In Lingua e Linguaggio VIII(2), 271-281. Compounding in Portuguese

In this article, Portuguese compounds are analysed according to different criteria, such as (i) the morphological, categorial and semantic properties of their basic units, (iii) the grammatical relations linking the constituents of a compound, (vi) the patterns of inflection and (iv) the syntactic atomicity and the lexical opacity of compounds. The problem of the boundaries of compoundhood, namely those existing between compounds and phrasal nouns, is also addressed, as well as the accuracy of the tests adopted to distinguish compounds (especially phrasal or prepositional compounds) from phrases. We assume that in conjunction with the criteria mentioned above, the referential identity of the entity, object, event or property denoted by the compound is a crucial dimension for the conceptual unitary of each compound lexeme. 1