Cambridge University Press

978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding

Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

COMPOUNDS AND COMPOUNDING

Are compounds words or phrases – or are they neither, or both? How should
we classify compounds? How can we deal with the fact that the relationship
between the elements of sugar pill (‘pill made of sugar’) is different from that
in sea-sickness pill (‘pill to prevent sea-sickness’)? Are compounds a linguis-
tic universal? How much do languages vary in the way their compounds
work? Why do we need compounds, when there are other ways of creating
the same meanings? Are so-called neoclassical compounds like photograph
really compounds? Based on more than forty years’ research, this controver-
sial new book sets out to answer these and many other questions.

laurie bauer is Emeritus Professor at the School of Linguistics and

Applied Language Studies at the University of Wellington, Victoria. He has
published many works on morphology including English Word-formation
(Cambridge, 1983), Introducing Linguistic Morphology (2003) and Morpho-
logical Productivity (Cambridge, 2001).

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN LINGUISTICS

General Editors: p. austin, b. comrie,
s. crain, w. dressler, c. j. ewen, r. lass,
d. lightfoot, k. rice, i. roberts, s. romaine,
n. v. smith

Compounds and Compounding

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

In this series
116 gillian catriona ramchand: Verb Meaning and the Lexicon: A First Phase
Syntax
117 pieter muysken: Functional Categories
118 juan uriagereka: Syntactic Anchors: On Semantic Structuring
119 d. robert ladd: Intonational Phonology (second edition)
120 leonard h. babby: The Syntax of Argument Structure
121 b. elan dresher: The Contrastive Hierarchy in Phonology
122 david adger, daniel harbour and laurel j. watkins: Mirrors and
Microparameters: Phrase Structure beyond Free Word Order
123 niina ning zhang: Coordination in Syntax
124 neil smith: Acquiring Phonology
125 nina topintzi: Onsets: Suprasegmental and Prosodic Behaviour
126 cedric boeckx, norbert hornstein and jairo nunes: Control as Movement
127 michael israel: The Grammar of Polarity: Pragmatics, Sensitivity, and the Logic of
Scales
128 m. rita manzini and leonardo m. savoia: Grammatical Categories: Variation in
Romance Languages
129 barbara citko: Symmetry in Syntax: Merge, Move and Labels
130 rachel walker: Vowel Patterns in Language
131 mary dalrymple and irina nikolaeva: Objects and Information Structure
132 jerrold m. sadock: The Modular Architecture of Grammar
133 dunstan brown and andrew hippisley: Network Morphology: A Defaults-
Based Theory of Word Structure
134 bettelou los, corrien blom, geert booij, marion elenbaas and ans van
kemenade: Morphosyntactic Change: A Comparative Study of Particles and Prefixes
135 stephen crain: The Emergence of Meaning
136 hubert haider: Symmetry Breaking in Syntax
137 josé a. camacho: Null Subjects
138 gregory stump and raphael a. finkel: Morphological Typology: From Word to
Paradigm
139 bruce tesar: Output-Driven Phonology: Theory and Learning
140 asier alcázar AND mario saltarelli: The Syntax of Imperatives
141 misha becker: The Acquisition of Syntactic Structure: Animacy and Thematic
Alignment
142 martina wiltschko: The Universal Structure of Categories: Towards a Formal
Typology
143 fahad rashed al-mutairi: The Minimalist Program: The Nature and Plausibility
of Chomsky’s Biolinguistics
144 cedric boeckx: Elementary Syntactic Structures: Prospects of a Feature-Free Syntax
145 phoevos panagiotidis: Categorial Features: A Generative Theory of Word Class
Categories
146 mark baker: Case: Its Principles and Its Parameters
147 william bennett: The Phonology of Consonants: Dissimilation, Harmony and
Correspondence
148 andrea sims: Inflectional Defectiveness
149 gregory stump: Inflectional Paradigms: Content and Form at the Syntax-
Morphology Interface
150 rochelle lieber: English Nouns: The Ecology of Nominalization

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

151 john bowers: Deriving Syntactic Relations

152 ana teresa pérez-leroux, mihaela pirvulescu and yves roberge: Direct
Objects and Language Acquisition
153 matthew baerman, dunstan brown and greville corbett: Morphological
Complexity
154 marcel den dikken: Dependency and Directionality
155 laurie bauer: Compounds and Compounding
Earlier issues not listed are also available

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

COMPOUNDS AND
COMPOUNDING

LAURIE BAUER
Victoria University of Wellington

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA

477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
4843/24, 2nd Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi – 110002, India
79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108416030
DOI: 10.1017/9781108235679
© Laurie Bauer 2017
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2017
Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bauer, Laurie, 1949- author.
Title: Compounds and compounding / Laurie Bauer.
Description: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, [2017] |
Series: Cambridge Studies in Linguistics | Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016349 | ISBN 9781108416030 (Hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781108402552 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: English language–Compound words. | English language–Word formation. |
English language–Morphology. | Construction grammar. | Cognitive grammar. |
Linguistic universals.
Classification: LCC PE1175 .B28 2017 | DDC 425/.92–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016349
ISBN 978-1-108-41603-0 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-108-40255-2 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

