ABSTRACT
In word formation, a paradox found in several classes of complex words, in which a single constituent grouping cannot satisfy the phonological conditions of language while functioning as the basis of semantic interpretation. The comparative suffix in English, for example, can combine only with single-syllable bases or two-syllable bases with weak secondary stress on the last syllable (e.g. nicer, cleverer, crueler, gentler, luckier). In words with bases of two or more syllables, the comparative is formed analytically (more direct). According to this rule-governed system, the negated adjective unluckier would have the following bracketed structures: (a) [A un [A lucky+er]] or (b) [A[A un+lucky]+er]. Yet, the structure (a) cannot be the basis of the semantic interpretation because unluckier, in accordance with the bracketed structure (b), is (more (unlucky)) and not, as in (a), (not (more lucky)); cf. also [Gödel number+]ing, [atomic scient+]ist. Different solutions to this problem, each tied to a specific theory, have been suggested in more recent literature.
