LEXICONS

By Ma. Elijah C. Nacubuan

I. Denotations, Connotations, and Cultural Associations

A. Denotation - is a word’s dictionary definition or referential meaning.

Examples: A cat is a feline quadruped. (An animal with four legs)
She was cold. (She was cold in temperature.)
B. Connotation – is the emotional association with a word. This association
can be personal.
Example: the words only, merely, and just.
I am going to buy that pen. It is (only, merely, just) 50 cents.
only is more neutral.
merely is depreciative.
just is mildly positive.

another example: just for fun can be used as an advertising slogan but,
merely for fun wouldn’t work to sell much!

From A Feminist Dictionary compiled by Kramarae and Treichler (1985)

boy. A male youth (care for primarily by women) who is in training to

support the institutions which state that his caretakers are kindly but
otherwise inferior beings .

C. Cultural Associations is when a word in one language will have an

equivalent in another.

Even concrete concepts such as mouse have culture-specific associations,

determined by ‘speakers’ interests and attitudes as much as by any denotation
although students will naturally resort to translating from their native language, as
much as possible the lexical items of English should be learned in their own right and
within context.

II. Lexical Aspect: Semantic Classes of Verbs

Verbs in any language can be classified according to the type of action or

state they describe (Vendler 1967).

A. Inherently punctual verbs:

such as kick or hit, meaning that the action is momentary, having no duration.

B. Inherently durative verbs:

such as live or work, implies that the action takes place over time.

This semantic feature is often referred to as “lexical aspect” which deals with
tense and aspect in English.

Lexical aspects of verbs express different meaning when they combine with
certain grammatical morphemes.

Example: Punctual verbs take on iterative meaning when they combine with the
progressive (be…-ing) whereas durative verbs take on a sense of “temporariness”
with the progressive.

She is hitting the rug with a stick in order to clean it. (Repeatedly)
She is working in Halifax for the summer. (Temporarily)

We could cite many categories of verbs in which the meaning of the verbs
affects other aspects of the sentence, such as what kind of complement structure –
gerund or infinitive follows a verb. We will deal with these categories as they arise in
connection with particular grammar structures. For now though, these observations
should remind us of why the term Lexicogrammar is an appropriate hybrid.

III. Argument Structure of Verbs

Argument Structure is a term used by linguists and philosophers to describe

the number of nouns or participants (i.e., arguments) typically associated with a verb
and the relationship that those nouns have with a verb.

If a verb takes one argument, in English it is intransitive and the noun

argument functions as the subject.

A. One argument: Milly jogs.

If a verb takes two arguments, one noun argument will function as the
subject; however, the other noun argument could function as a direct object or as a
locative prepositional phrase, or it could have some other role.

B. Two arguments: Lloyd drank beer.

Andrew lives in Richmond.

If the verb takes three arguments, one noun argument will function as the
subject, one will function as the indirect object or recipient and the other may
function as a direct object; or the three arguments might function as subject, direct
object, and locative prepositional phrase.

C. Three arguments: Len gave me a book.

Rhonda put the vase on the table.

D. Some arguments are optional.

Example: The verb open is a change-of-state verb and must have as an argument
the object that opens. Optionally, it can also have an argument that expresses the
agent, or cause of the opening.

One or two arguments: The door opened.

John opened the door.

Finally, some arguments are inherent in the semantic structure of a verb but
do not have to be expressed in a specific now and can be interpreted very generally.

Example: the verb eat always takes two arguments, but the direct object need not to
be overtly expressed:

John ate a sandwich.

John ate.
CHARLES FILLMORE (1968)
His approach to distinguishing verb meanings shows one application of the
notion of semantic features and argument structure of verbs that we have been
discussing.
In this examples, Fillmore proceeds to elaborate the semantic distinctions
that must be captured in the lexical entries of the verbs touch, strike and break.

1. Peter touched the window.

2. Peter struck the window.
3. Peter broke the window.

Fillmore points out that break in 3 is different from touch in 1 and strike in 2
in that 3 has a related intransitive sentence that the other two verbs do not have---
that is , one of the noun arguments is optional.

