PRESENTERS: DOROTHÉE BRÄUER, SONJA LÜTKEMEYER

Hiroyuki Oshita: Compounds: A View from Suffixation and A-

Structure Alteration

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IntroductionDefinitions of „synthetic compound“Compound NounsCompound AdjectivesBack FormationPositive and Negative Constraints on

Compounds

Introduction

literature: two major ways of classification for compounds that both look at the property of their head constituents

• ice cream, talk show, hair spray, taxi driver, meat eater, pan-fired, machine-washable

Morphological definition of synthetic compound:

A compound with a deverbal head is a synthetic compound. (taxi driver, meat eater, pan fired, machine washable)

Morpho-thematic definition of synthetic compound

A compound whose nonhead satisfies the internal argument requirement of its deverbal head is a synthetic compound. (taxi driver, meat eater)

Attention!

a single suffix may be part of either a synthetic or non-synthetic compound, e.g. letter-writing, handwriting, pleasure writing

only letter-writing is a synthetic compound

Lexico-syntactic definition of synthetic compound (Grimshaw 1990)

A compound whose nonhead satisfies the obligatory argument requirement of the head, irrespective of the latter's morphological origin, is a synthetic compound.

Deverbal Suffix -ING and Compound Nouns

example: there are nouns that have at least three distinctive readings:a. The examination/exam is on your desk. → documentb. I have an examination/exam tomorrow.

→ eventc. The doctor's careful examination/*exam of Al's eyes took a long time.

→ “complex event reading”

compounds:

a. The biology examination/biology exam is on the desk.

b. I have a biology examination/biology exam tomorrow.

c. The doctor's careful eye examination/*eye exam took a long time.

Three different types of nouns: Result/concrete nominals Simple event/process nominals Complex event nominals.

Result/Concrete Nominals

writing(s), recording(s), painting(s), finding(s), building(s), drawing(s), grouping(s), carving(s)

argument-structure of a transitive verb: (x (y))

(1) Suffixation of -ing: Morphological process: ]v-ing]N A-Structure Alteration: (x (y)) → R = y ‹(x (y))›

Result/Concrete Nominals - compounds

handwriting(s), oil painting(s), office building(s)

Simple Event/Process Nominals

diving, swimming, boxing, skating etc. → same semantic category as tennis dance, hockey, polo

(2) suffixation of -ing (simple event/process): Morphological process: ]v-ing]N A-structure Alteration: (x (y)) → R ‹(x (y))›

Compounds: skydiving, lap swimming, shadowboxing

Complex Event Nominals

(Relentless) hunting *(of whales) will endanger our own future.

(Careful) blending *(of spices) ensures the best taste of curries.

Suffixation of -ing (complex event): Morphological Process: ]v-ing]N A-structure Alteration: (x (y)) → Ev (x = % (y))

Deverbal suffix -ER and Compound Nouns

although compounds in the form [XV-er] such as truck-driver are widely regarded as synthetic compounds, Oshita wants to show that they are mostly non-synthetic compounds

Suffixation of -er must look like this: Morphological Process: ]v-er]N A-structure Alteration: (x (y)) → R = x ‹(x

(y))›

Deverbal Suffix –ING and Compound Adjectives

uninteresting vs. *unwalkinginterestingly vs. *walkinglyinteresting book vs. *walking babyvery interesting vs. *very walking

Deverbal Suffix –ING and Compound Adjectives

Levin’s and Rappaport’s “remain test”:

The story remained/*kept interestingThe baby kept/*remained walking.

Deverbal Suffix –ING and Compound Adjectives

psychological state verbs fear, love, hate, adorea-structure: (x(y))The god-fearing man led the people to

the Promised Land* The fearing man led the people to

the Promised Land

Middle verbs and identificational verbs

a) The company started selling quick-cooking rice.

→ middle verb (x(adv))

b) Jo met a pleasant-looking young man. → identificational verb (x(adj))

Unaccusatives and unergatives

Unaccusative verb: ((x))Knee-shaking, mouth-watering, jaw-

droppingMorphological Process: ]v-ing]AA-structure Alteration: ((x)) → R ((x))

Unaccusatives and unergatives

Unergative verb: (x)Flying saucers, travelling salesman,

Sleeping BeautyMorphological Process: ]v-ing]AA-structure Alteration: (x) → R = x (x)

Deverbal Suffix –EN and Compound Adjectives

a) *The window remained broken by the burglar.

→ passive verbb) The window remained (un)broken during the

civil unrest. → derived adjective

b) = adjectival passive

Category conversion: V[Part] → [V[Part]]A

Deverbal Suffix –EN and Compound Adjectives

adult-supervised party [Agent]long-established custom [Time]robot-controlled microscopes

[Instrument]class-tested textbook [Location]better-furnished room [Degree]

Deverbal Suffix –EN and Compound Adjectives

We want to receive more community-oriented service.

Synthetic compoundBase verb: ditransitiveA-structure: (x(y(z))) Morphological Process: ]v –en] AA-Structure Alteration: (x(y(z))) → R = z (x =

¢ (y(z)))

Deverbal Suffix –ABLE and Compound Adjectives

Example 1: machine-washable sweater

Example 2: teacher-trainable children

Back Formation

English lacks productive process to derive compound verbs

Therefore: backformationExample: to handwrite ← handwriting

Positive and Negative Constraints on Compounds

Example: The guy is a good swimmer.But not: *the guy-swimmer

“prime-argument”: left-most argument (R, Ev or x)

The prime-argument of a head can never appear as a nonhead constituent in a compound

→ No Prime Argument Condition