1. Introduction
Compounding in an important process in the word-building mechanism in Tamil. It raises many issues relating to morphology, syntax and lexicon. A prototypical compound is a word made up of at least two bases which can occur elsewhere as independent words. Compounding represents the interface between morphology and syntax par excellence. Compounds have two sets of characteristic properties. The first set makes compounding resemble syntax and the second set brings compounding closer to word formation. The head-modifier, predicate-argument, and oppositional relations together with constituent structure all tend to align compounding with syntax. However, compounds also have a number of features which make them resemble words. First compounds are lexicalized. They are then often subject to semantic shift of a kind associated with stored words, which means that their meaning becomes non-compositional or even totally idiosyncratic. This type of drift is characteristic of all types of compounding. In a related fashion, there are often lexical restrictions on which compounds are permitted, resulting in paradigmatic gaps which resemble those found in derivational or inflectional affixation. A further property which links compounds with the words is that of non-referentiality. If we look at the non-heads of the compounds, we find that they never refer to specific objects. The constituents of compounds differ from constituents of sentences. Related to this is the fact that non-heads of compounds typically fail to be inflected. One property of words which distinguishes them from phrase is morphological integrity: their elements can not be split up by other words or phrases. This is generally true of constituents of compounds. It is not uncommon for the compounds they form to become so lexicalized that the element loses its status as an independent word and becomes a clitic or an affix. Finally, there are often phonological processes that apply to compounds but not to phrases.
The compound verbs are formed from a base by the addition of a verb which function as the verbalizer or whose function is to verbalize the base. The bases are generally nouns. Even a verb can be compounded with a verbalizing verb to form another verb. It can be stated that there is no productive verbalizing suffix in Tamil. The verbalizing suffix -i which was in use to form verbs from Sanskrit noun stems is no longer in use. Only compounding is extensively used in the formation of verbs in Tamil.
There are a number of verbs which are used to form verbs from nouns. Not all nouns will be added to a verbalizer and conversely not all verbalizers can be added to a noun; only a closed set of nouns can be collocated with a particular verbalizer. The compounds could be overlapping in their meaning as same nouns can be collocated with overlapping group of verbs. This leads to synonymy among compound verbs. Though the formation of verbs from N + V combination is a productive process, the nouns involved in the formation of compound verbs with reference to a particular verbalizer appears to be a closed set rather than an open set. But it is possible to recruit new members to a closed set which makes the process productive. Because of the closed nature of the nouns participating in the compound formation which results in the idiosyncratic nature of the resultant meanings, there need to be the listing of the compounds in the dictionary as soon as the compounds come into vogue. Instead of talking in terms of sets of nouns it is possible to talk in terms of semantic area or domain to which the nouns belong.
Rajendran (1978), Agesthialingom (1981:15-60), and Karthikeyan (1983) can be considered as important works on compound verbs in Tamil. Compound verbs listed in kriyavin tarkalat tamir akarati (KTTA) (Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil) have also been taken into consideration while dealing about the compound verb formation in Tamil. The strategies used in the formation of compound verbs in Tamil will be investigated here.
2. Differentiating Compound Verbs From Phrases
The first and the foremost issue here is to differentiate compounds, here is this context the compound verbs, from phrases. It is generally agreed upon that compounds are the units of lexicon and the phrases are the units of syntax. The following are the questions which could be raised about this issue:
1) How to differentiate compounds from phrases as both of them contain words?
2) How differentiate the rules of compounding from the rules of forming syntactic phrases?
It is not always obvious when we have a compound verb. Orthographic conventions offer limited help in distinguishing compounds form phrases. Some compound verbs are written as a single word (ex. accuRuttu ‘threaten’ (<accam ‘fear’ + uRuttu ‘cause trouble’) some are written as single as well as a bipartite unit (ex. vicaaraNai cey, vicaaraNaicey ‘interrogate’). Karthikeyan (1983) lists the following tests to differentiate compound verbs from the phrase N + V.
