Orð og tunga - 26.04.2018, Page 54

Kendra Willson: Splitting the atom 43
New words must not only be coined but also understood by hear-
ers. The interpretation of new words depends on both the general
cultural context and the specifi c speech situation; in the absence of a
usage context, subjects may interpret a compound in a wide variety of
ways (Downing 1977). Noun-noun compounds in various languages
admit a broad range of semantic interpretations regarding the rela-
tionship between the elements. They are interpreted according to cul-
tural scripts, which can be quite complex and can even encapsulate
narratives (like kennings in Old Norse skaldic verse). Downing (1977)
reports on an experiment on English noun-noun compounds (oft en
writt en as two words) in which she asked subjects to suggest or eval-
uate possible interpretations for such nonce formations as “pumpkin
bus” or “pea princess”. Meanings suggested by subjects for the latt er
included:
a fairy princess who rules the pea people; the fairy-tale prin-
cess who felt the pea under her matt resses; the princess who
can feel a pea under 20 matt resses; the princess of the Pea
kingdom; the princess with a pea-shaped head, shaped like
a pea, with the color of a pea, size of a pea, power of a pea;
someone who is very sensitive to very small things being un-
usual; a princess whose identity is accidentally discovered; a
princess whose family is rich with pea farms; someone over-
ly sheltered – spoiled, ‘soft ’ etc.; daughter of a pea magnate;
princess chosen by passing the pea test; fairy-tale princess of
a pea patch; (over)sensitive person; a genuine princess, one
who passes the test of a pea under 20 matt resses. (Downing
1977:820)
These interpretations evoke the semantic frame of the wonder tale
of the princess and the pea, as well as aspects of the fairy-tale genre
more generally. The subjects have also interpreted the fairy tale meta-
phorically to create terms of more general applicability based on the
salient characteristic of the princess in that story. Meanings such as
“daughter of a pea magnate” are clearly modeled on other similar
“princess” compounds in English (X princess = heiress to a fortune
made on commodity X).
Trying to pin down the semantic relation between the parts of a
compound in terms of traditional categories may be beside the point,
as the precise relation between the elements may be fl uid and less
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