5 Morphology and Word Formation key concepts

Compounding
The italicized words in (11) are created by combining saw with some other 
word, rather than with a bound morpheme.
(11) a. A sawmill is a noisy place.
b. Every workshop should have a chain saw, a table saw, a jig-saw, a 
hack saw, and a bucksaw.
c. Sawdust is always a problem in a woodworker’s workshop.
d. Sawing horses are useful and easily made.
Such words are called compounds. They contain two or more words 
(or more accurately, two or more roots, all, one, or none of which may 
be bound; cf. blueberry with two free morphemes, and astronaut with two 
bound morphemes). Generally, one of the words is the head of the com-
pound and the other(s) its modifier(s). In bucksaw, saw is the head, which 
is modified by buck. The order is significant: compare pack rat with rat 
pack. Generally, the modifier comes before the head. 
In ordinary English spelling, compounds are sometimes spelled as single 
words, as in sawmill, sawdust; sometimes the parts are connected by a hy-
phen, as in jig-saw; and sometimes they are spelled as two words, as in chain 
saw, oil well. (Dictionaries may differ in their spellings.) Nonetheless, we are 
justified in classifying all such cases as compound words regardless of their 
conventional spelling for a variety of reasons.
First, the stress pattern of the compound word is usually different from 
the stress pattern in the phrase composed of the same words in the same 
order. Compare:
(12) compound
phrase
White House
white house
funny farm 
funny farm
blackbird black 

bird
flatcar 
flat 

car

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Morphology and Word Formation