32.1800, Diss: Semantics; Typology: Steve Pepper: ''The typology and semantics of binominal lexemes: Noun-noun compounds and their functional equivalents''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-1800. Mon May 24 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.1800, Diss: Semantics; Typology: Steve Pepper: ''The typology and semantics of binominal lexemes: Noun-noun compounds and their functional equivalents''

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Date: Mon, 24 May 2021 13:26:49
From: Steve Pepper [pepper.steve at gmail.com]
Subject: The typology and semantics of binominal lexemes: Noun-noun compounds and their functional equivalents

 
Institution: University of Oslo 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2020 

Author: Steve Pepper

Dissertation Title: The typology and semantics of binominal lexemes: Noun-noun
compounds and their functional equivalents 

Dissertation URL:  http://folk.universitetetioslo.no/stevepe/

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics
                     Typology


Dissertation Director(s):
Åshild Næss
Rolf Theil

Dissertation Abstract:

The dissertation establishes ‘binominal lexeme’ as a comparative concept and
discusses its cross-linguistic typology and semantics. Informally, a binominal
lexeme is a noun-noun compound or functional equivalent; more precisely, it is
a lexical item that consists primarily of two thing-morphs between which there
exists an unstated semantic relation.

Examples of binominals include Mandarin Chinese 铁路 (_tiělù_) [iron road],
French _chemin de fer_ [way of iron] and Russian железная дорога (_železnaja
doroga_) [iron:ADJZ road]. All of these combine a word denoting ‘iron’ and a
word denoting ‘road’ or ‘way’ to denote the meaning RAILWAY. In each case, the
unstated semantic relation is one of composition: a railway is conceptualized
as a road that is composed (or made) of iron. However, three different
morphosyntactic strategies are employed: compounding, prepositional phrase and
relational adjective. This study explores the range of such strategies used by
a worldwide sample of 106 languages to express a set of 100 meanings from
various semantic domains, resulting in a classification consisting of nine
different morphosyntactic types.

The semantic relations found in the data are also explored and a
classification called the Hatcher-Bourque system is developed that operates at
two levels of granularity, together with a tool for classifying binominals,
the Bourquifier. The classification is extended to other subfields of
language, including metonymy and lexical semantics, and beyond language to the
domain of knowledge representation, resulting in a proposal for a general
model of associative relations called the PHAB model.

The many findings of the research include universals concerning the
recruitment of anchoring nominal modification strategies, a method for
comparing non-binary typologies, the non-universality (despite its
predominance) of compounding, and a scale of frequencies for semantic
relations which may provide insights into the associative nature of human
thought.




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LINGUIST List: Vol-32-1800	
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