4C06 LuuThiMaiVy Compound Words in English and Vietnamese

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HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

COMPOUND WORDS

IN ENLGISH AND VIETNAMESE

Intructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu

Student: Luu Thi Mai Vy

HCM, 30/12/2009


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I. AbstractIt is undeniable that learning a new language is not easy at all and to acquire it fully and

effectively is more difficult. During the learning process, learners may confront with many

troubles. However if we know the differences and similarities between our mother tongue and

the target language, perhaps it can minimize our difficulties. Thats why when learning English;

Vietnamese should try to know much about the connection between the two languages. Of

course, this requires a lot of effort, time and devotion. Only in one paper no one can list all,

thats why my document just focuses on the aspect Compound words in English and Vietnamese.

I hope that after reading this document, you can certain knowledge about compounds words in

two languages. Seeing how they are different from each other or how similar they are can help

you to avoid some errors during your learning.

II. Literature reviewAs we know both English and Vietnamese words are made up of morphemes. And the

definition of a morpheme varies from each point of view depending on which aspect a linguistic

has chosen when doing a research. According to Richards, Platt and Weber, a morpheme is the

smallest meaningful unit in a language. It is considered to have 2 kinds of morphemes: free

morpheme and bound morpheme. Their functions in English and Vietnamese may be different to

some extent. Therefore, when talking about compound words or compounds, there are many

cases we should take into account in order to have complete understanding of the meaning. But

firstly, what is compounding? It is the process of combining two or more existing words to form

a new one. The result of this process is a compound. So a compound is a combination of two or

more words that function as a single unit of meaning. It may relatively true in both English and

Vietnamese. However, when making a comparison between them, we may see a striking


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difference in terms of semantic, syntax and phonology. To get more details, lets delve into

characteristics of the compounds in each language.

III. Compound words in EnglishGenerally, compounds in every language have some features in common. However,

as we know, each language is a unique one, thats why English compound has its own

characteristics. When examining features of English compound, there are three fields which

are taken into consideration: the phonological feature, the syntactic feature and the semantic

feature. Like any other word, compound word also has stress. The elements of compound

words are stressed, which is a signal of phonological feature. Some compounds are

differentiated from grammatical structures by their patterns of stress. It is the primary-

secondary pattern which enables us to contrast compound nouns like bluebell, redcoatand

blackboardwith the grammatical structures of a modifier plus a noun, as in blue bell, red

coatand black board. Lets take black board and blackboard as an example. A black board

is any board that is black, and equal prosodic stress can be found on both elements. A

blackboardmay be like any other black board, but is a thing that is constructed in a particular

way, of a particular material and serves a particular purpose and this word is clearly accented

on the first syllable. So, sound patterns may help us to indicate whether the word group is a

compound or whether it is an adjective+ noun phrase. As a compound, it usually has a

falling intonation and it is not the case to a grammatical structure. However, there is another

way which is easier for us to make this distinction. While grammatical structure can be

divided, compound words are considered as solid blocks. Because indivisibility is its


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syntactic feature, they cannot be divided by the insertion of any other elements. Lets

compare two sentences:

(1)She is a sweetheart. ( a compound noun)

(2)She has a sweet heart. (a grammatical structure)

In sentence (1), we cannot insert anything between sweet and heart because

sweetheart is indivisible. On the contrary, in sentence (2), we can:

She has a sweeter heart than her sister.

She has a sweet, kind heart.

She has a very sweet heart

So it is about syntax, what about semantic features? Maybe this is a special characteristic

of compound words. This feature also causes many troubles for learners. Considerably,

compound words have specialized meanings. In other words, some of them have idiomatic

status. For example, the meaning of an eggheadis by no means closely related to that ofegg and

head, in contrast, an egghead is an anti-intellectual epithet, directed at people considered too

out-of-touch with ordinary people and too lacking in realism on account of their intellectual

interests. From this illustration, it is obvious that knowing the meaning of each element of a

compound word does not make it possible to figure out the meaning of the whole combination in

some cases. So, we must pay attention to this feature.

