1. in a systemic functional grammar
Lexis and phraseology
in a systemic functional grammar
Gordon Tucker
Centre for Language and Communication Research
Cardiff University
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010

2. The orientation of these two sessions
grammar, lexis and phraseology as linguistic phenomena
what lexical and phraseological phenomena are there to account for and model?
grammar, lexis and phraseology through the lens of SFL
how can these phenomena be modelled within a systemic functional lexicogrammar?
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010

3. overview grammar and lexis in a model/theory of language
lexical phenomena to be accounted for
Cardiff SFG resources for modelling the lexicogrammar
where and how lexis is modelled in general
modelling the various phenomena
issues and problems for an SFG approach
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4. grammar (syntax) and lexis
the standard traditional view
SYNTAX
LEXICON
interface
(meaning) potential carried by
syntagmatically oriented opposition
paradigmatically oriented opposition
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5. (Cristiano Broccias 2006:81-82)
Cognitive linguistics does not accept the sharp distinction made in generative grammar between syntax and the lexicon (…..) Rather, it contends that syntax and the lexicon form a continuum of constructions ranging from very specific elements (e.g. cat, kick the bucket) to increasingly more general patterns (e.g. noun, transitive construction)
(Cristiano Broccias 2006:81-82)
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6. Corpus studies, based on large collections of authentic text from a range of different sources, have provided massive evidence for the interdependence of lexis and grammar (or vocabulary and syntax). They have demonstrated that two areas that have traditionally been kept apart, both in language pedagogy and in linguistic theory, are in fact inseparable.
(Römer 2009)
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7. The lexicon (…. ) is simply the most delicate grammar
The lexicon (….) is simply the most delicate grammar. In other words there is only one network of lexicogrammatical options (Halliday 1978:42)
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8. why represent lexis as a system network?
it is theoretically and descriptively desirable (and arguably essential) within SFG to treat lexis as a system network of options
a list of lexical entries, however well specified, does not prioritise the notion of choice
lexical expressions (or their senses) classify the world of human experience in terms of differences and similarities
some differences/similarities are greater than others
the organisation of lexis in terms of sense relations (e.g. hyponymy, meronymy, antonymy) offers a potential solution as a point of departure
e.g. Martin’s chapter on ‘ideation’ (Martin 1992)
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9. Lexical information (as represented in a dictionary
ship /ʃɪp / noun a large boat that carries people or goods by sea: There are two restaurants on board ship. a sailing / cargo / cruise ship a ship’s captain / crew / company / cook Raw materials and labour come by ship, rail or road. They boarded a ship bound for India. When the ship docked at Southampton he was rushed to hospital.—see also AIRSHIP, FLAGSHIP, LIGHTSHIP see JUMP V., SINK V., SPOIL V., TIGHT
verb (-pp-) 1 [VN] to send or transport sb/sth by ship or by another means of transport: The company ships its goods all over the world. He was arrested and shipped back to the UK for trial. 2 to be available to be bought; to make sth available to be bought: [v] The software is due to ship next month. [VN] The company continues to ship more computer systems than its rivals. 3 [VN] ~ water (of a boat, etc.) to have water coming in over the sides see SHAPE V. ship sb off (disapproving) to send sb to a place where they will stay: The children were shipped off to a boarding school at an early age.
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10. (Some of the) Lexical Phenomena to be Modelled
1. grammatical (syntactic) relations (e.g. the word class, grammatical environment, colligation and grammatical consequences of the choice of a given lexical sense/item)
2. morphology and phonology
3. the experiential organisation of lexis
4. collocation
5. polysemy
6. field-specificity and genre-specificity
7. phraseology – idiom – metaphor - formulaicity
8. formality
9. technicality
10. Appraisal and evaluation
11. textual cohesion (e.g. lexical cohesion in Halliday and Hasan 1976)
12. social group variation
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11. SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
LEXIS IN
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
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12. Halliday’s ‘grammarian’s dream’ Lexis as Most Delicate Grammar (LAMDG)
He [the grammarian] would like to turn the whole of linguistic form into grammar, hoping to show that lexis can be defined as ‘most delicate grammar’. The exit to lexis would then be closed, and all exponents ranged in systems.
No description has yet been made so delicate that we can test whether there really comes a place where increased delicacy yields no further systems: relations at this degree of delicacy can only be stated statistically, and serious statistical work has hardly begun. (Halliday 1961)
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13. The Problem of Lexical Description
It would take at least 100 volumes of the present size (689 pages: GHT) to extend the description of the grammar up to that point (grammar extended to the point of maximum delicacy) for any portion of the vocabulary of English, and as we have noted, the returns diminish the farther one proceeds)
(Halliday and Matthiessen 2005:46)
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14. ‘Lexicalism’ or ‘Grammaticalism’
lexis as most delicate grammar (e.g. Halliday)
grammar as most general lexis (e.g. Sinclair)
lexical choice determined by grammatical choice
grammatical choice determined by lexical choice
or BOTH?
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15. Hoey’s Theory of Lexical Priming
In this book I want to argue for a new theory of the lexicon, which amounts to a new theory of language. The theory reverses the role of lexis and grammar, arguing that lexis is complexly and systemically structured and that grammar is an outcome of lexical structure.
(Hoey 2005:1)
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16. systemic functional approaches to lexis and phraseology
Halliday 1961
Berry 1977
Fawcett 1980
Hasan 1985,1987
Martin 1992
Matthiessen 1990
Cross 1993
Tucker 1996a, 1996b, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2007
Wanner 1997
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010

