LINGUIST List 22.2807 Fri Jul 08 2011 Qs: Are there any languages without compound words? Editor for this issue: Brent Woo <bwoolinguistlist.org> New! Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:             http://multitree.linguistlist.org/ We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate. In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have taken the trouble to respond to the query. To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Emiliano Guevara , Are there any languages without compound words? Message 1: Are there any languages without compound words? Date: 07-Jul-2011 From: Emiliano Guevara <emiguevaragmail.com> Subject: Are there any languages without compound words? E-mail this message to a friend Dear Linguist List, My question is a very simple one, though I still have not been able to find a clear answer to it. Are there any languages without compound words or without any productive compounding processes? A bit of background on the problem: research in typology and linguistic universals has dedicated little if any attention to compounding. It seems that the commonplace is to assume that compounding is really pervasive in the world's languages, although a great deal of variation in preferred structural types and relative productivity. The extent of this variation is enormous, as I have been able to prove in previous exploratory research (Guevara and Scalise 2009, URL: http://books.google.com/books? id=c8E1gVrnQZkC&lpg=PR13&ots=TAYppZLQ1O&dq=SEARCHING%2 0FOR%20UNIVERSALS%20IN%20COMPOUNDING&lr&pg=PA101#v= onepage&q&f=false). One interesting quote by Greenberg might still subsume what we know today: There are a considerable number of languages without inflections, perhaps none without compounding and derivation. (J. Greenberg 1963: 92) Thank you very much in advance, E.G. University of Oslo Linguistic Field(s): Morphology                             Typology Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 08-Jul-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.