Book contents
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Basic Questions
- Part II Semantic Questions
- Part III Syntactic Questions
- Part IV Interfaces
- Part V Patterns of Word-Formation in English
- Part VI Historical Questions
- Part VII Questions Involving Inflection
- 27 Reflections on Inflection inside Word-Formation
- 28 Reflections on Canonical Form
- 29 Reflections on the Spread of Regular Inflection to Simple and Derived Forms
- 30 Conclusion
- Index of Topics
- Index of English Word-Forming Elements
- References
30 - Conclusion
from Part VII - Questions Involving Inflection
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 October 2025
Book contents
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Reflections on English Word-Formation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Basic Questions
- Part II Semantic Questions
- Part III Syntactic Questions
- Part IV Interfaces
- Part V Patterns of Word-Formation in English
- Part VI Historical Questions
- Part VII Questions Involving Inflection
- 27 Reflections on Inflection inside Word-Formation
- 28 Reflections on Canonical Form
- 29 Reflections on the Spread of Regular Inflection to Simple and Derived Forms
- 30 Conclusion
- Index of Topics
- Index of English Word-Forming Elements
- References
Summary
In summarizing the book, this chapter reconsiders some of the major recurrent issues that have been covered, issues such as the notion of a rule of word-formation, productivity and the difficulty in dealing with genuine examples from usage. There has also been a focus on understanding where the boundaries of categories lie. It is stressed that the questions that are discussed here could equally be discussed in books which focus on other aspects of language study, and that word-formation is just one area in which these issues can be tackled.
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- Reflections on English Word-Formation , pp. 232 - 237Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Allen, Margaret R. (1978). Morphological investigations. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut.Google Scholar
Aarts, Bas, Denison, David, Keizer, Evelien & Popova, Gergana (eds.). (2004). Fuzzy Grammar: A Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Calude, Andrea S. & Bauer, Laurie. (2022). Mysteries of English Grammar. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew. (2010). Review of Rochelle Lieber, & Pavol, Štekauer, (eds.), 2009. The Oxford Handbook of Compounding. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Word Structure 3, 252–60.Google Scholar
Mugdan, Joachim. (1986). Was ist eigentlich ein Morphem? Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 39, 29–52.Google Scholar
Schultink, Henk. (1961). Produktiviteit als morfologisch fenomeen. Forum der Letteren 2, 110–25.Google Scholar
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