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combining forms, as opposed to modern combining forms (see Prćić 2005, 2007, 2008). The initial combining forms studied are hyper-, quasi-, and pseudo-, and the final combining forms are -logy, -graphy, and -nomy. The study applies corpus methods, and the data comes from the written part of the British National Corpus (henceforth the BNC). My hypothesis is that the initial combining forms will prove more productive and that they will combine more easily with native bases, one of the reasons being that prefixes in general are often more lexeme-like than suffixes, the latter often being used to convey grammatical information. The main goal of this study is to clarify the status of combining forms in the English word-formation system and to provide information on their productivity. As for methodology, I will mainly rely on previous approaches that have been widely tested in several studies. I will apply several indicators to assess the morphological productivity of the selected combining forms. The first one is the measure called productivity in the strict sense P (also called potential productivity), developed by Baayen and his collaborators (see Baayen and Lieber 1991 in particular). In addition, two measures from lexical statistics, vocabulary growth curves and frequency spectra, are employed. An open source statistics software package, R, is used to obtain information on the selected combining forms. Section two provides the reader with the theoretical background relevant for this study, defining and discussing the basic concepts related to English word-formation. The category of combining forms is introduced, as well as that of neoclassical compounds. The status of combining forms as a part of the English word-formation system is of great relevance here, and it is therefore thoroughly discussed. A brief history of diachronic approaches to the study of affixation is also introduced. The notion of morphological productivity and the theories attempting to describe it are also discussed, as well as the various constraints that affect the application of various word-formation processes. In addition, the basic theoretical background for lexical statistics and LNRE modelling are introduced. Psycholinguistic approaches to productivity are also discussed, since they have proved to capture an important aspect of the nature of productivity. Furthermore, many quantitative measures of productivity are also psycholinguistically motivated. 3
Section three discusses the method and the data chosen for the present study, as well as potential problems that might turn up in the research process. Important questions include the reliability of corpus evidence, as well as the principles on which the units of analysis are determined. Section four presents the results, which are then analysed and discussed in the fifth section. Section six provides a brief summary of the most important findings of the thesis and suggests some ideas for possible future studies. 2. Background 2.1. Word-formation 2.1.1. Basic concepts of word-formation The concept of word is, in spite of its apparent simplicity, rather problematic in linguistics. The notions of lexeme and word-form have proved much more useful in the study of morphology. Haspelmath defines lexemes, or dictionary words, as abstract entities that consist of several word-forms. Word-forms, or text words, on the other hand, are the concrete realizations of a lexeme that can be pronounced and used in texts (2002: 13). Plag uses the terms inflection and derivation to distinguish between word-forms and lexemes: according to him, word-forms are created with inflectional suffixes, while new lexemes are produced by derivational affixes (2003: 14; see also Kastovsky 2001: 218). Since lexemes consist of several word-forms, it is necessary to have a specific citation form, under which the lexical entry is listed in dictionaries (Haspelmath 2002: 14). From the point of view of morphological productivity, another central distinction in morphology, the one between possible (or potential) words and actual words, is also relevant. Plag defines possible words as words whose structure follows the rules of the language. Actual words, on the other hand, are in use in the language, although it is not clear how “in use” should be defined (whether it be in the vocabulary of an individual speaker, or in a dictionary) (Plag 1999: 7). Plag writes that the usefulness of the possible-actual dichotomy has been 4
Page 1 and 2: The morphological productivity of s
Page 3 and 4: Primary sources and software ......
Page 5: elevance in the context of English
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 and 42: competence to know in which situati
Page 43 and 44: It must be noted that some neoclass
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
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somewhat higher P value than the mo
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A more visual way to compare the pr
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Figure 5. The expected (black) vers
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One explanation for the lack of goo
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Studies concentrating on or touchin
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formation, and they are also often
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and that they are therefore more pr
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e the difference between compoundin
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Bauer, L. 1983. English word-format
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Dressler, W. U. and M. Ladányi. 20
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Lee, D. 2001. Genres, registers, te
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Plag, I. 2002. The role of selectio
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