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Part of
Constructions in Spanish
Edited by Inga Hennecke and Evelyn Wiesinger
[Constructional Approaches to Language 34] 2023
► pp. 28–56

Chapter 2
Collection nouns as a derivational category in Spanish

Analysing the productivity of collective suffixes on the basis of ad hoc constructs

| University of Bielefeld

The paper examines the productivity of a constructional schema of collectivity in Spanish. We analyse nonce-formations derived from typical collective suffixes and classify their meanings. The analysis reveals that the derivation of collection nouns in Spanish is productive, mostly represented by the suffixes ‑erío and ‑amen. A comparison to French and Italian data further reveals a continuum of productivity of this schema in Romance languages. In Italian, it has various subordinated constructions instantiated by the suffixes ‑ame, ‑ume and ‑aglia, with French only being represented by the suffix ‑aille. The study reveals a detailed picture not only of the functional distribution of each suffix and language, but also the functional links between different forms, i.e. suffixes, and functions. The analysis implies that an onomasiological examination of collective nouns in Romance is not only fruitful, but indispensable.

Keywords: collective nouns, morphological productivity, nonce-formation, nominal aspectuality
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Collection nouns as a derivational category in Spanish: State of the art
  • 3.Empirical analysis of collective ad hoc constructs in Spanish
    • 3.1Methodology
    • 3.2Results
      • 3.2.1The predominantly non-collective suffixes
      • 3.2.2The predominantly collective suffixes
      • 3.2.3General tendencies
  • 4.Digression: Collective ad hoc constructs in French and Italian
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 July 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.34.02kle
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