Till now, I have pointed out three features of English compounds; lets continue by

figuring out how many types it consists. In term of formal classification, there are three types:


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compound nouns, compound verbs, and compound adjectives. Each type has three forms: the

closed form, in which the words are mixed together, such as redhead, notebook, makeup;the

hyphenated form, such as six-year-old, daughter-in-law, mass-producedand the open form, such

aspost office, real estate, middle classNow, I will examine each of them in turns.

Compound nouns can be formed by a combination of words and they normally have two

parts. The first part tells us the kind of an object or a person, sometimes its purpose while the

second one indentifies that object or person. You can look at this table below:

The first part The second part

police man

boy friend

bed room

dining table

So in these examples, we can see that the first modifies and describes the second. Two of

them may be written in a number ways. Sometimes they are joined together as one word:

policeman, boyfriend. Sometimes they are joined using a hyphen: dining- table, check-in and

sometimes they appear as two separate words:fish tank, full moon. However, there is no rule for

us to write this compound, if we come across a complete new compound now and are not sure

how to write it; perhaps a dictionary is the best policy.

Compound nouns can also be formed using the following combinations of words :


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Noun + Noun Bedroom, water tank, motorcycle

Noun +Verb Rainfall, haircut, train-spotting

Noun + Adverb hanger-on, passer-by

Verb + Noun washing machine, driving license, swimming pool

Verb + Adverb Lookout, take-off, drawback

Adjective + Noun Greenhouse, software, redhead

Adjective + Verb dry-cleaning, public speaking

Adverb + Noun

Onlooker, bystander

Adverb + Verb Output ,overthrow, upturn

As we know, compound nouns often have a meaning that is different from the two

separate words, and stress usually falls on the first syllable, which helps us to distinguish it with

an adjective with a noun, as mentioned in features of compounds.

A greenhouse = place where we grow plant

A green house= house painted green

Besides, many common compound nouns are formed from phrasal verbs. Examples:

breakdown, hangover, stand-in, drop-out, takeaway


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One important point cannot be omitted when talking about compound nouns is its plural

and possessives. For hyphenated forms, the pluralizings is usually attached to the element that

actually being pluralized: daughters-in-law, half-moons. Or we can remember the general rule:

adding the pluralizings to the base element in the term regards less of the base elements

placement. So the point is that if we know the base, there is no difficulty at all. How about the

possessive? We just simply attach an apostrophes to the end of the compound itself: my

daughter-in-laws car. Yet, to create the possessive of pluralized and compounded forms, we

should avoid the apostrophes form and use an of phrase instead: the meeting of the

daughters-in-law. Otherwise, it may be confusing and a little weird: the daughters-in-laws

meeting.

Thats all about the compound noun; now lets take compound verbs into account. A

compound verb is usually composed of a preposition and a verb such as overrate, underline...

although other combinations also exist, for examples highlight, blacklist. This table below may

help us understand more about its formation:


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Modified Head Examples

Preposition Verb Underline, outrun

Adverb Verb Downsize, upgrade

Adjective Verb foulmouth, finetune, highlight

Noun Verb manhandle, sidestep, browbeat

Preposition noun Out-Herod, out-fox

There is a tendency to dismiss the hyphen of the compound verbs, thats why some of

them are hyphenated. In addition, we should pay attention to some compound verbs idioms.

These are compound verbs with two verbs (e.g. make do).These too can take idiomatic

preposition (get rid of). There are also idiomatic combinations of verb and adjective (e.g. come

true, run amok) and verb and adverb (make sure), verb and fixed noun (e.g. go ape); and these,

too, may have fixed idiomatic prepositions (e.g. take place on). So compound verbs are not

simple as we thought at all, its diversity may cause confusion.

Similarly, compound adjectives are also very complicated. It is defined as a modifier of a

noun and consists of two or more morphemes. The left-hand components may limit or change


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the modification of the right-hand one, as in the dark-green dress, dark limits the green that

modifies dress. The table below shows the formation of compound adjectives.

