The salience of local schemas in a productive word-formation process

Abstract

Abstract Word-formation rules of a generative type are insufficient to describe a mechanism which appears to be productive, on the one hand, but is also irregular in its productivity, on the other. Cognitive morphological accounts have stressed the importance of a wide range of more and less detailed schemas (rather than rules), sanctioning different kinds of novel formations. This article addresses the issue of morphological productivity in the context of the formation of abstract deverbal action nouns, also known as Nomina Actionis, with names of political states as derivational bases. The very number and variety of relevant lexicalized nominalizations as well as hapax legomena is impressive, which makes the phenomenon look productive. The data obtained from COCA and specialist literature show interesting tendencies and gaps in the system. Numerous nominalizations are motivated semantically and pragmatically and are sanctioned by local schemas.