Word Formation in Contemporary Italian

This book provides a clear and systematic description of the regular morphological processes through which modern Italian enriches its vocabulary. It is based on influential theories of word formation from recent decades, which understand these mechanisms either as formal word-formation rules (rule-based approaches) or as a structured set of patterns abstracted from usage (usage-based approaches, such as constructional or relational morphology). In addition to an introductory presentation of the relevant theoretical frameworks, the main focus is on describing Italian derivation and composition, which form the core of word-formation morphology. A smaller section is dedicated to alternative ways of forming names, such as multi-word expressions, reduction, back-formation, and contamination (blends). The handbook is supplemented by six case studies that illustrate current open questions and are based on the long-term research of both authors.