lexis and phraseology in a systemic functional grammar gordon tucker centre for language and...
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Lexis and phraseologyin a systemic functional
grammar
Gordon Tucker
Centre for Language and Communication ResearchCardiff University
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
grammar, lexis and phraseology as linguistic phenomena
what lexical and phraseological phenomena are there to account for and model?
grammar, lexis and phraseology through the lens of SFL
how can these phenomena be modelled within a systemic functional lexicogrammar?
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The orientation of these two sessions
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overview
grammar and lexis in a model/theory of language
lexical phenomena to be accounted for
Cardiff SFG resources for modelling the lexicogrammar
where and how lexis is modelled in general
modelling the various phenomena
issues and problems for an SFG approach
grammar (syntax) and lexis
SYNTAX LEXICON
syntagmatically oriented opposition
paradigmatically oriented opposition
(meaning) potential carried by
the standard traditional view
interface
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Cognitive linguistics does not accept the sharp distinction made in generative grammar between syntax and the lexicon (…..) Rather, it contends that syntax and the lexicon form a continuum of constructions ranging from very specific elements (e.g. cat, kick the bucket) to increasingly more general patterns (e.g. noun, transitive construction)
(Cristiano Broccias 2006:81-82)
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Corpus studies, based on large collections of authentic text from a range of different sources, have provided massive evidence for the interdependence of lexis and grammar (or vocabulary and syntax). They have demonstrated that two areas that have traditionally been kept apart, both in language pedagogy and in linguistic theory, are in fact inseparable.
(Römer 2009)
The lexicon (….) is simply the most delicate grammar. In other words there is only one network of lexicogrammatical options (Halliday 1978:42)
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ship /ʃɪp / noun a large boat that carries people or goods by sea: There are two restaurants on board ship. a sailing / cargo / cruise ship a ship’s captain / crew / company / cook Raw materials and labour come by ship, rail or road. They boarded a ship bound for India. When the ship docked at Southampton he was rushed to hospital.—see also AIRSHIP, FLAGSHIP, LIGHTSHIP see JUMP V., SINK V., SPOIL V., TIGHT
verb (-pp-) 1 [VN] to send or transport sb/sth by ship or by another means of transport: The company ships its goods all over the world. He was arrested and shipped back to the UK for trial.2 to be available to be bought; to make sth available to be bought: [v] The software is due to ship next month. [VN] The company continues to ship more computer systems than its rivals.3 [VN] ~ water (of a boat, etc.) to have water coming in over the sides see SHAPE V.
ship sb off (disapproving) to send sb to a place where they will stay: The children were shipped off to a boarding school at an early age.
Lexical information (as represented in a dictionary
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1. grammatical (syntactic) relations (e.g. the word class, grammatical environment, colligation and grammatical consequences of the choice of a given lexical sense/item)
2. morphology and phonology
3. the experiential organisation of lexis
4. collocation
5. polysemy
6. field-specificity and genre-specificity
7. phraseology – idiom – metaphor - formulaicity
8. formality
9. technicality
10. Appraisal and evaluation
11. textual cohesion (e.g. lexical cohesion in Halliday and Hasan 1976)
12. social group variation
(Some of the) Lexical Phenomena to be Modelled
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LEXIS IN SYSTEMIC
FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
He [the grammarian] would like to turn the whole of linguistic form into grammar, hoping to show that lexis can be defined as ‘most delicate grammar’. The exit to lexis would then be closed, and all exponents ranged in systems.
..........................
No description has yet been made so delicate that we can test whether there really comes a place where increased delicacy yields no further systems: relations at this degree of delicacy can only be stated statistically, and serious statistical work has hardly begun. (Halliday 1961)
Halliday’s ‘grammarian’s dream’
Lexis as Most Delicate Grammar (LAMDG)
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The Problem of Lexical Description
It would take at least 100 volumes of the present size (689 pages: GHT) to extend the description of the grammar up to that point (grammar extended to the point of maximum delicacy) for any portion of the vocabulary of English, and as we have noted, the returns diminish the farther one proceeds)
(Halliday and Matthiessen 2005:46)
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‘Lexicalism’ or ‘Grammaticalism’
lexis as most delicate grammar (e.g. Halliday)
grammar as most general lexis (e.g. Sinclair)
lexical choice determined by grammatical choice
grammatical choice determined by lexical choice
or BOTH?
