Chapter 3Lexicon.docx
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Chapter 3Lexicon.docx
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Chapter3Lexicon
Chapter3Lexicon
3.1Whatisword?
WORDisaunitofexpressionthathasuniversalintuitiverecognitionbynative-speakers,whetheritisexpressedinspokenorwrittenform.Thisdefinitionis,perhaps,abitvague,astherearedifferentcriteriawithregardtoitsidentificationanddefinition.Itfollowsthatitishardtodefine"word"inthescientificsense.Nevertheless,itisagreedthatthreesensesareinvolvedindefining"word",noneofwhich,ofcourse,issatisfactorytocopewithallthesituations.
3.1.1Threesensesof"word"
(1)Aphysicallydefinableunit
Althoughlanguageisproducedasacontinuousstretchofutteranceorwriting,onecanstillfindpausesandblankseverynowandthen.Thus,wordmaybeseenasaclusterofsoundsegmentsorlettersbetweentwopausesorblanksasseeninthefollowingexamples~
p¬p=łphã
ex.3-1
Phonological:
/itis‘w/
Orthographic:
Itiswonderful.
Basedontheabovecriterion,threewordsineachcasearerecognized.However,incasualspeechorwriting,onetendstogiveexpressiontothesameideasasfollows:
ex3-2
Phonological:
/Its?
/
Orthographic:
It'swonderful.
So,thereisaproblem.Whenliaisonandcontractedformoccurasinex.3-2,andtheydooccurveryofteninspeechandwriting,shouldtheybeidentifiedasthreewordsortwowords?
(2)Thecommonfactorunderlyingasetofforms
Whenoneisfacedwithasetofnouns,suchasboyandboysorasetofverbs,suchascheck,checks,checked,andchecking,theyarerecognizedastwowordsandfourwordsrespectivelyinthefrequencycountofapieceofwritingoranutterance.However,theyareeachregardedasonewordinadictionary,asthetwonounformssharethegameroot"boy"andallthefourverbformssharethesameroot"check".Consequently,WORDisthecommonfactorunderlyingasetofforms,aunitofvocabulary,alexicalitem,oralexeme.
Inordertoreducetheambiguityoftheterm"word",thetermLEXEMEispostulatedastheabstractunitunderlyingthesmallestunitinthelexicalsystemofalanguage,whichappearsindifferentgrammaticalContexts.Forexample,"write"and"fat"arethelexemesofthetwosetsofwordsinex.3-3respectively.
ex.3-3
writefat
writesfatter
wrotefattest
writingwritten
(3)Agrammaticalunit
Wordisacomparablyabstractunittobesetuptoshowhowwordsworkinthegrammarofalanguage.Sincelanguagepresentsitselfasahierarchyindifferentrespects,itrises,intermsoflexicogrammar,frommorphemeatthebottomuptotheclausecomplexattop,andwordisarankbetweenmorphemeandwordgroup,asisshowninthefollowinghierarchicalrankscale.
sentence
clause
wordgroup/phrase
word
morpheme
Aword,inthissense,isthenagrammaticalunit,ofthesametheoreticalkindasmorphemeandsentence.Thisunderstandingmaybeacceptablewhenspeakingofpolymorphemicwords,suchasblackbird,aircraft,anddownhill.However,thereisaloopholeinthisstatement,sinceitmakesoneconfusedwhenoneistalkingaboutmonomorphemicwords,suchasblack,bird,air,craft,town,andhall.Theyarefreemorphemesaswellaswords.
3.1.2Identificationofwords
Inadditiontothethreesensesof"word"mentionedabove,whicharehelpfulindefining"word"inspiteoftheirinadequaciestoaccountforallthelanguagedata,thereareotherfactorswhichhelpustoidentifywords.
(1)Stability
Wordsarethemoststableofalllinguisticunits,inrespectoftheirinternalstructure,thatis,theconstituentpartsofacomplexwordhavelittlepotentialforrearrangement,comparedwiththerelativepositionalmobilityoftheconstituentsofsentencesinthehierarchy.Takethewordchairmanforexample.Ifthemorphemesarerearrangedas*chairman,itisanunacceptablewordinEnglish.Butitisallrightforustorearrangetheconstituentsinasentencetoacertaindegree.
ex.3-4
Thechairmanlookedattheaudience.
Theaudiencelookedatthechairman.
(2)Relativeuninterruptibility
Byuninterruptibility,wemeannewelementsarenottobeinsertedintoawordevenwhenthereareseveralpartsinaword.Nothingistobeinsertedinbetweenthethreepartsoftheworddisappointment:
dis+appoint+ment.Norisoneallowedtousepausesbetweenthepartsofaword(*disappointment).Incontrast,onecouldadd"fane"inthecoordinatingsubjectofthefollowingsentence.
ex.3-5
Paul,(Jane)andRebeccaaremyclassmates.
Inanextremecase,onecouldinserttheadverb"even"betweenanytwopartsinthefollowingsentence.
ex.36
(Even)Paul(even)didn't(even)love(even)Jane(even).
(3)Aminimumfreeform
ThiswasfirstsuggestedbyLeonardBloomfield.Headvocatedtreatingsentenceas"themaximumfreeform"andword"themini:
'inurefreeform",thelatterbeingthesmallestunitthatcanconstitutebyitself,acompleteutterance.Lookattheunderlinedpartinthefollowingexchangeofutterances.
ex.3-7
--IsJanecomingthisevening?
--Possibly.
ExpressionssuchasHi,Darting,Bother,Shitandothersmayfunctioninthesameway.
Itisinterestingtonotethatthereisheateddiscussionwithrespectthisstatement.Theopponentsarguethatnotallword-likeunitswouldsatisfythiscriterion,asthearticlesaandtheinEnglishcouldnotstandbythemselves.Buttheadvocatorscitethefollowingexcept
ex.3-8
--Whatismissinginasentencesuchas'Dogisbarking'?
--A.
3.1.3Classificationofwords
Althoughwecangeneralizesomecommonfeaturesofwords,wecanalsofindthisorthatdifferenceamongvariouswords,
(1)Variableandinvariablewords
Wordscanbeclassifiedaccordingtotheirvariability.InVARIABLEWORDS,onecouldfindorderedandregularseriesofgrammaticallydifferentwordforms;ontheotherhand,partofthewordremainsrelativelyconstant.Thus,eachorderedseriesconstitutesaparadigm.
ex.3-9
followmat
followsmats
following
followed
AmongIndo-Europeanlanguages,onecouldfindmorevariablewordsinLatinandSanskrit,lessinGerman,andtheleastinEnglish.
INVARIABLEWORDSrefertothosewordssuchassince,when,seldom,through,hello.Theydonothaveinflectiveendings.
(2)Grammaticalwordsandlexicalwords
Intermsofthemeaningexpressedbywords,theycanbeclassifiedintoGRAMMATICALWORDSandLEX1CALWORDS.Thosewhichexpressgrammaticalmeanings,suchas,conjunctions,prepositionv,articles,andpronouns,aregrammaticalwords.Thosewhichhavelexicalmeanings,thatis,thosewhichrefertosubstance,actionandquality,suchasnouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs,arelexicalwords.Asthelexicalwordscarrythemaincontentofalanguagewhilethegrammaticalonesservetolinkitsdifferentpartstogether,thelexicalwordsarealsoknownasCONTENTWORDSandgrammatical
onesFUNCTIONWORDS.
(3)Closed-classwordsandopen-classwords
Thedistinctionofgrammaticalwordsandlexicalwordsleadstothedistinctionof"closed-class"wordsand"openclass"words.
AwordthatbelongstotheCLOSED-CLASSisonewhosemembershipisfixedorlimited.Newmembersarenotregularlyadded.Therefore,pronouns,prepositions,conjunctions,articles,etc.,areallcloseditems.
TheOPEN-CLASSisonewhosemembershipisinprincipleinfiniteorunlimited.Withtheemergenceofnewideas,inventions,etc.,newexpressionsarecontinuallyandconstantlybeingaddedtothelexicon.Nouns,verbs,adjectivesandmanyadverbsareallopen-classitems.
Asamatteroffact,thedistinctionbetweenclosedclasswordsandopen-classwordsisnotquiteasclearcutasitseems.Preposition,thoughaclosed-class,isarelativelyopenoneinEnglish.Expressionsuchasregarding,throughout,outof',accordingto,withregardto,inspiteof,bymeansof...arenowrecognizedasprepositionsorcomplexprepositions.Inrespectofopen-classitems,auxiliaryverbs,whichusedtoberankedasopen-classwords,arerelativelyclosedinnumber.
(4)Wordclass
Alltheaboveclassificationseemstobegeneral.Amorerealisticwayistoclassifywordseitherbyanalyzingthevariousgrammatical,semantic,andphonologicalpropertiesofthewordsinalanguage,orbygroupingthemintoclassesonthebasisofformalsimilaritiesintermsofinflectionsanddistribution.ThisisclosetothenotionofPARTSOFSPEECHintraditionalgrammar.BasedonthisLatintradition,eightorninewordclassesareestablished,suchas,"noun",
pronoun","adjective","verb","adverb","preposition","interjecction","interjection",and"article".
Today,wordclassdisplaysawiderrangeofmorepreciselydefinedcategories.Herearesomeofthecategoriesnewlyintroducedintolinguisticanalysis.
i.Particles
PARTICLESincludeatleasttheinfinitivemarker"to"(despiteitssurfacesimilaritytoapreposition,itreallyhasnothingincommonwiththatoranyotherwordclass),thenegativemarker"not",andthesubordinateunitsinphrasalverbs,suchas"getby"(tocontinue
one'swayoflife),"doup"(tofasten),"lookback"(toremember),etc.
ii.Auxiliaries
AUXILIARIRESusedtoberegardedasverbs.Becauseoftheiruniqueproperties,whichonecouldhardlyexpectofaverb,linguiststodaytendtodefinethemasaseparatewordclass.Comparethebehaviouroftheauxiliarieswiththatofordinaryverbsinthefollowing
examples.
ex.3-10
NEGATIONIcan'tcome.
*Iwantn'tcome.
INVERSIONIshecoming?
*Keepshecoming?
CODEI'llcomeandsowillBill.
*IintendtocomeandsointendBill.
EMPHASISHe'hascome.
*He'seemstocome.
iii.Pro-form
Intraditionalgrammar,pronounistheonlywordclasswhichcanfunctionasasubstituteforanot
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