Knowledge base · Part VI — Word Classes and Nominal Morphology · this topic as a network

39. Noun–Noun Compounding: Headedness, Linking, and Semantics

How does Hokkaido Ainu form noun-noun compounds, and what are their headedness, linking, and semantic patterns?

The noun cikoykip 'beast' is analyzed as consisting of the prefix ci- ('people'), the verb koyki ('catch/kill'), and the nominalizer -p ('thing'). (Satō 2008)

Overview

How are compound nouns formed by combining two or more roots in Hokkaido Ainu?

One noun can modify another noun directly without an intervening attributive postposition. (Refsing 1986: 161) The forms for 'lip' are compounds consisting of the mouth stems ca- or pa- combined with either pus 'head (of grain, etc.)' or toy 'land, field', resulting in four forms: capus (caapus in Sakhalin), papus, patoy, and catoy (chātoi on Shumshu Island). (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.5) Nouns can be formed by compounding two nouns, as in ní-tay 'forest' and ape-sam 'hearth-side'. (Satō 2008: 265) The compound noun kamuykotan 'difficult place (for travel)' is analyzed as composed of kamuy 'god' and kotan 'village'. (Satō 2008) Ainu ni-pu 'wooden storehouse' is a compound of ni 'tree, wood' and pu 'storehouse', used for keeping driftwood or dry salmon, and occurs as a place name in Bihoro. (reported in Vovin 2022: 6.5)

Diagnostics: compound vs syntactic noun phrase

What diagnostics distinguish a compound noun from a syntactic noun phrase in Hokkaido Ainu?

Compound nounhood in Ainu is diagnosed by four criteria: personal affix placement, affiliative suffix placement, lexicalization, and the concept-concept configuration. (Nakagawa 2024: 264) Formations with the diminutive suffix -po expressing smallness or affection are excluded from compound nouns. (Nakagawa 2024: 268) In the Saru and Chitose dialects, okkay-po 'young man' contains the diminutive suffix -po, contrasting with okkayo-po 'son' containing the noun po 'child'. (Nakagawa 2024: 268) In many dialects, okkay is used independently for 'man', and okkaypo refers polysemously to both 'young man' and 'son'. (Nakagawa 2024: 268) Verbs appearing in compound nouns in principle do not undergo personal inflection, whereas verbs appearing in relative clauses must obligatorily undergo personal inflection. (Satō 2008: 268)

Person-affix position

How does the position of possessive personal affixes differ between compounds and syntactic phrases?

When a personal prefix attaches to the initial element of a modifier-head combination rather than the head noun, the sequence is diagnosed as a compound noun. (Nakagawa 2024: 265)

Affiliative-suffix position

How does the affiliative suffix position indicate whether a sequence is a compound or a phrase?

When a compound noun is possessed, only the following (head) element takes the affiliative form. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Because the affiliative suffix attaches only to the absolute end of a word, its attachment to the final element diagnoses a compound noun rather than a phrase. (Nakagawa 2024: 265)

Lexicalization and non-compositional meaning

How does non-compositional meaning serve as a diagnostic for compound status?

wakkakukuttar is a compound noun rather than a noun phrase composed of a relative clause and a noun, because grammatical particles like ani are omitted and lexicalization has occurred. (Nakagawa 2024: 269)

The concept-form rule

What is the concept-form rule for identifying compounds in Hokkaido Ainu?

Nouns appearing in compound words take the concept (abstract) form because they express abstract concepts. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The preceding modifier element in a noun-noun compound generally takes the concept (abstract) form. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Any sequence of two common nouns in the concept form can formally be analyzed as a compound noun. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 266) A sequence of two concept-form nouns forms a single compound noun, whereas a concept-form noun followed by an affiliative-form noun constitutes a syntactic noun phrase. (Nakagawa 2024: 381) In a concept-plus-affiliative construction the possessor noun phrase can be extracted to head a relative clause, whereas in a concept-plus-concept compound the initial noun cannot be extracted. (Nakagawa 2024: 381) In concept-plus-concept noun sequences, the relation is not limited to possessor-possessed, but generally involves the first noun indicating an attribute of the second. (Nakagawa 2024: 381) In Karafuto Ainu, the conceptual form of ordinary nouns is used in noun compounding and in noun incorporation. (Tangiku 2022: 9.4)

Headedness, morphological linking, and accent

Are Hokkaido Ainu compound nouns head-final, and how is headedness reflected morphologically?

