Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities

Abstract

Identical constituent compounds (ICCs) are a prototypical example of extravagant morphology. They violate several constraints and rules of German word formation. Speakers use these violations systematically to highlight specific semantic characteristics of the base noun. Mädchenmädchen ‘girl girl’, for instance, refers to a stereotypical girl. So far, the formal features and the usage of these formations have not been described empirically. This study is based on large corpus data to make reliable predictions about features like linking elements, inflectional behaviour, and the spelling of German ICCs. Furthermore, it investigates which strategies speakers use to make sure that the hearer understands what (in most cases) constitutes a newly formed word.

“Chaos theory, shmaos theory”: Creativity and routine in English shm-reduplication

“…shm-reduplication is a special case of echo reduplication (Grohmann and Nevins 2004), which in turn is a special case of reduplication, a phenomenon that is widespread in the languages of the world (Inkelas 2014: 169) but relatively rare in Indo-European languages (Schwaiger 2015: 478). This makes exceptions such as identical constituent compounding (salad-salad, Hohenhaus 2004;Finkbeiner 2012;Frankowsky 2022) or ablaut reduplication (riff-raff, tip-top, Minkova 2002) all the more salient.…”

Wir sind, wir sind zur Stelle – Die Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik rhetorischer Wiederholungsfiguren: Anadiplose und Geminatio in Gedichten

“…;Donalies 2021, S. 207 ff.). Die Morphologie des Deutschen stellt auch einige wenige andere Wortbildungsmittel zur Verfügung, die unmittelbare Morphemwiederholungen erlauben, etwa durch die Iterierbarkeit mancher Präfixe wie ur-(urururalt), vor-(Vorvorfahre), hyper-(hyperhyperaktiv) oder anti-(antiantisemitisch) (Fleischer/Barz 2012, S. 260 f; Donalies 2021, S. 15) oder die Bildung von Komposita mit identischen Konstituenten (Teetee ‚schwarzer Tee, kein Kräutertee'; Buchbuch ‚ein gedrucktes Buch, kein E-Book') (Hohenhaus 2004;Finkbeiner 2014;Frankowsky 2022).…”