[Lexicog] Re: lexical phrase

[Ron Moe]

David-

Ah. It seems that there has been confusion over my use of the term ‘lexeme’.
David Crystal (A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics) says that
idiomatic phrases are lexemes, so I’m in good company. A linguistic
expression is classified as a lexeme on semantic, not morphological
criteria. A lexeme can be a morpheme, derivative, compound, or phrase.

The reason that there is so much discussion over ‘on the other hand’ is that
it is a fuzzy/marginal example of a fixed phrase. It is non-compositional as
a whole, but partly compositional because it contrasts with ‘on the one
hand’. The fact that it is one of a pair of expressions makes it a bit
unusual. Because it makes sense literally (“I meant the ring on the other
hand”), it is ambiguous. It’s a not-quite-dead-yet metaphor. So a speaker
may look at his hands when using ‘on the one/other hand’. These facts enable
us to play with it. In contrast I’ve never heard anyone play with ‘on the
contrary’. I only use ‘contrary’ as an adjective, so I can’t even make sense
of the phrase literally. So ‘on the contrary’ is a better (prototypical?)
example of a dead fixed phrase.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about conceptual metaphors. We can sometimes
coin a new metaphor on the basis of a conceptual metaphor. I mentioned that
‘on the other hand’ vaguely resembles a conceptual metaphor. For one thing
there are two idioms based on whatever gave rise to ‘on the one hand’ and
‘on the other hand’. Conceptual metaphors by definition are the basis for
multiple idioms. So there is really nothing unusual about having multiple
related idioms. (The time flew/crawled. The time is approaching/has
arrived/passed.) Since idioms can be based on conceptual metaphors, we can’t
exactly contrast live metaphors and idioms. In other words ‘dead metaphor’
and ‘idiom’ are not exact synonyms.

I don’t know what the original source of ‘on the one/other hand’ was. My
guess is that it was based on some original metaphor. It’s possible it is
based on the conceptual metaphor ‘an argument is a battle’ in which case
‘hand’ would mean ‘side’ as in “What side are you on?” Or it may have been a
debating term in which the two debaters were on the left and right hand
sides of the stage. The fact that I can imagine a metaphorical basis for the
expressions means that the metaphor may not be quite dead. But many idioms
are like that.

Ron Moe

 

   _____  

From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of David Frank
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 1:24 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Lexicog] Re: lexical phrase

 

Ron --

 

Okay, I think I've figured out by now that when you said "on the other hand"
is a lexeme, you were saying that you take it to be an idiom. I wasn't real
clear on how you were using the terms "lexeme" and "lexical phrase."

 

I don't necessarily have a different interpretation of "on the other hand"
than you have. I don't really care that much whether you want to call it an
idiom or not. Except to say that I do see it somewhat as a live metaphor.
Someone giving a lecture might use gestures, holding out one hand when
saying "On the one hand..." and holding out the other hand when saying "But
on the other hand...." It would be interesting to see how he would gesture
when saying "On the third hand...." But when making a dictionary, the
simplest thing would be just to include "on the other hand" as a subentry
under "hand" and not bother the reader with the question of whether it is a
metaphor or an idiom or a lexeme or an extended meaning, or just an
interesting collocation, or whatever else it might be called, technically.

 

If "on the other hand" has become a dead metaphor, then you might also call
it an idiom. But another analysis might be that the word "hand" has taken on
a new sense from the dead metaphor. Maybe the definition could be something
like "a platform on which half of a two-pronged argument rests." (I might
have said "a container for half of a two-pronged argument," but then you
would expect to use "in" instead of "on.")

 

-- David

 


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