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Binominals denoting instruments: A contrastive perspective

  • Chiara Naccarato and Shanshan Huang
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Binominal Lexemes in Cross-Linguistic Perspective
This chapter is in the book Binominal Lexemes in Cross-Linguistic Perspective

Abstract

This chapter presents a contrastive analysis of complex nominals denoting instruments within the semantic field of cooking in four languages: Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. The study takes an onomasiological perspective to word formation with an aim to detect the morphosyntactic strategies adopted by the four languages to express the same concepts. Based on data from a corpus of cooking recipes created ad hoc for this investigation, we classify complex nominals denoting instruments by employing the analytical tools of the onomasiological theory of word formation. The results of our analysis show that there is a correlation between onomasiological type and type of cooking instrument. The onomasiological type to which binominals belong is most frequently associated with instruments for serving food, in which the semantic relation between the two constituents is one of purpose. As for the morphosyntactic strategies employed, we found that Italian and Russian binominals are the result of derivation and adjectival or prepositional constructions, whereas Mandarin Chinese and Japanese use noun-noun compounding. Japanese frequently employs loanwords, which sometimes compete with compounds based on native or hybrid material.

Abstract

This chapter presents a contrastive analysis of complex nominals denoting instruments within the semantic field of cooking in four languages: Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. The study takes an onomasiological perspective to word formation with an aim to detect the morphosyntactic strategies adopted by the four languages to express the same concepts. Based on data from a corpus of cooking recipes created ad hoc for this investigation, we classify complex nominals denoting instruments by employing the analytical tools of the onomasiological theory of word formation. The results of our analysis show that there is a correlation between onomasiological type and type of cooking instrument. The onomasiological type to which binominals belong is most frequently associated with instruments for serving food, in which the semantic relation between the two constituents is one of purpose. As for the morphosyntactic strategies employed, we found that Italian and Russian binominals are the result of derivation and adjectival or prepositional constructions, whereas Mandarin Chinese and Japanese use noun-noun compounding. Japanese frequently employs loanwords, which sometimes compete with compounds based on native or hybrid material.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Exploring complex lexemes cross-linguistically 1
  4. Part 1: Form (morphosyntactic strategies)
  5. Defining and typologizing binominal lexemes 21
  6. Binominals and construct marking 73
  7. Compounds and other nominal modifier constructions in Pama-Nyungan languages 103
  8. New types of binominal lexeme in Anindilyakwa (Australia) 153
  9. Binominals in Äiwoo: Compounds, possessive constructions, and transitional cases 181
  10. NN.gen and NArel juxtapositions in Polish: Syntactic schemas employed in building phrasal nouns 213
  11. The derivational use of classifiers in Western Amazonia 237
  12. Binominals denoting instruments: A contrastive perspective 277
  13. Part 2: Meaning (semantic relations)
  14. Hatcher-Bourque: Towards a reusable classification of semantic relations 303
  15. Binominal strategies and semantic correlations in Turkic languages 355
  16. A classification of compounds in Karachay-Balkar 381
  17. Binominal lexemes in Moksha and Hill Mari 401
  18. Part 3: Acquisition
  19. Binominals and potential competitors in language development: Evidence from Swedish 429
  20. List of contributors 463
  21. Index of Subjects 465
  22. Index of Languages 471
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110673494-009

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Exploring complex lexemes cross-linguistically 1
  4. Part 1: Form (morphosyntactic strategies)
  5. Defining and typologizing binominal lexemes 21
  6. Binominals and construct marking 73
  7. Compounds and other nominal modifier constructions in Pama-Nyungan languages 103
  8. New types of binominal lexeme in Anindilyakwa (Australia) 153
  9. Binominals in Äiwoo: Compounds, possessive constructions, and transitional cases 181
  10. NN.gen and NArel juxtapositions in Polish: Syntactic schemas employed in building phrasal nouns 213
  11. The derivational use of classifiers in Western Amazonia 237
  12. Binominals denoting instruments: A contrastive perspective 277
  13. Part 2: Meaning (semantic relations)
  14. Hatcher-Bourque: Towards a reusable classification of semantic relations 303
  15. Binominal strategies and semantic correlations in Turkic languages 355
  16. A classification of compounds in Karachay-Balkar 381
  17. Binominal lexemes in Moksha and Hill Mari 401
  18. Part 3: Acquisition
  19. Binominals and potential competitors in language development: Evidence from Swedish 429
  20. List of contributors 463
  21. Index of Subjects 465
  22. Index of Languages 471
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