meaning - Can word-hyphenation ever be semantically significant?


I was prompted by this question (difference between ecosystem and eco-system) to wonder whether word-hyphenation can ever be semantically significant.


My gut instinct is to say that since hyphenation is normally an intermediate step before a compound form becomes a single word, the answer should be "No". But if my experience here at ELU has taught me anything, it's that opinions often differ in matters of language usage.


I hate to ask something that looks like a request for a "list". A single undisputed example would do. Does the presence/absence of a hyphen ever change a compound word's meaning?


EDIT: I was specifically thinking of cases where a single "compound word" either does or doesn't have a hyphen, not where two component words may or may not be separated by a space. I understand whiteboard has a specific meaning distinct from white board - but if white-board exists at all, I at least can't distinguish that from whiteboard.


Cases such as rusty-nail cutter vs rusty nail-cutter also turn on which pair of the three words are "compounded", rather than whether the hyphen is present in the compound form.


More tellingly, I now see (hear?!) that, for example, re-creation and pro-verb are distinct from their unhyphenated equivalents. In the absence of contradictory examples, I'm starting to think any difference in meaning can only exist if it's accompanied by a difference in pronunciation.



Answer



Word-hyphenation is not semantically significant, in any general sense. Semantics is about language, which is spoken; writing and punctuation are technology, not language. Hyphens are inaudible, therefore not part of language. And punctuation habits are way too unsettled and chaotic to depend on.


However, the fact that this question arises does show that many people don't know this. And that means that some people may well attempt to make word-hyphenation carry that kind of signficance.


They inevitably fail, unless they have some different way of pronouncing the hyphenation that catches on, and that people will accept as a different word or compound, pronounced differently. This almost never happens, of course. I know of no examples, for sure, outside of possible trademark-infringement suits, of which I am totally ignorant.


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