[Lexicog] part of speech for phrases

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Moe" <ron_moe at sil.org>
To: <lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 1:30 PM
Subject: [Lexicog] part of speech for phrases


> During the discussion on derivatives and idioms, a question came to mind
> that I have been thinking about for the last couple of years and would
like
> your help on. I've seen a variety of 'part of speech' labels for
multi-word
> lexical items (phrase, set phrase, idiom, calc, prefab, etc.). However
'part
> of speech' in my understanding is a label for inflectional and syntactic
> distribution patterns. For instance a 'noun' in English can take the
plural
> suffix. But this really relates to noun stems. The word 'box' can take the
> plural suffix '-s' (allomorph -es). So both 'box' and 'boxes' are noun
> words. Noun words then are a separate class from noun stems. Noun stems
have
> a distribution/combination pattern with a set of affixes. Noun words have
a
> distribution pattern in the syntax (e.g. they can be preceded by an
> adjective in an attributive relationship). So far so good, although I'm
sure
> there are different theoretical viewpoints on the subject. But now we come
> to phrases. Phrases don't take affixes, although the individual words
within
> a phrase may take affixes. So in the phrase 'take time' the verb 'take'
can
> be inflected like any other verb, and the noun 'time' can be modified like
> any other noun: "He took his time getting to the job," "Each day he take
the
> time to plan the day's activities." So 'take time' is not a noun or a
verb,
> but something else. The phrase 'to and fro' is slightly different. It
occurs
> in the clause final adverbial slot: "He walked to and fro" "He walked for
an
> hour" "He walks everywhere on foot." So we might be able to subcategorize
> 'to and fro' as an 'adverbial phrase'.
>
> So here's my question: Does anyone know of something written on the
subject
> of labeling the part of speech for multi-word lexical items? Can anyone
> clarify the issue or give examples from your language? For instance the
MDF
> manual is good on principles for determining the parts of speech of a
> language, but says nothing about phrases.
>
> Ron Moe
> Linguistics Consultant
> SIL International, Uganda Tanzania Branch
>
>
>
>
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