Complex Words in English

184 Pages·2014·4.866 MB·English Language Series

by  Valerie Adams

Complex Words in English
(jJent'rl1l13tlitIJY: fbmdtJlpb Quirk
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VALERIEAIlAMS. Complex Words in Fnglish
Complex Words in English
Valerie Adams
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LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2001 by Pearson Education Limited
Published 20 l3 by Routledge
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ISBN l3: 978-0-582-23964-7 (pbk)
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Set by 35 in 10/12ptJanson Text
Contents
Preface tX
Preliminaries 1
1.1 Word formation 1
1.2 Lexemes 2
1.2.1 Complex words 2
1.2.2 Lexemes and phrases 2
1.2.3 Lexemes and word-forms 5
1.3 Motivation 7
1.4 Present and past 11
1.5 Examples and the OED 12
1.6 Varieties of complex word 15
Notes 17
2 Transposition 19
2.1 Scope 19
2.2 'Zero' 20
2.3 Verbs 22
2.3.1 Noun to verb 22
2.3.2 Adjective to verb 26
2.4 Nouns 28
2.4.1 Verb to noun 28
2.4.2 Adjective to noun 31
2.5 Adjectives 33
2.5.1 Verb to adjective 33
2.5.2 Noun to adjective 35
2.6 Adverbs 38
Notes 40
3 Prefixes 41
3.1 Scope 41
3.2 Verbs 43
VI CONTENTS
3.3 Adjectives 45
3.4 Nouns 49
Notes 50
4 Suffixes 52
4.1 Scope 52
4.2 Individuals 53
4.3 Diminutives 55
4.4 States, realms and other non-individual
entities 58
Notes 69
5 Particles 71
5.1 Scope 71
5.2 Particle + base compounds 72
5.2.1 Verbs 72
5.2.2 Adjectives 73
5.2.3 Nouns 73
5.3 Over, under, out 74
5.3.1 Verbs 74
5.3.2 Adjectives 75
5.3.3 Nouns 75
5.4 Base + particle nouns 76
Notes 77
6 Noun compounds 78
6.1 Scope 78
6.1.1 Noun + deverbal nominalization 78
6.1.2 Noun + noun 79
6.1.3 Noun-genitive s + noun 80
6.1.4 Adjective + noun 81
6.1.5 Exocentric compounds 81
6.2 Meaning 82
6.3 Contexts 86
Notes 88
7 Adjective compounds 90
7.1 Scope 90
7.2 -ing 91
7.2.1 Noun + verb-ing 91
7.2.2 Adjective + verb-ing 92
CONTENTS VII
7.3 -ed 93
7.3.1 Noun + verb-ed 93
7.3.2 Adjective + verb-ed 94
7.3.3 'Bahuvrihi' compounds 94
7.4 Adjective 96
7.4.1 Noun + adjective 96
7.4.2 Adjective + adjective 97
7.5 Attributive and predicative 97
Notes 98
8 Verb compounds 100
8.1 Scope 100
8.2 Inflection 102
8.3 Focus 103
8.4 Lexicalization 105
8.5 Acceptability in use 106
8.6 Frequency 108
Notes 109
9 Stem formations 110
9.1 Scope 110
9.2 Strata 110
9.3 Stems 113
9.4 Stem combinations 115
9.4.1 Prefixation 115
9.4.2 Suffixation 116
9.4.3 Stem compounds 118
Notes 120
10 Phonaesthemes 121
10.1 Scope 121
10.2 Some assonances 124
10.3 Some rimes 126
10.4 Reduplication 127
10.5 Problems with phonaesthemes 129
Notes 132
11 Reanalysis 133
11.1 Scope 133
11.2 Affixes 134
11.3 Backformation 136
11.4 Blending 138
11.5 Shortening 141
Notes 143
viii CONTENTS
12 Overview 144
12.1 Patterns 144
12.2 Productivity 146
Notes 153
References 155
General index 165
Index of word-elements 170
Preface
This book was first planned as a second edition of An Introduction to Modern
English Word-formation (1973). In the event, nothing of that work has
remained, aside from a handful of examples which I was unwilling to re
linquish. The earlier book coalesced rather fortuitously, it now seems to
me, around an initial interest in some of the more eccentric kinds of word
creation, specifically blends. My aim in this one has been to give a much
more inclusive account of word formation in English.
In the intervening period, morphology has made considerable advances in
status and scope, and there have been some varied and innovative approaches
to the description of complex words. In investigating the different kinds of
word-making, more and less systematic, I have gained much from the de- .
scriptive studies which have appeared in the last twenty-five years or so.
An appreciable number of examples in my first book were elucidated and
vouched for by the phrases and sentences in which I found them. Such
illustrations in context are a more prominent feature of this book, thanks
largely to the new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and its Compact
Disc version. Its resources have been an essential counterbalance to my
intuitions about likely, unlikely and impossible complex words.
I am very grateful to Bas Aarts and Jill House for their advice on parts of
the book, and to Randolph Quirk for helpful comments on all of it.
Valerie Adams