Chapter Three Lexicon

1. Chapter Three Lexicon

2. 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 “word”, none of which is satisfactory to cope with all the situations.

3. 1.1 Three senses of “word” • A physical unit: a cluster of sound segments or letters between two pauses or blanks, eg • Phonological: • Orthographic: It is wonderful. • Three words are recognized.

4. However, in casual speech or writing, it often becomes: • Phonological: • Orthographic: It’s wonderful. • Are they two words or three?

5. 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?

6. A lexical item or a lexeme • A lexical item is an entry in a dictionary. A lexemeWRITE includes all of its grammatical forms: • write, writes, writing, wrote, written

7. A grammatical unit: sentence clause phrase word morpheme • Problem: blackboard

8. 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 ...

9. A minimum free form: the smallest unit that can constitute a complete utterance by itself, eg • —Is Jane coming tonight? • —Possibly. • Hi. • Wonderful.

10. 1.3 Classification of words • Variable vs. Invariable Words: • Variable words: write, writes, writing, wrote, written; cat, cats. • Invariable words: since, when, seldom, through, etc.

11. Grammatical vs. Lexical Words: • Grammatical/Function words: conjunctions, prepositions, articles, pronouns. • Lexical/Content words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. • 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.

12. Word class: known as Parts of Speech in traditional grammar. • 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.

13. 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.

14. 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. Determiner

16. Predeterminers:all, both; half, one-third, three-quarters …; double, twice, three times …; such, what (exclamative) • Central determiners:the; this, these, that, those; PossP; 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

17. *their all trouble • *five the all boys • *all this boy • *all both girls

18. 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. The Grammar of Words

19. 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.

20. 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-.

21. 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.

22. 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).

23. Base: a morpheme to which an affix is added, eg • friend root > base • friendly root/base + suffix > base • unfriendly prefix + base > base • unfriendliness base + suffix > base?

24. 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.

25. 2.3 Word-formation

26. Inflection • Nominal forms: boys, boy’s • Verb forms: wants, wanted, wanting • Adjective/adverb forms: smaller, smallest Inflection

27. Compounding • Two or more free roots combine to make a new word. • Noun compounds: daybreak, playboy, haircut, windmill • Verb compounds: brainstorm, lipread, babysit • Adjective compounds: gray-haired,insect-eating, dutyfree • Preposition compounds: into, throughout

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. Class-preserving: • N>N: nonsmoker, ex-wife, booklet • V>V: disobey, unfasten • A>A: grayish, irrelevant Class preserving

32. 3. Lexical change • Formation of new words • Phonological change • Morphosyntactic change • Semantic change • Orthographic change

33. 3.1 Word-formation through lexical change • Invention/Coinage • Mostly brand names: • Kodak, Coke, nylon, Band-aid, Xerox, Lycra

34. 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

35. Back-formation • diagnose < diagnosis • enthuse < enthusiasm • laze < lazy • liaise < liaison • reminisce < reminiscence • statistic < statistics • televise < television

36. 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

37. Abbreviations • Clipping • Back-clippings: ad(vertisement), chimp(anzee), deli(catessen), exam(ination), hippo(potamus), lab(oratory), piano(forte), reg(ulation)s • Fore-clippings: (ham)burger, (omni)bus, (violin)cello, (heli)copter, (alli)gator, (tele)phone, (earth)quake • Fore-and-aft clippings: (in)flu(enza), (de)tec(tive)

38. Acronym • AIDS, Aids: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome • 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

39. 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: répondez s’il vous plait (‘please reply’ in French)

40. Analogical creation • From irregular to regular: • work: wrought > worked • beseech: besought > beseeched • slay: slew > slayed? • go: went > goed??? He goed there

41. Borrowing • French: 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, study

42. 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

43. Italian: aria, bandit, broccoli, casino, concerto, duet, finale, influenza, mafia, malaria, paparazzi (singular paparazzo), piano, pizza, solo, soprano, spaghetti, studio, umbrella, volcano • Dutch: boss, brandy, cookie, cruise, deck, dock, dollar, freight, gin, kit, knapsack, landscape, luck, sketch, slim, smuggle, snap, trek, yacht

44. 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: chop suey, chow, chow mein, ginseng, gung-ho, ketchup (or catchup or catsup), kung fu, tea, tofu (via Japanese), typhoon

45. 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

46. Loan translation, or calque • free verse < L verse libre • black humor < Fr humour noir • found object < Fr objet trouvé

47. 3.2 Phonological change • Loss of sound: • loss of the velar fricative /x/ which existed in O.E. • loss of sound in fast speech, eg library, laboratory • and > ’n in connected speech, eg rock-’n-roll

48. Addition of sound: • L. studium > O.F. estudie, Sp. estudio, Port. estudo • 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

49. 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

50. 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.