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Are compounds words or phrases - or are they neither or both? How should we classify compounds? How can we deal with the fact that the relationship between the elements of sugar pill ('pill made of sugar') is different from that in sea-sickness pill ('pill to prevent sea-sickness')? Are compounds a linguistic universal? How much do languages vary in the way their compounds work? Why do we need compounds, when there are other ways of creating the same meanings? Are so-called neoclassical compounds like photograph really compounds? Based on more than forty years' research, this controversial new book sets out to answer these and many other questions.
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Compounds and words; 3. The grammar of compounds; 4. The semantics of compounds; 5. The classification of compounds; 6. Facets of English compounding; 7. Discussion.
About the author
Laurie Bauer is Emeritus Professor at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington. He has published many works on morphology including English Word-formation (Cambridge, 1983), Introducing Linguistic Morphology (2003), and Morphological Productivity (Cambridge, 2001).
Summary
Are compounds words or phrases, neither or both? How should we classify compounds? Are compounds a linguistic universal? Why do we need compounds, when there are other ways of creating the same meanings? Based on over forty years' research, this controversial new book aims to answer these and other questions.
Report
'This monograph features all four 'I's' characteristic of Bauer's 'trademark': an Illuminating, Ingenious, Insightful and In-depth analysis. Really worth reading!' Pavol Stekauer, Pavol Jozef Safárik University, Slovakia
