COMPONDS PROPER AND

DERIVATIONAL COMPOUNDS. MEANS

OF LINKING TWO STEMS IN A
COMPOUND

by: Vagif Fatullayev

Word-formation

 process of creating new words from

resources of a particular language
according to certain semantic and
structural patterns existing in the
language
Main types of word-formation

word-formation

shortening and
word-derivation word-composition
abbreviation

affixation

conversion
Derivational compounds

Derivational compounds or compound-derivatives like

long-legged do not fit the definition of compounds as
words consisting of more than one free stem, because
their second element (-legged) is not a free stem.

For example: kind-hearted, old-timer,

schoolboyishness, teenager and etc.
Derivational Pattern

 is a meaningful combination of stems and affixes

 regularly reproduced
 indicates the grammatical part-of-speech meaning

e.g. verbal stem + -ee = noun

examine + -ee = examinee (As a noun examinee
is the one who is examined)
addressee, employee, divorcee
Compound Words

 consist of at least two stems which occur in

the language as free forms
e.g. a brother-in-law, airbus, snow-white
Peculiarities of English Compounds

 all components of compound words are free

forms, can be used independently with a
distinct meaning of their own
e.g. motherland, day-off, everybody
 usually are two-stem compounds
 attributive compounds e.g. last-minute
changes, four-year course
Ways of forming compound words

 reduplication – e.g. too-too, hush-hush

 partial conversion from word-groups
e.g. can-do can do
 backformation from compound nouns and word-
groups e.g. to baby-sit baby-sitter
 vowel interchange (ablaut compounds) e.g. chit-
chat , tip-top, riff-raff
 rhyme compounds – e.g. willy-nilly, hoity-toity etc.
Classifications of Compounds

 according to the parts of speech

 according to the joining element
 according to the structure of compounds
 according to the degree of semantic
independence
 according to the order of components
 according to the motivation of the meaning of
compounds