The purpose of this study is to provide a descriptive analysis of a [N N]N type of nominal compounds in Middle English (ME). Unlike the majority of prior research of ME compounds (Burnley 1992, 2000; Yonekura 1997; Millward and Hayes 2012; Sylvester 2017), where some representative morphological types and semantic patterns are introduced in brief, or the compounds occurring only in certain ME literature are dealt with, the current study mainly focuses on providing an in-depth analysis and description of various morphological and semantic patterns of the [N N]N nominal compounds in ME. The data dealt with in this article is 179 types of ME [N N]N compounds, which are subdivided into three groups, ‘Gr1 Native’, ‘Gr2 Borrowed’, and ‘Gr3 Newly Formed’, according to the way that they are originated, borrowed, and coined. The main res ults of this article are as follows : i) Type frequency: Gr3 has the larges t number of types (88 types ), Gr1 ranks s econd (64 types ), and Gr2 has the fewes t number of types (27 types); ii) Morphological and semantic features: Gr1 and Gr3 show morphological reanalysis, and all the three groups have both endo- and exocentric compounds but the latter is found very few; iii) Token Frequency: hapax legomena appear most often in ‘Gr3 Newly Formed’, which reveals that in ME, a [N N]N type of nominal compounds were productively formed with both the native and foreign resources in the ME lexicon.
1. Introduction
2. Previous Studies
3. A Descriptive Analysis of a [N N]N Type of Nominal Compounds in Middle English : Native, Borrowed, and Newly Formed
4. Conclusion
References