Semantic niches and analogy in word formation

Abstract

Word formation, like other lexical phenomena, seems to be a difficult terrain for contrastive linguistics since it hardly allows for significant and insightful generalizations about the differences between two languages, as has been stated in the literature more than once. This paper investigates one factor leading to morphological differences and contrasts between historically related languages (Dutch and German). It is argued that word formation processes often show semantic fragmentation: in the course of time they develop 'semantic niches' , i.e. groups of words (subsets of a morphological category) kept together by formal and semantic criteria and extendable via analogy. When looking at word formation from a contrastive point of view, these niches seem to allow for better generalizations in terms of systematic correspondences and differences between two languages than the category as a whole. As a consequence, productivity should not be seen as an absolute notion, but rather as a local and gradual phenomenon. Morphology should not only account for the possibility of coining new words but also for their probability, because language comparison shows that even allegedly equivalent word formation processes often differ with respect to the probability of their use. The paper therefore argues in favour of an analogy approach that takes the existence of semantic niches seriously.

Contrastive word-formation today: Retrospect and prospect

“…This view is also found in Wójcicki (1988: 48), where it is stated that "the primary aim of contrastive morphology could be defined as the study of how certain crosslinguistic grammatico-semantic categories are realized by morphological means in the languages under consideration" (see also Goddard and Wierzbicka 2008;Hüning 2009;. In , a semantic TC has been devised for the contrastive study of prefixation in French, English and Italian.…”

“…Hüning 2009). This, it can be argued, partly stems from the difficulty of establishing a TC for contrastive word-formation.…”

“…11%) make explicit reference to the TC used (viz. Simon-Vandenbergen andAijmer 2002/2003;Altenberg 2004Altenberg /2005Lewis 2004Lewis /2005Ramón 2006;Williams 2006Williams , 2009Fetzer 2009;Hüning 2009). In addition, it is often problematic to determine what kind of TC should be used for what kind of contrastive study.…”

Prefixes in contrast

“…This is the line taken in this paper as well, i.e. the adoption of a semantic TC is promoted (see also Hüning, 2009), so that it is possible, for instance, to investigate how the concept of reiterativity or negativity is morphologically expressed across languages. It should be noted, however, that other types of TC are possible -and probably necessary -in contrastive research on lexical morphology, such as translation equivalence (i.e.…”

Η Μελέτη Και Ο Σχεδιασμός Του Ηχητικού Περιβάλλοντος Στην Αρχιτεκτονική Θεωρία Και Πρακτική

“…Σύμφωνα με τη γλωσσολογία, semantic niche είναι οι ομάδες λέξεων (υποσύνολα μιας μορφολογικής κατηγορίας) που συγκρατούνται μαζί, λόγω των σημασιολογικών κριτήριων και έχουν τη δυνατότητα επέκτασης κατ' αναλογία. MatthiasHüning (2009), "Semantic niches and analogy in word formation Evidence from contrastive linguistics" Languages in contrast, 9(2),183-201. …”