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Morphological Creativity in Spanish

Code: 106385
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Spanish Language and Literature OP 3
Spanish Language and Literature OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Matthias Ulrich Raab
Email :
matthias.raab@uab.cat

Teaching staff

Cristina Buenafuentes de la Mata

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

Since students have demonstrated, by earning the credits for the basic and required courses, that they have acquired the basic competencies, they should be able to express themselves correctly both orally and in writing.


Likewise, students are expected to be familiar with the general guidelines for formatting an academic paper. However, specific guidelines provided by the course instructor may be applied if deemed necessary.

Objectives

The course is part of the “Spanish Language: Systematic Aspects” curriculum and is one of the 54 elective credits that must be completed between the third and fourth years of the Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish Language and Literature. It is one of the courses offered within the Spanish Language Specialization, a designation awarded to students who complete at least 30 of the 54 elective credits from among the courses specifically assigned to that specialization. It is an advanced course in the study of Spanish lexical morphology.


The basic objectives of the course are as follows:


1) To characterize linguistic phenomena and reflect on them, taking into account different levels of analysis, and

2) to justify, using appropriate terminology, the analysis of data from a linguistic perspective.


The specific objectives are, on the one hand, to use digital tools to collect, classify, interpret, and analyze relevant data related to the study of morphology and, on the other hand, to correctly identify the different morphological processes of lexicogenesis and their current potential in the creation of neologisms.


Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:


a) critically and systematically analyze the processes of lexical formation in Spanish, identifying their distinguishing features and their formal and semantic constraints.

b) evaluate the productivity and competition among different.

c) describe and interpret the internal structure of complex words.

d) apply morphological analysis to specific linguistic problems, such as morphological variation or neologism formation.

Learning outcomes

  1. Use the appropriate terminology in the construction of an academic text and in the transmission of their knowledge.
  2. Use digital tools to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of Spanish language and literature.
  3. Characterise linguistic phenomena taking into account the different levels of analysis.
  4. Justify by means of appropriate terminology the analysis of data from a linguistic point of view.
  5. Propose new ways of measuring success or failure in the implementation of proposals or innovative ideas.
  6. Make linguistic predictions and inferences about the content of a text, especially at the word level.
  7. Recognise and describe the origin and evolution of the Spanish lexicon, including its semantic and phraseological aspects and taking into account the different types of variation.
  8. Acquire knowledge of the structure and types of lexicographical works and of the techniques used in lexicography and terminology.
  9. Identify the different morphological procedures of lexicogenesis and their current possibilities in the creation of neologisms.
  10. Detect and assimilate lexical and/or phraseological similarities and differences between languages in contact.
  11. Consolidate knowledge of lexicological and/or phraseological variation from different perspectives.
  12. Weigh up the risks and opportunities of proposals for improvements, both their own and those of others.
  13. Use dictionaries, both diachronic and synchronic, to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of the lexicon, both simple and derived, phraseology and terminology.

Contents

1. Morphological Creativity: Productivity, Availability, and Blockage

2. The Power of Lexical Morphology: Contexts That Foster Morphological Creativity and Sources of Documentation

3. Morphological Oddities or Rarities: Affixal Rivalry

4. “Superaffixes”: Affixal Polysemy

5. The “little problems” of appreciative suffixation

6. The shadow of the affix is long: affixes and syntax

7. The creation of morphological material

8. The popularization of morphological material

9. How to be a syntagmatic compound without being a phrase

10. Morphology does not live by derivation alone: on acronyms and other procedures

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Tutorials 10 0.4 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
Reading, analysis and synthesis of texts and documents, preparation and realization of papers 75 3 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
Written test on the theoretical and descriptive contents of the course 7.5 0.3 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
Theory classes and classroom practices 52.25 2.09 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Students must actively participate in the course on an ongoing basis (unless they opt for the single assessment).


To achieve the stated objectives, the instructor’s theoretical explanations will be combined with practical exercises in the classroom and discussions of the required readings.


