Page 1LIETUVIŲ KALBOS SPECIALIOJI LEKSIKA
LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXII (1983)
ST. KEINYS
FORMATION OF LITHUANIAN COMPOUND TERMS
In contemporary Lithuanian, compounding is one of the principal methods of noun formation. According to V. Urbutis, compound nouns are used almost as frequently as nouns formed with suffixes¹. The latter are supposedly perhaps slightly more numerous than compound nouns².
Lithuanian terminology also makes extensive use of compound nouns. In the dictionaries of surveying, geology and physical geography, physics, sports, land reclamation, chemistry, textiles, literature, botany, economics, and computing, whose formations are examined synchronically here, 893 compound nouns are listed as single-word terms³. In the same sources, nouns formed with endings amount to 0.89 of this number. Thus, according to the data in these sources, there are more compound nominal terms than corresponding nouns formed with endings. In terms of the number of formations in use, compounding ranks second here—only suffixed derivatives are more common (there are almost five and a half times as many of them in the same sources). This, among other things, shows that the study of the formation of compound terms is a relevant task for Lithuanian linguistics, both theoretically and practically. It is also relevant because the majority of neologisms in the contemporary literary language are terms. Thus, the study of term formation makes it possible to trace the latest tendencies in word formation and to see clearly how, and by what means, language meets the need to expand and improve its vocabulary arising from the development of life and society.
How can the comparatively high activity of compounding in terminology be explained? First of all, this is apparently determined by the internal needs of terminology itself, that is, the necessity of naming complex concepts. For this purpose, so-called multiword terms—various elementary terminological word combinations—are most often created. However, a one-word term is more convenient than a multiword term in many respects. That is why compound terms are often resorted to. This had been correctly observed even before the Second World War by the Russian linguist G. Vinokur, who wrote that compound words are needed not only to meet the demand for new words, but also because there is very often a genuine need to express two ideas in a single word. For terminology, a syntactically single-member designation, when insufficient
1 Urbutis V. Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos sudurtinių daiktavardžių daryba. — Kn.: Dabartinė lietuvių kalba. V., 1961, p. 65.
2 Lietuvių kalbos gramatika. — V., 1965, t. 1, p. 252.
3 Different formations, rather than terms, are meant here. The same formation is quite often used as a term in different fields and is therefore included in more than one terminology dictionary.
70
Page 2For precision of meaning, it is always more convenient than a binomial name4. Most linguists and specialists in other fields who write on terminological issues give preference to single-word terms. Here, the principle of linguistic economy is generally followed. But it is not the only determining factor. A compound term often offers new possibilities of meaning that the corresponding combination of its base words does not possess or even cannot express, since, as E. Vasilevskaya has noted, a compound word is a higher level of abstraction compared with a word combination5.
Compounding is more active in the terminology subsystem than in the literary language of today in general; this is characteristic not only of Lithuanian. According to E. Vasilevskaya herself, terminology is the principal domain for the spread of compound words in twentieth-century Russian6. As the Polish linguist M. Blicharski noted, compounding became noticeably more active in Russian and Polish after the Second World War, and this was associated above all with the very rapid development of science, technology, and culture, as well as the consequent development of terminology7. A particularly marked tendency to use compound words is characteristic of German terminology8. Given the differing roles of individual languages in science and technology, as well as the expanded connections among specialists in various fields, it is easy to understand that other languages, too, may exert a certain influence in stimulating compounding.
Compounding is also convenient for terminology because it helps form relatively short class names that avoid a concentration of modifiers, for example: money – holiday pay EŽ, housing allowance EŽ, TŽ, daily allowance EŽ, TŽ, bread money EŽ, freight money EŽ, TŽ, travel allowance EŽ, TŽ, pocket money EŽ, business-trip allowance EŽ, TŽ, commission money EŽ, TŽ, food money EŽ, rent money EŽ, TŽ, earnest money EŽ, TŽ, transport money EŽ, TŽ, and so on.
Compounds are usually more terminologically precise than the corresponding word combinations. Such a word combination can often be understood, and even used, as a simple explanation of a term’s meaning or as the basis for an explanation, for example: leaf scar “a scar remaining after a leaf falls” BŽ, rhizome “an underground stem, usually growing horizontally, that produces adventitious roots” BŽ, petal “an individual leaf of a corolla” BŽ, fruit stalk “the part of a fruit by which it is attached to the fruiting branch; fruit stem” BŽ, ditch-digger “a machine designed for mechanized ditch digging” MŽ, first-cut hay “grass from the first mowing” MŽ, half-fill “half a fill” MŽ, middle river “the middle section of a river” MŽ, and others. One can agree with P. Skardžius that compounds “are, by their nature, best suited to a more precise, condensed, and substantive, more meaningful mode of expression. For this reason, compound words9 very often have much richer and more abundant content, and at the same time more specialized content, than separate,”
4 Винокур Г. О. О некоторых явлениях словообразования в русской технической терминологии. — В кн.: Сборник статей по языкознанию. М., 1939, т. 5, с. 46.
5 Василевская Е. А. Словосложение в русском языке. — М., 1962, с. 40.
6 Ibid., p. 124.
7 Blicharski M. Złożenia imienne w języku rosyjskim i polskim. Studium konfrontatywne. — Warszawa—Wrocław, 1977, p. 108.
8 Левковская К. А. Именное словообразование в современной немецкой общественно-политической терминологии и примыкающей к ней лексике. — М., 1960, с. 35.
9 P. Skardžius used the term “compound words” for what is called compound words, or compounds, in contemporary Lithuanian linguistics.
71
Page 3“the parts of word groups that have not yet become unified”10. This may also explain the greater popularity of compounds in scientific and technical terminology.
All the compound terms examined are based on two base words used in Lithuanian. No distinction is made here between neologisms in terminology and ordinary-language words that have become terms. From the point of view of word formation, they are all considered compound words, since both contribute to the formation of the relevant tendencies in term-formation patterns. Moreover, in many cases, assigning individual terms to either of these two strata would be highly arbitrary. This study, however, does not examine the formation of international terms that are clearly borrowings in Lithuanian terminology, e.g.: acetilacetonas ChŽ, aminalizaminas ChŽ, centrosfera GŽ, chlorbenzolas ChŽ, elektrodinamika FŽ, STŽ, elektromagnetas FŽ, STŽ, galvanoplastika FŽ, STŽ, kristaloptika GŽ (FŽ: kristalų optika), leksikostatistika STŽ, magmogenėzė GŽ, rentgenokristalografija STŽ, salicilamidas ChŽ, etc. Such terms can indeed be analyzed morphologically and therefore cannot be entirely ignored in the synchronic word formation of Lithuanian. However, because they were formed in other languages, they constitute a separate lexical stratum and a subsystem of word formation. It is therefore more convenient to discuss the formation of such terms separately.
All the main types of compound formation found in contemporary Lithuanian are characteristic of the formation of Lithuanian compound terms. The distribution of the examples examined across terminology dictionaries is shown in Table 111.
The largest share of compound terms (46.5% of the examples examined) belongs to the most productive group of compound nouns in contemporary Lithuanian, with both constituents being nouns. Compounds formed from an adjective and a noun (17% of the examples examined) and from a noun and a verb (16.3%) are also highly productive in terminology. These three most productive groups of compound terms account for nearly four-fifths of the examples examined.
Most compound terms have a second constituent based on a noun. Such examples make up almost four-fifths of those in the dictionaries examined. In nearly all the remaining compounds examined, the second constituent is verbal. Incidentally, the first constituent is also most often a noun (nearly two-thirds of the examples examined). The frequency with which words from each part of speech occur in the formation of the compound terms examined is shown in Table 2.
The table clearly shows that nouns play the most important role in the formation of compound nouns used as terms. Verbs (most often the basis of the second constituent of compounds) and adjectives (most often occurring as the first constituent) also play a considerable role. Numerals, pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions occur less frequently as constituents of compound terms (usually as the first constituent).
10 Skardžius P. Lietuvių kalbos žodžių daryba. – V., 1943, p. 396.
11 In the table, compounds are classified by their constituents using a symbolic notation: letters abbreviate the constituents of a compound according to the part of speech to which their base words belong: D – noun, B – adjective, V – verb, S – numeral, Pv – adverb, Pl – preposition, Į – pronoun. The + sign denotes a word-formation operation. A representative example is given in parentheses alongside each compound pattern written in this way. The compound-formation patterns in the table are ordered by the number of distinct formations examined.
72
Page 4Table 1
Types of compound-term formation
Components of compounds | Number of compounds in term dictionaries | ATŽ | BŽ | ChŽ | EŽ | PŽ | GŽ | LŽ | MŽ | STŽ | ŠŽ | TŽ | Total distinct compounds D+D (fruit stalk) | 11 | 142 | 32 | 39 | 14 | 98 | 12 | 48 | 15 | 56 | 18 | 416 B+D (mercury) | 3 | 26 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 57 | 6 | 33 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 152 D+V (linguistics) | 1 | 23 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 41 | 4 | 55 | 11 | 18 | 12 | 146 S+D (five-year period) | – | – | 8 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 2 | 57 V+D (logging site) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | – | 9 | – | 5 | – | 2 | 3 | 24 Pv+D (ellipsis) | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | – | 7 | – | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 Pl+D (overtime) | – | 4 | 2 | 6 | – | 5 | – | 8 | – | – | 1 | 20 Į+V (self-service) | – | 3 | 1 | 5 | – | 2 | – | 2 | – | – | 7 | 19 B+V (jointly governed) | 1 | – | – | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | – | 3 | 10 S+V (two-shift) | – | – | 8 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 9 Į+D (multi-purpose) | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 Pv+V (plural) | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | – | 5 Pv+B (brown-mottled) | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 3 V+V (drill gauge) | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 D+B (leather remnants) | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 Pv+Pv (parallels) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 Total distinct compounds | | | | | | | | | | | | 893
73
Page 5Table 2
Frequency of parts of speech in the formation of compound terms
Part of speech
Number of compounds
First component
Second component
Noun
563
698
Verb
25
190
Adjective
162
4
Numeral
66
—
Adverb
30
1
Pronoun
27
—
Preposition
20
—
A general overview of the quantitative distribution of the compound terms under consideration suggests that, in terminology, nouns are used as base words slightly more often than in the formation of compound nouns in contemporary Lithuanian in general. V. Urbutis, having examined in detail the formation of compound nouns in contemporary Lithuanian and relying primarily on examples from the Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian (V., 1954), established that compounds “whose second component is a noun account for almost three quarters of all compound nouns in contemporary Lithuanian that are at least somewhat familiar” (the aforementioned dictionary contains more than two thousand two hundred of them in total)12. The sources examined here contain one twentieth more such compound terms. However, this is not a substantial difference. It should be noted that other quantitative data on compound-term formation also differ very little. Thus, in this respect, term formation largely maintains the general proportions of compound-word formation in contemporary Lithuanian.
It is interesting to note that, in its most general features, the formation of Lithuanian compound terms apparently differs considerably from that of the corresponding Latvian terms. According to V. Skujiņa, one-word compound terms make up 38% of all formations in Latvian technical terminology13. This is considerably more than in Lithuanian: among the formations presented as one-word noun terms in the eleven Lithuanian terminology dictionaries that constitute the source material for this study (there are nearly seven thousand of them)
12 Urbutis V. Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos sudurtinių daiktavardžių daryba, p. 68, 66. See also: Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, vol. 1, p. 437.
13 Skuinia V. Formation of Technical Science Terms in Latvian: Abstract of Candidate’s Dissertation. — Riga, 1969, p. 14.
74
Page 6compounds make up 13%. In addition, the second constituent of the Latvian terms examined by the author in question is based solely on nouns14. Of course, it would be too bold to draw any major conclusions or make generalizations about differences in term formation between these two most closely related languages on the basis of this comparison. Much may result not from differences internal to the languages, but from the researchers’ differing approaches to the relevant facts and their differing assessments of them. Nevertheless, there apparently are some differences, perhaps substantial ones. It would be useful to compare the current term-formation patterns of these two languages.
In Lithuanian compound terms, as in Lithuanian compounds generally, the semantic and grammatical head is usually the second constituent. The first constituent normally defines or specifies what is denoted by the base word of the second constituent (this relationship also depends considerably on the part of speech of the word on which the first constituent is based). There are relatively few compound terms (and words in general) in which this relationship is different. Thus, compounds are usually classified first and foremost according to the part of speech of the base word of the second constituent. This yields two large groups—nominal and verbal compound nouns (the second constituent is very rarely based on a word belonging to another part of speech). These two groups differ considerably both in their formation and in their meaning.
Within each group distinguished in this way, compounds are usually classified according to the part of speech of the base word of the first constituent. This classification makes it easier to bring out more clearly certain formal features of the relevant formations and to survey the extent to which the meaning of compounds depends on the parts of speech of the words on which their constituents are based. The formations classified in this way are then examined in terms of meaning and form. This study essentially follows the same procedure for classification and analysis. However, in this case, analysis by derivational meaning suffers. For example, the meaning ‘name of an instrument’ in compounds with a verbal second constituent does not depend on the part of speech of the word on which the first constituent is based (cf. bangomatis FŽ, STŽ, durpsemė MŽ, kelmarovė MŽ, riedmuša SŽ, savivartis MŽ, garsiakalbis FŽ, STŽ, etc.). The same applies to compounds with other meanings. Thus, it would seem more convenient to examine compound nouns with a verbal second constituent by their meaning rather than by classifying them according to the first constituent. However, this approach has been set aside in this study in order to maintain a uniform classification.
Nominal compound terms
As already mentioned, most compound terms have a second constituent based on a noun (78.2% of all examples examined). The first constituent of such compound nouns is also most often nominal (59.6% of all examples with a nominal second constituent). Quite often, the first constituent of formations of this type is based on an adjective (21.7% of examples), less often on a numeral (8.2% of examples), and relatively rarely on a verb (3.4% of examples), an adverb (3% of examples), a preposition (2.9% of examples), or a pronoun (1.2% of examples). Incidentally, these quantitative data, one might say, correspond quite well to the figures given by V. Urbutis—
14 Ibid.
75
Page 7…those data on the compound nouns of contemporary Lithuanian15. Thus, there is a strong tendency in the formation of Lithuanian compound nouns. It is interesting that Latvian technical terminology, too, consists predominantly of compound terms with two nominal constituents (62.5%); second in number (17.4%) are corresponding compounds with an adjectival first constituent. However, compound terms with a verbal first constituent are much more frequent here (15.1%), while those with a numeral, pronominal, or adverbial first constituent are rarer16.
The general semantic character of compound terms with a nominal second constituent usually depends on the meaning of the base noun in that constituent. It is most often this noun that determines whether the compound noun has a concrete meaning (denoting an object or living being) or is an abstract word. For this reason, the division into derivational groups commonly applied to suffixal and inflectional derivatives is not practiced in studies of compound-noun formation. The largest share of derivatives consists of specific names for things denoted by the base nouns in the second constituent. However, there are also quite a few compound terms denoting other kinds of things.
Compounds with nominal constituents
Compound terms with two nominal constituents are most often formed from Lithuanian nouns (this category also includes old borrowings that have become established in the language’s lexicon). However, hybrids in which one of the constituents is based on an international word, usually a term used in the relevant field, are also readily formed. Among the examples examined, such formations account for 15.6%; three fifths of them have a second constituent based on an international noun, while the remainder have an international noun as the first constituent. For example: anteridkotis “gametophore on which antheridia form — антеридиофорум, -us-антеридиеносец” BŽ, betonvamzdis “a pipe whose walls are made of concrete — бетонная труба” MŽ, citrinvaistis “a juicy fruit with a thick, coloured rind containing numerous essential-oil glands — hesperidium, гесперидий, померанец” BŽ, fosforitmilčiai “ground phosphorites — фосфоритная мука” ChŽ, konidijakotis “a branch of a hypha at whose tip conidia form — conidiophorum, -us, конидиеносец” BŽ, pulpovamzdis “a pipe for conveying pulp — пульповод” MŽ, skorpionėžiai “Merostomata, ракоскорпионы” GŽ, startavietė “место старта” SŽ, buožiaspores “spores formed at the tips of specialized hyphae (basidia) in the fruiting bodies of basidiomycetes — basidiosporae, базидиоспоры” BŽ, gelžbakterės “filamentous bacteria, mostly of the genus Leptotrix, living in water rich in iron bicarbonates (near springs). <…> — Chlamydobacteriaceae, железо-бактерии” BŽ, jūrmylė “морская миля” EŽ, SŽ, kiaušiasporė “a spore or zygote of oogamous plants, formed from the ovum after fertilization — oospora, ооспора” BŽ, miškatundrė “a transitional region where forests give way to tundra — лесотундра” MŽ, molbetonis “a mechanical mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and crushed stone
15 Urbutis V. Formation of compound nouns in contemporary Lithuanian, p. 68; Grammar of the Lithuanian Language, vol. 1, p. 437. Comparisons with data from contemporary Lithuanian in this paper generally draw on these studies by V. Urbutis.
16 Skujiņa V. Formation of technical-science terms in Latvian, pp. 14–16.
76
Page 8mixture — глинобетон” MŽ, pusantračiai “a type of anthracite — полуантрациты” ChŽ, pusfinalis “полуфинал” SŽ, pusperiodis “полупериод” ChŽ, FŽ, STŽ, pustonis “полутон” FŽ, etc. Thus, it can be said that international terms are widely incorporated into the formation of this type of Lithuanian compound term. This is undoubtedly a consequence of the relatively extensive use of international terms in various fields of Lithuanian terminology. However, new compound nouns appear to be rarely formed independently from international terms alone, and no examples of this kind seem to have been found in the sources examined. The compound term amonbakterės “bacteria that use ammonium salts as food — аммонбактерии” in BŽ may certainly be mentioned here; on the other hand, however, it may be a Lithuanian adaptation of a term from another language. Other international terms of similar structure are generally indisputable borrowings.
Almost three quarters of compound terms of this type denote various concrete entities in reality—objects (most often) or living beings (nearly one seventh of the examples denoting concrete entities). Slightly more than one sixth of the formations have an abstract meaning. The remaining compound terms are varied, most often names of natural regions.
Some compound terms with two nominal components name composite entities whose constituent elements, denoted by the basic nouns of the components, are equivalent, equally independent parts of the entity being named, e.g.: carbohydrates “a group of organic compounds whose chemical composition mostly corresponds to the formula Cₙ(H₂O)ₘ” BŽ, “C compounds with H and O — углеводы” ChŽ, hydrocarbons “C compounds with H — углеводороды” ChŽ, GŽ, bleaching powder “a mixture of Ca(OCl)₂ and CaCl₂ — хлорная известь” ChŽ, peat-mud “peat mixed with mud — илистый торф” MŽ, GŽ, soil-ground “a general term denoting ground and soil — почвогрунт” MŽ, “грунтопочва” GŽ, forest-steppe “a physical-geographical zone in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, characterized by meadow steppes alternating with forests along watersheds — лесостепь” MŽ, GŽ, forest-tundra “a transitional area where forests give way to tundras — лесотундра” MŽ, clay-sand “a mixture of clay and sand — глинопесок” MŽ, horseshoe crabs “Merostomata, ракоскорпионы” GŽ, anthropoid apes “Anthropoidea, человекообразные” GŽ, beast-lizards “Therapsida, звереподобные” GŽ, and perhaps lake-fish “золли” GŽ. Syntactically, the relationship between the components of such compounds is coordinative. For this reason, the compound nouns themselves are also called coordinative, or copulative. However, there are very few compound terms of this type (close to 3% of all examples with two nominal components). Copulative compounds are also uncommon in contemporary Lithuanian in general, and they are scarce in Russian and Polish as well17.
