PHONETICS II

ASSIGNMENT II
COMPOUND NOUNS
PRONUNCIATION AND ACCENTUATION –
ACCENTUAL PATTERNS
Compound words

A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun
is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other combinations. It is
important to understand and recognize compound nouns. Each compound noun acts
as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns.
Its main characteristic is that it can be analysed into two words, both of which can exist
independently as English words.
As with many of the distinctions being made in connection with stress, there are areas
of uncertainty. For example, it could be argued that “photograph” may be divided into
two independent words, “photo” and “graph”; yet we usually do not regard it as a
compound, but as a simple word.
Compounds are written in different ways; sometimes they are written as one word –
e.g. “armchair”, “sunflower” – sometimes with the words separated by a hyphen – e.g.
“gear-change”, “fruit-cake” – and sometimes with two words separated by a space –
e.g. “desk lamp”, “battery charger”. In this last case there would, of course, be no
indication to the foreign learner that the pair of words was to be treated as a
compound. There is no clear dividing line between two-word compounds and pairs of
words that simply happen to occur together quite frequently.

Examples of compound nouns:

noun + noun bus stop Is this the bus stop for the number
12 bus?

fire-fly In the tropics you can see fire-

flies at night.

football Shall we play football today?

adjective + noun full moon I always feel crazy at full moon.

blackboard Clean the blackboard please.

 software I can't install this software on my
PC.

verb(-ing) + noun breakfast We always eat breakfast at 8am.

washing Put the clothes in the red washing

machine machine.

swimming What a beautiful swimming pool!

pool

noun + verb(-ing) sunrise I like to get up at sunrise.

haircut You need a haircut.

train-spotting His hobby is train-spotting.

verb + preposition check-out Please remember that check-

out is at 12 noon.

noun + prepositional mother-in-law My mother-in-law lives with us.

phrase

preposition + noun underworld Do you think the police accept

money from the underworld?

noun + adjective truckful We need 10 truckfuls of bricks.

As far as stress is concerned, the question is quite simple. When is primary stress
placed on the first constituent word of the compound and when on the second? Both
patterns are found. A few rules can be given, although these are not completely
reliable. Words which do not receive primary stress normally have secondary stress,
although for the sake of simplicity this is not marked here. Perhaps the most familiar
type of compound is the one which combines two nouns and which normally has the
stress on the first element, as in:

Typewriter [ˈtaɪpraɪtə]

Car-ferry [ˈka:feri]

Sunrise [ˈsʌnraɪz]

Suitcase [ˈsu:tkeɪs]

Tea-cup [ˈti:kʌp]

It is probably safest to assume that stress will normally fall in this way on other
compounds; however, a variety of compounds receive stress instead on the second
element. For example, compounds with and adjectival first element and the –ed
morpheme at the end have this pattern (given in spelling only):

Bad- `tempered
Half- `timbered
Heavy- `handed

Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have final
stress:

Three- `wheeler
Second- `class
Five- `finger

Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed:

Head- `first
North- `East
Down- `stream

Finally, compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take
final stress:

Down- `grade
 Back- `pedal
Ill- `treat

Stress position may vary for one of two reasons: either as a result of the stress on other
words occurring next to the word in question, or because not all speakers agree on the
placement of stress in some words. The main effect of the former case is that the stress
on a final-stressed compound tends to move to a preceding syllable if the following
word begins with a strongly stressed syllable. Thus:

Bad- `tempered but a ‘bad-tempered `teacher

Half- `timbered but a ‘half-timbered `house
Heavy- `handed but a ‘heavy-handed `sentence

The second is not a serious problem, but is one that foreign learners should be aware
of. A well-known example is “controversy”, which is pronounced by some speakers as
/’kɒntrəvɜːsɪ/ and by others as /kɒn’trɒvəsɪ/ .
It would be quite wrong to say that one version was correct and one incorrect.

More on accentuation of compound words

The following lists, based on grammatical or lexical patterns, rather than on number of
syllables, by no means cover the entire range of possibilities. Ortiz Lira and Finch refer
to (i) single-accented, and (ii) double-accented compounds. Of the two, single-accented
compounds are commoner, and take the accent on the first element.

(i) Single-accented compounds

1. The largest group is formed by the combination of the two nouns.

(a) The second noun indicates the performer of the action, as in:

`baby-sitter `car dealer `pain-killer `holiday-maker

`book seller `dish washer `housekeeper `record-player
`tin-opener `typewriter `lawn-mower `bartender
`lie-detector `taxi-driver `egg-beater `vacuum-cleaner
`dress-hanger `hair-dryer `ballet-dancer `stamp-collector
(Exception: ‘stage `manager).

