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Category Change from a Constructional Perspective
Edited by Kristel Van Goethem, Muriel Norde, Evie Coussé and Gudrun Vanderbauwhede
[Constructional Approaches to Language 20] 2018
► pp. 47–90

Chapter 3
Derivation without category change

A network-based analysis of diminutive prefixoids in Dutch

Dutch derivational morphology is rich in intensifying prefixoids, i.e. morphemes that occur as independent lexemes but have an intensifying meaning when bound to adjectives or adverbs. A specific variant of these are diminutive prefixoid constructions such as bloedjeserieus (blood-dim-serious) ‘very serious’ or kletsjenat (splash-dim-wet) ‘very wet’. Unlike the regular derivational diminutive however, the diminutive morpheme lacks the ability to change category when added to a prefixoid, and its primary function is a pragmatic one of either emphasis or downtoning. In this paper, we will discuss the formal and semantic-pragmatic properties of the diminutive prefixoid construction, based on an empirical study into its synchronic distribution, as well as explore how prefixoid constructions may be organised in a constructional network.

Keywords: prefixoids, diminutives, derivation, degree modifiers, constructional networks
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical preliminaries
    • 2.1Construction Morphology
    • 2.2Constructional networks
    • 2.3Inheritance links and lateral links
  • 3.The present study
    • 3.1Sources and method
    • 3.2Results
      • 3.2.1Type and token frequencies
      • 3.2.2Sociolinguistic variables
        • 3.2.2.1Gender
        • 3.2.2.2Age
        • 3.2.2.3Region
    • 3.3Formal and semantic properties
      • 3.3.1Morphophonology
      • 3.3.2Part of speech of the diminutivised element
        • 3.3.2.1Prefixoids deriving from nouns
        • 3.3.2.2Prefixoids deriving from adjectives and adverbs
        • 3.3.2.3Prefixoids deriving from verbs
        • 3.3.2.4Prefixoids deriving from prepositions
        • 3.3.2.5Diminutivised prefixes
        • 3.3.2.6Prefixoids deriving from bound roots
      • 3.3.3Meaning
  • 4.A network analysis
    • 4.1Inheritance links and lateral links in the dpc network
    • 4.2A multiple source construction?
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 22 March 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.20.03nor
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