Semantic indirectness in Chinese compounds and the discrimination between compounds and phrases
Zhu Ya · Shijie hanyu jiaoxue · 2005
In this paper, we employ a new concept: semantic indirectness which definition is that the meaning of an expression cannot be directly inferred by the meanings of its constituents and the structural relations among them. Semantic indirectness is embodied at the two levels: 1) the component-integration relation, and 2) the relations between components. Indirectness is a primary property of the compounds, and also the decisive criterion of discriminating compounds from phrases, and can be demonstrated in observable semantic frames. The paper attempts to describe the indirectness between the morphemes of compounds, and, by the criterion of indirectness, to distinguish compounds from phrases.