Adjective + Adjective Dark-blue, red-hot

Noun + Adjective Snow-white, pitch-dark

Noun + Past participle Man-made, lion-hearted

Adjective + Noun+ ed Long-eared, blue-haired

Adjective + Verb + ing Slow-moving, good-looking

Adverb + past participle Well-educated, ill-bred

Verb + preposition Stick-on (label), stand-by (fare)

Two kinds of adjective compounds are characterized by the hyphen. Almost are

hyphenated to avoid ambiguity while only some are solid. The fact that when we need to use a

hyphen contributes to the transparence of a sentence. So be careful with a compound adjective in

some cases. When a compound adjective consists two or more adjectives which work together to

modify the same noun, we should hyphenate these terms to avoid confusion.

oIncorrect: Her fifteen minute presentationproved decisive to the outcome of the case.

oCorrect:Her fifteen-minute presentation proved decisive to the outcome of the case.

However, remember no hyphen is required when combining an adverb and an adjective:


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o Incorrect: Theremarkably-hot day turned into a remarkably-long week.

o Correct: The remarkably hot day turned into a remarkably long week.

Furthermore, we should not place a hyphen in a compound adjective if the adjectives are

capitalized, such as when they are part of a title. It is the same case when the first element is

comparative or superlative like better drained soil, lower income group

So we have just gone through three types of compounds in English. Now let s

consider another new one: derivational compounds. What are they? They are compound in

which the derivational suffix is attached to the combination as a whole, not to one of its

elements: kindhearted, old- timer On the whole compounds tend not to undergo

derivational processes that are why there are only a few cases. In these cases, it only can

form a compound noun and a compound adjective. We apply one of the following patterns:

- Noun + noun+ -er:footballer, eye-opener...

- Adjective +noun+-Ed: short-sighted, absent-minded

- Noun +Noun +-ed: heart-shaped, war-minded

- Number +noun+-ed:three-fingered, two-headed...

In English, there is a special compound; it is repetitive compounds which can be

subcategorized into: reduplicative compounds, ablaut compounds and rhyme compounds.

According to Arnold (1986:130), reduplicative compounds are the compounds in which the

second element is the prober repetition of the first element with intensifying effect such as hush-

hush, pooh-pooh, pretty-pretty And ablaut compounds, as Arnold defined, are twin forms


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consisting of one basic morpheme, sometimes a pseudo-morpheme which is repeated in the

other constituent with a different vowel. Some examples are chit-chat, tittle-tattle, knick-

knackThe other are twin forms consisting two elements which are conjoined to rhyme, which

is called rhyme compounds ( Arnold, 1986:130). So we can see that the three compounds have

much in common and have a slight difference in its formation. These compounds only occupy a

small part of English compounds which are so diverse and various. Now, lets discover how

similar or different our Vietnamese compared with English compounds.

IV. Compound words in VietnameseLike English compounds, Vietnamese compounds are made up of two or more singlewords. To some extents, both are more or less different. However, when talking about

compounds in Vietnamese, it is advisable to consider its origin. Many compounds have one

element borrowed from Chinese which is Sino-Chinese. In fact Vietnamese has two types of

compounds: coordinated compounds (tghp ng lp) and subordinated compounds (t ghp

chnh ph). In term of coordination, there are generalizing compounds and reinforcing

compounds. According to Thompson, both of them contain two apparent heads paralleling.

However while the former is syntactic compound coordinated phrases and composed of bases

denoting different items of reality, the latter is nonsyntactic and composed of bases denoting

identical items. Lets look at some examples:

Generalizing compounds:

Bn gh= furniture, bn-table, gh-chair => tables and chair

Qun o: clothes, qun-trousers, o-tunic=> trousers and shirt


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Bt a= dishes, bt-bowl, a-plate=> bowl and plate

Giy bt=stationary goods, giy- paper, bt- writing instrument+> paper

and pencil

Reinforcing compounds:

bin mt=vanish, bin-disappear, mt=lose

kn chn=choose carefully, kn-choose, chn-choose

tm kim-search, tm-search, kim-search

bi v=because, bi-on account of, v-because

Obviously, these compounds cannot be seen in English. Besides, we should notice that

coordinated compounds in Vietnamese are sometimes idiomatic which is one of the features of

English compounds. For example:

B con (be related): b grandmother, con child=> childs grandmother

ng b con vi ti= hes related to me

B con i chri. Mygrandmothers gone to market (said by a child to its

parent)

However, unlike English idiomatic compounds, we find it easy to identify the right

meaning of this compound in a specific situation, so it does not cause much trouble. Another

problem we cannot leave out is the order of the elements in coordinated compounds. These

components can permute each other without changing the meanings. We never see it in English.


