Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Neoclassical word formation in German

  • Chapter
Yearbook of Morphology 2001

Part of the book series: Yearbook of Morphology ((YOMO))

Abstract

This paper deals with neoclassical word formation in German: Complex words consisting of stems and affixes of classical (Greek or Latin) origin appear in Germanic languages alongside complex words consisting of native stems and affixes. Example (1) lists just a few:1(1)

  1. a.

    Morphologie “morphology”, anthropomorph “anthropomorph”, monomorphemisch “monomorphemic”, Allomorphie “allomorphy”

  2. b.

    hydrophil “hydrophile”, Hydrogeologie “hydrogeology”, Hydrographie “hydrography”, Hydrologe “hydrologist”

  3. c.

    dokumentieren “to document”, kontingentieren “to ration”, fermentieren “to ferment”, supplementieren “to supplement”, patentieren “to patent”, instrumentieren “to arrange, orchestrate”

  4. d.

    telefonieren “to telephone”, Monitor “monitor”, Photographie “photograph”, Video “video”, Automobil “car”, Kosmetik “cosmetics”

It is obvious from their meaning and usage that these are not just loanwords borrowed directly from classical languages. Rather, word formation involving classical elements is active and productive today — not just in science or technology but also in everyday language, as especially the words in (1d).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Anshen, Frank, Aronoff, Mark, Byrd, Roy J. and Klavans, Judith L. (1986). The role of etymology and word length in English word formation. Unpublished Manuscript, Stony Brook.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronoff, Mark (1976). Word Formation in Generative Grammar,Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Aronoff, Mark and Fuhrhop, Nanna (to appear). Restricting suffix combinations in German and English: Closing suffixes and the monosuffix constraint. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, Laurie (1979). Against word-based morphology. Linguistic Inquiry, 10, 508–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, Laurie (1998). Is there a class of neoclassical compounds in English and is it productive? Linguistics, 36, 403–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergmann, Rolf (1998). Autonomie und Isonomie der beiden Wortbildungssysteme im Deutschen. Sprachwissenschaft, 23, 167–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besch, Werner, Reichmann, Oskar, and Sonderegger, Stefan (eds.) (1984). Sprachgeschichte. Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschung. Berlin: de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloomfield, Leonard (1933). Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booij, Geert (1985). Coordination reduction in complex words: a case for prosodic phonology. In H.v.d. Hulst and N. Smith (eds.), Advances in Nonlinear Phonology. Dordrecht: Foris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booij, Geert (2000). Morphology and phonology. In G. Booij, C. Lehmann, and J. Mugdan (eds.), Morphologie. Morphology. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung. An International Handbook on Inflection and Word Formation. Berlin: de Gruyter, 335–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booij, Geert (2002). Prosodic restrictions on affixation in Dutch. This volume.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booij, Geert, Lehmann, Christian, and Mugdan, Joachim (eds.) (2000). Morphologie. Morphology. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung. An International Handbook on Inflection and Word Formation,Two volumes/Zwei Halbbände Volume 1/Halbband 1. Berlin: de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Domenig, Marc and ten Hacken, Pius (1992). Word Manager: A System for Morphological Dictionaries. Hildesheim: Olms.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donalies, Elke (2000). Das Konfix. Zur Definition einer zentralen Einheit der deutschen Wortbildung. Deutsche Sprache 2, 144–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • DUDEN-5 (1982). Fremdwörterbuch. Mannheim: Dudenverlag, 4th edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichinger, Ludwig M. (2000). Deutsche Wortbildung. Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, Peter (1998). Grundriß der deutschen Grammatik. Band l: Das Wort. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleischer, Wolfgang and Barz, Irmhild (1992). Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuhrhop, Nanna (1998). Grenzfälle morphologischer Einheiten. Tübingen: StauffenburgVerlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henzen, Walter (1965). Deutsche Wortbildung. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 3rd edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Höhle, Tilman (1982). Über Komposition und Derivation: Zur Konstituentenstruktur von

