[N[N]] - University of Oregon

English [N[N]] compounds in Russian:
Constructional borrowing
Vsevolod Kapatsinski
University of Oregon
Department of Linguistics
Part of a collaborative project on [N[N]] with Cynthia Vakareliyska
Issues in constructional borrowing
• How abstract are borrowed constructions?
– Fully schematic: [N[N]]
• Can compound two nouns, head is on the left
– Partially lexically specific (Langacker 1987, Goldberg 1995, 2003)
• [N [N]] available only for certain nouns
• If so, what triggers the availability of a structure? The head or the modifier or
either?
• Are some languages more predisposed to borrow a construction?
– [N [N]] is being borrowed into several Slavic languages (Bulgarian,
Polish, Slovene, Russian) but appear to not be productively used in
Baltic languages (Cynthia Vakareliyska). Why?
– Friends and/or foes in the constructicon? (related constructions
already in the language)
English [N [N]] compounds
• [N [N]] compounding is productive in English
with a wide variety of relations
• Constructional interpretation of compounding
supported by the possibility of long-term
priming of compound relations (Gagné &
colleagues)
– Cat people, cat food, cat pack
English [N [N]] compounds in Slavic
• From my Russian corpus:
– Выборг Бар
– Кочубей Палас
– Дворец князя Кочубея
Vyborg Bar
Kochubej Palace
Dvorec knjaz’-Gen Kochubej-Gen
• Why constructional borrowing?
– Partial lexical specificity:
• A given head noun can appear with a wide variety of modifier nouns,
even Russian ones, which are nonetheless left uninflected
• Some modifiers also appear to co-occur with a much wider variety of
heads, e.g., арт-чайхана, арт-крыша
The corpus
•
•
•
Restaurant/bar/café names from allcafe.info
Mostly St. Petersburg (N=6710) and Moscow (N=5152)
Variable context:
– [N[N]] or [[N] PP] or [[[N]A] N]]
– The head noun must be a kind of building/place
•
–
–
–
–
Restaurant, bar, club, cafe, palace, hall, garden, yard
The head noun is part of the name (is in quotes)
The whole [N[N]] could not have been borrowed
The whole Adj N is not a placename
The first part is not a possible clipped adjective or prefix
•
Seks, aero, super
– Neither part is a number
– The [N [N]] is not based on word play
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Азия Кафе
Абхазский двор
Врунгель-бар
Пельмени-бар
Охотничий клуб
Домик Петра Первого
Дом кукера
Арахис-бар
Лобби бар
Джаз холл
Рок клуб
Аэроклуб
Хантер-хаус
Бар 1
СамоБар
Белый Бар
Results
St. Petersburg & Moscow
бар
N+N 65
other 13
клуб
39
21
p=.02
p=.01
кафе двор дом
40
0
0
23
70
38
хаус
8
0
p<.000000001
холл зал трактир
15 0
0
0
7
11
p<.00001
p<.0000000000000001
Even if the modifier for a Russian head noun is foreign, [N[N]] is outlawed
but [N[N]] is allowed even with Russian modifiers when the head noun is foreign
?Джаз двор, Джаз дом, Рок зал
*Кукер дом
*Хауз Деда Мороза
Дом кукера
Дед Мороз Хауз
What is borrowed?
• [N [бар]]
• [N [клуб]]
• [N [кафе]]
(cf. DuGruöz and Backus 2007, 2009)
• Note: the head nouns themselves have long existed in
Russian; it is the association with [N [N]] that is recent
• Influx of borrowed [N [N]] names?
• Associations with foreign as opposed to Soviet clubs and
café’s?
– Signs used to just say “café”, today’s clubs are not the same kind
of entity as Soviet clubs
[N[N]] and impression consistency
• A name of a restaurant must convey a certain
impression
• Homey/old-fashioned vs. urban/cosmopolitan
– Дворик
– Adj N
Трактир
N PP
Бар
[N[N]]
• Mixing the construction and head noun does
not achieve a consistent impression
Precursor constructions in Slavic
• Clipped adjectives
– Горсовет, Военторг, Госзаказ, авторучка
– Cf. Авторадиоклуб
• [[N]-Gen] with null genitives
– Чашка кофе
– Cf. the wordplay name Часть суши
• [[N] N] Сompounds (esp. with null Nom. Sg. Inflection on the head)
– Диван-кровать, ковер-самолет
• The native [N [N]]’s (restricted to some modifiers)
– `чудо-N, Жарптица, бой-баба, cf. Чудо бар
• Did these open the gates to this English invader?
Future work
• Do the same head nouns favor [N[N]] across Slavic?
• What is the role of the modifier vs. the head?
– Some modifiers appear with a much wider variety of heads than others, e.g.,
art, rock, and may be developing into prefixes like super or sverx but head
identity is important as well
– It appears either the head or the modifier needs to be one that is known to
license [N[N]]
– Ability to licence [N[N]] may be determined by appearance in compounds that
are borrowed wholesale from English
– However, head identity seems more important (unlike for the native
construction with zhar and chudo): some head nouns seem to require [N[N]]
(e.g., hall appears with it 15/15 times). Some appear to outlaw it. This does
not seem to happen with modifiers.
• How do listeners judge these constructions? Are they perceived as having
a flavor of foreignness or are they perceived as fully Russian?
• Other languages, [N[N]] in other domains. Any corpora you would
recommend?