2.1 Insertion Test
It is generally agreed that it is not possible to insert an element (with the exception of clitics) between the base and the verbalizer.
TaakTar ndooyaLiyaik kuNappaTuttinaar 'the doctor cured the patient'
*TaakTar ndooyaaLiyaik kuNattai paTuttinaar
*TaakTar ndooyaLiyaik kuNam ndanRaakap paTuttinaar
The reliability on the test suffers to some extent as there exist compound verbs in which the nouns are inflected for case. They can be considered as phrases which are lexicalized into compounds or phrasal words as they have acquired idiosyncratic or idiomatic meaning.
2.2 Synonymy Test
There is a possibility of finding simple verbs as synonyms for compound verbs in the same language or any other language.
Compound verbs Synonymous simple verbs
kolai paNNu 'kill' kol 'kill'
kaatal cey 'love' kaatali 'love'
uraiyaaTu 'talk' peecu 'talk'
vaataaTu 'argue' argue
kuuRiTu 'divide' divide
2.3 Attribute Test
It is not possible to attribute a noun of a compound verb by attributes such as adjectives, relative participles and genitives.
*ndalla uraiyaaTinaar 'good talked-he'
*iraNTu uraiyaaTinaar 'two talked-he'
*ennuTaiya uraiyaaTinaar 'my talked-he'
2.4. Coordination Test
Two noun phrases can be coordinated by a coordinator. But nouns which form bases of compounds cannot be coordinated in the same fashion.
ndaan raamanai aTitteen 'I beat Rama'
ndaan kaNNanai aTitteen ' I beat Kannan'
ndaan raamanaiyum kaNNanaiyum aTitteen 'I beat Rama and Kannan
[-um is a clitic which functions as a coordinator.]
avan tandti aTittaan 'he gave a telegram'
avan Taip aTittaan 'he typed'
*avan tandtiyum Taippum aTittaan
[tandti 'telegram', Taip 'typing', aTi 'beat']
Only compound verbs can be coordinated as follows.
avan tandti aTikkavum Taip aTikkavum ceytaan
'he gave telegram and performed typing'
The fact that the nouns of compound verbs cannot be coordinated shows that the N + V combination functions as a single unit.
2.5 Substitution Test
The simple verbs can be substituted by the phrase enna cey 'do what?' as given in the following example.
kumar paNattai tiruTinaan 'Kumar stole the money'
kumar paNattai enna ceytaan 'what did Kumar do to money?'
In the same fashion compound verb can be substituted by the phrase enna cey. But the verb which forms the constituent element of a compound verb cannot be substituted in the same fashion by the phrase enna cey 'do what?'.
kumar paNattai viiNaTittaan 'Kumar wasted the money'
*kumar paNattai viiN enna ceytaan?
All the above mentioned five tests can be utilized to establish or reject a N + V combination as a compound verb and none of them guarantees a full proof as the degree of cohesion existing between the bases and the verbalizers varies.
3. Degree Of Cohesion
Though it is said that no element can be inserted between the constituent parts (base and verbalizing verb) of a compound verb, it is possible to resort to insertion in some compound verbs. This leads us to conclude that the degree of cohesion existing between the base and verbalizer varies. In some compounds the constituent verbs can be converted into relative participle forms which stand to attribute the constituent nouns.
Compound Verb Relative participle form + N
tunpappaTu 'suffer' paTTa tunpam 'the suffering which is underwent'
kaSappaTu 'suffer' paTTa kaSTam 'the suffering which is underwent'
utavi cey 'help' ceyta utavi 'the help which is done'
tiirmanam cey 'decide' ceyta tiirmaanam 'decision which is made'
We can infer that the cohesion between noun and verb in the above compound verbs is weak. But conversion of N + V into relative participle form + N is not possible in the case of certain compound verbs.
Compound Verb Relative participle form + N
caattiyappaTu 'be possible *paTTa caattiyam
kuNappaTuttu 'cure ' *paTuttiya kuNam
kaali cey 'empty' *ceyta kaali
We can infer that the cohesion between noun and verb in the above compound verbs is strong.
