Chapter 12
Morphopragmatics of rhyming and imitative co-compounds in
Russian
Coordinative compounding is a phenomenon at the
crossroads between word-formation, syntax and discourse, adopted for
encoding non-lexicalized concepts in a wide range of languages. We
propose a morphopragmatic account of two specific coordinative
compounding strategies in Russian, namely, rhyming and imitative
co-compounds. They exhibit non-compositional semantics, inasmuch as
they perform a generalizing/categorizing function, which, in turn, is
tightly intertwined with a strong pragmatic evaluative component,
involving irony and downgrading of the referent. Furthermore,
different means of categorization tend to cluster in discourse, thus
resulting in pervasive overcoding of the respective ad
hoc concepts. Since categorization is a result of an
online process of meaning negotiation between speakers, we have to do
with low-frequency single instances of a frequent phenomenon.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Co-compounds and their morphosyntactic properties in
Russian
- 1.2Data, theoretical framework, and scope of the study
- 2.Rhyming co-compounds
- 2.1The appositive subtype
- 2.2The prefixed subtype
- 3.Imitative co-compounds
- 4.Conclusions
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
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References