In this paper we investigate the nature of compounds formed with two nouns (NN compounds) and we argue that, against what has been generally claimed in the morphological tradition, their properties are fully reducible to syntax and can be explained by the need to satisfy syntactic conditions clearly related to Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA). Our study compare NN compounds in Germanic and Romance languages in order to show (i) that compounding corresponds to a specific mode of syntactic computation (Compound Phase), whereby the two constituents that undergo ‘Merge’ are too ‘parallel’ for one of them to be able to project its label and (ii) that the differences between these two families of languages, and, within each language, the differences between compounds and prototypical syntactic constructions follow from the syntax of Compound Phases plus independent properties of the lexical items involved in the computation (i.e. the compound members).

Compounding as a symmetry-breaking strategy

DELFITTO, Denis;MELLONI, Chiara
2012-01-01

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the nature of compounds formed with two nouns (NN compounds) and we argue that, against what has been generally claimed in the morphological tradition, their properties are fully reducible to syntax and can be explained by the need to satisfy syntactic conditions clearly related to Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA). Our study compare NN compounds in Germanic and Romance languages in order to show (i) that compounding corresponds to a specific mode of syntactic computation (Compound Phase), whereby the two constituents that undergo ‘Merge’ are too ‘parallel’ for one of them to be able to project its label and (ii) that the differences between these two families of languages, and, within each language, the differences between compounds and prototypical syntactic constructions follow from the syntax of Compound Phases plus independent properties of the lexical items involved in the computation (i.e. the compound members).
2012
9788878706521
root compounds; antisymmetry; parallel merge
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/340475
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