The evaluative suffixoid -head and its Spanish and Italian equivalents
-
Elisa Mattiello
und
José A. Sánchez Fajardo
Abstract
This study examines the evaluative morphology of the English suffixoid -head and its equivalents in Spanish and Italian. Adopting a construction morphology approach, the research focuses on the pejorative and human-related connotations in English [x-head]N constructions, such as crackhead or fathead. A quantitative/qualitative analysis using the itTenTen20 and esTenTen18 (in Sketch Engine), combined with a contrastive analysis in OPUS parallel corpora (OPUS2), reveals that, while English often uses suffixoids for negative evaluation, Spanish and Italian employ different morphological strategies, such as augmentatives, loose compounds, or syntactic constructs. The study further explores the morphosemantic features of equivalent constructions [cabeza de [x]N]N and [cabeza [x]A]N (in Sp.) and [testa di [x]N]N and [testa [x]A]N (in It.), comparing their meanings and productivity. The findings contribute to understanding how construction networks in languages from different families can converge in expressing similar evaluative frames – such as representing individuals with negative traits through body part references – while also highlighting structural preferences, such as the widespread use of N of N syntagmatic patterns in Romance languages. Importantly, the study acknowledges that these constructions are not inherently tied to negative evaluation or to the presence of the lexeme head, but rather reflect broader tendencies in phrase formation and semantic extension across languages.
Appendix 1: List of Sp. equivalent units (to E. -head pejorative terms), extracted from OPUS2. You can access Appendix 1 through this link.
Appendix 2: List of It. equivalent units (to E. -head pejorative terms), extracted from OPUS2. You can access Appendix 2 through this link.
Appendix 3: head_Sp units made up of the constructions [cabeza de [x]N]N and [cabeza [x]A]N, as extracted from the corpora and the lexicographic sources. You can access Appendix 3 through this link.
Appendix 4: head_It units made up of the constructions [testa di [x]N]N and [testa [x]A]N, as extracted from the corpora and the lexicographic sources. You can access Appendix 4 through this link.
References
Amiot, Dany & Edwige Dugas. 2020. Combining forms and affixoids in morphology. In Rochelle Lieber (ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780190682361.001.0001/acref-9780190682361-e-569 (accessed 15 October 2024).10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.569Suche in Google Scholar
Amiot, Dany & Dejan Stosic. 2022. Evaluative morphology: From evaluation to approximation and semi-categorization. In Hélène Vassiliadou & Marie Lammert (eds.), Clear and approximate categorization. A crosslinguistic perspective, 53–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Baayen, Harald. 1992. Statistical models for word frequency distributions: A linguistic evaluation. Computers in Human Behavior 26. 347–363. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00136980.Suche in Google Scholar
Baayen, Harald. 1993. On frequency, transparency and productivity. In Geert Booij & Jaap van Marle (eds.), Yearbook of morphology 1992, 181–208. Dordrecht: Springer.10.1007/978-94-017-3710-4_7Suche in Google Scholar
Bakema, Peter & Dirk Geeraerts. 2000. Diminution and augmentation. In Geert Booij, Christian Lehmann & Joachim Mugdan (eds.), Morphology. An international handbook on inflection and word formation, 1045–1052. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110172782.2.13.1045Suche in Google Scholar
Bauer, Laurie, Rochelle Lieber & Ingo Plag. 2013. The Oxford reference guide to English morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747062.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Boas, Hans (ed.). 2010. Contrastive studies in construction grammar. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/cal.10Suche in Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 2010. Construction morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 2019. The role of schemas in construction morphology. Word Structure 12(3). 385–395. https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2019.0154.Suche in Google Scholar
Booij, Geert & Matthias Hüning. 2014. Affixoids and constructional idioms. In Ronny Boogaart, Timothy Colleman & Gijsbert Rutten (eds.), Extending the scope of construction grammar, 77–106. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110366273.77Suche in Google Scholar
Cappelle, Bert, Robert Daugs & Stefan Hartmann. 2023. The English privative prefixes near-, pseudo- and quasi-: Approximation and ‘disproximation’. Journal of Word Formation 7(1). 52–75. https://doi.org/10.21248/zwjw.2023.1.35.Suche in Google Scholar
CoCA = Davies, Mark. 2021. Corpus of contemporary American English. Available at: https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/.Suche in Google Scholar
DLE = Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española, 23a ed (accessed 15 October 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
DNDM = Dizionario Nuovo De Mauro. https://dizionario.internazionale.it/ (accessed 10 November 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
