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Chapter 3
Lexicon
1. What is word?
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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.
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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
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A lexical item is an entry in a dictionary. A
lexeme WRITE includes all of its
grammatical forms:
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write, writes, writing, wrote, written
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A grammatical unit:
sentence
clause
phrase
word
morpheme
Problem: blackboard
1.2 Identification of words
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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 ...
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A minimum free form: the smallest unit that
can constitute a complete utterance by itself,
eg
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--Is Jane coming tonight?
--Possibly.
Hi.
Wonderful.
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1.3 Classification of words
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Variable vs. Invariable Words:
Variable words: write, writes, writing, wrote,
written; cat, cats.
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Invariable words: since, when, seldom,
through, etc.
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Grammatical vs. Lexical Words:
Grammatical/Function words: conjunctions,
prepositions, articles, pronouns.
Lexical/Content words: nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
all
all
Central
her
her
her
Post
many
many
many
all
what a
the
one
a few
both my father’s
Modifier Noun
good
good
good
good
good
good
good
good
ideas
ideas
ideas
ideas
ideas
ideas
idea
idea
ideas
parents
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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
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*their all trouble
*five the all boys
*all this boy
*all both girls
2. Morphology
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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
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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
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Free vs. Bound morphemes:
Free morphemes: those that may constitute
words by themselves, eg boy, girl, table,
nation.
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Bound morphemes: those that cannot occur
alone, eg -s, -ed, dis-, un-.
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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.
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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).
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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?
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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
2.3.1 Inflection
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Nominal forms: boys, boy’s
Verb forms: wants, wanted, wanting
Adjective/adverb forms: smaller, smallest
2.3.2 Compounding
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Two or more free roots combine to make a
new word.
Noun compounds: daybreak, playboy,
haircut, windmill
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Verb compounds: brainstorm, lipread,
babysit
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Adjective compounds: gray-haired, insect-
eating, dutyfree
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Preposition compounds: into, throughout
Endocentric & exocentric
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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
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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
2.3.3 Derivation
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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
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Class-preserving:
N>N: nonsmoker, ex-wife, booklet
V>V: disobey, unfasten
A>A: grayish, irrelevant
3. Lexical change
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Formation of new words
Phonological change
Morphosyntactic change
Semantic change
Orthographic change
3.1 Word-formation through
lexical change
3.1.1 Invention/Coinage
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Kodak, Coke, nylon, Xerox, Bandit, Lycra
3.1.2 Blending
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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
3.1.3 Abbreviations
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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).
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Acronym
AIDS, Aids: Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome
ASAP: as soon as possible
CD-ROM: compact disc read-only memory
dink(y): double income, no kids
WASP: white Anglo-Saxon protestant
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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)
3.1.4 Back-formation
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burgle, commentate, edit, peddle, scavenge,
sculpt, swindle
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air-condition, babysit, brainstorm,
brainwash, browbeat, dry-clean, house-hunt,
housekeep, sightsee, tape-record
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articulate, assassinate, coeducate,
demarcate, emote, intuit, legislate,marinate,
orate, vaccinate, valuate
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diagnose < diagnosis
enthuse < enthusiasm
laze < lazy
liaise < liaison
reminisce < reminiscence
statistic < statistics
televise < television
3.1.5 Analogical creation
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From irregular to regular:
work: wrought > worked
beseech: besought > beseeched
slay: slew > slayed?
go: went > goed???
3.1.6 Borrowing
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French: administration, parliament, public,
revenue, tax; court, crime, defendant, judge,
jury, justice, pardon, sue; army, enemy,
guard, officer, peace, soldier, war; clergy,
faith, prayer, religion, sermon, service; coat,
costume, dress, fashion, frock, jewel, lace;
boil, dinner, feast, fry, roast, supper, toast;
bargain, butcher, customer, grocer, money,
price, value; art, college, music, poet, prose,
story, study
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Latin: admit, client, conviction, custody,
discuss, equal, index, infinite, intellect,
library, medicine, minor, opaque, prosecute,
pulpit, scribe, scripture, simile, testimony
Greek: acme, bathos, catastrophe, cosmos,
criterion, idiosyncrasy, kudos, misanthrope,
pathos, pylon, therm
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Spanish and Portuguese: anchovy, armada,
banana, barbecue, cafeteria, cannibal, canoe,
canyon, cargo, cask, chilli (or chili),
chocolate, cigar, cocaine, cockroach, cocoa,
desperado, embargo, guitar, mosquito,
negro, port (wine), potato, ranch, renegade,
sherry, siesta, tango, tank, tobacco, tomato,
vanilla
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Italian: aria, artichoke, bandit, broccoli,
cameo, carnival, casino, concerto, duet,
finale, ghetto, graffiti (singular graffito),
incognito, inferno, influenza, larva, libretto,
macaroni, maestro, mafia, malaria,
paparazzi (singular paparazzo), piano, pizza,
ravioli, regatta, replica, scampi, solo,
soprano, spaghetti, studio, umbrella,
vendetta, vermicelli, volcano
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Dutch: apartheid, booze, boss, brandy, buoy,
coleslaw, commando, cookie, cranberry,
cruise, deck, decoy, dock, dollar, dope, easel,
excise, freight, furlough, gin, kit, knapsack,
landscape, luck, onslaught, pickle, reef,
sketch, skipper, slim, smuggle, snap, snip,
trek, waffle, wagon, yacht
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Hebrew: amen, babel, cabbala (or cabala,
kabbala, kabala), camel, cherub, jubilee,
manna, messiah, sabbath, satan, seraph,
shibboleth
Arabic: admiral, albatross, alchemy, alcohol,
alcove, algebra, alkali, almanac, amber,
assassin, candy, cipher (or cypher), harem,
hazard, lemon, magazine, nadir, safari,
sherbet, sofa, syrup, zenith, zero
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Indian: bungalow, cashmere, chutney, cot,
curry, dinghy, ginger, guru, juggernaut,
jungle, jute, loot, mango, pariah, polo,
punch, pundit, pyjamas (or pajamas),
shampoo, swastika, thug, toddy, veranda (or
verandah), yoga
Chinese: chop suey, chow, chow mein,
ginseng, gung-ho, ketchup (or catchup or
catsup), kung fu, tea, tofu (via Japanese),
typhoon
3.1.7 Types of loan words
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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
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Loan translation, or calque
free verse < L verse libre
black humor < Fr humour noir
found object < Fr objet trouvé
3.2 Phonological change
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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-’nroll
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Addition of sound:
L. studium > O.F. estudie, Sp. estudio, Port.
estudo
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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
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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
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Syntactic change:
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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.
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Fusion/blending:
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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.
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3.4 Semantic change
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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
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Meaning shift:
bead: prayer > the prayer bead > small, ballshaped 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)
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Folk etymology: the history of a word is
derived from nonscientific speculation or
false analogy with another word, often based
on their syllabic structure -- pretending
words mean what they used to, thus creating
new words based on such speculation.
history > herstory (not only his story but also
her story)
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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
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Change of spelling:
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Iesus > Jesus
sate > sat
Sunne > Sun
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