The course is structured as follows:

Guided activities (35%, 55.5 hours). These activities consist of lectures, practical sessions, and seminars led by the instructor, combining theoretical explanations with the completion of exercises.

Supervised activities (10%, 15 hours). These consist of tutorials scheduled by the professor, dedicated to the correction and discussion of problems at different levels of linguistic analysis.

Independent activities (50%, 75 hours). These activities include both time devoted to personal study and the completion of exercises, activities, and reading the required bibliography.

Assessment activities (5%, 7.5 hours). The course will be assessed through written exams and practical activities.


Note: Fifteen minutes of one class session, as scheduled by the institution or the degree program, will be set aside for students to complete evaluation surveys regarding instructor performance and the course or module itself.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Written test on the theoretical and descriptive contents of the course 40 % 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
Oral presentacion of the project 25 % 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9
Oral presentation on a case study 10 % 0.25 0.01 1, 2, 3, 4, 9
Project 25 % 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

The instructor will assess this course on a continuous basis (unless the student opts for the single assessment).


The course assessment will therefore be based on the completion of four activities/assignments, which will evaluate the following aspects:


  • The assimilation of theoretical content;
  • The practical application of the content; and
  • The adequacy of the work in relation to the requirements of the specific activity.


The four required activities/assignments are as follows:


  • Analysis and in-class presentation of a case of morphological creativity (10%)
  • One practical-theoretical written exam (40%)
  • One project analyzing the morphological creativity of a specific terminological domain (25%)
  • One oral presentation of the project in class (25%)


To pass the course, all activities must be completed. Once the scores for each assessment are added up according to their percentages, the total must be 5 points or higher to pass the course.


Spelling, expression, vocabulary, and syntax errors will each be penalized by 0.25 points, with no limit, on the final grade for activities and exams. Repeated errors are also deducted.


If the student commits any type of irregularity that could lead to a significant change in the grade of a given assessment, they will be graded with a 0, regardless of any disciplinary action that may result. If multiple irregularities are detected in the assessments for the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0. Additionally, the exam or exams in which an irregularity occurred cannot be retaken.


Ungradeable

A grade of “Ungradeable” will be assigned if the student has missed more than 30% of the four assessment tests.


Make-up

Students may take a make-up exam (excluding oral presentations) provided they have achieved a minimum grade point average of 3.5. The grade obtained on the make-up exam will replace the original grade for the final weighted average calculation.


Review Procedure

At the time of each assessment activity, the instructor will inform students (Moodle) of the procedure and the date for reviewing grades.


Single Examination

Students who opt for the single examination will be required to complete the following activities:


  • A written theoretical-practical exam (50%)
  • A project focused on the analysis of morphological creativity based on empirical data (25%).
  • An oral exam on the project (25%)


Students must complete and submit all assignments by the established due date within the assigned period. The instructor will indicate the exact date via Moodle.


The same make-up policy that applies to continuous assessment will be used.

Bibliography

Adelstein, A., & Nercesian, V. (2021). Las palabras: léxico y morfología. En E. Ciapuscio & A. Adelstein (Coords.), La lingüística. Una introducción a sus principales preguntas (pp. 189–224). Eudeba.


Bauer, L., Lieber, R., & Plag, I. (2013). Blocking, competition, and productivity. En L. Bauer, R. Lieber & I. Plag (Eds.), The Oxford reference guide to English morphology (pp. 568–582). Oxford University Press.


Bosque, I., & Demonte, V. (Eds.). (1999). Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (3 vols.). Espasa.


Buenafuentes de la Mata, C. (2013). Sobre formación de palabras y los procesos de gramaticalización. En I. Pujol (Ed.), Formación de palabras y diacronía (Anexos de Revista de Lexicografía, 19, pp. 21–48). Universidad de La Coruña.


Buenafuentes de la Mata, C. (2021). Main compounding types in Spanish: Synchronic issues. En A. Fábregas, V. Acedo, G. Armstrong, M. C. Cuervo & I. Pujol (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Morphology (pp. 285–302). Routledge.


