26.5516, Review: Lang Acq; Morphology; Psycholing; Semantics: Štekauer, Lieber (2014)
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Subject: 26.5516, Review: Lang Acq; Morphology; Psycholing; Semantics: Štekauer, Lieber (2014)
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Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 13:08:41
From: Alexandra Galani [algalani at cc.uoi.gr]
Subject: The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-3804.html
EDITOR: Rochelle Lieber
EDITOR: Pavol Štekauer
TITLE: The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology
SERIES TITLE: Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2014
REVIEWER: Alexandra Galani, University of Ioannina
Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry
SUMMARY
“The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology”, edited by Rochelle Lieber
and Pavol Štekauer, is a collection of forty-one chapters on issues related to
derivational morphology. It includes list of figures, tables, abbreviations,
contributors, references, language, name and subject indexes. In what follows,
I briefly summarise each chapter’s content. Chapter titles and authors are
given as numbered headings below.
PART I
1. Introduction: The scope of the handbook, by Rochelle Lieber and Pavol
Štekauer
The editors sketch the main reasons for which derivational morphology should
be seen as a separate field of study and briefly summarise the phenomena
discussed in the volume.
2. Delineating derivation and inflection, by Pius ten Hacken
ten Hacken discusses the difficulty of distinguishing inflection from
derivation and refers to the treatments, the criteria and the problems caused
by this distinction. Examples from English, French, Polish and German are
offered.
3. Delineating derivation and compounding, by Susan Olsen
Olsen examines the differences between derivation and compounding by looking
at the status of lexemes and affixes and their historical development. Bound
roots, unique morphemes, neoclassical and synthetic compounds as well as
processes such as conversions, back-formation, analogy, blending and
reduplication are briefly discussed.
4. Theoretical approaches to derivation, by Rochelle Lieber
Lieber briefly presents the main points of the fundamental theoretical
approaches on derivation in the literature. She re-imagines the Saussurean
concept of “sign” and applies it to the derivation of complex words: what is
mapped is both the sensory-motor (Saussure’s “signifier/sound image”) and the
conceptual part (Saussure’s “signified/concept”).
5. Productivity, blocking and lexicalization, by Mark Aronoff and Mark Lindsay
Aronoff and Lindsay suggest that productivity is best seen as a scalar
phenomenon and review three statistical methods used in literature: Baayen’s
(1992, 1993) “hapax legomena”, electronic corpuses (e.g. OED) and virtual
corpora available through the world wide web.
6. Methodological issues in studying derivation, by Rochelle Liber
Lieber summarises various methods used in the study of derivational
morphology: natural data, dictionaries, traditional grammars, data from less
studied languages, corpora-based data, psycholinguistic data. The most
interesting results come from combinatorial approaches (e.g. theory-corpora
and psycholinguistic results).
7. Experimental and psycholinguistic approaches, by Harald Baayen
Experimental methods and materials used in research on the processing and
representation of derived words (e.g. lexical decision task, priming
experimental treatment, eye-tracking systems) are presented. Theories on the
organisation of the mental lexicon (theories based on the dictionary metaphor
and those which do not support the existence of a mental lexicon) are
reviewed.
8. Concatenative derivation, by Laurie Bauer
Bower deals with the concatenative nature of derivational morphology by
looking at lexemes, neoclassical word formation, affixes (zero, unique,
affixoids, continuous, discontinuous) and affix ordering.
9. Infixation, by Juliette Blevins
Infixation in languages such as Hoava, English, Yurok, Arara and Thai is
discussed. Reference is made to the phonology-morphology interaction and the
semantics of derivational infixes. Derivational infixes can be borrowed via
language contact even in cases of unrelated languages.
10. Conversion, by Salvador Valera
Valera deals with conversation and the conditions that govern it (formal
identity and word-class change). He suggests that the formal, functional and
semantic features of conversion should be described precisely in each and
every language involved.
11. Non-concatenative derivation: Reduplication, by Sharon Inkelas
Inkelas discusses reduplication patterns cross linguistically. Reduplication
serves several functions (e.g. inflection, derivation, quantification,
augmentation, concomitant of affixation, repair). The relation between affix
ordering and the semantics of reduplicated morphemes are discussed.
12. Other processes, by Stuart Davis and Natsuko Tsujumura
The authors offer a typological discussion of non-concatenative morphology
which is divided into templatic and a-templatic. Templatic morphology is
further divided into a template being the exponent of a category and a
template seen as a subcategorisation requirement on a concatenative affix.
They show how morphology-as-pieces and construction-based approaches deal with
non-concatenative derivation.