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Hoey’s Theory of Lexical Priming
In this book I want to argue for a new theory of the lexicon, which amounts to a new theory of language. The theory reverses the role of lexis and grammar, arguing that lexis is complexly and systemically structured and that grammar is an outcome of lexical structure.
(Hoey 2005:1)
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systemic functional approaches to lexis and phraseology
Halliday 1961Berry 1977Fawcett 1980Hasan 1985,1987Martin 1992Matthiessen 1990Cross 1993Tucker 1996a, 1996b, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2007Wanner 1997
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GENDER
animate
inanimate
ANIMALHOOD
MATURITY
differentiated
undifferentiated
human
non-human
adult
youthful
tame
wild
masc
fem
PART OF BERRY’S GENDER SYSTEMS NETWORK (BERRY 1977:62)
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Hasan 1987 ‘The Grammarian’s Dream’
gather, collect, accumulate
scatter, divide, distribute, strew, spill, share
canine
bovine
mature
immature
male
female(dog)
(cow)
(dog : cow)
(puppy : calf)
dog : bull
bitch : cow
from Martin (1992:286)
Martin (1992): Lexis and Ideation
SEX OF WEARER
FORMALITY
PART OF WEARER
non-specific
specific
unmarked
casual
head
body
on head
around neck
upper
lower
extremities
torso
long
short
closed
opening (at front)
non-supporting
supporting
inner
outer
partitioned
non-partitioned
firm
soft
holes
tubesfrom Halliday and
Matthiessen (1999:199)
male
female
items of clothing
[unmarked] [non-specific] [body] [lower]
[extremities] [supporting] [firm] shoe
[unmarked] [non-specific] [body] [lower]
[extremities] [supporting] [soft] slipper
[unmarked] [non-specific] [body] [lower] [extremities] [non-supporting] [soft]
sock
resulting selection expressions
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LEXIS IN
THE CARDIFF GRAMMAR
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System Network and Realisation Rule Resources
Available in the Cardiff Grammar for the
Modelling of Lexis
is the architecture of the Cardiff Grammar adequate for the representation of lexical and phraseological phenomena?
SYSTEM NETWORK OF
SEMANTIC FEATURES
REALISATION RULES AND
POTENTIAL STRUCTURES
SELECTION EXPRESSIONOF SEMANTIC FEATURES
ONE LAYER OF A RICHLY LABELLED TREE STRUCTURE
the core components of a simplified systemic functional grammar (from Fawcett 2008:41)
MEANING
FORM
re-entry
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(1) a full range of system network conventions
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
klmn
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o
(2) realisation rules
(a)the exponence rule
72.825 : magpie_c : h < "magpie".
Rule no 72.825: expound head of nominal group by the item “magpie”
h
ngp
magpie
(4) preferences and re-entry rules
68.42 : by_age :
mage @ 44,
for mage prefer [quality, quality of thing, presenting quality of thing, age q],
for mage re-enter at entity.
(5) re-entry into the system network
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(3) probabilities on features in systems
a
b
c
a
b 100%
c 0%
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90%
10%
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situation
thing (including minor relationship with thing)
quantityquality
entity
- MODE
- TECHNICALITY
- DIALECT
- ENTITY TYPE
the very first system in the Cardiff Grammar!
Cl
S/Ag M C/Af
ngp ngp
h dd m h
he kissed his little sister
SYSTEM
NETWORK
SELECTION
EXPRESSION
(REALISATION RULES)
[action, two role process (1), contact, kick (3) , agent subject theme (5), information giver (6) pastness (7) , not retrospective, not modalised (31), circumstance unspecified, positive (44), etc. etc.]
