Compounding and Contact

The behaviour of compounds in language contact situations is examined here through the consideration of case studies involving the influence of Greek on English, of Western European languages, especially English, on Russian, of Western European languages, especially French, on Greek, and of French on English. It is shown that in the borrowing of compounds and compounding structures, languages seem not to engage in adaptation to native language patterns, and that once a new structure enters a language via borrowing it takes on a life of its own, so to speak, and can assume forms that are quite different from their form in the source language. The question of simplification versus complexification under conditions of language contact is also treated against the backdrop of compounds and contact.