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Bracketing Paradoxes and the English Lexicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Andrew Spencer
Andrew Spencer*
Affiliation:
Polytechnic of Central London
*
Speech Therapy Department, C.S.S.D., 64, Eton Avenue, London NW3 3HY, U.K
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Abstract

In so-called ‘Bracketing Paradoxes’, it seems to be necessary to assign two incompatible constituent structures to a single expression. The paper outlines empirical and conceptual difficulties with three main current approaches and discusses in detail the problem of ‘paradoxical’ expressions relating to people, such as transformational grammarian, theoretical linguist, serial composer, and Southern Dane. It is shown that such expressions can be formed productively by means of a process of analogical back-formation defined strictly over existing entries in the permanent lexicon, a novel type of productive word formation process.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , December 1988, pp. 663 - 682
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by Linguistic Society of America

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