13. Allomorphy, by Mary Paster
There are different types of allomorphy in derivational affixes: phonological,
morphosyntactic, lexical. In terms of suppletive allomorphy, selection and
replacement as well as the problem of the directionality of conditioning
(inside-out or outside-in approaches) are investigated.
14. Nominal derivation, by Artemis Alexiadou
Participant nominalisations, deverbal nominals and de-adjectival
nominalisations are discussed. Participant and action/state are lexical
nominalisations. Polysemy is a property of participant nominalisation affixes.
Alexiadou looks at the different types of –er nominalisations and subject and
object –er nominals before sketching analyses around polysemy (e.g. syntactic,
lexical semantics, cognitive). Finally, –ee, event, result and de-adjectival
nominalisations are looked at.
15. Verbal derivation, by Andrew Koontz-Garboden
The author discusses verbal derivation and the theoretical approaches around
it: lexicalist-based approaches and non-lexicalist ones (root-based)
especially in relation to the causative/inchoative alternation. He suggests
that cross-linguistic investigation is necessary to further test the
predictions the two approaches make regarding derivational morphology.
16. Adjectival and adverbial derivation, by Antonio Fábregas
Fábregas offers a comprehensive discussion on the classification of derived
adjectives and adverbs. He distinguishes between verbal and adjectival
participles. The latter are further divided into resultant and target. There
are three classes of deverbal adjectives: dispositional, potential and modal
passive. Denominal adjectives are divided into qualitative (similative,
qualitative possessive, activity, active denominal, characteristics state) and
relational (demonyms, relational possessive). Numerals are divided into
ordinals and partitives. He also shows what onomasiological, lexicalist-based
theories and constructionist approaches have to say about adjectives.
Gradability, the derivation of synthetic comparatives and superlatives and
adverbial derivation conclude the chapter.
17. Evaluative derivation, by Lívia Körtvélyessy
Körtvélyessy examines the nature of evaluative morphology cross linguistically
and how it is treated in various accounts: Scalise (1984), Stump (1993) and
Bauer (2004) look at the inflectional versus derivational nature of evaluative
morphology; Jurafsky (1996) at its semantics; Dokulil (1962) and Horecký
(1964) support an onomasiological approach. Reference is also made to recent
accounts (Grandi (2005), Körtvélyessy (2012)) prior to the discussion of
evaluative morphological markers in various languages (e.g. languages in
Africa, Australia, America, Oceania, Eurasia). The chapter concludes with a
short discussion of the phonological changes which may occur in evaluative
morphology.
18. Derivation and function words, by Gregory Stump
Stump examines whether function words participate in derivation and concludes
that words behave differently cross-linguistically. Certain function words
(e.g. proforms, adpositions, verb particles, auxiliaries, numerals) are more
frequently involved in derivations than others (e.g. determiners,
conjunctions, complementisers). Derived function words may derive from a
content word, another function word by affixation or cross-formation.
19. Polysemy in derivation, by Franz Rainer
Rainer refers to the properties of polysemy in derivation. He critically
sketches the structuralist approach to polysemy and observes polysemic
patterns cross-linguistically. Polysemy in word formation should be further
investigated from a synchronic and diachronic view taking into account
findings from psycholinguistic studies.
20. Derivational paradigms, by Pavol Štekauer
Štekauer first compares and contrasts derivational paradigms to inflectional
ones before moving onto the theoretical approaches to them (e.g. system-based
treatments). The chapter concludes with some remarks on the characteristics of
derivational paradigms.
21. Affix ordering in derivation, by Paulina Saarinen and Jennifer Hay
Saarinen and Hay look at the factors which influence derivational affixes’
ordering cross-linguistically: affix-driven, base-driven selectional as well
as phonological and semantic restrictions. Fixed affix order, free variation,
acyclicity in affix ordering as well as recursive patterns are highlighted.
22. Derivation and historical change, by Carola Trips
Trips discusses the development of affixation in Old, Middle and Early Modern
English. She looks at the prefix be- to discuss affix preservation and
semantic shift, the affixes –hood, -dom and –ship to discuss affix development
from compounds to suffixes as well as the suffix –able to discuss language
contact as a factor which leads to affixation.
23. Derivation in a social context, by Lívia Körtvélyessy and Pavol Štekauer
Körtvélyessy and Štekauer discuss the sociolinguistic factors which may
influence derivation as far as word formation and interpretation are
concerned. This is an area which has not received great attention in the
literature and the authors discuss relevant studies.
