COMPOUNDING

The English language has a special process by which new words can be formed from already existing ones. Single word can be joined together to form a new compound word whose meaning is given by the sum of the two meanings of the matrix words. In English there are some special types of compound words. We will now examine compounds formed by only two words, the latter of which is usually the one that establishes the grammatical category.

1. NOUN + NOUN TROUBLEMAKER = someone who makes trouble WORKPLACE = place where people work 2. ADJECTIVE + NOUN BLACKBOARD = board with a black surface

VERB + NOUN SWEARWORD = offensive word PICKPOCKET = a person who steals money from other people’s pockets PREPOSITIONS + NOUN OVERDOSE = too much of a drug taken at one time

ADJECTIVE + ADJECTIVE ICYCOLD = very cold NOUN + ADJECTIVE SKINTIGHT = fitting very closely to the body PREPOSITION + VERB UPROOT = to pull a plant out of the ground, or to leave a place where you have lived for a long time.

Read the following text and identify in it all the examples of derivational morphology and compound words

TUMULT IN TOYLAND Cyberplaythings disquiet toymakers and distress parents. In the toymarket, manufacturers constantly replace wooden toys with interactive, robotic playthings. “Children want for themselves toys that do not just sit there”, says Mr. James, founder of the James Market Research, which specializes in trends for young children. Echoes S. Gillis, spokesperson for the London department store Harrods: “We have definitely entered the interactive world.

In a few years, what is defined by us a traditional toy can be a product with artificial intelligence”. Companies address themselves to a kind of child who develops his/her sophisticated taste at a very early age. Market researchers refer to this childhood condition as K. G. O. Y. Kids Getting Older Younger. In the past, young people were considered children until they

Reached the age of 15; now they stop being children for the toy industry when they are about ten. “This forces ourselves, as toymakers, to compete with music producers, sporting goods manufacturers, and even mobile-phone and telecommunication suppliers.” Says Mr. Nipper, a vice-president at Lego.

Even Lego itself, the world’s best-known brickmaker, has produced its robots and digital-transformer toys since 1998, including infrared transmitters and microcomputers (that allow children to build and rebuild and program and reprogram their own robots by themselves) and a videocamera attachment through which the robots can reach to what they see.