Coordinating Compounds

Coordinating compounds, often referred to by their Sanskrit name dvandva, may be loosely defined as complex word forms in which all of the constituent lexemes (typically, two) share the same status, as Eng. bittersweet. The definition and delimitation of the category of coordinating compounds involves two issues: first, what a 'compound' is and how do we distinguish coordinating compounds from other multiword expressions; secondly, the understanding of what coordination is, and how it is to be distinguished from other, non-symmetrical relations (e.g. subordination). This article will provide an overview on coordination in compounding, discussing classifications of coordinating compounds with extensive exemplification from typologically diverse languages. © 2010 The Author. Language and Linguistics Compass © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.