24. Acquisition of derivational morphology, by Eve V. Clark
The acquisition of derivational affixes by children is investigated. Clark
shows that children use conversion, they first acquire suffixes (diminutive,
agentive, instrumental) and then prefixes. Simplicity of forms and
transparency of meaning are factors which further influence the acquisition of
derivational morphology.
PART II
25. Indo-European, by Pingali Sailaja
Sailaja refers to the most common processes involved in word formation
(compounding, reduplication, conversion, derivation through affixation), to
the derived categories (nominalisations, adjectives derived from nouns and
verbs, prefixes deriving nouns, category-changing affixes) and evaluative
morphology in Indo-European languages.
26. Uralic, by Ferenc Kiefer and Johanna Laakso
The derivational processes involved in the Uralic languages focusing on
Finnish, Mordvin, Mari, Permic, Hungarian and Nenets are sketched. In this
family, derivation is predominantly suffixing, multifunctional suffixes are
not infrequent, deverbal suffixes are more varied then demonimal and
reduplication is not typical.
27. Altaic, by Irina Nikolaeva
The derivational processes in the Altaic language family and more specifically
category-changing and category-preserving suffixation, prefixation,
conversion, compounding and reduplication are looked at prior to a sketch of
proprietive adjectives (fully adjectival proprietives, proprietive adjectives
with nominal properties).
28. Yeniseian, by Edward J. Vajda
Vajda offers a brief discussion on the typology of word formation in Yeniseian
focussing on nominalisations, templatic derivation and infinitival forms.
29. Mon-Khmer, by Mark J. Alves
The author discusses the derivational processes in Mon-Khmer: causative,
stative, prenominal, desiderative/inclined, negation, existential/locative,
involuntary prefixes, nominalising affixes, aspectual prefixes and infixes,
reduplication and compounding.
30. Austronesian, by Robert Blust
Blust presents derivational processes in the Austronesian language family:
voice/“focus” morphology, subtractive morphology, suprasegmental affixes,
compounding and reduplication (full, CV, CVC, Ca, infixal suffixal
reduplication, triplication).
31. Niger-Congo, by Denis Creissels
Creissels first offers short notes as to which languages belong in the
Niger-Congo phylum and he then sketches the derivational processes which
appear in the major lexical categories: verb-to-verb derivation, noun-to-noun
derivation and verb-to-noun derivation.
32. Afroasiatic, by Erin Shay
A discussion on the language families which belong in the Afroasiatic phylum
is first offered. Noun (e.g. verb-to-noun, noun-to-noun), verb (e.g.
noun-to-verb, ideophones-to-verb), adjective derivation (nouns-to-adjectives,
verbs-to-adjectives) and adverb derivation are sketched. Derivational
processes in Chadic languages (e.g. prefixation, suffixation, reduplication)
concludes the chapter.
33. Nilo-Saharan, by Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
Different derivational processes occur in the Nilo-Saharan phylum: tonal
changes, compounding, verb-to-noun or adjective-to-noun derivation by
prefixation, prefixation in verbs affecting valency, vocal prefixation, vowel
harmony, mora counting, derivation with and without category shift,
noun-to-noun derivation through prefixation or suffixation.
34. Sino-Tibetan, by Karen Steffen Chung, Nathan W. Hill and Jackson T.-S. Sun
Chung first discusses the morphosyntactic features in Chinese (morpheme/word
order, inseparability, word-internal grammatical relations, syllable count)
prior to sketching reduplication in nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
onomatopoeia), prefixation in verbs and nouns, suffixation in nouns,
agentives, individuation and verbs, circumfixes and infixes, conversion and
incorporation. Hill discusses the derivational processes in Tibetan (voicing
alternation, reduplication, compounding, affixation, inherited prefixes and
ghost affixes). Sun looks at Rgyalrong which show derivational processes
affecting nominal and verbal stem formation, affixation, reduplication,
apophony, category-preserving and category-changing derivation and ideophones.
35. Pama-Nyungan, by Jane Simpson
The derivational processes involved in the Pama-Nyungan family include
compounding, reduplication, suffixation, verb-to-noun and other elements (e.g.
preverb/coverb) derivation, noun-to-noun derivation.
36. Athabaskan, by Keren Rice
Nominalisation is the most productive derivational process in
category-determining morphology in Athabaskan. In verbal morphology, the same
form functions derivationally or can be part of the root. Noun class markers
and homophony are characteristic of the family.
