AN UNDERGADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
FRANCISCO DIMAS HADHY MURTI
Student Number: 104214086
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS SEEN THROUGH
ANIMAL-RELATED EXOCENTRIC COMPOUND WORDS
AN UNDERGADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
FRANCISCO DIMAS HADHY MURTI
Student Number: 104214086
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I want to thank God for helping me finish this thesis. My huge
gratitude to my thesis advisor Dr. B. Ria Lestari, M. S. who gives me significant
guidance and instructions for this last semester and to Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. as
a co-advisor who gives me noteworthy advices to improve this thesis. I also want to
give enormous thanks to Adventina Putranti S.S., M.Hum as my academic advisor for
these years I spent in Sanata Dharma University. My gratitude also goes to all the
lecturers and staffs in English Letters Department.
I would like to give appreciation for my family: my father, my sister, and
especially my mother who always prays and encourages me to finish this thesis. I
would also devote this thesis to my dearest and cherished Hanifah Rizky Apriliani
who always accompanies and becomes my partner for this last four years. I also want
to credit some of friends who help me throughout the years in this university. First of
all, I want to show my indebtedness to my ‘twin sister’ Ni Kadek Septi Ratnasari who
was always there eagerly to give me valuable support and assistance to make our
thesis achievable. I would like to express my thankfulness to Cory, Brigita, and Tola
who were willing to put up with me and become what I can consider as, my precious
friends. Last but not least, I extend gratitude to all the class C of 2010 English Letters
for these past years together and I am sorry that I am unable to get closer to each and
every one of you.
viii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………. vii
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS ……….. 20
A. Types of the Animal-Related Exocentric Compounds ………. 20
B. Animal-Related Exocentric Compounds as Idiomatic Expressions seen from the Origin of the Words ……….... 36
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……… 41
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………. 43
ix
ABSTRACT
DIMAS HADHY MURTI, FRANCISCO. Idiomatic Expressions Seen Through Animal-Related Exocentric Compound Words. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
Compounding is a process that puts together two different previously existing words that will be identified as one unity, and from these words a new meaning is created. An exocentric compound is one out of two types of compounds based on the meaning, aside the endocentric compound. An exocentric compound is a type of compound when the last component cannot determine the meaning of the entire compound words. This thesis will discuss the relation between exocentric compounds and idiom through animal-related exocentric compound.
The research problems of this thesis are the types of meaning found in animal-related exocentric compound and the categorization of animal-related exocentric compound as an idiomatic expression.
The research is done through purposive sampling by collecting the data from Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. The data are 32 animal-related exocentric compounds. The data were categorized into three categories: exocentric compounds which have metaphorical meaning, exocentric compounds which function as proper nouns and exocentric compounds which also stand as idiomatic expressions. Exocentric compounds which also stand as idiomatic expressions are analyzed further through the historical, cultural, and social aspects of the idioms to explain the transformation of exocentric compound into idiomatic expressions.
x
ABSTRAK
DIMAS HADHY MURTI, FRANCISCO. Idiomatic Expressions Seen Through Animal-Related Exocentric Compound Words. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.
Kata majemuk adalah sebuah proses yang menyatukan dua kata yang berbeda yang telah ada sebelumnya dan akan diidentifikasi sebagai satu kesatuan, dan dari kata majemuk ini sebuah makna baru tercipta. Kata majemuk eksosentris adalah salah satu dari dua jenis kata majemuk berdasarkan maknanya, selain kata majemuk endosentris. Kata majemuk eksosentris adalah jenis kata majemuk yang komponen terakhir tidak menentukan makna dari seluruh kata majemuk tersebut. Skripsi ini akan mendiskusikan hubungan antara kata majemuk eksosentris dan idiom melalui kata majemuk eksosentris berunsur nama binatang.
Permasalahan yang akan diketengahkan dalam skripsi ini adalah jenis-jenis makna yang ditemukan dalam kata majemuk eksosentris berunsur nama binatang dan penggolongan kata majemuk eksosentris berunsur nama binatang sebagai idiom.
Penelitian ini dilakukan melaluipurposive sampling dengan mengambil data dari Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Data yang dipakai adalah 32 kata majemuk eksosentris berunsur nama binatang. Data dibagi menjadi tiga kategori: kata majemuk yang berfungsi sebagai metafora, kata majemuk yang berfungsi sebagai nomina, dan kata majemuk yang juga berfungsi sebagai idiom. Kata majemuk yang berfungsi sebagai idiom akan dianalisis lebih jauh melalui aspek sejarah, budaya, dan sosial untuk menjelaskan perkembangan kata majemuk eksosentris menjadi idiom.
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
There are varieties of morphological processes in English language which can
change the word structure, either by making an internal change or by adding some
new element to the word structure, in order to create a new meaning. Some of these
processes are: affixation (the addition of an affix), cliticization (attachment of
function word), internal change (substitution of one vowel), suppletion (substitution
of unrelated form), stress & tone placement (change of stress), and compounding
(O’Grady, Dobrovolksky, and Katamba, 1997: 138-144). One of the most important
word formation processes is compounding. Compounding is a process that put
together two different previously existing words that must be recognized as one
element and from these words a new meaning is created.
As one of the two types of compounds words, exocentric compounds catch the
attention of the writer because of the completely different meaning produced from the
combination of the words, unlike endocentric compounds which still retain the
meaning of the head component. Therefore, at first the analysis was conducted to
analyze deeper about compounding process and more importantly exocentric
compounds, such as the rules of combining words, the kind or form of words that can
be combined, the pluralization in exocentric compounds, how the meaning of
However, Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams, stated that “(exocentric) compounds
reveals other meaning relations between the parts, which are not entirely consistent
because many (exocentric) compounds are idiomatic” (Fromkin, Rodman, and
Hyams, 2003: 133). This challenging statement arise a question that perhaps the
meanings of all exocentric compounds can also be categorized as idiomatic
expressions.
After learning more about idiomatic expressions, which in fact a semantic
field that is different from the morphological field of compounding process; it is
found that there are some idiomatic expressions that are also in the form of
compounds.
