Units in compounding

Fabio Montermini | CLLE-ERSS, CNRS & Université de Toulouse

This chapter addresses such questions as ‘what kind of linguistic units are compounds?’ and ‘what kind of linguistic units are they made of?’ In order to answer these questions a strictly word-based approach is adopted, in which words (lexemes) are considered as the basic units of morphological and lexical organization cross-linguistically. Several examples in which canonical and non-canonical words appear as inputs and outputs of compounding are analyzed. It is claimed that, unlike derivation, compounding constructs both typical lexical units, and units which are not made to be lexicalized. This conclusion is consistent with the common assumption that compounding constitutes a case of mismatch between morphology and syntax.

Published online: 28 April 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.311.08mon

Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Andrea, Guasparri

2017. Greek ὁλοθούριον (the sea cucumber). Glotta 93:1 ► pp. 31 ff.

Martí Solano, Ramón

2014. In Morphology and Meaning [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 327], ► pp. 239 ff.

NAGANO, AKIKO & MASAHARU SHIMADA

2014. Morphological theory and orthography:Kanjias a representation of lexemes. Journal of Linguistics 50:2 ► pp. 323 ff.

Ralli, Angela

2013. In Compounding in Modern Greek [Studies in Morphology, 2], ► pp. 7 ff.

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