The semantic function of affixation in a corpus of Old English derived nouns
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Universidad de La Rioja
info
- Isabel Moskowich-Spiegel Fandiño (coord.)
- Begoña Crespo García (coord.)
- Inés Lareo Martín (coord.)
- Paula Lojo Sandino (coord.)
Publisher: Servizo de Publicacións ; Universidade da Coruña
ISBN: 978-84-9749-401-4
Year of publication: 2010
Volume Title: Part II, L-Z
Volume: 2
Pages: 909-918
Congress: International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (2. 2010. A Coruña)
Type: Conference paper
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to examine the function of Old English affixation in terms of meaningmodification. For this purpose, a corpus has been analysed of 4,084 derived nouns retrieved from thelexical database of Old English Nerthus (www.nerthusproject.com). Extensive data analysis shows thatthere are differences in the semantic function of affixes, which can be related to the change undergone bythe type of derivational morphology of Old English, which shifted from variable bases (stems) toinvariable bases (words). The conclusion is reached that affixes add new meaning when attached toderived nouns whereas some examples have been found of lack of semantic modification when the inputto the morphological process is an underived form