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The Head of the Chinese Adjectives and ABB Reduplication



Author(s)

WANG Zhi-jun

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DOI:10.17265/1539-8080/2014.05.002

University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, USA

This study investigates whether the head of the Chinese adjective compounds is on the left or right or on both sides. Using the ABB type of adjectives as evidence, the author argues that the head of the Chinese adjectives is more likely on the left than on the right. This study supports the Headedness Principle and also calls into question whether a suffix is the head of a word as traditionally assumed in morphology. On the other hand, it also provides evidence that reduplication is a compounding process as Haugen (2008) has claimed since most of the reduplicated constituents of ABB have a specific lexical meaning and many of them can be used as independent words.

adjective, head, compound, ABB reduplication, reanalysis, infix, suffixation, gestalt word