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The polysemy of agent nouns: diachronic, synchronic and contrastive evidence from French and Swedish
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Maria Rosenberg
Published/Copyright:
March 7, 2011
Abstract
This study addresses Agent polysemy diachronically, synchronically, and contrastively. It examines the semantic structure of three French agentive formations, [VN/A]N/A compounds, and derivations with ‑eur and ‑ant. The semantics of four Swedish agentive formations which correspond to French [VN/A]N/A compounds are also studied. My results suggest that the polysemy of Agent is not uniformly hierarchically structured, with the Agent on top, for different agentive formations. They do not confirm that semantic extension emanates from the Agent. Instead, they speak in favour of blocking as the most plausible explanation for Agent polysemy and meaning extension.
Published Online: 2011-03-07
Published in Print: 2011-03
© by Akademie Verlag, Stockholm, Germany
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Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The agent-instrument-place “polysemy” of the suffix ‑tor in Romance
- The polysemy of the German suffix ‑er: aspects of its origin and development
- Polysemy and productivity in German
- The polysemy of agent nouns: diachronic, synchronic and contrastive evidence from French and Swedish
- Agent noun polysemy in Celtic: the suffix *‑mon‑ in Old and Middle Irish and its Proto-Indo-European origins
- Agent-noun polysemy in Slavic: some examples
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The agent-instrument-place “polysemy” of the suffix ‑tor in Romance
- The polysemy of the German suffix ‑er: aspects of its origin and development
- Polysemy and productivity in German
- The polysemy of agent nouns: diachronic, synchronic and contrastive evidence from French and Swedish
- Agent noun polysemy in Celtic: the suffix *‑mon‑ in Old and Middle Irish and its Proto-Indo-European origins
- Agent-noun polysemy in Slavic: some examples