    Google Scholar 

  • Wortbildungsprodukten im Deutschen. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft,1,76–112. Hoppe, Gabriele (1987). Deutsche Lehnwortbildung. Tübingen: Narr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessen, Michael (1999). German. In H. van der Hulst (ed.), Word Prosodic Systems in the Languages of Europe, pp. 515–45. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • König, Esther, Christ, Oliver, Schulze, Bruno M., and Hofmann, Anja (1999). CQP User’s Manual. Technical Report, Institut für Maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung, Universität Stuttgart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kühnhold, Ingeburg, Putzer, Oskar, and Wellmann, Hans (1978). Deutsche Wortbildung. Typen und Tendenzen in der Gegenwartssprache 3: Das Adjektiv. Düsseldorf: Pädagogischer Verlag Schwann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lüdeling, Anke (2001). On Particle Verbs and Similar Constructions in German. Stanford: CSLI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lüdeling, Anke and Schmid, Tanja (2001). Between derivation and compounding. Manuscript. Universität Stuttgart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lüdeling, Anke and Schmid, Tanja (2002). Does origin determine the combinatory properties of morphological elements in German? In J. DeCesaris (ed.), Proceedings of the Third Mediterranean Meeting on Morphology. Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, P.H. (1974). Morphology. An Introduction to the Theory of Word-Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munske, Horst Haider (1988). Ist das Deutsche eine Mischsprache? Zur Stellung der Fremdwörter im deutschen Sprachsystem. In H.H. Munske, P. von Polenz, O. Reichmann, and R. Hildebrandt (eds.), Deutscher Wortschatz. Lexikologische Studien. Ludwig Erich Schmitt zum 80. Geburtstag von seinen Marburger Schülern. Berlin: de Gruyter, 46–74.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Naumann, Bernd (2000). Einführung in die Wortbildungslehre des Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 3rd edition.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pinker, Steven (1989). Learnability and Cognition. The Acquisition of Argument Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reis, Marga (1983). Gegen die Kompositionstheorie der Affigierung. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 2, 110–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scalise, Sergio (1986). Generative Morphology. Dordrecht: Foris, 2nd edition.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, Tanja, Lüdeling, Anke, Säuberlich, Bettina, Heid, Ulrich, and Möbius, Bernd (2001). DeKo: Em System zur Analyse komplexer Wörter. In H. Lobin (ed.), Proceedings der GLDV-Frühjahrstagung 2001, pp. 49–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, Günter Dietrich (1987). Das Kombinem. Vorschläge zur Erweiterung des Begriffsfeldes und der Terminologie für den Bereich der Lehnwortbildung. In G. Hoppe (ed.), Deutsche Lehnwortbildung, Tübingen: Narr, 37–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selkirk, Elisabeth (1982). The Syntax of Words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, Andrew (1991). Morphological Theory. An Introduction to Word Structure in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, Andrew and Zwicky, Arnold M. (eds) (1998). The Handbook of Morphology. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • ten Hacken, Pius (1994). Defining Morphology. A Principled Approach to Determining the Boundaries of Compounding, Derivation, and Inflection. Hildesheim: Olms.

    Google Scholar 

  • ten Hacken, Pius (2000). Derivation and compounding. In G. Booij, C. Lehmann, and J. Mugdan (eds.), Morphologie. Morphology. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung. An International Handbook on Inflection and Word Formation. Berlin: de Gruyter, 349–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Lessen Kloeke, WUS (1982). Deutsche Phonologie und Morphologie. Merkmale und Markiertheit. Tübingen: Niemeyer.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Marle, Jaap (1985). On the Paradigmatic Dimension of Morphological Creativity. Dordrecht: Foris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vögeding, Joachim (1981). Das Halbsuffix -frei. Zur Theorie der Wortbildung. Tübingen: Narr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellmann, Hans (1975). Deutsche Wortbildung. Typen und Tendenzen in der Gegenwartssprache 2: Das Substantiv. Düsseldoorf: Pädagogischer Verlag Schwann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiese, Richard (1996). The Phonology of German. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Edwin (1981). On the notions “lexically related” and “head of a word”. Linguistic Inquiry 12, 245–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilmanns, W. (1899). Deutsche Grammatik. Gotisch, Alt-, Mittel- und Neuhochdeutsch. Zweite Abteilung: Wortbildung. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 2nd edition.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Kognitionswissenschaft, Universität Osnabrück, Katharinenstrasse 24, D-49069, Osnabrück, Germany

    Anke Lüdeling, Tanja Schmid & Sawwas Kiokpasoglou

Authors
  1. Anke Lüdeling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tanja Schmid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sawwas Kiokpasoglou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculteit der Letteren, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Geert Booij  & Jaap Van Marle  & 

  2. Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Jaap Van Marle

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lüdeling, A., Schmid, T., Kiokpasoglou, S. (2002). Neoclassical word formation in German. In: Booij, G., Van Marle, J. (eds) Yearbook of Morphology 2001. Yearbook of Morphology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3726-5_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3726-5_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6061-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-3726-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation