The book ends with the conclusions that the three categories of CFs analysed range on a continuum from compound-like to affix-like, and consist of an open class of elements destined to expand, to include novel splinters and form new words.

Chapter 5 analyses fifteen initial and seven final abbreviated CFs. It shows their type/token frequency and their profitability in COCA and NOW. Their diachronic evolution is explored in the GBC.

Chapter 2 is a survey of the definitions of CFs in main morphological accounts. CFs are then described as part of transitional morphology and compared with affixes and compound constituents.

Chapter 3 describes the dataset and the methodology for data selection. It also illustrates the corpora of analysis and the approach to morphological productivity used for the quantitative investigation.

The Introduction provides an overview of the book and explains its rationale, main goals, and research questions. It presents how the book is organised and its target readership.

Three broad features of modification constructions are the modification--reference continuum, word order of modifiers and head, and anaphoric-head constructions. Nominal modifiers may perform an anchoring function, establishing a referent that helps to pick out the head referent; or they may perform a typifying function, subcategorizing the head referent not unlike prototoypical modifiers. The constructions used for nominal modification vary correspondingly. Numeral and mensural constructions also differ along the modification--reference continuum, albeit with a reversal of head and modifier. Asymmetries in modifier--noun word order obey a number of implicational universals, and also provide evidence that prenominal modifiers are more tightly integrated into the referring phrase than postnominal modifiers. Anaphoric-head modifiers lack a common noun head, and employ either pronominal head or ‘headless’ strategies. Modification constructions may arise diachronically when an anaphoric-head construction comes to be juxtaposed to a common noun and then integrated into a single referring phrase.

The skeletal structure of a sentence is defined by the propositional acts of reference, predication, and modification. Reference is carried out by a referring phrase. The prototypical head of a referring phrase denotes an object; this is a noun. Modifiers are dependents of a noun that form attributive phrases. The prototypical head of an attributive phrase denotes a property; this is an adjective. A clause predicates something of a referent or referents. The prototypical head of a clause denotes an action; this is a verb. Reference, modification, and predication of nonprototypical concepts is possible, and often expressed by distinct constructions. Three principles govern how combinations of information packaging and semantic content are expressed: any concept can be packaged in any way; some ways are more ‘natural’ than others; and how they are packaged is constrained by conventions of the speech community. Nonprototypical constructions often share properties of ‘neighboring’ prototypical constructions. They often differ by having additional forms coding the nonprototypical function, and/or by a lesser potential for expressing associated grammatical categories (e.g., inflections).