ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will be concerned with the proper analysis of a set of lexical constructions sometimes referred to as ’synthetic compounds’. Not every study of word-formation makes a distinction between synthetic and other compounds, while some authors even argue that it is wrong to make such a distinction, except perhaps on a pretheoretical level of description. However, whatever the best analysis of synthetic compounds turns out to be, it is a prerequisite for a more detailed investigation, that a reasonably precise definition be given of the term ’synthetic compound’, if we are to know what we are talking about.
