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Hi Jörg,<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Could you tell us more about
this? </blockquote><br>
Not a lot, unfortunately, although your question has prompted me to find
out more....*<br><br>
(I think it was) John Sinclair (who) once described lexis and grammar as
looking at <br>
language through opposite ends of the same telescope...<br><br>
Somewhere or other, I picked up the idea that if lexis and grammar were
looking at the same <br>
phenomenon (language) from different points of view, the dichotomy might
be similar to one that<br>
has confronted physicists: looking at light as particle and wave at the
same time.<br><br>
I'm sure this is an ultra-naive understanding on my part, but if you can
help, I'd be grateful.<br><br>
*e.g. Queen Mary College London
(<a href="http://www.qmw.ac.uk/~zgap118/1/%20etc" eudora="autourl">
http://www.qmw.ac.uk/~zgap118/1/ etc</a>)<br>
has some information that might help:<br><br>
<i>Energy and matter we have learnt from Einstein's theories are
analagous, matter can be simply described in terms of energy. So far we
have only discovered two ways in which energy can be transfered. These
are particles and waves....<br>
Particles are discrete, their energy is concentrated into what appears to
be a finite space, which has definite boundaries and its contents we
consider to be homogenous (the same at any point within the particle)...
</i>[<u>lexical item?</u>]<i> Particles exist at a specific location. If
they are shown on 3D graph, they have x, y, and z coordinates. They can
never exist in more than one place at once... </i><u>[so
"token" rather than "type"?] <br>
</u><i>Waves unlike particles cannot be considered a finite entity. Their
energy cannot be considered to exist in a single place since a wave by
definition varies in both displacement and in time.... In an area of
space, unlike a particle, a wave can propagate until it exists in all
locations and at all times... </i><u>[grammar?]<br><br>
</u>Best<br>
Ramesh<br><br>
At 11:00 14/12/2005, you wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<dl>
<dd>I also use the 'particle/wave' analogy for the 'lexico-grammar'<br>
<dd>continuum<br><br>
</dl><br>
Could you tell us more about this? I have never heard of it.<br><br>
Jörg<br><br>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Ramesh Krishnamurthy<br>
Lecturer in English Studies<br>
School of Languages and Social Sciences<br>
Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK<br>
Tel: +44 (0)121-204-3812<br>
Fax: +44 (0)121-204-3766<br>
<a href="http://www.aston.ac.uk/lss/english/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.aston.ac.uk/lss/english/</a> </body>
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