Les composés biverbaux

Les composés biverbaux composent l’écrasante majorité de la classe des composés verbaux, avec 36 unités :

aid and abet

back and fill

bill and coo

bob and weave

bow and scrape

chop and change

crash and burn

cut and paste

cut and run

divide and rule/conquer

drag and drop

draw and quarter

duck and dive

ebb and flow

eff and blind

fetch and carry

forgive and forget

hem and haw

huff and puff

kiss and make up

live and breathe

mix and match

mock/mop and mow

name and shame

pick and choose

puff and pant/blow

rake and scrape

rant and rave

rise and shine

scrimp and save

tar and feather

top and tail

toss and turn

wax and wane

wheel and deal

wine and dine

D’un point de vue formel, la flexion verbale est généralement double, mais la monoflexion est attestée dans FindArticles et Google Book Search pour les composés cut and paste, drag and drop, hem and haw, mix and match, tar and feather et top and tail :

‘“[...] users can dial straight from text applications by cut-and-pasting a phone number into the program.”, Matt Hines, Neswsbytes News Network, 19 février 1999.’ ‘“Students who think that cut-and-pasting from the internet offers a magical solution to an essay deadline aren’t as clever as they think.”, James Harkin, The Guardian, 7 mars 2002.’ ‘“You can scan to any application that supports drag and dropped files even if that application has no support for scanning.”, Business Wire, 1 avril 1997.’ ‘“Any Windows file in any format can be drag and dropped and integrated into the database.”, Howard Solomon, Computing Canada, 28 septembre 1998.’ ‘“We had omelets and coffee and I found a mosquito spread-eagled on the corner of my eggs and after hem and hawing we sent it back.”, In the Shadow of the American Dream, de Amy Scholder, 2000, Grove Press, p. 31.’ ‘“I guess they hem-and-hawed around for a little while [...].”, I Remember Bobby Jones: Personal Memories of and Testimonials to Golf’s Most Charismatic Grand Slam Champion, As Told by the People Who Knew Him, de Mike Towle, 2001, Cumberland Press Publishing, p. 106.’ ‘“In the section ‘the Bistrot offers’ you’ll find a selection of extra goodies which can be mix and matched with the set menus or treated as a la carte.”, Charles Campion, The Evening Standard, 2 juillet 2004.’ ‘“New Labour, however, is bent upon mix-and-matching the bits of rural life it now finds acceptable, and ruthlessly liquidating those it does not.”, Max Hastings, The Spectator, 10 août 2002.’ ‘“He pretty much tar-and-feathered us in that article.”, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, de Legs McNeil et Gillian McCain, 1997, Penguin, p. 277.’ ‘“In London you would be lucky to escape from such a situation with anything less than a tar-and-feathering , yet from the two drivers behind there was not a hoot.”, Brian Viner, The Independent, 7 novembre 2002.’ ‘“[...] 1 large carrot, peeled and cubed; 55g French beans, top and tailed ; 6 new potatoes, washed and halved [...]”, Bob Granleese, The Guardian, 19 août 2000.’ ‘“Planting the seeds was always a great moment, but then I hated having to remove the stones and do the weeding, hoeing, harvesting and top-and-tailing .”, Amy Fleming, The Guardian, 12 septembre 2002.’

D’un point de vue sémantique, les composés biverbaux ont une affinité certaine avec la composition tautologique, car neuf unités résultent de l’assemblage de deux quasi-synonymes. Dans certains cas, la spécialisation sémantique du composé est évidente : elle renvoie à une intensification (pick and choose = “to select with great care ”), à une restriction contextuelle (toss and turn = “to keep changing your position in bed because you cannot sleep ”), ou à une métaphorisation (hem and haw, huff and puff). La répétition du signifié peut aussi avoir une valeur iconique durative ou itérative : celle-ci est relevée par les lexicographes pour chop and change (“ to keep changing what you do or what you plan to do”) rant and rave (“to show that you are angry by shouting or complaining loudly for a long time ”) et toss and turn (“ to keep changing your position in bed because you cannot sleep”), et elle est à étendre à puff and pant et scrimp and save, lesquels sont répertoriés sans mention d’une quelconque spécialisation séman-tique. Dans le cas de aid and abet, la tautologie est un indice de terminologisation ; la présence de coordinations tautologiques semble d’ailleurs une caractéristique de la terminologie juridique de l’anglais (ex. : null and void, separate and apart, ways and means). Par ailleurs, plusieurs composés biverbaux ont un sens métaphorique :

‘- back and fill : “THE WAY OF ACTING OR THINKING IS LIKE A WAY OF MANEU-VERING A VESSEL.”
- bill and coo : “LOVERS ARE LIKE DOVES.”
- cut and run : “THE PERSON IS LIKE A SHIP.”
- draw and quarter : “THE WAY OF PUNISHING IS LIKE DEADLY TORTURE.”
- hem and haw : “THE WAY OF BEING HESITANT, INDECISIVE, IS LIKE UTTERING HEMS AND HAWS.”
- huff and puff : “THE WAY OF COMPLAINING VISIBLY IS LIKE BREATHING VISI-BLY.”
- rise and shine : “THE PERSON IS LIKE THE SUN.”
- top and tail : “THE BABY IS LIKE A VEGETABLE.”’

Il est, pour finir, remarquable que près de la moitié des composés biverbaux (16 sur 36) aient un signifiant prégnant : les composants sont dans ce cas des monosyllabes qui se font écho par l’intermédiaire d’une rime (huff and puff, name and shame, wheel and deal, wine and dine) ou, plus fréquemment, d’une allitération (chop and change, drag and drop, duck and dive, hem and haw, forgive and forget, mop and mow, mix and match, puff and pant, rant and rave, scrimp and save, top and tail, toss and turn, wax and wane). Pour huit de ces composés (chop and change, hem and haw, huff and puff, mop and mow, puff and pant, rant and rave, scrimp and save, toss and turn), la répétition du signifié et celle d’une partie des segments du signifiant se conjuguent, formant une catégorie de composés doublement prégnants.