Complex compounds: Phrasal embedding in lexical structures

Recent attention has been given to the characterization of ‘rules of word formation’ and an isolable component of grammar to which they refer. Among other concerns, this research attempts to characterize the notion ‘possible word in a natural language’. Roeper and Seigel (1978) suggested a constraint on what can be a word: they claimed that lexical structures never embed phrasal constituents. Anecdotal and experimental evidence is marshalled against this claim. © Mouton Publishers