Abstract This study offers insights into the similarities and differences between the zero suffix and overt English suffixes involved in verb-to-noun and noun-to-verb derivation. It is based on morphosemantically related pairs of noun and verb senses released as a Princeton WordNet standoff file, which are annotated with a set of fourteen semantic relations further enriched with information about the affix(es) used in the derivation process. We compare the zero suffix and the overt suffixes with respect to their overall frequency in the dataset and their frequency as per semantic relation. We describe their semantics in terms of the relation between the base and the derived word senses, and of the semantic classes of words involved in affixal and zero derivation. We argue that the zero suffix is highly underspecified, occurring with all semantic relations, even though it manifests some preferences with respect to both the semantic relations expressed and the semantic classes of words it attaches to.
{"title":"Semantic analysis of verb – noun zero derivation in Princeton WordNet","authors":"Verginica Barbu Mititelu, S. Leseva, I. Stoyanova","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2017","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study offers insights into the similarities and differences between the zero suffix and overt English suffixes involved in verb-to-noun and noun-to-verb derivation. It is based on morphosemantically related pairs of noun and verb senses released as a Princeton WordNet standoff file, which are annotated with a set of fourteen semantic relations further enriched with information about the affix(es) used in the derivation process. We compare the zero suffix and the overt suffixes with respect to their overall frequency in the dataset and their frequency as per semantic relation. We describe their semantics in terms of the relation between the base and the derived word senses, and of the semantic classes of words involved in affixal and zero derivation. We argue that the zero suffix is highly underspecified, occurring with all semantic relations, even though it manifests some preferences with respect to both the semantic relations expressed and the semantic classes of words it attaches to.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"181 - 207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46245376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Our paper investigates how zero-affixed verbal forms (specifically, denominal and deadjectival verbs) are processed by native speakers of Italian during visual word recognition. More specifically, we verify whether, and possibly to what extent, the processing of such forms differs from or resembles the processing of verbs resulting from two other productive word formation schemas in Italian, i. e., suffixation and parasynthesis. The interest of such a comparison lies in the fact that the three considered schemas behave similarly from a functional point of view, i. e.: i) they all change the category of the base, ii) they select the same base category (nouns and adjectives), and iii) they show similar semantic characteristics. However, this shared function is realized by means of different formal exponents (both overt and covert) which might imply different degrees of complexity. Crucially, suffixation and parasynthesis display an overt derivational marking, while zero-affixation obviously does not. On such premises, to verify whether the strength of connections between morphologically complex words and their bases is affected by the nature of the transcategorization marking (overt v s vs covert) or whether other factors play a more determining role, we conducted a psycholinguistic experiment involving a lexical decision task combined with the masked priming paradigm, which allows focusing on such relations in the mental lexicon. Results indicate that the processing of zero-affixed verbs resembles that of suffixed but differs from that of parasynthetic forms. We interpret such results discussing the possibility that the perception of a morphological relationship might depend less on the overtness of the marking, and more on the overall derivational complexity of the morphological process.
