Adjective-noun compounds in Maltese : a semantic approach

Abstract

This dissertation sets out to investigate the semantic properties of Maltese A + N compounds. In this respect, it serves as a continuation of Fabri (2009), where a formal account of this group of expressions is put forth. Going through the general literature on compounding, the distinguishing characteristics of this category are isolated, and the rationale of a study that aims at establishing whether the meaning of these compounds is processed compositionally or idiomatically is presented. The empirical study that is then reported is based on a task where participants had to assess the acceptability of sentences containing the relevant compounds versus identical sentences containing only the compound’s adjectival head. The results of the study reveal that Maltese A + N compounds are most likely compositional and thus their meaning is derived from their constituent parts, especially from their adjectival head. Furthermore, the possibility of these compounds having an animacy restriction, as postulated by Fabri (2009) is also explored, which leads to somewhat mixed results. However, in an item by item analysis it turns out that there is some sort of animacy restriction. This however, needs to be researched further. All in all, this study can act as a further stepping stone in the investigation of this neglected area of the Maltese language.