Most compound terms have constituents that are not coordinated but rather seem subordinate; in other words, the constituents are not fully independent of one another. Usually one constituent of these compound nouns (most often the first) defines, specifies, and thus determines and narrows the meaning of the other constituent. This is called—
17 Blicharski M. Nominal compounds in Russian and Polish, p. 47.
77
Page 9so-called determinative, or determinational (determinative) compound terms. Most determinative compound terms have a direct meaning, i.e., the meaning of the formations arises directly from the relationship between their components and the meanings of the base nouns. What is meant here, of course, is the use of these terms; in other words, the fact that the meaning derived from word formation does not essentially differ from the lexical meaning of the corresponding formations. The defining (determining) component of such compound terms forms, as it were, the semantic center of the whole formation; above all, it determines what kind of thing is named. The defining component, by denoting some feature of the defined thing that is important for naming it, determines that the formation denotes a narrower thing, usually subordinated to the thing denoted by the base word of the defining component. Thus, these are typical endocentric compounds. Such compound terms are usually names of species. And since terminology abounds in species concepts, it is easy to understand that the formation of this type of compound term is the most productive. Relatively large groups of species terms sharing the same head component often arise in this way. E.g.:
disease: akmenligė “a gravel-like hardening of pear fruit, caused by an insufficient supply of water to the pears — lithiasis, литяз” BŽ, dirvonligė “whitening of cereal ears and leaf tips due to copper deficiency in the soil — болезнь обработки” BŽ, dryžligė “a leaf disease manifested by elongated streaks of necrotic tissue — полосатость” BŽ, gelžligė “various forms of browning inside the potato tuber, arising from abnormal soil conditions” BŽ, grybligė “a disease of humans or animals caused by fungi — микоз” BŽ, jūrligė “морская болезнь” SŽ, kamštligė “corky cavities of various sizes in the flesh of an apple <...>” BŽ, lielialigė “red mold of the apple seed cavity, caused by fungi of the genus Fusarium — сердцевинная гниль” BŽ, miltingė “a disease usually caused by fungi of the family Erysiphaceae, whose affected leaves look as if dusted with flour — мучнистая роса” BŽ, pelenligė “a disease of cultivated and wild plants, manifested by yellowish spots of varying sizes and shapes on the upper surface of the leaves, while the lower surface is covered with a very short white, gray, or grayish-violet down. Pelenligė also occurs on other organs <...>” — ложная мучнистая роса, мил(ь)дью, пероноспороз” BŽ, pūsleligė (of pear leaves) “a pear disease caused by the fungus Taphrina bullata Berk. et Br., manifested by blister-like swelling of the leaf blade on the upper or lower side — вздутие листьев груши, выпуклины” BŽ, rūdligė “a plant disease caused by various parasitic fungi belonging to the rust family — ржавчина, ржавчинная болезнь” BŽ, sidabraligė “whitening of the leaves of plums, apple trees, and sometimes other plants, often caused by the fungus Stereum purpureum Pers. — млечный блеск” BŽ, stiklaligė “a physiological disease manifested by transparent, glass-like spots in the tissues of the affected plant — стекловидность” BŽ, suodžialigė “soot-like deposits forming on plants, especially tree leaves, in the second half of summer — hyphae and fruiting bodies of various saprophytic fungi (genera Fumago, Torula, etc.) — чернь, сажистый налёт” BŽ, šašligė “a plant disease manifested by scab-like growths on the surface of tubers or fruits — парша” BŽ, šraligė (of stone fruits) “a disease caused by fungi
78
Page 10Clasterosporium carpophilum (Lev.) Aderh. and Cercospora cerasella Sacc. (in the ascus stage Mycosphaerella Aderh.). It appears as circular spots with a lighter center and dark red or brownish-red margins on the leaves, which later become perforated at the spots. In more severe cases, the disease affects shoots, buds, flowers, and fruit — дырчатая пятнистость, клястероспориоз косточковых” BŽ, vyžligė “a plant disease that deforms the fruit of stone-fruit plants — the fruit becomes flattened, with a wrinkled surface and no stone — кармашки” BŽ;
stalk: anteridkotis “a gametophore on which antheridia form — антеридиофорум, -us, антеридиеносец” BŽ, buožkotis “a stalk bearing a club (basidium) — basidiophorus, базидиеносец” BŽ, konidijakotis “a branch of a hypha at whose tip conidia form — conidiophorum, -us, конидиеносец” BŽ, lapkotis “the part of a leaf by which the leaf blade is attached to the stem — petiolus, черешок” BŽ, meškerikotis “удилище” SŽ, sporakotis “a structure on which fungal spores form — sporophorum, спорофор” BŽ, sporangėkotis “a stem-like outgrowth with a sporangium attached at its tip — sporangiophorum, спорангиеносец” BŽ, vaiskotis “the part of a fruit by which it is joined to the fruiting branch; fruit stalk — плодоножка” BŽ, vėliavkotis “древко флажка” SŽ, zoosporangijakotis “a thin outgrowth of fungal hyphae on which zoosporangia form, e.g., in downy mildews — zoosporangiophorum, -us, зооспорангиеносец” BŽ, žiedynkotis “a leafless stem bearing an inflorescence at its tip, e.g., in plantain (Plantago) or dandelion (Taraxacum) — pedunculus, scapus, цветонос, стрелка” BŽ, žiedkotis “the axis of a stem or its branch bearing a single flower — pedicellus, цветоножка” BŽ;
place: augimvietė “a spot in nature where a plant grows naturally — место произрастания” BŽ, “место обитания” GŽ (of plants), darbarvietė “место работы” TŽ, diegavietė “an opening in the outer pollen wall (exine) through which the pollen cell emerges — porus, пора прорастания, проростковая пора” BŽ, indavietės “marks left on the leaf scar by the broken vascular bundles after the leaf falls — vestigia fasciculorum, vestigia vasculorum, vestigia vasorum, следы сосудистых пучков” BŽ, kilmiavietė “месторождение” MŽ, prekyvietė “базар, рынок” EŽ, radimvietė “a geographically defined place where a plant has been found growing wild — местонахождение” BŽ, GŽ, rūdvietė “рудное месторождение” GŽ, saitavietė “the mark on a seed coat where the seed was attached to the funiculus — hilum, umbilicus, рубчик” BŽ, startavietė “место старта” SŽ, turgavietė “базар, рынок” EŽ, vasarvietė “дачный поселок” TŽ;
writing: dienoraštis “дневник” LŽ, dienraštis “ежедневная газета” LŽ, eilėraštis “стихотворение” LŽ, kainoraštis “прейскурант, ценник” EŽ, “прейскурант” TŽ, laikraštis “газета” LŽ, metraštis “летопись; ежегодник” LŽ, rankraštis “рукопись” LŽ, “манускрипт” STŽ, savaitraštis “еженедельник” LŽ, tvarkaraštis “расписание” EŽ, STŽ, važtaraštis “накладная” EŽ, TŽ, žiniaraštis “ведомость” EŽ, STŽ, TŽ;
mountain: balnakalnis “a saddle-shaped mountain — седловина” MŽ, GŽ, SŽ, ledkalnis “айсберг” GŽ, luistiklaniai “сбросовые горы” GŽ, raukšlikalniai “складчатые горы” GŽ, stalkalnis “столовая гора” GŽ, ugnikalnis “вулкан” GŽ;
79
Page 11earth: soil “loose surface terrestrial horizon in which plants can grow <…> – почва” MŽ, GŽ, saline soil “soil whose surface layer contains many readily soluble sodium salts (mainly sodium chloride, sulfate, and carbonate), as well as calcium and magnesium salts <…> – солончак, солончаковая почва” MŽ, GŽ, peat soil “soil with peat – торфяная почва” MŽ, GŽ, clay soil “aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) – глинозём” MŽ, ChŽ, sandy soil “sandy area, sandy soil – пески” MŽ, flint soil “кремнезём” GŽ.
This list could be continued. The examples given show, among other things, that the first component defines the second in quite various ways.
Quite often, the first component of compound terms specifies the material contained in the thing denoted by the head noun of the second component. The named thing may consist entirely of that material, but, on the other hand, the material may merely be characteristic, and in terms of a particular classification, usually the most important component of that thing. For example: carbonic acid “precubinic, technical name for carbon dioxide” ChŽ, concrete pipe “a pipe whose walls are made of concrete” MŽ, saline soil “soil whose surface layer contains many readily soluble sodium salts (mainly sodium chloride, sulfate, and carbonate), as well as calcium and magnesium salts” MŽ, GŽ, peat powder “торфяной порошок” MŽ, firn ice “фирновый лед” GŽ, phosphorite meal “малти фосфоритай” ChŽ, limestone “natural calcium carbonate” ChŽ, bone meal “defatted and ground bones” ChŽ, blood meal “dried blood” ChŽ, iceberg “айсберг” GŽ, ice field “ледяное поле” GŽ, -is SŽ, gunwale “привальный брус” SŽ (rowing), clay concrete “a mechanical mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and crushed stone” MŽ, air bladders “1. air-filled bladders in algal tissue, also called aerocysts – аэроцисты, воздушные цисты; 2. bladder-like outgrowths of the outer pollen coat that reduce the weight of pollen and enable it to travel long distances – воздушные пузыри” BŽ, snow crust “наст” SŽ, sheet-pile wall “a wall made of sheet piles” MŽ, wire cotter “шплинт, англ. splint, pin, cotter pin” STŽ, bridle “хердель” SŽ (horse riding).
In a considerable proportion of compound terms, the first component indicates what the thing denoted by the head noun of the second component is intended or used for. For example: stone cutter “каменерез” GŽ, holiday pay “отпускные деньги” EŽ, cattle track “a path for driving livestock to pasture” MŽ, housing allowance “квартирные деньги” EŽ, “квартирные деньги (оплата расходов по найму жилого помещения)” TŽ, workplace “место работы” TŽ, gas container “a container for storing gas” ChŽ, mucus channels “tubules found in some brown algae (family Laminariaceae), possibly serving excretion” BŽ, price tag “знак цены” EŽ, cork oak “пробковое дерево” SŽ, travel pass “путёвка” EŽ, “путевой лист, путевка” TŽ, shipping lane “a marked safe route for navigation or timber rafting on a river, lake, or sea” MŽ, SŽ, ice axe “ледоруб” SŽ, meal allowance “кормовые деньги” EŽ, sleeping bag “спальный мешок” SŽ, air aspirator “an apparatus for drawing in an air current, widely used in plant physiology experiments to determine the intensity of photosynthesis, respiration, or transpiration” BŽ, trade box “ло-
80
Page 12tok” EŽ, pulp pipe “a pipe for conveying pulp” MŽ, seed tree “an uncultivated fruit tree grown to obtain seeds (for producing rootstocks) – непривитое дерево” BŽ, starting place “место старта” ŠŽ, shot-hole drill “сверло для бурения шпуров” GŽ, long-jump pit “яма для прыжков” ŠŽ, market day “базарный день” EŽ, water pump “a pump for drawing or pumping water” MŽ, summer resort “дачный поселок” TŽ, flagstaff “древко флажка” ŠŽ.
There are quite a number of compound terms whose first component indicates to whom the thing denoted by the head word of the second component belongs, or of whom it forms a part. For example: ascospores “spores of ascomycetes formed inside asci” BŽ, wave ripples “рябь” GŽ, seedling leaves “simpler-shaped leaves characteristic of seedlings; cotyledons and one or two leaves positioned above them” BŽ, vein tip “the tip of a vein” BŽ, tannery wool “wool removed from tanned hides” ATŽ, leaf sheath “the basal part of a leaf that sheathes the stem – вагина, листовое влагалище” BŽ, petiole “the part of a leaf by which the blade is attached to the stem – petiolus, черешок” BŽ, larval galleries “tunnels bored by pest larvae in wood or bark – червоточинные ходы” BŽ, fishing rod “удилище” ŠŽ, goat wool “coarse wool from goats and sheep” ATŽ, meadow grass “путовая трава” MŽ, end of a written sheet “end of a sheet of paper, an inferior piece of writing” MŽ, rim “the outer cylindrical or shaped part of a wheel, pulley, or flywheel” MŽ, ŠŽ, ore vein “рудная жила” GŽ, cotyledon “a part of the seed embryo derived from the first leaves, but usually serving as a storehouse for nutrients (in dicotyledons) <…>” BŽ, seed wings “flat appendages of fruits or seeds that aid their dispersal by wind, e.g., in maple, elm, and pine” BŽ, thread ends “production waste from textile and knitwear factories; tangled thread ends of various lengths produced in different production sections when fixing thread breaks, unwinding defective skeins, or removing reserve windings” ATŽ, sliver waste “reusable spinning waste; short lengths of sliver obtained by removing defective sections, repairing sliver breaks, and tearing up damaged sliver rolls” ATŽ, pine needle sheath “a yellow, membranous sheath surrounding young pine needles” BŽ, stem tips “the tips of stems and branches of early land plants bearing sporangia” BŽ, root tubers “thickened parts of roots serving as nutrient stores, e.g., in dahlia (Dahlia variabilis) or dropwort (Filipendula hexapetala)” BŽ, root hairs “outgrowths of root epidermal cells that increase the absorptive surface” BŽ, sepal “an individual sepal” BŽ, petal “an individual petal of the corolla” BŽ, fruit stalk “the part of the fruit by which it is joined to the fruiting branch; fruit pedicel” BŽ, pollen grain “a microspore of flowering plants, which produces a male gamete when it germinates” BŽ, flower scales “two small scales in the flowers of grasses that protect the essential flower parts (stamens and pistil) and later the young grain” BŽ, tepal “1. a segment of an undifferentiated perianth; 2. petal (in folk usage)” BŽ, receptacle “the shortened and broadened floral axis forming the base to which the other flower parts are attached” BŽ, bridle sling “кренгель-строп” ŠŽ.
Some compound terms name concepts on the basis of similarity. The first component of such terms indicates what the thing denoted by the second component resembles, what it calls to mind, or what it can be compared with. For example: stone disease “a gravel-like formation in the fruit of pears, com-
81
Page 13hardening, when pears do not receive enough water” BŽ, gold thread “multicolored, shiny metallic and metallized threads in the form of thin wires or narrow strips of foil, used for fabric effects and haberdashery” ATŽ, saddle mountain “a mountain shaped like a saddle” MŽ, GŽ, iron disease “various forms of browning inside the potato tuber, resulting from abnormal soil conditions” BŽ, crossroads “перекрёсток; распутье” SŽ, shrub-tree “a tree with several trunks, e.g., a suckering cherry or bird cherry” BŽ, tree-like shrub “1. a tall shrub resembling a tree, e.g., bird cherries; 2. a shrub grown in the form of a tree, e.g., a currant bush” BŽ, powdery mildew “a disease usually caused by fungi of the family Erysiphaceae, whose affected leaves look as if dusted with flour” BŽ, table mountain “столовая гора” GŽ, bulb bud “a bud with thickened, fleshy scales resembling an onion, e.g., in bulb-bearing toothwort (Dentaria bulbifera)” BŽ.
There are compound terms whose first constituent indicates some important part of the thing denoted by the second constituent, and this part is taken as the distinguishing feature (characteristic) of the thing denoted by the compound, since other things denoted by the second constituent’s base noun do not have it. For example: sailboat “парусное судно” SŽ, cogwheel “зубчатка” SŽ, salt lake “соляное озеро” SŽ, stone fruit “a fleshy or semi-dry fruit (plum, almond) whose inner layer (endocarp) has the consistency of hard mechanical tissue (a stone)” BŽ, gearwheel “a wheel with teeth, used in transmissions” MŽ, EŽ, STŽ, SŽ, rack “зубчатая рейка, angl. rack, rack bar, rack rod” STŽ, adhesive hairs “sticky-producing hairs, usually covering buds” BŽ, indehiscent fruit “a dry, closed fruit with one seed and a leathery pericarp that is not fused with the seed” BŽ, folded mountains “складчатые горы” GŽ, winged fruit “an indehiscent fruit or nutlet whose pericarp expands into a flat, leathery or membranous appendage—a wing (as in elms, ash, hornbeam, and birch)” BŽ, sporophyll “a modified leaf in which sporangia and spores are produced; sporophylls are borne by pteridophytes and gymnosperms” BŽ, berry shrub “a garden plant whose fruit is a berry” BŽ, fruit tree “a tree-like plant grown for fruits suitable for human consumption” BŽ, sedge bog “a bog whose peat is dominated by sedges, with no more than 10% tree remains or none at all, and with mosses making up no more than 30% of the total plant cover” MŽ, marked wool “wool whose hair tips have been dyed with non-washable dye to mark sheep” ATŽ, flower stalk “a leafless stem bearing an inflorescence at its tip, e.g., in plantain (Plantago) or dandelion (Taraxacum)” BŽ.
A few compound terms have a particular objective meaning. The first constituent of such compounds denotes the object of the broader concept expressed by the second constituent, as it were—that is, what it is directed toward. For example, payroll “окладной лист” EŽ, diary “дневник” LŽ, natural landscape “естественный ландшафт” GŽ, nautical chart “морская карта” SŽ, price list “прейскурант, ценник” EŽ, TŽ, landscape “the overall appearance of an area; landscape” MŽ, GŽ, newspaper “газета” LŽ, glacial period “a geological period when a significant part of Earth’s land surface was covered by ice” MŽ, GŽ, peatland science “the science that studies the formation and development of peatlands” MŽ, watercourse “a flow (current) of water or a lower-lying area of terrain along which water moves downhill.” MŽ, GŽ, verb “глагол” LŽ, map “карта” EŽ, GŽ, MŽ, SŽ.
82
Page 14The characteristic cases of relations between constituents noted here concern compound terms with a direct meaning. That relation may also take other forms. For example, in compounds whose second constituent’s base noun denotes a particular place, the first constituent often indicates what is kept, or naturally is or was, in that place, e.g.: peat pit “a place in a peat bog where peat is dug” MŽ, vessel traces “after a leaf has fallen, the marks of broken vascular bundles in the leaf scar” BŽ, ice fields “ледяное поле” GŽ, -is SŽ, clay pit “a pit from which clay is dug” MŽ, ore deposit “рудное месторождение” GŽ, seed locule “the inner part of fruits with seeds (e.g., apples), developed from the ovary locules and containing the seeds” BŽ, spore chamber “a cavity filled with spores inside the spore-bearing structure of mosses” BŽ, gravel pit “a pit from which gravel is taken” MŽ. Sometimes the first constituent indicates an action or state associated with the place being named, e.g.: growing place “a natural spot where a plant grows” BŽ, GŽ, origin site (=deposit) “a place where mineral resources have accumulated” MŽ, discovery site “a geographically defined place where a plant has been found growing wild” BŽ, GŽ.
Compound terms whose first constituent is based on the noun half are quite numerous (one seventh of all compounds with two nominal constituents). The second constituent often indicates whose half it is; thus, here the second constituent determines the first, as in the terms upper course MŽ, upper lintel MŽ. For example: semi-awl “a wool fibre, somewhat thinner than an awn, with an incomplete core channel and small cavities” ATŽ, half-life “the half-life of radioactive substances” ChŽ, FŽ, half-wave “полуволна” FŽ, half-anther “a half of an anther; typically, an anther contains 2 half-anthers” BŽ, semigroup “полугруппа, angl. semigroup” STŽ, semicircle “дуга” SŽ, half-page “страница, лист” LŽ, STŽ, semicirrus “an inflorescence type in which a dense mass of flowers partly surrounds the stem at a node” BŽ, half-horseshoe “полуподкова” SŽ, half-period “полупериод” ChŽ, FŽ, STŽ, half-log “a log split lengthwise” MŽ, semicircle “полукруг” SŽ, half-word (in terms of length) “полуслово, angl. half-word, short-word” STŽ.