Buenafuentes de la Mata, C., & Raab, M. (2018). La morfología léxica a la luz de la variación. ELiEs. Estudios de Lingüística del Español. Disponible en línea


Camus, B. (2016). Entre la morfología, la fonología y la sintaxis: El origen del material morfológico. En S. Alcoba, C. Buenafuentes de la Mata & G. Clavería (Eds.), Los lindes de la morfología (Anexos de Revista de Lexicografía, 37, pp. 17–37). Universidad de La Coruña.


Camus, B. (2018). Aspectos de la evolución histórica de la alomorfia en los diminutivos españoles. Estudios de Lingüística del Español, 39, 147–160. Disponible en línea


Camus, B. (2022). La formación de palabras. Arco/Libros.


Cappellaro, C., & Meinschaefer, J. (2022). Inflection, derivation and compounding. En A. Ledgeway & M. Maiden (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics (pp. 400–433). Cambridge University Press.


Casado Velarde, M. (1999). Otros procesos morfológicos: acortamientos, formación de siglas y acrónimos. En I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Dirs.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (Vol. 3, pp. 5075–5096). Espasa.


Casado Velarde, M. (2023). La innovación léxica en el español actual (3.ª ed. actualizada y ampliada). Síntesis.


Fábregas, A. (2024). Diccionario de afijos del español contemporáneo. Routledge.


Fábregas, A., Acedo, V., Armstrong, G., Cuervo, M. C., & Pujol, I. (Eds.). (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Morphology. Routledge.


Felíu, E. (2017). Formación de palabras y variación: Algunas reflexiones a partir de ejemplos del español. Hispania, 100(4), 509–521.


Lieber, R. (2021). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Morphology. Oxford University Press.


Montoro del Arco, E. (2008). Relaciones entre morfología y fraseología: las formaciones nominales pluriverbales. En R. Almela & E. Montoro del Arco (Eds.), Neologismo y morfología (pp. 121–146). Edit.um.


Pharies, D. (2002). Diccionario etimológico de los sufijos españoles (y de otros elementos finales). Gredos.


Pharies, D., & Fischer-Dorantes, E. (2024). Diccionario etimológico e histórico de los prefijos de la lengua española. De Gruyter.


Piera, C., & Varela, S. (1999). Relaciones entre morfología y sintaxis. En I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Dirs.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (Vol. 3, pp. 4367–4422). Espasa.


Raab, M. (2022). La rivalidad entre -ción y -miento en el romance castellano-aragonés del siglo XV: una aproximación a la morfología léxica desde la dialectología histórica. Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, 138(2), 451–482. https://doi.org/10.1515/zrp-2022-0020


Rainer, F. (2005). Constraints on productivity. En P. Štekauer & R. Lieber (Eds.), Handbook of word-formation (pp. 335–352). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3596-9_14


Rainer, F. (2011). The agent-instrument-place polysemy of the suffix -tor in Romance. STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 64(1), 8–32. https://doi.org/10.1524/stuf.2011.0002


Real Academia Española, & ASALE. (2009). Nueva gramática de la lengua española (Vol. 1). Espasa. Disponible en línea


Real Academia Española, & ASALE. (2025). Nueva gramática de la lengua española (Vol. 1, 2.ª ed. revisada y actualizada). Espasa.


Ruiz Gurillo, L. (2002). Compuestos, colocaciones, locuciones: intento de delimitación. En M. González Pereira, M. Souto Gómez & A. Veiga (Coords.), Léxico y gramática (pp. 327–339). Tris Tram.


Santiago Lacuesta, R., & Bustos Gisbert, E. (1999). La derivación nominal. En Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (Vol. 3, pp. 4505–4594). Espasa.


Zacarías‑Ponce de León, R. (2010). Esquemas rivales en la formación de palabras en español. Onomázein, 22, 59–82. Disponible en línea

Software

Not necessary

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Spanish second semester morning-mixed