From analogues to new words and constructs through paronymy, local analogy and schematas

The paper explores analogy and schemes in new complex words primarily used as clever attention seeking devices, for language play, ludic and humorous effects (Cook 2000), naming purposes and, importantly, hypostatization (Lipka, 2000; Hohenhaus, 2007). Particularly, we shall carry out qualitative analysis of multimorphemic words (nouns and names) that exemplify rule-based, grammatical compounding, extragrammatical compounding (blending) and (pseudo-)derivation (also non-words). Examples are mainly gathered from http://www.WordSpy.com (2011-2014), humorous TV series (e.g. The Muppet Show, Series 1-3) and (nonsensical) children literature (e.g. Roald Dahl, 1982/2013, The BFG, or Roger McGough’s collections of nonsense children poetry) to discuss analogy-based and schema-based word-formation processes within Booij’s (2010) Constructional Morphology framework. Although positing a continuum from local analogy to schematization (instantiation, expansion, elaboration of schemes) in new word formations is problematic because it leads to defining categories with fuzzy borders and a grey area whose size and features are not clearly defined, local analogy and schematization will enable us to take a look at features of new words at the phonological, morphotactic and semantic level, in line with Booij’s (2010) conceptualization of words as constructs that unify phonological, syntactic and semantic structures. Broadly working within Natural Morphology (Dressler 1987), morphotactic and morphosematic transparency/opaqueness will provide criteria for exploring the degree of similarity to the source word(s) of new formations. This shall enable us to put forth three non-discrete categories and underlying word formation techniques: paronyms and paronymy, analogical composite structures and morphotactic analogy and, third, schemes and schematization.