Re: noun compounds

On 3/4/06, Tristan Alexander McLeay <conlang@...> wrote:
> On 04/03/06, John Vertical <johnvertical@...> wrote:
> > >It would be more helpful if attention were paid to the difference
> > >between true compound nouns and the 'epithet noun + head noun'
> > >construct in English (...)
> >
> > >Ray
> >
> > So, what *is* the difference?
>
> As Ray was saying, it's various things, but for instance, you can't
> say "I caught some flat- and swordfish today", you've gotta say "I
> caught some flatfish and swordfish today", because flatfish and
> swordfish are compounds.
Yet, you can say "I like apple and orange juice", referring to two
types of juice, without repeating the "juice".  And the "orange juice"
at the end is still, IML, stressed like a compound ( 'orange,juice),
as is "apple juice" by itself (or if you reverse them in that
sentence).

So, by this criterion, "orange juice" is not a compound, but an
epithet-noun construction.  Nevertheless, it is (IML, and apprently in
others)  pronounced with a different stress pattern than the
adjective-noun version.

Which supports the point in the paper taliesin linked that the stress
test (heh) isn't reliable, and that so-called "compound stress" is a
misnomer.

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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