4. *The window touched

5. *The window struck.
6. The window broke.

In addition, the verb break seems to require that’s object be rigid, while
touch and strike do not share this requirement. Consider these examples:

7. Peter touched the dog.

8. Peter struck the dog.
9. Peter broke the dog.

In 7 and 8, the dog can be a living animal and the difference in meaning is
one of relative intensity of impact: striking denotes a stronger, sharper impact than
touching. In 9, dog has to be an inanimate object made of something breakable.

IV. SEMANTIC FIELDS

Semantic Fields is a cluster of words that cover a particular semantic area

and can best be understood in relation to one another.

Examples of semantic fields most often cited:

1. kinship terms (grandparent, grandchild, first cousins…)
2. Terms for colors in a language (English has 11: red, yellow, green, blue, black,
white, gray, orange, brown, pink, and purple.)

Defining colors are difficult but they can be illustrated more easily than
words in other semantic fields.
For example, adjectives denoting physical attractiveness (beautiful,
lovely, pretty, attractive, good-looking, handsome, etc.), items from the same
semantic field, have some features in common.

Table 3.1 a Semantic Feature Analysis

Adapted from Gairns and Redman (1986).

 Even this abbreviated analysis of the semantic features shoes that we can to
some extent become more precise about the meaning of the words. These three
words --- beautiful, pretty, attractive are not synonymous.

While such analysis can assist us in being able to detect differences among
these items, this type of discrete feature analysis can also be misleading. For one
thing, we may not agree on exact defining features of a word. For another, it may
be impossible to pin down all the semantic nuances of a word in sufficient detail.
(Leech 1981 suggests that most words have “fuzzy” meanings.

This will now lead us to Prototypicality.

V. Prototypicality

The notion of prototypicality, after originating in the field of psychology, has

been enthusiastically adopted by linguists to describe facts of language. Source:
(https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal:112538). Prototypicality is also
used to explore further the fuzziness of meaning.

For example:

But, there are animals that are considered mammals even though they do not
meet all the criteria (e.g., a platypus lays eggs but considered a mammal.)

As Givo’n (1993) reminds us, membership in natural categories is not

determined by rigid adherence to all criteria. Rather, membership is determined by a
cluster of criteria. Further, some of these criteria are more central than others. Thus
we might say that a bear is more prototypical mammal than a platypus.

To take a linguistic example, many verbs of speaking: say, tell, speak, talk,
mention, remark, comment, shout, whisper, and so on. If we were to perform a
componential analysis of these verbs in their semantic class, we would find that
some of the features are true of some of the verbs but not true of others.

VI. The Use of Lexical Items

Rarely will two linguistic forms mean exactly the same thing, for if they did,
there would be a little reason to have them both in the language. It is important to
remain cognizant of the differences between words and in the case of more
intermediate and advanced student, to highlight the semantic differences.
Partial synonymy - This term means that only “part of the meanings of two
(or more) words are the same”, so there is only “overlap in meaning but not
complete identity of meaning” (Jackson 1988: 73).

What distinguishes words is not always their semantic differences; words can
differ because of the area of their use: different dialects (e.g., British English lorry
versus North American truck); different registers (e.g., friend versus buddy); or they
are age-graded meaning that a certain age group will use them (e.g., adolescents
using cool as an adjective of approval); or they are no longer fashionable (e.g.,
adolescents today would not accept groovy as a substitute for cool.)

Whatever one learns about the meaning and formal requirements of a lexical
item, one cannot ignore the context in which it is used,
For example, Carter and McCarthy (1988) discuss the example of the word stocking,
which takes on a quite different meaning when it refers to silk or nylon stockings as
opposed to the Christmas stocking.
The former is worn by women while the latter is not, it is just simply stocking-shaped
containers intended for small Christmas gifts or simply Christmas decorations on the
wall or fireplaces.

VII. Collocation

Collocations are group of words that occur together.

