Chapter 2. Collection nouns as a derivational category in Spanish

Abstract

The paper examines the productivity of a constructional schema of collectivity in Spanish. We analyse nonce-formations derived from typical collective suffixes and classify their meanings. The analysis reveals that the derivation of collection nouns in Spanish is productive, mostly represented by the suffixes ‑erío and ‑amen. A comparison to French and Italian data further reveals a continuum of productivity of this schema in Romance languages. In Italian, it has various subordinated constructions instantiated by the suffixes ‑ame, ‑ume and ‑aglia, with French only being represented by the suffix ‑aille. The study reveals a detailed picture not only of the functional distribution of each suffix and language, but also the functional links between different forms, i.e. suffixes, and functions. The analysis implies that an onomasiological examination of collective nouns in Romance is not only fruitful, but indispensable.