English [N[N]] compounds in Russian:Constructional borrowing

Vsevolod KapatsinskiUniversity 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 Vyborg Bar– Кочубей Палас Kochubej Palace– Дворец князя Кочубея 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 Лобби бар• Абхазский двор Джаз холл• Врунгель-бар Рок клуб• Пельмени-бар Аэроклуб• Охотничий клуб Хантер-хаус• Домик Петра Первого Бар 1• Дом кукера СамоБар • Арахис-бар Белый Бар

ResultsSt. Petersburg & Moscow

бар клуб кафе двор дом хаус холл зал трактирN+N 65 39 40 0 0 8 15 0 0other 13 21 23 70 38 0 0 7 11

p=.02

p=.01

p<.000000001 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 МорозаДом 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 Трактир Бар– Adj N N PP [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?