However, in most compound terms (nearly three quarters), the first constituent half- does not denote half of the thing denoted by the second constituent’s base noun, but rather an inauthentic thing that lacks all the characteristic properties of that thing, denoted by the second constituent’s base noun—for example, an impure form of a particular substance, or a thing that is not genuine but resembles or is otherwise related to it. In such compounds, the semantic center is the second constituent, which is defined by the first constituent half-. In meaning, the first constituent is closer to the adverb partly “to some extent, not completely.” For example: semi-anthracites “a type of hard coal” ChŽ, semi-pears “pear varieties whose fruits have a regular pear shape and partly (semi-) melting flesh” BŽ, prosimians “Lemuroidea, полуобезьяны” GŽ, hemicellulose “a reserve nutrient forming part of cell walls, similar to cellulose (hemicellulose)” BŽ, semi-desert “a transitional zone between steppe and desert” MŽ, GŽ, semifinal “полуфинал” SŽ, semi-finished product “полуфабрикат” EŽ, semi-tar “a sticky, unrefined product of petroleum refining” ChŽ, peninsula “полуостров” GŽ, semi-coke “obtained by coking at a low temperature” ChŽ, semicolloid “having the properties of a colloid and an electrolyte” ChŽ, semi-colony “полуколония” EŽ, subshrub “a plant,
83
Page 15whose shoots have only the lower part perennial and woody, while the upper part is herbaceous, annual, and dies back or dries out in winter (e.g., rue, thyme)” BŽ, pusparazičiai “plants able to feed autotrophically but obtain part of their food with haustoria from their neighbors, e.g., linlapis, barškutis” BŽ, puspylimis “half embankment” MŽ, pusproletaris “полупролетарий” EŽ, pussirupis “полусироп” ChŽ. Occasionally, alongside a compound of this kind, a synonymous compound term is also given with the first component pusiau, e.g.: pusiau proletariatas, pusproletariatis “полупролетариат” EŽ, puskolonijė, pusiau kolonija “полуколония” EŽ. In addition, some compounds of the type under discussion have synonymous international terms with the preposition hemi-, corresponding to Lithuanian pus- “half, halfway,” e.g.: hemiceliuliozė BŽ, hemikoloidas ChŽ, hemiparazitai BŽ, alongside pusceliuliozės, puskoloidžio ir pusparazicio.
Approximately one tenth of the compound terms with two nominal components are names of various organisms, mostly names of particular taxonomic units (taxa). Only a smaller proportion have a meaning that is simply the sum of the components’ meanings: their second component is a generic name, while the first specifies it by highlighting characteristic representatives or other features, e.g.: dilgyn gyviai “Cnidaria, стрекающие” GŽ, duobagyviai “Coelenterata, кишечнополостные” GŽ, varliagyviai “Amphibia, земноводные” GŽ, vėžiagyviai “Crustacea, ракообразные” GŽ, voragyviai “Arachnoidea, паукообразные” GŽ or karkvabalis “майский жук” SŽ, saulažuvė “верховка, овсянка” SŽ, vilkšunis “волкодав” SŽ.
Nearly two thirds of these terms have figurative meanings: their second component denotes a body part, while the first indicates what those body parts resemble or what they are made of. The compound term names animals possessing those features or parts. For example: delnakojai “Scaphopoda, ладьеногие” GŽ, galvakojai “Cephalapoda, головоногие” GŽ, lapakojai “Phyllopoda, листоногие” GŽ, pečiakojai “Brachiopoda, плеченогие” GŽ, pilvakojai “Gastropoda, брюхоногие” GŽ, sparnakkoji “Pteropoda, птероподы” GŽ, šakniakojai “Rhizopoda, корненожки” GŽ, eiliadantiai “Taxodonta, рядозубые” GŽ, raištadantiai “Desmodonta, связкозубые” GŽ, žveriadantiai “Theriodontia, зверезубые” GŽ, krūtingalvė “Cephalothorax, головогрудь” GŽ, snapagalviai “Rhynchocephalia, клювоголовые” GŽ, driežadubeniai “Saurischia, ящеротазые” GŽ, pauksičiadubeniai “Ornithischia, птицетазовые” GŽ, stiebalakiai “Stylommatophora, стебельчатоглазые” GŽ, kremzliakaulės (žuvys) “Chondrostei, хрящекостные” GŽ, išoriakriaukliai “Estocochlia, наружн раковинные” GŽ, kupranugariai “Camelidae, верблюды” GŽ, plokštėodžiai “Placodermi, пластинокожие” GŽ, žuviapelėkiai “Ichtyopterygia, рыбоплавниковые” GŽ, rėšapelėkės (žuvys) “Crossopterygii, кистепёрые” GŽ, rankasparniai “Chiroptera, рукокрылые” GŽ, kaulašarviai “Osteostraci, костнощитковые” GŽ, kardauodegiai “Xiphosura, мечехвостые” GŽ, kaukaspenis “белемнит” GŽ, laumžirgis “красотка” SŽ. Also very close to this group is one plant taxonomic name: pleištalapiai “Sphenophyllales, клинолистики” GŽ. As the examples given show, in terms of the relationship between derivational and lexical meaning, compound terms are most often metonymic, or bahuvrihi-type, formations. Metaphorical ones (laumžirgis “красотка” SŽ) are rare. Incidentally, most of them are translations of international Latin taxonomic terms.
84
Page 16Compound terms, like compound nouns in the modern language in general, are usually formed from nouns with morphologically indivisible stems, e.g.: algalapis EŽ, burlavis SŽ, delnakojai GŽ, dulkiadagis BŽ, duonpinigiai EŽ, frachtapinigiai EŽ, TŽ, gleivėtakiai BŽ, gumbavaisiai BŽ, jūrmy lė EŽ, SŽ, jūrligė SŽ, kelialapis EŽ, TŽ, kelpinigiai EŽ, TŽ, laikotarpis EŽ, SŽ, GŽ, laivatakis SŽ, lapavaisis BŽ, laukmedis BŽ, lipaplaukiai BŽ, medvilnė ATŽ, BŽ, EŽ, miegmaišis SŽ, odapradis BŽ, orakelis SŽ, pientakiai BŽ, pietrytys GŽ, piev ažolė MŽ, prekyšuolis EŽ, puscelė ChŽ, pusduobė GŽ, puseilis LŽ, puskilpė SŽ, rū dgrybiai BŽ, sakotakis BŽ, skujauogė BŽ, sliekratis STŽ, sporalapis BŽ, šunkelis SŽ, tėvavardis TŽ, upėbaris SŽ, vaistažolės BŽ, vėjaduobė GŽ, žiedvirvė SŽ, and others.
However, more than a quarter of the formations under consideration usually have one component that is clearly morphologically analyzable (the first and second components are equally common in this regard). Formations with both components morphologically analyzable are very rare, e.g.: važtaraštis EŽ, TŽ, žiedpumpuris BŽ. Such base component nouns as juosta, kablys, rastas, raštas, važta, veiksmas, although suffixal, do not at all seem to be exceptions in word formation, and could hardly be called rare. Much less common, however, are components based on compound nouns and nouns containing prefixes or lengthening suffixes (one tenth of the examples with two nominal components). These are mostly suffixal components, e.g.: augimvietė BŽ, GŽ, dirvonlīgė BŽ, dilgynvygiai GŽ, komandin uotpinigiai EŽ, TŽ, ledynmetis GŽ, MŽ, radimvietė BŽ, GŽ, vaisvyrandis BŽ, žiedynkotis BŽ, žiedynlapis BŽ, žiedynsostis BŽ; angliavandeniliai ChŽ, GŽ, syogūnpumpuris BŽ, žiedpumpuris BŽ, pusdeginis ChŽ, MŽ, pusdykumė GŽ, MŽ, pusdu lkinė BŽ, pusgaminis EŽ, puspylimis MŽ, pussuktukis SŽ (a riding figure). International words with clearly analyzable stems are also rare here, e.g.: fosforitmilčiai ChŽ, pusfabrikatas EŽ, pusproletariatis EŽ.
The base nouns of components are relatively rarely prefixed; among these, compound terms with such a first component are more frequent, e.g.: išoriakriaukliai GŽ, papėdlapis BŽ, pažiedlapiai BŽ, prielaprandis BŽ, užpakaliaskruosčiai GŽ, užpakaliažiauniai GŽ. A few formations occur with a component formed using an element of an international term, e.g.: kilovatalandė EŽ, zoosporangijakotis BŽ. A second prefixed component is quite exceptional—among the examples there are only puspasagis SŽ and pusužtvankė MŽ (incidentally, the ending-derived forms pasaga, užtvanka have the prefix from their base verbs). Terms containing a component that is itself a compound noun are also extremely rare (sienlaikraštis LŽ).
It can be concluded that the formation of terms more often than not goes beyond the bounds of traditional compound-noun formation. When necessary, components that are generally atypical of compounding in the modern language are unavoidable here. It is true that such morphologically more complex components are sometimes simplified when incorporated into a compound term. In particular, there is a tendency to drop the diminutive suffixes of base nouns, e.g.: buožkotis “the stalk on which the little club (basidium) is situated” BŽ, kaulavais is “a juicy or semi-dry fruit (plum, almond) whose inner layer (endocarp) has the consistency of hard mechanical tissue (a stone)” BŽ, kiaušialąstė “the female sex cell within the embryo sac” BŽ, kiaušiasporė “a spore of oogamous plant species”
85
Page 17or zygote, formed from the ovule after fertilization” BŽ, lipapaukiai “hairs that produce sticky secretions, usually covering buds” BŽ, orapušlės “1. air-filled bladders in algal tissues, also called aerocysts; 2. bladder-like protrusions of the outer pollen-wall layer, which reduce the weight of pollen and enable it to travel long distances” BŽ, sparnavais is “a samara or nutlet whose pericarp is expanded into a flat, skin- or membrane-like appendage—a wing (of elm, ash, hornbeam, birch)” BŽ, šakniaplaukiai “outgrowths of root epidermal cells that serve to increase the absorptive surface” BŽ, taurelėlapis “an individual sepal” BŽ, vainiklapis “an individual petal” BŽ, vaiskotis “the part of a fruit by which it is attached to the fruiting branch; fruit stalk” BŽ, varpazvyniai “small scales at the base of spikelets” BŽ, žiedažvyniai “two small scales in the flowers of grasses, protecting the essential parts of the flower (stamens and pistil), and later the young grain” BŽ, žiedlapis “1. a leaf of an undifferentiated perianth; 2. petal (in folk speech)” BŽ. The definitions of the terms themselves often already indicate that the base of the constituent should be pre-affixal. Moreover, the aforementioned compound terms are formed from botanical terms buoželės, kaulilikas “the hard part of a drupe together with the seed,” lapelis “1. an individual part of a compound leaf; 2. a small leaf,” ląstelė, kotelis, plaukeliai “slender outgrowths on the surface of the above-ground parts of a plant,” pūslė, sparnelis, taurelė, vainikėlis, žvynelis, and the term kiaušinėlio. Thus, during word formation the stem of the base word is simplified, morphologically shortened. Given that terminological compounds are also often formed from terms, it may be assumed that some compound terms likewise simplify the constituents from which they are formed, for example, sėklavietė “a small mark on the seed coat where the seed was attached to the funiculus” BŽ, skilčialapis “the first leaf of a seedling, grown from the cotyledon and turned green <...>” BŽ. Apparently, these terms are compounds formed from the words sėklasaitis and vieta, and sėklaskiltė and lapas. More examples of this kind can be found. They show that terminological usage, too, seeks to avoid an excessive proliferation of word-formation exceptions. This is, of course, entirely worthy of support and encouragement. When coining new terms, it is always best to look for ways to form convenient derivatives that conform to the general rules and tendencies of word formation in contemporary Lithuanian.
The constituents of compound terms are joined to one another with or without linking vowels. Table 3 shows how the constituents of the compound terms under consideration are joined.
Almost half of the compound terms under consideration have no linking vowels at all. The nouns serving as the base of the first constituent here may have any ending. Compound words especially often lack a linking vowel when the base noun of the first constituent has the ending -ė; however, more than three quarters of such examples are derivatives with the first constituent pus-. A linking vowel is exceedingly rare alongside pus-.
In roughly three fifths of the derivatives, the linking vowels coincide with historical stem-final vowels. For example:
-a- (from present-day nouns with the ending -as): darbadienis EŽ, TŽ, diegamakštė BŽ, grybašaknė BŽ, kalnagūbris GŽ, MŽ, laivatakis SŽ, muilanaftė ChŽ, oragaubtis GŽ, skliautakalvė GŽ, šalmapradis BŽ, vairagalys SŽ, etc. Incidentally, when the first constituent is based on a noun with an a-stem (one with the ending -as), diminutive-
86
Page 18Combining the components of compound terms
Table 3
Linking vowel | Number of derivatives by the endings of the base nouns of the first constituent | -as | -ias | -is (-io) | -ys | -is (-ies) masculine gender | -us | -ius | -uo | -a | -ia | -ė | -is (-ies) feminine gender | Total derivatives | 70 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 25 | | 75 | 3 | 199 -a- | 72 | | 1 | | | 2 | | | 41 | | 5 | | 121 -ia- | | 1 | 14 | 5 | 2 | | 3 | | | 1 | 13 | 11 | 50 -o- | 6 | | | | | | | | 12 | | | | 18 -ė- | | | | | | | | | | | 14 | | 14 -i- | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | | | 1 | 4 | 7 -y- | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | | 4 -u- | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | 2 -io- | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 149 | 2 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 78 | 1 | 112 | 18 | 416
the compound term occurs about equally often either without a linking vowel or with the linking vowel -a-. Other linking vowels are rare (just under 5% of the examples considered), e.g.: luistikalniai GŽ, sakopušlė BŽ, vėjovagės GŽ, etc.
-ia- (from first-declension nouns with the endings -ias, -is, -ys. Nouns with the ending -ius should apparently also be included here): kailiavilnė ATŽ, kelialapis EŽ, TŽ, krumpliaratis FŽ, MŽ, STŽ, SŽ, moliad uobė MŽ, spygliamakštė BŽ, šalčialpyšiai GŽ, vaisiakūnis BŽ. Nearly two thirds of the examples under consideration whose first constituent is based on ia-stem nouns have this linking vowel. Most of the remaining derivatives of this type have no linking vowel.
-o-. This linking vowel is most often found in derivatives whose first constituent is based on o-stem nouns (their singular nominative ending is -a); for example: bangovagės GŽ, dirvožemis GŽ, MŽ, gamtovaizdis GŽ, k ainoženklis EŽ, vielokaištis STŽ. Nevertheless, this is a relatively rare linking vowel (there are also a few derivatives with an a-stem first constituent, e.g.: darbotvarkė TŽ, kraštovaizdis GŽ,
87
Page 19MŽ et al.). Even the components of o-stem nouns are most often joined with the linking vowel -a- (more than half of the examples examined) or without a linking vowel (a third of such formations), e.g.: galvakojai GŽ, gyslakerė BŽ, juostakilpės SŽ, kalvagūbris GŽ, MŽ, SŽ, kojavilnė ATŽ, mėsakiaušis BŽ, plunksnakabilis SŽ, sėklagūbris BŽ, sėklapradis BŽ, sporadalgis BŽ, važtapinigiai EŽ, TŽ, citrinvaistis BŽ, dienpiniginiai EŽ, TŽ, nuompiniginiai EŽ, TŽ.
The linking vowels in compound terms whose first components have other stem types also vary considerably, although a certain proportion of formations invariably have linking vowels that coincide with the vowels at the ends of those historical stems. In cases where the linking vowel differs, however, a tendency toward the most common linking vowels, -a- or -ia-, is usually apparent. In this respect, term formation does not differ significantly from the general tendencies governing present-day Lithuanian compound nouns with two nominal components. These tendencies are therefore also taken into account when new terms are formed (while, of course, keeping in mind other tendencies characteristic of particular groups of formations)18.
In general, one may consider the linking vowel to be an optional, non-essential feature of a Lithuanian compound word and thus of a term (although the latter are usually prescribed without variants). In many cases, its presence is needed to make a formation easier to pronounce—breaking up consonant clusters that are too large or difficult to pronounce; cf. angliarūgštė (and the nonexistent angli rūgštė) or kalvagūbris (and the possible kalvgūbris), veiksmažodis (and the nonexistent veiksmžodis, which is difficult to pronounce); or it helps preserve a component unchanged, cf. raiščiadanciai (without a linking vowel, raištdančiai would change considerably in pronunciation and the word itself would be less clear—raišdantis). Apparently for this reason, a formation with the same first component may occur both with and without a linking vowel, e.g.: buožiasporės BŽ and buožkotis BŽ; kelialapis EŽ, TŽ (avoiding consonant doubling, which is not characteristic of Lithuanian), and kelpinigiai EŽ, TŽ; stiebagumbis BŽ and stieblapis BŽ; vaisiasostis BŽ and vaiskrūmis BŽ. Of course, there are many cases in which variation of this type cannot be explained by phonetic factors. There are also some terms in which a linking vowel seems necessary but is absent, e.g.: pussirupis ChŽ (though these are mostly formations with the first component pus-). There are also cases, however, in which the way the components are joined helps distinguish words and thus becomes a meaningful component of the compound, e.g.: dienoraštis ‘diary’ LŽ and dienraštis ‘daily newspaper’ LŽ; orapūslės ‘1. air-filled bladders in algal tissues, also known as aerocysts; 2. bladder-like outgrowths of the outer pollen wall, which reduce the weight of pollen and enable it to…’
18 Incidentally, linguists’ corrections on this point are occasionally not sufficiently objective. For example, the public is needlessly confused by the claim that the variant darbo vietė is better than dar-bavietė. The fact that current usage, especially in periodicals, favors dar-bavietę (also recommended by the only available “Dictionary of Legal Terms”), although this does not entirely accord with the recommendations of the “Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian,” should not be condemned. In this case, usage itself opts for the more acceptable variant. Neither variant can be considered a language error, but from the standpoint of word formation, preference undoubtedly belongs to dar-bavietei, since the linking vowel in this variant better accords with the general tendency in the formation of such words. There seems to be no shortage of language errors at present that would require directing public attention to such trivialities.
88
Page 20they will fly far away” BŽ and bladder “hot-air balloon” ŠŽ (aeromodelling). Such cases are indeed rare, but this does not prevent them from showing how important a role a connecting vowel can sometimes play in a word.
There are cases in which the first component of a compound term and the way it is joined to the second component must be corrected. This applies above all to the botanical term zoosporangijakotis BŽ. The “Dictionary of Botanical Terms” also gives the base word for the first component—the term zoosporangė—and there are also the terms sporangė and sporangėkotis. It is therefore entirely reasonable to expect the compound zoosporangėkotis. In forming this term, its creators followed too uncritically the way the components of the Latin (zoosporangiophorum, -us) or Russian (зооспорангиеносец) term are joined and apparently copied it, forgetting what they themselves had proposed earlier.
Compound terms with two nominal components have essentially standardized endings, characteristic of all compounds of this kind in contemporary Lithuanian generally. The ending of a formation depends greatly on the gender of the noun serving as the base word of the second component (with the exception of a substantial portion of animal names). It is therefore useful to note at the outset that the second components of the terms examined are based much more often on masculine nouns (nearly two-thirds of the examples). Most such compounds (all but about 3–4%) have the ending -is (singular genitive -io). Thus, slightly more than a third of the terms have a second component based on a feminine noun. More than three-quarters of such formations have the ending -ė. Nearly all the remaining formations have the ending -is. Here, then, we should speak not of a word-formation tendency but of a regularity in word formation, on the basis of which certain rules can also be formulated. The relationship between the endings of the compound terms examined and the endings of the base nouns of their second components is clearly shown in Table 4.
The ending -is occurs in 70% of all compound terms with two nominal components. This includes, first of all, almost all compounds whose second component is based on nouns with the nominative ending -as, and essentially all formations whose second component is based on a masculine noun with any other ending.
Formations ending in -ys are rare, e.g.: peltakys ATŽ, pietrytys GŽ, rąstgalys MŽ, vairagalys ŠŽ.
The ending -ė is most often found in compound terms whose second component is based on feminine nouns, but one-fifth of the formations are masculine and end in -is, e.g.: darbadienis EŽ, TŽ, puseilis LŽ, pusgrupis STŽ, pusiasisalis GŽ, puspėdis LŽ, puspasagis SŽ, vidurupis MŽ. Also worth mentioning here are formations whose second component is based on the noun žemė (dirvožemis GŽ, MŽ, druskožemis GŽ, etc.) and some animal names (delnakojai GŽ, kūjagalvis ŠŽ, etc.). When the second component is based on a masculine noun, the formations are very rarely feminine, e.g.: kremzliakaulės (fish) GŽ, riešapelėkės (fish) GŽ, and viršuslenkstė MŽ.
