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

Hiroyuki Oshita: Compounds: A View fromSuffixationand A-Structure Alteration Presenters: Dorothée Bräuer, Sonja Lütkemeyer

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Definitionsof „syntheticcompound“ CompoundNouns CompoundAdjectives Back Formation Positive 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. → document b. I have an examination/exam tomorrow. → event c. 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. *unwalking • interestingly vs. *walkingly • interesting book vs. *walking baby • very interesting vs. *very walking

Deverbal Suffix –ING and Compound Adjectives • Levin’s and Rappaport’s “remain test”: The story remained/*kept interesting The baby kept/*remained walking.

Deverbal Suffix –ING and Compound Adjectives • psychological state verbs • fear, love, hate, adore • a-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-dropping • Morphological Process: ]v-ing]A • A-structure Alteration: ((x)) → R ((x))

Unaccusatives and unergatives • Unergative verb: (x) • Flying saucers, travelling salesman, Sleeping Beauty • Morphological Process: ]v-ing]A • A-structure Alteration: (x) → R = x (x)

Deverbal Suffix –EN and Compound Adjectives a) *The window remained broken by the burglar. → passive verb b) 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 compound • Base verb: ditransitive • A-structure: (x(y(z))) • Morphological Process: ]v –en] A • A-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: backformation • Example: 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

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