Contents

Figures page x
Tables xi
Preface and Acknowledgements xiii
Abbreviations and Notational Conventions xv

1 Introduction 1

2 Compounds and Words 3

2.1 Introduction 3
2.2 Words, Words, Words 3
2.3 Orthographic Words 4
2.4 Phonological Words 7
2.4.1 Segmental Criteria 7
2.4.2 Suprasegmental Criteria 9
2.4.3 Discussion 9
2.5 Listedness and Wordhood 10
2.6 The Typology of Words 13
2.7 Grammatically-Related Criteria for Wordhood 15
2.7.1 ‘Minimal Free Form’ 15
2.7.2 Criteria Involving Structural Integrity 16
2.7.3 Accessibility of Elements 19
2.7.4 Coordination 21
2.7.5 Independent Modification 23
2.7.6 Global Inflection 24
2.8 Is There a Non-Word Solution? 26
2.9 Discussion 27

3 The Grammar of Compounds 29

3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Headedness 29
3.2.1 Headedness in Syntax 29
3.2.2 Extending Headedness to Morphology 31
3.2.3 Headedness in Compounds 35

vii

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

viii Contents

3.3 Binarity 41
3.4 Recursion 43
3.5 The Interpenetration of Compounding and Syntax 46
3.5.1 Phrases as Modifiers in Compounds 46
3.5.2 Phrases in Non-Modifying Position 49
3.5.3 Words from Phrases 50
3.6 Exploiting Argument Structure 51
3.7 The Grammatical Function of Compounds 53

4 The Semantics of Compounds 55

4.1 Introduction 55
4.2 Semantic Features of Word-Formation 55
4.2.1 Negation 55
4.2.2 Number 56
4.2.3 Tense 59
4.2.4 Other Verbal Categories: Mood, Aspect, Voice 60
4.2.5 Discussion 62
4.2.6 Naming versus Describing 63
4.3 Centred or Not: Endocentric versus Exocentric 64
4.4 Variable Semantics in Centred N + N Compounds 71
4.5 Relatively Fixed Semantics in Verb-Based Compounds 79
4.6 Variability in the Semantics of Coordinative Compounds 82
4.7 The Semantics of A + N Compounds 93
4.8 The Semantics of Compound Verbs 95
4.9 The Semantics of Compound Adjectives 100
4.10 Psycholinguistic Approaches 104
4.11 Summary 106

5 The Classification of Compounds 107

5.1 Introduction 107
5.2 The Sanskrit Classification 107
5.2.1 Tatpurusa 107
5.2.2 Bahuvrīhi_ 108
5.2.3 Dvandva 109
5.2.4 Avyayībhāva 109
5.2.5 Other Compound Types 110
5.2.6 Discussion 110
5.3 Exploring Scalise’s Approach 112
5.4 The Value of Classifications 116
Appendix: Classification Applied to English 120

6 Facets of English Compounding 126

6.1 Questions of Stress 126
6.2 Phrasal Verbs 132

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

Contents ix

6.3 Compound Verbs 136

6.4 Plural Modifiers 140
6.5 Neoclassical Compounds 148
6.5.1 Are Neoclassical Compounds Really Compounds? 150
6.5.2 The Forms of Neoclassical Compounds 152
6.5.3 The Borders of Neoclassical Compounds 156
6.6 Blends 157
6.7 Form and Usage 163
6.8 Envoi 167

7 Discussion 168
7.1 Taking Stock 168
7.2 Some Typological Considerations 169
7.3 Where Next? 172

Appendix: Lexical One 174

References 177

Indexes
Language Index 190
General Index 192

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

Figures

5.1 Scalise & Bisetto’s (2009: 50) classification

of compounds page 112
6.1 Relative textual density of forms with unmarked or plural
first elements from Google ngrams 145
6.2 Relative textual density of letter column vs. letters column
from Google ngrams 147

