"On piris and guetes": morphological analysis of constructions coined by splinters derived from "periguete"

Abstract

In this paper we approach the constructions piri-X (piripobre, piricrente) and X-guete (vovoguete, coroguete), both derived from the recently-created word periguete ("vulgar woman, dressed with extravagant clothes") in the Brazilian vocabulary. The analysis is based in the notion of splinter, recently formulated in the contemporary morphological literature (BAUER, 2004; BOOIJ, 2004; GONÇALVES, 2013), and examines both the formal aspects and the semantic aspects that approximate and move away these forms of the radical classes and of the most prototypical affixes. With that, we approach the interface of the composition with derivation, being before the two morphological elements acting on the edges between these two main word formation processes. The data on which the analysis is based have been taken from the Internet, mainly from blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts, for these being virtual spaces with more natural, spontaneous interaction. The speaking data come from interviews answered by informants (men and women) of distinct ages and educational levels. We have concluded the study showing that both forms, piri- and -guete, have derivational and compositional characteristics, finding themselves in an intermediate position between the processes. We assume, therefore, that both forms offer empirical evidence on the existence of a composition-derivation continuum