In this paper, the issue of compound nouns during the Old English period will be developed on the basis of two of Ælfric’s Lives of Saints. All this can be analysed under functional approaches, whose overall framework is the study of language as a means of communication, as well as under the perspectives opened by relevance theory, based upon the study of the existing relationships between communicative efforts and effects. They are cog- nitively or functionally grounded, and their use has to do as well with the evolution of the English language, which progressively tends to reflect more complex ideas and thoughts. Together with this primarily syn- tactic phenomenon, an additional but not less important factor in the development of compounds can also be found. Published in 1935, Tortilla Flat was the first of John Steinbeck’s works to receive critical attention and acclaim.
Compound nouns, which by definition imply a condensation of in - formation, seem to be particularly important at the stage of the Old English period, because the predominant synthetic tendencies of the language and the comparative scarcity of prepositions may have fostered such formations.
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