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When is a sequence of two nouns a compound in English?1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Laurie Bauer
Laurie Bauer
Affiliation:
School of Linguistics and Applied Language StudiesVictoria University of WellingtonPO Box 600WellingtonNew [email protected]
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Constructions of noun + noun have been treated in two distinct ways in the literature: either they have been treated as compounds, or they have been treated as noun phrases with modifiers which happen to be nouns. Sometimes it is assumed that there are two distinct classes, which can be neatly distinguished. In this paper it is argued that the criteria which are usually assumed to distinguish between these two construction types do not draw a clear and consistent distinction between a syntactic and a morphological construction. Many of the criteria instead are indirect measures of listedness, which, it is argued, is not sufficient to show morphological status. Accordingly, it is claimed that the criteria to which reference is generally made do not allow us to distinguish between a class of noun + noun compounds and a class of noun + noun syntactic constructions. Rather the two should be treated as variants of a single construction (possibly morphological, possibly syntactic), at least until such time as a suitable coherent distinction can be properly motivated.

Type
Articles
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , May 1998 , pp. 65 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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