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NOT a mental dictionary; much more 2

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“. . . Ergative or change of state verbs, where the direct object in the transitive sentence is the same as the subject of the verb in the intransitive one” Bounce, burn, move, shut 10

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The Lexicon ENGLISH 5050: English Syntax and Morphology All quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from chapter 3 of The Grammar Book, 2nd edition. Robert F. van Trieste, Ph.D.

The Lexicon “. . . a mental inventory of words and productive word derivational processes. . . . we consider it to comprise . . . also word compounds and conventionalized multiword phrases.” lexicogrammar “grammar and lexicon [are] opposite poles of one continuum . . . .” First “that which is accomplished grammatically in one language can be realized lexically in another.” Second “many multiword lexical units conform to the grammar of a language . . . .” “Third, when we focus on the extremes at the ends of the continuum, the dichotomy between grammar and lexicon seems to hold . . . .”

Levels of Lexical Units 3 levels “individual word and its components” un+happy= unhappy “word compounds and co-occurrences” blueberry dream about, find out “conventionalized multiword phrases” bacon and eggs, over the hill

What does it mean to know a word? “spelling (orthography) phonetic representation (pronunciation) morphological irregularity syntactic features and restrictions common derivations and collocations semantic features and restrictions pragmatic features and restrictions”

English Morphemes

8 English inflectional suffixes 1 Verb present participle -ing third person singular present tense -(e)s past tense (regular) -ed past participle -en, -ed Noun possessive (genitive) ’s John’s, Thomas’(s), girls’ plural (regular) -(e)s

8 English inflectional suffixes: 2 Adjective/Adverb comparative -er superlative -est All eight English inflectional morphemes are suffixes. Also, all inflectional morphemes in Spanish are suffixes. This is not true in all languages.

Determiner/Adjective + Noun Determiner-noun restrictions some co-occur only with uncountable nouns much, little some co-occur only with singular countable nouns a/an, each some co-occur only with plural countable nouns various, divergent Some may co-occur with all nouns the, my, his “The countability and number restrictions of all determiners and nouns must be explicitly stated in their lexical entries in the inventory of lexical items or the lexicon.”

Adjective-Prepositional Phrase Restrictions “Adjectives that follow the [copula be or some other Linking verb] are similar to verbs in that they may take objects (function transitively); however, unlike verbs, adjectives that take objects must have a preposition before the object noun. Some adjectives are inherently intransitive . . . .” “Some adjectives can be used both transitively and intransitively . . . .” Joe is handsome. Sue is fond of sweets. Sally is nervous. Sally is nervous about the quiz.

Verb-noun restrictions: 1 (Mono)Transitive [+transitive] *Marline collects. Marline collects stamps. “requires a single Noun Phrase to complement it.” Analysing Sentences, 2nd edition “special class ... that permits the absence of a partially recoverable, understood noun object” Bill smokes cigarettes. Bill smokes. Intransitive [-transitive] The mother seldom sleeps. *The mother sleeps the baby. Does not permit a direct object. Both [+/- transitive] ergative or change-of-state “little or no change of meaning” John opened the door. The door opened. Inflation increased prices. Prices increased. Ditransitive “requires TWO NPs as its complementation.” *Enid gave the professor. *Enid gave a doughnut. Enid gave the professor a doughnut.

Verb-noun restrictions: 2 Complex Transitive “take two complements: a direct object (NP) and an object-predicative. Again, the predicative can take the form of an AP, or an NP, or a PP.” Analysing Sentences, 2nd edition [48] Melvin found his own jokes extremely funny. (AP) [49] They are making Stella their spokesperson. (NP) [50] Liza has been putting the liquor under the bed. (PP) They considered the project a waste of time. (NP) *Nelly put her pencil. Prepositional “Glance, reply, refer, and look are examples of prepositional verbs-- they must be complemented by a Preposition Phrase.” Nydia glanced at her watch. *Nydia glanced.

Co-occurrence of Prepositions Prepositions must be learned in conjunction with verbs and transitive adjectives. Importance of learning words in context

End of part 1