Comparative Overview on Word-Compounding in English and Albanian

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative bilingual overview, by comparing word formation in two languages, respectively Albanian
and English, as well as the main word formation trends in both languages. Both languages display a variety of word formation
techniques, but their classifications according to different ways are not in complete conformity with each other. An example of this is
“pëngjitja”1, which in Albanian is classified as an independent class form the compound nouns, while in English it appears under the
heading of “compounds”. The paper will also highlight spelling and phonetic differences in both languages. In Albanian language the
“përngjitja” is formed by the monomial of word group or phrase, a prepositional phrase or a group of words in general. The syntactic
relations between the terms of the phrase or the group are usually preserved clearly, even in the structure of the newly formed word -të
përngjitur. In English compounding, which also includes përngjitja refers to the process of combining two words to form a new one,
where the words added at the beginning to a certain extent subcategorizes the words following it.