[Lexicog] Percentage of idioms vs single words

[Ron Moe]

John Roberts wrote:

"... So I would only see a purpose in counting percentages of MWEs if it was
done
in particular semantic domains. Then you might learn something interesting
about the semantics of the language."

One of the interesting things you will learn is what metaphors are used.
Metaphors apply to a domain or at least part of a domain.

Time is a moving object:

The hour approaches. The time has long since passed. Time flies. The minutes
crawled by. I couldn't wait for the day to arrive. One day followed the
next. The Renaissance was followed by the Age of Reason. I'm afraid those
days will never return; they are gone forever. The moment passed before I
knew it.

But this metaphor does not apply to any abstract in any domain. It only
applies to certain subdomains within the domain 'Time'. Specifically, only a
'period of time' or a 'point in time' can move. It is interesting that we
see events as points in time or as lasting for a period of time. So events
can also move past us.

Events were moving fast. My birthday came and went without anyone noticing.
The feeling passed.

Every metaphor behaves this way. I believe this is one proof of the validity
of semantic domains.

Ron Moe
SIL, Uganda

p.s. I observed this while reading Lakoff and Johnson 'Metaphors we live
by'. My thanks to them.




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