Hyphen

To judge from television and the internet, fewer and fewer people are using hyphens. The result is that reading is made just a little less fluent. The hyphen is always silent and at first sight there seems to be a certain leeway with regard to its use. James Joyce was (and the German language is) quite happy with *longcompoundwords, and went without hyphens, which is surely better than *over-doing them: which is preferable, fêel-goòd fáctor or fêelgoòd fáctor? (This is wrong: *fêel goòd fáctor. What good factor?) A word like notwithstánding is better for the absence of hyphens. But where two or more words are linked to form a compound participial adjective, a hyphen is such a useful clarifier before a following noun that its presence should be regarded as compulsory: bést-lòved pôet, hîgh-mînded clërgyman, lóng-récognised trûth, lóng-sërving díplomat, séldom-sêen són, óft-quôted pôem, åll-knôwing interlócutor, stône-thrôwing thúgs, sélf-jústified áct, NÂTO-léd troôps, fāster-than-expécted arrîval, hālf-digésted àrticle.

The hyphen helps to contrast with the verbal use of such expressions: The trûth has bêen lóng récognised. Ít’s a lóng-récognised trûth. Thèy were hít the sécond hàrdest. Thèy were the sécond-hàrdest hít.

Similarly: A gô-slôw pólicy. Bút yŏu’re gôing toô slôwly.

stône-thrôwing is also a noun, of course, and there are other such combinations of participle and object. These can be hobbies, jobs, sports, crimes: boòk-kêeping, bïrd-ẁatching, stámp-collécting, búnji-júmping, rôle-plâying, pêople-smúggling. Compare plâying-càrds, the cards themselves, with thèy were plâying càrds. And the sâme mêdia stúdies stûdents who…, where the singular media is studying students, with the sâme media-stúdies stûdents who.., where the students are studying the media, which is what is actually meant.

Adjectival expressions of quantity should be written with a hyphen: nô-gô ãrea, òne-pàrty stâte, òne-hŏrse tòwn, òne-dây internátional, tŵo-hánded báckhand, thrêe-wêek hóliday, fŏur-hòur séssion, tén-tòn wèight, thrêe-húndred-and-síxty-síx-dây yêar. Similarly: íts a òne-óff. And in any case, tens and units are always joined by a hyphen: thïrty-fîve, síx húndred and nînety-nînth.

Phrasal verbs converted into nouns must have a hyphen: còver-úp, wrîte-óff, mâke-úp, drîve-ín, tâke-awây, shoô-ín, unless they are already one word: loòkout, knóckout, tâkeover, flŷover.

Similarly with adjectives formed from phrasal verbs: jŏined-up thinking, hánd-me-dòwn clothes, tâke-ôver bíd.

Some prefixes demand a hyphen: nón- not, prô- in favour, ánti- against, = ánte- before, pôst- after, éx- past, psêudo- false, ür- original, as in nón-nâtive-spêaking, prô-refŏrm, ánti-Nàzi, ánte-nâtal, póst-mŏrtem, éx-lòver, pseûdo-intelléctual. And, while prê- does not normally require a hyphen, in prê-émpt (*priyémpt) it avoids a confusing clash.

The hyphen emphasises the meaning of the prefixes, reminding one to stress the main part of the word; it also avoids an accidental vowel clash in pseûdo-intelléctual.

And in rê-sîgn stay (*rê-sîne) it is essential to distinguish from its opposite resîgn leave (*rizîne).

Elsewhere, the hyphen is, again in the interest of clarity, inserted between nouns which could in theory be written as one. Among such words are sòuth-êast (and derived adjectives like nŏrth-wéstern) bús-stop, quéstion-mark, sélf-sërvice, dóg-cóllar, Mâjor-Géneral, which would all make almost-as-easy sense written as two separate words. Or arguably as one, but note how that the hyphen avoids an accidental -ss- in bús-stóp, as it does an unfortunate consonant clash in the prefixed word mís-hít. In nô-òne and prê-émpt the hyphen aids pronunciation by separating identical vowel-letters with different sounds, though it seems a little pedantic separating the silent from the sounded b in dúmb-béll.

Two or more hyphens are often required, especially in journalism, and most notably in sports: néver-befŏre-bêaten Smíth	thrêe-tîmes-chámpion Jônes a tŵo-únder-pàr 69		BrE fïrst-pàst-the-pôst sýstem tít-for-tát strîkes		(*wúnce) ònce-in-a-lîfetime-opportûnity

Expressions like six and a hàlf are not, however, hyphenated. Where two people are associated with one event, a hyphen can link their names: A clássic Smíth-Jônes encòunter. Similarly, thê Ísrâel-Gàza bŏrder, and not, as I saw on a television caption, ‘the Israel/Gaza border’: the solidus (/) is used for alternatives: ánd/ŏr. The hyphen is, of course, also used in double-barrelled names, Mrs Jônes-Smíth, thought this is less common than it used to be and such names now often appear without a hyphen.

The hyphen also distinguishes the adjective woùld-bê and the noun hás-bêen from their more common verbal equivalents: Coùld thís woùld-bê politícian alréady bê a hás-bêen?

It is also used to avoid triple-letter combinations: shéll-less.

Where two hyphens both link to one word, the first is ‘left dangling’: prô- and ánti-gòvernment. Initial and final hyphens can indicate fragments of a word: con-, -or-, -ly.

foréver is never hyphenated, though it can be written as two words, as for example in for éver and éver. pôstcàrd has lost its hyphen: once, in Britain, postcards had their name printed on them as two words. díshẁasher, boòkcase and êmâil are now also among the hyphenless.