LINGUIST List 15.1346

Thu Apr 29 2004

Qs: Eng Affix Reduplication; Spanish Surnames

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  • Andrew McIntyre, reduplication in picker-upper
  • Tom Flynn, -EZ Ending on Spanish Surnames

    Message 1: reduplication in picker-upper

     Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 17:25:53 +0200
    From: Andrew McIntyre <ajmciweb.de>
    Subject: reduplication in picker-upper


    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

    Message 2: -EZ Ending on Spanish Surnames

     Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 12:21:13 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Tom Flynn <tflynnstlcc.edu>
    Subject: -EZ Ending on Spanish Surnames


    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