Chapter 2. The internal structure of compounds
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María Irene Moyna
Abstract
Chapter 1 covered some general definitions of what is and is not considered a compound in this study. The present chapter completes the presentation of the notion of compounding by considering the internal structure and semantic properties of various compound types. It shows that compounds exhibit two basic general structures, viz., hierarchical and non-hierarchical. In the former, one of the constituents is the head, and the other one is subordinate to it in some way (e.g., hombre lobo ‘werewolf’, lit. ‘man wolf’). In non-hierarchical compounds, there are no dependent constituents, so both (or all, in the case of compounds with more than two constituents) are heads (e.g., sofá cama ‘sofa bed’). Both hierarchical and non-hierarchical compounds exhibit a variety of syntactic relationships between their constituents, as we shall see. Independently of these internal relationships, one must also consider the relationship between the constituents and the higher node, which stands for the entire compounded structure. When constituents pass on their syntactico-semantic properties to the whole, then the compound is said to be endocentric (e.g., a pájaro campana ‘bell bird’, lit. ‘bird bell’ is a type of bird). If they do not, the resulting compound is exocentric (e.g., a sacacorchos ‘corkscrew’, lit. ‘remove-corks’ is neither a type of saca ‘remove’ nor of corchos ‘corks’). This chapter explores these different structural configurations and their semantic consequences.
Abstract
Chapter 1 covered some general definitions of what is and is not considered a compound in this study. The present chapter completes the presentation of the notion of compounding by considering the internal structure and semantic properties of various compound types. It shows that compounds exhibit two basic general structures, viz., hierarchical and non-hierarchical. In the former, one of the constituents is the head, and the other one is subordinate to it in some way (e.g., hombre lobo ‘werewolf’, lit. ‘man wolf’). In non-hierarchical compounds, there are no dependent constituents, so both (or all, in the case of compounds with more than two constituents) are heads (e.g., sofá cama ‘sofa bed’). Both hierarchical and non-hierarchical compounds exhibit a variety of syntactic relationships between their constituents, as we shall see. Independently of these internal relationships, one must also consider the relationship between the constituents and the higher node, which stands for the entire compounded structure. When constituents pass on their syntactico-semantic properties to the whole, then the compound is said to be endocentric (e.g., a pájaro campana ‘bell bird’, lit. ‘bird bell’ is a type of bird). If they do not, the resulting compound is exocentric (e.g., a sacacorchos ‘corkscrew’, lit. ‘remove-corks’ is neither a type of saca ‘remove’ nor of corchos ‘corks’). This chapter explores these different structural configurations and their semantic consequences.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of figures xv
- List of tables xvii
- List of abbreviations used xxi
- Preface & acknowledgments xxiii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Definitions 11
- Chapter 2. The internal structure of compounds 45
- Chapter 3. Finding compounds 67
- Chapter 4. Endocentric compounds with adverbial non-heads 99
- Chapter 5. Endocentric compounds with nominal non-heads 125
- Chapter 6. Endocentric compounds with nominal heads and nominal/adjectival modifiers 163
- Chapter 7. Exocentric patterns 197
- Chapter 8. Concatenative compounds 219
- Chapter 9. Historical developments in Spanish compounding 253
- References 293
- Appendix 1. Compound dataset 303
- Subject index 433
- Word index 443
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of figures xv
- List of tables xvii
- List of abbreviations used xxi
- Preface & acknowledgments xxiii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Definitions 11
- Chapter 2. The internal structure of compounds 45
- Chapter 3. Finding compounds 67
- Chapter 4. Endocentric compounds with adverbial non-heads 99
- Chapter 5. Endocentric compounds with nominal non-heads 125
- Chapter 6. Endocentric compounds with nominal heads and nominal/adjectival modifiers 163
- Chapter 7. Exocentric patterns 197
- Chapter 8. Concatenative compounds 219
- Chapter 9. Historical developments in Spanish compounding 253
- References 293
- Appendix 1. Compound dataset 303
- Subject index 433
- Word index 443
