Chapter 11
Compounds and productivity in advanced L2 German writing
A constructional approach
The frequent formation of complex, hierarchically structured compounds is a striking property of German grammar to non-natives, to the point that German has been referred to as ‘compounding happy’ (Schlücker, 2012). This chapter asks how compounding works in second language (L2) German grammar, by exploring data from the error-annotated Falko corpus of native and advanced non-native German writing. Beyond differences in overall frequency and productivity of L2 compounding, I use a constructional approach based on compound paraphrases and partially filled prototypes to analyze differences between first language (L1) and L2 usage, as well as to identify frequent error types. Although errors are overall not very frequent (about 11% in total), the data show significant differences in compounding frequency based on learner native language, and some possible phonetic explanations are offered for morphological errors at the boundary between compound heads and modifiers. The results also reveal that productivity as evidenced by rare items in L2 output is a key factor in the native-like acquisition of compounding, and that proficiency as assessed by a C-Test correlates better with more complex productivity measures than with raw vocabulary size. Semantic errors are overall very rare but in many cases attributable to transfer effects, even from constructions that are not compounds in the underlying L1, or indeed from languages low in compounds. This suggests that both abstract and partially lexicalized compounding constructions are learned, and errors can affect either of these at the lexical level.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Theoretical underpinnings
- Method
- Results
- Errors in L2 compounds
- Native compounds versus learner compounds
- Compounding and productivity
- Conclusion
-
Acknowledgments
-
Notes
-
References
-
Appendix
References (76)
de Angelis, G., & Selinker, L.
(
2001)
Interlanguage transfer and competing linguistic systems in the multilingual mind. In
J. Cenoz,
B. Hufeisen, &
U. Jessner (Eds.),
Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp. 42–58). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baayen, R. H.
(
2001)
Word frequency distributions. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baayen, R. H.
(
2009)
Corpus linguistics in morphology: Morphological productivity. In
A. Lüdeling &
M. Kytö (Eds.),
Corpus linguistics. An international handbook (Vol. 2, pp. 899–919). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baayen, R. H., & Lieber, R.
(
1991)
Productivity and English derivation: A corpus-based study.
Linguistics, 29(5), 801–843.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barz, I.
(
1995)
Komposita im Großwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache. In
I. Pohl &
H. Ehrhardt (Eds.),
Wort und Wortschatz. Beiträge zur Lexikographie (pp. 13–24). Tübingen: Niemeyer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bauer, L.
(
2001)
Morphological productivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Boas, H. C.
(
2003)
Resultative constructions in English and German. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bohnet, B.
(
2010)
Very high accuracy and fast dependency parsing is not a contradiction. In
Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Computational Linguistics (Coling 2010) (pp. 89–97). Beijing.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Booij, G. E.
(
2009)
Compounding and construction morphology. In
R. Lieber &
P. Štekauer (Eds.),
The Oxford handbook of compounding (pp. 201–216). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Booij, G. E.
(
2010)
Construction morphology. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Borer, H.
(
2008)
Compounds: The view from Hebrew. In
R. Lieber &
P. Štekauer (Eds.),
The Oxford handbook of compounds (pp. 491–511). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bybee, J. L.
(
2006)
From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition.
Language, 82(4), 711–733.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bybee, J. L.
(
2013)
Usage-based theory and exemplar representations of constructions. In
T. Hoffmann &
G. Trousdale (Eds.),
The Oxford handbook of construction grammar (pp. 49–69). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Byrnes, H.
(
2012)
Advanced language proficiency. In
S. M. Gass &
A. Mackey (Eds.),
Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 506–520). New York, NY: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Croft, W.
(
2001)
Radical construction grammar. Syntactic theory in typological perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Downing, P. A.
(
1977)
On the creation and use of English compound nouns.
Language, 53(4), 810–842.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ellis, N. C.
(
2002)
Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24(2), 143–188.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ellis, N. C.
(
2012)
Formulaic language and second language acquisition: Zipf and the phrasal Teddy bear.
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32, 17–44.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ellis, N. C., O’Donnell, M. B., & Römer, U.
Evert, S., & Baroni, M.
(
2007)
zipfR: Word frequency distributions in R. In
Proceedings of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Posters and Demonstrations Session (pp. 29–32). Prague.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fandrych, C., & Tallowitz, U.
(
2008)
Klipp und Klar. Übungsgrammatik Grundstufe Deutsch. Stuttgart: Klett.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fandrych, C., & Thurmair, M.
(
1994)
Ein Interpretationsmodell für Nominalkomposita: Linguistische und didaktische Überlegungen.
Deutsch als Fremdsprache, 31, 34–45.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fanselow, G.
(
1981)
Zur Syntax und Semantik der Nominalkomposition. Ein Versuch praktischer Anwendung der Montague-Grammatik auf die Wortbildung im Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fillmore, C. J.
(
1979)
Innocence: A second idealization for linguistics.
Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 5, 63–76.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fischer, K., & Stefanowitsch, A.
