The role of coercion in the productivity and creativity of complex verb formation: a constructional approach

Laws, J. (2025) The role of coercion in the productivity and creativity of complex verb formation: a constructional approach. English Language & Linguistics, 29 (2). pp. 272-297. ISSN 1469-4379 doi: 10.1017/S1360674325000218

Abstract/Summary

This article examines the notions of productivity and creativity with respect to complex verbs in English. Verb-forming suffixation involves the attachment of the suffixes ‑ize, ‑ify, -en and -ate to a base to form complex verbs such as hospitalize, densify, sharpen and hyphenate. Sampson (2016) describes productive processes that conform to existing patterns as F-creativity, or Fixed-creativity, and those that deviate from those patterns as E-creativity, or Enlarging/Extending creativity; Bergs (2018) and Uhrig (2018) view the F–E dichotomy as a cline. Coercion effects can account for linguistic productivity and creativity; Audring & Booij (2016) propose that the coercive mechanisms of Selection, Enrichment and Override lie on a unified continuum. This article integrates the F–E creativity and coercion continua, and analyses a database of conventionalized and recently coined complex verbs (Laws 2023) for instances of coercion. The results reveal that coercive mechanisms, particularly Selection and Enrichment, facilitate productivity and creativity in more complex constructional schemas underlying verbal derivatives, and that these coercive patterns have become increasingly more entrenched over time. E-creativity of complex verbs is defined here as ‘Unruly’ coercion and the nature of attested examples is discussed.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/122018
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/S1360674325000218
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Language and Applied Linguistics
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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