{"title":"Zero-derived forms in the mental lexicon: Experimental evidence from Italian","authors":"Serena Dal Maso, S. Piccinin","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2015","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Our paper investigates how zero-affixed verbal forms (specifically, denominal and deadjectival verbs) are processed by native speakers of Italian during visual word recognition. More specifically, we verify whether, and possibly to what extent, the processing of such forms differs from or resembles the processing of verbs resulting from two other productive word formation schemas in Italian, i. e., suffixation and parasynthesis. The interest of such a comparison lies in the fact that the three considered schemas behave similarly from a functional point of view, i. e.: i) they all change the category of the base, ii) they select the same base category (nouns and adjectives), and iii) they show similar semantic characteristics. However, this shared function is realized by means of different formal exponents (both overt and covert) which might imply different degrees of complexity. Crucially, suffixation and parasynthesis display an overt derivational marking, while zero-affixation obviously does not. On such premises, to verify whether the strength of connections between morphologically complex words and their bases is affected by the nature of the transcategorization marking (overt v s vs covert) or whether other factors play a more determining role, we conducted a psycholinguistic experiment involving a lexical decision task combined with the masked priming paradigm, which allows focusing on such relations in the mental lexicon. Results indicate that the processing of zero-affixed verbs resembles that of suffixed but differs from that of parasynthetic forms. We interpret such results discussing the possibility that the perception of a morphological relationship might depend less on the overtness of the marking, and more on the overall derivational complexity of the morphological process.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"133 - 151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45504912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Zero-affixes have been used in morphology within pre-generative analyses, lexicalist analyses and syntactic approaches to morphology. The (over)use of zero-affixes has also led to criticisms and to alternative approaches, both within lexicalist models and syntactic approaches to morphology. In this paper, on the basis of French, a mix of several syntactic approaches is proposed. Two problems for Borer’s Exo-Skeletal model, in which derivational zero-suffixes are dispensed with on the basis of English, are discussed. First, on the basis of V → N conversions in French an alternative to zero-suffixes is proposed. Second, the discussion of A/N parallel suffixes in French leads to the adoption of a second alternative to zero-suffixes. Both alternatives require an adaptation of the Exo-Skeletal model: the acceptance of mixed functional projections and suffixal roots in the model.
{"title":"Zero-suffixes and their alternatives: A view from French","authors":"P. Sleeman","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Zero-affixes have been used in morphology within pre-generative analyses, lexicalist analyses and syntactic approaches to morphology. The (over)use of zero-affixes has also led to criticisms and to alternative approaches, both within lexicalist models and syntactic approaches to morphology. In this paper, on the basis of French, a mix of several syntactic approaches is proposed. Two problems for Borer’s Exo-Skeletal model, in which derivational zero-suffixes are dispensed with on the basis of English, are discussed. First, on the basis of V → N conversions in French an alternative to zero-suffixes is proposed. Second, the discussion of A/N parallel suffixes in French leads to the adoption of a second alternative to zero-suffixes. Both alternatives require an adaptation of the Exo-Skeletal model: the acceptance of mixed functional projections and suffixal roots in the model.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"63 - 85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44593097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The semantics of zero-derivation/conversion has attracted renewed interest both as a subject of description and as a means towards refined descriptions of the process. This paper takes the latter stance and compares which semantic categories occur in zero-derivation/conversion and in overt affixation in two languages with a different morphological model: English and Spanish. For attestation and distribution of the semantic categories, the paper relies on a stratified sample of denominal verbs collected from two comparable corpora: the British National Corpus and the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual. The sample consists in sets of ca. 50 denominal verb-forming resources, one per affixation process, namely affixation by -ate, -(i)fy, -ize/-ise, -en, en- in English, a-…-ar, en-…-ar, -ear, -ecer, -(i)ficar, -izar in Spanish, and zero-derivation/conversion in both languages. The results are contrasted within and across affixes/processes, within each language and across the two languages for the adequacy of a description as zero-derivation or as conversion. Statistical analysis shows that the process/affixes form a cline with overlaps and closer associations between specific affixes/processes and semantic categories, but no clear divide between zero-derivation/conversion and the rest of processes as far as the semantic categories are concerned.
