Parasynthetic compounds
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Chiara Melloni
Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to parasynthetic compounding, a word-formation phenomenon consisting of the merger of two lexical stems (forming a non-existent compound) with a derivational suffix. On the basis of several classes of data pertaining to Slavic and Romance, we outline a formal analysis of the phenomenon in question and show that a constructionist account, recently developed within the Construction Morphology framework, cannot be applied to a particular set of compounds. We show that a configurational analysis of these (pseudo)compound-affixed forms formulated along the lines of Ackema and Neeleman (2004) which applies a severe mapping between the morpho-syntactic and semantic structure, is not only able to account for the challenging data at issue, but also refines our comprehension of the synthetic compounding phenomena commonly attested in most I.E. languages.
Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to parasynthetic compounding, a word-formation phenomenon consisting of the merger of two lexical stems (forming a non-existent compound) with a derivational suffix. On the basis of several classes of data pertaining to Slavic and Romance, we outline a formal analysis of the phenomenon in question and show that a constructionist account, recently developed within the Construction Morphology framework, cannot be applied to a particular set of compounds. We show that a configurational analysis of these (pseudo)compound-affixed forms formulated along the lines of Ackema and Neeleman (2004) which applies a severe mapping between the morpho-syntactic and semantic structure, is not only able to account for the challenging data at issue, but also refines our comprehension of the synthetic compounding phenomena commonly attested in most I.E. languages.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Why compounding? 1
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Section 1. Delimiting the field
- The role of syntax and morphology in compounding 21
- Constraints on compounds and incorporation 37
- Compounding versus derivation 57
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Section 2. At the core of compounding
- Units in compounding 77
- Compound construction: Schemas or analogy? 93
- The head in compounding 109
- On the lexical semantics of compounds 127
- The phonology of compounds 145
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Section 3. Typology and types of compounds
- The typology of exocentric compounding 167
- Coordination in compounding 177
- Parasynthetic compounds 199
- Synthetic compounds 219
- Corpus data and theoretical implications 237
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Section 4. Quantitative and psycholinguistic aspects of compounding
- Frequency effects in compound processing 257
- Computational issues in compound processing 271
- Relational competition during compound interpretation 287
- Sign languages and compounding 301
- First language acquisition of compounds 323
- List of abbreviations 345
- Master list of references 349
- Language index 377
- Subject index 379
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Why compounding? 1
-
Section 1. Delimiting the field
- The role of syntax and morphology in compounding 21
- Constraints on compounds and incorporation 37
- Compounding versus derivation 57
-
Section 2. At the core of compounding
- Units in compounding 77
- Compound construction: Schemas or analogy? 93
- The head in compounding 109
- On the lexical semantics of compounds 127
- The phonology of compounds 145
-
Section 3. Typology and types of compounds
- The typology of exocentric compounding 167
- Coordination in compounding 177
- Parasynthetic compounds 199
- Synthetic compounds 219
- Corpus data and theoretical implications 237
-
Section 4. Quantitative and psycholinguistic aspects of compounding
- Frequency effects in compound processing 257
- Computational issues in compound processing 271
- Relational competition during compound interpretation 287
- Sign languages and compounding 301
- First language acquisition of compounds 323
- List of abbreviations 345
- Master list of references 349
- Language index 377
- Subject index 379
