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Word Blends as Sublexical Substitutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Ann Stuart Laubstein*
Affiliation:
Carleton University

Abstract

The standard structural approach to word blends, such as noise1/sound2nound, has been to assume they involve a splicing together of the two words, where part of word2 is used to complete part of word1. The splice position has then been used as the source of mental lexicon generalizations. On the basis of 166 naturally occurring word blends, this article argues for a different approach—a “substitution” approach. The approach allows a comparison of the properties that word blends share with sublexical exchanges, anticipations, perseverations and substitutions; in addition, it accounts for the convergence of these properties. The substitution analysis allows a principled distinction between target and intruder; it predicts metrical structure output, and possible and impossible errors; moreover, the substitution analysis simplifies and constrains language production models.

Résumé

Résumé

L’approche structurale standard aux mots-valises («word blends»), comme noise1/sound2nound, a été de supposer qu’ils impliquent une jonction des deux mots par apocope et aphérèse, où une partie du mot2 est utilisée pour compléter une partie du mot1. Cette approche en termes de jonction («splicing») a par la suite donné lieu à des généralisations au sujet du lexique mental. Sur la base de 166 mots-valises produits de façon naturelle, cet article propose une approche différente — une approche dite de «substitution». Cette approche permet une comparaison des propriétés que partagent les mots-valises avec les échanges, les anticipations, les persévérations et les subtitutions de niveau sous-lexical. De plus, elle rend compte de la convergence de ces propriétés. L’analyse en termes de substitution permet d’établir une distinction de principe entre le mot «cible» et le mot «intrus» et prédit l’output structural métrique ainsi que les erreurs possibles et impossibles. Enfin, cette analyse simplifie et contraint les modèles de production du langage.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1999

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