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

34 However, there is an ambiguity in the nominal compounds whose elements have more than one word class. The table below shows data having obscure construction as a result of the elements that are both a noun and a verb. Table 4.8: N+N nominal compounds in NYT with ambiguous elements Nouns Nouns Nominal Compounds protest service fire action men extinguisher protest action servicemen fire extinguisher The nominal compounds given in the table above have ambiguous construction because the first elements of the compounds constitute a verb and a noun. As previously stated, the problem of ambiguity can be overcome by identifying the meaning of the compounds, which is to consider the context in the newspaper. For example, protest action is an action of protest done by Venezuelans as Venezuela’s Electoral Council postponed a drive to gather signatures needed to call the referendum. Next, the word servicemen is men giving military service. The nominal compound fire extinguisher has suffix –er in the second element implying that this nominal compound refers to a device protecting from fire. Thus, it is clear that all nominal compounds mentioned in the table are composed of N+N instead of V+N. 4.1.2 V+N Pattern There are 6 compounds, from 169 nominal compounds found in TJP, made up of verbs and nouns. The analysis of those compounds can be seen in the following. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 35 Table 4.9: Nominal compounds composed of verbs and nouns in TJP Verbs Nouns Nominal Compounds vote quake spoke rigging zone man vote-rigging quake zone spokesman From the 6 examples of V+N nominal compounds, almost all are written as one word either with or without hyphens, except quake zone. The constrution of this compound is rather ambiguous because the word quake is both a verb and a noun. As previously mentioned, the context is supposed to be considered to find out the true element of the compound. The nominal compound quake zone means a zone where quakeearthquake happens, thus it can be said that the word quake is obviously a noun. In the nominal compound vote-rigging, the second element originally comes from a verb rig meaning “to dishonestly arrange the result of an election or competition before it happens” Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The word is then attached with suffix –ing to become a noun. The word vote is a noun instead of a verb because the entire compound means the dishonest arrangement of the result of the vote. The nominal compound spokesman is originally from a verb speak and a noun man. According to its etymology, the word speak changes into spoke that is a back-formation of spoken. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, spokesman means “a man who has been chosen to speak officially for a group, organization, or government. ” There is a plural marker –s between the elements of nominal compound. It actually violates the rule that morphologically, a nominal compound is uninterruptable meaning that no words can be placed 36 between the compound elements. Spencer 1991 says that “one property of words which distinguishes them from phrases is morphological integrity: their elements can’t be split up by other words or phrases, for example, by parentheticals” p.313. However, there is an exception as mentioned by Szymanek 1989 stating that the compounds spoonful and bagful, as examples, can be interrupted by the plural marker –s. Similarly, the word spokesman belongs to this exception, but what is important is that the plural marker –s here does not indicate plural meanings because it is ment ioned previously that “syntactically the head is the dominant constituent of the entire compound word” Katamba, 1993, p.305. Thus, the inflectional properties should be attached in the head e.g. tense, number, and so on. Three compounds, from 179 nominal compounds found in NYT, are made up of verbs and nouns. The analysis of those compounds can be seen in the following. Table 4.10: Nominal compounds composed of verbs and nouns in NYT Verbs Nouns Nominal Compounds spoke spoke pick man woman pocket spokesman spokeswoman pickpocket Similar to TJP, V+N nominal compounds found in NYT are written without space. The nominal compounds spokesman and spokeswoman come originally from a verb speak and a noun manwoman. However, the word speak changes into spoke according to its etimology. Then, the suffix –s is also added between the elements of the compounds. This is an exception of a theory saying that nominal compounds are uninterruptable Spencer, 1991. Other examples PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 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