification in the

possessive
• It is possible to add the possessive ending to an
entire phrase, a construction called the “group
genitive”.
• Phrase compounds seem to be phrasal in nature.
 Phrase Compounds

Examples:

ladies-in-waiting Internally modified

son-in-law’s (new car) Externally modified

Internal modification in the

kings crown of England possessive
Adding of possessive ending to an
my neighbor next door’s dog entire phrase (“group genitive”)
Problems in the Analysis of
Compounds
Amalgamated Compounds

These are words which in origin are compounds, but which in

the course of time have become fused and no longer separable
into two distinct parts.
Examples: barn < bere ‘barley’ + ærn ‘place’

halibut < ha ̄lig ‘holy’ + butte ‘flatfish’

garlic < gar ‘spear’+ le ̄ac ‘leek’

orchard < ort (Lt. hortus) ‘garden’ + geard ‘yard’

Problems in the Analysis of
Compounds
Amalgamated Compounds

These are words which in origin are compounds, but which in

the course of time have become fused and no longer separable
into two distinct parts.
Examples: cobweb < coppe ‘kind of spider’ + web

midrif < mid + hrif ‘belly’

midwife < mid ‘with’ + wı ̄f ‘wife’

mildew < mele ‘honey’ + dew

Distinction between
compounding and derivation
The distinction between compounding and
derivation can also be problematical from a
historical perspective, since many suffixes
and prefixes derive from originally free roots.

Examples: -hood comes from Old English word ha ̄d meaning

‘condition’

prefixes such as over-, under-, out-, or in- (in over-skilled,

underpayment, outcast, infield)
BLENDS
BLENDS

A blend involves two processes of word formation,

compounding and clipping. Two free words are
combined and blended, usually by clipping off the
end of the first word and the beginning of the
second word, although sometimes one or the other
morpheme is left intact. Blends are sometimes
called “portmanteau” words.
Types of Blending

Morphotactics

Morphological

Morphosemantics
Types of Blending

Morphotactics

Morphotactics represent the ordering restrictions in place on

the ordering of morphemes. Etymologically, it can be translated
as "the set of rules that define how morphemes (morpho) can
touch (tactics) each other“.

Blends may be classified morphotactically into two kinds:

total and partial.
Types of Blending

Morphotactics

Total In a total blend, each of the words creating the

Blends blend is reduced to a mere splinter.

Partial
In a partial blend, one entire word is concatenated
Blends with a splinter from another.
Types of Blending
Morphological
Morphological relating to the forms of
words, in particular inflected forms.

Morphologically, blends fall into two kinds:

overlapping and non-overlapping

Overlapping blends are Non-overlapping blends

those for which the (also called substitution
ingredients' consonants, blends) have no overlap,
vowels or even syllables whether phonological or
overlap to some extent. orthographic
Types of Blending

Morphological

Non-overlapping Blends

Examples:

California + Mexico → Calexico

beautiful + delicious → beaulicious

Types of Blending

Morphosemantics

Morphosemantics is generally a knowledge in linguistics,

pertaining to morphological analysis combined with a semantic
interpretation of words.

Morphosemantically, blends fall into two kinds:

attributive and coordinate
Types of Blending

Morphosemantics

Attributive Attributive blends are those in which one of the

Blends ingredients is the head and the other is attributive.

Coordinate Coordinate blends combine two words having

Blends equal status, and have two heads.
Types of Blending

Morphosemantics

Two kinds of coordinate blends are

particularly conspicuous:

those that combine gigantic + enormous → ginormous

(near-) synonyms insinuation + innuendo → insinuendo

those that combine transmitter + receiver → transceiver

(near-) opposites friend + enemy → frenemy
BLENDS
Examples:

sm(oke) + (f)og > smog sky + (hi)jacker > skyjacker

mo(tor) + (ho)tel > motel motor + (caval)cade > motorcade

spr(ay) + (tw)ig > sprig perma(nent) + frost > permafrost

tw(ist) + (wh)irl > twirl docu(mentary) + drama > docudrama

trans(fer) + (re)sistor > transistor para(chutist) + trooper > paratrooper

CONCLUSION
REFERENCES:
Brinton, L. J. (2000). The structure of modern English: A linguistic
introduction (Vol. 1). John Benjamins Publishing.
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). Introduction to English Morphology: words and their
structure. Edinburgh university press.
Blend word: Retrieved from
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blend_word?fbclid=IwAR1qQKv_IOBQZl6OajnTQsV
rvlBGCFbK45omZVIPIKCRIOYG1wCKIhLP9Cc
Blending as a Type of Word-Formation in English: (2013). Retrieved from
https://www.grin.com/document/232366?fbclid=IwAR1qHMUxFdGRmMFs00GZZzT
O_-1miWKcN6rP4idZJsCaM1LZ7rS7feE-KIU
Compound Words: Retrieved from
http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/compounds.htm?fbclid=IwAR0wfdJhJw2tLPe
CZcxWDZlMT_nFhLsQp0GJ4J-H9qYE1eESK89I0A-hQzQ
GROUP 4 PRESENTERS:

DEL, FIERRO, EUGENE EDWARD

LANDIZA, FLORDELISA A.
TOMALONDOG, AL RAYAN
OMANDAC, SAMANTHA ANDREA
PEPITO, JOICE ANN