The stem of the base word in the second component is sometimes simplified, e.g.: amonbakterės BŽ, gelžbakterės BŽ, sierabakterės BŽ (cf. bakterija). However, EŽ
89
Page 21Table 4
Relationship between the endings of compound terms and the endings of the base nouns in the second constituents
Ending of the derivativeNumber of derivatives by the endings of the base nouns in the second constituentmasculine-as-ias-is (-io)-ys-is (-ies)-ius-ufeminine-a-ia-ė-is (-ies)Total derivatives-is: 195, 4, 32, 12, 3, 11, 6, 17, 10, 1; 291-ys: 6; 6-as: 1; 1-ė: 2, 1, 69, 1, 31, 8; 112-a: 6; 6416
the proposed term puskolonijė19. Incidentally, the stem of the base word in the second constituent of this term has probably not been simplified in order to avoid homonymy with the compound puskolonė, whose second constituent comes from the word kolona.
Very few compound terms have unusual endings. These are a few derivatives ending in -a, e.g.: ampervalanda FŽ, kilovatvalanda FŽ (but kilovatvalandė EŽ), vatvalanda FŽ, ampervija FŽ, kalnakasyba GŽ, maistprekyba EŽ, and the term puskoksavimas ChŽ, which has the ending -as. All these terms included in dictionaries should be corrected. Only ampervalandė, kilovatvalandė, vatvalandė, ampervijė20 should be used. The term kalnakasyba, if regarded as a compound, is of course neither usual nor correct (recently geologists themselves have proposed using the term kasyba21 instead). However, it is most likely a derivative formed with the suffix -yba, which is rarely used in word formation. The word maistprekyba has also become established in current usage; from a word-formation perspective it is defective and should at least not be taken as a model for forming new words or terms. The term puskoksavimas, “coking at a low temperature” ChŽ, is of course a morphemic calque (cf. Russian полукоксование). The term for this concept should be formed differently. Perhaps apkoksavimas? would be suitable here.
19 The variant puskolonijė should also be considered normative, rather than the word puskolonija included in DŽ and LKŽ X. A change in the ending of a compound word is regular, and puskolonija is among very rare exceptions.
20 Beje, naujajame „Fizikos terminų žodyne“ (V., 1979) taip ir teikiama vartoti, bet kažkodėl pasiliko nepataisytas terminas ampervija.
21 Žr. Vodzinskac E. Geologų kalba specialistų ir kalbininkų akimis. – Mūsų kalba, 1980, Nr. 5, p. 4.
90
Page 22Quite a few compound terms with two nominal constituents are given in the plural (nearly a quarter of the examples). Most of them are plural-only terms. For example: angliavandeniai BŽ, ChŽ, buožiasporės BŽ, chlorkalkės ChŽ, dienpinigiái EŽ, TŽ, duobagyviai GŽ, durpmilčiai MŽ, gumbavaisiai BŽ, kardaudegiai GŽ, kišenpinigi ai EŽ, komispinigiai EŽ, TŽ, kūlėsporės BŽ, kūliagrybiai BŽ, lervatakiai BŽ, milžinpuodžiai GŽ, nuompinigiai EŽ, TŽ, paukščiadubeniai GŽ, pusbergamotės BŽ, rankasparniai GŽ, rankpinigi ai EŽ, TŽ, sėklabriaunės BŽ, snapagalviai GŽ, šakniadygliai BŽ, šakniavaisiai BŽ, varliagyviai GŽ, vasarūgliai BŽ, žemėveiksliai MŽ, žvėriadančiai GŽ, žvynalapiai BŽ. These are mostly terms in plant and animal taxonomy, along with some names of various chemical substances.
Compounds with adjectival and nominal constituents
There are 2.7 times fewer compound terms with an adjectival first constituent and a nominal second constituent than derivatives with two nominal constituents. However, this is the second-largest group by number of derivatives, comprising about one sixth (17%) of all Lithuanian compound-term nouns and slightly more than one fifth (almost 22%) of compounds with a nominal second constituent. Hybrids in which either constituent is based on an international word are relatively rare here. In fact, no examples with such a first constituent were found in the available material. Approximately one fifteenth of the compounds of this type (6.6%) have a second constituent based on an international noun, e.g.: bendraautoris “co-author” LŽ, TŽ, bendrakreditoris “co-creditor” EŽ, TŽ, didkolonija “a white or yellowish colony formed by yeasts as they grow on a solid medium <…> – giant colony” BŽ, lengvaatletis “track-and-field athlete” SŽ, plačiasisifoniai “Eurysiphonata, broad siphons” GŽ, siaurasifoniai “Stenosiphonata, narrow siphons” GŽ, etc.
More than half of the terms with adjectival and nominal constituents are names of various objects; approximately one third of the derivatives designate persons or taxonomic units of various animals. Compound terms of this type with abstract meanings are rare (fewer than one tenth of the examples).
The adjectival constituent of the terms denotes a property of the entity expressed by the nominal constituent; it indicates the feature that distinguishes the entity named by the derivative from other entities denoted by the base noun in the second constituent. Thus, the first constituent of these compound terms determines the second.
Most compound terms denoting inanimate entities are specific designations alongside the nouns on which their second constituent is based. For example: a) soil types: baltžemis “soil with a whitish sandy subsoil” MŽ, geltonžemis “yellow earth” GŽ, juodžemis “black, fertile soils, most often found in continental steppe regions” MŽ, GŽ, pilkžemis “gray earth” MŽ, GŽ, raudonžemis “reddish soils found in subtropical and tropical regions” MŽ, ChŽ, GŽ, rudžemis “soil of the deciduous forests of the southern mountains (the Carpathians, the Caucasus)” MŽ, GŽ, smulkžemis “soil whose particles are less than 0.2 mm in diameter” MŽ, GŽ, sūrožemis “soil whose adsorption complex is saturated with sodium,
91
Page 23while free salts have been washed into deeper layers” MŽ, GŽ, saltazemis “moist spring-fed soil” MŽ; b) names of chemical substances: brangakmenis “mineral used for jewelry” ChŽ, gyvasakiai “a yellowish semi-fluid excretion produced in special glands of coniferous trees and concentrated in their intercellular spaces (resin ducts), consisting of 35—38% volatile substances (turpentine) and 62—65% resin acids. <...>” BŽ, gyvsidabris “element” ChŽ, GŽ, raudonvaris “technical copper” ChŽ, skaisvaris “Cu and Zn alloy” ChŽ, žalvaris “Cu and Sn alloy, bronze” ChŽ; c) names of other various objects and things: aukštakrosnė “furnace for producing pig iron” ChŽ, GŽ, baltmiškis “deciduous forest” SŽ, brangymetis “high cost” EŽ, didburė “mainsail” SŽ, geltvilnė “wool with a characteristic yellow color, having lost a significant portion of its strength and softness due to prolonged exposure to urine while sheep stand in wet sheds, the effects of disinfectants, or storage of damp wool” ATŽ, gyvašakė “a plant shoot in the form of a twig, used for vegetative propagation by inserting it into the ground or grafting” BŽ, ilgaugiai “elongated long shoots by which the main stem of perennial plants or its lateral branches lengthen” BŽ, kiauraslėnis “through valley” GŽ, laibagrybiai “a group of microorganisms occupying an intermediate position between bacteria and lower fungi. Their mycelium is in the form of thin filaments. These filaments branch radially and produce spores on their lateral branches” BŽ, melsvadumbliai “Cyanophyceae, blue-green algae” GŽ, piktžolė “a low-value plant growing among cultivated crops and thereby harming them” BŽ, “a weed that is useless and harmful to cultivated plants” MŽ, plokščiakalnis “flat chisel” GŽ, sausledžiai “deadwood” GŽ, sausvėjis “a current of dry, hot air that abruptly changes local climatic conditions, to which plants cannot adapt in time and consequently die en masse” MŽ, GŽ, skaistgijės “warp threads of a color or structure different from the general background, recurring at a certain repeat in a fabric and producing the effect of longitudinal stripes” ATŽ, skersvagė “a cross furrow made during furrowing or plowing” MŽ, statramstis “a vertically erected support” MŽ, GŽ, trumpaugliai “tree shoots with very short internodes and a small number of leaves clustered together; short shoots lengthen by only a few millimeters each year and usually do not branch” BŽ, žalitvorė “a barrier consisting of evergreen plants” BŽ.
Groups of species-specific compound terms sharing the same nominal component are often formed. Adjectival components, by denoting various properties of the entities being determined, help express distinctions required for classification or otherwise distinguish particular species by a characteristic external or internal feature. For example:
end: aukštagalis “upper reaches” GŽ, drugalys (of a fishing rod) “butt” SŽ, smaigalys “summit” STŽ, “peak” SŽ;
mountain: aukštikalniai “high mountain country” GŽ, plokščiakalnis “mountain with a flat summit” MŽ (plokštik abnis “same” GŽ, SŽ), vidutinkalniai “mid-mountain country” GŽ, žemakalniai “low mountain country” GŽ;
disease: spot disease “a disease caused by parasitic fungi or bacteria, manifested by spots on leaves or other organs” BŽ, yellows “a phenomenon in which, under the influence of viruses or for other reasons, the normal color of a leaf changes to yellow, yellowish green, greenish yellow, etc.” BŽ, anthrax (Anthrax) “a dangerous contagious animal disease, cau-
92
Page 24to infect a person through the wool of an infected sheep that has not been disinfected – “сибирская язва” ATŽ, “a disease of cereals caused by the fungus Cladosporium herbarum Lk. (in the teleomorph stage – Mycosphaerella Tulasnei (Jancz.) Lindau) – чёрная плесень (хлебных злаков)” BŽ, scab “corky cavities with a bitter taste in the flesh of apples, appearing on fruit that is ripening or has been picked due to an unfavorable water regime in the soil” BŽ;
season: brangymetis “high cost” EŽ, šlapymetis “wetness; rainy weather” MŽ;
bog: aukštapelkė “a bog formed mainly on watersheds, often with a convex surface, whose source of moisture is atmospheric precipitation; vegetation not requiring mineral nutrition grows in raised bogs (oligotrophic vegetation—hence a raised bog is often called an oligotrophic bog); white mosses, bog pines, berry plants (cranberries), etc. predominate” MŽ, GŽ, žemapelkė “a bog whose moisture source, in addition to atmospheric precipitation, also includes surface and groundwater; the vegetation of lowland bogs requires mineral nutrition (eutrophic vegetation), so a lowland bog is often called a eutrophic bog; green mosses, horsetails, and reeds grow in lowland bogs; among trees: alders, willows, etc.” MŽ, GŽ;
river: klampupis “stream” GŽ, sausupė “a river that dries up” MŽ;
furrow: 1. “the place where river water flows”: aklavagė “a channel with no water outflow” MŽ, sausvagė “dry valley” GŽ, senvagė “after a river has cut a new channel, the old river channel left behind (dry or with standing water)” MŽ, GŽ; 2. “a plowing groove”: skersvagė “a cross furrow made during furrowing or plowing” MŽ, tuštvagė “when plowing in beds, a furrow turned outward in both directions; a split furrow” MŽ.
All these compound terms, in terms of the relationship between lexical and derivational meaning, may be called literal-meaning derivatives, since they are generally used with approximately the meaning that arises from the meanings of their components and the relationship between them.
There are very few derivatives that name inanimate entities and whose lexical meaning differs more substantially from their derivational meaning. These are usually metonymic (bahuvrihi-type) derivatives. In the second component of such compound terms, some part of the entity named by the term—or a part associated with it, usually essential for classification—is expressed (the adjectival component denotes the distinguishing feature of that part). For example: ilgaciurklis “a device that throws water a long distance” MŽ, juodsaknė “a disease of beet seedlings manifested by blackening and thinning of the root, as a result of which the seedlings usually die. <…>” BŽ, stačiakampis “rectangle” STŽ.
Compound terms denoting various animals and having an adjectival first component are most often metonymic. The nominal component of such derivatives usually names a body part of the animal or representatives of the animal class denoted by the compound term, while the adjectival component identifies a characteristic of that part as a distinguishing feature. Most such derivatives are names of particular taxonomic units. For example: teeth: nepilnadančiai “Edentata, edentates” GŽ, storadančiai “Pachyodonta, thick-toothed” GŽ; head: pilnagalviai “Holocephali, holocephalans” GŽ; heel: ilgakulniai “Tarsioidea, tarsiers” GŽ; body: minkštakūniai “Mollusca, mollusks” GŽ; skin: dygiaodžiai “Echinodermata, echinoderms” GŽ; horns: dykaragiai, tuščiaragiai “Bovidea, hollow-horned” GŽ; muscles: lygiaraumeniai
93
Page 25“равnomuskulные” GŽ, unequal-muscle “нерavnomuskulные” GŽ; siphons: broad-siphons “Eurysiphonata, широкосифонные” GŽ, narrow-siphons “Stenosiphonata, узкосифонные” GŽ; wings: new-wings “Neoptera, новокрылые” GŽ, old-wings “Palaeoptera, древнекрылые” GŽ; armor: various-armored “Heterostraci, разнощитковые” GŽ; gills: flat-gilled “Lamellibranchiata, Pelecypoda, пластинчатожаберные” GŽ, anterior-gilled, upper-gilled “Prosobranchiata, верхнежаберные” GŽ, etc.
Some names of plant systematics units are also equivalent in meaning, e.g.: free-petaled “plants whose petals are free, not fused to one another, all the way to the base” BŽ, naked-grained “certain varieties of cereals, usually having grains with husks (oats, barley), that lack husks” BŽ, naked-seeded “a group of plants whose ovules lie freely on the megasporophylls and are not enclosed by them” BŽ, GŽ.
Sometimes the nominal component of systematic terms denotes not a part of an animal’s or plant’s body, but some other characteristic feature, e.g.: clearly-sexed “plants with flowers and a clearly expressed form of sexual reproduction” BŽ, slime-covered “a group of bacteria surrounded by a layer of slime and forming large colonies, often visible to the naked eye” BŽ, hidden-sexed “plants without flowers, whose methods of sexual reproduction are difficult to discern and were therefore unknown for a long time” BŽ.
Lithuanian systematic names are quite often formed on the model of international Latin nomenclature. Such terms are calques.
A relatively large number of the compound terms under consideration are names of persons. In some, the nominal component too is based on a noun denoting a person, while the first component indicates some characteristic of that person. Most examples have the first component co- (denoting what the persons have in common). E.g.: co-defendant “соответчик” TŽ, co-author “соавтор” LŽ, TŽ, co-plaintiff “соистец” TŽ, co-offender “совиновник” TŽ, co-creditor “сокредитор” EŽ, TŽ, co-guarantor “сопоручитель” TŽ, co-tenant “сонаниматель, соарендатор” TŽ, fellow citizen “согражданин” TŽ, co-editor “соредактор” LŽ, co-owner “совладелец” EŽ, “сособственник, совладелец” TŽ, co-debtor “содолжник” TŽ, grandmaster “гроссмейстер” SŽ, track-and-field athlete “лёгкоатлет” SŽ, weightlifter “тяжёлоатлет” SŽ.
In other compounds that serve as names of persons, the base nouns of the second component denote some object characteristic of the person, which is taken as the basis for naming. Such formations are, of course, used figuratively; their word-formation and lexical meanings do not coincide. E.g.: colleague “сотрудник” LŽ, TŽ, co-debtor “содолжник” EŽ, odd-job worker “разнорабочий” EŽ. Some formations of this type are probably best regarded as adjectives used substantivally, e.g.: equal-rights person “равноправный” TŽ, minor “малолетний” TŽ, person of limited means “малоимущий; малообеспеченный” EŽ, minor “несовершеннолетний” TŽ, adult “совершеннолетний” TŽ, person with full rights “полноправный” TŽ.
Comparing these two groups of names of persons, one can say that the second group better conforms to the word-formation tendencies of Lithuanian compound nouns. In an article published in 1920, “On the publication of ‘Gamtos pradžiamokslis’ (Kalbos da-
94
Page 26lykai” J. Jablonskis corrected fellow traveler, replacing it with travel companion²². More words of this type were corrected later. J. Palionis considers co-offender a rather unusual formation because, he maintains, the second components of compound nouns of this type are usually disyllabic. Instead of this term, and also instead of co-tenant, co-borrower, he proposed using the compounds co-culprit, co-tenant, co-borrower²³. Several decades later, V. Būda repeated these corrections²⁴, adding new ones as well (co-guarantor = co-guarantor, co-defendant = co-defendant?), while also supporting co-author instead of co-author, and regarding all such compounds as essentially unacceptable and incorrect. Linguists’ views of such formations generally remain unsettled. For example, A. Piročkinas questions whether J. Jablonskis should have corrected fellow traveler, although by its formation and meaning it is not entirely correct²⁵. Some corrections were repeated in “Kalbos praktikos patarimai”²⁶, but nothing was said about formations of this type in general. Language editors apparently most often criticize such compounds for their form (an overly complex second component, an unsuitable ending for the formation). Sometimes, however, substantial objections are also raised about their meaning (V. Būda). Of course, one cannot claim that nouns denoting persons cannot in general serve as the basis for the second component of compounds. The relations between the components also vary. This is why the derivational complexity of the second component is most noticeable and problematic. Thus, the corrections co-culprit, co-tenant, co-borrower (the last is, incidentally, also recommended by EŽ) are entirely justified. Other analogous compounds should be corrected in this direction, and new ones should be formed in the same way.
Many compound terms have components formed from adjectives and nouns whose stems are morphologically indivisible. This is a general tendency in the formation of compound nouns in present-day Lithuanian. However, in order to create simpler systems of specific terms in terms of form (a compound term is simpler in this respect than a multiword term), this general tendency is often disregarded. As many as a third of the terms under consideration have components containing, in addition to a root, derivational affixes. Yet the base adjectives and nouns of nearly half of such components are disyllabic, e.g.: blind, white, crisp, cold, warm; spray, chisel, prop, script, shoot, etc. Accordingly, components are much less often based on words containing affixes that increase their syllable count. Examples of such compound terms make up less than a fifth of those examined. Twice as often, the first—the adjectival—component is of this kind, e.g.: speckled-disease BŽ, joint-legged GŽ, joint-stemmed BŽ, anterior-furrowed GŽ, mid-mountain GŽ, upper-gilled GŽ; uneven-muscled GŽ, incomplete-toothed GŽ. Almost all compounds with a derivationally complex second component are the previously mentioned names of persons with the first component co-. Most compound terms with a derivationally complex component were formed under the influence of corresponding terms in other languages or of international Latin nomenclature. That the tendency in the formation of compound nouns is not to be based on forms containing clearly distinguishable affixes—
22 Jablonskis J. Selected writings. — V., 1959, vol. 2, pp. 229, 232.
23 Palionis J. Dėl vieno kito teisės termino. — Kalbos kultūra, 1961, sąs. 1, p. 49.
24 Būda V. Ar geras darinys bendrautorius? — Mūsų kalba, 1973, Nr. 6, p. 30—33.
25 Piročkinas A. Jono Jablonskio leksiniai taisymai. — K., 1970, p. 88.
26 Kalbos praktikos patarimai. — V., 1976, p. 44—45.
95
Page 27The tendency to adhere to these words in terminology is also evident from the fact that sometimes the stem of the base word is simplified in a compound, or a less common variant is used, e.g.: didburė SŽ, geltynė ATŽ, plynaukštė GŽ. The latter term apparently takes its second constituent from the word aukštuma.
Compound terms with an adjectival first constituent are somewhat more often formed with linking vowels (these account for almost three fifths of the examples examined). 70% of terms containing linking vowels are formed with the linking vowel -a-; nearly a quarter of such examples have the linking vowel -ia-. The linking vowels -i-, -y-, and -o- are very rare. The tendencies in combining the constituents of the terms under discussion can be seen in the data presented in Table 5.
Table 5
Combination of the first adjectival constituent
Linking vowel
Number of derivatives according to the endings of the base adjectives of the first constituent
-as
-ias
-us
-is
Total derivatives
44 (+1)
3
10
5
62 (+1)
-a-
62 (+1)
1
63 (+1)
-ia-
7
11
3
21
-y-
1
2
3
-i-
1
1 (+2)
2 (+2)
-o-
1
1
152
Notes. 1. The endings of some adjectives vary, e.g., smailus and smailas. In such cases, the count here is based on the entry in DŽ (smailus). 2. Dictionaries of terms for some derivatives include variants with differently joined constituents, e.g.: gyvasakiai in BŽ and gyvsakiai in ChŽ, plokščiakalnė in MŽ and plokštikalvė in GŽ. In the table, this is reflected by a number in parentheses, which indicates the term listed second in the dictionaries or follows the recommendations of DŽ.
