Structuring the Lexicon
Description
Given that we lack sensory-motor experience for abstract concepts, how do we find out what they mean? How far can we get by tracking frequency distributions in input? The volume tackles the question of what language has to offer the language learner in his/her quest for meaning, and explicitly addresses how semantic knowledge may be distributed along the continuum from "grammar" to "lexicon". Focus is on the synonymy of constructions and lexemes, a meaning relation that has been largely ignored in Western linguistics.
Frequency in all its guises plays a major part in this book. Approaching meaning from a usage-based perspective, a radically distributional approach to quantifying meaning is proposed that encompasses both the constructional and lexical level. Statistical data analysis, relatively new in the field of linguistics, yields a cognitively realistic, clustered model that encourages re-evaluating existing accounts of near-synonymy. Theoretical concepts spanning a range of cognitive linguistic frameworks, i.e. Cognitive Grammar, Radical Construction Grammar and Prototype Theory, account for the complexity of the data and lead to a re-appraisal of traditional semantic theory.
Built on a solid empirical foundation, this network account of synonymy at the constructional and lexical level enriches our understanding of established aspects of the cognitive model of language, serving as catalyst for their further development and refinement. The theoretically informed combination of descriptive accuracy and methodological innovation makes the book a worthwhile read for cognitive linguists and psycholinguists alike.
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Content
- Intro
- Preface
- Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 1. What is near-synonymy?
- 2. Theoretical framework: basic concepts
- 2.1. Cognitive Grammar and construal
- 2.2. Radical Construction Grammar and sets of constructions
- 2.3. Prototype Theory and the structure of categories
- 2.3.1. Horizontal and vertical category structure
- 2.3.2. Category structure representations
- 3. Methodology: a distribution-based approach
- 4. Outline of this book
- 2. Degrees of event integration: delineating groups of near-synonyms
- 1. Are all [Vfin Vinf] structures created equal?
- 1.1. Near-synonyms: between grammar and lexicon?
- 1.2. Theoretical motivations for taking a construction-based approach to delineation
- 1.3. Methodology and data collection
- 2. Three parameters
- 2.1. Reification and the argument structure of the finite verb
- 2.1.1. Referential inclusion under a bare case pattern
- 2.1.2. Referential inclusion under a prepositional pattern
- 2.1.3. Absence of referential inclusion
- 2.1.4. Summary: something versus do something
- 2.1.5. An interpretation: on things and (atemporal) relations
- 2.2. Objectification and that-complementation
- 2.2.1. Èto-complementation
- 2.2.2. Ètoby-complementation
- 2.2.3. Absence of that-complementation
- 2.2.4. Summary: clausal remnants?
- 2.2.5. An interpretation: distancing and objective construal
- 2.3. Distancing and the temporal event-structure of the finite verb
- 2.3.1. Temporal separability
- 2.3.2. Temporal inseparability
- 2.3.3. Summary: on time
- 2.3.4. An interpretation: bounded events
- 3. Degrees of verb integration: a binding scale for Russian
- 3.1. Eight logical combination possibilities
- 3.2. Reflecting the degrees of verb integration
- 3.3. Degrees of verb integration and verb classes
- 3.4. Main conclusions and an outlook
- 3.4.1. Support for the main conclusions
- 3.4.2. An outlook
- 3. Ways of intending: constructional frames for lexicographical portraits
- 1. A note on aspectual peculiarities
- 1.1. A very brief overview of theoretical aspectual analyses
- 1.2. Bifurcation and tripartition of M-verbs
- 1.2.1. Aspectual derivation and logical implication
- 1.2.2. Lexical aspect
- 2. Constructional differences: meaning contours of plans and intentions
- 2.1. Something versus Doing Something
- 2.2. Clausal Remnants
- 2.3. On Time
- 3. How constructions contrast plans and intentions
- 4. Summary: Implications of a network-based delineation of near-synonyms
- 4. Clustering Behavioral Profiles: structuring groups of near-synonyms
- 1. Are all near-synonyms equally similar?
- 1.1. The delineation problem
- 1.2. The structuring problem
- 1.3. The description problem
- 2. Behavioral Profiles as a measure of similarity
- 2.1. The data
- 2.2. The parameters
- 2.2.1. Operationalization and annotation of formal properties
- 2.2.2. Operationalization and annotation of semantic properties
- 3. Clustering Behavioral Profiles
- 3.1. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis
- 3.2. A three-cluster solution
- 3.3. Discriminating the variables that drive the clustering
- 3.4. A more detailed look at each of the three clusters
- 3.5. Interpreting the three clusters
- 4. An interim conclusion
- 5. Ways of TRYING: describing scales of variation in a radial category
- 1. Prototype Theory
- 1.1. The structure of natural categories
- 1.1.1. Horizontal category structure
- 1.1.2. Vertical category structure
- 1.1.3. Category structure representations
- 1.2. The structure of linguistic categories
- 1.2.1. Relational versus non-relational concepts
- 1.2.2. Tangible vs. intangible concepts
- 2. Prototype Semantics
- 2.1. Prototype effects for intangible, relational concepts
- 2.2. The structure of categories of near-synonyms
- 2.3. Prototypes for near-synonyms
- 3. A radial structure for the category try in Russian
- 4. Prototype effects in a radial category
- 4.1. Is there a prototypical attempt?
- 4.2. A proposal for scales of variation between elements in clusters
- 4.2.1. Try, try again, [You Could Succeed]
- 4.2.2. Don't bother trying, [You Won't Succeed]
- 4.2.3. Try as you might, [You Can't Succeed]
- 5. Ways of trying: what language reveals about attempts
- 6. Beyond Behavioral Profiles
- 1. Behavioral Profiles' prediction accuracy
- 1.1. Evaluating the predictive success of the BP approach
- 1.1.1. A new statistical technique for an adapted try-dataset
- 1.1.2. Predicting verb classification
- 1.2. Assessing the impact of the individual variables and variable levels
- 1.2.1. Pytat'sja versus the rest
- 1.2.2. Starat'sja versus the rest
- 1.2.3. Probovat' versus the rest
- 1.2.4. Silit'sja versus the rest
- 1.2.5. Norovit' versus the rest
- 1.2.6. Poryvat'sja versus the rest
- 1.2.7. Summary
- 2. How words contrive to and constrain constructions
- 2.1. Atypical arguments?
- 2.1.1. Exploring constructional variation
- 2.1.2. Back to the roots
- 2.2. Building blocks meet something larger
- 2.2.1. Constructional patterning
- 2.2.2. Contextual patterning
- 2.3. A(nother) cline
- 3. Intuitions or clusters?
- 3.1. What shapes our intentions?
- 3.1.1. Parameters and Method
- 3.1.2. Introducing intentions
- 3.2. An overall cluster solution
- 3.3. Clustering selected tags
- 3.4. Conclusion
- 4. Clusters in the mind?
- 4.1. Solovyev and Bajras¡eva's (2007) "psycho-semantic" follow-up of Divjak and Gries (2006)
- 4.2. Experimental validation for the existence of lexical clusters
- 4.2.1. Sorting tasks
- 4.2.2. Gap-filling
- 4.3. Mental correlates of corpus-based lexical clusters
- 5. By way of summary
- 6. What does language have to offer the learner?
- Appendix
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