FUNCTIONAL
STRUCTURE
‘Cl’ , S @ 33, Ag by S, m < “little” etc.
Where and how is lexis represented in the Cardiff Grammar?
1. Where?
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SEMANTICS GRAMMATICAL UNIT LEXICAL CLASS
Situation Clause lexical verb
Thing nominal group noun
Quality adjectival/adverbial group adjectiveadverb
Minor Relationship prepositional group preposition
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From Semantics to Grammartical Unit to Lexical Class
action
mental
relational
like, love, think, see, hear, understand etc.
eat,run, touch, break, repair etc.
be, become, equal, represent etc.
system network forTRANSITIVITYrealised in the Clause
process type
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cultural classification
particularisation
THING
quantification
premodificationmodification
postmodification
mass
count
happiness
hammer
e.g. the, this, that, these, my
e.g. a, some, three,
big, unusual
which we liked
systems in the network for THING (meanings realised in the nominal group)
(nominal group)
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quality presented
QUALITY ROLE
QUALITY TYPE
TEMPERING
CO-ORDINATION
quality of thing carefulquality of situation carefullyrelative differentthing oriented bigsituation oriented easyenvironmental sunny
tempered veryuntemperedtempering sought how
co-ordinated red and whitenot co-ordinated
systems in the network for QUALITY (meanings realised in the adjectival and adverbial groups)
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Where and how is lexis represented in the Cardiff Grammar?
2. How?
• system network is traversed
• features are collected (selection expression)
• realisation rules on features are executed
• lexicalisation is associated with ‘exponence’
• some element of structure (e.g. the head of the nominal group) is ‘expounded by’ some lexical (and/or) morphological item
selecting lexical senses* and items
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realisation rules
filling rules insert a unit of structure (e.g. clause, adjectival group)
‘ngp’ (= fill an element of structure with a nominal group)
componence rules insert an element of structure
‘h’ @ 84 ( = insert a ‘head’ into the ngp structure at place 84)
exponence rules insert a lexical (or morphological item)
h < “player” (expound the ‘head’ element with the item ‘player’)
S ngp
ngp
h
h
player
Tom Bartlett is a terrible darts player
h h
ngp ngp
mmdd
S M C
Cl
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tool as such saw
tool hammer
tool specified screwdriver
chisel
drill
part of a simplified ‘lexical’ system network
whole
head
part
shaft
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from grammatical to lexical choice
increase in delicacy
grammatical…………………………………………lexical
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What lexical phenomena can be represented in an SFG approach such as the Cardiff Grammar?
1. grammatical (syntactic) relations (e.g. the word class, grammatical environment, colligation and grammatical consequences of the choice of a given lexical sense/item)
2. morphology and phonology
3. the experiential organisation of lexis
4. collocation
5. polysemy
6. field-specificity and genre-specificity
7. phraseology – idiom – metaphor - formulaicity
8. formality
9. technicality
10. Appraisal and evaluation
11. textual cohesion (e.g. lexical cohesion in Halliday and Hasan 1976)
12. social group variation
(Some of the) Lexical Phenomena to be Modelled
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modelling the various phenomena
1. The grammar of lexis
• general grammar-lexis correlations – general colligations
• the individual grammar of lexical sense/items – individual colligations
general grammar lexis correlations
assigns a lexical item to a word class through its exponence relationship with a functional element of structure
M < ‘give’ h < ‘electricity’ a < ‘happy’ p < ‘with’specifies the grammatical context(s) in which a lexical item/word class operates
determiner + modifier + head + qualifier
determiner + adjective + noun + relative clause/prepositional group
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N.B. No explicit reference to word class labels such as ‘noun’, ‘adjective’ etc.
