Alain Polguère

31 Pages·2013·3.37 MB·English

Modeling the lexicon
as a galaxy of senses:
theory, method and tools
Alain Polguère
Université de Lorraine & ATILF CNRS (Nancy)
[email protected]
Three main topics
1. Internal complexity of lexical units
2. Plausible structure of the lexicon
3. Lexicography as graph weaving
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The lexicon
is not made of “words”
Presuppositions
1. A natural language—as a system of rules—is a natural
cognitive phenomenon
2. The lexicon is the language main functional
component
3. Like astronomy, linguistics is before all
a descriptive science
4. Language has to be considered from Meaning to Text
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How do you know that your battery is dead.
5
The King is dead.
‘ no longer alive’
[being X]
dead
Your battery is dead.
Adj, intensifiers : {stiff, as __ as a doornail, …}, …
‘ no longer functional’
[device X]
dead
Adj, collocate of L( X ), …
How do you know that your battery is dead
Etc.
The room was dead silent.
‘maximally ’
[X]
In memory of the dead.
dead
‘people who are dead’
Adv, adj. modifier, collocate of L( X ), …
dead
N, def plur, …
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To sum up
We do not use words, but word-forms, that are
prototypical linguistic signs
Word-forms are complex informational entities, stored
in the Speaker’s memory, that are made up of three
non-dissociable components
Word-form
signified (content)
signifier (form)
syntactics (restricted combinatorics)
dead I dead II
Adj Adj
‘ no longer alive’ ‘ no longer functional’
[being X] [device X]
…
dead dead
Adj, intensifiers : {stiff, as __ as a doornail, …}, … Adj, collocate of L( X ), …
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But that’s not all
Inflection (bird ~ birds, am ~ are ~ is …)
lexemes, as set of word-forms:
⟹
= { bird, birds }
BIRD
Lexemes are prototypical lexical units
Phraseology
idioms—such as , —
PULL THE PLUG ON TOP OF THAT
⟹
are also full-fledged lexical units
Polysemy lexical units are grouped into vocables
⟹
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Complexity of lexical units
Each lexical unit is set of word-forms, each word-form
being a structured linguistic sign
Meaning, form and restricted combinatorics have to be
considered simultaneously in order to deal with each
single lexical unit
Otherwise, we are just “talking about words”
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It’s a small lexical world