4. The Formation Of Compound Verbs
The following points have to be explored here:
1. Compound verb formation rules
2. The bases and the verbalizers which are involved in compound verb formation
3. Specific nature of the rules of compound verb formation
4. The productivity of the rules of compound verb formation
5. Lexicalization of the compound verb formation
4.1. Compound Verb Formation Rules
The formation of compound verb can be captured by a general rule of the following:
Base + verbalizer -> Compound verb
As noted already the bases could be nouns or particles. Accordingly the above general rule can be specified into the following rules:
Noun + verbalizer -> Compound verb
Particle + verbalizer -> Compound verb
Apart from nouns and particles, ceytu-type of verbal forms, ceyya-type of verbal forms and case inflected nouns can come before a verbalizing verb to form compounds.
ceytu-type of verbal forms + verbalizer
kaaTTi 'having showed' + koTu 'give > kaaTTikkoTu 'betray'
viTTu 'having left' + koTu 'give' > viTTukkoTu 'make allowance for'
kaNTu 'having seen' + piTi 'catch' > kaNTupiTi 'findout'
ceyya-type of verbal forms + verblizer
tavaRa 'to let fail' + viTu 'leave' > tavaRaviTu 'miss'
tooRka ' to let fail' + ati 'beat > toRkaTi 'defeat'
Case inflected noun + verbalizer
uTaippil 'in breach'+ pooTu 'put'> uTaippil pooTu 'throw out, dump'
tuukkil 'in noose for hanging'+ pooTu 'put' > tuukkil pooTu 'hang'
kiTappil 'in state of lying' + pooTu > kiTappil pooTu 'keep something pending'
4.2 Bases
Base forms the first constituent of a compound verb. As the compound verbs fulfil the immediate need of the Tamil speakers, the bases are extracted not only from Tamil source but also from other languages like Sanskrit and English. In modern Tamil, a lot of English bases are used by the educated people.
Compound verbs with bases from Tamil source
payiRci 'training'+ aLi > payirciyaLi 'train'
viTai 'farewell' + koTu > viTaikoTu 'bid farewell'
ndiccal 'swimming'+ aTi > ndiiccalaTi 'swim'
Compound verbs with bases from Sanskrit source
kopam 'anger' + paTu > kopappaTu 'feel angry'
candtooSam 'happiness' + paTu > cantooSappaTu 'feel happy'
vicaaraNai 'investigation' + cey > vicaaraNai cey 'investigate'
Compound verbs with bases from English source
areenj 'arrange' + paNNu > areenj paNNu 'arrange'
avuT 'out' + aaku > avuTaaku 'exit'
aTmiT 'admit' + cey > aTmiTcey 'admit'
The bases are borrowed as nouns even if they belong to different grammatical category in the source language.
aakT 'act' + paNNu > aakTpaNNu 'act'
aap 'off' + paNNu > aappaNNu 'put off'
in 'in' + paNNu > inpaNNu 'tug in'
'Act' is a verb in English which is borrowed as a noun in Tamil; 'off' and 'in' are prepositions in English which are borrowed in Tamil as nouns. The base which forms the constituent of a compound can belong to any one of the following grammatical categories: noun, particle, onomatopoeic word. The noun could be simple, compound or derived.