Idioms are very similar in structure to ordinary phrases except that they tend to be frozen in form and do not readily enter onto other combinations or allow the word order to change. (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206)
Based on the descriptions and explanations of exocentric compounds and
idiomatic expressions, it can be realized that both of them are closely related to each
other. For example: white house, red neck, and black sheep, can be categorized as
exocentric compounds but not all of them can be categorized as idiomatic
expressions.
This topic is worth studying and interesting to the writer because from the
conclusion later the writer can categorize the meaning of exocentric compounds to
some categories and the reason behind its categorization as an idiomatic expressions
The reason of choosing animal-related exocentric compounds is only to
specify and narrow down the number of the data because there are supposedly
millions of exocentric compounds in the dictionary. If for instance the data is changed
to any kind of exocentric compounds, for example anatomy-related exocentric
compound, the conclusion will still the same.
This thesis discussed compounding as one of the morphological processes and
more narrowly, the relation between exocentric compounds and idiomatic
expressions. The writer found a deeper relation between the two objects: the history,
the description, the use, and the significance in everyday conversation.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the above explanation, the research problems of this study are
formulated as follows:
1. What are the types of meaning found in animal-related exocentric compound
words?
2. What can determine an animal-related exocentric compound word as an idiomatic
expression?
C. Objectives of the Study
In accordance with the above research problems this study is aimed at these
research objectives. The first objective is to identify the types of meaning of some
related idiomatic expressions which are different from the other
animal-related exocentric compounds.
D. Definition of Terms
Exocentric Compoundis a type of compound when the rightmost component cannot determine the meaning of the entire compound words. Like endocentric
compound, exocentric compound is a word which has more than one stem. It is
produced by compounding: a word formation process that attaches two or more
lexical elements together to express a larger word. It can be written as one or more
words or joined by a hyphen. Exocentric compound is the combination of lexical
categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions) and the resulting compound
words are nouns, verbs, or adjectives. The meanings of the exocentric compounds are
interrelating that a new meaning are created, which is different from the meaning of
each individual word (Katamba, 1993: 174). Thus it can be concluded that, the
meaning of exocentric compound is the result of a process known as compounding
and the meaning cannot be determined by the head (O’Grady,et al, 1997: 155).
Idiom comes from Latin word idioma (special meaning). Idioms are a combination of words that create a phrase or sentence and express a figurative
meaning that cannot be guessed from the meaning of its individual words. Idioms are
phrases that do not adhere to the Principle of Compositionality, that is, whose
meaning is not from the combination of the meanings of its individual words.
meaning. The figurative meaning must be understood in regard to a common use of
the expression that separates from the literal meaning or definition of the words
which it is made (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 220). Idiomatic expressions is a fixed phrase,
consisting of more than one word, with fixed figurative meaning that must be learned
and cannot be inferred from the meanings of the individual words. Therefore, it can
be said that idiom is the combination of words which has a very special and unique
meaning different from the meaning of the independent word, or even from the
6
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter present reviews of relatedstudies on similar topics of compound
words and idiomatic expressions done by other researchers, review of some related
theories on compounding, idioms, metaphors, and proper nouns that are applied in
this thesis, and elaborate theoretical framework of the present thesis.
A. Review of Related Studies
1. Clara Agustina Marwati’sA syntactic analysis on English compound nouns
This undergraduate thesis tries to see compounds from the point of view of
syntax. She discusses the element of compound nouns and the syntactic relations of
compound nouns. The meanings of compound nouns are classified into compound
nouns that can be paraphrased or cannot. From the classifications, three categories of
compound nouns are found: transparent combination, opaque combination, and
exocentric compound. This study also finds that there are eight elements of
compound nouns. They are noun-noun, verb-noun, adjective-noun, preposition-noun,
adverb-noun, adjective-noun-noun, noun-noun-noun, and noun-adjective-noun. The
writer also conclude that there are some rules which are not applied in forming
compound nouns and the syntactic relations can be identified from paraphrasing the
analyzed shows that there are five kinds of relations: complement-head,
attribute-head, specifier-attribute-head, adjunct time-attribute-head, and adjunct place-head.
Marwati’s analysis is relevant to the present thesis because the compound
words discussed in this present thesis are animal-related and the whole data are
compound nouns which have noun as the head. The similarities are the present thesis
also uses compound nouns as the object of the study. However, the focus of the
present thesis is different from the above study because this thesis analyzes the
relation of the meaning of the compound noun with idiomatic expressions and what
can define a specific noun compound as an idiomatic expression.
2. Frederick J. Newmeyer’s The Regularity of Idiom Behaviorin Lingua,v. 34
In his article, Newmeyer tries to see idioms not from the semantic aspect but
from morphology and syntax aspects. He discusses that there is far more regularity to
the construction of idioms than is generally believed. The syntactic aspect of an idiom
can be predicted from the meaning of its literal equivalent. This article tries to explain
the transformational feature of idioms and also a transderivational limit on idiom by
considering that the lexical items of which idioms are composed have identical
entries to homophonous lexical items in their literal sense. To analyze the
transformational feature, cyclic rules are used: passive, unspecified object deletion,
conjunct movement, subject raising, tough movement, and there insertion. However,
the claim that idioms only reliable as semantic unit shows the difficulties to see its
transformational feature.