37. Eskimo-Aleut, by Alana Johns
In Inuit, an Eskimo-Aleut language, there are category-changing processes
(e.g. verb-to-noun, noun-to-verb, postbases which alter the verbal root’s
valency either by changing the arguments’ syntactic structure or
morphologically by adding arguments to the verbal root). There are also noun
and verb modifying postbases which do not change the category.
38. Uto-Aztecan, by Gabriella Caballero
Semantic, morphotactic and phonological evidence shows that there are
instrumental prefixes, denominal verbalising morphology and argument-changing
morphology (e.g. valence stem allomorphy, change of state predicates,
causative and applicative suffixation) in Raramuri, an Uto-Aztecan language.
39. Mataguayan, by Verónica Nercesian
Nercesian discusses the Mataguayan language family although she focuses on
Wichi due to data availability. Suffixation is the most productive
derivational process, where multiple suffixation is noticed on verbal and
nominal bases. Prefixation, prefixation-suffixation, conversion and
reduplication are also present. In the family, there are agent, patient,
action, instrumental and locative nouns. Evaluative morphology is also present
and there is also a class called the vegetable class. Derivation is used in
intransitive and transitive verbs.
40. Areal tendencies in derivation, by Bernd Heine
Derivational processes which are the result of language contact are discussed
in this chapter. Features or forms may be replicated and grammaticalisation is
the main process.
41. Universals in derivation, by Rochelle Lieber and Pavol Štekauer
This chapter looks at the methodological problems researchers face when
seeking to find universals, whether these are typological or word-formation
related (e.g. sampling, terminology, influence of theoretical analysis,
boundaries between derivation and inflection, productivity). The authors
discuss proposals in the literature as far as universals in derivation are
concerned. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how these proposals
relate to the material presented in this book.
EVALUATION
A wide range of topics related to derivational morphology are covered in the
volume. There is rich cross-linguistic evidence (e.g. English, German, the
Romance languages, Tuscarora, Mohawk, Mokilese, Chukchi, Warlpiri, Tamil,
Margi, Japanese, Khmer, Diyari, Mokilese, Indonesian, Kolami). The second part
of the book which focuses on derivational phenomena in different language
families makes the theoretical discussion even more interesting and easier to
digest. The chapters which highlight issues for further research make the
volume a useful tool to young researchers. The chapters are well-organised and
referenced. All chapters sketch the richness of derivational phenomena
cross-linguistically. The discussion of the merits and the problems
theoretical accounts face when investigating complex derivational phenomena
is, generally speaking, reader-friendly. There are only a few formatting/typo
mistakes and/or omissions (e.g. chapter 2, page 15: SLH/WLH is not in the
abbreviations; chapter 15, page 273, section 15.4: ''The contrast between
root-based andWYSIWYG'' no space appears between ''and'' and ''WYSIWYG'';
chapter 16: the first word does not appear in capitals). The book will be of
great interest to researchers in morphology and advanced students in
linguistics. It can also be used as a reference book.
REFERENCES
Baayen, R. H. (1992). “Quantitative aspects of morphological productivity”. In
G. E. Booij and J. van Marle (eds), Yearbook of Morphology 1991, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 109-149.
Baayen, R. H. (1993). “On frequency, transparency, and productivity”. In
Booij, G. E. and van Marle, J. (eds), Yearbook of Morphology 1992, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 181-208.
Bauer, L. (2004). “The function of word-formation and the
inflection-derivation distinction”. In H. Aertsen, M. Hannay and R. Lyall
(eds.), Words in their Places: A Festschrift for J. Lachlan Mackenzie.
Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit, 283-292.
Dokulil, M. (1962). Tvoření slov v češtině I: Teorie odvozování slov. Prague:
Nakladatelství Československé akademie věd.
Grandi, N. (2005). “Sardinian evaluative morphology in typological
perspective”. In I. Putzu (ed.), Sardianian in Typological Perspective.
Bochum: Dr. Brockmeyer University Press, 188-209.
Horecký, J. (1964). Morfematická štruktúra slovenčiny. Bratislava:
Vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akademie vied.
Jurafsky, D. (1996). “Universal Tendencies in the Semantics of the
Diminutive”. Language, 72 (3): 533-578.
Körtvélyessy, L. (2012). Evaluative morphology from cross-linguistic
perspective. Budapest: Habilitationsschrift. ELTE.
Scalise, S. (1984). Generative Morphology. Dordrecht: Foris.
Stump, G. (1993). “How peculiar is evaluative morphology?” Journal of
Linguistics 29: 1-36.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Alexandra Galani is a permanent member of the academic staff at the University of Ioannina. Her main research interests are in morphology, its interfaces and language acquisition.
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