Abstract
This study aims to explore the effects of frequency on the formation of English personal noun compounds. Under the assumption that personal noun compounds are formed by a process of non-derivational paradigmatic analogy, their well-formedness and productivity is argued to be governed by the relative frequency of lexical items within a network of relationships. From a corpus-based perspective, this paper also discusses some apparent asymmetries of bracketing paradoxes and casts serious doubts on the conventional level-ordering approach to word formation. Considering that grammar is a dynamic system similar to biology and that word forms are emergent through repeated language use in the real world, a corpus-driven approach adopted here can be another step toward capturing a comprehensive and consistent picture of personal noun formations in English.
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