The Lexicon--continued

Linguistics 322

The lexical entry is an example of an irregular verb: the verb hold (see lexical insertion):

 hold, held  orthographic form
 /hEld/ / ____ [ /d/ [+Past]]  irregular phonemic form (allomorph)
 /hold/  default phonemic form (allomorph)
 HOLD  conceptual form
 +V, -N, -Strong, -Weak  syntactic categorial class
 _____ NP  subcategorization
 {HOLD}  morpheme
 root/stem  morphological form
 agent, theme  theta roles
animate (agent), concrete (theme) selectional restriction
CONTAIN IN HANDS  semanti features

The second line contains the irregular forms of the verb. /hEld/ is the spell out form (phonemic) of the entry when it functions as the host for [+Past], which is spelled out as /d/.

Another example of a lexical is that of fly, which is more complex:

 fly, flew, flown   orthographic form
 /flu / ____ [+Past]  irregular phonemic form (allomorph)
 /flo/ ____ [-n [non-progressive participle]]  irregular phonemic form (allomorph)
 /flaj/  default phonemic form (allomorph)
 FLY  conceptual form
+V, -N, -Strong, -Weak  syntactic categorial class
 _____ (PP) (PP) (PP)  subcategorization
 {FLY}  morpheme
 root/stem  morphological form
 agent, theme, goal, source, path  theta roles
animate, winged (agent)  morphological form
MOVE IN AIR  semantic feaures

The verb fly here is a transitive verb (the pilot flew the plane (to Geneva)), as opposed to the intransitive verb (the plane flew (to Geneva)). The goal is optional (PP). Obviously, it is necessary to differentiate between the intransitive verb (FLY.intrans) and the transitive verb. The semantic features given here are rought and illustrative only. A complete semantic analysis is beyond the scope of this entry or L322.

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lexical insertion click here.

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