[Lexicog] Re: When Semantics Doesn't Matter

[Hayim Sheynin]

Dear John,

My question was not a theoretical, but a practical one. When I put a lemma as a representative item in a dictionary (and lemma for me means a word),  I can store in a phraseology unit of an entry all the combinations of  words including  what  many lexicographers call  lexemes. My question is, do you have in mind to equate "lexeme" with "lemma", i.e. to place a lexeme as a lemma in the dictionary?
In the case "kick the bucket", we put this expression under lemma "kick" and also under lemma "bucket" with the proper explanation of the idiom, and the same way we deal with "chance" expressions, such as 
by chance
 grab the chance
 stand a chance
 jump at the chance
 not stand a chance
 take a chance
This was the way of all traditional dictionaries and lexicons (lexica) of the past.

Hayim

John Roberts <dr_john_roberts at sil.org> wrote:                                      
 Hayim Sheynin wrote: 
    Dear members of the list,
   
 Can somebody explain to me, why it is necessary to broaden
 the concept of lexeme, including many word locutions as one
 lexeme. I usually put these locution into phraseology group like
 idioms and identify lexeme with word.
   
 Hayim Sheynin
   
    Hayim,
 
 Lexeme, by definition, is a unit of vocabulary and a lexicon is a listing of all the lexemic units in a language. A lexeme as a unit of vocabulary is most typically a word, but it can be a "stored" sequence of words or morphemes. The stored and listed vocabulary items are what are considered to be the input to the grammar to produce sentences.
 
 Take the expression "kick the bucket" in English. You cannot derive the meaning of 'die' from the composition of the parts of this expression. "kick" means 'kick', "the" means 'the' and "bucket" means 'bucket'. Together they mean 'kick the bucket' and not 'die'. Only as a preformed expression does "kick the bucket" mean 'die'. It is therefore a unit of vocabulary that is stored and listed in the lexicon of English along with all the other units.
 
 A dictionary that does treat idioms, fixed expressions, lexical phrases, habitual collocations, and so on as units of vocabulary alongside words is the 'Longman Language Activator' dictionary. Under the item "chance" for example, it lists the following derived lexemes:
 
 by chance
 grab the chance
 stand a chance
 jump at the chance
 not stand a chance
 take a chance
 golden opportunity
 strike while the iron is hot
 miss the boat
 ....
 
 John R
 
 
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 John R Roberts
 SIL International Linguistics Consultant
 dr_john_roberts at sil.org
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