Chapter 5. Compounding in early Greek language acquisition
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Ursula Stephany
Abstract
The early acquisition of Greek compounds by two monolingual Greek girls aged between 1;8 and 3;0 years is studied in a usage-based framework. Special importance is attached to the morphological structure of Greek compound types occurring in CS and CDS, since Greek nominal compound formation does not just consist in the juxtaposition of words or roots. Major questions addressed are evidence for the transparency of compounds and productive nominal compound formation. Evidence for productivity of nominal compound formation was only found with one of the two girls and was rather limited. In contrast to other languages, neoclassical nominal compounds by far exceed endocentric subordinative ones tokenwise in Greek CS and CDS providing evidence of entrenchment rather than productivity.
Abstract
The early acquisition of Greek compounds by two monolingual Greek girls aged between 1;8 and 3;0 years is studied in a usage-based framework. Special importance is attached to the morphological structure of Greek compound types occurring in CS and CDS, since Greek nominal compound formation does not just consist in the juxtaposition of words or roots. Major questions addressed are evidence for the transparency of compounds and productive nominal compound formation. Evidence for productivity of nominal compound formation was only found with one of the two girls and was rather limited. In contrast to other languages, neoclassical nominal compounds by far exceed endocentric subordinative ones tokenwise in Greek CS and CDS providing evidence of entrenchment rather than productivity.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Abbreviations vii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Emergence and early development of German compounds 19
- Chapter 2. Compound nouns in Danish child language 39
- Chapter 3. Acquisition of nominal compounds in Russian 63
- Chapter 4. Early development of compounds in two French children’s corpora 91
- Chapter 5. Compounding in early Greek language acquisition 119
- Chapter 6. The early production of compounds in Lithuanian 145
- Chapter 7. Acquisition of noun compounds in Estonian 165
- Chapter 8. Acquisition of compound nouns in Finnish 191
- Chapter 9. The acquisition of compound nouns in North Saami 209
- Chapter 10. The emergence of nominal compounds in Turkish 231
- Chapter 11. Compounding in early child speech: Hebrew peer talk 2–8 251
- Chapter 12. Contrastive lexical typology of German and Greek child speech and child-directed speech 275
- Chapter 13. Discussion and outlook 287
- Index 307
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Abbreviations vii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Emergence and early development of German compounds 19
- Chapter 2. Compound nouns in Danish child language 39
- Chapter 3. Acquisition of nominal compounds in Russian 63
- Chapter 4. Early development of compounds in two French children’s corpora 91
- Chapter 5. Compounding in early Greek language acquisition 119
- Chapter 6. The early production of compounds in Lithuanian 145
- Chapter 7. Acquisition of noun compounds in Estonian 165
- Chapter 8. Acquisition of compound nouns in Finnish 191
- Chapter 9. The acquisition of compound nouns in North Saami 209
- Chapter 10. The emergence of nominal compounds in Turkish 231
- Chapter 11. Compounding in early child speech: Hebrew peer talk 2–8 251
- Chapter 12. Contrastive lexical typology of German and Greek child speech and child-directed speech 275
- Chapter 13. Discussion and outlook 287
- Index 307
