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The layering of form and meaning in creole word-formation

A view from construction morphology

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction between form and meaning in creole word-formation, drawing on evidence from Kriyol, a Portuguese-based creole spoken in Guiné-Bissau. The goal will be to illustrate how full reduplication interacts in complex ways with other morphological operations such as conversion, derivation and inflection. A formal morphological analysis of the layering between form and meaning will be sketched, within Construction Morphology, which treats full reduplication as a genuine lexeme-formation process. Within this word-based theory, the interaction between morphological operations is captured through the unification of construction schemas.

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction between form and meaning in creole word-formation, drawing on evidence from Kriyol, a Portuguese-based creole spoken in Guiné-Bissau. The goal will be to illustrate how full reduplication interacts in complex ways with other morphological operations such as conversion, derivation and inflection. A formal morphological analysis of the layering between form and meaning will be sketched, within Construction Morphology, which treats full reduplication as a genuine lexeme-formation process. Within this word-based theory, the interaction between morphological operations is captured through the unification of construction schemas.

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