[Lexicog] Re: lexical phrase

[John Roberts]

maxwell at ldc.upenn.edu wrote:
> Quoting John Roberts <dr_john_roberts at sil.org>:
>   
>> The Longman Dictionary of English Idioms says the meaning of 'on (the)
>> one hand ... and on the other (hand) ...' is "in one case ... and in
>> another" and is used to emphasize the comparison between two opposite
>> statements, opinions, arguments, ideas, etc. This doesn't seem very
>> non-compositional to me.
>>     
>
> I would say it was compositional if it meant s.t. like "laying across 
> one's hand" (like "Why are you looking for your scarf?  It's laying on 
> your hand!") or "stuck to one's hand" (like "Yuck--I spilled the glue, 
> and now it's on my hand!") or "covering one's hand" (like "On the one 
> hand, she wore a glove; on the other hand, she wore a sock").
>
>   
> Mmm. I was talking about the meaning of 'on the one hand' being 
> compositional. A lexeme is supposed to be a minimal semantic unit and 
> Ron is arguing that 'on the other hand' is a lexical phrase, i.e. a 
> lexeme. But I would say the meaning of 'on the one hand' has several 
> components including the fact that it is properly followed by 'on the 
> other hand'. It is first part of a comparative expression.
John Roberts
>
>
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-- 
********************
John R Roberts
SIL International Linguistics Consultant
dr_john_roberts at sil.org
********************



 
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