Coordinate compounding in English and Spanish

Coordinate compounding is a process which has been only sporadically considered in word-formation studies on Germanic and Romance languages. In this paper, we compare the situation in English with that in Spanish as far as formal structure and semantics are concerned. To this end, an operational definition of coordinate compounding is first provided, after which a semantic classification of coordinate compounds is developed. For each type, variants are discussed, representative examples are provided, and similarities and dissimilarities between the two languages are highlighted. We finish by raising the issues of recursiveness and productivity in coordinate compounding and we examine the possibilities of expansion and profitability of the different patterns. Our analysis reveals marked similarities between English and Spanish coordinate compounding at various levels, hinting at the possible existence of a cross-linguistic set of common core features in the class of coordinate compounds in both Germanic and Romance.