17. PART OF BERRY’S GENDER SYSTEMS NETWORK (BERRY 1977:62)
masc
differentiated
fem
undifferentiated
animate
ANIMALHOOD
human
tame
non-human
adult
MATURITY
wild
youthful
GENDER
PART OF BERRY’S GENDER SYSTEMS NETWORK (BERRY 1977:62)
inanimate
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18. Hasan 1987 ‘The Grammarian’s Dream’
gather, collect, accumulate
scatter, divide, distribute, strew, spill, share
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19. Martin (1992): Lexis and Ideation
male
female
dog : bull
canine
bovine
mature
immature
(dog)
(dog : cow)
bitch : cow
(cow)
(puppy : calf)
from Martin (1992:286)

20. items of clothing non-specific specific male female unmarked casual
SEX OF WEARER
FORMALITY
PART OF WEARER
items of clothing
non-specific
specific
male
female
unmarked
casual
long
short
closed
opening (at front)
on head
around neck
head
body
non-supporting
supporting
firm
soft
upper
lower
inner
outer
holes
tubes
extremities
torso
from Halliday and Matthiessen (1999:199)
partitioned
non-partitioned

21. resulting selection expressions
[unmarked] [non-specific] [body] [lower] [extremities] [supporting] [firm] shoe
[unmarked] [non-specific] [body] [lower] [extremities] [supporting] [soft] slipper
[unmarked] [non-specific] [body] [lower] [extremities] [non-supporting] [soft] sock

22. LEXIS IN
THE CARDIFF GRAMMAR
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23. System Network and Realisation Rule Resources Available in the Cardiff Grammar for the Modelling of Lexis
is the architecture of the Cardiff Grammar adequate for the representation of lexical and phraseological phenomena?
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24. LABELLED TREE STRUCTURE
the core components of a simplified systemic functional grammar (from Fawcett 2008:41)
SELECTION EXPRESSION
OF SEMANTIC FEATURES
SYSTEM NETWORK OF
SEMANTIC FEATURES
MEANING
re-entry
REALISATION RULES AND
POTENTIAL STRUCTURES
ONE LAYER OF A RICHLY
LABELLED TREE STRUCTURE
FORM
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25. (1) a full range of system network conventionsb c d e f g h i j a o k l m n
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26. (2) realisation rules the exponence rule
: magpie_c : h < "magpie".
Rule no : expound head of nominal group by the item “magpie”
ngp h
magpie

27. (4) preferences and re-entry rules
68.42 : by_age :
44,
for mage prefer [quality, quality of thing, presenting quality of thing, age q],
for mage re-enter at entity.

28. (5) re-entry into the system network
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29. b 100% b a a c c 0% 90% 10% (3) probabilities on features in systems
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30. the very first system in the Cardiff Grammar!
- MODE
- TECHNICALITY
entity
- DIALECT
situation
thing (including minor relationship with thing)
quantity
quality
- ENTITY TYPE
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31. ‘Cl’ , S @ 33, Ag by S, m < “little” etc. (REALISATION RULES)
SYSTEM
NETWORK
SELECTION
EXPRESSION
[action, two role process (1), contact, kick (3) , agent subject theme (5), information giver (6) pastness (7) , not retrospective, not modalised (31), circumstance unspecified, positive (44), etc. etc.] Cl
S/Ag M C/Af
ngp ngp
h dd m h
he kissed his little sister
‘Cl’ , 33, Ag by S, m < “little” etc.
(REALISATION RULES)
FUNCTIONAL
STRUCTURE

