胡壮麟语言学程教修版订课堂笔记和讲义精选Chapter-副本.doc

Chapter 3 Lexicon 3.1 What is word? 1. What is a lexeme? A lexeme is the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language that can be distinguished from other similar units. It is an abstract unit. It can occur in many different forms in actual spoken or written sentences, and is regarded as the same lexeme even when inflected. E.g. the word “write” is the lexeme of “write, writes, wrote, writing and written.” 2. What is a morpheme? A morpheme is the smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit that cannot be divided into further smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical. E.g. the word “boxes” has two morphemes: “box” and “es,” neither of which permits further division or analysis shapes if we don’t want to sacrifice its meaning. 3. What is an allomorph? An allomorph is the alternate shapes of the same morpheme. E.g. the variants of the plurality “-s” makes the allomorphs thereof in the following examples: map – maps, mouse – mice, ox – oxen, tooth – teeth, etc. 4. What is a word? A word is the smallest of the linguistic units that can constitute, by itself, a complete utterance in speech or writing. 3.1.1 Three senses of “word” 1. A physically definable unit 2. The common factor underlying a set of forms 3. A grammatical unit 3.1.2 Identification of words 1. Stability Words are the most stable of all linguistic units, in respect of their internal structure, i.e. the constituent parts of a complex word have little potential for rearrangement, compared with the relative positional mobility of the constituents of sentences in the hierarchy. Take the word chairman for example. If the morphemes are rearranged as * manchair, it is an unacceptable word in English. 2. Relative uninterruptibility By uninterruptibility, we men new elements are not to be inserted into a word even when there are several parts in a word. Nothing is to be inserted i