Simple Noun + Verbalizer
araTTai 'chat (N)' + aTi > araTTaiyaTi 'chat'
uRuti 'firmness' + aLi > uRutiyaLi 'confirm'
cuuRai 'scattering' + aaTu > cuRaiyaaTu 'plunder'
vazakku 'case; suit' + aaTu > vazakkaaTu 'argue a case'
Derived noun + Verbalizer
aaRutal 'consolation' + aLi > aaRutal aLi 'console'
celavu 'expense' + azi > celavazi 'spend'
toTarpu 'contact'+ koL > toTarpukoL 'contact'
veRuppu 'dislike'+ uuTTu > veRuppuuTu 'cause dislike'
[aaRu 'become cold', cel 'go', toTar 'follow', veRu 'dislike']
Compound Noun + Verbalizer
Noun + Noun + Verbalizer
pulan + vicaaraNai > pulanvicaaraNai 'investigation' + cey>
pulanvicaraNai cey 'investigate'
Derived Noun + Noun + Verbalizer
ndaTai + muRai > ndaTaimuRai 'practice' + paTuttu > ndaTaimuRaippaTuttu 'put into practice'
Verbal participle form + Noun + Verbalizer
parindtu + urai > parindturai 'recommendation' + cey > parindturai cey 'recommend'
Verb stem + Noun + Verbalizer
paRi + mutal > paRimutal ‘confiscation’+ cey ‘do’ paRimutal cey 'confiscate’
kuttu ‘hit’ + caNTai > kuttuccaNTai 'boxing' + pooTu ‘put’ > kuttuccaNTaipooTu 'perform boxing'
Onomatopoeic Word + Verbalizer
paLic + iTu > paLicciTu 'flash; shine'
tiTukku + iTu > tiTukkiTu 'be alarmed'
4.3. Verbalizer
There are thirty nine verbs which can be claimed to function as verbalizers to form compound verbs from bases.
Sl.No
Verbalizers with core meaning
Examples of Compound verbs in which the verbalizers form a part
1
aTi 'beat'
kaN 'eye' + aTi > kaNNaTi 'wink'
2
aTai 'get'
muTivu 'end' + aTai > muTivaTai 'come to an end'
3
aLi 'give'
paricu 'prize' + aLi > paricaLi 'award'
4
aaku 'become'
veLi 'outside + aaku > veLiyaaku 'come out'
5
aakku 'produce'
cooRu 'cooked rice' + aakku > cooRaakku 'cook rice’
6
aaTu 'move'
kuuttu 'drama' + aaTu > kuuttaaTu 'act'
7
aaTTu 'swing'
ciir 'orderliness' + aTTu > ciiraaTTu 'tend lovingly'
8
aaRRu 'perform'
paNi 'work' + aaRRu > paNiyaaRRu 'work'
9
iTu 'put'
paarvai 'look' + iTu > parvaiyiTu 'inspect'
10
uRu 'obtain'
keLvi 'hearsay' + uRu > keeLviyuRu 'get to know'
11
uRuttu 'trouble'
tunpam 'suffering' + uRuttu > tunpuRuttu 'cause suffering'
12
uuTTu 'give'
ndinaivu 'rememberance' + uuTTu > ndinaivuuTTu 'remind'
13
eTu 'take'
ooyvu 'rest' + eTu > ooyveTu 'take rest'
14
eytu 'obtain'
maraNam 'death' + eytu > maraNameytu 'die'
15
eel 'accept'
patavi 'position' + eel > pataviyeel 'take office'
16
eeRu 'rise'
cuuTu 'heat' + eeRu > cuuTeeRu 'become hot'
17
erru 'raise'
veLi 'outside' + eeRRu > veLiyeeRRu 'expel'
18
kaTTu 'tie'
iiTu 'compensation' + kaTTu > iiTukaTTu 'make up'
19
kaaTTu 'show'
aacai 'desire' + kaaTTu 'show' > aacaikaaTtu 'lure; tempt'
20
kuuRu 'say'
puRam 'back' + kuuRu > purangkuuRu 'backbite’
21
koTu 'give'
peeccu 'conversation' + koTu > peeccukkoTu 'initiate a talk'
22
koL 'get'
toTarpu 'contact' + koL > totarpu koL 'contact'
23
cey 'do'
vicaaraNai 'investigation' + cey > vicaaraNai cey 'investigate'
24
col 'say'
kooL 'lie' + col > kooL col 'tell tale'
25
taTTu 'pat'
maTTam 'substandard' +taTTu>maTTam taTTu 'degrade'
26
paTu 'experience'
veTkam 'shyness' + paTu > veTkappaTu 'feel shy'
27
paTuttu 'cause to experience'
tunpam 'suffering' + paTuttu >tunpappaTuttu 'cause to suffer'