Certain type of word co- occurrences that are governed by conventional use rather
than the form or meaning have long been studied under the label collocation.
For example:
Adjective-noun: a tall person or building (not a “high” one)
Adverb-adjective: statistically significant (not “important”)
Verb – direct object: ask/answer a question (not “say”/ “tell”)

Some collocations are more fixed that others:

Binomials – high and dry, hat and coat, pick and choose.
Trinomials - king’s ransom, a handsome/ pretty price, and a raw deal.

The difference between fixed collocations and idioms has to do with the
transparency of meaning. Idioms have meanings that are difficult to retrieve from
the lexical items themselves. (e.g., kick the bucket as a euphemism for dying),
whereas words that go together in collocations still retain their lexical meaning.
Collocations therefore is decipherable.
Computer assisted corpus research has demonstrated that a great deal of
text in English is composed of words in common patterns or in slight variants of
these patterns. (Sinclair 1991), Gillian Francis (1996), reporting on the 310 million
word Cobuild corpus of British, American and Australian English claimed that
researchers have identified over 700 patterns that are blends lexical and grammatical
elements.

One such pattern, for example consists of patterns with the verb insist:
Insist (that)
insist on
insist on Verbing
insist on Noun Phrase
insist + quotes
One conclusion we can derive from this observation is simply that words don’t
occur randomly. Once you have chosen a word, you are severely limited in your
choice of what comes next. The second point underscores what we have alluded to
several times already. When it comes to performance, syntax and lexicon are
intertwined.

VIII. Lexical Phrases or Lexicalized Sentence Stems

Lexical Phrases are also group of words that co-occur; the difference is that
lexical phrases serve specific functions. For example, the phrase by the way serves
the function of enabling the speaker to shift the topic in discourse (Nattinger and
DeCarrico 1992). As with Collocations, some lexical phrases are more fixed than
others: at any rate and what on earth fixed; a phrase like a_______N [+time] ago is
more open, allowing any nun of time (e.g., day, week to fill the slot; also open is as
far as I _____, allowing certain verbs such as know or can tell to complete the lexical
phrase.

Lexicalized sentence stems can be clause length or multiclausal.

Clause length: What’s for dinner?

Need any help?
You would ask that question.

Multiclausal: I told him, but he wouldn’t listen.

Be careful what you’re doing with that.
If I’d known then, what I know now.

In addition, according to Pawley and Syder, many semi lexicalized (because

they are less fixed) sequences possess permissible expansions or substitutions. In
such cases, a formula can be extracted that consists of nucleus of lexical and
grammatical morphemes, which normally include the verb and certain of its
arguments , as well as one or more structural elements represented by a category
symbol such as TENSE, NP (noun phrase) or PRO (pronoun), for example , in the
conventional expressions of apology for tardiness,

I’m sorry to keep you waiting.

I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting.
Mr. X is sorry to keep you waiting all this time.

A recurrent formula can be isolated together with a grammatical frame.

NP be- TENSE sorry to keep –TENSE you waiting.

While lexical phrases and lexicalized sentence stems adhere for the most part
to rules of English syntax, some are “extra grammatical”. Consider the phrases sight
unseen, all of a sudden and so far so good; each has a grammatical structure, but
not one predictable from the rules of English. Nevertheless, canonical and non-
canonical phrases exist in other languages as well and perform the same functions as
they do in English, so their existence and behavior should not come as a surprise to
ESL/EFL students.

IX. Discourse Communities

We mentioned earlier the effect of cultural differences with regard to the

connotation of words. Other linguistic differences have been viewed from a cultural
perspective as well.
Other differences accompany divergent social practices or discourse (Gee
1990). Within each discourse community, certain norms exist concerning what
concerning what constitutes appropriate ways of speaking or writing. For example,
an educational administrator might say,

Prior to the administration of the assessment instrument, a skills- level

analysis must be conducted to ascertain the critical level of preparedness of
the target population.

