6 - Combinability and the correspondence between form and meaning

Summary

In previous chapters I have begun to develop a framework of representation that allows us to describe affixal semantics, to see the relationship between the semantics of derivation and that of the simplex lexicon, and to address questions of affixal polysemy, zero-affixation, and the existence of multiple synonymous affixes. For the most part, we have looked at the meanings of individual affixes, or at clusters of affixes which share the same meaning. What we have not looked at so far, except in passing, is what happens when we derive complex words by a process of successive affixation.

We have a number of separate issues to consider. One prominent question concerns restrictions on stacking up derivational affixes, specifically, semantic restrictions on affixation. To what extent is the attachment of a particular affix dependent on the semantic characteristics of its base? In the course of previous chapters we have mentioned a few such restrictions, and we will revisit them more fully below. Another problem is that of adding up the meanings of successive affixes: assuming that affixes are added to bases (simplex and complex) subject to their semantic restrictions (not to mention phonological and morphological restrictions), can they attach freely and meaningfully? To what extent is the semantics of successive affixation compositional and additive? How do we compute the meanings of words with multiple affixes? Is redundancy allowed? In other words, is there any reason to believe that multiple affixes with the same meaning should not be allowed to attach in the same word?