A little more than two-fifths of the terms have no linking vowel. In the same proportion, the first constituents are compounded without linking vowels when derived from adjectives ending in both -as and -us (the first constituents are most often based on such adjectives).
The linking vowel -a- occurs in three-fifths of the derivatives whose first constituent is based on adjectives ending in -as. Constituents derived from adjectives with other endings are essentially not combined using this linking vowel. Among the examples available, only sukrapluostis in BŽ has this linking vowel.
96
Page 28The linking vowel -ia- occurs in almost one-seventh of all compounds with an adjectival and a nominal constituent. This linking vowel is most often used with constituents derived from adjectives ending in -us (nearly half of such examples) and -ias (a little more than half of the examples), as well as -is.
Other linking vowels are very rare (among the examples available: -i-, -y-, -o-). They occur in fewer than one-twentieth of compound terms, e.g.:
-i-: aukštikalniai GŽ, žalivorė BŽ; -y-: brangymetis EŽ, šlapyvárdis LŽ, šlapymetis MŽ; -o-: sūrožemis GŽ, MŽ.
In general, the way constituents are joined does not strictly depend on the underlying adjectives of the first constituent. A constituent derived from the same adjective is often joined one way in some derivatives and another way in others, e.g.: aukštagalis GŽ, aukštikalniai GŽ and aukštupis GŽ; brangakmenis ChŽ and brangymetis EŽ; gyvašaknė BŽ and gyvsidabris ChŽ, GŽ; plikasėkliai BŽ, GŽ and plikmolis MŽ; rudašerdė BŽ and rudžemis GŽ, MŽ; sausašonė SŽ and sausvėjis GŽ, MŽ or sausledžiai GŽ; šlapduobė and šlapymetis MŽ, etc. Variants of the very same term with constituents joined differently also occur, e.g.: gyvsakiai ChŽ and gyvasakiai BŽ; sausslėnis GŽ, MŽ and sausaslėnis MŽ; plokščiakalnis MŽ, plokščiakalvė MŽ and plokštikalnis GŽ, SŽ, plokštikalvė GŽ. The presence of such derivational variants is entirely unnecessary for terminology. They would be justifiable only if they helped distinguish even closely related meanings of terms. That is not the case here, so when standardizing terminology, unnecessary variants must be discarded, retaining the usual forms widely used in literary language.
In general, it can be observed that terminological vocabulary does not essentially differ from general tendencies in contemporary language in its patterns of linking-vowel use. Perhaps constituents are combined with linking vowels somewhat more often.
Masculine compound terms formed from an adjective and a noun usually have the ending -is (sg. gen. -io), while feminine ones have -ė. Compounds denoting persons are usually of both genders; a feature of dictionaries of terms (and perhaps of terminology itself) is that only masculine personal designations are listed. Personal designations make up 15% of all the examples examined with an adjectival and a nominal constituent.
The relationship between the endings of the remaining derivatives and the underlying nouns of the second constituent is shown in Table 6.
The table shows that nearly all compound terms whose second constituent is based on a masculine noun are masculine and have the ending -is (sg. gen. -io). Nearly half of the terms whose second constituent is based on a feminine noun are also masculine. This is primarily because terms in animal and plant taxonomy are usually masculine and, consequently, the gender of those derivatives does not depend on the gender of the noun on which the second constituent is based. In addition, some other groups of terms (for example, names of soil types) are usually masculine. E.g.: aiškiakalviai BŽ, dyguočiai GŽ, nariuotakojai GŽ, plikasėkliai BŽ, GŽ, plokščiažiamiai GŽ, slaptalyčiai BŽ; baltžemis MŽ, geltonžemis GŽ, juodžemis GŽ, MŽ; aukštupys MŽ, grynanglis ChŽ, klampupis GŽ, žemupys MŽ.
4. 1019
97
Page 296 lentelė
The relationship between the endings of derivatives and the endings of the underlying nouns in the second component
Number of derivatives according to the endings of the underlying nouns in the second component Derivative ending masculine feminine Total derivatives -as -is -ys -is (-ies) -ius -uo -a -ė -is (-ies) -is 46 18 1 2 — 3 8 12 3 93 -ys 2 1 (+1) 3 (+1) -as 1 1 -ė 2 18 8 4 32 129
Only a few derivatives have the ending -ys (second components: galys and -upys). Only one term, smulkiasopkynas ‘мелкосопочник’ in GŽ, has an atypical ending. However, this is an uncreative calque and, of course, should be corrected. Perhaps sopkelynas would be suitable here.
More than half of the compound terms whose second component is based on feminine nouns are feminine and have the ending -ė. Apart from the cases mentioned, where derivatives are masculine, all the other compound terms are feminine. Cases in which the underlying noun of the second component is masculine but the derivative is feminine are very rare. Among the examples examined are systematic names of fish and names of diseases, e.g.: sausašonė ‘плакис, густера’ in ŠŽ; raudonšašė ‘red, raised spots on pear leaves, caused by the fungus Polystigma rubrum (Pers.) DC.’ in BŽ. In general, there is a clear tendency for the gender of figurative derivatives to be determined not by the gender of the underlying noun in the second component, but by what is being named (a plant, animal, fish, disease, etc.).
Systematic names and certain other terms are usually plural when they designate not a genus of plants or a species of animal, but a particular class, order (of plants), cohort (of animals), family, etc.
Generally speaking, in terms of overall derivational tendencies, terms with an adjectival and a nominal component do not differ significantly from terms with two nominal components. Even within the same classification, species terms often have either a nominal or an adjectival first component.
98
Page 30Compounds with a numeral and a noun component
In the sources examined, there are almost three times fewer compound terms with a numeral as the first component and a noun as the second than derivatives with an adjectival first component. There are more than seven times as many compounds with two nominal components. Terms of this type occur in various fields of terminology, and new ones are also being coined.
Most such derivatives have a purely Lithuanian nominal component. Approximately one fourteenth of the derivatives have a second component based on an international noun (usually a term), e.g.: dvipolis ‘двухполюсник’ STŽ, keturpolis ‘четырёхполюсник’ FŽ, STŽ, šešiaatomis ‘a compound consisting of six-atom molecules’ ChŽ, vienatomis ‘однотомник’ LŽ.
The nominal component of these derivatives denotes a particular object or, less often, an action or living being, while the first component indicates a characteristic associated with quantity or numerical order. The numeral component usually determines the second, nominal, component.
Approximately half of the terms mean the same, or almost the same, as the sum of the meanings of their components. In such derivatives, the nominal component is the semantic head. E.g.: antražolė ‘атолас, отава’ MŽ, dešimtadienis ‘декада, десятидневка’ EŽ, dvideginis ‘диоксид’ ChŽ, dviš uolis ‘двойной прыжок’ SŽ, penkmetis ‘пятилетка’ EŽ, pirmagalys ‘hoc’ SŽ (rowing), pirmaraštis ‘оригиналас’ LŽ, pirmažolė ‘первого пожива золё’ MŽ, septynmetis ‘семилетка’ EŽ, trišuolis ‘тройной прыжок’ SŽ, viendeginis ‘моноксид’ ChŽ, vienkiemis ‘хутор’ EŽ, and others. Sometimes fairly large groups of terms sharing the same second component are formed, e.g.:
line: aštuoneilis ‘восьмистишие’ LŽ, dv ieilis ‘двустишие’ LŽ, ketureilis ‘четверостишие’ LŽ, penkia eilis ‘пятистишие’ LŽ, trieilis ‘трёхстишие’ LŽ;
event: dešimtkovė ‘десятиборье’ SŽ, dvikovė ‘двоеборье’ SŽ, dvylikakovė ‘двенадцатиборье’ SŽ, penkiakovė ‘пятиборье’ SŽ, šešiakovė ‘шестиборье’ SŽ, trikovė ‘троеборье’ SŽ.
Those compound terms that name something different from what follows from the meanings of their components usually have a figurative meaning. The nominal component most often denotes a part of the thing named by the term. The terms themselves designate objects—or, less often, living beings—that possess such parts. Thus, they belong to the productive Lithuanian type of metonymic, or bahuvrihi, compound nouns. E.g.: dešimtkojis ‘многоножка’ rint uvas’ ChŽ, dvi branduolis ‘комплекс с двумя центральными атомами’ ChŽ, dvinaris ‘двучлен’ STŽ, dviratis ‘велосипед’ SŽ, keturkojis (stand) ‘четырёхножник’ ChŽ, šešiaatomis ‘a compound consisting of six-atom molecules’ ChŽ, trikampis ‘плавки’ SŽ, trikojis ‘a three-legged stand’ MŽ, ChŽ, GŽ, vienratis ‘a device for transporting loads (mostly soil) over short distances’ MŽ; aštuonkojai ‘Octopoda, восьминогие’ GŽ, dvikapliai ‘Diprotodontia, двурезцовые’ GŽ, dviraumeniai ‘двухмускульные’ GŽ, vienaląsčiai ‘Protozoa, одноклеточные’ GŽ, vienaraumeniai ‘одномускульные’ GŽ.
There are relatively few derivatives whose second component denotes some other feature characteristic of the thing named by the term, e.g.: antrapareigis ‘совмес-
4*
99
Page 31the title” EŽ, one-eyed “unilocular” TŽ, one-sided “one-blooded” TŽ. Incidentally, the latter two compounds are probably adjectives used substantivally.
The first constituent of compound terms most often derives from cardinal numerals from one to ten. There are very few formations with higher cardinal numerals. One-seventh of the formations derive from ordinal numerals (most often first and second).
The base nouns in the second constituent most often have a stem that is morphologically indivisible. Only a few formations are exceptions, for example: second-rate EŽ, two-nucleate ChŽ, twofold ChŽ, first-draft LŽ, and so on. Sometimes the stems of morphologically more complex nouns enter a compound in simplified form, for example: vienalaščiai GŽ (:laštelė), vienamotis TŽ (:motina).
Constituents derived from the numerals two and three are invariably dvi- and tri-. Constituents derived from other cardinal numerals are compounded somewhat more often with the linking vowel -a- (viena-, dvylika-) or -ia- (aštuonia-, penkia-, šešia-), but these same constituents can also occur without a linking vowel, for example: aštuonėlis LŽ and aštuoniakojai GŽ, penkmetis EŽ and penkiaelis LŽ, vienratis MŽ and vienažingsnis ŠŽ.
Derivatives whose first component is based on ordinal numerals usually have the linking vowel -a-, e.g.: second growth MŽ, prototype STŽ, first beasts GŽ.
Compound terms with a numeral and a noun as constituents have the characteristic endings of formations with a noun as the second constituent: masculine -is (singular genitive -io), feminine -ė. Most formations are masculine (almost four-fifths of the examples). Many formations whose second constituent derives from feminine nouns are also masculine. These are primarily systematic names for animals, as well as about half of the terms with other meanings, such as terms denoting instruments and poems classified by stanza length. In this case, as is most often characteristic of figurative formations with a noun as the second constituent, the gender of the compound depends above all on what it denotes.
The variant of the ending -is, -ys, is also very rare here: it occurs in a formation whose second constituent derives from the noun galas (end) (pirmagalys ŠŽ). Incidentally, almost all formations containing that constituent have this ending (cf. formations with a noun or adjective as the first constituent). The term pusantradeginys ChŽ should have the ending -is (cf. viencedeginis, dvideginis ChŽ), because its accentuation paradigm is awkward (3ᵇ). Incidentally, in current chemical terminology, deginį has for some reason been abandoned (the term oksidas, taip pat monoksidas, dioksidas has been adopted), so instead of pusantradeginio ChŽ uses trioksidą.
Compounds with verbal and nominal constituents
There are relatively few compound terms whose first constituent derives from a verb and whose second derives from a noun. They are 17 times less numerous than formations with two nominal constituents. Hybrid compounds in which one constituent derives from an international term are very rare here, for example: lydmetalis “an alloy of equal parts tin and lead, used for soldering” ChŽ.
The verbal constituent of these compound terms varies. For one-third of the formations, the first constituent, in form (and usually also in meaning), is related to the passive-
100
Page 32with passive past participles. In meaning and derivational form, these formations do not differ from terms having an adjective as their first component. In other formations of this type, the first component is formally related to the finite forms of the corresponding verbs, although semantically some of them (nearly a third) are more closely associated with passive present participles, e.g.: gyvenvietė “settlement; inhabited place; village” EŽ (there is also the synonym gyvenamoji vieta), TŽ, gręžvietė “face; borehole face” GŽ, lydraštis “covering letter; delivery note” EŽ, “accompanying (forwarding) letter” TŽ, siurbvamzdis “a pipe through which a pump draws water from a body of water” MŽ.
The first component of these formations expresses a particular property associated with the base verb (more precisely, with the action it denotes), arising from that action and characteristic of a thing or living being named by the base noun of the second component. Most such compound terms designate inanimate things. Their nominal component denotes a thing of the same kind as the formation itself, but the meaning of the formation is narrower, defined by the verbal component. Thus, the compounds are determinative: their first component determines the second, nominal component. E.g.: čiulvamzdis “a pipe running from a hydraulic turbine to the lower water tailrace” MŽ, degligė “a plant disease that causes tissues to turn brown, resembling a burn, and sometimes causes entire shoots to dry out” BŽ, delspinigiai “penalty” EŽ, TŽ, dribsnelis “soil (usually fine sand) that, when saturated with water, acquires some properties of a liquid” MŽ, GŽ, gręžmilčiai “drilling flour” GŽ, kirstavilnė “wool removed from sheepskins by cutting machines in fur-processing plants” ATŽ, kirtavietė “working face” (in mines) GŽ, lydmetalis “an alloy of equal parts tin and lead, used for soldering” ChŽ, matlankis “a semicircle divided into 180 degrees for measuring angles” MŽ, ŠŽ, pilkapis “barrow” ŠŽ, siurbiastaklės “pumpjack” GŽ, siurbvamzdis “a pipe through which a pump draws water from a body of water” MŽ, skeltavaisiai “dry fruits derived from a two-loculed or multilocular ovary, which split lengthwise at maturity into as many parts as the ovary had locules (in the families Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, and Dipsacaceae)” BŽ, skustavilnė “wool removed from sheepskins by shaving machines in fur-processing plants, with fibres no shorter than 35 mm” ATŽ, trupavaisiai “elongated, many-seeded dry fruits that split transversely at maturity into separate one-seeded segments. They are classified as schizocarps. They occur among cruciferous plants (e.g., mignonette and radish) and legumes (e.g., seradella)” BŽ.
Relatively few (one fifth) of the compound terms with verbal and nominal components have figurative meanings. They, too, are determinative metonymic (bahuvrihi-type) compounds. The second (nominal) component denotes a particular part of the entity named by the term, while the verbal component denotes a property associated with an action. Such compounds are abundant in literary language and dialects, but most function as pejorative names for people. Words with these meanings are generally not used in terminology. This explains why such formations are uncommon. The examples available are all terms from plant or animal taxonomy, e.g.: gaubtasekliai “the most highly evolved group of plants, characterized, among other features, by the presence in the flower of a pistil formed by macrosporophylls fused along their margins and enclosing the ovules. This pistil later develops into a fruit with seeds inside – Angiospermae, покрытосеменные” BŽ, GŽ,
101
Page 33filaments, enclosing the ovules. This pistil later develops into a fruit with seeds inside – Angiospermae, покрытосеменные” BŽ, GŽ, jungtavainikiai “plants whose petals are partly or completely fused into a tube – Sympetalae, спайнолепестные” BŽ, liekanagiai “Perissodactyla, непарнокопытные” GŽ, praskėstadančiai “Schizodonta, расщеплённозубые” GŽ, šetanagiai “Artiodactyla, парнокопытные” GŽ.
The verbs underlying the first component of these formations are generally primary. Exceptions are rare, e.g.: gyvenvietė EŽ, TŽ, (:gyventi), lydraštis EŽ, TŽ (:lydėti, lydì, -ėjo), trupavaisiai BŽ (:trupėti, trupa, -ėjo). In term formation, non-prefixed verbs are generally used (among the examples examined, the only exception is praskėstadančiai GŽ).
The base nouns of the second component also generally have stems that are morphologically unanalyzable (the exception is lydraštis EŽ, TŽ).
Formations whose first component is based on a passive past participle more often contain the linking vowel -a-, although formations without this vowel also occur. Verbal components based on other forms are usually compounded without linking vowels (exceptions: kirtavietė GŽ, liekanagiai GŽ, šiurbiastaklės GŽ, trupavaisiai BŽ).
Like other compound terms with a nominal second component, these compounds generally have the endings -is (masculine, singular genitive -io) and -ė (feminine). The gender of a formation depends on the gender of the base noun in the second component (formations are generally of the same gender as the base noun of that component; the only exceptions are the names of plants and animals in taxonomy, which, as in other cases, are usually masculine and plural).
Compounds with adverbial and nominal constituents
There are no fewer compound terms with an adverbial and a nominal constituent than there are derivatives of the type discussed above, with a verbal and a nominal constituent. One seventh of compounds of this type are hybrids in which the nominal constituent is based on an international term, e.g.: daugiapolis “многополюсник” STŽ, pusiau-mikrometodas “when 10–20 mg of a substance is analyzed” ChŽ, pusiasumė “полу-сумма” STŽ.
One third of derivatives with an adverbial first constituent and a nominal second constituent denote a thing of the same kind as the base noun of the second constituent. The adverbial constituent defines and determines the nominal one, e.g.: aplinkraštis “circular” EŽ, TŽ, daugiakopė “all-around competition” SŽ, paskuigalis (of a deck) “stern” SŽ (sailing).
The lexical meaning of the remaining compounds is figurative in relation to the derivational meaning arising from the meanings of their constituents. They are all also determinative, and most are metonymic. The nominal constituent most often denotes a particular part of the thing named by the term, while the adverbial constituent defines it, e.g.: a) names of objects and geometric figures: daugiabriaunis (stone) “polyhedron” GŽ, daugiakampis “polygon” STŽ, daugianaris “polynomial” STŽ, gretasienis “parallelepiped—
102
Page 34“—ed” STŽ, šalivagė “a strip of land along a riverbank, set aside for passage, building materials, and other purposes” MŽ, GŽ; b) systematic terms: daugiakapliai “Polyprotodontia, многорезцовые” GŽ, daugiakojai “Myriapoda, многоножки” GŽ, daugialąsčiai “Metazoa, многоклеточные” GŽ.
The first constituent of derivatives of this type is based on the adverbs aplink, daug, greta, paskui, pusiau, šalia. Most of these adverbs combine with the second constituent without linking vowels. However, all terms whose first constituent is the adverb daug, have the linking vowel -ia. The constituent derived from the adverb šalia is šalį-.
The second constituent is most often based on nouns with an indivisible stem. Terms with diminutive suffixes enter compounds without those suffixes, as in other cases, e.g.: daugialąsčiai GŽ (:lastele), daugiažužis BŽ (:žiūželiai). However, several derivatives have a second constituent retaining the derivational affixes of the base noun, e.g.: pusiauakampinė STŽ, pusiau kraštinė STŽ. The terms daugias-taklininkas EŽ and pusiau mikrometodas ChŽ are calques; cf. Russian многос талинник полумикрометод. They should, of course, be corrected. At the very least, the ending of the first must be changed, i.e. daugias taklininkis, -ė should be used. For compound nouns of this type, too, generally have only two endings (-is, gen. sg. -io for masculine and -ė for feminine). And pusiau mikrometodas, apparently, should be written as two words. Mathematicians might also consider pusiauakampinės and pusiau kraštinės.
Derivatives with a literal meaning are usually of the same gender as the base noun of the second constituent. Terms with a figurative meaning are more often masculine (apparently because of analogy with other terms of this kind that have different constituents, and because of the things they denote).
