Transcript Lexicon - Yibin U
Chapter Three Lexicon
1. What is word?
A unit of expression that has universal intuitive recognition by native speakers, whether it is expressed in spoken or written form. – A vague definition.
Three senses are involved in defining situations.
“ word ” , none of which is satisfactory to cope with all the
1.1 Three senses of
“
word
”
A physical unit: eg a cluster of sound segments or letters between two pauses or blanks,
Phonological: Orthographic: It is wonderful .
Three words are recognized.
However, in casual speech or writing, it often becomes:
Phonological:
Orthographic: It ’ s wonderful.
Are they two words or three?
A set of forms:
walk, walks, walking, walked
How many words are there?
I usually have dinner at 6 but yesterday I had it at seven.
How many times did the word “
have
” occur?
A lexical item or a lexeme
A lexical item is an entry in a dictionary. A lexeme WRITE includes all of its grammatical forms:
write, writes, writing, wrote, written
A grammatical unit :
sentence clause phrase word morpheme Problem: blackboard
1.2 Identification of words
Stability:
stable linguistic units.
chairman , but not * manchair
Relative uninterruptibility: though we recognize three components in the word disappointment * , we cannot pause and add another component in between, as in
disinterestappointment
.
But we can add another word between words: Paul, (John) and Mary ...
A minimum free form: can constitute a complete utterance by itself, eg the smallest unit that
— Is Jane coming tonight?
— Possibly.
Hi.
Wonderful.
1.3 Classification of words
Variable vs. Invariable Words:
Variable words: write, writes, writing, wrote, written; cat, cats.
Invariable words: etc.
since, when, seldom, through,
Grammatical vs. Lexical Words:
Grammatical/Function words: prepositions, articles, pronouns.
conjunctions,
Lexical/Content words: adverbs.
nouns, verbs, adjectives,
Closed-class vs. Open-class Words:
Closed-class words: New members cannot normally be added, eg pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, auxiliaries .
Open-class words: New members can be added, eg nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs .
Word class: known as Parts of Speech traditional grammar.
in
Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun, conjunction, interjection, article, etc.
Some new terms in word class:
Particle: infinitive to , negative not , subordinate units in phrasal verbs “ get by
”
, “ look back ” , etc.
Auxiliary: do, have
Modal verbs: can, will, may, must, etc.
Pro-forms: substitutes for other terms.
Pronoun: he, she, I, they, everyone Pro-adjective: Your car is red. So is his.
Pro-verb: He speaks English better than he did .
Pro-adverb: He hopes to win and I hope so too.
Pro-locative: He went there .
Determiner: all the articles, demonstratives, and quantifiers that appear before the noun and its modifiers.
As many as three determiners may be used in each case and there is a fixed order when there is more than one.
Pre Central all her all her her all what a the both a few my father’s Post Modifier many good Noun ideas many good good ideas ideas good many good one good good good ideas ideas ideas idea idea ideas parents
Predeterminers: all, both; half, one-third, three-quarters
…
; double, twice, three times
…
; such, what (exclamative) Central determiners: those; PossP; the; this, these, that, we, us; you; which, what (relative), what (interrogative); a, another, some, any, no, either, neither; each, enough, much, more, most, less; a few, a little Postdeterminers: every; many, several, few, little; one, two, three
…
; (a) dozen
*their all trouble
*five the all boys
*all this boy
*all both girls
2. Morphology
Morphology: the study of word-formation, or the internal structure of words, or the rules by which words are formed from smaller components – morphemes .
2.1 Morphemes
The smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit that cannot be further divided into smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.
2.2 Types of morphemes
Free vs. Bound morphemes:
Free morphemes: those that may constitute words by themselves, eg boy, girl, table, nation .
Bound morphemes: those that cannot occur alone, eg -s, -ed, dis-, un .
Root: the base form of a word that cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity, eg
friend
as in
unfriendliness
.
Roots may be
free: those that can stand by themselves, eg black+board ; nation+-al ; or
bound: those that cannot stand by themselves, eg ceive in receive, perceive, conceive .
