Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers
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Anke Lensch
Abstract
To this day, the English -er suffix prototypically derives agent nouns from verbs (rideV → rider – ‘someone who Vs’). Over the course of a millennium, the -er suffix construction has consistently extended its range of application, and from the 20th century onwards, it has further gained in variablity in that it allows for multiple attachment of -er, such as in looker-onner or stayer-onner-for-nower. The repetition of -er is accompanied by an increase in expressiveness. Additionally, internet attestations suggest there are several other English suffixes that can be repeated in the same manner as -er, consider -y in runny-outy red felt pen and -ed in kicked-upped. The systematicity of this morphosyntactic phenomenon suggests that some speakers of English occasionally choose to flout some rules to create structurally unusual, expressive, and extravagant complex words.
Abstract
To this day, the English -er suffix prototypically derives agent nouns from verbs (rideV → rider – ‘someone who Vs’). Over the course of a millennium, the -er suffix construction has consistently extended its range of application, and from the 20th century onwards, it has further gained in variablity in that it allows for multiple attachment of -er, such as in looker-onner or stayer-onner-for-nower. The repetition of -er is accompanied by an increase in expressiveness. Additionally, internet attestations suggest there are several other English suffixes that can be repeated in the same manner as -er, consider -y in runny-outy red felt pen and -ed in kicked-upped. The systematicity of this morphosyntactic phenomenon suggests that some speakers of English occasionally choose to flout some rules to create structurally unusual, expressive, and extravagant complex words.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