Newmeyer’s analysis is relevant to the present thesis because he consider that
an idiom to be a series of element for which the semantic interpretation is not a
compositional function of the formatives of which it is composed. This present thesis
is different from Newmeyer’s article in some aspects, although it is similar in dealing
with idiomatic expressions. The difference lies in the type of the data, Newmeyer
concerns only with what he stated as full idioms for which the constituent contains no
formatives whose ordinary lexical meaning contributes to the semantic interpretation
such as kick the bucket, toe the line. This present thesis concerned more on what he
stated as semi-idioms, where at least one formative contributes its ordinary lexical
meaning, as the data.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theories of Compounding
The definition of Compound is a word formation process “by combining two
already existing words.” (Katamba,1993: 174). From the definition, it can be
concluded that at least two independent words, that have their own meaning by itself,
can be put together to create a larger word that have its own meaning which is
different from the initial words. There are some principles in the structure of English
Compounds can be found in all the major lexical categories such as nouns -the
most common type of compounds-, verbs -quite infrequent compounds-, and
adjectives. The most element compound is N+N, followed by Adj+N, and V+N. As
seen in the examples provided below, the first member or the leftmost morpheme is
always a modifier of the second or the dependent, e.g.: dog house (N+N), cry wolf
(V+N), black bird(Adj+N). The rightmost morpheme determines the category of the
compound word, or it can be said that the lexical category of the last member of the
compound is the same as that of the entire compound. In other words, it acts as the
head of the compound from which most of the syntactic properties of the compound
are derived. For example,dog houseis a noun because its right component (house) is
belongs to noun.
Once formed, compounds can be combined with other lexical categories to
create still larger compounds, e.g.: dog food box. Compound words can contain more
than two words. But a compound word never has more than two components. For
example, the words dog and food were joined together to create the compound word
dog food. Then the compound dog food, now considered as one component, joined
with the word box to create the compound word dog food box and therefore still
composed of two components. Once formed, compounds can be combined with other
words to create still larger compounds, e.g.: Stone Age cave dweller. The basic
compounding operation is thus always binary, although repetition of the basic
forms. As seen in the above examples, the entire compound always consists of two
components, each of which may itself be a compound.
Compound can be written sometimes as single words or sometimes as
separate words or sometimes joined by an intervening hyphen, e.g.: bookworm;
swan-song; sabre-toothed. There are no strict rules of these forms because it varies with the
usage and the time-span of the compounds. New compounds usually written as
separated words. When it is used in a sentence the compounds has a hyphen. As the
compound becomes more common, the compound is written as one word.
Compounding may also interact with derivation. The morphemes of a compound are
often themselves derivationally complex, and sometimes, though not often, a
compound may serve as the base of a derivational affix, e.g.: abominable snowman.
In English, one of the distinguishing features of compounds is concerning tense and
plural markers. Both of them cannot be naturally attached on the first element or
morpheme. The way to added tenses and plural markers is to the compound as a
whole in last component or element, e.g.: bird house(s). But there are some
exceptions. e.g.: swordsman.
There are two types of compound related to the meaning of the compound
itself (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, and Rees-Miller, 2010: 120-124).
- Endocentric Compounds is when the rightmost component determines the meaning
of the entire compound words. This is the most cases found in English compounds.
- Exocentric Compounds is when the rightmost component cannot determine the
meaning of the entire compound words. These appear in a smaller number of cases
found in English compound. For example,white collaris not a type of collar, it have
another figurative meaning.
A very striking difference between English endocentric and exocentric compounds
sometimes shows up in cases where the head is a word like tooth, foot, or man, which
has an irregular plural form, e.g.: policemen, walkmans. Therefore, the endocentric
compounds still employ the usual irregular plural form, the exocentric compounds
permit the plural suffix (-s)
2. Theories of Idiom
Idiomatic expressions are phrases or sentence whose meaning is not clear
from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a single unit.
There are some rules to identify idiomatic expressions (Fromkin, et al, 2003:
206-207). Idiomatic expressions can appear as a combination of words, or as a
combination of phrases, or as a combination of clauses, or as a combination of
sentences, e.g.: black sheep; grain of salt; call it a day; you can say that again.
Idiomatic expressions can contain two meanings, the literal meaning and the
figurative meaning, e.g.: black sheep(a sheep that has black color or a not respectable
member of certain group). Not all idiomatic expressions can be translated word by
word. The result of the word by word translation will change the meaning or even
Some idiomatic expression also cannot be displaced or rearranged. The arrangement
is permanent, e.g.: high and dry(not dry and high).
The Principle of Compositionality is a principle which stated that the meaning
of phrases and sentences is determined by the meaning of the individual morphemes
and words they contain, together with the syntactic structure of the larger expression
(Fromkin, et al, 2003: 220). Based on the definition of both the Principle of
Compositionality and Idiomatic Expressions it can be seen that these term are very
distinctive. Therefore to analyze whether or not a compound is an idiom, the accuracy
of the meaning to the principle can be used to identify the compound words because
idioms are phrases that do not adhere to the Principle of Compositionality.
3. Theories of Metaphor
The definition of metaphor according to Fromkin, who states that:
A metaphor is an expression that ordinarily designates one concept -its literal meaning- but is used to designate another concept, thus creating an implicit comparison. (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204)
Fromkin elaborates that as one of the principal parts of the semantic study it is
essential to understand and use metaphor in everyday communications to
communicate efficiently and effectively.
There are some principles of metaphors (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204-205).
Metaphors cannot be interpreted literally or it may appear anomalous. The structure
of the metaphors can also be ambiguous but leads the listeners to think that in that
interpretation of the meaning. For example, walls have ears is certainly anomalous,
but it can be interpreted as meaning “you can be overheard even when you think
nobody is listening”
Not all metaphors are anomalous when understood literally because there are
also some metaphors that have acceptable literal meaning thus make the sentence
have both the literal and metaphorical meaning. For example, John is a tigercan be
interpreted literally to refer to a type of large animal of the cat family. The
metaphorical meaning is that John is a fierce man who resembles a tiger.
Metaphors, like idiomatic expressions, do not adhere to the Principle of
Compositionality. But unlike idiom which completely unattached to the principal,
metaphors expand it as a result when the literal meaning of the sentence is
unacceptable, the listeners widen it based on semantic properties that are inferred and
create some kind of similar comparison, for example: My new car is lemon. The
imagination widen in this case may relate to the semantic property that lemon
possesses which is “tastes sour”. As a result, metaphorically the sentence has
meaning of a newly purchased car that frequently breaks down and needs continuous
repairs.