In noun-noun compounds, there are no coordinate or appositive relationships; all noun compounds are modifier-head structures in which the preceding element modifies the following element. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936)

Formation types

What are the six formation types of compound nouns based on root valency?

Compound noun formation in Ainu can be reduced either to the noun-plus-noun pattern or to bringing the total arity of a verbal constituent to +1 and converting it into a noun. (Nakagawa 2024: 272) In compound nouns of noun plus one-place verb, the verb converts to a noun, yielding a noun-plus-noun structure without subject-predicate or object-predicate relations. (Nakagawa 2024: 270) In compound expressions of noun plus intransitive verb or adjective where the noun is the subject, the noun generally takes the concrete (affiliative) form. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Ainu, compound nouns of the type 'object + transitive verb + noun' are common, whereas 'subject + transitive verb + noun' compounds do not occur. (Bugaeva 2022: 20.6) One-place verbs (intransitive verbs) can convert to nouns, and therefore a combination of a one-place verb plus a noun can be treated in the same way as noun plus noun, without requiring a grammatical relationship like predicate and subject between them. (Nakagawa 2024: 268) Even if the modifier contains a verb of two or more arguments, as long as the entire initial element has an arity of +1, it can modify a following noun to form a compound noun. (Nakagawa 2024: 269) Compounds formed from a noun (concept form) plus a one-place verb generally have verbal properties as well. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 271) Compound nouns of the one-place verb plus one-place verb type are formed by converting both elements into nouns to yield a noun-plus-noun structure. (Nakagawa 2024: 271) Nouns formed by combining a noun and a verb (e.g., sapa-kay 'dried salmon with head removed') are rare in Ainu. (Satō 2008: 266) In compound nouns of the verb-plus-noun type, as in relative clauses, the number of arguments a verb can take and the number of arguments that actually appear must in principle match. (reported in Satō 2008: 267) Compound nouns in Ainu can employ a 'pseudo-modifying structure' in which an intransitive verb functioning as a nominal modifies a noun that is not semantically its subject (e.g., pe-ta-ru 'pier for drawing water'). (reported in Satō 2008: 267)

Type ⑤: affiliative modifier

How does the affiliative modifier type (type ⑤) create a relative-clause reading in compounds?

In compound nouns of affiliative noun plus one-place verb, the noun acts as an arity 0 subject, yielding an incorporated arity +1 verb that undergoes nominal conversion. (Nakagawa 2024: 271) The descriptive term rep-ún-kur 'Sea People, Offshore People' was used by the Ainu for the Okhotsk people and is formed on rep 'offshore'. (Janhunen 2022: 2.3)

Type ⑥: incorporated transitive object

How does type ⑥ incorporate a transitive object into a compound noun?

In compound nouns formed from a noun (concept form) plus a two-place verb, the verb incorporates the preceding noun to become a one-place verb, which is then converted into a noun. (Nakagawa 2024: 272)

Semantic patterns

What semantic patterns characterize modifier-head relationships in Hokkaido Ainu compounds?

In a noun-plus-noun compound, the first noun qualifies the nature or scope of the second noun under very loose semantic constraints. (Nakagawa 2024: 267)

Attributive-restrictive compounds

How do attributive-restrictive compounds specify material, origin, or property?

In the Asahikawa dialect, telegrams are called tunas-kampi, literally 'fast letters'. (Ōno 2022: 12.8) Attributive verbs (adjectives) can be incorporated into head nouns within noun phrases, and an attributive verb may also be incorporated into another attributive verb. (Shibatani 1990: 16)

Qualitative-possessive compounds: the N-kor-kur type

What is the N-kor-kur possessive compound pattern and what does it name?

Coordinate and exocentric compounds

Why are coordinate and exocentric compounds marginal in Hokkaido Ainu?

In compound nouns like tureptani, ikupasuy, or ipepasuy, unlike relative clause constructions, no grammatical element indicating the instrumental relationship to the head noun is required. (Nakagawa 2024: 507) The word sinotca is morphologically analyzable as sinot ('play, amusement') plus sa ('melody'). (Nakagawa 2024: 576)

The compound–phrase boundary

What orthographic and grammatical consequences follow from the compound–phrase distinction?

Certain adnominal expressions that can also appear as independent nouns are analyzed as nouns modifying other nouns. (proposed in Refsing 1986)