Lexical Structures: Compounding and the Modules of Grammar(Edinburgh Studies in Theoretical Linguistics)

An original study of both structural entities originating in the lexicon, and the structural characteristics of the lexicon as a module of formal grammar, this book makes two contributions to our understanding of the formal grammar of English. Firstly, it presents a coherent theory of ‘compounding’ in English. There is a long-standing but unresolved dispute in the literature as to whether certain constructions (e.g. LONDON ROAD, DENTAL TREATMENT) are compound words or syntactic phrases. The question is important because in other cases the distinction is clear-cut (RING ROAD, FREE TREATMENT respectively), and because it impinges on central assumptions regarding the organisation of the grammar.Secondly, the book suggests an alternative to the commonly assumed sharp division of the grammar into the ‘lexicon’ and the ‘syntax’. The lexicon-syntax distinction facilitates important new insights in the nature of compounding in English. However, Heinz Giegerich argues that the Lexicalist assumption of a sharp divide between the modules cannot be upheld: the two modules overlap, such that there are constructions in English that are simultaneously compound and phrase. He suggests an alternative, tripartite, structure comprising three successive, and significantly overlapping, modules: the lexicon proper, the morphology and the syntax.The book illustrates a grammar that is rather different from that envisaged in Lexicalism (while still retaining that theory’s basic insights) and provides a better understanding of some of the most recalcitrant problems in English word formation.

Table of Contents:
Chapter One: The grammar of adjectival attribution; 1.1: Introduction; 1.2: Lexicalism and the syntax-lexicon continuum of attribution; 1.2.1: Intersective vs. subsective attribution; 1.2.2: Restrictive vs. non-restrictive attribution;1.2.3: Ascriptive vs. associative attribution; 1.3: The stress patterns of attribution; 1.4: Summary: the nature of adjectival attribution; Chapter Two: Associative attribution; 2.1: Introduction: more on ascription and association; 2.2: The morphology and lexical semantics of associative adjectives; 2.3: The syntax of associative adjectives; 2.4: Candidature for lexical status; 2.5: Associative adjectives and the pro-form one; 2.6: The stress patterns of associative attribution; Chapter Three: A mythology of fore-stress, end-stress and tree geometry; 3.1: Introduction; 3.2: The first myth: ‘All phrases have end-stress’; 3.3: End-stressed NNs – compounds or phrases?; 3.3.1: Background; 3.3.2: Fore-stress and end-stress in NNs; 3.3.3: End-stressed NNs and the limits of formal prediction; 3.3.4: Tendencies for end-stress: attribution, transparency, ascription; 3.3.5: Compound stress in Scottish English; 3.4: The stress patterns of NNNs; 3.4.1: The myth and the facts; 3.4.2: Analysis 1: all end-stressed NNs are phrases; 3.4.3: Analyses 2 and 3: all NNs are or may be compounds; 3.5: Conclusion; Chapter Four: Interlude: the porous nature of lexical stratification; 4.1: Introduction; 4.2: The nature of lexical strata; 4.2.1: Productivity and semantic transparency; 4.2.2: Phonological transparency; 4.2.3: Embedding and affix ordering; 4.2.4: An illustrative example: noun-forming –er; 4.3: Brackets and their erasure; 4.4: Overlapping strata: unexpected stress preservation and its unexpected failure; 4.5: More on stratal overlap; Chapter Five: Lexical integrity?; 5.1: On the nature of the lexicon-syntax divide; 5.2: The purported integrity of the lexicon; 5.2.1: Lexical integrity and bracket erasure; 5.2.2: Syntactic operations as diagnostics of phrasal status; 5.2.2.1: Co-ordination reduction; 5.2.2.2: Pro-one; 5.2.2.3: Phrases inside compounds; 5.2.3: Listed semantics, regular form; 5.2.4: Unlisted semantics: anaphoric compounding; 5.3: Compounds in no-man’s land; 5.3.1: Lexical non-integrity; 5.3.2: Overlapping modules

About the Author :
Heinz Giegerich is Professor Emeritus of English Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His previous publications include Metrical Phonology and Phonological Structure (CUP 1985), English Phonology (CUP 1992), Lexical Strata in English (CUP 1999) and Lexical Structures: Compounding and the Modules of Grammar (EUP 2015). At EUP he is the editor of the Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language book series and a co-founder of the journal Word Structure.

Review :
I will argue that Giegerich’s study raises a number of important questions which have so far not received the attention they deserve and which have much wider implications than the problem of English compounding. By exploring these questions from the vantage point of a single, relatively well understood phenomenon, Giegerich has been able to put some of those questions into sharp relief and has therefore issued an important challenge to those who wish to understand the more general relationship between morphology, syntax and semantics. There is a great deal of food for thought in the material G. presents. The discussion of different kinds of attribution is clearer than I have seen elsewhere, the problems of trying to distinguish syntactic NNs from lexical NNs by a number of (largely syntactic) tests is carried out in great detail and with thought to the overall pattern of interaction between lexical and syntactic factors, the problems with a modular approach to morphology and syntax are explored in detail by someone who has been an exponent of just such a modular approach, the differences between various compound types are presented clearly. There is no doubt that this is a major contribution to the literature on this area of grammar (and so, incidentally, a promising start for Edinburgh University Press’s new series).