Heterogeneity in Word-Formation Patterns
A corpus-based analysis of suffixation with <i>-ee</i> and its productivity in English
- Author(s): Susanne Mühleisen 1
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations:1 University of Bayreuth
- Format: PDF
- Publication Date February 2010
- e-Book ISBN: 9789027288387
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.118
Postulated word-formation rules often exclude formations that can nevertheless be found in actual usage. This book presents an in-depth investigation of a highly heterogeneous word-formation pattern in English: the formation of nouns by suffixation with -ee. Rather than relying on a single semantic or syntactic framework for analysis, the study combines diachronic, cognitive and language-contact perspectives in order to explain the diversity in the formation and establishment of -ee words. It also seeks to challenge previous measurements of productivity and proposes a new way to investigate the relationship between actual and possible words. By making use of the largest and most up-to-date electronic corpus – the World Wide Web – as a data source, this research adds substantially to the number of attested -ee words. It furthermore analyses this word-formation pattern in different varieties of English (British vs. American English; Australian English). Due to the multiplicity of approaches and analyses it offers, the study is suitable for courses in English word-formation, lexicology, corpus linguistics and historical linguistics.
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