Derived nominals and the domain of content

•I identify two puzzles concerning the distinctions between AS-Nominals and R-Nominals.•I propose a syntactic structure for AS-Nominals and R-Nominals.•I propose a model that matches non-compositional, atomic Content with local syntactic domains.•I show that the proposed syntactic structure of derived nominals together with the domain of Content solve the puzzles.•I conclude that the solution of the puzzles points out to the necessity of assigning complex syntactic structure to derived words.

This article argues that important constraints on the properties of derived nominals can only be explained if complex words, and specifically derived nominals, are syntactically derived and if noncompositional Content, in essence conceptual meaning, is constrained by syntactic locality.