LINGUIST List 15.1346

Thu Apr 29 2004

Qs: Eng Affix Reduplication; Spanish Surnames

Editor for this issue: Naomi Fox <foxlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Andrew McIntyre, reduplication in picker-upper
2. Tom Flynn, -EZ Ending on Spanish Surnames

Dear linguists,

I was wanting to know about accounts of affix reduplication (attested
under www.google.com ) of the type

(1) hanger-on-er, puller-downer, filler-inner, kicker-outer, waker-upper

The literature on English particle verbs (=phrasal verbs,
verb-particle constructions) scarcely mentions these. The only
attempts at explaining it I have seen are:

-Miller, D. Gary, 1993. Complex Verb Formation. Amsterdam/
Philadelphia: Benjamins. (p132ff)

-Sproat, R., 1985. On Deriving the Lexicon. Dissertation,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (p109-112)

-Svenonius, P. 2004. The Zero Level. Ms. Tromsoe
www.hum.uit.no/a/svenonius/paperspage.html

It's not clear that the last word on the subject is said in these
studies, e.g. in view of complications like the following:

-I've heard retriplication once:
(2) the present giver-out-er-er (heard in Australia) 
and it doesn't sound too bad to me (admittedly speaking in the
capacity of a weirdo to whom 'more better-er' sounds better than 'more
better').

-rarer reduplications with prepositional verbs
(3) looker-atter (web-attested)

-reduplication of plural morphology 
(4) the debris pickers-uppers (web-attested)
(see also Martin Haspelmath's remarks at
www.linguistlist.org/issues/3/3-541.html )

-different suffix:
(5) picker-up-ee ('one who is picked up', Miller 1993:133)

Please reply to mcintyrerz.uni-leipzig.de if you have
-relevant literature references I have missed
-attestations (even just p.c.-anecdotal) of relevant data,
particularly the rarer types like (2) and (5), and any reduplications
not involving -er. I would be particularly interested to see whether
people can find nominalisations (with or without reduplication) of
constructions other than particle verbs and prepositional verbs. I
don't expect to find that constructions like AP resultatives, which
nobody analyses in terms of overt incorporation or reanalysis, should
be able to input these constructions: *'a knocker-dead-er' seems
unthinkable to me, but perhaps it's bad for extraneous reasons and
people can come up with or attest analogous cases that are good. 

Kind regards, 
Andrew 

Dr. Andrew McIntyre
www.uni-leipzig.de/~angling/mcintyre

I'm curious about a pattern I see in the ending of Spanish
surnames. Alvarez, Baez, Chavez, Dominguez, Estevez, Fernandez, and
many others end in -ez. What is the significance of the -ez ending?

First guess is that it is merely a standardized variation from some
originally Latin ending. Second guess is that it is roughly equivalent
to Mac or O' in Celtic languages. Third guess is that it indicates
Arabic origin (or some other regional origin).

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Tom Flynn 

Subject-Language: Spanish; Code: SPN