Units in compounding

This chapter addresses such questions as ‘what kind of linguistic units are compounds?’ and ‘what kind of linguistic units are they made of?’ In order to answer these questions a strictly word-based approach is adopted, in which words (lexemes) are considered as the basic units of morphological and lexical organization cross-linguistically. Several examples in which canonical and non-canonical words appear as inputs and outputs of compounding are analyzed. It is claimed that, unlike derivation, compounding constructs both typical lexical units, and units which are not made to be lexicalized. This conclusion is consistent with the common assumption that compounding constitutes a case of mismatch between morphology and syntax.