Metaphors also have a strong cultural component. Hence, there are some
metaphors which appropriate from one culture but improper for another culture. This
also set up many expressions which now have been taken literally may originate as
metaphors because of the cultural influences. For example, my car is lemon may not
3. Theories of Proper Noun
Fromkin describes proper nouns as a language’s shortcuts to name people,
places, institutions, or entities. (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 185). The main function of
proper nouns is to distinguish one individual from another. Proper nouns have no
descriptive content even though it is one of the referring expressions. In some context
proper nouns may apply to some individuals or things, yet it is usually used as if the
references were unique and different from each other (Hoffmann, 1995: 192-193).
Some rules of proper nouns (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 185-187): Proper nouns are
different from most words in the language in that they usually have little meaning, or
sense, beyond the referral, thus it only used to refer to a specific object or entity. For
example, New Zealandrefers to an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean,
east of Australia.
Proper nouns refer to unique objects or entities within the context. It may be
an existing object, e.g.: Sanata Dharma University. The object may also be extinct,
e.g.: Tyranosaurus Rex. This includes the fictional entities, e.g.: Lemuell Gulliver. As
a result of this, proper nouns are definite, which means they refer to a unique object
that the speaker and listener are concerned with.
Proper nouns in English are not in general preceded by “the”. There are some
exceptions, such as the names of rivers, ships, erected structure, and twitter account
names, e.g.: the Nile, the Queen Mary, the Chrysler Building, @thewillsmith. Proper
objects, though they can be plural. There are exceptions when used in particular
circumstances, e.g.: the John Smithsrefer to the family of John Smith.
Proper noun can be preceded by an article if the resulting noun phrase is
followed by a modifying expression such as a prepositional phrase or a sentence, e.g.:
The Paris of the 1920s. Proper nouns cannot generally preceded by adjectives
because adjectives have the purpose to narrowing down the reference, but proper
nouns already refer to something that is already narrowed down, thus it is
unnecessary to add adjectives. Some exceptions: young Johnto distinguish between
two people named John.
C. Theoretical Framework
The related studies and theories presented above, the definitions of exocentric
compound words, idiomatic expressions, metaphors, and proper nouns, have given
contribution for the present thesis. The theory about two types of compound by
O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, and Rees-Miller are applied to the analysis as the basic
type of compounding according to the meaning. The theories on the arrangement of
compound such as the head as the meaning, and the plural forms are used to
differentiate endocentric and exocentric compound. The theories of idiomatic
expressions by Fromkin are used to analyze whether or not the compound data are
idioms as it observe the meanings accuracy to the Principle of Compositionality. The
theories of metaphors and proper nouns are used to distinguish some meaning of
16
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents a discussion of the research procedures and the way the
analysis of the study is conducted. The discussion includes the object of the study, the
approach used in the study, and the method of the study.
A. Object of the Study
The linguistic elements analyzed were exocentric compound which are related
to animal. Therefore, the data mostly consisted of compound words which are
compound nouns, either N+N, Adj+N, or V+N. The compound words taken were just
limited to two words compounding. Thus it just consisted of one constituent.
B. Approach of the Study
The approaches used in analyzing the linguistic elements are morphological
and semantic approach. The morphological approach is the identification, analysis
and description of the structure of a language's morphemes and other linguistic units,
such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation, or implied context (Katamba,
1993: 7-8). The research used a morphological approach because compounding is a
part of word formation process that deals with words and part of speech.
This research also used a semantic approach. A semantic approach is the
semantic approach is used because this thesis relates the compound words with
idiomatic expressions based from the meaning. The morphological approach was
used in the first part to analyze the compound words. After that, the semantic
approach was used to identify the idiomatic expressions
C. Method of the Study 1. Data Collection
The method used in this study is a sample study, specifically purposive
sampling method. A purposive sampling is a data collection method which
purposively takes a part of the population of interest or sub-collection selected from
the population that considered appropriate for the study. (Hansen, Hurwitz, and
Madow, 1953: 4-5). This method is used when the population is large, thus using the
sample of the population is considered to be sufficient.
The population of this research is all the animal-related exocentric compounds
recorded in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. The research was in a purposive
sampling by taking a number of animal-related exocentric compounds from the
dictionary. The purposive sampling was chosen since it only takes some exocentric
compounds from the total population in the dictionary. In the pre-collection activity,
preparation was made for the whole process of data collection. The target data were
in the form of animal-related exocentric compound nouns and only in the form of two
The source of the data collection was an English dictionary,Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary. The reason behind the choice of this dictionary was because
this dictionary was complete enough for the content of compound words.
Furthermore many students of the English Department of Sanata Dharma University
are using the edition of this dictionary; so it was easier to look for reference of this
research.
The first step is looking up exocentric compounds in each alphabet in the
dictionary. Since it was time consuming to analyze the whole dictionary from A to Z,
the initial plan is to take only two samples in each alphabet. But the writer is aware
that there are certain alphabets which contained small number or even not at all
animal-related word entry, for example the alphabet A contained the word entry of
alligator, alsatian, animal, ant, ape, but none of them include an exocentric
compound in the entries. Therefore, the data were taken from other alphabets that
possess a large number of animal-related word entries to provide different kinds of
exocentric compounds. If certain animal entry is already used, the other exocentric
compounds of the same entry are no longer included as the data. For example, the
entry cat contains some exocentric compound namely cat burglar, cat’s eye, and
scaredy catbut only one of them is included as the data. The last is making a list of
the collected exocentric compounds alphabetically which also include the meaning:
Bird Brain Noun + Noun A stupid or silly person
Dark Horse Adj + Noun A person who hides facts, especially special personal abilities
2. Data Analysis
After the data collected were set in a table, the first problem formulation will
be analyzed. The primary step of the analysis is explaining the form and meaning of
each exocentric compounds. Second is analyzing the type of exocentric compound,
from the meaning, based on the theories of idioms, metaphors, and proper nouns. The
data were then divided into three categories: the exocentric compound which has
metaphorical meaning, the exocentric compound which functions as proper nouns,
and the exocentric compound which also stands as idiomatic expressions. The
hypothesis of what could constitute the exocentric compound also obtained from the
classification of each data to the types of exocentric compound.
