A+N Pattern Elements of Nominal Compounds .1 N+N Pattern

37 belonging to this exception, as mentioned by Szymanek 1989, are spoonful and bagful. They can be interrupted by a suffix –s without giving any plural meaning. If a plural meaning is intended, the plural suffix is supposed to be inflected in the head, which is in the right elements of the compounds. The nominal compound pickpocket is composed of a verb pick and a noun pocket. The relation of the first and second element is verb-object in which the word pocket is the object of the first element pick. 4.1.3 A+N Pattern Of 169 nominal compounds found in TJP, there are 6 compounds made up of adjectives and nouns. Some of them are analyzed below. Table 4.11: Nominal compounds composed of adjectives and nouns in TJP Adjectives Nouns Nominal Compounds main high grand land way parent mainland highway grandparent When a nominal compound is constructed from an adjective and a noun, there is a great deal of possibility that people are mistaken whether that is a compound or a noun phrase. The difference between a compound and a phrase can be identified by considering four aspects, according to the theory, including morphology, phonetics, semantics, and orthography. However, since this research uses newspapers as data source, identifying compounds and phrases with phonetics aspect, which focuses on the stress patterns, is not feasible. Identifying them with orthographical aspect is not possible either because according to Katamba 1993, “Orthographic conventions offer limited help in distinguishing compounds from phrases” p.293. In the examples, adjective-noun nominal 38 compounds in this newspaper are written as one word. So, it is clear that they are nominal compounds, instead of phrases, because orthographically, they are written as one word, whereas no noun phrases are written as one word. In addition, semantically, those compounds have more specific meanings than noun phrases, and a dictionary is needed to find out the true meanings. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, mainland is “the main area of land that forms a country, rather than the islands near to it that are also part of it .” Next, highway is “a wide main road that joins one town to another .” Lastly, grandparent is “one of the parents of your mother or father.” Hence, the heads or nouns are not merely modified by the adjectives but the compounds themselves have more specific meanings. Like idioms, the meanings of one-word compounds are unpredictable and should be assured by looking up in dictionary Katamba, 1993. From 179 nominal compounds found in NYT, there are 6 compounds made up of adjectives and nouns. All of them are analyzed below. Table 4.12: Nominal compounds composed of adjectives and nouns in NYT Adjectives Nouns Nominal Compounds dead high wrong line way doing deadline highway wrongdoing In some circumstances, nominal compounds are mistakenly considered as noun phrases since both are constructed from adjectives and nouns. For instance, White house is not predictably a house that is white in color, but as a compound, it refers to official residence of the President of the US. Nominal compounds have more specific meanings as argued by Carstairs McCarthy 2002 that “a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 39 compound tends to have a meaning that is more or less idiosyncratic or unpredictable” p.60. To identify whether or not a construction is a compound or a phrase, there are four aspects to consider comprising phonetics, morphology, orthography, and semantics. Phonetically, stress patterns can determine whether a construction is a phrase or a compound Carstairs McCarthy, 2002. However, this aspect cannot be utilized in this research because all data are written, and the stress pattern cannot be determined. Morphologically, the construction of a nominal compound cannot be interrupted as said by Spencer 1991. No words can be inserted between the elements of nominal compounds. If seen from the orthographical aspect, examples above belong to nominal compounds because they are written as one word which is one of the characteristics of nominal compounds, whereas noun phrases are written as two separate words. Katamba 1993 states that “some very well established compounds are written as one word, with or without a hyphen e.g. breakfast and ice-cream ” p.293. Moreover, if seen from semantic aspect, examples above have more specific meanings which are unpredictable. Thus, a dictionary is necessary to find out the true meanings of those compounds. The nominal compound deadline has nothing to do with a line but, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English , “a date or time by which you have to do or complete something.” In the meantime, highway is “a wide main road that joins one town to another.” Lastly, wrongdoing is “illegal or immoral behaviour.” Hence, the meanings of those compounds are more specific. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 40 4.1.4 P+N Pattern