Why 'góðlátlegur' and not *'góðleglátur'?

On accepted and non-accepted suffix combinations in Icelandic

Abstract

The article discusses suffix combinations in Icelandic with nominal and adjectival suffixes as first members of the combinations, how common these combinations are and which selectional restrictions are central in Icelandic derivational morphology. Combinations of twenty-six nominal suffixes and twenty-two suffixes that can attach to nominal suffixes were studied, in addition to combinations of nine adjectival suffixes and twelve other suffixes that can attach to adjectival suffixes: a total of 661 possible combinations when combinations of identical suffixes had been excluded. Of these 661 possible combinations, 36 were confirmed, using the corpora Íslenskur orðasjóður and Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls for documentation.

Possible reasons for the relatively small number of confirmed suffix combinations are discussed. Selectional restrictions play a major role in explaining this. For instance, some suffixes can not attach to base words that are themselves suffixed, although they otherwise can attach to base words of two syllables. Furthermore, it turns out that it is quite difficult to change the order of suffixes in a combination. These two restrictions significantly reduce the number of possible combinations in addition to some closed suffixes that do not allow further suffixation. In Icelandic, the so called ‚split suffixation‘ exists that partially compensates for the lack of suffix combinations. The split suffixation occurs where a linking element is inserted between two suffixes that can not in many instances attach to each other. The linking element then opens for further suffixation.