Creative Compounding in English

Benczes, Réka

doi:10.1075/hcp.19

Cited by 108 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…Following Benczes (2006), we pay special attention to so-called 'creative 4 compounds', that is, types of nominal construction that combine lexical compounding with metaphorical conceptualization. According to this definition, 'carbon emission' would be a compound but not a metaphorical one, whereas 'carbon diet' is a compound and a metaphor.…”

Section: 'Creative' Compoundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Carbon Markets to Carbon Morality: Creative Compounds as Framing Devices in Online Discourses on Climate Change Mitigation

Koteyko

Thelwall

Nerlich

2009

Science Communication

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Lexical combinations of at least two roots around 'carbon' as the lexical hub, such as 'carbon finance' or 'carbon footprint', have recently become ubiquitous in discourses on climate change in English speaking science, politics, and mass media. They are part of a new language evolving around the issue of climate change that can reveal how it is framed as a public issue by various stakeholders, how public attitudes and perceptions are shaped and which solutions to climate change and global warming are being proposed, contested and debated. In this article, we study the role of some of these 'carbon compounds' as tools of communication in different online discourses dealing with issues of climate change mitigation. By combining a quantitative diachronic analysis of their occurrences with a qualitative analysis of the contexts in which the compounds were used, we identify three clusters of compounds focused on finance, lifestyle, and attitudes, and then elucidate the different communicative purposes to which they were put between the 1990s and the early 21st century, reflecting a temporal shift in the debate. This approach may open up new ways of analyzing the different framings of climate change mitigation initiatives in the public sphere.

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Section: 'Creative' Compoundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Carbon Markets to Carbon Morality: Creative Compounds as Framing Devices in Online Discourses on Climate Change Mitigation

Koteyko

Thelwall

Nerlich

2009

Science Communication

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“…There are numerous idiomatic expressions in English which have a similar meaning as jellybean, for example be bone-headed from the neck up or be soft-headed, which are in some way related to the head (Benczes 2002). It is probable that jellybean also 16 Note that conceptual metaphor and metonymy are not adequate to account for all the various types of metaphor-and/or metonymy-based compounds -I have made extensive use of blending theory for example in the analysis of other types, which I am unable to present here due to lack of space, but see Benczes (2004a;b; forthcoming) for plenty of examples. On the application of blending theory in the analysis of English compounds, see Coulson (2000); Fauconnier-Turner (2002);Sweetser (1999); for an overview see Benczes (2004a).…”

Section: The Analysis Of Metaphor-and Metonymy-based Compounds In Linmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…15 For a full, systematic description of the possible patterns underlying English metaphor-and/or metonymy-based noun-noun compounds, see Benczes (2004a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Metaphor- and metonymy-based compounds in English: a cognitive linguistic approach

Benczes¹

2005

Acta Linguistica Hungarica

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The paper makes the following novel claims: (1) the semantics of noun-noun compounds which is activated by metaphor and/or metonymy (often termed as "exocentric" compounds in linguistics and generally regarded as semantically opaque) can be accounted for with the help of conceptual metaphor and metonymy theory; (2) there are regular patterns of metaphor-and metonymy-based compounds, depending on which constituent is affected by conceptual metaphor and/or metonymy. In the second part of the paper I look at a subtype of metaphor-and metonymy-based noun-noun compounds, where the simultaneous activation of both metaphor and metonymy affects the meaning, and give an account of the productive patterns that underlie this type. Introduction: the problematic nature of exocentric compoundsNoun-noun compounds are a highly intriguing set of linguistic phenomena. Not only do they form the largest group of compounds in English (Algeo 1991), 1 but children learn to produce this type of compound the earliest, from around the age of two (Clark 1981). However, what is most remarkable about these compounds is the diversity of semantic relationships that can exist between the two components on the one hand, and between the individual elements and the compound as a whole on the other. Nevertheless, however diverse the semantics of noun-noun * I wish to thank my reviewers for the excellent remarks and observations. I am also grateful to Zoltán Kövecses, who has meticulously read through several earlier versions of this paper. Needless to say, all remaining errors are mine. The publication of the paper was supported by the Research Group for Theoretical Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at the University of Debrecen.1 A fifty-year-long research into the emergence of new words in the United States (Algeo, op.cit.) has managed to shed some light on contemporary word formation patterns. According to the data, compounding is the most productive word formation process: 68% of the new expressions were grouped into that category. More interestingly, 90% of the compounds were nouns. combinations may be, many linguists have attempted to systematise the constraints that apply in their creation and interpretation (see for example Adams 1973;Downing 1977;Jespersen 1954;Levi 1978;Marchand 1960;Ryder 1994;Warren 1978).The most traditional and pervasive semantic classification of compounds used in linguistics is based upon the work of Bloomfield (1933), who suggested that compounds fall into two main groups. In endocentric constructions, the compound is the hyponym of the head element: apple tree is a kind of tree. In the case of exocentric or "headless" constructions, however, the compound is not a hyponym of the head element, and in the majority of cases there is some sort of metaphor or metonymy at work in the meaning of the compound. For example, blue-stocking does not denote a kind of stocking but refers to a well-educated woman. While the terms endocentric and exocentric are often used in linguistics even today (see for ...

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“…For a systematic description of the possible patterns underlying English noun-noun creative compounds, see Benczes (2004a).…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, Levi (1978, p. 63) too proposed a "continuum of derivational transparency" for compounds. Transparency should not be confused with compositionality (see for instance Allan, 1986;Cruse, 1991;Fabb, 1998;Katamba, 1993;Langacker, 1987;Matthews, 1974; for an overview see Benczes, 2004a), which has been often used to differentiate among phrases and compounds (black bird versus blackbird). I agree with Langacker (1987Langacker ( , 2000, who claims that linguistic phenomena (including compounds) are more likely to show partial compositionality than to be fully compositional: blackbird (meaning a bird species) is partially compositional because even though the composite meaning is a combination of the meanings of the components, it has undergone a specification of meaning since it refers to a specific type of black bird.…”

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confidence: 99%