Word-formation or semantic
change?
Alexander Tokar
University of Düsseldorf
Canterbury, May 5-7, 2009

Word-formation?
 Compounding is the combination of (at least) two free morphemes to
form a new word (e.g., Plag 2003: 133).
Semantic reinterpretation???????
 A boyfriend is not a friend who is a boy, but a male lover.
 A greenhouse is not a green house, but a house for growing plants.
 A blackboard is not a black board, but a board to write on.
Other word-formation mechanisms:
fighter “military aircraft” – an instance of derivation?
to dog “to follow sb for a long time” – the product of conversion of a dog?
S.O.S. “request for help” – the shortening of Save Our Souls?

Formal segmentation
 If boyfriend “male lover” is a compound, it must be segmentable into
the free morphemes {boy} and {friend}.
 If fighter “military aircraft” is a derived word, it must be segmentable
into the root {fight} and the derivational suffix {er}.
??????????
What about forms which are semantically opaque?
 The meaning of forgive does not seem to have anything in common with the
meanings of {for} and {give}.
 The meaning of forget does not seem to have anything in common with the
meanings of {for} and {get}.
Can these words be considered formally segmentable?

Morpheme identification
 According to Nida (1949: 58), a morpheme is isolatable if it occurs in
isolation.
 Forgive is then segmentable into the morphemes {for} and {give} because
both {for} and {give} occur in isolation.
What about the semantic emptiness of {for} and {give}?
 These morphemes have the differential meaning (Ginzburg et al.
1979: 24):
 {give} distinguishes forgive from forget.
 {for}from ungive “to give way, to lose tenacity or firmness.”
 Cable is then segmentable into the morphemes {c} and {able}:
cable versus table
cable versus car

Phrasemes
 As proposed by Igor Mel’čuk (2001: ch. 9), phrasemes can be
classified into three main categories:
1. semi-idioms
2. full-idioms
3. quasi-idioms

Semi-idioms
 A semi-idiom is a phraseme whose meaning includes the meaning
of one of its constituents, whereas the other constituent denotes a
concept which it does not denote in other environments:
 The meaning of greenhouse includes the meaning of the head noun
house, but not of the modifying adjective green:
 A greenhouse is not a house of green color, but a house for growing
plants.
 The meaning of blackboard includes the meaning of the head noun
board, but not of the modifying adjective black:
 A blackboard is not a board of black color, but a board of any color
which is used for writing on it.

Full-idioms
 A full-idiom is a phraseme whose meaning does not include the
meaning of either of its constituents:
 Boyfriend is a full-idiom because
 Its meaning “male lover” does not include the meanings of boy and friend.
 Forgive is a full-idiom because
 the meaning of forgive does not include the meanings of for and give.
 Boyfriend is, however, a fully motivated idiom in which:
 the meaning “male” is metonymically evoked by the constituent boy
 the meaning “lover”by friend.

Quasi-idioms
 A quasi-idiom is a phraseme whose meaning includes the meanings
of both of its constituents plus an additional semantic component
inherent in neither of the constituents.
 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, blackboard is
A large wooden board […] painted black, and used in schools and
lecture-rooms to draw or write upon with chalk. Now also used of a
similar board in any color.
 Blackboard was thus a quasi-idiom which meant “a black board
used for writing.”
 Its original meaning included the semantic component “used for writing”
inherent in neither black nor board.
teacher “a person whose profession is to teach”

Exocentric compounds
paleface “a white person of European descent”
cutthroat “a murderer”
 Exocentric compounds are not compounds but quasi-idioms:
 The meaning of paleface includes the meanings of both pale and face plus
the meaning “white person of European descent” inherent in neither pale
nor face.
 The meaning of cutthroat includes the meanings of both cut and throat
plus the meaning “murderer” inherent in neither cut nor throat.

Formal segmentation
 The additive principle of morphology stipulates isomorphism of formal
and semantic segmentation:
If concept A is segmentable into two independent concepts X and Y,
then the chain of phonemes which verbalize concept A must likewise be
segmentable into the morphemes {x} and {y} which carry the meanings
X and Y.
 Boyfriend can then be considered segmentable into the morphemes
{boy} and {friend} because the meaning “male lover” can be
segmented into two independent meanings “male” and “lover.”
forgive***
{forgive}

Formal segmentation
 The additive principle of morphology stipulates isomorphism of formal
and semantic segmentation:
If concept A is segmentable into two independent concepts X and Y,
then the chain of phonemes which verbalize concept A must likewise be
segmentable into the morphemes {x} and {y} which carry the meanings
X and Y.
 The meaning of blackboard is segmentable into the meanings “board”
and “used for writing.”
 Accordingly, blackboard is segmentable into the morphemes {black}
and {board}:
 {board} means “board,” i.e., what it usually means;
 {black} does not mean “black,” but “used for writing” which {black} does
not mean in other environments.

Quasi-idioms
Anisomorphism of formal and semantic segmentation:
 The meaning of teacher is segmentable into:
a. the meaning “teach” which is carried by the morpheme {teach};
b. the meaning “performer of the action” which is carried by the agentive
suffix {er};
c. the meaning “profession” inherent in neither {teach} nor {er}.
 The meaning of paleface is segmentable into:
a. the meaning “pale” which is carried by the morpheme {pale};
b. the meaning “face” which is carried by the morpheme {face};
c. the meaning “white person of European descent” inherent in neither
{pale} nor {face}.

Quasi-idioms
Anisomorphism of formal and semantic segmentation:
teacher
 {er} is a mega-morph which cumulatively expresses:
a. the meaning “performer of the action”;
b. the meaning “profession.”
paleface
 The meaning “white person” is inherent in a zero-morpheme.
 Exocentric compounds are segmentable into:
a. their overt constituents (which evoke the head);
b. a zero-morpheme which carries the meaning “head of a compound.”

word-formation versus inflection
Inflection is semantically regular.
Word-formation may be irregular.
??????????
 Semantic irregularity is the product of semantic change, not of word-
formation!!!

Conclusion
 In the case of semantically non-compositional forms like boyfriend,
blackboard, greenhouse, paleface, teacher, etc., we are dealing with
two different processes:
1. Word-formation which is semantically regular:
boyfriend “a friend who is a boy”
teacher “a person who teaches”
2. Semantic change whereby compounds and derived words develop
into semantically non-compositional morphological phrasemes:
boyfriend “a friend who is a boy” > “a male lover”
teacher “person who teaches” > “person whose profession is to teach”

References
1. Haspelmath, Martin 2002. Understanding Morphology. London: Arnold.
2. Ginzburg, R.S., S.S. Khidekel, G.Y. Knyazeva and A.A. Sankin 1979. A
Course in Modern English Lexicology. Second edition. Moskva: Vysšaja
škola.
3. Mel‟čuk, Igor 2001. Kurs obščej morfologii. Morfologičeskie znaki.
Moskau/Wien: Wiener Slawistischer Almanach.
4. Mel„čuk, Igor 2006. Aspects of the Theory of Morphology. Berlin/ New
York: Mouton de Gruyter.
5. Nida, Eugene 1949. Morphology. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan
Press.
6. Plag, Ingo 2003. Word-formation in English. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge
University Press.
7. Plungjan, Vladimir 2000. Obščaja Morfologija: Vvedenie v Problematiku.
Moskva: Editorial URSS.
8. Oxford English Dictionary.