Original scientific paper
On the Semantics of -Ship and -Hood Nouns in the English Language
Siniša Ninčević
; Faculty of Philosophy, Split
Abstract
This paper concerns some lexico-semantic aspects regarding the semantic condition for -ship and -hood suffixations with respect to the type of predicate the nominal base belongs to. It examines the occurrence or non-occurrence of these derivations based on the already established distinction by Aronoff and Cho between stage-level and individual-level predicates. A stage-level predicate applies to temporary states and denotes property of states, thus expressing transient stages as opposed to an individual-level predicate which expresses stable properties of individuals. This paper suggests another possible distinction to shed new light (in view of the type of predicate of the base) on the semantics of -hood and -ship derivations by dividing them into five categories to follow as for the lexical properties of the nominal base that attaches to either -ship or -hood, i.e., as constant predicate, inconstant left predicate, inconstant right predicate, centre predicate, and intermittent predicate in terms of the lexical properties of the nominal base.
Keywords
nominal base; suffixation; lexical properties; predicate
Hrčak ID:
86900
URI
Publication date:
10.9.2012.
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