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From engl-isc to whatever-ish: a corpus-based investigation of -ish derivation in the history of English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2020

MATTHIAS EITELMANN ,
KARI E. HAUGLAND  and
DAGMAR HAUMANN
MATTHIAS EITELMANN
Affiliation:
Department of English and Linguistics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Jakob-Welder-Weg 18 55128MainzGermanyeitelman@uni-mainz.de
KARI E. HAUGLAND
Affiliation:
Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen Sydnesplassen 7 5007BergenNorwaykari.haugland@uib.mo
DAGMAR HAUMANN
Affiliation:
Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen Sydnesplassen 7 5007BergenNorwaydagmar.haumann@uib.no
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Abstract

Drawing on a wide array of historical and contemporary corpora, this article provides one of the first empirical analyses of the intricately related functional changes that -ish underwent in the course of English language history. By investigating the distribution of -ish formations, the analysis sheds light on the productivity of the suffix, which does not only become evident in the numerous hapax legomena, but also in the trajectory of change itself in which -ish occurs with ever new base categories and new functions. Moreover, the article revisits theoretical claims made in the literature about the diachronic development and synchronic properties of -ish and reassesses them in the light of the corpus-based observations.

Keywords

morphologyderivationproductivitydiachronycorpus-based
Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 801 - 831
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

We thank the anonymous reviewers for valuable feedback.

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