In analyzing the second problem, the theories of idioms are used again to
reveal and identify the reason why idiomatic expressions are very different from the
other exocentric compounds. The historical, cultural, and social aspects of the idioms
in the data are used to explain the transformation of an exocentric compound into
20
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter will show the outcome of the analysis. The theories presented in
the reviews section are used in this part of the thesis. This chapter will be divided into
two subchapters based on the two problem formulations. The first subchapter is to
identify the types of meaning of the exocentric compounds. The second subchapter is
to relate the exocentric compounds and idiomatic expressions.
The data are 32 animal-related exocentric compounds from Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary. Animal-related endocentric compound is not included as the
data. Animal-related here means that the exocentric compounds contained animal
names as one of the components. The data is arranged alphabetically as of the animal
component in the compounds. For example, white elephantis positioned before scape
goatbecause alphabetically elephantis placed ahead of goat.
A. Types of the Animal-Related Exocentric Compounds
Based on the analysis, the answer to the first problem, the types of meaning
found in animal-related exocentric compound words, is as follows: there are three
types of meanings found in animal-related exocentric compounds. The three types are
proper nouns, metaphors, and idiomatic expressions. From the 32 animal-related
exocentric compounds in the data, there are three proper nouns, thirteen metaphors,
1. Proper Nouns
Proper noun is a name of a person, place, institutions, etc, written with a capital letter
at the start (Hornby, Crowther, Kavanagh and Ashby, 1995: 929). There are three
animal-related exocentric compounds in the data that the can be categorized into
proper nouns:
a. Blue Bottle
This is an example of Adjective+Noun compound. The rightmost component
of Blue Bottle does not determine the meaning of the entire compound word because
it does not refer back to the actual thing. But the compound also does not contain a
figurative meaning. Theory of proper nouns stated that proper nouns are different
from any other words because they have little meaning beyond the referral (Fromkin,
et al, 2003: 187). Therefore Blue Bottle can also have a meaning of blue colored
bottle but in this case it refers to a specific animal, which is a large noisy fly with a
blue body. The name comes from the shape and color of this insect which has the
shape like a bottle and has blue color.
b. Big Foot
This is an example of Adjective+Noun compound. Big Footis a large creature
like an ape which some people believe lives in America. The literal meaning is an
enormous feet. But in this case, the rightmost component of Big Foot does not
determine the meaning of the entire compound words because it does not refer back
objects or entities within the context. It may be an existing object, extinct, and also
fictional entities (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 187). The compound got its name from the
impression that this creature has gigantic feet.
c. Brim Stones
This proper noun is an example of a Noun+Noun compound. The rightmost
component of Brim Stones does not determine the meaning of the entire compound
word because it does not refer back to some kind of stones. This compound neither
has the literal meaning of brim-colored stones nor have a particular figurative
meaning. Brim Stones is a type of yellow butterfly. Theory of proper nouns
confirmed that proper nouns are definite, which means they refer to a unique object
that the speaker and listener are concerned with (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 187) since this
compound is also used to describe sulfur but in this case is a name for certain species
of yellow butterfly.
2. Metaphors
Metaphor is the imaginative use of a words or phrase to describe something as
another object in order to show that they have the same qualities (Hornby,et al, 1995:
734). There are thirteen animal-related exocentric compounds in the data collection
that can be categorized into metaphors:
a. Bear Hug
The theory of compound stated that compounding process can be composed of
and tightly in one’s arms. Based on the meaning, the rightmost component still
determines the meaning, so bear hug is still a type of hug. But, as the theory of
metaphors stated, the literal meaning is used to designate another concept to create
implicit comparison (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 205). This action is supposedly not done
by bear but because of the tight hug which resembles bear. Therefore, the action of
bear is compared to the same action by human being.
b. Bird Brain
This is an example of N+N Compound. Based on the dictionary, bird brain is
used to refer to a stupid or silly person. The theory express that there are some
metaphors that have acceptable literal meaning (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204), so bird
braincan also be used to describe the brain part of birds. The idea came from the fact
that birds have very tiny brains, so it is used to describe unintelligent or brainless
person.
c. Cat Burglar
The theory of compound stated that the most commonly found compounding
process is from the combination of two nouns. This term is used to designate a
burglar who enters houses by climbing up walls to steal things. Based on the meaning
from the dictionary, the rightmost component still determines the meaning, so cat
burglar is still a type of burglar. The theory stated that metaphors cannot be
anomalous because cats cannot be burglars, but it can be interpreted as a burglar who
acts like cats which usually steal things such as foods.
d. Dog Days
This compound is also an example of a Noun+Noun compound. Dog days
means the hottest period of the year. Based on the meaning, the rightmost component
still determines the meaning, thus dog days still referred to the usual days. But it is
not matching the true literal meaning of days for dogs, thus they contain some
metaphorical meaning. This compound is an example of how metaphors have a
strong cultural component (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 205). Dog days came from the
history from the Romans who related the hot weather with the Dog Star, Sirius.
During summer months the star Siriusrises and sets with the sun which was believed
by the ancients that this alignment rising and setting extra heat to the weather.
e. Eagle Eye
This compound is a Noun+Noun compound. The meaning from the dictionary
is a keen and close attention especially to small details. Based on the meaning, the
rightmost component still determines the meaning, so eagle eyeis still related to eyes,
sight and an action of seeing. This compound solidifies the theory that not all
metaphors are anomalous when understood literally (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204). The
literal meaning is an eye of an eagle. But it is used to refer to something besides the
f. Flea Market
This compound is N+N compound. Flea market is an outdoor market that
sells old and used goods at low price. The rightmost component still determines the
meaning, so it is a type of market. The theories stated that when the literal meaning is
unacceptable, the listeners can widen the semantic properties and create a similar
comparison (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 205). The history of flea market is varied but some
said it is a common English phrase from the French "marché aux puces", literally
translating to "market where one acquires fleas".
