Complex non-compound words in Swedish
Author
Summary, in English
Abstract in Undetermined
This paper is concerned with the structure of Swedish complex words with a past participle in the right-hand position and one of the elements latt/svar/snabb/trog/tung(easy/difficult/fast/slow/heavy) in the left-hand position. Although these words look very similar to compound participles, such as hembakad (homebaked), they have systematically different properties. Compounds in Swedish are right-headed and behave largely like their heads. These complex words, however, do not behave syntactically like the participles in their right-hand position. The words differ from compounds also in failing to entail the meaning of their right-hand segment. I argue that these properties can be explained if we analyze the words as left-headed rather than right-headed. The adjective in the left-hand position is thus the head of the word, taking the participle as its complement.
This paper is concerned with the structure of Swedish complex words with a past participle in the right-hand position and one of the elements latt/svar/snabb/trog/tung(easy/difficult/fast/slow/heavy) in the left-hand position. Although these words look very similar to compound participles, such as hembakad (homebaked), they have systematically different properties. Compounds in Swedish are right-headed and behave largely like their heads. These complex words, however, do not behave syntactically like the participles in their right-hand position. The words differ from compounds also in failing to entail the meaning of their right-hand segment. I argue that these properties can be explained if we analyze the words as left-headed rather than right-headed. The adjective in the left-hand position is thus the head of the word, taking the participle as its complement.
Department/s
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Pages
1-31
Publication/Series
Studia Linguistica
Volume
66
Issue
1
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Languages and Literature
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1467-9582