Affix: the type of formative that can be used only when added to another morpheme. Normally divided into
prefix ( dis-, un ) and suffix ( en, -ify ).
Base: a morpheme to which an affix is added, eg
friend friendly unfriendly unfriendliness root > base root/base + suffix > base prefix + base > base base + suffix > base?
Stem: a morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an inflectional affix may be added, eg
friend+-s; write+-ing, possibility+-es
.
Inflection: grammatical endings, eg plural, tense, comparative, etc.
Derivation: combination of a base and an affix to form a new word, eg
friend+-ly > friendly
.
2.3 Word-formation
Morphology
Inflectional Morphology Derivational/ Lexical Morphology
Inflection
Nominal forms: boys, boy ’ s Verb forms: wants, wanted, wanting
Adjective/adverb forms: smaller, smallest
Compounding
Two or more free roots combine to make a new word.
Noun compounds: windmill daybreak, playboy, haircut,
Verb compounds: brainstorm, lipread, babysit
Adjective compounds: dutyfree gray-haired, insect-eating,
Preposition compounds: into, throughout
Endocentric & exocentric
Endocentric: one element serves as the head, the relationship of “ a kind of ” ; eg
self-control : a kind of control
armchair : a kind of chair
Exocentric: there is no head, so not a relationship of “ a kind of something ” , eg
scarecrow : not a kind of crow
breakneck : not a kind of neck
Written forms of compounds
Solid: blackboard, teapot, bodyguard
Hyphenated: wedding-ring, wave-length
Open: coffee table, washing machine
Free variation:
businessman, business-man, business man
winebottle, wine-bottle, wine bottle
no one, no-one, noone
Derivation
Class-changing:
N>V: lengthen, hospitalize, discard
N>A: friendly, delightful, speechless
V>N: worker, employee, inhabitant
V>A: acceptable, adorable
A>N: rapidness, rapidity
A>V: deafen, sweeten
Adj>Adv: exactly, quickly
Class-preserving:
N>N: nonsmoker, ex-wife, booklet
V>V: disobey, unfasten
A>A: grayish, irrelevant
3. Lexical change
Formation of new words
Phonological change
Morphosyntactic change
Semantic change
Orthographic change
3.1 Word-formation through lexical change
Invention/Coinage
Mostly brand names:
Kodak, Coke, nylon, Band-aid, Xerox, Lycra
Blending
transfer+resistor>transistor smoke+fog>smog
motorist+hotel>motel breakfast+lunch>brunch modulator+demodulator>modem dance+exercise>dancercise advertisement+editorial>advertorial education+entertainment>edutainment information+commercial>infomercial
Back-formation
diagnose < diagnosis
enthuse < enthusiasm
laze < lazy
liaise < liaison
reminisce < reminiscence
statistic < statistics
televise < television
burgle, commentate, edit, peddle, scavenge, sculpt, swindle
air-condition, babysit, brainstorm, brainwash, browbeat, dry-clean, house-hunt, housekeep, sightsee, tape-record
articulate, assassinate, coeducate, demarcate, emote, intuit, legislate,marinate, orate, vaccinate, valuate
Abbreviations
Clipping
Back-clippings: ad(vertisement), chimp(anzee), deli(catessen), exam(ination), hippo(potamus), lab(oratory), piano(forte), reg(ulation)s
Fore-clippings: (earth)quake (ham)burger, (omni)bus, (violin)cello, (heli)copter, (alli)gator, (tele)phone,
Fore-and-aft clippings: (in)flu(enza), (de)tec(tive)
Acronym
AIDS, Aids: Syndrome Acquired Immune Deficiency
ASAP: as soon as possible
CD-ROM: compact disc read-only memory
WASP: white Anglo-Saxon protestant
dink(y): double income, no kids
nilk(y): no income, lots of kids
Initialism
AI: artificial intelligence
a.s.a.p.: as soon as possible
ECU: European Currency Unit
HIV: human immunodeficiency virus
PC: personal computer
PS: postscript
RSVP: French) répondez s ’ il vous plait ( ‘ please reply ’ in
Analogical creation
From irregular to regular:
work : wrought > worked
beseech : besought > beseeched
slay : slew > slayed?
go : went > goed???