g. Frog Man
This compound is N+N compound. The meaning based on the dictionary is a
person who swims wearing a rubber suit, flippers, and an oxygen supply so that he or
she can stay under the water. Like flea market above, the listeners can widen the
semantic properties and create a similar comparison (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 205), so
frog manrefers to man who wears the swimming suit and resembling a giant frog.
h. Panda Car
This is N+N compound. It is used to describe a small police car. Based on the
meaning, the rightmost component still determines the meaning. But it does not
contain the literal meaning of car for pandas. The theory stated that when literal
meaning is unacceptable, the meaning can be expanded from the literal to
metaphorical to generate a similar comparison (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204). Thus
i. Stag Party
This is an example of Noun+Noun compound. Stag party is a party for men
only, especially one for a man just before he gets married. As the meaning imply, the
rightmost component determine the meaning of the whole compound. But the theory
mentioned that the literal meaning of metaphors can be ambiguous or unclear
(Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204-205). Therefore, this compound is not referring to a party
only for stag, but referring to men-only party as stag is a male deer.
j. Swallow Tail
This compound is N+N compound. As a result noun is the lexical category of
this compound. It is used to refer something which has a deeply forked tail. The
rightmost component still determines the meaning of tail, thus it has an acceptable
literal meaning of the tail of a swallow (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 204). But, swallow tail
can be used to refer to any objects which have the tail part resembling swallow’s tail
such as coats.
k. Turtle Neck
This compound is N+N compound. This term is used to describe a garment
with a high part fitting closely round the neck. Even though the rightmost component
still determines the meaning, it also contains some metaphorical meaning. The literal
meaning that refers to the neck of turtles is used to designate another concept and
that gets its name for the collar, which can be elongated or drawn back, like the neck
of a turtle.
l. Weasel Word
Noun is the lexical category of this compound because the form is
Noun+Noun. Weasel word is a statement that are deliberately not clear, used when
one wishes to avoid committing oneself to a definite statement. The rightmost
component still determines the meaning as it is used to express words, phrases, or
sentences. But the meaning is anomalous and cannot be interpreted literally
(Fromkin, et al, 2003: 205) as utterances by weasel. The term comes from belief that
weasels sucked the contents from eggs to leave only the empty shells. Therefore, the
statements can be considered to be empty and have no meaning.
m. Zebra Crossing
This is an example of Noun+Noun compound. Zebra crossing is an area of
road with broad white lines painted on it, at which vehicles must stop if people wish
to walk across. Based on the meaning from the dictionary, the rightmost component
still determines the meaning, so this is still a type of pedestrians crossing in the
streets. But the literal meaning of the combined words is unacceptable (Fromkin, et
al, 2003: 204) as it is not a crossing for zebras. The name came from the unique
3. Idiomatic Expressions
Idiom is a phrase or sentences whose meaning is not clear from the meaning
of its individual words and which must be learnt as a single unit (Hornby, et al, 1995:
589). The difference from the examples of metaphors above is the rightmost
component of metaphors still constitutes the meaning, whereas idioms are not. There
are sixteen animal-related exocentric compounds in the data that can be categorized
into idiomatic expressions.
a. Eager Beaver
The theory of idiom stated that idiomatic expressions can appear as a
combination of words (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206). This idiom is a combination of
adjective and noun. Eager beaver is used to describe a keen and enthusiastic person
who works very hard. Based on the meaning, the rightmost component determines the
lexical category which is a noun. But the meanings of the entire word are not based
on the rightmost morphemes. The meaning does not adhere to the Principle of
Compositionality, in which the meaning cannot be obtained from the combination of
the meanings of the individual words.
Example: The new assistant always works late, she is a real eager beaver.
b. Fatted Calf
The theory of idiom stated that idiomatic expressions can appear as a
combination of words. This is an example of adjective and noun idiom. Fatted calfis
the rightmost component determines the lexical category which is a noun. But the
definition of idiomatic expressions stated that the figurative meaning of idioms
cannot be guessed from the meaning of its both words (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206).
Therefore, this compound also does not refer back to the actual calf.
Example: When Bob got back from college, his parents killed the fatted calf and
threw a great party.
c. Cash Cow
The theory of idiom stated that idiomatic expressions can appear as a
combination of words. This idiom is a combination of noun and noun. The meaning
from the dictionary is a business unit that generates unusually high profit margins.
This compound is not a type of cow, so the rightmost component does not determine
the meaning. Refers back to the Principle of Compositionality, the meanings cannot
be inferred from the meaning of each word in the compound, but had to be
understood as a single figurative meaning (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206).
Example: Their new smart phone model has become the cash cow for that company.
d. Crocodile Tears
The theory of idiom stated that idiomatic expressions can appear as a
combination of words. This is an example of adjective + noun idiom. The meaning of
this compound is used to address an insincere expression of sorrow. The rightmost
component does not express the meaning because it is not only limited to express an
tears. Once again this compound has to be learnt as a whole unit to fully understand
the figurative meaning (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206).
Example: When her cousin died, she shed crocodile tears because everyone knows
she actually hated him so much.
e. Eating Crow
The theory of idiom stated that idiomatic expressions can appear as a
combination of words. This is an example of the combination of verb and noun. The
meaning is humiliation by admitting wrongness after taking a strong position. From
the meaning, the rightmost component does not determine the meaning, so this is not
a type of crow. The meanings based on the dictionary imply again that these
compounds do not follow the Principle of Compositionality which is one
characteristic of idioms (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 207).
Example: You’ll have to eat crow if he is proved right.
f. White Elephant
This compound is composed of adjective and noun. White elephant is a
possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain
or difficult to dispose of. Based on the meaning on the dictionary, this rightmost
component of this compound does not used to describe a real elephant, even though
this compound also have an acceptable literal meaning to describe an albino elephant.
meanings cannot be inferred from the meaning of each word in the compound, but
had to be understood as a single figurative meaning.
