03Chater 3_lexicon.ppt

Chapter Three Lexicon Main contents word morpheme morphology lexicon 1. What is word? A vague definition: A unit of expression that has universal intuitive recognition by native speakers, whether it is expressed in spoken or written form. Three senses are involved in defining “word”, none of which is satisfactory to cope with all the situations. 1.1 Three senses of “word” A physical unit: a cluster of sound segments or letters between two pauses or blanks, e.g. 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? Word both as a general term and as a specific term A general term for word is a lexeme which includes all of the grammatical forms e.g. write, writes, writing, wrote, written A specific term for word refers to the lexical item which represents an entry in a dictionary. 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 grammatical unit: one of the ranks which constitute a hierarchical scale. sentence clause phrase word Morpheme A recommended definition a word is a sound-meaning unit and a fundamental unit of speech and writing. -- Bloomfield defines word as “a minimum free form”, that is, the smallest form that can occur by itself. Problem: sea level; seaside; sea-maiden Related terms lexis: the vocabulary of a language, in contrast to its grammar or syntax. lexicon: the set of all the words and idioms of any language, often interchangeably with vocabulary. lexeme: the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language, and abstract unit that remains constant. vocabulary: a compete inventory of the words in a language. 1.2 Identification of words Stability: stable linguistic units in respect of the internal structure. However, we can rearrange a sentence into a differ