The grammar:
individual grammar-lexis correlations
specifies grammatical dependency associated with a lexical sense
e.g. complementation of verbs, intensification and complementation of adjectives
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she likes to go out on Fridaysshe likes going out on Fridaysshe likes parties
angry with the governmentangry about the decisionangry at the prime minister
The Grammar of Verbs
TRANSITIVITY
mental
cognition
emotion
perception
simple perceiver
affected perceiver
agent perceiver
perc third party agent]
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simple perceiver
seeing
feeling
hearing
places the M (Main Verb) in the clause expounds the M with a lexical item (e.g. heard) specifies and places any realised associated Participant
Role(s) specifies re-entry and preferences for the Participant
Role(s)
specifies any complementation types, re-entry and preferences, particularly in the case of mental processes
e.g. he heard the intruderhe heard the intruder arrivinghe heard the intruder arrive
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Cl
S/Per M C/Ph
heard
ngp ngp
Victor the intruder
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positive liking
negative liking
normal like
high love
very high adore
normal dislike
high loathe
very high detest
mental…
the grammar of individual lexical items: verb complementation
in and out of lexis
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positive liking:
[+ V-ing]
[+to + infinitive]
[+ngp]
negative liking:
[+ngp]
[+V-ing] (rare)
[+to + infinitive] (v.v. rare or unattested)
different probabilities of rareness between dislike, loathe and detest
complementation of [liking] processes
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positive liking
negative liking
normal like
high love
very high adore
normal
high hate
very high loathe
70% Ph thing
70% prospective
30% Ph situation
dislike 30% performance
95% Ph thing
5% Ph performance
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consequences
lexicalise: M < “dislike”
for Ph re-enter system network for ENTITY TYPE,
prefer [95% thing/5% situation, dependent situation, performance] (e.g. ing)
for Em enter system network for Thing,
prefer [concrete, living, 95% human – 5% animal] LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
like
dislike
lexicalise as
‘dislike’
re-enter network for situation (clause) or thing (nominal group) for complementation
re-entry into the system network with probabilities set
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lexical items have their own grammar
mental process remember in sense of ‘celebrate’ or ‘hold a special place in one’s memory’
he is remembered by old timers as the doctor who never sent the bill (COBUILD)
the 1991 cup will always be remembered (COBUILD)
30% active
70% passive
‘lexis or grammar first’ issue
cultural classification
particularisation
THING
quantification
premodificationmodification
postmodification
mass
count
happiness
hammer
sawe.g. the, this, that, these, my
e.g. a, some, three,
big, unusual
that we wanted
Lexical items often have their own grammar (?)
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2. Experiential Meaning
lexical organisation in terms of lexical semantic relations
a holding position?
61
The Experiential Organisation of Lexis
lexical semantic relations
hyponymymeronymyopposition (e.g. antonymy, complementarity etc.)identity (synonymy) (similarity) cross-classification
thing
living non-living
animal plant natural thing artefact
fish mammal insect tree flower rock water instrument building
taxonomy/hyponymy
63
th
ing
liv
ing
n
on-l
ivin
g
a
nim
al pla
nt
n
atu
ral th
ing art
efa
ct
fish
mam
mal in
sect
t
ree fl
ow
er
r
ock
w
ate
r inst
rum
ent
build
ing
system network
64
tool as such tool saw saw
tool hammer hammer
tool specified screwdriver screwdriver
chisel chisel
drill drilltool as such : h < “tool”
hammer : h < “hammer”
HYPONYMY
whole saw
saw
part saw
whole saw : h < “saw”
handle : h < “handle”
MERONYMY
handle
blade
parts are generalised to the extent that they are shared by different ‘wholes’
sharp : a < “sharp”
hard : a < “hard”
OPPOSITION
sharp
edge of object
blunt
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5. POLYSEMY AND
HOMONYMY
Head
1. the part of the body which contains the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and the brain - in animals at the front of the body, in man on top, a bonobo’s head
2. the end where this part rests, the head of the bed, of the grave
3. the mind or brain, my heart says yes, but my head says no
4. a ruler or leader, head of state
5. a headache, I’ve got a terrible head this morning
6. the front side of a coin, heads or tails?
