[Lexicog] Re: embiggen

[John Roberts]

Rudy,

The semantic formalisms I presented are standard RRG representations of the 
logical structures of verbs. Classifying verbs into state, activity, 
achievement, semelfactive, accomplishment and active accomplishment is based 
on the work of Vendler (1957, 1967) and Dowty (1979). I don't know of a 
dictionary that applies these classifications.

I agree. Verbs like 'lengthen' and 'widen' allow for both the inchoative 
interpretation [+telic] and the process interpretation [-punctual].
So the representations should be:
BECOME long' (y)
E.g. The days lengthen over the summer.
BECOME wide' (y)
E.g. The motorway widens around Birmingham.

I put my LSs together too quickly and I was having trouble with saying 
something like "x lengthened in an hour".

Do you have a reference on the Michael Hammond article?

Why is EN-___-EN a circumfix? I understood that a circumfix is a unitary 
affix (i.e. a morpheme) that is realised by both a prefix and a suffix. With 
EN-___-EN you have a prefix with a Latinate origin and a suffix with an OE 
origin that presumably have come into the English language at different 
times. You also have examples of the prefix EN- without -EN and -EN without 
EN-, which indicates they can function independently of each other. E.g.

to light vt "to give light to"
to lighten vt "to make light, lighter or brighter"
to enlight vt "to shed light on"
to enlighten vt "to lighten or shed light on"

(Taken from my Chambers English dictionary.)

You said EN-___-EN is a favorite problem example that has been around in 
linguistics workbooks for 50 years. Curious I haven't seen it. What is the 
solution?

John Roberts




 
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