{"title":"The semantics of noun-to-verb zero-derivation in English and Spanish","authors":"S. Valera","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The semantics of zero-derivation/conversion has attracted renewed interest both as a subject of description and as a means towards refined descriptions of the process. This paper takes the latter stance and compares which semantic categories occur in zero-derivation/conversion and in overt affixation in two languages with a different morphological model: English and Spanish. For attestation and distribution of the semantic categories, the paper relies on a stratified sample of denominal verbs collected from two comparable corpora: the British National Corpus and the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual. The sample consists in sets of ca. 50 denominal verb-forming resources, one per affixation process, namely affixation by -ate, -(i)fy, -ize/-ise, -en, en- in English, a-…-ar, en-…-ar, -ear, -ecer, -(i)ficar, -izar in Spanish, and zero-derivation/conversion in both languages. The results are contrasted within and across affixes/processes, within each language and across the two languages for the adequacy of a description as zero-derivation or as conversion. Statistical analysis shows that the process/affixes form a cline with overlaps and closer associations between specific affixes/processes and semantic categories, but no clear divide between zero-derivation/conversion and the rest of processes as far as the semantic categories are concerned.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"153 - 180"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47286038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article shows that deverbal conversion nouns in Polish fall into several classes, depending on their inflectional properties and on their semantic interpretation, e. g. rzut ‘throw’, rząd ‘government’, odnowa ‘renovation’, and przystań ‘haven, wharf’. In a theoretical framework which recognizes zero morphemes as nominalizers, such a situation would call for the recognition of many homonymous zero affixes (each specifying a distinct inflection class or a different semantic paraphrase of the resulting zero-derivative). It is argued here that a more felicitous account of this type of verb-to-noun derivation in Polish can be offered in the framework of Construction Morphology. It involves the postulation of multiple construction schemas which express the form-meaning correspondence observable in various subtypes of conversion nouns. Such low-level schemas are treated as instantiations of more general (high-level) schemas and they form a network of morphological constructions in a hierarchical lexicon.
{"title":"Verb-to-noun conversion in Polish: Multiple schemas in Construction Morphology","authors":"B. Cetnarowska","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article shows that deverbal conversion nouns in Polish fall into several classes, depending on their inflectional properties and on their semantic interpretation, e. g. rzut ‘throw’, rząd ‘government’, odnowa ‘renovation’, and przystań ‘haven, wharf’. In a theoretical framework which recognizes zero morphemes as nominalizers, such a situation would call for the recognition of many homonymous zero affixes (each specifying a distinct inflection class or a different semantic paraphrase of the resulting zero-derivative). It is argued here that a more felicitous account of this type of verb-to-noun derivation in Polish can be offered in the framework of Construction Morphology. It involves the postulation of multiple construction schemas which express the form-meaning correspondence observable in various subtypes of conversion nouns. Such low-level schemas are treated as instantiations of more general (high-level) schemas and they form a network of morphological constructions in a hierarchical lexicon.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"13 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43344798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pavel Caha, Karen De Clercq, Guido Vanden Wyngaerd
Abstract This paper discusses a theory of conversion (zero derivation) in terms of phrasal spellout. In this approach, there are no zero morphemes. Instead, the ‘silent’ meaning components are pronounced cumulatively within overt morphemes. As an empirical case, we discuss adjective/verb ambiguity as in narrow. As verbs, these roots have both an inchoative and a causative sense. Following Ramchand (2008), we assume that such deadjectival causatives contain three parts: the adjective denoting a state, a change-of-state component proc, and a causative component init. Adopting a Nanosyntax approach, we propose that verbs like narrow spell out a complex node with all these abstract heads. The ambiguity between the inchoative, causative and adjective falls out as a consequence of the Superset Principle (Starke 2009), which states that a lexical entry can spell out any subtree it contains. Since both the inchoative sense and the adjective sense correspond to proper parts of the causative one, we derive these readings without the need to postulate zeroes. We show how these assumptions allow us to capture a broad range of patterns, focussing mainly on English and Czech.
