LFU:online

The course will review the mechanisms of word-formation in English both diachronically and synchronically, looking at the ways in which grammar and lexis are enlarged and transformed from a typological and functional perspective, and include some application to actual linguistic material.

The various means of English word-building will be reviewed and their productivity discussed, also in relation to ‚newer‘ varieties of English, which show variable behaviour in vocabulary construction. Some attention will also be given to borrowing phenomena.

Review of the general theoretical background from standard reference books on word-formation in the first session; students will then carry out limited sample analyses as assignments.

The final assessment will be based also on individual presentations on a selected topic, and on a short paper on the same topic.

Adams, Valerie 2001, Complex Words in English, Harlow : Longman . Bauer, Laurie 1983, English Word-formation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bauer, Laurie 1988, Introducing Linguistic Morphology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Fisiak, Jacek (ed.) 1985, Historical Semantics, Historical Word-formation, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Marchand , Hans 19692, The Categories and Types of Present-day English Word-formation, München: Beck. Plag, Ingo 2003. Word-formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

positive completion of mandatory module 5