Compounding as Taxonomic Modification

This paper develops an explicit formal semantics for the interpretive component of the Compounding Parameter (TCP), focusing on endocentric bare-stem nominal compounds. Following earlier TCP-based work, we assume that a single grammatical option, Generalized Modification (GM), underlies creative nominal compounding, adjectival resultatives, and verb-particle constructions. Our main contribution is a new formal semantic entry for GM. We propose that GM in compounding is best understood as taxonomic modification: the head noun denotes a kind-level predicate, and the compound as a whole denotes a subkind of the head kind. Drawing on previous analyses of relational adjectives as modifiers of the kind-level component of a noun’s denotation, we propose that the modifier noun contributes a covert, pragmatically supplied relation, formalized as RELATED, which further specifies this kind-level component. We further suggest that the same conception of GM extends to the event domain, where adjectival resultatives can be modeled as modifiers of event kinds. Although a full semantics of resultatives is beyond the scope of this paper, the analysis shows how nominal and eventive cases can be unified under a common view of GM as taxonomic specification.