Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 221Van Eynde, F. 1981. Some deficiencies of semantic feature analysis: a farewell to bachelorhood oflexical semantics. In G.Hindelang and W.Zillig (eds) Sprache: Verstehen und Handeln. Aktendes 15. Linguistischen Kolloquiums Münster 1980. Tübingen. Vol. 2, 3–13.lexicologycomposition (also compounding)Next to derivation, the most important process of word formation is composition, i.e.combining two or more otherwise free morphemes or series of morphemes (=words) toform a compound in which, as a rule, the last element determines the word class (juxtaposition for exceptions like good-for-nothing, speakeasy). The productivity ofcomposition varies from language to language (cf. the decreasing order of productivity inGerman, English, Spanish, French; while, in Latin, composition hardly occurs) and isinfluenced by the category of first and final element. Compositions of two nominalelements (so-called ‘N+N compositions,’ e.g. beer can), are particularly productive; lessfrequent are compositions of adjective+noun (darkroom); and even rarer those ofverb+verb (step turn). The following types of compositions are distinguished:(a) Synchronically, according to semantic interpretation. (i) Determinativecompounds like coffeepot, living room, in which the syntactically dependent, contentspecifyingelement (the determining word) precedes the base word. They are often called‘endocentric.’ (ii) Possessive compositions ( bahuvrihi) as a subgroup ofdeterminative compounds, in which the first element again specifies the secondsemantically, but the compound as a whole refers only to a prominent characteristic ofthe referent, e.g. redhead, loudmouth, hatchback. Possessive compositions are oftencalled ‘exocentric,’ since they allow for paraphrases, e.g. ‘someone who has a loudmouth.’ (iii) Copulative compositions (or ‘dvandva’ forms) like author-editor, sweetsourin which the individual elements are of semantically equal weight and, as a composition,denote a new concept.(b) Historically and genetically: (i) juxtaposition, i.e. the attaching of individualstems to each other without inflection. Since such formations (e.g. OHG tagaliocht‘daylight’) are seen as older forms of composition, Grimm (1826) called them ‘actual’ or‘real’ compositions, in contrast with (ii) so-called ‘case’ compositions, which can betraced back to inflectional endings (e.g. Ger. Tageslicht ‘daylight’; and Englishcompositions containing the possessive case linking morpheme, e.g. women’sliberation, children’s literature). Grimm called the latter ‘artificial’ compositions. (iii)Opaque compositions whose origins cannot be reconstructed sy nchronically owing tosound changes that ha ve rendered the original form of the individual elementsunrecognizable or because the etymological transparency has been lost, as in world (OEweorold