7. a measure of height or distance, he won by a short head
POLYSEMY
69
specifies polysemy/homonymy
whole body
part of bodyheadlimbchest
whole bed
part of bedhead
foot
whole hammer
part of hammershaft
head
animal….
furniture…
tool…
h < ‘head’
h < ‘head’
h < ‘head’
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natural thing
artefact
furniture
use of land
......
......
......
......
......
......
......
bed (32)
garden
for vegetables
for flowers (208)
32: bed : h < “bed”208 : for flowers : h < “bed”
A condensed and simplified section of the network showing different paths for two senses of the noun
BED
POLYSEMY
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4. COLLOCATION
(a lexical co-occurrence relationship)
top collocates of ?Collins Wordbanks data + BNC data
span of 4 words either side of node
(T- and Z-scores > 9.00)
abandonaboardaircraftbigboardcaptaincargocarrycontainer
planerescuesailseashoresinkspacetall
crewcruisegreek greenpeacehospitalnavalnavypassengerpirate
top collocates of ?Collins Wordbanks data + BNC data
: span of 4 words either side of node
(T- and Z-scores > 9.00)
aboardfishfleethireinflatablemissmoormotornarrow
ownerpatrolpeoplepleasureracerescuerideriverrockrow
sailsinkseashowsmallspeedtraintripvietnamesewater
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Subject + Main Verb + [Complement(s)] + [Adjunct(s)]
Participant + Process + [Participant(s)] + [Circ(s)]
Noun + Verb + Noun/Adjective + Noun
thieves + steal + money + weekend
Modifier + Head Temperer + Apex
Quality + Thing Intensifier + Quality
Adjective + Noun Adverb + Adjective
clever + thieves very + clever
Some very clever thieves stole the money over the weekend
specifies collocational relations
lexical collocates or semantic classes of collocates that expound any functional element(s) associated with the functional element expounded by the lexical item in question (the collocant) may be specified by probabilistic preference statements.
Word Overall frequency Joint frequency t-score
red 10498 270 16.098332white 17801 232 14.621772
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COLOUR COLLOCATES OF WINE
wine (1)
beer
cider
for modifier prefer [50% classifying, (48% red, 48% white), (30% dry, 30% medium, 20% sweet)]
50% red0% black0% green50% white0% blue0% yellow
if [wine] then
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absolutely
48 41.65
most 117 40.0so 68 31.41truly 18 29.62really 25 23.19quite 20 20.99very 28 18.58just 19 16.67rather 10 16.55perfectly 3 9.56pretty 3 9.3deeply 2 7.04especially
2 6.87
simply 2 5.36
modifiers of wonderful (BNC through Kilgarriff’s Sketch Engine)
absolutely 22 36.37
most 21 24.51
really 10 18.75
truly 3 13.17
so 6 11.56
increasingly
3 11.3
just 3 6.83
modifiers of fantastic (BNC through Kilgarriff’s Sketch Engine)
preferences for re-entry for the tempering (intensification) of fantastic
for td (degree temperer) prefer
[tempered quality, by degree, relative degree, higher degree, 0% simple intensity /30% hyperbolic intensity/ 20% simple affective emphasis/ 30% insistent affective emphasis/20%pseudo-superlative]
N.B. [simple intensity] is essentially removed from system (0%)
so no *very fantastic
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9. TECHNICALITY
technicality
heart specialist
bell ringer
campanologist
if [technical] then h < “campanologist, else h < “bell ringer”
cardiologist
82
technicality
technical
bell ringer
non-technical
83
technicality
bell ringer
campanologist
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6. FIELD SPECIFICITY
lexical fields and genres
lexical field specification leads to probabilistic preferences across the network
if {gardening} prefer:
grow, weed, dig, prune, plant, water, rake, etc.
soil, garden, border, plants, vegetables, leaves, flower etc.
ripe, young, dead, green, diseased, bumper etc.