Dressler, Wolfgang U. & Lavinia Merlini Barbaresi. 1994. Morphopragmatics: Diminutives and intensifiers in Italian, German, and other languages. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110877052Suche in Google Scholar
DSC = Dizionario Sabatini-Coletti. https://dizionari.corriere.it/dizionario_italiano/ (accessed 10 November 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
DT = Dizionario Treccani. https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ (accessed 10 November 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
DUE = Moliner, María. 2016. Diccionario de usos del español. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.Suche in Google Scholar
Efthymiou, Angeliki, Georgia Fragaki & Angelos Markos. 2015. Exploring the polysemy of the modern Greek prefix iper-. Morphology 25(4). 411–438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-015-9269-9.Suche in Google Scholar
Eitelmann, Matthias, Kari Haugland & Dagmar Haumann. 2020. From engl-isc to whatever-ish: A corpus-based investigation of -ish derivation in the history of English. English Language and Linguistics 24(4). 801–831. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1360674319000340.Suche in Google Scholar
esTenTen18 = Spanish Web 2018 corpus. Sketch engine. https://www.sketchengine.eu/ (accessed 15 September 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
Fábregas, Antonio. 2020. Morphologically derived adjectives in Spanish. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/ihll.30Suche in Google Scholar
Fernández-Domínguez, Jesús. 2013. Morphological productivity measurement: Exploring qualitative versus quantitative approaches. English Studies 94(4). 422–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838x.2013.780823.Suche in Google Scholar
Frankowsky, Maximilian. 2022. Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities. Identical constituent compounds in German. In Matthias Eitelmann & Dagmar Haumann (eds.), Extravagant morphology studies in rule-bending, pattern-extending and theory-challenging morphology, 155–180. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/slcs.223.07fraSuche in Google Scholar
Ganfi, Vittorio, Valentina Piunno & Lunella Mereu. 2022. Body part metaphors in phraseological expressions: A comparative survey of Italian, Spanish, French and English. Languages in Contrast 23(1). 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.21006.gan.Suche in Google Scholar
Grandi, Nicola. 2002. Morfologie in contatto: le costruzioni valutative nelle lingue del Mediterraneo. Milan: Franco Angeli.Suche in Google Scholar
Grandi, Nicola & Lívia Körtvélyessy. 2015. Why evaluative morphology? In Nicola Grandi & Lívia Körtvélyessy (eds.), The Edinburgh handbook of evaluative morphology, 3–20. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.10.1515/9780748681754Suche in Google Scholar
itTenTen20 for Italian = Italian Web 2020 corpus, Sketch engine. https://www.sketchengine.eu/ (accessed 15 September 2024)Suche in Google Scholar
Kilgarriff, Adam, Vít Baisa, Jan Bušta, Miloš Jakubícek, Vojtěch Kovář, Jan Michelfeit, Pavel Rychlý & Vít Suchomel. 2014. The sketch engine: Ten years on. Lexicography 1(1). 7–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40607-014-0009-9.Suche in Google Scholar
Knoblock, Natalia (ed.). 2022. The grammar of hate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108991841Suche in Google Scholar
Körtvélyessy, Lívia & Pavol Štekauer (eds.). 2011. Diminutives and augmentatives in the languages of the world, vol. 6, 5–25. Lexis: E-journal in English lexicology.Suche in Google Scholar
Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona (ed.). 2019a. Embodiment in cross-linguistic studies. Leiden & Boston: Brill.10.1163/9789004392410Suche in Google Scholar
Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona. 2019b. Metonymic extensions of the body part ‘head’ in mental and social domains. In Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (ed.), Embodiment in cross-linguistic studies, 136–154. Leiden & Boston: Brill.10.1163/9789004392410_009Suche in Google Scholar
Masini, Francesca & M. Silvia Micheli. 2020. The morphological expression of approximation: The emerging simil-construction in Italian. Word Structure 13(3). 371–402. https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2020.0176.Suche in Google Scholar
Masini, Francesca, Muriel Norde & Kristel Van Goethem, 2023. Approximation in morphology. [special issue]. Journal of Word Formation 7(1).10.21248/zwjw.2023.1.100Suche in Google Scholar
Mattiello, Elisa. 2022a. Transitional morphology: Combining forms in modern English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781009168274Suche in Google Scholar
Mattiello, Elisa. 2022b. Language aggression in English slang: The case of the -o suffix. In Natalia Knoblock (ed.), Grammar of hate: Morphosyntactic features of hateful, aggressive, and dehumanizing discourse, 34–58. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108991841.003Suche in Google Scholar
Mattiello, Elisa. 2023. Slang and verbal aggression: A morphopragmatic analysis of the compound families X-ass, X-brain, X-face, and X-head. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 11(1). 101–120. Online 2022 https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00074.mat.Suche in Google Scholar
