The distribution of constituent words in nominal compounds and its impact on semantic interpretation: an empirical study

  • The paper explores factors that influence the distribution of constituent words of compounds over the head and modifier position. The empirical basis for the study is a large database of German compounds, annotated with respect to the morphological structure of the compound and the semantic category of the constituents. The study shows that the polysemy of the constituent word, its constituent family size, and its semantic category account for tendencies of the constituent word to occur in either modifier or head position. Furthermore, the paper explores the degree to which the semantic category combination of head and modifier word, e.g., x=substance and y=artifact, indicates the semantic relation between the constituents, e.g., y_consists_of_x.

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Author:Annelen BrunnerORCiDGND, Stefan EngelbergORCiDGND, Katrin HeinGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-705312
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3726/zwjw.2021.01.01
ISSN:2367-3877
Parent Title (Multiple languages):Zeitschrift für Wortbildung : ZWJW = Journal of word formation
Publisher:Peter Lang
Place of publication:Berlin
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/10/12
Year of first Publication:2021
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2023/01/11
GND Keyword:Semantik; Nominalkompositum; Sprachstatistik
Volume:5.2021
Issue:1
Page Number:30
First Page:7
Last Page:36
HeBIS-PPN:507016750
Dewey Decimal Classification:4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache
4 Sprache / 41 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik
4 Sprache / 43 Deutsch, germanische Sprachen allgemein / 430 Germanische Sprachen; Deutsch
Sammlungen:Linguistik
Linguistik-Klassifikation:Linguistik-Klassifikation: Morphologie / Morphology
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International