Exocentric compounds in punjabi: a cultural analysis

The main focus of the paper was to analyze the exocentric compounds in Punjabi with the help of cultural linguistics. Exocentric compounds have always been marginalized in the linguistic literature due to their non-productivity and idiosyncratic meaning (Bauer, 2008). The absence of the semantic head in these constructions hinders in establishing a theory or model to analyze such formations and to resolve the issue that how the compounds shift from a literal towards a metaphoric interpretation. Keeping in view this issue this very preliminary study showed that the complex issue of arriving at the metaphoric meaning inexocentric compounds can better be resolved, if the compound is studied within the cultural perspective. The paper is a part of the researchers’ PhD dissertation and a huge data is collected in this regard. In this paper only four examples of NV compounds were discussed, as these are the most productive formations in Punjabi. After the data analysis it concluded that culture plays an important role in arriving at the metaphoric meaning in exocentric compounds.