Example: That enormous wardrobe your mother gave us has been nothing but a
white elephant.
g. Scape Goat
This idiom is an example of compound words composed of verb and noun
(Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206). Scape goat is a person who is punished for the faults of
somebody else. Despite that this compound is also a noun compound, the head does
not explain the meaning of the whole unit as this compound does not refer to the
animal goat. The figurative meaning of this compound must be understood separately
from the literal meaning.
Example: They simply wanted to find a scape goat to blame for that economic crisis.
h. Red Herring
This is an example of adjective and noun compound. Red herringis a term to
describe facts or events that lead people’s away from the main point. Based on the
meaning above, the rightmost component once again does not determine the meaning
of the whole compound (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206), so this is not a type of herring.
Moreover in reality there are no red colored herrings.
Example: The evidence about the missing gun, which the police spent so much time
searching for, turned out later to be only a red herring because it was not the
i. Dark Horse
This compound is an example of adjective and noun compound. The meaning
is used to explain a person who hides facts, especially special personal abilities. The
rightmost component of this compound is a noun, but the head does not describe the
meaning of the whole word. Based on the explanation of the meaning, this term is
intended for human being and not refers back to the animal horse. Although this
compound has an acceptable literal meaning of a dark-furred horse. Yet again the
meaning must be understood along with the common use that is different from the
definitions of the words it is made (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206-207).
Example: She was the dark horse in the tournament because many people do not
expect her to win.
j. Lion’s Share
This compound word is an example of compound consisted of two nouns.
Lion’s share is a term to illustrate the largest part of something when it is divided.
Based on the meaning, the rightmost component of share determines the lexical
category which is a noun. But the meanings of the entire word are not based from the
meaning of the combined words altogether. The meaning also does not adhere to the
Principle of Compositionality since the meaning is not originated from the
combination of meaning of both words in the compound (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 220).
k. Monkey Business
Noun is the lexical category of this compound because this compound is
formed by noun and noun. The meaning from dictionary is a Suspicious or dishonest
activity or behavior. The rightmost component does not determine the meaning of the
whole compound, so this is not a particular type of business for monkey. The theory
of idioms stated that the figurative meaning of idioms cannot be guessed from the
meaning of its words (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206).
Example: He seems to be involved in some kind of monkey business with that firm.
l. Pork Barrel
This compound is once more an example of Noun+Noun compound. The
meaning based on the dictionary is a term for government money spent on local
projects in order to win votes. As the meaning imply, the rightmost component does
not determine the meaning because it has nothing to do with a barrel contain pork.
Even though it is used to describe the literal thing in the past, once more the
compound does not obey the Principle of Compositionality as the meaning is not
from the combination of meanings of the words (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 220).
Example: Many politicians were believed to use pork barrel politics in that election
to make sure that they will win.
m. Rat Race
As a compound consists of two nouns, noun is the lexical category of this
competes fiercely to be more successful than everybody else. Based from the
meaning, the rightmost component does not determine the meaning, so this is not a
particular kind of race for rats. In this case it is used to describe an entirely different
situation. Refers back to the theory of idioms which does not applying the Principle
of Compositionality (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 220), the meaning had to be understood as
a single figurative meaning and cannot be inferred from the meaning of each word in
the compound.
Example: He grew tired of the rat race in the city and now retired to live in the
country.
n. Black Sheep
This compound is an example of Adjective+Noun compound.Black sheepis a
person who is strongly disapproved of by other members of his or her family. The
meaning from the dictionary implied that the meaning is not based on the rightmost
morphemes. The meanings of this compound cannot be inferred literally from the
meaning of the words in the compound, because this compound also contained an
acceptable literal meaning which is sheep that has black fleece, it had to be
understood as a single figurative meaning (Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206).
Example: His brother has always been the black sheep of the family because he has
o. Swan Song
This compound is also an example of Noun+Noun compound. As a result
noun is the lexical category of this compound. Based on the dictionary the meaning is
a person’s last work or act before retirement or death. From the meaning, this
compound is commonly not only used to describe an actual song but also to refer to
any kind of art such as painting, dance or even acting performance. This compound
yet again has to be learnt as a whole unit to fully understand the figurative meaning
(Fromkin, et al, 2003: 206).
Example: The actor’s performance in that movie proved to be his swan song, because
he retired from the film industry after that.
p. Cry Wolf
The theory of compound stated that although the number of Verb+Noun
compound is very small, compounding process can be composed of verb combining
with a noun. The meaning of Cry wolf is to pretend there is danger and call for help
when it is no needed. The meanings still cannot be inferred from the meaning of each
word in the compound because based on the meaning the use is not only limited to
cry for the danger of wolf. The compound contains a figurative meaning that
exceptionally different form the literal meaning.
Example: She’s cried wolf so often about her children’s health that no-one believes
B. Animal-Related Exocentric Compounds as Idiomatic Expressions seen from the Origin of the Words
Based on the analysis, the answer to the second problem, what can determine
an animal-related exocentric compound word as an idiomatic expression, is as
follows: exocentric compounds can become idiomatic expressions when the
figurative meanings are predetermined that the history of the actual meaning is no
longer relevant and it can be applied as a figure of speech.
Almost all compound words begin with the literal meaning or endocentric
compound when the meaning can be obtained from the meaning of its head. For
example, an endocentric compound of dark horse has the meaning of horse which has
black hair-coat. Then it develops into exocentric compound in which contained a
particular figurative meaning that cannot be inferred from the meaning of its each
word. For that reason, exocentric compound of black horse has the meaning of a
person who hides special personal abilities.
From the collected data of animal-related exocentric compound word, it can
be seen that metaphors originated from the literal meaning or as endocentric
compounds as well. Then these terms became metaphors when they are used by
people to compare or associate the literal meaning to describe something when it
seems similar in a particular situation. For example, the literal meaning ofeagle eye
is to refer the eye parts of eagles. But then the meaning is expanded when this term
details around him or her. As a result when it is used as metaphors, people can
associate the comparison to the actual meaning of an eye of the eagles.
