Week 2
What are words?
Words:
Some definitions:
o “A series of letters in a fixed order not separated by spaces” (Hannay,
Greidanus & Vliegen, 2004, p.24).
o “Any sequence of letters which in a normal typographical practice is bounded
on either side by a space” (Lyons, 1977, p.18).
Lexical units and lexemes:
Lexical units: a word or group of words with a single or related meaning.
o Dogs are unclean animals, but Roxy is a very clean dog.
o Roxy isn’t a dog but a bitch.
o This problem has dogged many people.
Lexemes:
o “Words seen as an abstract grammatical entity, represented concretely by one
or more different inflected word forms” (Carstairs-McCarthy, 2006, p.144).
Different types of lexical units:
Words:
o Simple words
o Compound words
Multiple-word lexical units:
o Idioms:
The meaning of the idiom cannot be deduced by studying the meaning
of the words separately.
They are grammatically and lexically fixed.
E.g., word of mouth, get caught red handed.
o Lexical phrases:
Polywords: short phrases that function as lexemes, e.g., in a nutshell,
to get away with murder.
Pragmatic formulae: lexical constructions in the form of complete
utterances, e.g., give me a break, long time no see, how do you do?
Phrasal constraints
Sentence builders
Proverbs and quotes
Week 3
What does meaning mean?
The person on the Clapham bus:
“Easy: the meaning of a word is what that word refers to”.
Words mean something because they point or refer to something in the real world.
, A problem with that definition:
Meaning cannot be equated with something being able to be referred to or pointed at
because not everything with meaning can be referred to or pointed at (for example,
grammatical words that have no meaning in the real world, like ‘the’ or abstract
things like socialism or love).
Richards & Ogden’s triangle:
Thought or concept
Symbol Referent
And their relationships:
Is meaning only referential or conceptual?
If so, why do we have synonyms?
o Lexical items that mean the same or almost the same as other lexical items in
the same language.
Or hypernyms?
o Lexical items with wider meanings than lexical items included in them.
Or antonyms?
o Lexical items with opposite meaning.
What are words?
Words:
Some definitions:
o “A series of letters in a fixed order not separated by spaces” (Hannay,
Greidanus & Vliegen, 2004, p.24).
o “Any sequence of letters which in a normal typographical practice is bounded
on either side by a space” (Lyons, 1977, p.18).
Lexical units and lexemes:
Lexical units: a word or group of words with a single or related meaning.
o Dogs are unclean animals, but Roxy is a very clean dog.
o Roxy isn’t a dog but a bitch.
o This problem has dogged many people.
Lexemes:
o “Words seen as an abstract grammatical entity, represented concretely by one
or more different inflected word forms” (Carstairs-McCarthy, 2006, p.144).
Different types of lexical units:
Words:
o Simple words
o Compound words
Multiple-word lexical units:
o Idioms:
The meaning of the idiom cannot be deduced by studying the meaning
of the words separately.
They are grammatically and lexically fixed.
E.g., word of mouth, get caught red handed.
o Lexical phrases:
Polywords: short phrases that function as lexemes, e.g., in a nutshell,
to get away with murder.
Pragmatic formulae: lexical constructions in the form of complete
utterances, e.g., give me a break, long time no see, how do you do?
Phrasal constraints
Sentence builders
Proverbs and quotes
Week 3
What does meaning mean?
The person on the Clapham bus:
“Easy: the meaning of a word is what that word refers to”.
Words mean something because they point or refer to something in the real world.
, A problem with that definition:
Meaning cannot be equated with something being able to be referred to or pointed at
because not everything with meaning can be referred to or pointed at (for example,
grammatical words that have no meaning in the real world, like ‘the’ or abstract
things like socialism or love).
Richards & Ogden’s triangle:
Thought or concept
Symbol Referent
And their relationships:
Is meaning only referential or conceptual?
If so, why do we have synonyms?
o Lexical items that mean the same or almost the same as other lexical items in
the same language.
Or hypernyms?
o Lexical items with wider meanings than lexical items included in them.
Or antonyms?
o Lexical items with opposite meaning.
