Grammatikseminarium 27 november: Irene Lami om ”Different perspectives on Italian compounds - kappa”

This thesis investigates Italian compounding from multiple perspectives. To provide an overview of the phenomenon, the kappa examines the main approaches to word formation and the criteria used to define both wordhood and compoundhood (phonological, semantic, morphosyntactic and categorial), crosslinguistically and in Italian. The analysis shows that no existing definition of ‘word’ or ‘compound’ fully accounts for the variability observed not only at a universal level, but even within Italian itself. The concepts of head, exocentricity and compound classification are also explored, as well as the liminal position of compounds between derivation and syntax. Through five studies (ranging from acquisitional perspectives and acceptability judgements to cross-linguistic comparison and gender agreement phenomena), the thesis adopts a comprehensive approach integrating morphological, syntactic, sociolinguistic and pedagogical dimensions.