=?utf-8?Q?27.341,_Review:_Discipline_of_Ling; _Historical_Ling; _Lang_Acq; ?= Morphology; Typology: Rainer, Olsen, Müller, Ohnheiser (2015)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-341. Tue Jan 19 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.341, Review: Discipline of Ling; Historical Ling; Lang Acq; Morphology; Typology: Rainer, Olsen, Müller, Ohnheiser (2015)

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Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:53:32
From: Rita Finkbeiner [finkbein at uni-mainz.de]
Subject: Word-Formation Volume 1

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/26/26-1824.html

EDITOR: Peter O. Müller
EDITOR: Ingeborg  Ohnheiser
EDITOR: Susan  Olsen
EDITOR: Franz  Rainer
TITLE: Word-Formation Volume 1
SUBTITLE: An International Handbook of the Languages of Europe
SERIES TITLE: Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft / Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science (HSK) 40/1
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: Rita Finkbeiner, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

This handbook appears in De Gruyter Mouton’s well-established series of
handbooks, whose overarching goal is to offer an in-depth presentation of the
state of the art for the topic under investigation. The present book is the
first of five volumes, which in total contain 207 articles, distributed across
16 chapters.

In their introduction to the handbook, the editors note that while
word-formation has been considered a central component of grammar for quite
some time, the question of whether word-formation is a self-contained
linguistic discipline is still being debated. On the one hand, word-formation
is often subsumed together with inflection under the heading of morphology. On
the other hand, in generative frameworks such as Distributed Morphology,
word-formation is reduced to syntax and phonology. At present there is a broad
consensus that word-formation operates on the basis of words, yet most
linguists would agree that central features of word-formation do interface
with phonology and syntax as well as with semantics and pragmatics.

The editors of this handbook hold the view that ''word-formation, that is the
study and description of the processes and regularities that form new words on
the basis of the existing vocabulary, constitutes an independent area of
scientific study” (p. vii). This justifies the need for a handbook that is
exclusively dedicated to this field of knowledge. Existing handbooks on
morphology (e.g., ‘Morphology’ (= HSK 17) by Štekauer and Lieber) - due to
their broader subject-matter - only cover a limited account of the field of
word-formation. Moreover, what makes the present handbook special is that it
presents the field consistently from a cross-linguistic perspective, focusing
on European languages.

The main purposes of the handbook as stated in the introduction are (i) to
provide a comprehensive account of the subject area of word-formation; (ii) to
deepen our knowledge of particular, especially intriguing questions which are
exemplified by an individual language or language family; (iii) to provide
overview articles that keep track of the extensive literature on specific
issues, which can contravene tendencies of redundancy in research; (iv) to
promote the internationalization of the discipline, where discussion still too
often tends to proceed along language boundaries; and (v) to provide a
framework for a synthesis of the large number of publications in the field.

In order to provide the reader with an idea about the overall organization and
contents of the handbook (vol. 1-5), I first list the headings of the 16
chapters contained in the five volumes. I then describe and evaluate in more
detail the contents covered by the present volume 1.

Vol. 1
Ch. 1: Word-formation as a linguistic discipline (13 articles). Ch. 2: Units
and processes in word-formation I: General aspects (14 articles). Ch. 3: Units
and processes in word-formation II: Special cases (17 articles).

Vol. 2
Ch. 4: Rules and restrictions in word-formation I: General aspects (4
articles). Ch. 5: Rules and restrictions in word-formation II: Special cases
(7 articles). Ch. 6: Semantics and pragmatics in word-formation I: General
aspects (7 articles). Ch. 7: Semantics and pragmatics in word-formation II:
Special cases (27 articles).

Vol. 3
Ch. 8: Foreign word-formation, language planning and purism I: General aspects
(3 articles). Ch. 9: Foreign word-formation, language planning and purism II:
Special cases (9 articles). Ch. 10: Historical word formation I: General
aspects (2 articles). Ch. 11: Historical word-formation II: Special cases (5
articles). Ch. 12: Historical word-formation III: Language sketches (11
articles). Ch. 13: Word-formation in language acquisition and aphasia (3
articles). Ch. 14: Word-formation and language use (8 articles). Ch. 15: Tools
in word-formation research (3 articles).

Vol. 4
Ch. 16: Word-formation in the individual European languages: Germanic (10
articles); Romance (8 articles); Celtic (3 articles); Slavic (14 languages);
Map of languages.

Vol. 5
[continuation of Ch. 16] Baltic (2 articles); Albanian (1 article); Greek (1
article); Indo-Iranian (2 articles); Uralic (7 articles); Basque (1 article);
Semitic (1 article); Turkic (7 articles); Mongolic (1 article); Northwest
Caucasian (3 articles); Northeast Caucasian (13 articles). Subject index. Map
of languages.

As becomes clear from this outline, the handbook covers general and
theoretical aspects of the field (both with respect to forms and
meanings/functions) as well as aspects of language planning and purism,
historical word-formation, the perspectives from language acquisition and use
and methodological aspects (tools). The final chapter adds portraits of
word-formation in the individual languages of Europe. The contents are
composed of both survey articles and individual case studies.