Compounds with prepositional and nominal constituents
There are almost as many compound terms whose first constituent is prepositional and whose second is nominal as there are terms with an adverbial and a nominal constituent. In one quarter of compounds of this type, the second constituent is based on an international term, e.g.: tarpderenis “space between two drainage lines” MŽ, tarpsezonis “межсезонье” EŽ, tarpubunis “area between adjacent groynes” MŽ, viršvoltažis “additional voltage” ChŽ.
The first constituent of compounds of this type is usually based only on innovative prepositions that have not yet become prefixes, tarp ‘between’ and virš. However, in terms of their derivational meaning, such formations are nevertheless very close to prefix derivatives.
Compounds containing the constituent tarp- denote something located between things (more than one) named by the base noun of the second constituent. Most often these are names of places, and more rarely of periods of time or objects. E.g.: tarpgyslė “прожилка” GŽ, tarp-ledynmetis “period between two ice ages” MŽ, GŽ, tarplysvis “furrow, trench between garden beds” MŽ, tarpskiautis “space between the lobes of a leaf” BŽ, tarpskiltis “space between the lobes of a divided leaf” BŽ, tarpsluoksnis “material between two layers” ChŽ, EŽ, GŽ, “a thin layer of different material between two layers” MŽ, tar-sprūdis “мост” GŽ, tarpubamblis “part of a stem between two adjacent nodes” BŽ, tar-
103
Page 35puielis “space between rows of planted or sown plants” MŽ, tarpuląsčiai “spaces between cells, formed when cell walls separate or part of the cells dissolves” BŽ, tarpupis “междуречье” GŽ, “place between rivers” MŽ, tarpuvagis “earth turned over while ploughing between furrows” MŽ.
As the examples show, the formations more often lack a linking vowel. One third of the examples have the linking vowel -u-. The gender (and therefore the ending) of formations of this type can be said to be independent of the gender of the base nouns in the second constituent. Almost all are masculine and have the ending -is (sg. gen. -io).
A quarter of the examples of the type under consideration have the first constituent virš-, which is related to the preposition. These formations denote an additional quantity (greater than the usual, established, or expected amount) of the same phenomenon or thing named by the base noun of the second constituent, e.g.: viršpelnis “сверхприбыль” EŽ, viršvalandžiai “сверхурочное время” EŽ, TŽ (synonym viršnorminis laikas), “переработка” (synonym viršnorminis darbas) EŽ, viršvertė “сверхстоимость” EŽ, viršvoltažis “при-дине̇ įtampa” ChŽ. EŽ also lists a term that should at least be corrected with regard to its ending and is overly cumbersome: viršprotekcionizmas “сверхпротекционизм”.
Formations with the preposition virš are synonymous with one group of derivatives formed with the prefix anti-, which likewise denote an excess of what is expressed by the base noun. Derivational synonyms also occur. For example, ChŽ apparently gives preference to the term presented here, viršvoltažis, since the entry antivoltažis refers to it. The later-published STŽ lists only antitam(p)is, while the new “Dictionary of Physics Terms” gives viršitampis. The editors of the second edition of the “Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian” (V., 1972) apparently could not decide which word—antpelnis or viršpelnis—was preferable, although in the first edition (V., 1954) antpelnis was considered better (incidentally, in both editions, viršnormis, formed in the same way, is considered preferable to antinormis). “Advice on Language Practice” makes a recommendation for only one noun of this type, viršpelnis (it is regarded as an unacceptable calque, and antpelnis is recommended, as is antžmogis instead of viršžmogio27). From the standpoint of word formation, it would apparently be inaccurate to condemn either choice categorically: both seem equally valid, but clear and consistent recommendations are needed here too.
Formations with virš- usually lack a linking vowel and are more often masculine (ending in -is, sg. gen. -io).
Compounds with pronominal and nominal constituents
Among terms whose second constituent is a noun, compounds with a pronominal first constituent and a nominal second constituent are the least numerous. Half of these formations have an international term as their second constituent, e.g.: saviindukcija “самоиндукция” FŽ, STŽ, savikontrolė “самопроверка, English self-verifying; self-checking” STŽ, “самоконтроль” SŽ, savireprodukcija “самовоспроизведение, English self-reproduction” STŽ, savisinchronizacija “самосинхронизация, English self-synchronization” STŽ.
27 Advice on language practice, p. 310.
104
Page 36The pronominal constituent of these formations determines the nominal one, and the meaning of most compounds is literal. In such formations the pronominal constituent is savi-, which indicates that the action or other abstract entity denoted by the second constituent is directed at the object itself. E.g.: savateismis “самосуд” TŽ, saviindukcija FŽ, STŽ, and others. The relationship between the constituents of some formations is somewhat different, e.g.: savikaina “себестоимость” EŽ, TŽ, savivalė “произвол, своеволие” TŽ. The formation keliapareigis “совместитель” EŽ has a figurative meaning.
In terms of their derivational form, formations of this type differ more from other formations with a nominal second constituent. A large proportion of formations with an abstract meaning have the same ending as the base nouns of their second constituents. As V. Urbutis has observed, this fact “could perhaps partly be explained by the close connection of such formations with similar formations whose second constituent is based on a verb; cf. savimyla, savišalpa, and so on.”28 On the other hand, however, many of the compounds mentioned here are not entirely independent formations in Lithuanian. Thus, among other reasons, the terminology of foreign languages—which served as a model for the Lithuanian terms—may also have helped preserve the ending of the base word in the second constituent unchanged. This is especially likely to be true of such partial calques as saviindukcija, savikritika, savisinchronizacija, and others. In place of some such compounds, suffixed reflexive deverbal abstract nouns would be more suitable, e.g.: reprodukuavimasis, sinchronizavimasis.
Verbal compound terms
Verbal compound terms—that is, compounds whose second constituent is based on a verb—make up approximately one fifth (21.3%) of all the examples examined here. The semantic center of these formations is the second, verbal constituent, since the overall character of a compound’s meaning depends primarily on it. In general, formations of this type are close in derivational meaning to verbs formed with suffixes and endings. For example, compounds such as darbdavys EŽ, TŽ, eilėakalys LŽ, grioviakasys MŽ, rūdkasys GŽ, correspond to suffixed agent nouns and nouns denoting bearers of a verbal characteristic, alongside which they can be understood as species names (cf. dvejėjas – darbo dvejėjas = darbdavys; kalikas – eilių kalikas = eilėakalys, etc.). Compounds close to deverbal abstract nouns include akistata TŽ, dirvodara GŽ, MŽ, dirvotyra GŽ, MŽ, metalotyra ChŽ, GŽ, sėjomaina BŽ, MŽ, and others. Finally, there are also numerous compound terms of this type naming the means by which an action is performed (in suffixal and ending-based word formation, such derivatives are usually called instrument names), e.g.: aukštimatis GŽ, MŽ, SŽ, betonmaišė MŽ, grioviakasė MŽ, grumtsėmė GŽ, krūmapjovė MŽ, pulpotiekis MŽ, vandentiekis MŽ, and others.
The ability to combine in a single word words denoting the object of an action or some other entity and the action itself is a major advantage of compounding, and this is particularly useful for terminology.
More than three quarters (77%) of compound terms with a verbal second constituent have a nominal first constituent. The first constituent of one tenth of the compounds
28 Urbutis V. The Formation of Compound Nouns in Contemporary Lithuanian, p. 105.
105
Page 37the component is nominal. Compound terms with an adjectival (5.2%), numeral (4.7%), or adverbial (2.6%) first component are considerably less frequent, while formations whose two components are both based on verbs are very rare (0.5%).
Compounds with nominal and verbal components
Formations consisting of a noun and a verb are used quite extensively in terminology—among the examples examined, there are almost as many of them as compound terms with adjectival and nominal components. It is noteworthy that quite a few compounds of this type (a good third) have an abstract meaning and are close to verbal abstracts formed with suffixes and endings. For example: akistata “очная ставка” TŽ, diegarvitė “a seedling collar disease caused by various fungi—полегание сеянцев, полегание всходов” BŽ, dirvodara “soil formation—почвообразование” MŽ, GŽ, dirvotyra “the science of soil study—почвоведение” MŽ, GŽ, fondogrąža “фондоотдача” EŽ, gleivėplūdis “a phenomenon found in some trees in which a mucilaginous mass—the product of tissue decay—oozes from a damaged trunk or branches—слизетечение” BŽ, ižonėsis “the spring ice run on a river—шугоход” MŽ, javaklupė “a disease of rye and wheat caused by Leptosphaeria herpotrichoides de Not., Ophiobolus graminis Sacc., and some other fungi. Symptoms: a dark coating on the lower internode of the stem, broken stems, and bleached ears—корневая гниль злаков” BŽ, lapkrit is “the shedding of leaves at the onset of a cold or dry season—defoliatio, effoliatio, листопад” BŽ, lapsukė “a leaf-curl disease of potatoes, tomatoes, and other plants caused by Solanum Virus 14 Appel et Quanjer—скручивание листьев” BŽ, ledonešis “a phase in the regime of rivers, canals, and water reservoirs, characterized by ice floating on the water’s surface—ледоход” MŽ, GŽ, lipapūdis “the flow of sticky substances that harden in air from wounds in stone-fruit trees—гуммосис, гуммоз, камедетечение” BŽ, paukščiadulka “pollination of flowers with the aid of birds—ornithophilia, орнитофилия” BŽ, sakoplūdis “the flow of resin from injured coniferous trees—resinosis, смолотечение” BŽ, sėjomaina “a system of crop rotation in farming to use the soil more rationally and obtain a better harvest—севооборот” BŽ, “the sequence of rotation of sown crops and fallow established by agronomic science to continually increase soil fertility” MŽ, sniegotirpis “снеготаяние” GŽ, spygliakritė “a disease of coniferous trees characterized by needle drop—шютте” BŽ, stiebalūžė “a flax disease caused by the fungus Polyspora lini Laff. It appears as brown, often coalescing spots on leaves, stems, seed capsules, and other parts. In the early stages of development, affected flax plants turn yellow and die; those affected later wilt and break—ломкость стеблей льна, полиспороз стеблей льна, присуха” BŽ, ūki skaita “the systematic management of an enterprise or institution’s economy on a profitability basis—хозяйственный расчёт, хозрасчёт” MŽ, EŽ, TŽ, vандentalpa “водоизмещение” SŽ, vėj alauža “the breaking of trees caused by strong wind—бурелом, ветролом” BŽ, žemėnauda “землепользование” EŽ, TŽ (synonym žemės naudojimas), žemėtvarka “land management, surveying—землеустройство” MŽ, EŽ, TŽ, žuvivaisa “a branch of fisheries whose task is to increase the quantity of fish and improve their composition in natural waters or special ponds—
106
Page 38increase the quantity of fish and improve their composition in natural waters or special ponds—рыбоводство” MŽ, SŽ, etc. As the examples given show, compounds with these meanings are names for various specialized processes, states, and fields and branches of science. Some of them name plant diseases. The latter formations often have a slight shade of meaning denoting the consequence of an action or a resultant state. The base noun of the first component most often denotes either the object or the subject of the named action.
Compounds naming various means of performing an action (names of tools) are very widespread in terminology. Among the examples examined, these are the most numerous (nearly 40% of all compound terms with nominal and verbal components). These terms are usually names of particular devices or machines. Their verbal component indicates what action the means of performing an action named by the compound is intended to carry out, while the base word of the nominal component usually indicates the object of that action. For example: aukštimatis “an instrument for measuring height—высотомер, альтиметр” MŽ, GŽ, SŽ, bangolaidis “волновод” FŽ, STŽ, betonmaišė “a machine in which concrete mortar is prepared by mechanical mixing—бетономешалка” MŽ, drėgmėrodis “an instrument for determining approximate air humidity; a hygroscope—гигроскоп” MŽ, dulkėgaudis “пылеуловитель” ChŽ, gruntėmis “грунтоноска” GŽ (drilling technology), gruntsemė “грунточерпатель” GŽ, kelmarovė “a machine for uprooting stumps—корчевальная машина” MŽ, krūm…jovė “a device attached to a tractor for cutting shrubs and slender trees—кусторез” MŽ, lašagaudis “a laboratory instrument for capturing drops—каплеуловитель” ChŽ, lietmatis “an instrument for measuring the amount of atmospheric precipitation—осадкомер, дождемер” MŽ, GŽ, polikalis “a device for driving piles; a pile driver—копёр” MŽ, GŽ, pulponiekis “pipes through which pulp is transported—пульпопровод” MŽ, ritmuša “клюшка” SŽ (ice hockey), šakniarovė “a tool for uprooting roots; a root puller—корнедёр” MŽ, tankmatis “an instrument for determining soil density—плотномер” MŽ, tranšėjakašė “a mechanism designed for digging trenches—траншеекопатель” MŽ, vamzdžiagaudis “труболовка” GŽ, vandenrodis “a scale indicating the level of river water—водомер” MŽ, vandensvydis “a device for converting the potential energy of water into kinetic energy by turning the water flow into a jet that washes away soil; a hydraulic monitor—гидромонитор” MŽ, vėjarodis “флюгер” GŽ (synonym vėtrungė), žaibolaidis “молниеотвод, громоотвод” FŽ, žemsiurbė “a unit consisting of a pump and a working element that loosens soil, designed to suction and transport soil using a water jet—землесос” MŽ, GŽ.
Compound names for means of performing an action are quite popular in contemporary Lithuanian terminology. In sources covering the subject, there are almost as many of them as names of tools derived with endings, and only about five times fewer than the corresponding suffixal terms. By way of comparison, the same sources provide five times as many ending-derived verbal abstracts and as many as 52 times more suffix-derived ones.
One-sixth of the compound terms of the type under examination are, in their derivational meaning, close to suffixal and ending-derived terms denoting agents and bearers of a verbal characteristic
107
Page 39names. In general, in the derivation of present-day Lithuanian, among formations with a nominal and a verbal component, formations with this meaning are the most numerous29. The fact that considerably fewer such formations are found in the sources examined may have been caused by more than one factor. First, some compound nouns of this type in contemporary language have a pejorative meaning, and such words are neither used nor newly coined in terminology. Second, relatively few names of persons are included in Lithuanian terminological dictionaries. Thus, the examples examined do not allow any categorical claims about the situation in Lithuanian terminology as a whole.
Most of the terms examined are names of persons according to the action they perform. The nominal component most often denotes the object of that action. E.g.: brokdarys „бракодел“ Ež, darbdavys „работодатель“ Ež, TŽ, darbėmys „работополучатель“ TŽ, eitlkalys „стихоплёт, рифмоплёт“ LŽ, grioviakasys „грио- vių kasimo darbininkas — землекоп“ MŽ, kalnakasys „горнорабочий“ EŽ, GŽ, raštvedys „делопроизводитель“ TŽ, rūdkasys „рудокоп“ GŽ, streiklaužys „штрейкбрехер“ EŽ, ūkvedys „заведующий хозяйством, завхоз“ EŽ, vergvaldys „рабовладелец“ EŽ, žemnaudys „fizinis ar teisinis asmuo, kuris pastoviai naudojasi žemės plotu — землепользователь“ MŽ, TŽ, žemvaldys „землевладелец“ EŽ, TŽ.
There are fewer names denoting bearers of a verbal characteristic that refer not to persons but to other animate or inanimate things, e.g.: dūmodaris „дымообразователь“ ChŽ, kompleksadarys „atomas, sudarantis kompleksą, centrinis atomas — комплексообразователь“ ChŽ, medgraužis „точильщик“ SŽ (fishing), šoniplauka „бокоплав“ SŽ (fishing), vabzdžiaėdžiai „Insectivora, насекомоядные“ GŽ. There are also some terms formed in this way in botanical terminology, e.g.: azotamėgiai „litter plants that prefer soils rich in nitrogen — нитрофильные растения, нитрофиты“ BŽ (synonyms nitrofitai, azotamėgiai augalai), gumbadariai „parasites that cause the formation of galls (excrescences) in plants — цецидогены“ BŽ, paukščiadulkiai „plants pollinated by birds — ornithophili, орнитофилы“ BŽ (synonym ornitofilai).
There are relatively few compound terms denoting the result of an action, e.g.: kurmiarausis | kurmrausa „a mound of earth thrown up by a mole — кротовина“ MŽ, sniegalaužos „trees whose branches have been broken, flattened, and deformed by snow lying on them — снеголомы“ BŽ, sniegvartos „trees toppled by snow — снеговалы“ BŽ, vėj alaužos „trees broken by strong winds — буреломы, ветроломы“ BŽ, vėjavartos „trees uprooted by strong winds — ветровалы“ BŽ.
Compound terms naming places are likewise scarce, e.g.: takoskyra „a higher place that separates one river basin from another; watershed — водораздел“ MŽ, GŽ, vandenskyra „водораздел“ MŽ, GŽ, vandenspara „a layer impervious to water — водоупор“ MŽ, GŽ, vandentaka „a line (often winding) connecting the lowest points of a valley (hollows, ravines, or the ground surface); thalweg — тальвег“ MŽ.
Some basic verbs forming the second component are used whenever there is a need to name an analogous concept. As a result, fairly large clusters of related terms sometimes also arise—
29 Urbutis V. Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos sudurtinių daiktavardžių daryba, p. 106.
108
Page 40—of related terms. This is especially characteristic of names of instruments of action and, in part, of abstract nouns. Names of various devices and machines often have the second components -gaudis, -kasė, -laidi̇s, -matis, -pjovė, -rodis, -rovė, -semė, -tiekis, etc. Abstract nouns very often have -tyra as the second component (names of various scientific fields, and sometimes other areas and branches); formations with the components -dara, -nešis, -plūdis, -tvarka are less frequent, as are place names with the second component -skyra. E.g.:
-gaudis (:gaudė, gaudyti): dulketøygaudis ChŽ, garsagaudis „звукоуловитель“ FŽ, lašagaudis ChŽ, vamzdžiagaudis GŽ;
-kasė (:kasė, kasti): grioviakasė „a machine designed for mechanized ditch digging — канавокопатель“ MŽ, tranšėjikasė „a mechanism for digging trenches — траншеекопатель“ MŽ, žemkasė „earthmoving machine — землеройная машина“ MŽ;
-conduct (: leido, leisti): bangolaidis FŽ, STŽ, magnetolaidis „магнитопровод, anglų magnetic circuit“ STŽ, šviesolaidis „световод, anglų optical path“ STŽ, žaibolaidis FŽ;
-matis (: matuoti): aukštimatis GŽ, MŽ, SŽ, bangomatis „волномер“ FŽ, STŽ, dažniamatis „частотомер“ FŽ, STŽ, debitomatis „расходомер, anglų flowmeter; flow gauge“ STŽ, drėgmėmatis „a device for measuring humidity; hygrometer — влагомер“ MŽ, gylmatis „a device for measuring depth — глубомер“ MŽ, SŽ, kampmatis „угломер“ SŽ, laikmatis „таймер“ SŽ, lietmatis „a device for measuring the amount of atmospheric precipitation — осадкомер, дождемер“ MŽ, GŽ, lygmatis „a device for measuring water level — уровнемер“ MŽ, polinkiamatis „an instrument for measuring inclination angles; clinometer — эклиметр“ MŽ, sniegmatis „a device for determining snow density — снегомер“ MŽ, GŽ (synonym sniego matuoklė), tankmatis „a device for determining soil density — плотномер“ MŽ, tarpumatis „щуп, anglų clearance gauge“ STŽ (synonym kalibrinė plokštelė), tolimatis „an optical instrument for determining distance — дальномер“ MŽ, FŽ, SŽ, vandematis „a device for measuring the quantity of water flowing through during a given period — водомер“ MŽ;
-pjovė, -is (:pjovė, pjauti): krūmapjovė „a device attached to a tractor for cutting bushes and thin trees — кусторез“ MŽ, šienapjovė „a machine for cutting hay — сенокосилка“ MŽ, trosapjovis „канаторезка“ GŽ;
-rodis (:rodė, rodyti): drėgmėrodis „a device for approximate determination of air humidity; hygroscope“ MŽ, laikrodis „часы“ FŽ, STŽ, SŽ, vandenrodis „a scale indicating river water level — водомер“ MŽ, vėjarodis „флюгер“ GŽ, veidrodis „зеркало“ FŽ, GŽ, STŽ;
-rovė (:rovė, rauti): kelmarovė „a machine for uprooting stumps — корчевальная машина“ MŽ, šakniarovė „a tool for pulling up roots; root puller — корнедёр“ MŽ;
-semė (:semti, semia): durpsemė „a machine for excavating peat — экскаватор“ MŽ, gruntssemė „грунточерпатель“ GŽ, purvasemė „a device for scooping mud — грязечерпалка“ MŽ, vandensemė „a mechanical device for scooping water — во-
109
Page 41“дочерпалка” MŽ, earth-dredger “a machine designed to deepen ditches; its working part consists of buckets attached to an endless chain – землечерпалка” MŽ;
-supply (:to supply, supply): pulp pipeline “pipes through which pulp is transported – пульпопровод” MŽ, shot feeder “дробоулитатель” GŽ, water supply system “a complex of engineering facilities designed for centralized water supply – водопровод” MŽ;
-formation (:formed, to form): gloss formation “блескообразование” ChŽ, soil formation “soil formation – почвообразование” MŽ, GŽ, smoke formation “дымообразование” ChŽ, versification “стихосложение” LŽ, mountain formation “орогенезис” GŽ, foam formation “пенообразование” ChŽ, fold formation “складкообразование” GŽ;
-flow (:carried, to carry): slush flow “the period of slush movement along a river – шугоход” MŽ, ice run “a phase in the regime of rivers, canals, and reservoirs characterized by ice floating on the water surface – ледоход” MŽ, GŽ;
-flow (:flowed, to flow): mucilage flow “a phenomenon occurring in some trees, in which a mucilaginous mass oozes from a damaged trunk or branch as a product of tissue decay – слизетечение” BŽ, gum flow “the flow of sticky substances that harden in the air from wounds in stone-fruit trees – gummosis, гуммоз, камедетечение” BŽ, resin flow “resin flow from injured coniferous trees – резиносис, смолотечение” BŽ;
-divide (:divided, to divide): frontal boundary “раздел фронтальный” GŽ (meteorology), watershed “a higher area separating one river basin from another; watershed – водораздел” MŽ, watershed “водораздел” GŽ, MŽ;
-study (:studied, to study): soil science “the science of soil study – почвоведение” MŽ, GŽ, limnology “the science of lake study; limnology – озероведение, лимнология” MŽ, GŽ, soil science “a branch of engineering geology that studies soils – грунтоведение” MŽ, GŽ, permafrost science “the science of permafrost phenomena – мерзлотоведение” MŽ, GŽ, bibliology “книговедение” LŽ, metallurgy “the science of metals – металловедение” ChŽ, GŽ, bog science “the science that studies the formation and development of bogs – болотоведение” MŽ, GŽ, meadow science “the science of meadow study – луговедение” MŽ, potamology “потамология” GŽ;
-management (:managed, to manage): rule of law “правопорядок, правовой порядок” TŽ, land management “land organization and surveying – землеустройство” MŽ, EŽ, TŽ.
