Cycnos | Numéros | Volume 23.1 - Le Qualitatif

Résumé :

The idea of this article stems from a simple observation: in compound nouns following the Noun + Noun pattern, the first noun is generally in the singular form, in other words, without any plural inflection. Yet there are numerous counter-examples (the so-called “plural attributives”;), and it is the duty of the linguist to try and explain why such compounds are nevertheless generated. This is what this article is aimed at. To achieve this goal, it will take the various branches of linguistics into account: morphology, syntax, phonology, semantics, but also the frequency of occurrence and the utterer-centered dimension peculiar to each discursive production of compound nouns.

Date de publication : 2006-03-28