Compound Words and Word Formation in English and Italian, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Compound Words and Word Formation in English and Italian e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! While in derivation you combined a root with bound elements. COMPOSITION > you combined two free elements/ two words that already exist in the language. In combined them you create a new word > a new meaning > called COMPUND OR COMPUND WORD EX: ICECREM, BOYFRIENDE, BEDROOM, SKYSCRAPER COMPOUND > is the combination of two free roots. < share special SYNTACTIC and SEMANTIC characteristics SYNTATIC FEATURES > from a syntactic view point you may write in English compounds as a single word or as two words._ EX: ICECREAM, ICE CREAM, ICE-CREAM No matter the way you write them because they are semantically considered as a unique element/lexeme; this is why even if you write them as two single words they cannot be internally modified. So, the plural of ICECREAM is ICECREAMS and not *ICES CREAMS. 1. They do not accept internal modification. 2. You can combine any part of speech/ any word class N+N; N+V; N+A; PREP+N; A+V... 3. Any compound has a HEAD > the strongest syntactic element within the pattern. In English this strongest syntactic element is usually in the right position (RIGHTMOST) and any modifiers come before. ENGLISH > HEAD FINAL LANGUAGE. EX: A RED T-SHIRT/ A RED BRICK BUILDING ITALIAN > HEAD INITIAL LANGUAGE EX: una maglietta rossa/ un palazzo di mattoni rossi This difference in the syntactic order of the two languages is also reflected in the order of elements within a compound. So, in ITALIAN compound are head initial, in ENGLISH compound are head final. The basic structure of a compound is to attach different roots, but you may also have inflectional affixes (if you pluralize the compound Ex: ICECREAM >ICECREAMS) and optionally a derivational affixes. Examples of compound roots + roots that also may contains a derivational suffix. N+N =N PREP+N = N ESEMPI SLIDE N+V=V Generally speaking, the head determines/is responsible the word class of the compound word. Some exceptions may occur >EX: SUNRISE N+V= N HANGOVER V+PREP = N SEMANTIC FEATURES > From a semantic viewpoint compounds are classified according to 4 parameters: TRANSPARENT VS OPAQUE ENDOCENTRIC VS EXOCENTRIC A compound is either transparent or opaque in meaning. A compound is either endocentric or exocentric according to the nature of the head ( if the head is only a syntactic instrument or also a semantic one) 1. TRANSPARENT> a compound is transparent when you know the meanings of the two roots/constituents, you combined the two meanings together and you get the meaning of the compound. A WORD IS CLEARLY ANALYZABLE. EX: AIRMAIL = is mail that travel throw air EX: ARMCHAIR = is a chair you can lay also your arms on 2. OPAQUE > a compound is opaque when even if you know the means of the two roots/constituents, the compound means something else. The meaning of the compound is not the result of the sum of the two meanings of the two roots. EX: BUSYBODY = IMPICCIONE busy = occupato body =corpo EX: BLACKMAIL = RICATTO black= nero mail=posta 3. ENDOCENTRIC > when the head gives me the idea of the semantic field which that compound is used. Endocentric compound answer “yes” to the question “Is a type of...? EX: ARMACHAIR is a type of chair 4. EXOCENTRIC > from the grammatical head of the compound it is not possible to predict the semantic meaning of the compound (the semantic head of the compound is somewhere else, “outside”) EX: BLACKMAIL is not a type of mail/ not a type of black EX: BUSYBODY is not a type of body EX: ICECREAM = ghiaccio panna is not a type of cream These four parameters can be combined: