236 research outputs found
Debonding of affixoids: a comparative constructionist account
In this article I analyze a specific mechanism of linguistic change by which new adjectives and adverbs may be created out of former compound members or affixoids. This process is called âdebondingâ by Norde (2009). I demonstrate that debonding occurs in several European languages and provide corpus examples from French, English, Dutch and German. Moreover, it is shown that language-specific properties such as the degree of compound cohesion and the complexity of the inflectional system may either favor (as in English or French) or disfavor (as in Dutch and German) the debonding process. The data are described and analyzed from a constructionist approach to language and language change. More precisely, I apply the notions of âmultiple inheritanceâ and âmultiple source constructionsâ to the debonding of two particular case studies, French clĂ© and Dutch top
Approximation in Morphology
This Special Issue "Approximation in Morphology" has been collated from peer-reviewed papers presented at the ApproxiMo 'discontinuous' workshop (2022), which was held online between December 2021 and May 2022, and organized by Francesca Masini (Bologna), Muriel Norde (Berlin) and Kristel Van Goethem (Louvain)
From Crystal-clear to Limpide: Translating English [Noun+adj] Compound Adjectives with a Figurative-intensifying Noun into French
English [Noun+Adj] compound adjectives containing an intensifying metaphor (e.g. crystal-clear) pose particular challenges for French translation, due in part to the absence of a direct equivalent construction. Our study examines morphosyntactic and conceptual-semantic translation procedures that capture how these challenges are resolved. We also explore the little-investigated aspect of translation variation (the number of different solutions for each item). We analyze the potential effects of two factors: the presence or absence of figurative intensification and the itemsâ frequency of use in English. Our results indicate that translators prefer different morphosyntactic procedures for different compound subtypes. Overall, an adjective constituent is most frequently retained, although complete reformulations with a noun or verb also occur. Semantically, the intensifying meaning is often rendered non-figuratively, depending on what is available in idiomatic French usage. Intensification is also frequently dropped. Translation variation is remarkably high, due in part to extensive use of near-synonyms. High-frequency items do not appear to converge on a smaller number of translations, but instead provide more opportunities for diversification
Les constructions préverbales du français et du néerlandais: typologie et grammaticalisation
Dans cette Ă©tude, nous prĂ©senterons en premier lieu une typologie des verbes français et nĂ©erlandais introduits par un prĂ©verbe de forme prĂ©positionnelle. Cette typologie comporte quatre grandes classes de constructions prĂ©verbales : les constructions relationnelles oĂč le prĂ©verbe est toujours proche de son pendant prĂ©positionnel ou postpositionnel (p.ex. survoler une Ăźle), les constructions adverbiales prĂ©dicatives oĂč le prĂ©verbe (nĂ©erlandais) est issu dâun adverbe prĂ©dicatif (p.ex. zijn geld opdoen /son argent sur-faire/ âdĂ©penser son argentâ), les constructions prĂ©fixales oĂč le prĂ©verbe se comporte comme un vrai prĂ©fixe (p.ex. surestimer les capacitĂ©s de quelquâun) et les constructions prĂ©verbales lexicalisĂ©es (p.ex. pourlĂ©cher ses phrases). Dans un deuxiĂšme temps, nous montrerons que les constructions prĂ©verbales distinguĂ©es peuvent ĂȘtre situĂ©es sur une Ă©chelle de grammaticalisation
The French construction 'nouveau + past participle' revisited. Arguments in favour of a prefixoid analysis of nouveau
The article focuses on the French construction ânouveau + past participleâ (e.g. nouveau-nĂ© ânewborn babyâ) in which nouveau is traditionally assigned an adverbial value. However, it will be claimed that an alternative analysis, classifying nouveau as an adjective grammaticalizing into a prefix, viz a âprefixoidâ, provides a more accurate account of the construction.
The article proposes a set of four parameters applying to the grammaticalization of French prefixoids (resemanticization, decategorialization, paradigmaticization and productivity). These parameters will be applied to the construction ânouveau + past participleâ and it will be shown that they conflict with the traditional adverbial analysis and plead in favour of a prefixoid analysis of nouveau
Le statut des séquences "N+N à N2 productif". Le cas de N-clé
Cet article examine le statut des sĂ©quences N+N en français dans lesquelles le N2 se combine productivement avec diffĂ©rents N1 (p.ex. rĂ©union marathon, examen marathon, plaidoyer marathon, etc.). Dans la littĂ©rature, cette construction a Ă©tĂ© analysĂ©e de trĂšs diffĂ©rentes façons, notamment comme une composition N+N ordinaire ou comme la combinaison syntaxique dâun nom avec un second nom converti en adjectif. Dans une premiĂšre section, les arguments en faveur de ces diffĂ©rentes analyses sont prĂ©sentĂ©s. La seconde section est consacrĂ©e Ă un cas spĂ©cifique dans lequel la construction N+clĂ© (mot-clĂ©, fonction-clĂ©, Ă©lĂ©ment-clĂ©, etc.) est sujette Ă une analyse sĂ©mantique, orthographique, morphologique et syntaxique approfondie. Il sera observĂ© que dans des emplois rĂ©cents la construction N+clĂ© a dĂ©veloppĂ© certaines nouvelles propriĂ©tĂ©s syntaxiques qui pourraient ĂȘtre vues comme le rĂ©sultat dâun processus de dĂ©grammaticalisation
Affixation in morphology
Affixation is the morphological process that consists of adding an affix (i.e. a bound morpheme) to a morphological base. It is cross-linguistically the most common process that human languages use to derive new lexemes (derivational affixation) or to adapt a wordâs form to its morpho-syntactic context (inflectional affixation). Suffixes, i.e. bound morphemes following the base, and prefixes, i.e. bound morphemes preceding the base, are the most common affixes, with suffixation being more frequently recorded in the worldâs languages than prefixation. Minor types of affixation include circumfixation and infixation. Conversion and back-formation are related derivational processes that do not make use of affixation. Many studies have concentrated on the need to differentiate derivation from inflection, but these morphological processes are probably best described as two endpoints of a cline. Prototypically, derivation is used to change a wordâs category (part of speech) and involves a semantic change. A wordâs inflectional distinctions make up its paradigm, which amounts to the different morphological forms that correlate with different morpho-syntactic functions. Form-function mapping in (derivational and inflectional) affixation is a key issue in current research on affixation. Many deviations from the canonical âone form-one meaningâ principle can be observed in the field of affixation. From a diachronic point of view, it has been demonstrated that affixes often derive from free lexemes by grammaticalization, with affixoids being recognized as an intermediate step on this cline. More controversial, but still attested, is the opposite change whereby affixes and affixoids develop into free morphemes through a process of degrammaticalization
De rol van scheidbaarheid bij de indeling tussen samengestelde en afgeleide werkwoorden in het Nederlands
In vele Nederlandse morfologiestudies valt het onderscheid tussen samengestelde en afgeleide werkwoorden samen met de oppositie tussen scheidbare en onscheidbare werkwoorden. In de categorie âafgeleide werkwoordenâ worden enkel de onscheidbare werkwoorden zoals aanvĂĄarden en onderdrĂșkken geklasseerd, terwijl de scheidbare complexe verba zoals Ăłphelderen en Ășithuwelijken ofwel als samenstellingen ofwel als een tussenliggende categorie tussen samenstellingen en syntactische groepen worden behandeld. In ons doctoraatsonderzoek hebben we ons toegelegd op de studie van werkwoorden ingeleid door een element van prepositionele vorm (op-eten, door-lopen, etc.) en hebben we een typologie opgesteld van de verschillende preverbale constructies van het Nederlands. Op basis van semantische en morfo-syntactische grammaticalisatieparameters kunnen we compositionele (namelijk relationele en predicatieve) preverbale constructies en derivationele preverbale constructies onderscheiden. Opvallend is echter dat deze indeling niet volledig samenvalt met het onderscheid scheidbaar/onscheidbaar werkwoord: samengestelde werkwoorden ingeleid door een voorzetsel of achterzetsel kunnen scheidbaar (bv. een hoed Ăłpzetten) of onscheidbaar (bv. de hele stad doorlĂłpen) zijn, samengestelde werkwoorden ingeleid door een predicatief bijwoord zijn altijd scheidbaar (bv. de bal Ăłpgooien) en de prefixale of derivationele constructies zijn scheidbaar (bv. een vriend Ăłpvrolijken) of onscheidbaar (bv. de puppyâs overvĂłeden). In onze bijdrage zullen we dieper ingaan op de interactie tussen het traditionele criterium van (on)scheidbaarheid enerzijds en de semantische en morfosyntactische parameters die de afbakening tussen lexeem (voorzetsel, achterzetsel of bijwoord) en voorvoegsel aangeven anderzijds
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