Compounds and heads

what is inflection?

inflection = the morphology involved in creating different forms of the same lexeme

a change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender

A lexeme can…

take on different forms depending on the larger context.

we know the difference between lexemes by the type of word like verb or noun

what is derivation?

the use of affixes to create new lexemes

what is the difference between derivation and inflection?

• inflection is required in a given grammatical context

• inflection is more persuasive than derivation

• inflection is about different forms of the same lexeme, while derivation is about the relation between different lexemes (a word and its relatives)

• inflectional suffixes attach after derivational ones

what are compounds?

compounds = words containing more than one root

e.g beehive, placename, heat-sensitive

compounds dont have to be single blocks, they can be in different forms

e.g skyscraper (1 word), ice cream (2 words that have a meaning but seperate), stir-fry (hypenated)

spelling doesnt make a difference

A compound is a lexeme

Compounds are entries in the dictionary

compounds Vs phrases

• compounds have the stress on the first base (word)

• phrases have the stress on the second base (word) / lexical item

• they also have a difference in meaning, they are described in different ways, meaning is compositional

• e.g blackboard → board for writing on / black board → board that is black, gréenhouse → house for growing plants / green hóuse → house that is green

• the meaning of compounds tend to be unpredictable

what type of lexical categories are there for compounds?

• the most common type of compound in English are nouns. It is not the case that compounds are only nouns even if there are more compoiunds that are nouns

• nouns → ice cream

• adjectives → credit worthy

• verbs → brainwash

• adverbs → clockwise

compound verb examples

• stir-fry (verb+verb)

• dry-clean (adjective+verb)

• machine-wash (noun+verb)

• underestimate (prepostion+verb)

• these are all different lexical categories

what is a head in grammar?

• The base that gives the compound its main meaning and lexical category

• Base on the right = head

• in compound verbs, the rightmost element is a verb, this is the compound of the head. e.g dry-clean and hand-wash (the verbs are the head)

explain heads in grammar in more detail

• the head provides the core meaning of the compound, its lexical category and morphological and syntatic properties

• not all compounds have a head

• the head provides the core meaning

• english compounds are right-headed (in other languages compounds are left headed) e.g hand-wash = a type of washing/ washing by hand, mountain bike = a type of bike

compound adjective examples

sky-high = noun +adjective

red-hot = adjective + adjective

underfull = preposition +adjective

what is the most common type of compound adjective

the most common type is over + adjective e.g overfull, overrated, overprotective

(note that some of the adjectival bases are derived from verbs e.g over-rate-d, over-protect-ive

example of compound nouns

nail clipper = noun + noun - type of clipper

whiteboard = adjective + noun - board for writing on

playground = verb + noun - ground for playing

overcoat = preposition + noun - type of coat

shoe box (type of box), coffee cup (type of cup), driving license (type of license), fish tank (type of tank)

remember: its stressed on the left, and head is on the right

the left base describes the function of the right base

what is the difference between primary and secondary compounds?

primary - cant figure out the meaning e.g hairnet - have to know its a hair net to keep our hair tidy

secondary - can figure out the meaning , -> Left - What we expect from the meaning of the word e.g song writer -> someone who makes songs

what is valence?

Valence words- how many other phrases to we need to make the structure happy (like what words require something after it of not).

what does arbitrary mean?

a random choice rather than a reason

what is endocentric

doesn’t have a head in

e. g turncoat (this is because it is not a type of coat)

e.g loud mouth → not a type of mouth

what is difference between endocentric and exocentric words?

Endocentric and exocentric are two types of compound words that differ in their structure and meaning.

Endocentric compounds have a head that determines the overall meaning of the compound, such as "blackbird" where "bird" is the head and "black" describes the type of bird.

Exocentric compounds do not have a head and the meaning of the compound is not determined by any one element, such as "redhead" where neither "red" nor "head" is the head of the compound.

what are blends?

when words have been merged and blended together to form a new word

e.g satnav, smog (smoke + fog)

they are phonetically reduced

what are acronyms?

acronyms = blends of the initial letters of the combining forms

e.g NATO → North Atlantic Treat Organization 4 root/bases in it

what are phrasal words?

they have the structure of phrases but they function as words

it behaves as single lexeme e.g jack-in-the-box

what are affixes?

Affixes are bound morphemes—such as prefixes like un- or suffixes like -ed—that attach to a root word to change its meaning or grammatical function.

what is the difference between acronyms and abbreviations?

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, while an acronym is a type of abbreviation that forms a new word from the initial letters of a phrase.

abbreviation example- Dr, Jan., Dec., Lb (pound)