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many of these will be specified by preferences
e.g. plant (process) will specify roses, vegetables, trees etc. as preferential complement
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7. CONGRUENT VERSUS
METAPHORICAL/IDIOMATIC REALISATION
congruent versus metaphorical/idiomatic
a nuisance
a pain in the neck
relax
take it easy
enjoy oneself
have a good time
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congruence/metaphorical
congruenta pain in the neck
metaphoricalcongruence
nuisance nuisance
if metaphorical then re-enter at thing, prefer ………., else h < “nuisance”
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8. FORMALITY
scale of formality
inebriated
intoxicated
drunk
sloshed
pissed
rat-arsed
(experiential denotatative equivalence)
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state of drunkenness
if formal then h < “intoxicated”if casual then h < “sloshed”
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9. APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION
appraisal and evaluation
affect
judgement
appreciation
lexical resource
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10. LEXICAL COHESION
logogenesis and lexical cohesion
referent thing
the Rottweiler
the dog
the animal
the hound
the beast
the thing
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11. CROSS-CLASSIFICATION
cross-classifies all lexical senses in terms of contextual and lexicogrammatical relevant
features
CULTURAL CLASSFICIATION
FIELD SPECIFICITY
FORMALITY
TECHNICALITY
SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABILITYLINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
cross-classifies all lexical senses in terms of contextually and lexicogrammatically relevant features (multiple metafunctional
determination)
CULTURAL CLASSIFICATION
FIELD SPECIFICITY
FORMALITY
TECHNICALITY
SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABILITY
foodgrubnoshnourishment etc
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theoretical and descriptive issues with the ‘lexis as most delicate grammar’ approach
‘top-down’ perspective
computational applications of SFG ‘execute’ system networks in a left-right, top-down manner, moving from major clause systems to group systems. The choice of nominal lexis is therefore procedurally dependent on systems in the clause.
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system network as relation
clause and verbal lexis
ngp and nominal lexis
adjectival group and adjectival lexis
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some problematic issues with the LAMDG approach
1. lexical systems cannot (yet?) be entirely motivated formally (as are grammatical systems)
2. individual lexical senses/items often have their own external grammar
3. does lexical choice follow or precede grammatical choice?
4. Where does phraseology fit in?LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
1. lexical systems cannot (yet) be motivated formally
“It may well be that the nature of language is such that this ‘most delicate grammar’ will evaporate in distinctions which are so slenderly statistical that the system has, in effect, been replaced by the open set” (Halliday 1961/1976:69).
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identification of lexical items by grammatical means
the difference between any lexical item in the language and any other, however minimal semantically, has a grammatical reflex (reactance)
no two lexical items in the language share exactly the same set of grammatical contexts
In reality, these grammatical contexts are of both a grammatical and a lexical nature (hence lexicogrammatical contexts)
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(co-)occurrence tendencies(from corpus linguistic investigation)
• collocational: a tendency to co-occur with certain lexical items or semantic classes of lexical item
• colligational: a tendency to co-occur in certain grammatical frameworks rather than others
• discoursal: a tendency to occur in certain contexts within discourses/texts
• registerial/generic: a tendency to occur in certain registers and genres rather than others
• Lexical Priming (Hoey 2005)these are tendencies, expressible probabilistically
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THINGS [nouns]
PROCESSES [verbs]
QUALITIES [adjectives/adverbs]
SPATIO-TEMPORAL AND LOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS [prepositions]
lexical classes maximally distinguished by the grammar
although they do cross-classify semantically
e.g. please, pleasure, pleasant, pleasantly
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COUNT
THING
NON-COUNT (MASS)
classes of THING (nouns) maximally distinguished by the grammar
