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    Morphosyntactic structure
    quickinfo

    Depending on the kinds of morphosyntactic constituents that are combined by means of compounding, compounds can be categorised as one of four types.

    1
    Ground compound
    spinasie+plant
    [[spinasie](N)[plant](N)](N)
    spinach+plant
    spinach plant
    2
    Phrasal compound
    sout-en-peper-stel
    [[sout en peper](NP)[stel](N)](N)
    salt-and-pepper-set
    salt and pepper set
    3
    Verbal-nexus compound
    fiets+ry·er
    [[fiets](N)[[ry](V)[er](NMLZ](N)](N)
    bicycle+ride·NMLZ
    cyclist
    4
    (Neo)classical compound
    sosio+linguistiek
    [[sosio](root)[linguistiek](N)](N)
    socio+linguistics
    sociolinguistics

    These morphosyntactic types are discussed in more detail below.

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    [+]Ground compound

    A ground compound (also called root compound or primary compound – Scalise and Bisetto 2009) is a compound consisting of two or more simplex or complex lexemes, as illustrated by (5) and (6) respectively.

    5
    Simplex lexemes
    a. yster+saag
    [[yster](N)[saag](N)](N)
    iron+saw
    hack saw
    b. yster+saag+lem
    [[[yster](N)[saag](N)](N)[lem](N)](N)
    iron+saw+blade
    hack saw blade
    6
    Complex lexemes
    a. swaar·te+diep·te
    [[[swaar](ADJ)[te](NMLZ)](N)[[diep](ADJ)[te](NMLZ)](N)](N)
    heavy·NMLZ+deep·NMLZ
    centroidal depth
    b. dien·s+kost·e (< kos·e)
    [[[dien](V)[s](NMLZ)](N)[[kos](V)[e](NMLZ)](N)](N)
    serve·NMLZ+cost·NMLZ
    service cost

    Characteristics
    • Ground compounds are by far the most productive morphosyntactic type of compound in Afrikaans.
    • Ground compounds exhibit various degrees of recursivity, mostly occurring in NN compounds.
      • For example, yster+saag in (5a) can serve as base for another NN compound, yster+saag+lem as in (5b), which in turn can serve as base for another NN compound like yster+saag+lem+winkel hack saw blade shop, and so on, and so forth.
      • Although there is no structural constraint on the number of recursions, there seems to be a processing constraint. Examples with more than two recursions (i.e. with more than four constituents) are rare in usage-based data; instead, authors/editors seem to opt rather for phrases to express such complex conceptualisations.
      • Directionality > left constituent recursive; right constituent recursive
    • POS of constituents: N, V, ADJ, ADV,

    [+]Phrasal compound

    All except coordinate compounds can take phrasal elements as non-heads; these could range from full sentences (Afr. Sannie-gaan-weeshuis-toe-rokkie Sannie-goes-orphanage-to-dress worn-out dress), phrases (NP, VP, AP, PP), or phrase-like phrases (Lieber, 2009b: 363) as in some parasynthetic compounds. Only subordinate compounds can have deverbal constituents as heads where the verb selects the non-head semantically as argument or as complement/adjunct (resulting in synthetic compounds). Lastly, it seems thus far as if only subordinate compounds can have semiwords as constituents, resulting in (neo-)classical compounds.

    [+]Verbal-nexus compound

    A.k.a. synthetic compounds(Botha 1984); deverbal compounds (Di Sciullo 1992; 2005); or secondary compound(Scalise and Bisetto 2009)

    [+](Neo-)classical compound

    (Neo-)classical compounds are discussed here in detail.

    References
    • Botha, R.P1984Morphological mechanisms: lexicalist analysis of synthetic compounding.ReeksPergamon Press
    • Scalise, S. & Bisetto, A2009The Oxford Handbook of CompoundingLieber, R. & Štekauer, P. (eds.)The classification of compoundsOxford: Oxford University Press34–53
    • Scalise, S. & Bisetto, A2009The Oxford Handbook of CompoundingLieber, R. & Štekauer, P. (eds.)The classification of compoundsOxford: Oxford University Press34–53
    • Van de Velde, Freek2015Schijnbare syntactische feniksenNederlandse Taalkunde20(1)69-107
    • Vranjes, Jelena2012Voorzetseluitdrukkingen in het Nederlands sinds de 16de eeuw: een diachroon corpusonderzoekKU LeuvenThesis
    About this article
    Author(s): Gerhard B van Huyssteen
    Category: Afrikaans Morphology
    Keywords: classical compoundclassical word formationcompoundingconstituentGreekground compoundLatinneoclassical compoundneoclassical word formationphrasal compoundrecursionrecursiverecursivityverbal-nexus compoundword formation
    Version: 1.0, May 2020
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Gerhard B van Huyssteen May 2020
    This is a beta version.
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