Foreign MWEs

Overview

Multiword expressions may be borrowed wholesale from another language. They tend to be completely fixed.

Examples

  • et cetera
  • coup d’état
  • déjà vu

Unaware of any evidence that these can ever be split or internally modified, we treat these as multiword lexical items:

Thenationissopronetocoupd'état-sthateachofthemfeelslikeadéjàvu.
N+sg -plNP+pl\N+sgNP+sg/N-plN+sg -pl
NP+pl<NP+sg>

(I am not sure about the particulars of the categories. - Nathan)

References