The meaning of the English-language idioms also originated from the original
use of literal meaning and then expanded to the implied figurative meaning as people
know nowadays. This means that there are some idioms which have acceptable literal
meaning, such as black sheep, dark horse, and white elephant. There are some
reasons which cause animal-related exocentric compound develop into idiomatic
expression, some of them are animal characteristics, historical and cultural
phenomenon, and also the activities by human in relation to the animals.
Similar to the examples of metaphors from the data collected (bird brain,
eagle eye, etc), the characteristics of certain animals sometimes become the basis in
the creation of idiomatic expressions. Eager beaver, monkey business, and black
sheepare idioms based on the characteristic of animals. The term eager beavercomes
from beavers which have the characteristics of always enthusiastic and industrious
when build their house or when looking for food. Therefore, the word beaver itself
are associated with the connotation of hard-working, self-disciplined, and organized.
Monkey business gets the meanings from monkeys that are often depicted to be an
intelligent animal which can understand or even often trick human. The implications
of monkeys are playful, mischievous and deceitful in this term used to describe an act
or behavior that will cause disadvantage to some people. Black sheep comes from a
an idiom because black wool are considered to be useless compare the usual white
wool
The historical and cultural phenomenon can be categorized further into three
parts. The first is idioms based on Biblical references or tales such as fated calf and
scape goat. The idiom fatted calf gets its meaning from a story in the Bible,
specifically the parable of the prodigal son by Jesus Christ in the New Testament
(Gospel of Luke 15:11-32) about a father who killed a young fatted cow in order to
celebrate and welcoming the return of his son whom the father has not seen for a long
time and thought he was already dead.Scape goat derived from the story in the Old
Testament (Leviticus 16) when a goat is used in the ritual by Aaron and then sent into
the desert to be sacrificed and carry the sins of the Israelites. Therefore, the goat will
carry the punishment.
The second is idioms from fables or stories such as crocodile tears, lion’s
share, swan song and cry wolf. Crocodile tears originated from tale that crocodile
was once presumed to weep bitterly, either to attract the attention of potential victims
(Hakluyt’s Voyages, 1600) or while eating them (Mandeville’s Travels, 1400). As a
famous story-teller, Aesop’s fables are very well-known throughout the ages. Some
story became familiar that it creates a long-lasting terms that can be applied to
everyday life. Lion’s share derives from fable which tells a story about the greedy
lion that always wants to gets the entire food and does not want to share it with other
animals which went hunting together with him. Similar to the Lion’s sharestory, Cry
entertain himself and keeps tricking people into believing that a wolf is attacking his
flock of sheep by crying wolf to see the panic he causes in the community, the boy
tricks the people so many times that when a real wolf actually appears, the people
don't believe his cries for help and the wolf killed all his sheep. Swan songrefers to
ancient beliefs that swans, which usually having been silent during its lifetime, will
produces and sings a wonderful song once in the moment just before their death.
The last is from a particular culture such as cash cow from India and white
elephantfrom Thailand. The people of India are often offering money to the temple
idols in the form of cows. Cash cow comes from Indian folktale about a sacred cow
that had the ability to instantly produce whatever a person wished for. White elephant
in Thailand were traditionally treated like royalty. The idiom receives the meaning
when the kings were accustomed to give white-skinned elephant to nobles he dislike,
because the cost to conserve the elephant was likely would ruin them.
The activities by human in relation to the animals also happen to set up some
idiomatic expression such as eating crow, pork barrel, red herring, dark horse, and
rat race. Eating crow came from the bad taste of crow when it is eaten, in the same
way that being proved wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow. Pork barrel
derives from American history, when slave people received a barrel containing salted
pork from the authorities as a payment to their support. Red herring came from a
herring which is kippered, salted, and smoked until it becomes red. The scent of red
herring which have been dragged across the trail of the scent of other animal could
describe a horse that its performance is unknown to gamblers and thus would be
difficult to place betting odds on. The use of rat as a scientific experiment in a
laboratory creates the term rat racefrom image of the futile efforts of the rat trying to
escape while running around a maze or in a wheel.
Therefore, the developments of compound words into idiomatic expressions
are like this. First, two different words were joined together to make a bigger word
which contains the literal meaning from the combination of the words. This is an
endocentric compound. After that when people learn the connotation of some words,
these compound words are used as a term to describe something else. This is when
the head component of the compound no longer expresses the meaning of the whole
compound. Afterward the exocentric compound are used as a comparison, to describe
something by conjure up an image of something entirely different from the actual
things. This process of transferring the meaning is called metaphors. When these
metaphors are no longer associated to the actual things, meaning to say that people no
longer needs to recall the actual things when these terms is used, these terms becomes
idiomatic expressions when the meanings are permanent that people no longer needs
to know the history of the actual meaning but can grasp or understand the meaning as
it is. From the explanation of the history of some animal-related idiomatic expression,
it can be seen that idioms need a very long time to become the state as it is today.
Therefore, it is safe to say that in the upcoming years or even centuries, new
idiomatic expressions will be established. And it can also emerge from the metaphors
41
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION
We now will return to the initial questions of the problem formulated in the
first chapter and try to answer them based on the analysis results and discussions.
Both exocentric compounds and idiomatic expressions have some similar properties
in the combinations of words, phrases, and clauses; formed from the combination of
lexical elements such as adjective, verb, and noun; cannot be rearranged and
displaced; the meaning contained can be literal and figurative; have to be understood
in a whole to understand the meaning. Idiomatic expression and exocentric compound
which have regular and ordinary syntactic structure are necessary to put their
meanings in the lexicon because of their semantic unpredictability.
Based on the analysis results and discussion of the types of animal-related
exocentric compound it can be conclude that not all exocentric compounds can be
categorized as idioms. The answer of the first problem, the types of meaning found in
the exocentric compound, there are three types of meaning of the exocentric
compounds. The first is proper noun which is names of some brand or product. Next
is exocentric compound which contain metaphorical meaning to the real objects or
things in real world. The last is exocentric compound which contain figurative
meaning that expands into idiomatic expression when the meanings cannot be
inferred from the meaning of each word in the compound, but had to be understood as
