Comparative study of compound words in English and Indonesian Fransiska Napitupulu

A compound of equivalent combination, consist of three parts: 
a. 
Both of components having a noun meaning, for example: 
Tanah + air: 
tanah air 
(homeland) 
Soal + jawab: 
soal jawab 
(question and answer) 
Suku + bangsa: 
suku bangsa 
(ethnic group) 
b. 
Both of components having a quality meaning, for example: 
Merah + putih: 
merah putih 
(white red) 
c. 
Both of components having a meaning of process, for example: 
Terbang + layang:
terbang layang (hang gliding)
A compound of subornatif word, consist of four parts: 

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a. 
The first component is noun, while the second is the characterisric of noun, for 
example: 
Mata + hari:
matahari 
(sun) 
Emas + putih: 
emas putih 
(platinum) 
b. 
The firs component is adjective, while the second somponent is noun, for example: 
Keras + kepala: 
keras kepala 
(stubborn) 
Panjang + lidah: 
panjang lidah (lie) 
c. 
The first component is meaning of process, while the second component is noun, for 
example: 
Naik + darah: 
naik darah 
(irascible) 
Jatuh + cinta: 
jatuh cinta 
(fall in love) 
d. 
The first component is noun, while the second component is process, for example: 
Pisau + cukur: 
pisau cukur 
(razor) 
Description of Compound Words in English 
Based on the general meaning of linguistics by Falk (1978: 43), “compounding is 
one of the word formation process in English”. And observes it from the view point of the 
word class of two roots which combine to form a compound word. In other words, it can 
be made up an adjective and a noun such as English-man but not German man , a verb 
and a preposition such as in put on and takeover but not jump into, and a noun and a verb 
such as in sunbathe and earthquake but not rain stand. In morphology a root is ussually a 
simple word which does not undergo affixation.
According to O’grady and Dobrovolsky (1996:127) “compounding differs from 
language to language, while the practice in English deals with the combination of some 
lexical categories, such as noun, adjectives, verbs, or prepositionin which the right most 
morpheme is called as the head that determines the category of a compounding”. Four 
types of compound words into which all lexical categories can combine are noun and 
noun such as in (street light, camp side, and bookcase), adjective and noun such as in 
(bluebird, happy hour, and high chair), verb and noun such as in (swearword, washcloth, 
and scrub lady), and preposition and noun such as in (overlord, outhouse).
The lexical categories between both Falk (1978:43) and O’grady and 
Dobrovolsky (1996:127) are different in their combinations. Falk mentions no 
combination of verb and noun, and preposition and noun, while O’grady Dobrovolsky 
mention no combination of preposition and preposition, verb and preposition, and noun 
and preposition.

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Edward Arnold (1990:90) has the definition about the compound words, that is: 
“a compound words is a word which is formed from two (or more) other words and there 
are no clear rules for writing compounds”.
Wren and Martin (1990:346) also gave their meaning in the compound words, 
that is : “compound words are formed that joining two or more simple words”.
Compounds can be form by combining two or more words (as in double-check, 
cost-effective, farmhouse, graphic equalizer, park brench, around-the-clock, or son of 
gun)by combining prefixes or suffixeswith words (as in ex-president, shoeless, presorted, 
or uninterrupted), or by combining two or more word elements.
Jackson (2002:80) gave a good explanation, “compounds may be distinguished 
from phrase on phonology, syntactic, and semantic grounds”. In English, words are 
characterized by a single primary stress, so that compounds are often recognized by stress 
pattern and lack of juncture (juncture refers to the transition which characterizes adjacent 
syllables belonging to contiguous words). For example: ‘black-board’ potentially has 
primary stress on each word and a juncture between the two words. On the other hand, 
‘black-board, the compound, has one primary stress and no juncture. The same 
observation applies to constracts such as ‘black ‘bird versus ‘blackbird; ‘hard ‘cover 
versus ‘hardcover’.
Compounds may also be distinguished from phrases in that they have specific 
syntactic features. But it must be added that the grammatical relations between 
constituens of the compound are sometimes obscure. The writer shall consider in turn 
‘word order’ interruptibility’, ‘modification’, and inflectibility’ of compounds.
Kam Chuan Aik (1992:75) also gave a good sample, such as goldfish which is 
made up of gold and fish, flyover which is made up of fly and over, and father-in-law 
which is made up of father, in and law. In other ways, such as: lily of the valley (a 
flower), birds of prey(a category of birds) and personal computer (a type of computer). It 
is important to distinguish between a compound word and words that are placed placed 
one after another but are used to refer to different things. The characteristic meaning,