{"title":"Zero morphology and change-of-state verbs","authors":"Pavel Caha, Karen De Clercq, Guido Vanden Wyngaerd","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper discusses a theory of conversion (zero derivation) in terms of phrasal spellout. In this approach, there are no zero morphemes. Instead, the ‘silent’ meaning components are pronounced cumulatively within overt morphemes. As an empirical case, we discuss adjective/verb ambiguity as in narrow. As verbs, these roots have both an inchoative and a causative sense. Following Ramchand (2008), we assume that such deadjectival causatives contain three parts: the adjective denoting a state, a change-of-state component proc, and a causative component init. Adopting a Nanosyntax approach, we propose that verbs like narrow spell out a complex node with all these abstract heads. The ambiguity between the inchoative, causative and adjective falls out as a consequence of the Superset Principle (Starke 2009), which states that a lexical entry can spell out any subtree it contains. Since both the inchoative sense and the adjective sense correspond to proper parts of the causative one, we derive these readings without the need to postulate zeroes. We show how these assumptions allow us to capture a broad range of patterns, focussing mainly on English and Czech.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"35 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46530074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In this paper we offer an overview of the linguistic phenomena that have traditionally been handled by means of zero affixes and of the theoretical debate around the advantages and disadvantages of employing such null morphemes in theoretical modeling. While the advantage of positing zero affixes is straightforward from an empirical perspective (see inflectional syncretism and affixless category change, among others), their theoretical legitimacy has been controversially debated for several decades. In this overview, we present the main problems that have been brought forward against zero affixation and some of the mechanisms that have been proposed as an alternative. Finally, we show how the different articles in our edited collection contribute to this debate by addressing the following three research questions: (1) How do current theories of derivational morphology deal with linguistic phenomena that seem to involve zero affixes? (2) How do zero derivational affixes compare with their “overt analogues” (i. e. overt derivational affixes)? (3) What insights can we obtain from language-specific properties, typological generalizations and/or larger data-oriented studies on the question whether zero affixation is necessary in derivational morphology?
{"title":"Zero affixes in derivational morphology: Introduction","authors":"Gianina Iordǎchioaia, C. Melloni","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper we offer an overview of the linguistic phenomena that have traditionally been handled by means of zero affixes and of the theoretical debate around the advantages and disadvantages of employing such null morphemes in theoretical modeling. While the advantage of positing zero affixes is straightforward from an empirical perspective (see inflectional syncretism and affixless category change, among others), their theoretical legitimacy has been controversially debated for several decades. In this overview, we present the main problems that have been brought forward against zero affixation and some of the mechanisms that have been proposed as an alternative. Finally, we show how the different articles in our edited collection contribute to this debate by addressing the following three research questions: (1) How do current theories of derivational morphology deal with linguistic phenomena that seem to involve zero affixes? (2) How do zero derivational affixes compare with their “overt analogues” (i. e. overt derivational affixes)? (3) What insights can we obtain from language-specific properties, typological generalizations and/or larger data-oriented studies on the question whether zero affixation is necessary in derivational morphology?","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"1 - 11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47144404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In this paper we bring evidence from English and Italian deverbal zero nominals (to climb > the climb-Ø N ) that zero is a possible spell-out of a nominalizer otherwise overtly instantiated in suffixed nominals (examin-ation ). We argue in favor of a Distributed Morphology approach, a separationist theory that recognizes and easily implements zero morphology with underlying syntax-semantics. Abstracting away from other theoretical trends and their foundational reasons to refrain from using zero suffixes, we address three properties that have been argued to fundamentally distinguish zero nominals from overtly suffixed nominals, with the implication that they instantiate a different word formation process: i) realization of verbal argument structure, ii) possibility of embedding verbalizing suffixes, and iii) semantic transparency in relation to the verb. By means of corpus data and two manually collected datasets of 561 English and 174 Italian zero nominals based on lexicographic information, we bring solid evidence against these claims, by arguing that: i) a great proportion of zero nominals do realize verbal argument structure, ii) the zero affix may embed verbalizing affixes within the limits of the selectional restrictions it independently imposes on its base, and iii) zero nominals present the same patterns of polysemy that suffixed nominals display. However, we show that zero nominals also present some idiosyncrasies to the extent that not all of them express compositional event readings with argument structure, a matter that deserves further research within the frame of their competition with suffixed nominals.
