A compound is a word composed from more than one morpheme. Usually, compounds consist of a head (the main part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound), and modifiers (which restrict this meaning). Forming compounds, words may be combined in one word, joined with a hyphen, or they may stand separately without any marker. Although compounds may consist of different part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), the result of compounding usually is noun or adjective. Some compounds are usual and widely used (for example, grandfather, girlfriend), whereas some are used to make language more colourful, more expressive. Moreover, compounding is the way how to create new words – neologisms.
This paper discloses how often and what kinds of compounds are used in British newspapers.…