The present volume comprises chapters 1-3 of the handbook. I describe the
general orientation of each of these chapters and highlight particular
articles, but in the interest of space I do not discuss every contribution.

Chapter 1, ''Word-formation as a linguistic discipline”, offers first an
introductory survey of  the scope of word-formation research (Hans-Jörg
Schmid). Schmid defines and demarcates the subject-matter, explains the basic
notions and outlines major approaches to word-formation, which he divides into
four broad types: rule-based models, schema-based models, exemplar-based
models and exemplar-cum-schema-based models. As a major challenge to be faced
in future research, he sees the challenge of doing justice to the flexible
manner in which ''speakers and writers use the productive and creative
resources in their language” […] ''while upholding the aim to produce valid
generalizations” (p. 16). The following 12 articles give a chronological
overview of the emergence and development of word-formation research and its
foundation in theoretical concepts. This overview starts from the beginnings
of word formation research to the 19th century (Barbara Kaltz and Odile
Leclercq) and extends over word-formation in historical-comparative grammar
(Thomas Lindner), structuralism (Wolfgang Motsch), ‘inhaltbezogene Grammatik’
(Johannes Erben), onomasiology (Joachim Grzega), generative grammar (Rochelle
Lieber), categorical grammar (Ulrich Wandruszka), natural morphology (Hans
Christian Luschützky), cognitive grammar (John R. Taylor), optimality theory
(Renate Raffelsiefen) and construction grammar (Geert Booij). While generative
approaches, as outlined by Lieber, can be subsumed under the rule-based
approaches to word-formation, constructionist approaches as sketched by Booij
represent schema-based approaches. The chapter ends with an article on current
psycholinguistic and neurocognitive approaches (Gary Libben). 

Chapter 2, ''Units and processes in word-formation I: General aspects'',
starts with a contribution on the notorious question of the delimitation of
inflection and derivation (Pavol Štekauer), followed by a discussion of the
units of word-formation (Joachim Mugdan). Mugdan’s contribution, which is the
most extensive in this chapter (66 pages in length), provides not only an
overview of units of word-formation, but also surveys different types of
morphological processes, some of which are dealt with in more detail in the
following articles (e.g., reduplication), and discusses potential inputs and
outputs of word-formation rules, e.g., phrases and inflectional forms. For
example, with respect to phrasal inputs to word-formation such as in Dutch
‘heteluchtballon’ (‘hot air balloon’), the question is whether or not one
wants to adopt a model of grammar that allows for interactions between syntax
and morphology. Linguists that reject phrasal inputs to word-formation must
analyze alleged examples of phrasal inputs differently, e.g., as compounds or
as quoted phrases. The following 11 articles treat in detail the different
word-formation processes, as well as processes that are closely interconnected
with word-formation (e.g., multi-word expressions and word creation). The
processes dealt with are: Derivation (Andrew Spencer), Conversion (Salvador
Valera), Backformation (Pavol Štekauer), Clipping (Anja Steinhauer),
Composition (Susan Olsen), Blending (Bernhard Fradin), Incorporation (Jason D.
Haugen), Particle-verb formation (Andrew McIntyre), Multi-word expressions
(Matthias Hüning and Barbara Schlücker), Reduplication (Thomas Schwaiger) and
Word-creation (Elke Ronneberger-Sibold). The last article in this chapter
discusses allomorphy (Wolfgang U. Dressler), a notion which has fuzzy
boundaries, e.g. in transition to strong suppletion and overlapping competing
morphemes.

Chapter 3, ''Units and processes in word-formation II: Special cases'' focuses
on word formation processes and units of word formation in particular
languages or language families, thus adding to the general part (Ch. 2) a
perspective on special issues. The chapter comprises articles on Affective
palatalization in Basque (José Ignacio Hualde), Parasynthesis in Romance
(David Serrano-Dolader), Affix pleonasm (Francesco Gardani), Interfixes in
Romance (Michel Roché), Linking elements in Germanic (Nanna Fuhrhop and
Sebastian Kürschner), Synthetic compounds in German (Martin Neef), Verbal
pseudo-compounds in German (Christian Fortmann), Particle verbs in Germanic
(Nicole Dehé), Particle verbs in Romance (Claudio Iacobini), Particle verbs in
Hungarian (Mária Ladányi), Noun-noun compounds in French (Pierre J. L.
Arnaud), Verb-noun compounds in Romance (Davide Ricca), Co-compounds (Bernhard
Wälchli), Multi-word units in French (Salah Mejri), Multi-word expressions and
univerbation in Slavic (Olga Martincová), Compounds and multi-word expressions
in Slavic (Ingeborg Ohnheiser), and Paradigmatically determined allomorphy
(Anna M. Thornton). To take up just one case for illustration, synthetic
compounds pose special problems for the analysis (see Neef’s article).
Synthetic compounds, such as German ‘blauäugig’ (‘blue-eyed’), are complex
words containing at least three morphemes, with neither the combination of the
first two nor of the last two existing as free words. One analysis, which is
compatible with the semantic interpretation of the respective words, derives
them from phrasal inputs, i.e. [[blauADJ äugN]NP ig]ADJ. However, this
analysis does not take into account that the assumed constituent ‘blauäug’
does not behave like a syntactic phrase. Competing analyses treat constituents
such as ‘äugig’ as semi-affixes; or else take the formations to be compounds,
which may lead to difficulties with the semantic interpretation. More recent
approaches, however, propose that semantic interpretation may generally be
independent of morphological structure. Thus, as Neef points out, ''the
persuasiveness of the morphological analysis given for synthetic compounds […]
depends on further theoretical assumptions concerning the general architecture
of grammar” (p. 590).

