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From:
Joe Martin Date: Sun Dec 19, 1999 9:51 pm Subject: compounds | ||||||||
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There is no easy answer to the question "what is a compound?" because, like most things in linguistics, we can't quite define them precisely. All language--signed or spoken--have similar processes for building new words; often they start with phrases. As the phrases become familiar they start being pronounced a little different. People start to reflect this difference in their writing if they can--maybe by putting in hyphens, or writing two words as one. The important thing is that it shows a new way of pronouncing the word. In English, there are all sorts of houses, including white ones, and in time one particular white house got important and became the whitehouse. There are two changes; the stress moved, and the "juncture" (the amount/type of pause between the words) changed. This is typical of English. In ASL, there was the sign for GIRL, and the sign for SAME, and they got put together to describe a SISTER, likewise with pronunciation changes. The movement in GIRL reduced to a mere touch of the chin, the linking movement--bringing the hand down to the other one--took on a certain special shape, and SAME got all changed around (there are different versions). Overall the new compound sign reduced to one, simpler sign by deleting the pause in the middle, reducing the first motion, and the other changes which are all typical of ASL. So there are clear differences between compound signs and phrases--blackbird, whitehouse, applesauce, appletree. English only gives us three choices--two words, one word, or hyphen--but Signwriting should allow us to record the exact pronunciation. If the word is not pronounced the same as it is when by itself, then we are seeing this compounding process, and should be able to record the difference in pronunciation, if we want to. It seems like using hyphens is just choosing convenience of notation over strict accuracy. (I don't delude myself that this is easy in either case) Heve Hopes Hairsplitting Helps Here. ;-) ______________________________________ Joe Martin, Plain Old Ordinary Student Top Left Corner USA | ||||||||
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