The second component of compounds is generally based on Lithuanian verbs. The base verbs in most compounds are primary, but it cannot be claimed that derivation avoids using mixed and even secondary verbs (the latter, admittedly, much less often). The derivational suffixes of base verbs are usually not carried over into compounds, e.g.: fund return EŽ (: grąž-inti), timer SŽ (: mat-uoti), bird dusting BŽ (: dulk-inti), land use EŽ, TŽ (: naud-oti). In terminology, as in contemporary compounding in general, it is quite unusual for the verbal component to have a prefix. Verbal components most often do not differ in their vowels from the base verbs; thus, vowel alternation in the root is relatively rare in term formation. There are, admittedly, some compounds with root-vowel alternation, e.g.: ice chipping MŽ (: kimšti, kemša, kimšo), cold flake GŽ,
110
Page 42žievėplaiša BŽ (:to tear, tears, tore), vandentaka MŽ (:to flow, flows, flowed), žuvivaisa MŽ, SŽ (: to breed, breeds, bred), etc. Of course, variants of a term with different root vowels cannot be justified, e.g.: žemėtaka MŽ and žemėteka GŽ. Such variation in terms, being unjustified, harms terminological consistency.
The base nouns in the first component are also usually Lithuanian. However, the first component of approximately one seventh of the formations is based on international terms, e.g.: azotamėgiai BŽ, betonmaišė MŽ, brokdarys EŽ, debitomatis STŽ, fondograža EŽ, frontoskyra GŽ, gruntatraukis GŽ, kompleksdarys ChŽ, landšaftotyra GŽ, MŽ, magnetolaidis STŽ, metalotyra ChŽ, GŽ, polialkalis GŽ, MŽ, streiklaužys EŽ, tranšėjakašė MŽ, trosapjovis GŽ.
The nouns used as the basis for word formation usually have a stem that cannot be further analyzed morphologically. There are so few formations whose first component has an analyzable stem that they can safely be regarded as exceptions to the pattern of formation, e.g.: drėgmematis MŽ, grąžtanešiai GŽ, raštevedys TŽ, raukšlėdara GŽ, šalčioplaisa GŽ. There is a particular tendency to avoid using as component bases nouns that have become longer in syllable count as a result of earlier stages of word formation, e.g.: išalotyra GŽ, MŽ, polinkiamatis MŽ.
Most (two thirds of the examples examined) compound terms with nominal and verbal components have linking vowels (the joining of components is shown in Table 7).
One third of the examples examined have no linking vowel. The base nouns in their first component have various endings. In two thirds of the remaining compounds, the linking vowel coincides with the so-called historical stem-final vowel, e.g.:
-a-: diegavirtė BŽ, garsagaudis FŽ, kalnakasys EŽ, GŽ, purvasėmė MŽ, snieg avarta BŽ, šienapjovė MŽ, vėjavarta BŽ;
-ia-: dažniamatis FŽ, STŽ, grioviakasė MŽ, paukščiadulka BŽ, spygliakritė BŽ, vabzdžiaėdžiai GŽ;
-o-: bangomatis FŽ, STŽ, knygotyra LŽ, putodara ChŽ, sėjomaina BŽ, MŽ, tautosaka LŽ;
-ė-: drėgmerodis MŽ, gleivėplūdis BŽ, pelkėtyra GŽ, MŽ, teisėtvarka TŽ, žemėvalda EŽ, TŽ;
-i-: akistata TŽ, akivarai GŽ, žuvivaisa MŽ, SŽ.
Thus, when coining new terminological formations, this fairly clearly manifested tendency in contemporary Lithuanian compounds regarding linking vowels should be borne in mind. Most compound terms with linking vowels that do not coincide with the so-called stem-final vowels of the base noun in the first component are abstract nouns, especially those with the second component -tyra, -dara, -skyra. Here, too, one can discern a certain tendency in the formation of contemporary compound terms: formations most often have the linking vowel -o- (the most characteristic exceptions have the linking vowel -ė-, when the base noun in the first component has the ending -ė in the nominative singular; in other words, it is an ė-stem). The analogy of formations with similar meanings operates here. In other cases, formations with the same component (even if of different origin) may have a bearing on the meaning; cf.: aukštimatis and aukštikalnė (or perhaps altimeter?).
111
Page 43Daiktavardinių sandų jungimas su veiksmažodiniais
Table 7
Connecting vowel | Number of derivatives by the endings of the base nouns in the first constituent | -as | -is (-io) | -ys | -us | -uo | -a | -ė | -is (-ies) feminine gender | Total derivatives | 17 | 7 (+1) | 2 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 7 | | 48 (+1) | -o- | 21 (+1) | | | | | 13 | | | 34 (+1) | -a- | 25 | | | | | 2 | | | 27 | -ia- | | 7 | 4 | | | | 1 | 2 | 14 | -ė- | | | | | | | 14 | | 14 | -i- | 1 | 3 | | | | | | 3 | 7 | -io- | | 1 (+1) | | | | | | | 1 (+1) | -u- | 1 | | | | | | | | 1 | 146
Note. Several dictionaries of terms give variants whose constituents are joined in different ways, e.g.: kampmatis ŠŽ and kampomatis GŽ, kurmėrausis and kurmrausa MŽ, polinkiamatis MŽ and polinkio- matis GŽ. The second variant is given in the table in parentheses next to the total number of compounds containing a particular connecting vowel.
Examples are easy to find in which the connecting vowels differ in compounds that have the same first constituent, or in which connecting vowels occur in some cases but not in others. E.g.: eilėdara and eiliakalys LŽ, gruntatraukis GŽ, gruntotyra GŽ, MŽ and gruntėmis GŽ, gruntsėmė GŽ, kalnakasys EŽ, GŽ and kalnodara GŽ, sniegalaužos, sniegavarta and snieglauža, sniegvartos BŽ, sniegmatis GŽ, MŽ and sniegotirpis GŽ, ūkiškaita EŽ, MŽ, TŽ and ūkvedys EŽ, žemėnauda EŽ, TŽ, žemėtaka MŽ and žemkasys MŽ, žemsiurbė GŽ, MŽ. In one instance, the presence of a connecting vowel could have distinguished terms naming an action from those naming the result of that action — snieglauža ‘the breaking of tree branches caused by heavy snow accumulated on them’, sniegavarta ‘the uprooting of trees caused by heavy snow lying on their crowns’ and sniegalaužos ‘trees with branches broken, flattened and deformed by snow lying on them’, sniegvartos ‘trees uprooted by snow’ (all BŽ). However, this was not done, and the variation in joining the constituents
112
Page 44is, of course, unjustified and therefore unnecessary in this case. Likewise, the already mentioned variants kampmatis SŽ and kampomatis GŽ, kurmiarausis and kurmrausa MŽ, polinkiamatis MŽ and polinkiomatis GŽ are entirely unnecessary. In this case, normative terms should certainly agree with the corresponding ordinary words of the literary language, and kampomatis, kurmrausa and polinkiomatis should be rejected.
The ending of compound terms formed from a noun and a verb depends on the meaning of the derivatives. Derivatives with an abstract meaning more often (almost three quarters of the examples examined) have the ending -a. Indeed, -a is also the most productive in forming action nouns with endings. Of the examples examined, only the plant disease names given in BŽ have the ending -ė, e.g.: diegavirtė, javaklupė, lapsukė, while the ending -is occurs in time terms (įžonešis MŽ, lapkritīs BŽ) and several derivatives with other meanings (gleivėplūdis BŽ, ledokritis GŽ, sakoplūdis BŽ, etc.).
Terms naming instruments for carrying out an action most often have the ending -is; a quarter of the derivatives with this meaning have the ending -ė, and only a few words have other endings (-a and -as). Indeed, the latter are not terminological derivatives. They have been borrowed from ordinary language, e.g.: kaspinas ATŽ, STŽ, SŽ, riedmuša SŽ, ritmuša SŽ. Which ending (-is or -ė) a compound term has is often determined by analogy with words formed earlier, for example, names of instruments with frequent second constituents -matis, -rodis, etc. In certain cases, the grammatical gender of the word denoting the object named may also influence the choice of ending (prietaisas ‘device’, įrankis ‘tool’, įrenginys ‘apparatus’—ending -is; mašina ‘machine’—ending -ė). Such gender agreement in derivatives is entirely possible, especially considering that terms are usually coined deliberately.
Names for people who actively perform the action expressed by the base verb in the second constituent, or who possess a characteristic arising from that action, usually have the ending -ys (and, naturally, -ė, though feminine names are generally not included in dictionaries of terms). Other names for possessors of a verbal characteristic (there are not many of these) usually have the ending -is or -ė.
Terms expressing the result of an action or a place more often have the ending -a.
A certain specialization of the endings of compound terms of the type under discussion, which can also be discerned in the examples examined, is undoubtedly useful. Such specialization makes it easier to distinguish terms with different meanings, including in form, and thereby to avoid homonymy, which is undesirable in terminology. In the terminology of various fields, compound terms formed from the same words but having different meanings are often distinguished by different endings, e.g.: blizgodara ‘блескообразование’ and blizgodaris ‘a substance that causes a coating to shine’ ChŽ, dūmodara ‘дымообразование’ and dūmodaris ‘дымообразователь’ ChŽ, paukščiadulka ‘pollination of flowers by birds’ and paukščiadulkiai ‘plants pollinated by birds’ BŽ, žemėvalda ‘землевладение’ and žemvaldys ‘землевладелец’ EŽ, TŽ. In the latter case, the derivatives also differ in how their constituents are joined, just as do žemėnauda ‘землепользование’ EŽ, TŽ and žemnaudys ‘a natural or legal person who permanently uses a parcel of land’ MŽ, TŽ, while pėdsakas STŽ, SŽ, pėdsakai ChŽ, TŽ and pėdsekys SŽ differ in the root vowels of the verbal constituent. Actor names may likewise be distinguished from names for possessors of a verbal characteristic and
113
Page 45tool names, but in this case word stress also helps distinguish the words, e.g.: grioviakasys “a worker who digs ditches” and grioviakasė “a machine intended for mechanized ditch digging” MŽ, žemkasys “a manual laborer who performs earth-digging work” and žemkasė “a machine for digging earth” MŽ (feminine-gender names for persons, grioviakasė and žemkasė, would have the third accent paradigm, whereas machine names belong to the first accent paradigm).
Relatively few terms (about 6% of the examples examined) are plural. In a few cases, number forms help distinguish, in part, names of an action and of its result, e.g.: vėjalauža “the breaking of trees caused by strong wind” BŽ and vėjalaužos “trees broken by strong wind” BŽ, as well as vėjavarta “the uprooting of trees caused by strong wind” and vėjavartos “trees uprooted by strong wind” BŽ. In fact, abstract nouns are singular, whereas names of action results can occur in both numbers. It has already been mentioned that the meanings of the terms snieglauža ir sniegalaužos bei sniegavarta ir sniegavartos, included in BŽ, are distinguished similarly.
Compounds with pronominal and verbal constituents
There are relatively few compound terms whose first constituent is based on a pronoun and whose second is based on a verb. The same sources contain almost eight times more formations of the type discussed above, with nominal and verbal constituents. Although these terms are not diverse in terms of word formation, they have become quite popular, and new ones are still being coined.
The most characteristic meaning of terms with pronominal and verbal constituents is abstract; morphologically, they are close to verbal abstracts. Most of the examples examined here are of this kind, e.g.: savidrauda “самострахование” EŽ, savidulka “1. the phenomenon whereby the stigmas of flowers are pollinated by pollen from the same flower; 2. in horticulture, the phenomenon whereby flowers of a particular variety are pollinated by pollen from plants of that same variety; 3. the phenomenon whereby some flowers of the same individual are pollinated by pollen from other flowers of that individual—autogamy, автогамия, самоопыление” BŽ, savigyna “самооборона, самозащита” TŽ, savigriūda “spontaneous hardening—самозакалка” ChŽ, savilova “самонадеянность” TŽ, savikrova “самонавалка” GŽ, savinuoda “poisoning of plants by toxic substances they themselves secrete; this explains, for example, the decline of Hieracium pilosella communities—автоинтоксикация” BŽ, [saviskaita “саморегистрация (самоисчисление, самоопрос)” EŽ, savitaka “the phenomenon whereby water (a liquid) flows through channels or pipes laid at a suitable gradient under the force of its own weight; gravity flow—самотёк” MŽ, savitarna “самообслуживание” EŽ, savivaisa “fertilization by pollen from a plant of the same variety—autofertility, самооплодотворение” BŽ, savivalda “самоуправление” EŽ, TŽ.
Formations with other meanings are quite rare. These include occasional names for persons denoting a trait arising from an action, specified by the pronoun in the first constituent, e.g.: patvaldys “самодержец” TŽ, savižudis “самоубийца” TŽ, as well as one or another term denoting instruments for performing an action, e.g.: savivartis
114
Page 46“a vehicle (truck, etc.) with a tipping cargo platform”—“самосвал” MŽ. A formation close in meaning to a name for the result of an action may be savimokos “саморасчёты” EŽ.
The first constituent in almost all formations is savi-, associated with the reflexive pronoun. It most often indicates that the action denoted by the second constituent is directed at the performer of the action, the subject itself; in some compounds, however, the constituent savi- helps express the spontaneous nature of the action (savigrūda ChŽ, savitaka MŽ). In some cases, compounds of this type differ little in meaning from verbal abstracts formed from reflexive verbs with the suffix -imas / -ymas. The latter are sometimes even presented in terminological dictionaries as synonyms of compounds, e.g.: savirauda and apsidraudimas EŽ, savitara and apsitarnavimas EŽ. Incidentally, in more than one case the emergence of the compounds in question may have been stimulated by corresponding terms in other languages, since almost all the formations discussed here are neologisms in terminology. Interestingly, the Russian equivalents of all these terms also have the first constituent “savi-, that is, само-; many German equivalents have an analogous constituent, selbst- (from the pronoun selbst “oneself”), while the English equivalents use the prefix-like self-, corresponding to Lithuanian “savi-, sava-”. In Latvian, the corresponding terms also most often have the initial pronominal constituent pat- / paš- (cf. Latvian pats, pati “oneself”).
The second constituent is usually based on non-prefixed verbs. The examples available show that the derivational base may be either primary or mixed and secondary verbs. As in other cases, the prefixes of the latter are removed when forming a compound term; cf. savidulka (:dulkinti), savigrūda (:grūdinti), savinuoda (:nuodyti). Some constituents derived from primary verbs have altered root vowels (savivartis:vertė, versti). Root vowels are generally the same as in compounds of other types that have the same constituent, cf. savitaka MŽ and vandentaka MŽ, žemėtaka MŽ, savivaisa BŽ and žuvivaisa MŽ, SŽ.
Formations with abstract meanings usually take the ending -a, while terms with other meanings take the ending -is (-ys). Names for persons can, of course, be of either gender, so alongside -is there are also formations ending in -ė.
Compounds with an adverbial or adjectival and a verbal component
Generally speaking, when classifying compounds according to the parts of speech from which their constituents derive, it would, of course, be appropriate to distinguish formations containing adjectival and adverbial constituents. However, in many cases where the second constituent is verbal, distinguishing an adjective from an adjectival adverb is difficult. In terms of meaning, it is usually more convenient to associate such constituents with adjectival adverbs. In fact, this interpretation may be related to the fact that adverbs are generally used alongside verbs in language, so a phrase formed from the base words of the constituents is, naturally, adverbial. On the other hand, there are very few compound terms whose first constituent is an adverb of non-adjectival origin. Thus, particularly given the semantic similarity of the formations in question, they are all discussed together here.
Some compound terms with adverbial or adjectival and verbal constituents are abstract nouns, e.g.: ankstibranda “the quality of ripening early — пан-
115
Page 47nespelost” BŽ, daugiskaita “plural” LŽ, pusiaušvyra “mutual equality of reaction rates — равновесие” ChŽ, EŽ, FŽ, GŽ, STŽ, SŽ, šlapdraba “rain mixed with snow” GŽ. However, among the examples under consideration, there are twice as many formations whose meanings are close to the names of agents and bearers of verbal characteristics, e.g.: bendravaldis “co-owner” TŽ, naujakiurys “new settler, newcomer” EŽ, nausėdys “settler” EŽ, toliარეgis “long-sighted” FŽ, trumparegis “short-sighted” FŽ, visuraugis “a plant capable of growing everywhere or almost everywhere in the ecological sense — ubiquist” BŽ. Incidentally, the terms toliapegis, trumparegis may be substantivized adjectives.
Compound terms with other meanings are less common, but formations naming means of performing an action (gars(i)akalbis “loudspeaker” FŽ, STŽ) and the results of an action (naujadaras “neoplasm, neologism” LŽ) also occur.
The second constituent of the formations is based on non-prefixed primary or mixed verbs. Sometimes constituents derived from primary verbs have vowel alternation in the root, e.g.: ankstibranda BŽ, šlapdraba GŽ. The constituents are more often joined by linking vowels. The compounds include the linking vowels -a-, -ia-, and -i-.
Compound terms with an adverbial or adjectival constituent and a verbal constituent do not differ in their endings from the other formations with a verbal second constituent already discussed.
