Linking Elements

Abstract

Linking elements may fulfil two very different roles: they may be phonotactic elements or may realize a morphosyntactic head. This entry presents a case study of linking elements that fulfil a morphosyntactic role in Dutch. When linking elements are of this type, one should be aware that they may be null morphemes. Dutch linking elements are noun class markers; hence the fact that two of them are identical to plural marking results from cumulative exponence. A careful study of such elements gives new insights into two domains: the morphosyntax of the compound's left‐hand part; and the morphosyntax of the nominal domain.