28
paNNu 'do'
yoocanai 'thinking' + paNNu > yoocanai paNNu 'think'
29
paar 'see'
veevu 'spying' + paar > veevupaar 'spy'
30
piTi 'catch'
aTam 'obstinacy' + piTi > aTampiTi 'become obstinate'
31
puri 'do'
maNam 'marriage' + puri > maNampuri 'marry'
32
peRu 'get'
ooyvu 'rest' + peRu > ooyvu peRu 'retire (from service)'
33
poo 'go'
cooram 'adultery' + poo > coorampoo 'commit adultary'
34
pooTu 'drop'
cattam 'sound' + pooTu > cattam pooTu 'shout'
35
muuTTu 'make'
koopam 'anger' + muuTTu > koopamuuTTu 'cause anger'
36
vaa 'come'
valam 'right' + vaa > valamvaa 'go round'
37
vaangku 'get'
veelai + vangku > veelaivaangku 'extract work'
38
viTu 'leave'
muuccu 'breath' + viTu > muuccuviTu 'breathe'
39
vai 'keep’
aTaku 'pledge' + vai > aTakuvai 'pledge'
It has to be noted here that all the verbalizing verbs are native Tamil words. Not all the verbs listed above are actually used as verbalizers. The number of compound verbs formed from each verbalizer also varies.
4.4. Dependency Of Verbalizers On Bases
It is generally the case that the compound verbs acquire syntactic and semantic features based on the characteristic features of the bases. For example, the compound verbs accaTi (<accu 'printing' + aTi 'beat') 'print', koLLaiyaTi (<koLLai 'plundering' + aTi 'beat') 'plunder' and viiNaTi (<viiN 'waste' + aTi 'beat')’waste' are transitive verbs capable of receiving an object retaining the characteristic feature of aTi 'beat' as a main verb. But the compound verbs such as ndiiccal aTi 'swim', perumaiyaTi 'boast' and araTTaiyaTi 'chat' are intransitive verbs differing from the characteristic feature of ati as the main verb and thus reflecting the influence of the features of the bases. Conversely, kaLavaaTu (<kaLavu 'theft' + aaTu) 'steal', veeTTaiyaaTu (<veeTTai 'hunting' + aaTu) 'hunt' and curaiyaaTu (<cuuRai 'plundering' + aaTu) 'plunder' are transitive verbs differing from the characteristic feature of the verbalizing verb aaTu 'move to and fro' which is basically an intransitive verb. But the compound verbs uraiyaaTu (<urai 'speech' + aaTu) 'talk' and vaataaTu (<vaatam 'argument' + aaTu) 'argue' are intransitive verbs retaining the characteristic feature of atu as a main verb. yookamaTi (<yookam 'luck' + aTi) is capable of receiving a dative subject and thus differing from the verb aTi which receives a nominative subject.
raaman ndaayai aTittaan 'Rama beat the dog'
raamanukku yookam aTittatu 'Rama got luck'
The compound verb cuuTeeRu ‘become hot’ is a one place verb, where as its constituent verb eru ‘climb’ is a two place verb.
kurangku marattil eeRiyatu 'the monkey climbed the tree'
ndiir cuuTeeRiyatu 'the water got heated'
The possibility of verbalizers getting combined with the same base noun leads to the formation of synonymous compound verbs.
N + iTu synonymous with N + poTu
caNTaiyitu 'quarrel' - caNtaipooTu 'quarrel'
N + uRu synonymous with N + aTai
tunpamuRu 'suffer' - tunpappaTu 'suffer'
N + akku synonymous with N + patuttu
kuNamaakku 'cure' - kuNappaTuttu 'cure'
N + cey synonymous with N + koTu
taanamcey 'give free' - tanamkoTu 'give free'
The same base can give different meanings with different verbalizers.
