Types of novel compounds in Danish

Abstract

Compounding as the most productive way of word formation in Danish, where an unlimited number of compounds can be formed, presupposes a continuous word formation process meaning creation of both potential and novel compounds, and a native speaker is often unaware that a word they create is beyond the scope of dictionaries. Novel compounds is a term to characterize words formed “occasionally”, within a particular context of speech communication and, as a rule, inconsistent with the language norm, i. e. not in line with conventional ways of word formation in this language. However, this definition can hardly be applied to most novel compounds in Scandinavian languages, in Danish in particular. True, interesting compounds are being created daily in the course of speech communication; many of them to a greater or lesser extent demonstrate deviation from customary rules, but the question is whether they actually contradict the language norm or the effect of novelty arises by some other means and not as the result of the language norm violation. In modern linguistics, the term “novel compound” certainly needs a closer definition not only within a dichotomy “potential compound — novel compound”. Novel compounds are most various as regards structure and formation semantics. That is why it is of prime importance to develop a typology of compounds created with a deviation from conventional word-forming patterns. This article attempts to present most common types of novel compounds. The study material includes publications in Danish mass media and the Danish Corpus. The study of major types of novel compounds in modern Danish suggests that almost all these units have a systemic character while deviation from compounding laws often turns out to be “legitimate” and can be traced to models already existing in the language.