LANGUAGE IN INDIA

The Role of Compounding in Technical English Prescribed for
Engineering Students in Tamilnadu

P. Malathy, M.A., Ph.D.

1. Glimpses on Compounding

Compounding is frequently used in the word formation process in Technical English. Flexibility in compounding and the ease with which it can be applied to express complex meanings and concepts make compounds a great favorite in Technical English.

Compounding is a process whereby two free morphemes are combined as one word. They differ from both derivational and inflectional affixation as they are the exclusive amalgamation of two free morphemes. For instance, the form 'black box', consisting of two free morphemes, may be interpreted as a box that is black in colour, but the concept borne by the compound, blackbox, points out to the fluorescent orange colour box fitted in the aeroplanes to explore the history of any mishap during emergencies.

In the word rainbow, there are two individual morphemes 'rain' and 'bow' to mean two different things, when these are not combined. However, the combination of these two words gives a new dimension to the words, rain and bow, by associating a new meaning to it.

In compounding, when two or more free morphemes are combined, we get a form without any change in their original forms, but such a combination results in some new meaning. Adjacency of these free morphemes ushers in a new concept/meaning.

The prime difficulty in exploring the form and function of the compound words in English is that there are no systematic rules for the compounding of two or more free morphemes.

Perhaps, it might simply be expected that in English, two words will be compounded when they are frequently used together. However, to make things slightly more complicated, the English language also consists of compound words whose meanings have seemingly lost their connection to their constituents' meanings. The meaning of the word deadline, for example, has little to do with 'death' or 'line'.

2. Compounding in Technical English

Compounding is prevalent in Technical English prescribed for engineering students in Tamilnadu, India (and this, indeed, is a good plan and wise move). For instance, the use of the compounds given below, frequently seen in engineering texts, may confuse the students when not expanded properly.

Fire-tube-boiler
Condenser-extraction pump
Butt-weld
Highbandwidth-internet-connectivity

An important goal of the syllabus prescribed for the engineering students in Tamilnadu is better comprehension of the compounds with a special focus on engineering texts.

The teaching and learning of the compounds poses some difficulty in the engineering classroom. It appears that the authors of engineering textbooks are more focused on the presentation and interplay of the concepts, etc., rather than on the presentation mode and language style they should adopt to make their texts readable and easily comprehensible. Thus, the compound jargon used in engineering texts often goes beyond the entry level of students' comprehension. As a matter of fact, the conjoining of morphemes in compounds leads to ambiguous comprehension, if the students are not acquainted with the process of compounding and the meaning nuances/results that the combination brings about. Hence, it becomes very essential to resolve the ambiguity of such technical and engineering jargon.

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