Book contents
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Basic Questions
- Part II Semantic Questions
- Part III Syntactic Questions
- Part IV Interfaces
- Part V Patterns of Word-Formation in English
- Part VI Historical Questions
- 25 Reflections on Dead Morphology
- 26 Reflections on Compounds in English and in Wider Germanic
- Part VII Questions Involving Inflection
- Index of Topics
- Index of English Word-Forming Elements
- References
26 - Reflections on Compounds in English and in Wider Germanic
from Part VI - Historical Questions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 October 2025
Book contents
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Basic Questions
- Part II Semantic Questions
- Part III Syntactic Questions
- Part IV Interfaces
- Part V Patterns of Word-Formation in English
- Part VI Historical Questions
- 25 Reflections on Dead Morphology
- 26 Reflections on Compounds in English and in Wider Germanic
- Part VII Questions Involving Inflection
- Index of Topics
- Index of English Word-Forming Elements
- References
Summary
Much of the theorizing about compounds in English is taken wholesale from studies of other Germanic languages, perhaps particularly German, on the assumption that, as a Germanic language, English has compounds which work in the same way as the compounds in related languages. Yet a close consideration of the ways in which the various languages work and have worked shows that there are important differences, and suggests that we should not be too quick to assume that ‘compound’ means the same thing in all Germanic languages.
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- Reflections on English Word-Formation , pp. 193 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
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