Borrowing
French: study administration, parliament, public, court, crime, judge, army, enemy, officer, peace, soldier, war, faith, religion, coat, costume, dress, fashion, jewel, dinner, feast, fry, roast, supper, toast, customer, money, price, art, college, music, poet, prose, story,
Latin: admit, client, conviction, discuss, equal, index, library, medicine, minor
Greek: catastrophe, cosmos, criterion, idiosyncrasy
Spanish and Portuguese: banana, barbecue, cafeteria, cargo, chocolate, cigar, cocaine, cockroach, cocoa, guitar, mosquito, negro, potato, tank, tobacco, tomato, vanilla
Italian: aria, bandit, broccoli, casino, concerto, duet, finale, influenza, mafia, malaria, paparazzi ( umbrella, volcano singular paparazzo), piano, pizza, solo, soprano, spaghetti, studio,
Dutch: boss, brandy, cookie, cruise, deck, dock, dollar, freight, gin, kit, knapsack, landscape, luck, sketch, slim, smuggle, snap, trek, yacht
Arabic: admiral, alchemy, alcohol, algebra, alkali, almanac, assassin, candy, hazard, lemon, magazine, safari, sofa, zero
Indian: bungalow, cashmere, curry, ginger, jungle, mango, polo, pyjamas (or pajamas), shampoo, swastika, thug, yoga
Chinese: typhoon chop suey, chow, chow mein, ginseng, gung-ho, ketchup (or catchup or catsup), kung fu, tea, tofu (via Japanese),
Types of loan words
Loanwords:
au pair, encore, coup d ’ etat, kungfu, sputnik
Loanblend
coconut: coco (Spanish) + nut (English)
Chinatown: China (Chinese) + town (English)
Loanshift
bridge: meaning as a card game borrowed from Italian ponte
Loan translation, or calque
free verse < L verse libre
black humor < Fr humour noir
found object < Fr objet trouvé
3.2 Phonological change
Loss of sound:
loss of the velar fricative /x/ O.E. which existed in
loss of sound in fast speech, eg library , laboratory
and > ’ n in connected speech, eg rock ’ n-roll
Addition of sound:
L. studium estudo > O.F. estudie , Sp. estudio , Port.
English: rascal > rapscallion Metathesis: changing the sequence of sound
O.E. brid > bird, O.E. ox/ax > ask Assimilation:
impossible, immovable
irregular, irresponsible
illogical, illegal
3.3 Morphosyntactic change
Morphological change:
third person singular present tense:
-(e)th: do(e)th, goeth, hath, findeth > -(e)s: does, goes, has, finds
the campus of the university > the university ’ s campus
Syntactic change:
He saw you not. > He didn ’ t see you.
I know not where to hide my head. > I don ’ t know where to hide my head.
Fusion/blending:
equally good + just as good > equally as good
It ’ s no use getting there before nine + There ’ s no use in getting there before nine > There ’ s no use getting there before nine.
3.4 Semantic change
Broadening:
holiday: holy day (religion) > day for rest
bird: young bird > any kind
task: tax > work
Narrowing:
meat: food >
girl: young person > young woman
deer: beast > a special kind of animal
Meaning shift:
bead: prayer > the prayer bead > small, ball-shaped piece of glass, metal or wood
Class shift: conversion to other word classes
engineer: person trained in engineering > to act as an engineer (N>V)
Folk etymology: a popular but mistaken account of the origin of a word or phrase .
history: Old French < Latin < Greek historia , meaning 'knowledge through inquiry, record, or narrative'.
his story > herstory
Fake etymology: a kind of folk etymology
Manhattan: man with hat on
MBA: married but available
PhD: perhaps have divorced
golf: Gentlemen Only; Ladies Forbidden
3.5 Orthographic change
Change of spelling:
Iesus > Jesus
sate > sat
Sunne > Sun