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Perhaps this is a prominent characteristic of Vietnamese compounds. We can write qun o or

o qun. Ri may or may ri, thay i or i thayHowever the ability to change the order

freely is not always reasonable and precise. There are some rules we should remember. If the

permutation changes the original meanings, we cannot apply it such as cm nc nc cm,

i li li i. Sometimes, it is the traditional customs that make the order unchangeable like

value the men above women such as cha m (not m cha) nam n(not nnam) ng b (not b

ng) and some other examples are tng t, n chi, n mc, vua quan In case, we find it

difficult to read aloud or pronounce the words, we maintain the order, for instance, sa cha is

easier to read than cha sa.

Thats all about the coordinated compound, how about the subordinated one? It can be

said that subordinated compounds are likely to be similar to English compounds. Unlike

coordinated compounds, subordinated compounds contain two constituents, one of which is a

bound. In other words, one element is the head and the other is a modifier. In this case, English

and Vietnamese compounds are alike. The modifier is also used to name a feature of the thing

identified by the head or to point out something which is related to the thing identified by the

head, for example,bn hc ( like dining-table in English) sn bay ( like airport) However, the

position of the head is not the same, it is opposite. In Vietnamese, the head always stands first

but in English, the head follows the modifier such as vn cau andareca garden. Relatively,

we can divide subordinated compounds into two types: attributive compounds and descriptive

compounds. The compound which has a modifier to supplement the nuance of the head is call

descriptive compound. Now look at some examples and we can understand more:

xanh l, xanh um, xanh l, xanh bic, xanh r


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sng vu, sng v, sng hp, sng mng

thng , thng ut, thng tp, thng tut

This illustration shows that with one base morpheme, we can have many compound

words by adding a modifier. And these words convey the same meaning or describe something at

different levels.

Likewise, the attributive compounds are composed of one head and one modifier. The

diffirence between them is that the function of the modifier. In this case, it is used for

specializing or classifying the base.

For specialization:

Xe p, xe my, xe la, xe b

Da chut, da gan, da b, da hu

For classification:

Nh n, phng n, toa n, bn n, thc n

Lnh tnh, vui tnh, nng tnh, trc tnh, bn tnh

However, as I mentioned before, there are some Sino-Chinese in Vietnamese. When we

borrow these Chinese and add them to Vietnamese, this process is like the process of affixation

in English. Despite the same process, the products are completely different. In Vietnamese, the

products are compounds but it is not the case in English, for example, nhc + snhc s ( a


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compound) but music + ianmusician ( not a compound). So lets take some examples of

attributive compounds with Sino-Vietnamese:

For specialization:

X vin, hi vin, on vin, ip vin

Nhit k, cao k, vn k, ampe k

For classification:

i b, chy b, cuc b, qu b, ng b

Quc ca, quc k, quc huy, quc tch, quc trng

We all know that Vietnam used to be dominated by Chinese, thats why our language is

influenced by Chinese a lot, which proved by the number of Sino- Chinese. You can see the

appendix to get more examples. (See appendix)

Another point which Vietnamese and English compounds have in common is

reduplication. It is the process of creating a new word by repeating a whole or part of a word.

Obviously, Vietnamese reduplicative compounds are more varied and diverse than English ones.

Vietnamese has several different types of reduplicative patterns including both, total, partial,

initial, final, rhyming and alliterative patterns. The resulting reduplicants can be either initial

(preceding the base) or final (following the base).

Initial reduplication:

b"be big" > b b"be very big" (base: b, initial reduplicant: b-)


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khn "fetid" > khn khn "smelly" (base: khn, initial reduplicant/affix: khn-)

Final reduplication:

mp "be fat" > mp mp "be chubby" (base: mp, final reduplicant/affix: -mp)

khc "to weep" > khc lc "to whimper" (base: khc, final

reduplicant/affix: -lc)

Total reduplication involves copying the entire word base:

vng " yellow" > vng vng "yellowish"

vui "be joyful" > vui vui "jovial, fun"

ni "to talk" > ni ni "to keep talking and talkin

If we notice, we can see that the tones of these reduplicative compounds follow the rules

below:

Register tones

Upper Ngang,sc, and hi

Lower Huyn,nng and ng

For example, nh "small" with the hi tone when reduplicated appears as nho nh

"smallish" with a ngang-toned reduplicantboth syllables are in the upper tonal register.

