On the Problem of Differentiation of Compound Words and Word-Combinations in English and Armenian

Abstract

The article concerns the problem of differentiating compound words and phrases in English and Armenian. It states the different criteria according to which many authors differentiate them: the phonetic criterion (that of the position of stress), the syntactic criterion, the semantic criterion (that of semantic cohesion), the criterion of formal-structural and functional integrity, etc. These criteria can serve as sufficient bases to differentiate between compound words and word-combinations only when taken collectively but not individually. In the article, parallels are drawn between English and Armenian, in the latter the borderline between word-combinations and compound words being far clearer.