Productivity vs. Lexicalization: Frequency-Based Hypotheses on Word-Formation

• Authors: Jesús Fernández-Domínguez
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article looks at morphological productivity and lexicalization. Productivity, first, bears a significant relationship with frequency because both seem to be subtly interlinked through low-frequency items. Much the same happens between lexicalization and frequency, although their association must be seen from a different angle because lexicalized words tend to have greater frequencies than non-lexicalized words. The novelty of this paper is that it provides a link between the above two notions and corpus-based frequency figures, and then operates a formula (π) on two sets of units, some lexicalized, some synchronically analysable. The two subcorpora confirm a correct function of π to tell between words which tend to be used by means of word-formation vs. words which already exist in the individual's lexicon.

Keywords

EN

Corpus linguistics; lexicalization; morphology; productivity

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Journal: Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 193-219

Dates

published

2010-06-01

online

2010-07-29

Contributors

author

Jesús Fernández-Domínguez

• University of Jaén

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10010-010-0010-x