In addition we can easily see their functions. With the upper tone, its effect is to increase

the intensity. And to decrease the intensity, the lower tone is used. Below are some examples:


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Examples of reduplication increasing intensity:

au au ing: hurt hurt horribly

mnh mnh m: strong very strong

rc rc r: flaring blazing

Examples of reduplication decreasing intensity:

nh nh nh: soft soft (less)

xinhxinh xinh: pretty cute

o : red somewhat red

xanhxanh xanh: blue/green somewhat blue/green

So besides the differences, compounds in English and Vietnamese have something in common. I

hope that this comparison may be useful for everyone who is really interested in learning English

and Vietnamese.

V. Teaching implicationI think comparing compounds in English and Vietnamese, somehow brings benefits to

the learners, especially Vietnamese. Firstly, we can see that in English compounds, the hyphen

plays a certain part. Sometimes if we forget it, it may cause ambiguity and confusion to the

readers as some examples above. Because Vietnamese compounds are rarely hyphenated,

Vietnamese leaners have a tendency to miss the hyphen and underestimate its function. Thats

why teachers have a responsibility to remind learners of this point. Secondly, stress is vital in

English. It can be said that similar word with different stress lead to different meaning.


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Therefore, when learning English, knowing how to pronounce is very important. Especially in

order to distinguish a grammatical structure and a compound, it requires exact pronunciation. To

help learners avoid misunderstanding, teachers can provide them with some rules about stress in

compounds: in compound nouns, stress falls into the first element such as BLACKbird,

GREENhouse; but in compound adjectives and compound verbs, the second element is stressed,

for examples: bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned, overCOME, overFLOW. The next point

teachers should consider is Sino-Vietnamese words. Perhaps, these words cause more trouble in

translation. It may be considered one of the difficulties that learners meet. As we know

Vietnamese is monosyllable,but it doesnt mean that it is made up of monosyllabic words.

Often, two syllables go together to form a single word. It is different from English, to some

extent. For instance, it is clear thatmy bay does not mean 'machine flies'; it is a single word

meaning 'aeroplane'.H cnh does not mean 'come-down wing' (which is the literal meaning of

the two monosyllables); it is a single word that means 'to land.My bay is a 'compound word'

made up of two native Vietnamese elements. Similarly, h cnh is a compound word made up of

Sino-Vietnamese forms that have their ultimate origin in Chinese. So if teachers can give

learners a basic knowledge about the difference about compounds between English and

Vietnamese, to some extent, they can lessen the errors during learning process. Finally, the last

thing teachers had better draw learners attention is about the idiomatic feature in compounds.

Guessing the meaning of a word in a context is a good way of learning, but in addition to this,

learners should be careful when coming across idiomatic compounds.

VI. ConclusionT o sum up, language is a diverse tool for human to communicate. Because of this

diversity, it is inevitable that learners may meet some difficulties. Therefore, teacher plays an


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important part in assisting students to learn more effectively. Although compound is just a part in

the system of a language, without understanding, a learner cannot complete his or her study

successfully. Perhaps, this document cannot mention all aspects about compounds but I hope that

this may bring some knowledge which you can apply to your teaching as well as your learning.

VII. ReferenceArnold, I.V. (1986). The English Word. Moscow.

Compound Words. Retrieved Nov 14, 2009, from

http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042703CompWdsHyph.htm

Compound Words. Retrieved Nov 15,2009, from english

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm

Dip Quang Ban, and Hong Vn Thung.(1991). T ghp.NgPhp Ting Vit.(48-

58).Vietnam: University of Education.