veLi 'outside' + iTu > veLiyiTu 'publish'
veLi 'outside + paTu > veLippaTu 'come to be known or seen'
veLi 'outside' + eRu > veLiyeeRu 'come out quit'
veLi 'outside + eeRRu > veLiyeeRRu 'expel'
Same base can combine with different verbalizers by bringing out their polysemous nature.
iiTu + eeRRu > iTeeRRu 'fulfil'
iiTu + kaTTu > iiTukaTTu 'make good'
iiTu + koTu > iiTu koTu 'make up to'
iiTu + paTu > iiTu paTu 'engage; involve'
iiTu + vai > iiTu vai 'pledge'
4.5. Dynamics of Compound Verb Formation
The dynamism involved in the formation of compound verbs can be listed as follows
1. For fulfilling the need
2. To bring out different shades of meaning
3. Due to the development of analytical nature
4. For showing stylistic variation
4.5.1 Fulfilling The Need
It is natural that language speakers form new words to express their new ideas and experience. As the speakers are exposed to new ideas and experience due to their contact with foreign language, they resort to form new verbs by making use of bases from the foreign language and Tamil verbs as verbalizers.
amal 'implementation'+ paTuttu > amalpaTuttu 'implement'
ooTTu 'vote' + pooTu > ooTTuppooTu 'cast vote'
cipaaricu 'recommendation' + cey > cipaaricu cey 'recommend'
vivaakarattu 'divorce' + cey > vivaakarattu cey 'divorce'amul is a base borrowed from Hindi, vottu is from English, ciparicu is from Urdu and vivakarattu is from Sanskrit. Even Tamil nouns and particles have been used as bases to fulfil their need.
accu 'print' + aTi > accaTi 'print'
tiTTam 'plan' + pooTu > tiTTam pooTu 'plan'
vaakku 'word' + aLi > vakkaLi 'promise'
veli 'outside' + itu > veliyitu 'publish'
maRiyal 'strike' + cey > maRiyal cey 'perform strike'
4.5.2 Different Shades Of Meaning
Compound verbs have been formed to bring out different shades of meaning. The following differences in shades of meaning can be listed by taking cues form Karthikeyan (1983).
1) State vs. change of state
2) Inceptive vs. terminative
3) Direct vs. indirect
4) Low status vs. high status
5) General vs. specific
6) Specified subject vs. unspecified subject
7) Subject oriented vs. indirect object oriented
8) Explicit vs. implicit
4.5.2.1 State Vs. Change Of Stat
While simple verb denotes the state of a feeling, the compound verb which is related to it will denote change of state of feeling.
avaL varundtinaaL 'she felt sorry.'
avaL varuttam aTaindtaaL 'she felt sorry'
4.5.2.2 Terminative Vs. Inceptive
While simple verb denotes a terminative meaning, the related compound verb denotes inceptive meaning.
paya 'be afraid' vs. payam + eTu > payameTu 'start feeling afraid'
avaL payandtaL 'she was afraid'
avaLukku payameTuttatu 'she started feeling afraid'
paci 'feel hungry' vs. paciyeTu 'start feeling hungry'
avaLukkup pacittatu 'she felt hungry'
avalukku paciyetuttatu 'she started feeling hungry'
4.5.2.3 Direct Vs. Indirect
While the simple verb denotes direct action, the compound verb related to it denotes indirect action.
avaL avanai azaittaaL 'she invited him'
avaL avanukku azaippu viTuttaaL 'she invited him through somebody'
avaL avanai atazittaaL 'she supported him
avaL avanukku aataravu koTuttaL 'she gave him support'
4.5.2.4 Low Status Vs. High Status
While simple verb denotes the low status of subject or object, the compound verb which is related to it denotes the high status of subject or object.
avarkaL avanaip putaittarkaL 'they burried him'
avarkaL avanai aTakkam ceytaarkaL 'they burried him'
4.5.2.5 General Vs. Specific
While simple verb denotes a general meaning, the related compound verb denotes specific meaning.
avaL avanai vicaarittaaL 'She enquired him'
avaL avanai vicaaraNai ceytaaL 'she interrogated him'
4.5.2.6 Concrete Sense Vs. Abstract Sens
While simple verb denotes concrete sense, the compound verb denotes abstract sense.