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count
THING
mass
increase in delicacy
concreteabstractevent
concreteabstractevent
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living
concrete natural
non-living
artefactual
further increase in delicacy
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33
0.69%0.69%
104104
24.07%24.07%
4141
9.49%9.49%
5555
12.73%12.73%
113113
26.15%26.15%
116116
26.85%26.85%boatboat
3535
8.72%8.72%
3030
7.48%7.48%
6262
15.46%15.46%
6565
16.20%16.20%
115115
28.67%28.67%
9494
23.41%23.41%shipship
77
1.73%1.73%
22
0.49%0.49%
8484
20.79%20.79%
4545
11.13%11.13%
121121
29.95%29.95%
145145
35.89%35.89%vesselvessel
gengenmmqqAACCSS
distribution of nouns by external (clause) function
S = Subject A = Adjunct m = modifier (in ngp)
C = Complement q = qualifier (in ngp) g = genitive (in ngp)
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
142142
38%38%
3232
8%8%
8181
21%21%
119119
32%32%
3636
10%10%
140140
37%37%
179179
47%47%boatboat
377377
149149
40%40%4646
12%12%
4848
13%13%
129129
34%34%
3636
10%10%
150150
40%40%
135135
36 %36 %shipship
377377
206206
46%46%
103103
23%23%
2626
6%6%
127127
28%28%
4343
10%10%
184184
41%41%
179179
40%40%vesselvessel
452452
modmodqualqualqaqapapapppppspsplpl
distribution of nouns by internal relations (within the nominal group)
pl = plural ps = particularised singular pp = particularised plural
pa = particularised alone qa = quantified alone qual = qualified
mod = modifiedLINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
TRANSITIVITY
MOOD
THEME
VOICE
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
the influence of lexical choice on other grammatical systems
mental process remember in sense of ‘celebrate’ or ‘hold a special place in one’s memory’
he is remembered by old timers as the doctor who never sent the bill (COBUILD)
the 1991 cup will always be remembered (COBUILD)
30% active
70% passive
‘lexis or grammar first’ issueLINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
Idiom
“The principle of idiom is that a language user has available to him or her a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they might be analysable into segments” (Sinclair 1987:320)
Where does phraseology fit in?
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
phraseological expressions
phraseological/idiomatic multi-word expressions can be specified by ‘pre-determined pathways’ through the system network
obligatory features are assigned 100%, as are all features in their path
semi-fixed elements will be specified by relative probabilities (e.g. 60% - 40%)
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
(…) semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they might be analysable into segments” (Sinclair 1987:320)
....you hear she's popped her clogs .... (COBUILD)
The process pop and the thing clog are obligatorily co-selected
clog obligatorily selects for plural clogs clogs co-selects possessive determiner (his, her,
their etc) The majority of clause elements are available as
with the process die (TENSE, ASPECT, POLARITY, CIRCUMSTANCE etc.) but with some important restrictions
? he was popping his clogs when I last saw him
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
direct die@
congruent
euphemistic pass@ away
dying
kick-the-bucket idiomatic kick@ the bucket
pop-one’s-clogs
pop@ + dd + clogs
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
Preselection
all features marked
preselected by rule
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
path 1
path 2
path 3
path 4
a pre-determined pathway through a system network
100%
100%100% 100%
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
because of the selection of features (and associated realisation rules) the expression will have a ‘regular’ lexicogrammatical representation.
this is important (and necessary) for semi-fixed expressions
and even for fixed expressions which can be subject to creativity
the representation will not necessarily be ‘literal’
e.g pop one’s clogs is a one role process, like die, so one’s clogs is not a normal complement, but an extension of the verb pop.
because of obligatory feature selection, the outputted expression is tantamount to unanalysed
Bruce Lee popped some amyl nitrate and his clogs (COBUILD)
some features of phraseological representation in the Cardiff Grammar
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
phraseology, formulaicity, idiomaticity etc
fixed and semi-fixed expressions that seem to be outside of the lexicogrammatical area, or somewhere between grammar and lexis
by and large
the thin end of the wedge
to tell you the truth
on a bender
have a nice day
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010
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