English Compound. Retrieved Nov 15,2009, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound

Introduction to Word-Formation. Retrieved Nov 15,2009, fromhttp://vietnamese-

grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_en

Laurence C.Thompson(1965). Compounds.A Vietnamese reference grammar(126-133).USA:

University of Washington Press.
http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042703CompWdsHyph.htmhttp://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042703CompWdsHyph.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compoundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compoundhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=80&LANG=_enhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compoundhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htmhttp://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042703CompWdsHyph.htm


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Lexical Reduplication. RetrievedNov 15,2009..http://vietnamese-

grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_en

Richards,J.; Platt, J. and Weber,H.(1987).Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Longman.

Structural formation of words. Retrieved Nov 15, 2009, from

http://dohongnam.com/vn/grammar/unit01.html

T Minh Thanh.(2003).Compound words. English Morphology. Vietnam: University of Social

Sciences and Humanities.

TTrong Ting Vit. Retrieved Nov 15.2009, fromhttp://ngonngu.net/index.php?p=207

Vietnamese Morphology Retrieved Nov 15, from

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Vietnamese_morphology

VIII. AppendixSino-Chinese words:

Prefix Gloss Examples

bn- "half"

bn nguyt"semicircular, semi-monthly" (bn- + -nguyt

"moon"),

bn o "peninsula" (bn- + o "island")

kh- "ability"kh knh "respectable" (kh- + knh "to respect"),

kh quan "satisfactory" (kh- + quan "to behold")
http://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_enhttp://dohongnam.com/vn/grammar/unit01.htmlhttp://dohongnam.com/vn/grammar/unit01.htmlhttp://ngonngu.net/index.php?p=207http://ngonngu.net/index.php?p=207http://ngonngu.net/index.php?p=207http://wapedia.mobi/en/Vietnamese_morphologyhttp://wapedia.mobi/en/Vietnamese_morphologyhttp://wapedia.mobi/en/Vietnamese_morphologyhttp://ngonngu.net/index.php?p=207http://dohongnam.com/vn/grammar/unit01.htmlhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_enhttp://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/grammar_en.php?ID=11&LANG=_en


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lo- familiar (added to

surnames)

lo Thinh"ol Thinh, good old Thinh" (lo- + Thinh

surname)

phn- "counter to,

against"

phn cch mng "counter-revolutionary" (phn- + cch

mng "revolution"),

phn chin "anti-war" (phn- + -chin "to fight")

phi- "not"

phi ngha "unethical" (phi- + ngha "righteousness"),

phi chnh ph "non-governmental" (phi- + chnh ph

"government")

siu- "above, better"

siu th "supermarket" (siu- + th "market"),

siu ng "outstanding" (siu- + ng "level")

tng- "over, hightng a xit"hyperacidity" (tng- + a xit"acid"),

tng can xi "hypercalcernia" (tng- + can xi "calcium")

th- ordinal (added to

numerals)

thmi "tenth" (th- + mi "ten"),

thbn mi ba "forty-third" (th- + bn mi ba "forty-three")

Suffix Gloss Examples

-gia

"profession"

chnh tr gia "politician" (chnh tr "politics" + -gia),

khoa hc gia "scientist" (khoa hc "science" + -gia)

-gi agentive tc gi "author" (tc "to create" + -gi),


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hc gi "scholar" (hc "to learn" + -gi)

-ha forms

causative verb

a xt ha "to acidify" (a xit"acid" + -ha),

mha "to americanize" (M"USA" + -ha)

-hc "field of

study"

ngn nghc "linguistics" (ngn ng"language" + -hc),

ng vt hc "zoology" (ng vt"animal" + -hc)

-k"measuring

device"

nhit k"thermometer" (nhit- "warm" + -k),

p k"manometer" (p "get close, approach" + -k)

-khoa "field of

study"

nha khoa "dentistry" (nha- "tooth" + -khoa),

dc khoa "pharmacy" (dc- "drug" + -khoa)

-s"expert"hos"artist" (ho "to draw" + -s),

vn s"writer" (vn "literature" + -s)

-s"master"gio s"professor" (gio "to teach" + -s),

lut s"lawyer" (lut"law" + -s)

-vin agentive

quan st vin "observer" (quan st"to observe" + -vin),

phi tr vin "coordinator" (phi tr"to coordinate" + -vin)

4C06 LuuThiMaiVy Compound Words in English and Vietnamese

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