Abstract
This article develops the discussion of “noun + noun compounds” in Semiotica (Bundgaard et al., Semiotica 161: 363–393, 2006, Semiotica 172: 363–393, 2008; Søgaard, Semiotica 168: 189–195, 2008). The approach is through analyzing phrases with several noun or noun-like premodifiers, and through a brief historical outline. It argues (first) that phrases with several nominal premodifiers constitute constructions, with a set order and well-defined semantic relations; and (second) that phrases with a single nominal premodifier grade off from those that invoke a fully conventionalized construction to ad hoc phrases with no conventionalization. It concludes that these constructions have been misunderstood because of a semiotic error: the meaning has been sought only in individual words as signs, whereas there is also meaning in a word's position in the construction, as a sign.
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