Cover not available

In:Morphology and Meaning: Selected papers from the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012
Edited by Franz Rainer, Francesco Gardani, Hans Christian Luschützky and Wolfgang U. Dressler
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 327] 2014
► pp. 191–204

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Compounds vs. phrases

The cognitive status of morphological products

 | University of Kassel
 | University of Kassel
 | University of Kassel
Published online: 27 February 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.327.13kot
Nominal compounds and corresponding phrases provide a suitable test bed for inquiry into the interface and demarcations between syntax and morphology. In this article we show that the distinction between the two constructions is blurred from a theoretical perspective and investigate processing and cognitive aspects. After an examination of structural as well as semantic properties of the two types, we report on three studies (memorization, questionnaire, and reading time) that experimentally juxtapose German adjective-noun constructions of phrasal and morphological kinds. The results of these studies indicate cognitive differences between compounds and phrases. Considering alternative explanations, we argue that our data supports the view of two separated structural levels of grammar.
References (39)
References
Ackema, Peter & Adriaan Neeleman. 2004. Beyond Morphology: Interface Conditions on Word Formation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arndt-Lappe, Sabine & Melanie Bell. 2012. “Explaining English Compound Stress Analogically”. Paper presented at the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012.
Bauer, Laurie. 1998. “When is a Sequence of Two Nouns a Compound in English?”. English Language and Linguistics 2:1.65–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 2009. “Lexical Integrity as a Formal Universal: A Constructionist View”. Universals in Language Today ed. by Sergio Scalise, Elisabetta Magni & Antonietta Bisetto, 83–100. Berlin: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Böer, Katja, Sven Kotowski & Holden Härtl. 2012. “Nominal Composition and the Demarcation between Morphology and Syntax: Grammatical, Variational, and Cognitive Factors”. Anglistentag 2011 – Proceedings ed. by Monika Fludernik & Benjamin Kohlmann, 63–74, Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Roger & Deborah Fish. 1983. “The Psychological Causality Implicit in Language”. Cognition 14.237–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bücking, Sebastian. 2009. “German Nominal Compounds as Underspecified Names for Kinds”. Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 17.253?281.
Chomsky, Noam & Morris Halle. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clahsen, Harald & Mayella Almazan. 2001. “Compounding and Inflection in Language Impairment: Evidence from Williams Syndrome (and SLI)”. Lingua 111.729?757.
Di Sciullo, Anna M. & Edwin Williams. 1987. On the Definition of Word. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gaeta, Livio. 2012. “NN Compounds in Italian and Beyond”. Paper presented at the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012.
Giegerich, Heinz. 2006. “Attribution in English and the Distinction Between Phrases and Compounds”. Englisch in Zeit und Raum - English in Time and Space: Forschungsbericht für Klaus Faiss ed. by Petr Rösel, 10–27. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greene, Steven B., Gail Mc Koon & Roger Ratcliff. 1992. “Pronoun Resolution and Discourse Models”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 18.266–283. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gunkel, Lutz & Gisela Zifonun. 2009. “Classifying Modifiers in Common Names”. Word Structure 2:2.205–218. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Härtl, Holden. 2008. Implizite Informationen. Sprachliche Ökonomie und Interpretative Komplexität bei Verben. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2011. “The Indeterminacy of Word Segmentation and the Nature of Morphology and Syntax”. Folia Linguistica 45:1.31–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Höhle, Tilman. 1982. “Über Komposition und Derivation: Zur Konstituentenstruktur von Wortbildungsprodukten im Deutschen”. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 1.76–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Inhoff, Albrecht W., Deborah Briihl & Jill Schwartz. 1996. “Compound Word Effects Differ in Reading, On-line Naming, and Delayed Naming Tasks”. Memory & Cognition 24:4.466–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Inhoff, Albrecht W., Matthew J. Solomon, Matthew S. Starr & Lars Placke. 2008. “Eye Movements During the Reading of Compound Words and the Influence of Lexeme Meaning”. Memory & Cognition 36:3.675–687. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacobs, Joachim. 2011. “Grammatik ohne Wörter?”. Sprachliches Wissen zwischen Lexikon und Grammatik (= Jahrbuch des Instituts für Deutsche Sprache 2010), ed. by Stefan Engelberg, Anke Holler & Kristel Proost, 345–372. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klos, Verena. 2011. Komposition und Kompositionalität: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Semantischen Dekodierung von Substantivkomposita. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krifka, Manfred, Francis J. Pelletier, Greg N. Carlson, Alice ter Meulen, Gennaro Chierchia & Godehard Link. 1995. “Genericity: An Introduction”. The Generic Book, ed. by Greg N. Carlson & Francis J. Pelletier, 1–124. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levi, Judith N. 1978. The Syntax and Semantics of Complex Nominals. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lieber, Rochelle. 1992. Deconstructing Morphology: Word Formation in Syntactic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lipka, Leonhard. 1977. “Lexikalisierung, Idiomatisierung und Hypostasierung als Probleme einer synchronen Wortbildungslehre”. Perspektiven der Wortbildungsforschung ed. by Brekle, Herbert & Dieter Kastovsky, 155–164. Bonn: Bouvier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marchand, Hans. 1969. The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word Formation. 2nd ed. München: C. H. Beck.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mondini, Sara, Gonia Jarema, Claudio Luzzatti, Cristina Burani & Carlo Semenzai. 2002. “Why is Red Cross Different from Yellow Cross? A Neuropsychological Study of Noun‐Adjective Agreement within Italian Compounds”. Brain and Language 81.621–634.
Müller-Reichau, Olav. 2006. Sorting the World – on the Relevance of the Kind-Level/Object-Level Distinction to Referential Semantics. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Leipzig.
Payne, John & Rodney Huddleston. 2002. “Nouns and Noun Phrases”. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language ed. by Rodney Huddleston & Geoffrey Pullum, 525–596. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plag, Ingo, Gero Kunter, Sabine Lappe & Maria Braun. 2008. “The Role of Semantics, Argument Structure, and Lexicalization in Compound Stress Assignment in English”. Language 84:4.760–794. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plag, Ingo. 2010. “Compound Stress Assignment by Analogy: The Constituent Family Bias”. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 29:2.243–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäfer, Martin. 2009. “A N Constructions in Mandarin and the Compound Versus Phrase Debate”. Word Structure 2:2.272–293. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Semantic Transparency and Anaphoric Islands. Submitted manuscript, University of Jena.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schlücker, Barbara & Matthias Hüning. 2009. “Compounds and Phrases. A Functional Comparison between German A+N Compounds and Corresponding Phrases”. Rivista di Linguistica 21:1.209?234.
Schlücker, Barbara & Ingo Plag. 2011. “Compound or Phrase? Analogy in Naming”. Lingua 121.1539–1551. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spencer, Andrew. 2003. “Does English Have Productive Compounding?”. Topics in Morphology: Selected Papers from the 3rd Mediterranean Morphology Meeting ed. by Geert E. Booji, Janet DeCesaris, Angela Ralli & Sergio Scalise, 329–341. Barcelona: Institut Universitari de Lingüística Applicada.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wunderlich, Dieter. 1986. “Probleme der Wortstruktur”. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 5.209–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. “Spekulationen zum Anfang von Sprache”. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 27.229–265. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zimmer, Karl E. 1971. “Some General Observations about Nominal Compounds”. Working Papers on Language Universals. Stanford University 5, C1–C21.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Schlechtweg, Marcel
2018. The naming potential of compounds and phrases: An empirical study on German adjective-noun constructions. Word Structure 11:3 ► pp. 359 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue