In this paper we discuss two cases of seemingly polysemous derivational affixes: the Ewe suffix -ví, originally a noun meaning “child”, which has acquired a number of different semantic values in word formation, as e.g. “inexperienced” (núfíáláví “inexperienced teacher”) or “person who adheres to the typical behaviour of a group” (amredzóví “someone who behaves like a foreigner”, and the Mandarin Chinese suffix -bā, originally a lexical morph meaning “bar”, which also helps to form locative nouns conveying a broad range of meanings, as e.g. in yóuxìbā (game-bā) “amusement arcade” or in yǎnbā (eye-bā), a kind of optometry clinic. We shall show that apparent polysemy may be a consequence of generalization, rather than of specialization in meaning, and that the mechanisms involved in the evolution of derivational affixes are mostly analogous to those of grammaticalisation

Arcodia, G. (2014). Diachrony and the polysemy of derivational affixes. In F. Rainer, F. Gardani, H.C. Luschützky, W.U. Dressler (a cura di), Morphology and Meaning - Selected papers from the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012 (pp. 127-140). Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing Company [10.1075/cilt.327.08arc].

Diachrony and the polysemy of derivational affixes

ARCODIA, GIORGIO FRANCESCO
2014

Abstract

In this paper we discuss two cases of seemingly polysemous derivational affixes: the Ewe suffix -ví, originally a noun meaning “child”, which has acquired a number of different semantic values in word formation, as e.g. “inexperienced” (núfíáláví “inexperienced teacher”) or “person who adheres to the typical behaviour of a group” (amredzóví “someone who behaves like a foreigner”, and the Mandarin Chinese suffix -bā, originally a lexical morph meaning “bar”, which also helps to form locative nouns conveying a broad range of meanings, as e.g. in yóuxìbā (game-bā) “amusement arcade” or in yǎnbā (eye-bā), a kind of optometry clinic. We shall show that apparent polysemy may be a consequence of generalization, rather than of specialization in meaning, and that the mechanisms involved in the evolution of derivational affixes are mostly analogous to those of grammaticalisation
Capitolo o saggio
Chinese, derivation, polysemy, Ewe
English
Morphology and Meaning - Selected papers from the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012
Rainer, F; Gardani, F; Luschützky, HC; Dressler, WU
2014
9789027248466
John Benjamins Publishing Company
127
140
Arcodia, G. (2014). Diachrony and the polysemy of derivational affixes. In F. Rainer, F. Gardani, H.C. Luschützky, W.U. Dressler (a cura di), Morphology and Meaning - Selected papers from the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012 (pp. 127-140). Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing Company [10.1075/cilt.327.08arc].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/96586
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