(
2006)
Konstruktionsgrammatik: Ein Überblick. In
K. Fischer, &
A. Stefanowitsch (Eds.)
Konstruktionsgrammatik: Von der Anwendung zur Theorie (pp. 3–17). Tübingen: Stauffenburg.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de la Fuente, M. J.
(
2002)
Negotiation and oral acquisition of Spanish L2 vocabulary: The roles of input and output in the receptive and productive acquisition of words.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 81–112.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gaeta, L., & Ricca, D.
(
2006)
Productivity in Italian word formation: A variable-corpus approach.
Linguistics, 44(1), 57–89.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gaeta, L., & Schlücker, B.
(Eds.) (
2012)
Das Deutsche als kompositionsfreudige Sprache. Strukturelle Eigenschaften und systembezogene Aspekte. Berlin: De Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gaeta, L., & Zeldes, A.
(
2012)
Deutsche Komposita zwischen Syntax und Morphologie: Ein korpusbasierter Ansatz. In
L. Gaeta, &
B. Schlücker (Eds.),
Das Deutsche als kompositionsfreudige Sprache: Strukturelle Eigenschaften und systembezogene Aspekte (pp. 197–217). Berlin: De Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gawron, J. -M.
(
2011)
Frame semantics. In
C. Maienborn,
K. Heusinger, &
P. Portner (Eds.),
Semantics. An international handbook of natural language meaning (Vol. 1, pp. 664–687). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldberg, A. E.
(
2006)
Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldschneider, J., & DeKeyser, R. M.
(
2001)
Explaining the ‘natural order of L2 morpheme acquisition’ in English: A meta-analysis of multiple determinants.
Language Learning, 51, 1–50.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Granger, S.
(
2002)
A bird’s-eye view of learner corpus research. In
S. Granger,
J. Hung, &
S. Petch-Tyson (Eds.)
Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching (pp. 3–33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Granger, S., Dagneaux, E., Meunier, F., & Paquot, M.
(
2009)
The International Corpus of Learner English. Version 2. Handbook and CD-ROM. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hartkamp, S., & Schneider-Wiejowski, K.
(
2010)
Die Regelkonformität in der Distribution von Fugenelementen. Eine korpuslinguistische Untersuchung neologistischer Substantivkomposita mit nominalem Erstglied.
Muttersprache, 3, 198–213.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heidermann, W.
(
1997)
Grammatiktraining Grundstufe. Ismaning: Verlag für Deutsch.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hirschmann, H., Lüdeling, A., Rehbein, I., Reznicek, M., & Zeldes, A.
(
2013)
Underuse of syntactic categories in Falko – A case study on modification. In
S. Granger, &
F. Meunier (Eds.)
20 years of learner corpus research. Looking back, moving ahead (pp. 223–234). Louvain: Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de Jong, N. H., Feldman, L. B., Schreuder, R., Pastizzo, M., & Baayen, R. H.
(
2002)
The Processing and representation of Dutch and English compounds: Peripheral morphological and central orthographic effects.
Brain and Language, 81(1–3), 555–567.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klein-Braley, C., & Raatz, U.
(
1982)
Der C-Test: Ein neuer Ansatz zur Messung von allgemeiner Sprachbeherrschung.
AKS Rundbrief, 4, 23–37.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klein, W., & Perdue, C.
(
1997)
The basic variety (or: Couldn’t natural languages be much simpler?).
Second Language Research, 13, 301–347.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krause, T., & Zeldes, A.
(
2016)
ANNIS3: A New Architecture for Generic Corpus Query and Visualization.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 31(1), 118–139.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krott, A., Schreuder, R., Baayen, R. H., & Dressler, W. U.
(
2007)
Analogical effects on linking elements in German compound words.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 25–57.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krummes, C., & Ensslin, A.
(
2014)
What’s hard in German? WHiG: A British learner corpus of German.
Corpora, 9(2), 191–205.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kürschner, S.
(
2005)
Verfugung-s-nutzung kontrastiv: Zur Funktion der Fugenelemente im Deutschen und Dänischen.
TijdSchrift voor Skandinavistiek, 26(2), 101–125.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Langacker, R. W.
(
1987)
Foundations of cognitive grammar. Vol. 1:
Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levi, J. N.
(
1978)
The syntax and semantics of complex nominals. New York, NY: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lieber, R., & Štekauer, P.
(Eds.) (
2008)
The Oxford handbook of compounding. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lüdeling, A.
(
2008)
Mehrdeutigkeiten und Kategorisierung: Probleme bei der Annotation von Lernerkorpora. In
M. Walter &
P. Grommes (Eds.),
Fortgeschrittene Lernervarietäten (pp. 119–140). Tübingen: Niemeyer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lüdeling, A., & Walter, M.
(
2010)
Korpuslinguistik. In
H. -J. Krumm,
C. Fandrych,
B. Hufeisen, &
C. Riemer (Eds.),
Handbuch Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache (pp. 315–322). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
MacWhinney, B.
