COMPENSACION CAPACITIVA EN DERIVACIÓN

So far, we have viewed only the formal aspects of the studied phrases and neglected to account for meaning. However, the development of complex function words is heavily dependent on their semantics. The body part related phrases that are studied here currently allow several interpretations. They may be interpreted as freely combined units (i.e. the simple structure) and complex units (i.e. the complex structure). Additionally, the data includes examples where the body part related phrase bares characteristics of both structures. Such usages are referred to as hybrid forms34_{. In the following, these structures will}

be characterized more thoroughly.

The simple structures (or freely combined phrases) consist of a body part noun and a simple postposition (52) or an object part noun and a simple post- position (53). The rare cases where the phrase is used in a figurative sense but is not lexicalized (54) are also considered to belong to the simple structure.

(52) Abikaasa-ø selja-ø taha astu-nud Eva

husband-GEN back-GEN behind.LAT step-PST.PTCP Eva

põimi-b käe-d ümber mehe-ø kaela-ø.

entwine-3SG hand-PL around man-GEN neck-GEN

‘Eva, having stepped behind her husband’s back, entwines her hands around her man’s neck.’ [www.naisteleht.ee]

34 _{The term is used as in De Smedt (2012: 141), where it refers to linguistic forms that have} characteristics of two underlying structures.

(53) Turumaja-Ø selja-ø taga pingi peal

market house-GEN back-GEN behind-LOC bench-GEN on-LOC

tuulavad Leida ja Silvi paluka-i-d.

winnow-3PL Leida and Silvi cowberry-PL-PRT Lit. Behind the back of the market building on a bench, Leida and Silvi are rummaging lingonberries.

‘Behind the market building on a bench, Leida and Silvi are rummaging ligon- berries.’ [www.vorumaateataja.ee]

(54) Ta reisi-b ja uuri-b ning püüa-b leid-a

s/he travel-3SG and study-3SG and try-3SG find-INF

vastuse-i-d väga erisugus-te-le küsimus-te-le – kuidas

answer-PL-PRT very different-PL-ALL question-PL-ALL how

toimi-b armastus, kuidas kiiga-ta elu-Ø seljataha,

work-3SG love how glance-INF life-GENback. behind.LAT

kuidas ava-da us-t igavikku-Ø?

how open-INF door-PRT eternity-ILL Lit. S/he travels and explores and tries to answer various questions like – how does love work, how to peek behind the back of life, how to open the door to eternity?

‘S/he travels and explores and tries to answer various questions like – how does love work, how to peek into the afterlife, how to open the door to eternity?’ [www.saaremaa.ee]

It was discussed in section 2.5.1 that in order to be able to become a complex item, a postpositional phrase must develop a new meaning – one that is not directly derivable from the meaning of its components. Thus, the complex structures (or complex units) include all the usages where the body part related phrase is lexicalized. The same criterion is traditionally applied when determining the complex adverbs in the Estonian language (see section 2.2). The complex units may be realized as complex postpositions (55) or as complex adverbs (56) (see also section 4.4). As complex units, the body part related phrases usually carry more abstract meanings than as freely combined units (compare examples (52) and (55)), whereas there is not necessarily such a difference between the complex adverbs and complex postpositions (c.f. (55) and (56)).

(55) Eriti hea on puge-da Friedmani-ø selja-ø

Especially good be.3SG creep-INF Friedman-GEN back-GEN

taha, et näe-ø tema ka sa-i.[www.epl.ee]

behind.LAT that look-IMP s/he also get-PST.3SG Lit. It would be especially nice to creep behind Friedman’s back – hey, he got some too.

‘It would be especially nice to hide behind Friedman because – hey, he got some too.’

(56) se-da ma küll hea-ks ei kiida-ø ja

this-PRT I indeed good-TRL NEG approve-CONNEG and

teise-ks autor sa ole-ks pida-nud oma-ø

second-TRL author you be-COND have-PST.PTCP own-GEN

mehe-ga selle-st rääki-ma, ja kui ei kõlba-ø

man-COM this-ELA talk-SUP and if NEG befit-CONNEG

jäta maha-ø ja võta-ø uus aga mitte et, hakka-d

dump-IMP and take-IMP new but not that begin-2SG

niimodi seljataga ...

like that back.behind.LOC

‘I do not approve of this and secondly, the author, you should have talked to your husband about this and if he isn’t good enough, dump him and get a new one but not do things behind backs.’ [naistekas.delfi.ee]

It should be noted that lexicalization is the most important criterion when deciding between the simple and the complex structure. That is, the status of the complex item is primarily determined by its ability to express a holistic abstract meaning. Thus, as much as it is possible, the parameters of grammaticalization, e.g. those that are considered to indicate actualization of reanalysis (see sections 2.5.3.2 and 4.3) were not considered here.

The hybrid forms include such instances as where the body part related phrases have characteristics of both – the simple and the complex structure. For instance, in (57) the body part phrase carries exactly the same lexicalized meaning as in example (55), but the fact that there is an adjectival modifier (lai ‘broad’) between the LM (tema ‘s/he’) and the phrase, precludes its analysis as a complex unit (see section 2.5.3.3.). Thus, structurally, it behaves as a regular simplex postposition complemented by a noun phrase, which consists of the head noun and an adjectival modifier.

(57) Siis peida-Ø en-d tema-Ø laia-Ø selja-Ø

then conceal-IMP you-PRT s/he-GEN wide-GEN back-GEN

taha ja sõima Mihkelsoni-Ø edasi.

behind.LAT and abuse-IMP MIhkelson-PRT on ‘Then hide yourself behind his broad back and keep on calling Mihkelson names.’ [www.epl.ee]

In the following, we will observe the distribution of these structures among the studied phrases. Figure 4 depicts the distributions of the simple and complex structure as well as the hybrid forms.

It can be observed in Figure 4 that each of the studied phrases occurs in all three structures. The data suggest that in most cases the complex units were greater in number. It can be observed that käe kõrval (hand+beside), käe all (hand+under), and külje all (side+under) are used as complex units in 99% (771 examples out of 780), 92% (4054 examples out of 4401) and 86% (2530 examples out of 2957) respectively. However, two phrases are slightly more frequent as freely combined units. Jalge all (feet+under) and kaela peal (neck+on) occur as complex units in 45% (867 examples out of 1918) and 40% (87 examples out of 216) cases respectively. It is quite expected that as kaela peal (neck+on) as a less frequent phrase is also used less often as a complex unit because grammaticalization is usually associated with higher frequency (e.g. Hopper, Traugott (2003) [1993], Bybee 2010, 2007, 2003; Hoffmann 2005; Krug 2000). However, käe kõrval (hand+beside), which is also a less frequent item in this dataset, occurs as a complex unit in over 99% of the examples. Moreover, the most frequent of the studied phrases, selja taga (back+behind), occurs as a complex unit on 4983 occasions (54%). Thus, it seems that within the group of the studied phrases, there is no clear correlation between frequency and use as a complex unit.

However, perhaps, no clear correlation between high frequency and unit interpretation might have been expected for several reasons. First, that the development of complex function words observed here is an instance of gram- maticalization still in its very early stages. If high frequency is taken to be the result of grammaticalization, it is perhaps too early to expect a straightforward correlation at this point already. Second, it must be noted that the frequency of the phrases and the frequency of their use as a freely combined phrases and complex units is probably also dependent on each individual phrase and its Figure 4. The distribution of the simple structures, the complex structures, and the

hybrid forms among the studied phrases

Selja taga (back+behind) Käe all (hand+under) Külje all (side+under) Jalge all (feet+under) Käe kõrval (hand+beside) Kaela peal (neck+on) Free 4973 268 419 1050 7 128 Unit 5966 4054 2530 867 771 87 Hybrid 19 79 8 1 2 1 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

meanings. For instance, it can be assumed that the large proportion of usages as complex units amongst the phrases käe all (hand+under) and käe kõrval (hand+beside) are due to the fact that the contexts where these phrases may occur as free units are rather restricted, i.e. there are not so many entities that are described with a reference to one’s hand. In contrast, the region to which

selja taga (back+behind) refers is clearly much wider which may facilitate more

frequent use of the phrase.

The data suggest that hybrid forms are generally infrequent – they form a larger group only among the data of käe all (hand+under), where they make up 2% (79 examples out of 4401) of the data. It seems that the frequency of such usages is also dependent on the semantics of the phrase. For instance, the body part term käsi ‘hand’ is frequently used with adjectival modifiers (abistav käsi ‘helping hand’, kuldsed käed lit. golden hands ‘handy’, hoolas käsi ‘diligent hand’) some of which also co-occur with postpositional phrases, e.g. hoolsa käe

all (lit. under one’s diligent hand).