avaL avan kaiyait taTuttaaL 'she obstructed his hand'
avar cinimavait taTai ceytaar 'he banned the cinema'
avaL andta puuvai moondtaaL 'she smelled the flower
ndaay mooppam piTittatu 'the dog sniffed'
4.5.2.7. Specified Agent Vs. Unspecified Agent
While the simple verb specifies agent, the compound makes the agent unspecified.
avan vilaiyai ndirNayittaan 'he fixed the price'
vilai ndirNayamaayiRRu 'the price is fixed'
avan puttakam piracurittaan 'he published the book'
puttakam piracuramaayiRRu 'the book is published'
4.5.2.8 Subject Oriented Vs. Indirect Object Oriented
While one type specifies subject orientation of the action, the other type specifies indirect object oriented action.
avan aaRutal aTaindtaan 'he got satisfied'
avan avaLukku aaRutalaLittaan 'he consoled her'
4.5.2.9 Explicit Vs. Implicit
While one type of compound verbs denote expressed or explicit feeling, the other type of compound verbs denote implicit feeling.
avan avaLiTam varuttappaTTaan 'he expressed his unhappiness to her.'
avan varuttamaTaindtaan 'he became unhappy'
4.5.3 Development Of Analytic Nature
A language can become analytic or synthetic in course of time. Modern Tamil appears to be more of analytic in nature than old Tamil. It appears that one or two compound verbs are formed parallel to a simple verb.
Simple form Analytic form
utavu 'help' utavicey 'help'
camai 'cook' camaiyal cey 'cook'
muyal 'try' muyaRcicey 'try'
mayangku 'become unconcious' mayakkamaTai 'become unconcious'
koopi 'show anger' koopappaTu 'show anger'
4.5.4 Bringing Out Stylistic Differences
The preference of simple for compound or vice versa can bring in stylistic difference.
Literary style Spoken style
aaL 'rule' aaTci cey 'rule'
irangku 'show pity' irakkappaTu 'show pity'
muyal 'try' muyaRci cey 'try'
4.6. The Productivity And Lexicalization Of Compound Verb Formation
One of the goals of morphological theorizing is to account for the ways in which speakers both understand and form not only the existing words that occur in their language, but also potential words which are not instantiated in use in utterance. The following points of Katamba (1993) on productivity is worth mentioning here:
(i) Productivity is a matter of degree. It is not a dichotomy, with some word-formation processes being productive and others being unproductive. Probably no processes is so general that it affects, without exception, all the bases to which it could potentially apply. The reality is that some processes are relatively more general than others.
(ii) Productivity is subject to the dimension of time. A process which is very general during one historical period may become less so at a subsequent period. Conversely, a new process entering a language may initially affect a tiny fraction of eligible inputs before eventually applying more widely.”
Formation of compound verbs by the combination of a noun with a verbalizer is a productive process in Tamil. Tamil resort to increase its verb stock only by the process of compounding. The compound verbs which are lexicalized as they attain idiosyncrasy in their formation and/or meaning got listed in a dictionary. Many of the compound verbs listed in Karthikeyan (1983) and Rajendran (1979) are found listed in KTTA as they are lexicalized at the syntactic and semantic level. One can argue that if the resultant forms are listed in a dictionary, it is redundant to deal about them by word-formation rules. The word-formation rules in the formation of compound noun is productive and still operative, but the output needs to be listed in a dictionary as the compound forms are lexicalized at syntactic and semantic levels. At the same time many compound verbs do not get listed in KTTA. As we have seen already, the bases which can participate in the formation of compound nouns are from native and non-native source and verbalizers are from native source. The verbalizers are almost finite in number. When we compare the list of compounds found in Karthikeyan (1983) with those found in KTTA, we notice that lexicalized as well non-lexicalized compounds are found in Karthikeyan whrereas KTTA lists only lexicalized compounds. The following table will give a comparative account of the number of compound verbs formed by each verbalizer.