EVALUATION

The handbook as a whole covers a very broad range of topics, both on the more
general and on the more specific levels, fully succeeding in the goal of
providing a comprehensive account of the subject area of word-formation in
European languages. The present Volume 1, focusing on the discipline itself
and its development as well as on units and processes of word-formation,
certainly succeeds in providing both comprehensive survey articles that keep
track of the abundant literature and in deepening our knowledge of particular,
especially intriguing word-formation processes which are exemplified by an
individual language or language family. The volume also succeeds in the goals
of promoting the internationalization of the discipline and of providing a
framework for a synthesis of the large number of publications in the field.
This is especially valuable as the different philologies still are very much
anchored in different terminological traditions, which this handbook seeks to
synthesize. One strength of the handbook is the broad range of languages and
language families covered. For example, by having contributions on particle
verbs in Germanic, in Romance, and in Hungarian, comparison between these
language families is facilitated. Also, coherence of the volume is enhanced as
the special processes discussed in Ch. 3 often connect directly to the general
descriptions in Ch. 2.
The volume is carefully edited, clearly structured, and in its structuring
easy to access. The articles are well-written and concise, with the focus on
the most central aspects of the respective topic. The mix of literature
surveys, discussion of theoretical issues and data-oriented case studies is
ideal for a handbook and serves specialists in word-formation research as well
as non-specialist linguists and scholars from adjacent fields. Also valuable
in this regard are the extensive bibliographies that accompany every chapter.

One minor criticism concerns the selection of subjects, e.g. the selection of
theoretical frameworks presented in Chapter 1. Depending on one’s theoretical
background, one might miss contributions dedicated to more specialized
frameworks such as Distributed Morphology. However, for readers interested in
this theoretical model, the survey article of Lieber on word-formation in
generative grammar provides useful information. Similarly, one might wonder
why Chapter 3 does not contain an own contribution on the issue of phrasal
compounding, a process which has gained increasing interest in recent years
(e.g., Meibauer 2007, Trips 2012, Trips and Kornfilt (eds.) to appear). The
information provided in Mugdan on this issue is accessible only via the
subject index (which becomes available only with Vol. 5).

On the other hand, the editor’s decision to include processes in Chapter 2
that are not part of the conventional list of word-formation processes but are
to be seen in close interaction with them (e.g., multi-word expressions and
word creation), is highly valuable.

A second minor criticism concerns some terminological choices of the editors.
It is clear that coping with different terminological traditions across
languages and research frameworks while keeping consistency and coherence of
the handbook is a major challenge. Still, sometimes the terminological choice
taken in the handbook might lead to misunderstandings. E.g., the term
''synthetic compound” in one research tradition is used to exclusively
describe compounds with deverbal second constituent (‘car driver’), while in
other traditions, it also includes noun-based compounds such as ‘blue-eyed’.
Thus, readers with different research backgrounds might expect different kinds
of data to be dealt with in this chapter.

In sum, this volume offers a comprehensive assessment of word-formation
research on European languages that is a valuable resource for both
(specialist and non-specialist) researchers and advanced students. It both
traces the historical development of the discipline and portrays the current
state of the art. What one gets is a body of work exploring an expanding range
of questions covering the field of word-formation, but also reaching beyond
it.

REFERENCES

Meibauer, Jörg (2007): How marginal are phrasal compounds? Generalized
insertion, expressivity, and I/Q-interaction. Morphology 17, 233–259.

Trips, Carola (2012): Empirical and theoretical aspects of phrasal compounds:
against the 'syntax explains it all' attitude. In: Angela Ralli, Geert Booij,
Sergio Scalise, Athanasios Karasimos (eds.): On-line Proceedings of the Eighth
Mediterranean Morphology Meeting (MMM8), 322–346.

Trips, Carola and Jaklin Kornfilt (eds.) (to appear): Typological and
Theoretical Perspectives on Phrasal Compounds (Special issue of STUF).

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Rita Finkbeiner, PhD, is assistant professor at the German department at
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She earned her PhD in 2009 with a thesis
on the Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics of Sentential Idioms in German. Her
current research project investigates German reduplicative constructions.
Recent courses taught include Introduction to German linguistics,
Word-formation, Lexicology, Sentence types, the Semantics/Pragmatics
Interface, and Multilingualism.

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