What we learn from Google n-grams about the formation of new morphological paradigms? The case of Italian N + N verbal-nexus composites

Lecturer:

Jan Radimský (FF JU České Budějovice)​

N + N composites (it. Conferenza.N stampa.N - "press conference") are a recent structural innovation in Romance languages, the diachronic development of which has not yet been mapped in more detail. From the current sources, it can be concluded that the exponential increase in productivity (in the sense of higher type and token frequency) of the N + N composites occurs in Italian and French at the earliest since the 1960s and is significantly contributed to by the emergence of semi-schematic constructions with identical first or a second component, such as it. N + chiave (“N + key”; e.g. parola chiave - “keyword”) (Rainer, 2016: 2714, Radimský, 2020). As far as Italian is concerned, the existing literature does not even mention practically any cases of N + N composites before 1950 (Tolemache, 1945; Micheli, 2020a, 2020b). And yet in this language we find the already established productive formula of verbal-nexus subordination composites (eg it. Trattamento.N rifiuti.N - "waste treatment") - a schematic morphological construction of higher order, which assumes a deverbal head derived from the transitive verbs (trattamento) supplemented by an object argument (rifiuti), and which is unique in the Romance languages ​​in this sense (Rainer, 2016; Baroni, Guevara, Zamparelli, 2009; Radimský, 2018). The aim of the presented empirical diachronic research is to specify the origin and mechanism of formation of this word-forming formula with a theoretical anchor in the paradigm of structural morphology (Booij, 2010; Traugott & Trousdale, 2013) and relational (Jackendoff & Audring, 2020).

For a detailed mapping of the diachronic development of Italian verbal-nexus composites, we tried to use data from Google n-grams (version 2020) and Google books (Radimský, 2022). Analyzes of a sample of more than 1,000 composites (types) so far show that the origin of this formula is probably much older and can be traced in the official language since at least the middle of the 19th century. In the lecture and subsequent discussion, we would like to focus primarily on the technical and methodological aspects of research (see also Hilpert & Gries, 2016).

*** The talk will be delivered in person (MFF UK, Malostranské nám. 25, 4th floor, room S1) and will be streamed via Zoom. For details how to join the Zoom meeting, please write to sevcikova@ufal.mff.cuni.cz ***