Compounds with a numeral and a verbal component
There are relatively few compound terms with numeral and verbal constituents. Almost all the examples discussed are chemistry terms, have the second constituent -pakaitis, which may be based on the verb pakeisti, and serve as names for certain compounds. E.g.: vienpakaitis “a compound in whose molecule one hydrogen atom is replaced by another atom or group — однозамещённый”, dvipakaitis “a formation obtained by replacing two atoms in a compound with other atoms or groups — двузамещённый”, tripakaitis “a compound whose molecules have three hydrogen atoms replaced by other atoms or groups — трёхзамещённый”, keturiapakaitis “when 4 H atoms in a compound molecule are replaced by other atoms or groups — четырёхзамещённый”, penkiapakaitis “пятизамещённый”, šešiapakaitis “a compound whose molecules have six hydrogen atoms replaced by other atoms or groups — шестизамещённый”, septynpakaitis “a compound whose molecule has 7 hydrogen atoms replaced by other atoms or groups — семизамещённый”, aštuoniapakaitis “a compound containing eight introduced groups or atoms — восьмизамещённый” (all ChŽ). The systematic name for fish dv ikvapės “Dipnoi”, given in GŽ, also belongs to this type.
In the examples discussed, the verbal constituent has an altered root vowel (-pakaitis: pakeitė, -kvapės: kvėpė, kvėpavo30). Structurally, of all the action-
30 Incidentally, because of the association with the noun kvapas ‘smell’, K. Gaivenis proposes using terms whose second constituent is based on the verb kvėpuoti (kvėpti) ‘to breathe’ with the verbal constituent’s root vowel unchanged, e.g.: žarnakvėpiai, žiaunakvėpiai ir dvikvėpės (see Gaivenis K. Terminologijos smulkmės. — Kalbos kultūra, issue 41, p. 63). This proposal accords with
116
Page 48Among derivatives containing a verbal second constituent, terms with the constituent -pakaitis stand out because the constituent also includes a verb prefix. This is a major exception in the formation of Lithuanian compound words, perhaps influenced by the corresponding Russian terms (whose second constituent is -замещённый). On the other hand, however, it is quite possible that these terms are formed somewhat differently—their second constituent may be nominal. For the chemistry terminology also uses pakaitas ‘an atom or group that has replaced another atom or group in a molecule – заместитель’ ChŽ. In this case, however, the semantic structure of the derivatives is more obscure, and the form of the term would still fall among the exceptions (a second constituent of overly complex structure). When revising the terms, the chemistry terminology commission should also consider how to find a better form for the terms in question.
Compounds with both verbal constituents
In contemporary Lithuanian, compounds formed from two verbs are, one might say, not made at all. Naturally, such formations are almost never found in terminology either. The sources under examination yielded only one term that may have been formed from two verbs. This is the mining term gręžmatis GŽ, the Lithuanian equivalent of the international term drilometras. Its formation, however, is unobjectionable: it is sonorous and clear, and conforms to general tendencies in the structure of compound constituents.
Other compounds
There are very few compound terms whose second constituent is based on something other than a noun or a verb. And not all of these are neologisms in terminology. For example, juodbėris ‘буланый’ SŽ, formed from an adverb and an adjective, or kailiapalakiai ‘secondary raw material collected from residents; worn fur garments used to obtain wool fibre by dissolving the fleshy parts in acid solutions – утильная шубнина’ ATŽ, a compound of a noun and an adjective, are undoubtedly ordinary-language words that have been converted into terms. Some compound terms, however, may also be newly coined, for example the adverb–adjective compounds rudmargė ‘a plant disease manifested by the formation of brown spots on leaves – бурая пятнистость’ BŽ and šviesmargė ‘a plant disease manifested by mottled spotting of leaves – белая пятнистость листьев’ BŽ. Compare also the terms in SŽ: lygiagretė ‘параллель’ (tourism), lygiagretės ‘брусья’ (gymnastics), ‘параллельные брусья’ (equestrianism). Nevertheless, the formation of such compound terms is not discussed further.
Conclusions
1. Compounding is an important means of creating, augmenting, and further developing Lithuanian terminology. Compound terms make it possible to express complex concepts in a single word and are well suited to the linguistic objectives important in specialized fields of language use
and to the observable tendency for neologisms in terminology to retain unchanged the root vowels of their verbal constituent; nevertheless, possible associations with a term’s component parts should not be the decisive reason for changing an established term, much less for considering it a word formed incorrectly. Taking this opportunity, I thank K. Gaivenis for permission to use the manuscript of the aforementioned article in preparing this work for publication.
117
Page 49…of clarity and concision. In Lithuanian terminology, compounding also plays an important quantitative role. In the glossaries of legal, geological and physical-geographical, physics, sports, land-reclamation, chemical, textile, literary, botanical, economic, and computing terminology, compound one-word terms make up more than one eighth of the Lithuanian derivatives listed. In terms of the number of derivatives, compounding here is markedly surpassed only by prefixation, but it exceeds suffixation and prefix-based term formation. New compound terms are formed quite abundantly. It can be stated that compounding is somewhat more active in the terminological subsystem than in the word-formation system of contemporary language in general.
2. Depending on the part of speech on which the second constituent is based, compound terms are classified as nominal and verbal. Most compound terms have a nominal second constituent (78.2% of the 893 examples examined). Verbal derivatives make up slightly more than one fifth (21.3%) of the compound terms included in the terminology dictionaries comprising the subject of this study. There are very few terms whose second constituent is based on neither a noun nor a verb.
2.1. The first constituent of compound terms is also most often based on nouns (63% of derivatives). Words from other parts of speech occur less often as the first constituent of compound terms (adjectives—18.1%, numerals—7.4%, adverbs—3.4%, pronouns—3%, verbs—2.8%, and prepositions—2.3%).
2.2. Nouns participate most actively in the formation of compound terms. As many as 94.5% of the compounds examined have one or both constituents that are nominal. A verbal constituent (most often the second) occurs in 24.1% of compounds; an adjectival one (most often the first) in 18.6%; a numeral one (only the first) in 7.4%; an adverbial one (usually the first) in 3.5%; a pronominal one (only the first) in 3%; and a prepositional one (only the first) in 2.2% of all compounds.
2.3. Most compound terms are formed from two nouns (46.5% of all examples examined). Compounds with adjectival and nominal constituents (17%) and nominal and verbal constituents (16.3%) are also relatively numerous. Other types of compound terms are less productive (6.4% have numeral and nominal constituents; 2.7%, verbal and nominal; 2.3%, adverbial and nominal; 2.2%, prepositional and nominal; 2.1%, pronominal and verbal; 1.1%, adjectival and verbal; 1%, numeral and verbal; and 0.9%, pronominal and nominal constituents). Terms based on an adverb and a verb, an adverb and an adjective, two verbs, a noun and an adjective, or two adverbs are very rare.
3. Both terms and ordinary words of the language serve as the bases for the constituents of compound terms. This greatly expands the possibilities for further use of compounding in terminology.
3.1. The words serving as bases for constituents are not only of purely Lithuanian origin but also include borrowings (especially so-called international words and terms). It is characteristic that only international nouns participate in the formation of compound terms. Hybrids, in which one constituent is based on a word of Lithuanian origin and the other on an international word, make up one eighth (12.5%) of all the examples examined; of these, 15.6%,
118
Page 50are among derivatives with two nominal constituents, and 13.7% among derivatives with nominal and verbal constituents. New terms formed in Lithuanian from two international words are very rare. Indeed, there are considerably more such compounds that are morphologically analyzable, but they have generally entered Lithuanian terminology as borrowings.
4. In terms of the relationship between the constituents of compound terms, determinative compounds predominate. The relation of determination is characteristic of all types of compounds. Most often, the first constituent of a compound term defines the second; less often, the second defines the first (such compounds occur to some extent among terms with two nominal constituents). There are very few copulative derivatives (whose two constituents are of equal rank)—about 3% of compound terms with two nominal constituents.
5. Most compound terms with a nominal second constituent have a direct meaning: the derivative names an entity of the same kind as the determining constituent (the constituent that is central in terms of meaning and the relationship between the constituents), and the meaning of the derivative does not, essentially, depart from the meaning arising from its constituents. Among derivatives with figurative meanings (whose lexical meaning follows indirectly from their constituents), the most common are metonymic (bahuvrihi-type) compound terms. Most derivatives naming persons and other living beings, and less often inanimate entities, are of this type.
5.1. Nominal compound terms most often name various concrete entities in reality—objects and, less often, living beings. Terms of this kind with abstract meanings constitute only slightly more than one seventh. Compound terms used as names of various places are even fewer.
5.2. In their derivational meaning, verbal derivatives are similar to suffixal and inflectional derivatives. Nearly two thirds of compound terms of this type are concrete in meaning and name means of carrying out an action (31.1% of all verbal compound terms), agents performing an action and bearers of verbal properties (23.7%), and results of an action (6.3%). Abstract compound verbal terms account for slightly more than one third (34.7%). They are similar to suffixal and inflectional abstract verbs. Terms naming places are very few.
6. As in the literary language as a whole, the words serving as bases for constituents most often have a stem that is morphologically unanalyzable. Nevertheless, the need to name more complex concepts means that a relatively large proportion of compound terms (nearly one fifth) are based on words with morphologically analyzable stems. Nouns used as constituent bases most often have morphologically analyzable stems (15.9% of all derivatives), followed less often by adjectives (2.2% of derivatives) and verbs (1.8% of derivatives). Approximately one in ten words from these parts of speech, when used to form a compound, has a morphologically analyzable stem (about 11% of nouns, 12% of adjectives, and 7% of verbs). However, most base words of this kind have suffixes that do not increase the word’s syllable count (e.g.: nouns gaubtas, juosta, kilmė, raštas, raštas, reikšmė, siurblys, veiksmas; adjectives baltas, šaltas, etc.). There is a particularly strong tendency to avoid using prefixed and compound words as constituent bases. Moreover, usually the base word of only one constituent has a morphologically analyzable stem. Among all the compound terms examined, only a few words with both constituents analyzable were found, and these should undoubtedly be considered exceptions.
119
Page 516.1. There are some compound terms whose components are based on suffixed derivatives with a simplified stem. For example, the diminutive suffixes of base words most often do not occur in compounds (kiaušialąstė from kiaušinėlis and ląstelė, žiedlapis from žiedas and lapelis, etc.), nor do the derivational suffixes of blends and secondary verbs (paukščiadulka from paukštis and dulkinti, vandentaka from vanduo and tekėti, žemėnauda from žemė and naudoti, etc.).
7. Vowel alternation in the root occurs only in verbal components of compound terms, but even here it is uncommon. Approximately one seventh of the verbal components in the derivatives examined have a changed root vowel (ankstibranda, bangolai-dis, savivaisa, etc.). Such alternation is more characteristic of terms taken from literary language or coined earlier, whereas newly coined terminological forms generally retain the root vowels of their base verbs unchanged.
8. In terms of how their components are joined, compound terms, like Lithuanian compound words in general, are of two types—without linking vowels and with linking vowels.
8.1. Two fifths (41.2%) of the compound terms examined have no linking vowels. Compound terms whose first component is based on a noun are somewhat more likely to lack linking vowels (43.9%), while among derivatives with two noun components, such cases account for almost half (47.8%).
8.2. The linking vowels in the compound terms examined are -a- (47.1% of all derivatives that have linking vowels), -ia- (21.4%), -i- (13%), -o- (10.1%), -ė- (5.3%), -u- (1.5%), -y- (1.3%), and -io- (0.3%). Characteristically, the linking vowel in most derivatives coincides with the historical stem-final vowel of the base word in the first component. For example, this kind of linking vowel occurs in nearly two thirds of compound terms whose first component is based on a noun (the most discrepancies occur when the base noun in this component is feminine) and in about 92% of derivatives whose first component is based on an adjective. This indicates a clear tendency in the selection of linking vowels for compounds, which should be borne in mind when coining new terms.
8.3. There are cases (admittedly, very rare) in which different ways of joining the same components are used to distinguish terms, e.g.: dienoraštis “diary” and dien-raštis “daily newspaper.” However, in terminology it is not justifiable to list variants of the same term (e.g.: gyvsakiai and gyvasakiai, kampmatis and kampomatis, plokščiakalvė and plokštikalvė, etc.).
9. The endings of compound terms are: -is (first declension, 64.9% of all compounds examined), -ė (21.7%), -a (8.8%), -ys (3.4%), and -as (1.2%). There are in fact slightly more derivatives ending in -ė, since dictionaries of terms usually give names of persons only in the masculine form. Overall, however, relatively few names of persons are included (in the dictionaries examined they make up only one sixteenth (6.3%) of all compound terms).
9.1. Compound nouns with literal meanings are usually of the same gender as the base nouns in their second component. Changing the ending in such derivatives is almost regular. Figurative derivatives are more often masculine and therefore have the ending -is, but, in general—
120
Page 52Thus, the gender (and ending) of a derivative also depends on the object (subject) being named. To a considerable extent, the gender and endings of verbal compound terms also depend on the thing being named, as does the assignment of -is or -ė to a derivative with a particular meaning. Verbal terms with an abstract meaning most often have the ending -a. Most terms ending in -as are irregular derivatives.
9.2. Compound terms with varying endings occur. In some cases, such variation reflects dialectal variants of compounds—words from different terms used to term the same concept (e.g., kurmrausa and kurmiarausis); in other cases, an irregular variant is used alongside a correctly formed derivative (e.g., kilovatvalandė and kilovatvalanda). Occasionally, a different ending of a derivative helps distinguish terms, e.g.: dvìkova ‘duel’ and dvìkovė ‘combined event’, paukščiadulka ‘pollination of flowers with the help of birds’ and paukščiadulkiai ‘plants pollinated by birds’, etc. In the latter case, the difference in compound endings is justified and useful for terminology, whereas in the other cases it should be corrected.
9.3. A fairly large proportion of compound terms (one fifth of all the examples examined) are plural. Most of them have a noun as their second component. However, there are very few cases in which the plural is additionally lexicalized as a term (e.g.: pietvakarís ‘southwest wind’ and pietvakariai ‘the compass direction between south and west’).
10. Compounding will continue to be used productively in organizing and expanding Lithuanian terminology. It is therefore important to follow consistently the principal tendencies in the formation of compounds in the literary language (component structure, connecting vowels, endings). Relatively few irregular derivatives make their way into terminological dictionaries. Irregular compound terms of this kind that have entered dictionaries and are used in specialist literature must be corrected and replaced with properly formed derivatives by the terminology commissions of the relevant fields, together with terminology linguists.
Abbreviations
ATŽ
– Jurevičius A., Čižas A. Aiškinamasis tekstilės terminų žodynas. – V., 1962, d. 1.
BŽ
– Botanikos terminų žodynas / Sud. Botanikos žodyno komisija. Redagavo: J. Dagys (vyr. redaktorius), A. Lekavičius, V. Mališauskienė. – V., 1965.
ChŽ
– Daukšas K. Chemijos žodynas. – V., 1960.
DŽ
– Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. II papild. leid. / Red. kolegija: J. Kruopas (atsak. redaktorius), A. Lyberis, D. Lukšys, J. Paulauskas, J. Senkus, K. Ulvydas. – V., 1972.
EŽ
– Rusiškas lietuviškas ekonomikos terminų žodynas / Red. kolegija: K. Meškauskas (atsak. redaktorius), A. Poviliūnas, V. Puronas, A. Skupeika. – V., 1966.
FŽ
– Fizikos terminų žodynas / Red. P. Brazdžiūnas. – V., 1958.
GŽ
– Gudelis V. Geologijos ir fizinės geografijos terminų žodynas. – V., 1956.
LKŽ
– Lietuvių kalbos žodynas. – V., 1941–1978, t. 1–11.
121
Page 53LŽ — Dictionary of Literary Terms / Compiled by J. Petronis, V. Vanagas, A. Zalatorius. — V., 1962.
MŽ — Čeičys J. Melioracijos terminų žodynas. — V., 1960.
STŽ — Russian–Lithuanian–English Dictionary of Computing Terms / Kairys V., Kaminskas A., Kudirka Z., Kundrotienė R., Lipšicas M., Mačernius A., Norkus J., Riaubūnas J., Stanaitis J., Stulpinas B., Šliavas A. — V., 1971.
ŠŽ — Dictionary of Sports Terms /Editorial board: Z. Gobikas, V. Kazlauskas, J. Lagunavičius, P. Normantas, V. Petkus, P. Rimša, V. Steponaitis (responsible compiler). — V., 1959.
TŽ — Dictionary of Legal Terms / Compiled by A. Žiurlys. Editorial board: J. Bulavas, K. Jablonskis (editor-in-chief), J. Žiugžda, A. Žiurlys. — V., 1954.
FORMATION OF LITHUANIAN COMPOUND TERMS
Резюме
The paper examines the formation of Lithuanian one-word compound noun terms, based on material collected by the author from dictionaries of physical, chemical, geological and physical-geographical, botanical, land-reclamation, textile, computing and technical, legal, literary, economic, and sports terms.
Compounding is an important means of creating and further developing Lithuanian terminology. In terms of the number of terms, it is noticeably surpassed only by suffixal word formation, but exceeds inflectional (by a small margin) and prefixal word formation. A tendency can be observed for compounding to play an increasingly important role in term formation compared with general literary, and especially popular (dialectal), word formation.
The second component of compound terms is usually based on words belonging to the class of nouns (78.2% of the compounds among the 893 examples examined in this paper) or verbs (almost all the rest). On this basis, Lithuanian compounds are usually divided into nominal and verbal compounds. This division is also retained in the present paper.
Nouns are also used most frequently as the first component (63% of the compounds examined). In addition, adjectives, numerals, and, less often, adverbs, pronouns, verbs, and prepositions are used as the first component of compound terms. Types of compound terms are distinguished according to the parts of speech of the words making up the compound. All the types listed are examined in this paper both in terms of meaning and form.
In almost half of the compound terms examined, both components derive from nouns. Types with components derived from adjectives and nouns, as well as from nouns and verbs, are also highly productive. Significantly fewer compound terms are formed according to the other types. Both one-word terms and ordinary (simple) words are used as bases in the formation of compound terms. One eighth of the formations examined contain, as one of their components (usually the nominal one), international terms and are thus hybrids.
Lithuanian compound terms are most often determinative in the relationship between their components. Copulative compound terms are rare. Most of the compounds examined have a literal meaning, but there are also many compound terms with figurative meanings (most of them of the bahuvrihi type). Compound terms denote objects, living
122
Page 54of beings, persons, abstract concepts (nominal compounds), instruments of action, bearers of verbal features, deverbal abstracts, results of action, etc. (verbal compounds).
The base words of the components, as in general literary compounding, most often have a derivationally uncomplicated structure. However, the need in terminology to name more complex concepts explains why almost one-fifth of the compounds examined contain components (usually one of them) whose stem can be analyzed derivationally. Yet even in term formation, complex and prefixed formations are avoided as components. Sometimes, in the process of compounding, the stem of a base word is simplified, e.g., žiedlapis “perianth petal,” from the words žiedas “flower” and lapelis “petal, leaflet”; žemėnauda “land use,” from the words žemė “land” and naudoti “to use.”
The components of compound terms, like those of ordinary compound words, are joined directly (without linking vowels) or with linking vowels. More than 40% of the compounds are formed without linking vowels; the rest have linking vowels—most often -a-, less often -ia-, -i-, -o-, -ė-, and rarely -u-, -y-, -io-. The study traces the tendencies determining how components are joined and identifies cases in which this formal feature of Lithuanian compounding is used to distinguish different terms, e.g.: dienoraštis “diary” and dienraštis “daily newspaper.” Such cases are very rare, however.
The study also examines the grammatical inflection of compound terms. Inflection plays an important role in Lithuanian compounding. The language has certain regularities that determine the choice of ending for a compound word or compound term. The endings -is (gen. sg. -io), -ė, -a are usually used in forming compound terms. Some formations occur in which the ending is the principal means of distinguishing terms, e.g.: paukštžiaudulka “ornithophily” and paukštžiaudulkiai “ornithophiles.”
Cases of root-vowel alternation occurring in verbal components of compounds were also examined. Errors in the formation of compound terms were identified. These errors must be corrected in the further standardization of Lithuanian terminology in the relevant fields.