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

Tables

3.1 Summary of headedness criteria in derivation page 35

3.2 Summary of headedness criteria in compounding 40
3.3 Languages used for the investigation of recursion 45
4.1 Examples of bahuvrihi compounds 66
4.2 Exocentric synthetic compounds 66
4.3 Exocentric coordinative compounds 67
4.4 Exocentricity by language change or social change 67
4.5 Metaphorical compounds 68
4.6 French V + N exocentric examples 69
4.7 Endocentric verbal compounds with arguments and adjuncts 98
4.8 Compound verbs with particles 99
4.9 Exocentric verbal compounds 100
5.1 Summary of proposed feature system 113
6.1 Stress in English compounds: a summary 131
A Results of the questionnaire 175

xi

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

Preface and Acknowledgements

There are three direct motivations for this work. The first is that early in 2015
I was asked to write a chapter on compounds in English (Bauer in press). In
writing that chapter it quickly became clear to me that I had much more to say
than would fit into a chapter, and that many of the issues that deserved
consideration in the study of compounds were worthy of a least a chapter
each. Several of them have had books written about them. The second motiv-
ation is from a comment I made at the Universals and Typology in Word-
Formation II conference held at Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia, in
August 2012. The organisers asked me to provide a summary of that confer-
ence at its end, pulling out common threads. One of the things I noted, in an
attempt to be provocative, was that we had seen a number of papers where the
classification of compounds had been raised as an issue. I suggested that if we
had not got a classification of compounds after 4,000 years of work, we might
be asking the wrong questions. I may still be asking the wrong questions, but
I have tried to change the ground a little here. The third motivation is that
I realised in the course of this project that I first started to take the study of
compounds seriously at the beginning of 1973, when I narrowed the topic of
my PhD down to compounding. So I have been working on and with com-
pounds for more than forty years, and developing my own view of compounds
gradually over that period. Some of my ideas remain unchanged from my
thesis (completed in 1975 but published as Bauer 1978), many others have
changed radically since then, under the influence of my own and other people’s
research on compounds specifically and my own evolving ideas about lan-
guage and linguistics. Those ideas have evolved as the linguistic landscape has
evolved. When I started my thesis, Chomsky’s Extended Standard Theory was
a recent innovation and cognitive grammar had not been developed at all.
These days, though I would hesitate to call myself a cognitive linguist, I have
been strongly influenced by many of the ideas of cognitive grammar and,
within that overall framework, by construction grammar and exemplar theory.
These trends in linguistic thought have changed my ideas about compounds

xiii

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

xiv Preface and Acknowledgements

considerably, and this book is an attempt to formulate my own personal view

of what is going on in compounding in the light of such influences. This means
that even where I reprise matters that I have covered in earlier publications, my
conclusions are not necessarily the same and are not necessarily viewed in the
same context. At the same time, I have to recognise that because my viewpoint
is unashamedly personal, it is only one viewpoint among many, and that my
ideas and conclusions are necessarily controversial. While I try to build my
conclusions into a coherent view of what is going on in this area of language,
readers may accept some of my conclusions but reject others, and I cannot
necessarily assume that everything I conclude will be accepted with equal
alacrity by my readers. This accounts for my sometimes appearing to leave my
options open.
I should like to thank Winifred Bauer, Natalia Beliaeva, Andrew Chester-
man and Liza Tarasova for providing examples, and Natalia Beliaeva, Pavol
Štekauer, Liza Tarasova and Peter Whiteford for comments on an earlier
version of the typescript. I should like to thank Paul Warren for the data
referred to in Section 3.2.3, and my ELT colleagues at Victoria University
for responding to the questionnaire discussed in the Appendix. Finally,
I should like to thank the team at Cambridge University Press, including the
anonymous readers who commented most helpfully on the first draft. Versions
of parts of Section 2.7.6 and the Appendix have previously been the subject of
presentations at conferences of the New Zealand Linguistics Society. While
thanking all these people, I must point out that they do not necessarily agree
with me, and they are not responsible for the way in which I have interpreted
their comments.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

Abbreviations and Notational

Conventions

A adjective
abe abessive
abl ablative
absl absolutive
adjlz adjectivaliser
adv adverb
aorII aorist of class II
cont continuous
def definite
deriv derivational marker
DO direct object
gen genitive
ill illative
ine inessive
inf infinitive
inst instrumental
le linking element
m masculine
N noun
neut neuter
nmlz nominalization
non-neut non-neuter
NP noun phrase
num number
P preposition
pass passive
past past tense
pers person-marker
pl plural
PP prepositional phrase
pres present tense
Q quantifier

xv

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-1-108-41603-0 — Compounds and Compounding
Laurie Bauer
Frontmatter
More Information

xvi Abbreviations and Notational Conventions

sg singular
subjv subjunctive
V verb
3 third person
♦ is morphologically related to
• break between morphs not indicated in the orthography/
transcription
* unacceptable
?
of questionable acceptability
italics cited examples; words; word-forms, morphs; titles
small lexemes; glosses of grammatical items
capitals
// enclosing phonological representations
<> enclosing orthographic representations
[] enclosing constituents; enclosing editorial comment or
addition
‘’ enclosing meanings or glosses; enclosing terms; enclosing
dialogue; enclosing quotations
“” enclosing quotations within quotations; as “scare quotes”

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org