(
2012)
The logic of the unified model. In
S. M. Gass &
A. Mackey (Eds.),
Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 211–227). New York, NY: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Michel, S.
(
2009)
Schaden-0-ersatz vs. Schaden-s-ersatz. Ein Erklärungsansatz synchroner Schwankungsfälle bei der Fugenbildung von N+N-Komposita.
Deutsche Sprache, 37, 334–351.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Milton, J.
(
2009)
Measuring second language vocabulary acquisition. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Motsch, W.
(
2004)
Deutsche Wortbildung in Grundzügen. 2. überarbeitete Auflage. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Müller, F. H.
(
2004)
Stylebook for the Tübingen Partially Parsed Corpus of Written German (TüPP-D/Z). Universität Tübingen, Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft, Technical Report.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nation, P.
(
1990)
Teaching and learning vocabulary. Rowley MA: Newbury House.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Neef, M.
(
2009)
IE, Germanic: German. In
R. Lieber &
P. Štekauer (Eds.),
The Oxford handbook of compounding (pp. 386–399). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nesselhauf, N.
(
2003)
The use of collocations by advanced learners of English and some implications for teaching.
Applied Linguistics, 24(2), 223–242.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Norris, J. M.
(
2004)
Validity evaluation in language assessment. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Hawai’i.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L.
(
2009)
Towards an organic approach to investigating CAF in instructed SLA: The case of complexity.
Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 555–578.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nübling, D., & Szczepaniak, R.
(
2011)
Markmal(s?)analyse, Seminar(s?)arbeit und Essen(s?)ausgabe: Zweifelsfälle der Verfugung als Indikatoren für Sprachwandel.
Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 30(1), 45–73.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nübling, D., & Szczepaniak, R.
(
2013)
Linking elements in German origin, change, functionalization.
Morphology, 23, 67–89.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rainer, F.
(
1988)
Towards a theory of blocking: The case of Italian and German quality nouns. In
G. E. Booij &
J. van Marle (Eds.),
Yearbook of Morphology 1988 (pp. 155–185). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rak, Z.
(
1990)
Substantivische Komposita im Deutschen – semantische Analyse und Beschreibung für die fachbezogene Fremdsprachenausbildung an polnischen Hochschulen. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Technische Universität Dresden.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reznicek, M., Lüdeling, A., & Hirschmann, H.
Reznicek, M., Lüdeling, A., Krummes, C., Schwantuschke, F., Walter, M., Schmidt, K., Hirschmann, H., & Andreas, T.
(
2012)
Das Falko-Handbuch. Korpusaufbau und Annotationen. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technical Report Version 2.01, Berlin.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ringbom, H.
(
1998)
Vocabulary frequencies in advanced learner English: A cross-linguistic approach. In
S. Granger (Ed.),
Learner English on computer (pp. 41–52). London: Addison Wesley Longman.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schiller, A., Teufel, S., Stöckert, C., & Thielen, C.
(
1999)
Guidelines für das Tagging deutscher Textcorpora mit STTS. Universität Stuttgart, Institut für maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung and Universität Tübingen, Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft, Technical Report.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schlücker, B.
(
2012)
Die deutsche Kompositionsfreudigkeit. Übersicht und Einführung. In
L. Gaeta, &
B. Schlücker (Eds.),
Das deutsche als kompositionsfreudige Sprache. Strukturelle Eigenschaften und systembezogene Aspekte (pp. 1–25). Berlin: De Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schmid, H.
(
1994)
Probabilistic part-of-speech tagging using decision trees. In
Proceedings of the Conference on New Methods in Language Processing (pp. 44–49). Manchester, UK.
[URL]
Schmid, H., Fitschen, A., & Heid, U.
(
2004)
SMOR: A German computational morphology covering derivation, composition, and inflection. In
Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-2004) (pp. 1263–1266). Lisbon, Portugal.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sweetser, E.
(
1999)
Compositionality and blending: Semantic composition in a cognitively realistic framework. In
G. Redeker &
T. Janssen (Eds.),
Cognitive linguistics: Foundations, scope, and methodology (pp. 129–162). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Trynkler, A.
(
2010)
Deutsche Komposita und ihre Erlernungsmöglichkeiten in der Oberschule.
Studia niemcoznawcze. Studien zur Deutschkunde, 44, 467–475.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vyatkina, N., Hirschmann, H., & Golcher, F.
(
2015)
Syntactic modification at early stages of L2 German writing development: A longitudinal learner corpus study.
Journal of Second Language Writing, 29, 28–50.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zeldes, A.
(
2012)
Productivity in argument selection. From morphology to syntax (
Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 260.) Berlin: De Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zeldes, A.
(
2013)
Komposition als Konstruktionsnetzwerk im fortgeschrittenen L2-Deutsch.
Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik, 41(2), 240–276.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Lecouvet, Mathieu
2023.
Non-canonical word order as a measure of syntactic complexity in advanced L2 German.
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 61:3
► pp. 877 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.