摘要本文从英语和意大利语的动词零名词性(to climb > the climb-Ø N)中得到证据，证明零是一个名词性的可能拼法，否则会在后缀名词性中被明显实例化(检验)。我们支持分布式形态学方法，这是一种分离主义理论，可以识别并轻松实现具有底层语法语义的零形态学。撇开其他理论趋势及其避免使用零后缀的基本原因，我们讨论了三个被认为从根本上区分零名词性和明显后缀的名词性的属性，暗示它们实例化了不同的构词过程:i)实现动词论点结构，ii)嵌入动词化后缀的可能性，以及iii)相对于动词的语义透明度。通过语料库数据和两个人工收集的基于词典编纂信息的561个英语和174个意大利语零名词法数据集，我们提出了反对这些说法的确凿证据，认为:1)很大比例的零名词性动词确实实现了动词性的论点结构;2)零词性动词在其独立施加给词基的选择限制范围内可能嵌入动词性词缀;3)零名词性动词呈现出与后缀名词性动词相同的多义模式。然而，我们表明，零语料也呈现出一些特质，以至于不是所有的语料都用论点结构表达构成事件的阅读，这一问题值得在它们与后缀语料竞争的框架内进一步研究。
{"title":"The zero suffix in English and Italian deverbal nouns","authors":"Gianina Iordǎchioaia, C. Melloni","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper we bring evidence from English and Italian deverbal zero nominals (to climb > the climb-Ø N ) that zero is a possible spell-out of a nominalizer otherwise overtly instantiated in suffixed nominals (examin-ation ). We argue in favor of a Distributed Morphology approach, a separationist theory that recognizes and easily implements zero morphology with underlying syntax-semantics. Abstracting away from other theoretical trends and their foundational reasons to refrain from using zero suffixes, we address three properties that have been argued to fundamentally distinguish zero nominals from overtly suffixed nominals, with the implication that they instantiate a different word formation process: i) realization of verbal argument structure, ii) possibility of embedding verbalizing suffixes, and iii) semantic transparency in relation to the verb. By means of corpus data and two manually collected datasets of 561 English and 174 Italian zero nominals based on lexicographic information, we bring solid evidence against these claims, by arguing that: i) a great proportion of zero nominals do realize verbal argument structure, ii) the zero affix may embed verbalizing affixes within the limits of the selectional restrictions it independently imposes on its base, and iii) zero nominals present the same patterns of polysemy that suffixed nominals display. However, we show that zero nominals also present some idiosyncrasies to the extent that not all of them express compositional event readings with argument structure, a matter that deserves further research within the frame of their competition with suffixed nominals.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"109 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46784973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In this paper, we examine Modern Greek adjectives with the negative prefix α- [a] (also called alpha privative) which are derived from nouns. These formations display formal and semantic properties that cannot be attributed to any overt element of the structure. Following a bottom-up approach, we revisit the question of whether zero morphemes are useful in the realm of derivational morphology. We argue for a zero derivational suffix that accounts for the lexical category and the inflectional properties of the formation and in combination with the negative prefix a- gives a privative reading. As this zero suffix attributes the basic properties of the formations, but it is not part of the overt structure, we raise the question of whether derivational structures can also be exocentric. Many scholars have claimed that exocentricity is a property pertinent only to compounds. However, we argue that there is no reason why the presence of zero morphemes and the notion of exocentricity should be excluded from derivational morphology.
{"title":"Zero suffixes in Modern Greek derived adjectival formations with alpha privative","authors":"Νikos Koutsoukos, A. Ralli","doi":"10.1515/zfs-2022-2011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2022-2011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper, we examine Modern Greek adjectives with the negative prefix α- [a] (also called alpha privative) which are derived from nouns. These formations display formal and semantic properties that cannot be attributed to any overt element of the structure. Following a bottom-up approach, we revisit the question of whether zero morphemes are useful in the realm of derivational morphology. We argue for a zero derivational suffix that accounts for the lexical category and the inflectional properties of the formation and in combination with the negative prefix a- gives a privative reading. As this zero suffix attributes the basic properties of the formations, but it is not part of the overt structure, we raise the question of whether derivational structures can also be exocentric. Many scholars have claimed that exocentricity is a property pertinent only to compounds. However, we argue that there is no reason why the presence of zero morphemes and the notion of exocentricity should be excluded from derivational morphology.","PeriodicalId":43494,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift Fur Sprachwissenschaft","volume":"42 1","pages":"87 - 108"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41736111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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