According to B. Wälchly English compounds can be divided into:
intermediate-denoting ones (southwest, blue-green), having a close lexical and semantic relationship between the parts;
appositional ones, (poet-doctor, wagon-restaurant, having a kind of coordinate relationship, but no close lexical and semantic relationship between the parts;
relational ones (mother-child relationship = relationship ‘between mother and child');
fusional ones (Austria-Hungary), consisting of proper names and getting formed only of entities which underwent fusion (Wälchly 2005: 7).
Besides, B. Wälchly pays special attention to co-compounds (a functional-formal class analogous to grammatical classes: command-and-administrative; do-or-die (=of or involving a determined and sometimes reckless effort to succeed); next-to-last; all-or-nothing combat strategy…) that function as intermediates between syntax and morphology and a strict insistence (Wälchly 2005: 90).
Co-compounds can be divided into:
those that contain a conjunction.
all-or-none;
command-and-administrative;
do-or-die;
here-and-now;
hole-and-corner;
meat-and-potatoes;
up-and-doing…
those that contain a proposition:
air-to-air;
fly-by-night;
free-for-all;
ground-to-air;
next-to-last;
stick-of-candy;
wall-to-wall…
those that contain an article:
behind-the-scenes;
hard-to-get;
know-it-all ;
off-the-cuff;
off-the-record;
off-the-shelf;
off-the-wall;
under-the-counter…
those that contain a proposition as well as an article:
back-of-the-envelope;
middle-of-the-road;
straight-from-the-shoulder;
up-to-the-minute…
R. Benczes, while investigating creative compounding in English, points out that they are rich with implication: for example, such a compound as Acidhead (denoting ‘an LSD user') comprises the modifier, which is metaphor-based, and the profile determinant, which is metonymy-based (Benczes 2006: 179).
From his point of view, what is intriguing about such implicitly motivated compounds as blue-collar worker and white-collar one is that the colour of the shirts mentioned does not seem to be restricted, respectively, to blue and white, instead these words have come to represent a category of individuals in the work force (Benczes 2006: 144−145). These words acquire new, semantically motivated meaning due to semantic derivation.
The semantic derivation of a great number of compounds occurs mainly to metaphor and metonymy.
Because of metaphor there is semantic derivation in such compounds as:
buck-hunter (entomologist),.
kiteman (an issuer of worthless cheques),.
main squeeze (The top ranking person in an organization or in a neighborhood),.
mama bear (policewoman),.
speed demon (a fast runner or driver),.
top banana (key actor in burlesque),.
trick cyclist (psychiatrist),.
wide boy (person, often flashily dressed, who makes a living by exercise of wits rather than working (by selling goods illegally, etc.)),.
yard bird (a new military recruit)…
Metonymy leads to semantic derivation in such compounds as:
hard-hat (a construction worker or other labourer),.
long knife (hired assassin),.
old salt (hired assassin),.
red cap (military policeman),.
talking head (TV commentator),.
top brass (officers, most senior officials in any organisation)…
It is metaphor and metonymy that make English compounds so expressive and let them denote quite different concepts.
As we see, English compounds may be divided into a great number of classes according to the single words (stems) they consist of. Their meaning is not a mere sum of the meanings of stems they include, as metaphor and metonymy get them acquire quite a different meaning.
As we see, journalistic texts differ from each other, as they have their own specific features concerning use of abbreviations.
Scientific texts are not the same either, each type of them having its particular features requiring to use or refrain from using these or those abbreviations.
Both in journaliustic and scientific texts abbreviations should be used only if their meaning is known to the target audience and / or the context resolve the problem of their polysemy. Otherwise abbreviations should not be used at all or should include the reference indicating their meaning.
Conclusion.
Relations between language and culture can be considered as the relation of a part and whole. Each language can be apprehended as a component of culture and as a culture tool. However language at the same time is independent in relation to the culture in whole, and it can be considered as an independent semiotics system having specific features of its own. As each native speaker at the same time is a representative of this or that culture or a number of cultures (bilinguals and polyglots) language symbols get an ability to carry out function of the culture linked with the language spoken and serve as a means of representation of the basic installations of culture. For this reason every language is capable of displaying cultural-national mentality of its speakers.
Cultural traditions define mentality of this or that language community and the picture of the world presented in the given language, having something in common with other language pictures of the world, but at the same time possessing distinctive features of its own, which do not have analogue in any other languages I n general and any definite language of translation in particular.
Linguistic and cultural traditions determine what words and concepts are essentially dramatic or important for representatives of the given culture and language. They also influence the features of word formation in general and compounding in particular.
Studying word-formation ways is connected with their differences in structure of various languages, changes in the word structure, semantic derivation, morphology and semantics.
As our research has shown, English compounds are rather complicated word structures due to what they consist of and what they eventually mean.
The complicated question of distinction of compounds and word combinations in English is not connected with their spelling (many compounds can include stems they consist of written together, through a hyphen and separately).
To solve the problem whether we deal with compounds or word combinations we need to take into consideration their semantics.
Some metaphors compounds are based in their meaning are harsh, providing strength and intensity; others are smooth, providing finesse to the commentary:
airthead («a stupid or simple-minded person, idiot»).
dickhead («A usually male person who „thinks with his dick“, a person whose actions seem motivated by sexual desire at the expense of common sense or intelligence»).
Due to metonymy English compounds as well grow highly expressive and lead to misunderstanding when the listener does not know their cultural specific features or meaning: redneck («a lower class white person from the southeastern states of the USA»).
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