Exocentric Compounds in English and Punjabi: A Morpho-Semantic Analysis of NN Formations

Abstract

The paper provides new insight into the analysis of exocentric compounds in English and Punjabi by introducing a new step-by-step mechanism devised with the help of cognitive and cultural linguistics. The main purpose of the study is to show that exocentric compounds are very productive in the Indo -European languages. The current study claims that every exocentric compound is metaphoric in nature. Every constituent in an exocentric compound carries several interpretations based on specific metonymic relations and cultural knowledge. The meaning of one constituent aids and activates the interpretation of another constituent. In this paper*, only four examples of NN compounds are discussed in detail. Although the study is not a comparative analysis in actual sense, however, the formations of such compounds in English are also analyzed to show the applicability of the mechanism in other languages as well. The results revealed that the above mechanism is equally applicable in both the languages and supports the metaphoric interpretation in exocentric compounds. The study also nullifies the claims about the non-productivity and unpredictability of the exocentric compounds.