Word Formation as a Naming Device - Softcover

Ten Hacken, Pius; Panocová, Renáta

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474487025 ISBN 13: 9781474487023

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2025

Synopsis

Ten Hacken and Panocová present a systematic overview of how different current morphological theories account for the naming function of word formation.

Naming is an essential preliminary step for the effective use of language. In most linguistic theories, word formation is covered as a part of morphology. However, morphological theories, especially those in generative linguistics, tend to focus on the form and structure of words, rather than on their naming function. As a result, it is often not made explicit how naming is accounted for.In this book, the authors cover new ground in describing and comparing theories from this perspective. They highlight the relevance of the naming perspective in both generative and functionalist approaches and in doing so challenge the way morphological theories are received and developed. The authors develop a framework for identifying which aspects of naming have been or can be covered in each theory and evaluate the success of the resulting account. The results of this comparison can be used for the selection of theories in research and teaching.

About this title

About the Authors

Pius ten Hacken is a Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Innsbruck. His research focuses on word formation, terminology and the mental lexicon. His latest monograph is Word Formation in Parallel Architecture (2019). Together with Maria Koliopoulou, he was guest editor for a special issue on New Words and Linguistic Purism of the International Journal of Lexicography (2020). His latest edited volume, co-edited with Renáta Panocová, is The Interaction of Borrowing and Word Formation (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

Renáta Panocová is a Professor of Linguistics at the Department of British and American Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. Her research focuses on word formation, language for special purposes and intercultural communication. Her latest monographs are The Vocabulary of Medical English: A Corpus-Based Study (2017) and Categories of Word Formation and Borrowing: An onomasiological account of neoclassical formations (2015). Together with Pius ten Hacken she edited The Interaction of Borrowing and Word Formation (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474487025
• ISBN 13: 9781474487023
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312