Sl.No.
Verbalizer
Number of compounds found in Karthikeyan
Number of compounds
found in KTTA
1
aTi
27
37
2
aTai
80
5
3
aLi
26
7
4
aaku
45
36
5
aakku
21
24
6
aaTu
16
33
7
aaTTu
-
6
8
aaRRu
7
3
9
iTu
42
50
10
uRu
43
6
11
uRuttu
6
5
12
uuTTu
24
5
13
eTu
17
18
14
eytu
-
4
15
eel
6
3
16
eeRu
8
10
17
eeRRu
8
13
18
kaTTu
-
23
19
kaaTTu
-
20
20
kuuRu
7
1
21
koTu
24
19
22
koL
15
18
23
cey
197
36
24
col
6
-
25
taTTu
-
13
26
paTu
65
58
27
paTuttu
81
56
28
paNNu
90
12
29
paar
10
14
30
piTi
14
16
31
puri
18
1
32
peRu
12
9
33
poo
6
10
34
pooTu
24
47
35
muTTu
-
2
36
vaa
-
16
37
vaangku
-
10
38
viTu
8
18
39
vai
7
19
If we interpret the productivity of the verbalizer in the formation of compound verbs on the basis of number of compounds formed, cey appears to be more productive; paNNu comes next followed by paTuttu, aTai, paTu, aaku, uRu, iTu, aTi, aLi, koTu, muuTTu, pooTu, aakku and so on as per the number of compounds formed. Aronoff (1976) argues that one cannot calculate the productivity on the basis of number of items formed. Productivity, according to him, is not easy to be calculated and a number of factors are to be taken into account while calculating the productivity. Productivity has to be calculated based on the proportion of possible forms and forms formed. Almost all the items listed in Karthikeyan are listed in KTTA with the exception of certain verbalizers. That means KTTA has listed almost all the compounds listed in Karthikeyan as they are lexicalized, especially at the semantic level. Even then new compounds are always formed to fill the gap or to fulfil the need. It appears that analogy plays a part in the formation of new compounds.
5. Examination Of The Compound Verb Formation Based On Each Verbalizer
The strategies followed in the formation of compound nouns can be understood properly only if we examine the compounds formed under each verbalizers listed above. The following details have to be taken into account for each verbalize.
1. The main and the auxiliary meanings of the verbalizers.
2. The list of compounds formed from each verbalizer.
3. The list of bases which are compounded with each verbalizer.
4. The semantic domain or area to which the set of bases which are associated with a particular verbalizer belong.
5. The number of nonce formations for each verbalizer
6. The predictability of the bases to which the verbalizers can be affixed and the derived meaning.
Let us examine a few verbalizers from the above points of view.
5.1. Verbalization by aTi
The main meaning of the verbalizer aTi is 'beat' and the verb belongs to the semantic domain Verbs of Impact. The polysemous nature of aTi will be exposed when it is collocated with different nouns. Rajendran (1979) classifies the different meanings of aTi based on its collocation with different nouns:
Sr. No.
Different meanings of aTi
Collocation with different nouns
1
drive in
aaNi 'nail' + aTi 'drive in nail'
2
ring
maNi 'bell' + aTi > maNiyaTi 'ring, chime'
3
press
muttirai 'stamp' aTi > muttiraiyaTi 'stamp'
4
shine
veyil 'sunshine' + aTi > veyilati 'shine'
5
blow
ndaaRRam 'foul smell' + aTi > narramati 'smell’
6
dash
alai 'wave' + aTi > alaiyaTi 'dash as waves'
7
smear
varnam 'paint' + aTi > varNamaTi 'paint'
8
azhaippitazh 'invitation card' + aTi > azhaippitazh aTi 'print invitation'
9
stitch
caTTai 'shirt' + aTi > caTTaiyaTi 'stitch shirts'
10
consume
kancaa 'hemp' + aTi > kanca ati 'consume hemp'
11
strike as luck
yookam 'luck' + aTi > yokamaTi 'strike as luck'
12