The Boundaries of Word Formation

Abstract

Having established that it is worth making word formation into a separate component, the question is what exactly enters into this component. As opposed to lexical entries, word formation rules specify the input and the output. Each of the three representations of PA can independently be changed or not. Only when the conceptual structure is changed, does a process qualify as a possible word formation rule. This excludes pure transposition (change of syntactic category without change of meaning), but includes regular processes that change the meaning without changing the form. This means that the formation of process nouns is not word formation, but the formation of the corresponding result nouns is. Compounding is distinguished from syntax on similar criteria.