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with final stress, and it is fully productive. However, its domain is diminished by - ität (with learned bases) and, more rarely, -ie (with adjectives ending in -phil). Férnandez-Domínguez defines both type blocking and token blocking as examples of synonymy blocking, as opposed to homonymy blocking, which prevents the coining of a new word because of structural overlapping with an existing word (2007: 71–73). For example, the word liver ‘inner organ’ prevents the coining of *liver ‘someone who lives’ (Plag 1999: 50; cited in Férnandez- Domínguez 2007: 73). To conclude, it can be said that new words are always formed for a specific need, and thus constraints may not tell us everything about the profitability of word-formation processes (Bauer 2001: 143). Férnandez- Domínguez goes as far as to state that the naming need on the part of the language community is so strong that it may even “knock out” the restrictions caused by various constraints (2007: 84). In any case, the application of different wordformation processes is seldom straightforward, and there are several exceptions to the rules. 3. Material and methods 3.1. A closer look at the selected combining forms As was stated earlier, combining forms can be divided into initial and final combining forms. In this study, I will compare the two and try to find out whether they differ in productivity. To do so, I will compare the values of Baayen’s potential productivity P of three initial combining forms (hyper-, ultra-, and pseudo) as well as three final combining forms (-logy, -graphy, and -nomy), in order to determine whether there are any major differences in the productivity rates between these two subtypes. These six combining forms were chosen because they are among the most frequent ones in the BNC. Sample size is important in performing statistical analyses on the combining forms, since many of the measures used in this study do not work properly if the sample is too small (see section 2.3.3. for discussion). 39
It must be noted that some neoclassical elements have two kinds of combining forms (with allomorphic variation) derived from the same lexical word, those that can occur in both initial and final position (cf. Fradin 2000: 13). For example the Greek λόγο-ς ’word, speech’ occurs in words like logopedics and biology. A similar example is the Greek form -γράϕος, which is used in formations like graphology and biography. Unless otherwise indicated, the OED constitutes the source in the following description of the selected combining forms. The problem with the OED, however, is that even though some of the selected combining forms, the final ones in particular, have rather sketchy entries. McCauley writes that the amount of information in each entry is to some extent determined by the frequency, longevity, and complexity of the word or element in the English language (2006: 99). In addition, most entries are rather old and date back to the late 19 th century (see section 3.2. for discussion). However, the OED is currently undergoing a thorough revision that will also affect entries for combining forms: for example, in the second edition of the OED, there is sometimes ambiguity in whether a certain element is an affix or a combining form (McCauley 2006: 97). hyper- Hyper- is often classified as a prefix instead of a combining form, probably because it has its origin in the Greek preposition (ὑπέρ ‘over, beyond, over much, above measure’) instead of a lexical word. Nevalainen classifies hyper- as an intensifying prefix, and writes that it is the Greek cognate of Latin super-, having the meaning of ‘over, too much’ (1999: 388). The OED states that hyper- has been extensively used in English since the 17 th century in the formation of new compounds (often on Greek analogies), and that it combines relatively freely with nouns and adjectives. pseudo- 40
Page 1 and 2: The morphological productivity of s
Page 3 and 4: Primary sources and software ......
Page 5 and 6: elevance in the context of English
Page 7 and 8: Section three discusses the method
Page 9 and 10: 2.1.2. The basic notions of the Eng
Page 11 and 12: includes words such as singer-songw
Page 13 and 14: introducing elements such as bi-, d
Page 15 and 16: and having a relatively full lexica
Page 17 and 18: always be “deduced in isolation f
Page 19 and 20: new lexemes are created with the he
Page 21 and 22: not all affixes can attach to all c
Page 23 and 24: Puffer write that if productivity i
Page 25 and 26: used in a vague sense in the litera
Page 27 and 28: The method is not devoid of problem
Page 29 and 30: It is not important whether the hap
Page 31 and 32: figure. 14 A sample is picked rando
Page 33 and 34: 2.3.3. Lexical statistics and produ
Page 35 and 36: which can be seen as reverse sides
Page 37 and 38: of ri-, and the resulting vocabular
Page 39 and 40: differences in (apparent) productiv
Page 41: competence to know in which situati
Page 45 and 46: -graphy The form -graphy is closely
Page 47 and 48: the BNC is the fact that since it d
Page 49 and 50: Fortunately, the combining forms st
Page 51 and 52: physiology (with its spelling varia
Page 53 and 54: other hand, the final combining for
Page 55 and 56: Table 3. The ratio of hapax legomen
Page 57 and 58: somewhat higher P value than the mo
Page 59 and 60: A more visual way to compare the pr
Page 61 and 62: Figure 5. The expected (black) vers
Page 63 and 64: One explanation for the lack of goo
Page 65 and 66: Studies concentrating on or touchin
Page 67 and 68: formation, and they are also often
Page 69 and 70: and that they are therefore more pr
Page 71 and 72: e the difference between compoundin
Page 73 and 74: Bauer, L. 1983. English word-format
Page 75 and 76: Dressler, W. U. and M. Ladányi. 20
Page 77 and 78: Lee, D. 2001. Genres, registers, te
Page 79 and 80: Plag, I. 2002. The role of selectio

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