In French, the preposition à is often used to introduce a PP-modifier of a noun. Two typical contexts of use are illustrated in (1).
(1) a. la réponse à la question numéro 1
(‘the reply to the question number 1’, i.e. the reply to question 1)
b. une soupe aux choux
(‘a soup with-the cabbages’, i.e. a cabbage soup)
In (1a), the choice of the preposition is determined by the noun réponse and the noun phrase following à is an argument. In cases such as (1b), two nouns are combined to name a concept. The preposition gives some information about the relationship between the two nouns, but otherwise, (1b) is similar to N+N compounds in English or German.
In order to investigate the naming function of nouns with a modifier introduced by à, we collected a set of over 3,500 multi-word expressions using the French Wiktionnaire as a basis. The fact that they were listed in the Wiktionnaire means that at least some users perceive them as multi-word units. As a way of assessing the similarity to compounds, we extracted a randomized sample of 350 expressions, analysed their meaning and translated them into German and Greek. German and Greek are both languages in which compounding is often used to come up with a new name when a concept needs to be named. However, the use of compounding in the two languages is different.
The analysis showed, first of all, that the French construction is used extensively for naming species of animals and plants. In the sample of 350, they accounted for 112 expressions (32%). Some examples are in (2).
(2) a. inule à feuilles en glaive
(‘inula with leaves in sword’, i.e. inula ensifolia)
b. canard à bec jaune
(‘duck with bill yellow’, i.e. yellow-billed duck)
For the further analysis we made a distinction between the class of expressions as in (2) and the class with all other expressions. In both classes, we have expressions with or without a definite article. However, for the species, the constituent following à is most frequently a complex expression with a noun as its head, as in the case of the examples in (2), whereas for the other class a noun without complements or modifiers is by far the most common choice.
When considering the translations, we found that, whereas in German the translations were overwhelmingly compounds, in Greek, we find three common types of translation, illustrated in (3).
(3) a. pâte à sucre (‘paste with sugar’, i.e. sugar paste)
ζαχαρόπαστα (‘sugar-paste’)
b. parc à bébé (‘park for baby’, i.e. pen)
παιδικό πάρκο (‘childadj park’)
c. épingle à chapeau (‘pin for hat’, i.e. hatpin)
καρφίτσα καπέλου (‘brooch hatgen’)
In the French examples in (3), we see how the meaning of à ranges from ‘with’ to ‘for’. This indicates that the role of the preposition can hardly be interpreted as determining the relation between the two nouns. In the Greek translations, we find a compound in (3a), a relational adjective in (3b) and a genitive noun in (3c). The translation types in (3b-c) correspond to the most common procedures for rendering German and English compounds in Romance and Slavic languages.
On the basis of the German and Greek translations we found for the French expressions, we argue that it is worth distinguishing two constructions with à illustrated in (1), one of which belongs to word formation. The translations of this construction into German and Greek suggest an analysis as a compound.
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