Whereas a classroom teacher might say,

Before we give the test, we’d better find out if these particular students are ready
for it.
 So, assessment instruments are administered and tests are given. The
administrator’s statement might seem wordy and obscure compared with the
teacher’s simple and direct way pf saying the same thing.
However, it is important to remember that language does not serve only to express
propositional meaning.

X. Conclusion

1. Nonnative speakers must master a network of related information about its

form, meaning, and use if they wish to use the item accurately, meaningfully
and appropriately.
2. We can no longer think of the lexicon as a list of words having specified
properties subject to combinatory rules. We must think of the lexicon as
being composed of multiword units as well.

3. Lexicon is anything but static.

4. The features and constraints that we have treated here as part of a lexical
item, are in fact mutable in dynamic discourse.

XI. Teaching Suggestions

1. Form. When teaching vocabulary, it is good not just to teach words but to
teach clusters of information that will help the students use the words
correctly. For example : use a/an when introducing countable nouns; use to
when introducing verbs; show that verbs are transitive by adding an
indefinite object such as something and use to be when introducing
adjectives. Also indicate any prepositions needed, where relevant.

2. Form. Recommend to students that they use good learners’ dictionaries to

find grammatical information themselves. In addition, dictionary activities can
ask students to find collocations either from the grammatical column of the
Collin’s Cobuild Dictionary or from the examples in other dictionaries.
a. Find two adjectives that can go before the noun tone.
b. What two prepositions can be used after the noun rejection?
c. Is arouse a transitive or intransitive verb? Find three nouns to go
before or after the verb arouse.

3. Form. Nation (1990:151) suggest an inductive method to draw student’s

attention to the form of words, using exercises like the following:
a. Look at the word insanity in the sentence. What part of speech is
it? Is it countable or uncountable? How do you know this?

He saw the beginning of insanity in her.

b. Look at inhabit in this sentence. What part of speech is it followed

by?
Woodpeckers inhabit hollow trees.

4. Form. Low-intermediate ESL/EFL students often confuse the related forms of

a word associated with different parts of speech. If a new vocabulary item
has related forms in other parts of speech, these words should also be
introduced with example sentences that make the part of speech easily
distinguished but that made the leaner actively discriminate with the fill-in
the-blank process. For example :
 A theory to theorize to be theoretical

Cynthia is very (1) ______ about everything. She has just developed a new (2)
_______. She (3) _________ that the less one works, the more one will succeed at
certain tasks.

5. Meaning. To encourage students to use productive word-formation processes

that have been introduced to them, contextualize definition exercises.
6. Meaning. Intermediate to advanced-level students often confuse related
derivations that have the same root and are the same part of speech.
7. Use. For more controlled work on collocations, McCarthy and O’Dell (1994:5)
suggest using “word forks” or matrices.
8. Use. Norbert Schmitt (in Nation 1994:148) suggests a game of collocation
bingo, in which the teacher reads out lists of words , and students write the
word they hear in the same square as a word on their card that they think
collocates with it. The normal game of bingo proceeds.
9. Use. As a consciousness-raising activity, bring in, or have your students bring
in several texts, two to three paragraphs in length that all deal with the same
topic in a particular discipline. Guide students in conduction a search for
lexical patterns that appear to be norms of the particular discourse
community from which the texts come.

XII. References:

FILLMORE, C.J. (1968). “LEXICAL ENTRIES FOR VERBS.”

FOUNDATIONS OF LANGUAGE 4,373-393
FRANCIS, GILLIAN (1996).”GRAMMAR AND LEXICAL PATTERNING.”
PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 11TH, WORLD CONGRASS OF APPLIED
LINGUISTICS. PERSPECTIVES OF LEXICAL ACQUISITION IN A SECOND
LANGUAGE .JYVASKYLA, FINLAND.
GAIRNS, R., AND S.REDMAN, (1986). WORKING WITH
WORDS.CAMBRIDGE:CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
GIVO’N, T. (1993).ENGLISH GRAMMAR: A FUNCTION-BASED
INSTRUCTION.