Vanakooli

Abstract

The modifying compound word vanakooli (‘old-school’), frequently used in informal speech as a variant of the phrase vana kooli, exemplifies a linguistic phenomenon where certain noun-based phrases tend to form compound words. Adjectives, pronouns, numerals, and adpositions can merge with the following noun, resulting in compounds such as vanakooli (‘old-school’), vabaaja (‘leisure-time’), selle­suve (‘this summer’s’), kaheinimese (‘two-people’), üleõla (‘over-the-shoulder’), and ümbernurga (‘around the corner’). The prevalence of compound words increases as the expression gains popularity. In orthography and word formation, the potential of phrases with distinct meanings to form three-part compounds with the following noun (e.g., hull lehm – hullulehmatõbi (‘mad cow – mad cow disease’), hall pass – halli­passimees (‘grey passport – man with a grey passport’) has received some attention, whereas the lexicalization of modifiers derived from the phrases has largely been overlooked. Due to its lack of agreement in number and case, the descriptive compound vanakooli appears to belong to the category of defective adjectives, yet prior studies on defective adjectives have not encompassed compound words originating from noun phrases (or adpositional phrases) with adjectival (or pronominal or numeral) modifiers. An antonym for vanakooli would be uuekooli (‘new-school’).

Keywords

• linguistics
• compound word
• phrase
• defective adjective
• orthography
• word formation