Mattiello, Elisa. 2024. A morphosyntactic and morphosemantic analysis of English slang suffixoids. Studi e Saggi Linguistici LXII(1). 9–41. https://doi.org/10.4454/ssl.v62i1.380.Suche in Google Scholar
Mol, Susan. 2004. Head and heart: Metaphors and metonymies in a cross-linguistic perspective. In Karin Aijmer & Hilde Hasselgård (eds.), Translation and corpora, 87–112. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.Suche in Google Scholar
Napoli, Maria. 2017. Nomi in stra- in italiano: Intensificazione tra semantica e pragmatica. In Alain Lemaréchal, Peter Koch & Pierre Swiggers (eds.), Actes du XXVIIe Congrès international de linguistique et de philologie romanes, 95–105. Nancy: ATILF.Suche in Google Scholar
Norde, Muriel & Kristel Van Goethem. 2018. Debonding and clipping of prefixoids in Germanic: Constructionalization or constructional change? In Geert Booij (ed.), The construction of words, 475–518. Cham etc: Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-74394-3_17Suche in Google Scholar
OPUS2 = OPUS parallel corpora. Sketch engine. https://www.sketchengine.eu/ (accessed 15 September 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
Pustejovsky, James. 1995. The generative lexicon. Cambridge (Mass): MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/3225.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Rainer, Franz. 1999. La derivación adjetival. In Ignacio Bosque & Violeta Demonte (eds.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española, 4595–4643. Madrid: Espasa.Suche in Google Scholar
Rainer, Franz. 2015. Intensification. In Peter O. Müller, Ingeborg Ohnheiser, Susan Olsen & Franz Rainer (eds.) Word-formation: An international handbook of the languages of Europe, Vol. 2, 1339–1351. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter.Suche in Google Scholar
Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Francisco José. 2000. El modelo cognitivo idealizado de tamaño y la formación de aumentativos y diminutivos en español. Revista Espanola de Linguistica Aplicada 1. 255–274.Suche in Google Scholar
Runco, Mark A. & Garrett J. Jaeger. 2012. The standard definition of creativity. Creativity Research Journal 24(1). 9296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2012.650092.Suche in Google Scholar
Sánchez Fajardo, José A. 2022. Pejorative suffixes and combining forms in English. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/slcs.222Suche in Google Scholar
Sánchez Fajardo, José A. 2025. Los sufijos y las formas combinatorias en sustantivos peyorativos en inglés y en español: estudio contrastivo de sus categorías semántico-cognitivas y sus paradigmas derivativos. In E. Bernal, A. Adelstein & C. Sinne (eds.), Contradicciones, incoherencias y paradojas en la formación de palabras en español, 123–144. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag.Suche in Google Scholar
Sánchez Fajardo, José A. & Elisa Mattiello. 2025. From spearhead to crackhead: Unraveling the morphosemantic development of English -head through a network of constructions. Word Structure 18(1). 119–148. https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2025.0248.Suche in Google Scholar
Scalise, Sergio. 1992. Compounding in Italian. Italian Journal of Linguistics 4(1). 175–199.Suche in Google Scholar
Schneider, Klaus P. 2003. Diminutives in English. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Suche in Google Scholar
Stevens, C. M. 2005. Revisiting the affixoid debate: On the grammaticalization of the word. In T. Leuschner, T. Mortelmans & S. de Groodt (eds.), Grammatikalisierung im Deutschen, 71–83. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110925364.71Suche in Google Scholar
Tarasova, Elizaveta & José A. Sánchez Fajardo. 2022. Adj+ie/y nominalisations in contemporary English: From diminution to pejoration. In Natalia Knoblock (ed.), Grammar of hate: Morphosyntactic features of hateful, aggressive, and dehumanizing discourse, 59–81. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108991841.004Suche in Google Scholar
Toquero-Pérez, Luis M. 2020. The semantics of Spanish compounding: An analysis of NN compounds in the parallel architecture. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.901.Suche in Google Scholar
Van Goethem, Kristel & Muriel Norde. 2020. Extravagant “fake” morphemes in Dutch. Morphological productivity, semantic profiles and categorical flexibility. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 16(3). 425–458. https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2020-0024.Suche in Google Scholar
Vassiliadou, Hélène, Francine Gerhard-Krait, Georgia Fotiadou & Marie Lammert. 2023. Pseudo(-) in French and Greek: Categorization and approximation. Journal of Word Formation 7(1). 234–262. https://doi.org/10.21248/zwjw.2023.1.34.Suche in Google Scholar
Warren, Beatrice. 1990. The importance of combining forms. In W. U. Dressler, H. C. Luschutzky, O. E. Pfeiffer & J. R. Rennison (eds.), Contemporary morphology, 111–132. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110874082.111Suche in Google Scholar
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
