Placing Chinese Morphemes in a Coordinate System: Reflecting on the Scientific Nature of Linguistic Theorization

Abstract

Chinese resultative words offer evidence that derivational morphology is not always a meaningful concept for languages, and that a coordinate system measuring the degrees of shift in semantic content, phonological content and boundness can more accurately handle the facts of word formation and reflect a language’s unique historical heritage. This approach raises issues with the methodology of the Principles-and-Parameters model of language, which is critically examined in the second half of the paper.