In:Nominal Compound Acquisition
Edited by Wolfgang U. Dressler, F. Nihan Ketrez and Marianne Kilani-Schoch
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 61] 2017
► pp. 275–286
Chapter 12Contrastive lexical typology of German and Greek child speech and child-directed speech
Published online: 19 December 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.61.13ste
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.61.13ste
While both German and Greek are rich in compounding devices and nominal compounds represent the most frequent compounding type in both languages, the amount of nominal compounds occurring in early child speech is much more limited in Greek than in German. Since this difference cannot be explained by a mere comparison of the word formation potential of the two languages, an onomasiological approach to lexical typology has been taken, which is based on a sample list of nominal compounds occurring in German child language and their Greek translational equivalents. It has been found that while use of nominal compounds is common in colloquial German including child-centered situations, it is more typical of Greek formal than colloquial registers.
Keywords: contrastive lexical typology, compounding, German, Greek
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Frequency of nominal compounds in German and Greek child speech
- 3.Contrastive lexical analysis of German and Greek
- 3.1Distributional analysis
- 3.2Qualitative analysis
- 4.Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
Notes References
References (17)
Berman, R. A. 2009. Children’s acquisition of compound constructions. In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, R. Lieber & P. Štekauer (eds), 298–322. Oxford: OUP.
Christofidou, A., Afentoulidou, V., Karasimos, A. & Dimitropoulou, I.. 2013. Ilektroniko programma neologismon kai orologias NeoDEMIA: Prokliseis kai dhiktio-liseis (The electronic programme for neologisms and terminology NeoDEMIA: Challenges and internet solutions). In Dimiourgia kai morfi sti glossa. Deltio Epistimonikis Orologias kai Neologismon (Creation and Form in Language. Reports on Scientific Terminology and Neologisms), Vol. 12, A. Christofidou (ed.), 198–243. Athens: Academy of Athens.
Clairis, C. & Babiniotis, G.. (in cooperation with A. Moser, E. Bakakou-Orfanou & S. Skopeteas). 2005. Grammatiki tis Neas Ellinikis: domoleitourgiki-epikoinoniaki (A Grammar of Modern Greek: Structural-functional and communicative). Athens: Ellinika Grammata.
Dressler, W. U. 2006. Compound types. In The Representation and Processing of Compound Words, G. Libben & G. Jarema (eds), 23–44. Oxford: OUP.
Eco, U.. 2003. Dire quasi la stessa cosa: Esperienze di traduzione (Saying Virtually the Same Thing: Experiences in Translation). Milano: Bompiani.
Grzega, J.. 2009. Compounding from an onomasiological perspective. In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, R. Lieber & P. Štekauer (eds), 217–232. Oxford: OUP.
Koch, P.. 2001. Lexical typology. In Language Typology and Language Universals, Vol. 2, M. Haspelmath, E. König, W. Oesterreicher & W. Raible (eds), 1142–1177. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Koliopoulou, M.. 2013. Themata synthesis tis ellinikis kai tis germanikis: Sygritiki proseggisi (Aspects of Compounding in Greek and German: A Comparative Approach). PhD dissertation, University of Patras. <[URL]>
Lehrer, A.. 1992. A theory of vocabulary structure: Retrospectives and prospectives. In Thirty Years of Linguistic Evolution. Studies in Honour of René Dirven on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, M. Pütz (ed.), 243–256. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Libben, G.. 1998. Semantic transparency in the processing of compounds: Consequences for representation, processing and impairment. Brain and Language 61: 30–44.
Seiler, H.. 1975. Die Prinzipien der deskriptiven und der etikettierenden Benennung (The principles of naming by description and labeling). In Linguistic Workshop III: Arbeiten des Kölner Universalienprojekts 1974 [Structura 9], H. Seiler (ed.), 2–57. Munich: Fink.
Swadesh, M.. 1952. Lexicostatistic dating of prehistoric ethnic contacts. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 96: 452–463.
. 1955. Towards greater accuracy in lexicostatistic dating. International Journal of American Linguistics 21(2): 121–137.
Thomadaki, E.. 2007. On the productivity of the diminutive suffixation in Greek child language. In Selected Papers on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, 17th International Symposium (Festschrift for Prof. Stathis Efstathiadis), Vol. II, E. Agathopoulou, M. Dimitrakopoulou & D. Papadopoulou (eds), 486–497. Thessaloniki: Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Thomadaki, E. & Stephany, U.. 2007. Diminutives in Greek child language. In The Acquisition of Diminutives: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 43], I. Savickienė & W. U. Dressler (eds), 89–123. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Dressler, Wolfgang U., Veronika Mattes & Laila Kjærbæk
2021. Introduction. In The Acquisition of Derivational Morphology [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 66], ► pp. 1 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 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.