``How many words are there in English?'' This frequently asked question is easy to answer -- an infinite number! How about these? -
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.''
Or ``e-commerce'', ``mapuko'', ...
This answer is of course not a conventional one, and might seem puzzling. It all depends on the meaning of are. Does the question mean `words which exist in dictionaries (or in our heads)' or `words which one potentially knows even if one has not yet come across them'? In the latter meaning, the answer ``an infinite number'' is certainly correct -- new words are invented all the time, and there is in principle no limit to their number. There is a simple recipe: to make a word, take any word and string it together with any other.
In the seminar we will be taking a look at word formation from two complementary points of view. First we will examine text corpora and make a sizeable collection of words of different shapes and sizes, and classify these in terms of their structure and the way in which their meanings are composed. Second, we will be looking at contemporary lingusitic analyses of this aspect of morphology and lexicology, in order to see how word formation fits in with the rest of the world of language. Third, we will engage in a practical project to make a model dictionary which takes word formation into account and includes mechanisms for constructing new words, using modern dictionary designing software (no previous knowledge of this required).
Candidates are required to have completed their Grundstudium. In this class, participation means active participation, so Teilnahmescheine will be given on the basis of class reports. Other qualifications will take the form of term papers.