These are stems in which two or all of
the constituent morphemes are, by themselves, stems. The compounds have
unique semantic identity of their own, which may share the semantic notions
of any of the constituent simple stems. There are two types of compounds in
Mishmi.
(1) Compounds whose constitute
morphemes are all nouns. These compounds can be distinguished from Noun
Phrases (Ref. 3.2.) by the following criteria :
(a) The compound is semantically
distinct from the constituent morphemes.
(b) No other morphemes can be
interposed within a compound.
(c) The formation of compounds follows
the morphophonemic alterations admissible within a word.
(i)
/tamyā-hagm/
`leopard’
tiger-branch
(ii)
/r-kwįg/
`rabbit’
sun-dog
(iii)
/tahm-tamyā/
`lion’
bear-tiger’
(iv)
/khlč-błm-tapm/
`beetle’
soil-mound-insect
(v)
/gr-bilm/
`ankle’
leg-eye
(vi)
/bil(m)-macyg/
`tears’
eye-water
The criteria used to distinguish Noun
Phrase from compound nouns ae illustrated below :
Consider the two constructions.
(vi)
/bilmacyg/
`tears’ and
(vii)
/tįphramacyg/
`river water’
It is possible to interpose an adjective to modify the
first noun in (vii) but not in (vi).
(viii)
/tįphra dra
acyg/
`big river water’
river-big-water
Such modification of (i) will result
in (ix) but not in (x).
(i)
/tamyā-hagm/
`leopard’
(ix)
/tamyāhagm
dra/
`big leopard’
leopard-big
(x)
*/tamyā dra
hagm/
tiger-big-branch
It is the second criterion that rules
out (x). The morphophonemic rule `the loss of intermorphemic gemination’ is
followed in example (vi).
(vi)
bilmacyg
<----
*bilm
+macyg
eye
water
The morphophonemic rule viz., the absence of the
glottalized vowel appllophone is seen in the example (xiv) (Rule 2).
/
m/
-kwįg/
-bil
