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1.1 Compounding
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Compounding is the most productive way of word formation in Saterland Frisian and other Germanic languages. When two words are combined to form a complex word, the output is called a compound, e.g. Burgerkriech (‘civil war’). Usually, the first and final part serve as modifier and head respectively (see [1.1.1]). The compounding is semantically and formally dependent of its head. A Burgerkriech is a kind of Kriech (‘war’). The word is masculine and the plural ending is -e, just like die Kriech ‘war’ and do Kriege ‘wars’.

Special types of compounds are discussed in [1.1.2]. Some examples are twintichjierich (‘twenty year old’), hikhakje (‘to quarrel’) or Grootbäk (‘a bigmouth’), where the rightmost morpheme does not define the meaning of the compound.

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Read more on compounding in Saterland Frisian

Some headed compounds [1.1.1] are composed of more than two subparts (e.g. the synthetic compound twintichjierich ‘twenty year old’). Other headed compounds take a whole phrase as modifying part, e.g. Goudwederdruppen (‘large raindrops’, lit. ‘good-weather-drops’).

Compounding often involves allomorphy. For example, when the words Taaske (pocket) and Bouk (‘book’) are combined in order to create the compound Taaskenbouk (‘pocket book’), a special compounding form Taasken- is used instead of the lexeme Taaske itself.

The head and the modifier can themselves be composed of a head and a modifier, e.g. Kloosterfermoats-steen (‘monastery size brick’). The head is simplex (-steen) but the modifier Kloosterfermoats- is complex, consisting of a modifier Klooster- and a head fermoats. This means that there is structural recursion not only in syntax but also in morphology.

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