[Lexicog] Percentage of idioms vs single words

[Peter Kirk]

On 04/02/2004 18:25, rrhodes at cogsci.berkeley.edu wrote:

> ...
>         a/ wood fire/ is a/ fire USING wood/
>         a/ forest fire/ is a/ fire IN (the) forest/ (actually LOCATIVE)
>
A forest fire is more than a fire in the forest. A camp fire in a forest
is not a forest fire, though it may become one if it gets out of
control. There is definitely some extra factor here. For one thing, the
forest is the fuel as well as the location; but then the fuel for the
camp fire was probably gathered in the forest. I would see an important
lexical attribute of size and lack of control, which applies mainly to
the compound. Although "There's a fire in the forest." is ambiguous - it
may be a forest fire (Call the fire brigade!) or just a camp fire (There
is someone camping nearby.)

Also, when I read in another posting "plastic forest fire", I thought
first of a plastic model of a forest fire (I suppose you could have a
plastic model of a burning forest complete with flames) rather than a
fire in a plastic forest. That suggests that "forest fire" is very much
a lexical item.

> and
>         an/ electric fire/ is a/ fire CAUSED BY electricity/
>                 (BTW, I have to say/ electrical fire, *electric fire/
> for me)
>
To me, in the UK, an electrical fire is an accidental fire (e.g. a house
fire) caused by electricity; but an electric fire is a heating appliance
powered by electricity (contrast gas fire, wood fire).

When writing the above I came across an interesting possible test for
lexicalisation. It seemed wrong to write "an accidental (e.g. house)
fire" but "an accidental (e.g. electrical) fire" seems much less wrong.
(But "a qualified (e.g. electrical) engineer" is OK.)

--
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/




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