Semantic packaging in verb­based compounds in English and Bulgarian
Semantic packaging in verb­based compounds in English and Bulgarian

Summary/Abstract: The article contrasts the word­formation types of (para)synthetic compound nouns and compound verbs in two genetically distantly related but typologically distinct languages Bulgarian and English. While the nature of synthetic compound nouns in both languages is comparable, compound verbs show greater contrasts in terms of types, restrictions and preferences for intra­compound relations and semantic diversity. An explanation is sought in terms of the influence of word­relevant syntactic properties on word­formation phenomena in the two languages. An additional powerful factor is the ubiquity of conversion or syntactic promiscuity in English. A hypothesis is formulated that in Bulgarian the iconicity of word­formation processes and products associated with the biuniqueness of the sign as understood by Natural Morphology accounts for restrictions on the absolute reign of word­formation paradigms in Bulgarian, where the distinction between inflectional morphology and word­formation is more sharply delineated. The typological character of the two languages is ultimately taken into account as a factor which determines the preferences for compounds in English and the prevalence of affixal derivation in Bulgarian

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