(b) In the following cases the resulting compound may be a noun or an adjective:

(`breath/`leave-/`pains) taking `window (-dressing/ -shopping)

(`bee-/`book-/`house) keeping `time (saving/-consuming)

(c) The first noun delimits the meaning of the second, by stating ‘what type of thing’
it is, e.g.:
 (`current/de`posit/`joint/`private/`savings) account
(`head/`tooth/`ear/`stomach/`back) ache
(`egg/des`sert-/`soup-/`table/`tea/`salt) spoon
(`hand/`kit/`mail/`tool-/`school) bag
(`base/`foot/`tennis-/`snow/}beach) ball
(`book-/`toy/`porn/`fruit-/`record) shop
(`birthday/`Christmas/`time/`credit/i`dentity/`post) card

`school (boy/-days/girl/age/-time/-book)
`bed (-bug/-clothes/room/side/spread/time)
`sea (food/gull/-level/plane/port/side/man/-water)
`blood (-relation/bank/-group/pressure/hound/-transformation)
`clothes (-brush/-basket/-line/-peg/-hanger)
`air (-craft/hostess/letter/mail/port/-pump/raid/terminal)
`time (-bomb/-sheet/-limit/-signal/table/-work)
`news (agent/boy/letter/paper/reel/sheet/stand)
`water (-biscuit/-bottle/-colour/fall/melon/mill/-power/proof)

2. Another important group of compounds is formed by the combination of adjectives

and nouns.

(a) Normally, when a noun is preceded by an adjective, both are accented. However,
when this combination constitutes a specific, long-established compound, the
first component tends to carry the primary accent, as in:

`black (berry/bird/board/leg/list/mail)
`grand (child/daughter/father/ma/mother/pa/parent/son)
`high (brow/chair/jump/light/street/time/-school/way)

`folk music `greengrocer `dark room `secondary school

`mental home `postal order `grey matter `sweet potato

(b) In the following cases the adjective is an –ing form, e.g.:

`driving (belt/licence/mirror/school/test)
`shopping (bag/basket/centre/list/street)
`writing (-desk/-ink/-pad/-paper)

(`boxing/`cooking/`dancing/`drawing/`driving/`singing) lessons
(`adding/`mincing/`printing-/`sewing-/`washing-/`weighing-) machine

`hearing-aid `waiting list `swimming pool

`boarding school `filing cabinet `steering-wheel
`parking zone `freezing point`selling price

3. Verbs and nouns sometimes combine, as in:

 `catchword `cook-book `pickpocket `playboy
`telltale `cork-screw `daybreak `fire-escape
`heartbreak `roll-call `pushchair `swearword
(Exception: ‘cease`fire).

4. Many two-word verbs give origin to nouns, e.g.:

a `hold-up a `let-down a `take-off a `walk-over

(Main exception: a ‘lie-`down).

(i) Double-accented compounds

1. Compounds made of nouns may be double-accented in the following cases:

(a) The first noun indicates the position of the second one, as in:

‘country-`house ‘camp-`bed ‘shop-`window ‘kitchen `cupboard

(b) The second noun ‘is made’ of the first one, as in:

‘apple `sauce ‘cotton `wool ‘cherry `brandy ‘fruit `salad

‘lemon `squash ‘olive `oil ‘plum `pudding ‘pork pie
(Main exceptions: `corn-flakes, `fruit-cake, and all compounds with juice).

(c) Other common noun + noun compounds are:

‘mother `tongue ‘bank `holiday ‘city `centre

‘fellow- `citizen ‘ground `floor ‘head `master
‘level `crossing ‘science`fiction ‘mass `media
‘woman `doctor‘woman’s `lib ‘woman `driver

2. Some common double-accented compounds formed by nouns and adjectives are:

(a) Adjective + noun:

‘barbed `wire ‘best `man ‘best `seller

‘black `market ‘civil `war ‘cold `war
‘common `sense ‘loud- `speaker ‘prime `minister
‘short `circuit ‘vicious `circle ‘wet `blanket
de’veloping `country ‘falling `star ‘leading `article
‘living `wage ‘flying `colours ‘sliding `door

(b) Noun + adjective:

‘stone (-`blind/-`cold/-`dead/-`deaf/-`sober)
(‘duty-/’post-/`rent-/`tax-) ‘free
 ‘brand-`new ‘navy `blue ‘snow- `white ‘world-`wide

3. Participles make up some common compounds, e.g.:

‘high (-`minded/-`pitched/-`powered/-`priced/-spirited)
(‘absent-/’broad-/’mean-/’narrow-/’open-/’strong-/’weak-) `minded

‘close-`fisted ‘deep-`frozen ‘far-`fetched ‘old-`fashioned

‘air-con`ditioned ‘bell-`bottomed ‘hand-`knitted ‘home-`made
‘easy-`going ‘far-`reaching ‘good-`looking ‘hard-`working

The following three-root compounds are arranged according to their accentual pattern:

‘bed-`sitting-room ‘great-`grandfather
‘hot-`water bottle ‘teacher `training-college
‘value-`added tax ‘waste-`paper basket

‘audio-visual `aids ‘back seat `driver

‘ballpoint-`pen ‘cod-liver `oil
‘four-letter `word ‘take-home `pay

Single-accented three-root compounds are less common, e.g.:

`merry-go-round for`get-me-not
`windscreen-wiper `crossword-puzzle
`fire-insurance policy `test-tube baby
Bibliography
 English phonetics and phonology, third edition. Peter Roach, Cambridge
University Press, 2000.
 English intonation. J. C. Wells, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
 www.englishclub.com
 A course in English phonetics for Spanish speakers. Diana Finch and Hector Ortiz
Lira, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 1982.