'blue-jacket (sailor),' red-? coat (a British soldier of old times), 'baby-sitter. The double stress can serve as a criterion in distinguishing compound words and free word-groups because the latter are characterised by the level stress. p align="justify">) Compound words of the third type as well as word-groups possess the level stress, cf. 'Black-' eye В«синецьВ» - 'black' eyes; the level stress characterises compound adjectives: 'easy-' going, 'new-' born, etc.not all the types of compound words can be distinguished from word-groups on the basis of the phonetical criterion; this criterion is most suitable for the first type, ie classical compounds characterised by the unity stress. The unity stress shows that compound words are characterised by phonetical inseparability.three types of compound words are distinguished. p align="justify">) Classical compounds are characterised by solid spelling, eg blackboard.
) Compounds of the second group are spelt with a hyphen, eg blue-jacket, red-coat, baby-sitter.
) Compounds of the third group are spelt with a break like phrases: loud speaker, etc.the criterion of English spelling is not very much reliable. Some units have two or three graphical variants, cf. headmaster - head-master - head master; Thank you - thank-you - thankyou. Only compounds of the first group (classical compounds) are characterised by graphical inseparability. The analysis of structural, phonetical and graphical inseparability brings us to the conclusion that the most reliable criterion of distinguishing between compound words and word-groups is the criterion of structural inseparability.problem of distinguishing between compound words and word-groups is still more complicated due to the productivity of the patterns N + N and V + postposition.modern English many new units are built after the pattern N + N; they are spelt differently: moon walk В«вихід на поверхню місяцяВ», spacewoman, catwalk В«подіум для моделейВ» , King size, etc. The question arises whether units of the type silk dress, geography teacher are words or phrases. Similar questions boil down to the so-called В«stone wallВ» problem. Linguists came to the conclusion that the borderline between nominal compounds and nominal phrases is not distinct. Diachronically nominal phrases develop unity of meaning and change into compound words. Many compound words came into use as phrases, eg God be with you> good-bye.built after the pattern V + postposition (give up, give in, lie back В«відхилитися в крісліВ», fall off В«звалюватисяВ» [наприклад, про черевику], act out [the dialogue] , try out В«випробуватиВ» [a new method on smb.], etc.) also present a certain difficulty as they display semantic unity like compound words but possess features of a word-group. To answer the question whether units of this type are compounds or phrases we must see if they are characterised by inseparability. The analysis shows that
) they are not characterised by graphical inseparability because they are spelt as two words;
) they are not characterised by phonetical inseparability because each of the two components is stressed: 'put' on, 'come' in;
) they are not characterised by structural inseparability because
two components can be separated, cf. think over the problem, but think it over; Take off the coat, but Take it off;
grammatical inflexion also separates the two components, cf. He gives up ..., He looked up ..., but: He whitewashed ...
The consequent conclusion is that units of give in, put on type are not compound words but phrases.
Classification of compounds.
Compound words can be classified according to various principles.
Grammatical classification includes the following groups:
compound verbs (to whitewash);
compound nouns (sweet-tooth);
compound adjectives (snow-white);
compound numerals (twenty-two).
Structural classification includes the following groups:
compounds built by means of the juxtaposition of stems.
Juxtaposition of stems is joining two or more stems without any linking element. There are four kinds of juxtaposition of stems in a compound word:
- juxtaposition of non-derived stems (snow-white, heartburn В«печіяВ»);
- juxtaposition of a non-derived and a derived s...
