Compound Nouns and Phrases
A compound noun is a type of nominal group which, like a noun phrase, is composed of two
or more words; unlike a phrase however, it has two additional formal characteristics, and one
functional characteristic which distinguishes it. Although a compound can be written as one
word in many cases (shorter, historic compounds) or with a hyphen, more often one finds
open compounds, written as two separate words. Multiple compounds exist as well, and will
be discussed last of all (Ex: 'air traffic conֽtroller).
As illustrated in the following table, noun phrases follow general semantic, syntactic and
stress rules, whereas compounds follow specific rules of their own.
RULES
semantic
syntactic
stress
phrase
a green house = “a house that
is green in colour”
a running tap = “a tap that is
running” (from which water
is running)
phrasal stress generally is
placed on the rightmost item
a green 'house /21/,
a running 'tap /201/
compound
a greenhouse = a construction, not a house;
it is not typically green in colour
running shoes = the noun shoes is not a
phrasal argument of run (the shoes don’t
run); running defines a type of shoe
compound stress rule assigns the main
stress to the first element : 'greenhouse /10/
'running shoes /100/
The first thing to analyze when deciding the stress pattern of a compound is its grammatical
construction; there are two main rules to apply, one for nouns (true phonological compounds)
and another for adjectives (which form noun phrases).
I. COMPOUND NOUN STRESS RULE
Compound nouns typically take primary stress on the accent-bearing syllable of the first
element (word) of the compound. The second element (word) takes secondary stress if it has
two or more syllables: the placement of secondary stress is contrastive (phonological) and not
merely descriptive (phonetic). Ex: 'greenhouse - 'greenֽhouses
at'taché case
con'venience store
con'trol freak
'girlfriend
'lager lout
'phone call
'pressure group
'steam-ֽengine
a'sylum-ֽseeker
'washing-maֽchine
'deckchair
'Greenpeace
'lipstick
'pickֽpocket
'shopping-ֽcentre
'theatre-ֽgoer
'bank acֽcount
'blood ֽpressure
'earthquake
'heat wave
'mountain bike
po'lice ֽstation
'screwֽdriver
'video tape
'birth conֽtrol
'cash maֽchine
ex'tractor fan
in'surance ֽpolicy
'nuclear ֽphysicist
'pressure ֽcooker
'skyֽscraper
'watchֽmaker
In a number of exceptional (historical) cases, the second element (through frequency of use)
has becoming semantically “opaque”, has lost stress and the vowel is reduced, sometimes
with syllable compression. This is especially common in British place-names: 'cupboard
'necklace; 'Frenchman, 'strawberry, 'Ireland, 'Yorkshire, 'Norfolk (as opposed to 'dartboard,
'silk lace, 'meter man, 'chinaֽberry, 'hinterland, 'men folk).
II. SENTENCE STRESS RULE and Special Cases
Following a strictly phonological rationale, certain categories of noun phrases that resemble
compounds can be explained as Adjective + Noun structures. As mentioned elsewhere, an
informal structural definition of “unmarked” sentence stress places stress on the last
(rightmost) lexical item, also known as the LLI Rule.
A. Place names or Proper nouns in first element: the first element plays a qualifying adjectival
role. /21/
ֽ uckingham 'Palace
B
ֽGreenwich 'Village
ֽPark 'Avenue
ֽOxford 'Circus
ֽHighland 'fling
ֽ hannel 'Tunnel
C
ֽGrosvenor 'Square
Saֽhara 'Desert
ֽEiffel 'Tower
ֽMolotov 'Cocktail
ֽ ulham 'Road
F
ֽNiagra 'Falls
ֽVictoria 'Station
ֽMount 'Everest
ֽYorkshire 'terrier
N.B. Place names with street follow the compound stress rule: Downing Street, Oxford Street.
B. Noun phrase in which the first noun qualifies the second noun by specifying the material
from which it is made. /21/
bֽ rick 'wall
ֽleather 'jacket
cֽ heese 'sandwich
ֽpaper 'napkin
cֽ hocolate 'shake
ֽorange 'squash
cֽ otton 'dress
ֽpork 'pie
N.B. Common names of popular food items containing burger, cake, juice, oil (except olive
oil), milk, water function like compounds /12/:
'cheeseֽburger
'soda ֽwater
'chocolate cake
'mineral ֽwater
'coconut milk
'sesame oil
'orange juice
'beefcake
- As do nouns with an underlying structure N of N (of measure or in a partitive sense):
blood stain, bread crumb, ice-cube, raindrop, snowflake, sugar lump, beer mug.
C. Noun phrase in which the first noun sub-qualifies the second noun by transforming an
inherent property of the first term into an epithet of the second (sometimes called “both words
describe the same thing”). /21/
aֽ cid 'rain
ֽpound 'coin
bֽ aby 'brother
ֽtwin 'sister
dֽ ollar 'bill
ֽwoman 'writer
gֽ entleman 'farmer
ֽwoman 'driver
D. Noun phrase in which the first noun qualifies the second noun by specifying an inherent
aspect of its occurrence (time or place): /21/
ֽ orning 'paper
m
ֽevening 'stroll
ֽ unday 'lunch
S
ֽkitchen 'sink
aֽ fternoon 'tea
ֽnight 'watchman
pֽ ub 'quiz
ֽbedroom 'window
E. Adjectival phrase which qualifies a following noun by qualifying some aspect of its
occurrence: /21/
dark-green
far-reaching
narrow-minded
The difference between compound and noun phrase is especially difficult to predict in the
following similar items, though each conforms to a logic described above:
Compound stress /12/ (also termed “early” stress):
Christmas card, Christmas tree, Christmas cake, Christmas present, Christmas carols
school boy, school teacher, school mistress, school work, school days
Noun phrase stress /21/ (also termed “late” stress):
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Christmas pudding, Christmas holidays, Christmas stocking
school tie, school uniform, school year, school report, school holidays, school team
Dispelling Ambiguity
Compounds like toy factory, lady killer or dancing girl can be interpreted in two ways
(whereas the pairs green house – greenhouse or dark room – darkroom have different
spellings), depending on whether they bear sentence stress or compound stress.
Compound stress
'toy ֽfactory
'lady ֽkiller
'dancing girl
Meaning
place that produces toys
man who kills women
professional dancer
Sentence stress
ֽtoy 'factory
ֽlady 'killer
ֽdancing 'girl
Meaning
a model building
female assassin
girl who is dancing
III. MULTIPLE COMPOUNDS
Longer compounds can combine both principles, where for example a simple compound like
greenhouse could be either part of a phrase in ֽgarden 'greenhouse (a building located in a
garden, not by definition but by happenstance – see II.D. above) or 'tomato ֽgreenhouse
(where it describes a type of building for a specific purpose).
Examples of stress patterns for compounds embedded in a noun phrase:
holiday traffic jams
government health warning
kitchen towel rack
/200100/
/200130/
/2010/
Examples of stress patterns for compounds embedded in another compound:
passenger railway
sports car salesman
Senate Oversight Committee
/10020/
/1020/
/10200030/