The evolution of compounding research in semantics: A decade of scientometric evidence (2014—2024)

Abstract

Although compounding has been widely examined within linguistic research, a systematic overview of its semantic research landscape remains underdeveloped. This study addresses this gap by offering a scientometric mapping of trends and thematic orientations in semantic research on compounding. Drawing on a corpus of 376 publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2014 and 2024, the analysis adopts a quantitative approach and employs VOSviewer to examine publication patterns, thematic structures, and research trajectories. The findings point to a steadily expanding field, with an average annual increase of approximately three publications and an overall growth of 187.5% across the eleven-year period.  Reading and Writing, Cognition, and Mental Lexicon emerge as the most prominent publication venues. Thematic analysis identified three principal clusters: (a) “Compounding Formation and Description” (40.71%), encompassing terms such as “affixation,” “morphology,” “neologism,” and “word formation process,” (b) “Cognitive and Developmental Aspects of Compounding” (20.09%), characterized by keywords including “morphological awareness,” “comprehension,” “development,” and “student.”, and (c) “Semantic Interpretation and Theoretical Frameworks” (29.20%), which includes terms such as “word meaning,” “semantic composition,” “syntax,” and “theory.” Taken together, these findings offer insights into the current state and trajectory of compounding research in the light of semantics, highlighting key themes within the current patterns of advancement.