32. Where and how is lexis represented in the Cardiff Grammar?
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33. From Semantics to Grammartical Unit to Lexical Class
SEMANTICS GRAMMATICAL UNIT LEXICAL CLASS
Situation Clause lexical verb
Thing nominal group noun
Quality adjectival/adverbial group adjective
adverb
Minor Relationship prepositional group preposition
From Semantics to Grammartical Unit to Lexical Class
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34. action mental relational process type
eat,run, touch, break, repair etc.
system network for
TRANSITIVITY
realised in the Clause
action
mental
relational
like, love, think, see, hear, understand etc.
process type
be, become, equal, represent etc.
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010

35. cultural classification
systems in the network for THING (meanings realised in the nominal group)
cultural classification
particularisation
THING
quantification
premodification
modification
postmodification
happiness
mass
count
hammer
e.g. the, this, that, these, my
e.g. a, some, three,
(nominal group)
big, unusual
which we liked
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36. quality of thing careful quality of situation carefully QUALITY ROLE
systems in the network for QUALITY (meanings realised in the adjectival and adverbial groups)
quality of thing careful
quality of situation carefully
QUALITY ROLE
QUALITY TYPE
TEMPERING
CO-ORDINATION
relative different
thing oriented big
situation oriented easy
environmental sunny
quality presented
tempered very
untempered
tempering sought how
co-ordinated red and white
not co-ordinated
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37. Where and how is lexis represented in the Cardiff Grammar?
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38. selecting lexical senses* and items
system network is traversed
features are collected (selection expression)
realisation rules on features are executed
lexicalisation is associated with ‘exponence’
some element of structure (e.g. the head of the nominal group) is ‘expounded by’ some lexical (and/or) morphological item
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39. realisation rules
filling rules insert a unit of structure (e.g. clause, adjectival group)
‘ngp’ (= fill an element of structure with a nominal group)
componence rules insert an element of structure
84 ( = insert a ‘head’ into the ngp structure at place 84)
exponence rules insert a lexical (or morphological item)
h < “player” (expound the ‘head’ element with the item ‘player’) S
ngp
ngp h h
player

40. Tom Bartlett is a terrible darts playerCl S M C
ngp
ngp h dd m m h
Tom Bartlett is a terrible darts player
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41. part of a simplified ‘lexical’ system network
whole
head
part
shaft
tool as such saw
tool hammer
tool specified screwdriver
chisel
drill
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42. from grammatical to lexical choice
grammatical…………………………………………lexical
increase in delicacy
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43. What lexical phenomena can be represented in an SFG approach such as the Cardiff Grammar?
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44. (Some of the) Lexical Phenomena to be Modelled
1. grammatical (syntactic) relations (e.g. the word class, grammatical environment, colligation and grammatical consequences of the choice of a given lexical sense/item)
2. morphology and phonology
3. the experiential organisation of lexis
4. collocation
5. polysemy
6. field-specificity and genre-specificity
7. phraseology – idiom – metaphor - formulaicity
8. formality
9. technicality
10. Appraisal and evaluation
11. textual cohesion (e.g. lexical cohesion in Halliday and Hasan 1976)
12. social group variation
LINC SUMMER SCHOOL 2010

45. modelling the various phenomena
1. The grammar of lexis
general grammar-lexis correlations – general colligations
the individual grammar of lexical sense/items – individual colligations
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46. general grammar lexis correlations
The grammar:
assigns a lexical item to a word class through its exponence relationship with a functional element of structure
M < ‘give’ h < ‘electricity’ a < ‘happy’ p < ‘with’
specifies the grammatical context(s) in which a lexical item/word class operates
determiner + modifier + head + qualifier
determiner + adjective + noun + relative clause/prepositional group
N.B. No explicit reference to word class labels such as ‘noun’, ‘adjective’ etc.
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47. individual grammar-lexis correlations
specifies grammatical dependency associated with a lexical sense
e.g. complementation of verbs, intensification and complementation of adjectives
she likes to go out on Fridays
she likes going out on Fridays
she likes parties
angry with the government
angry about the decision
angry at the prime minister
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48. The Grammar of Verbs
The system of transitivity
relational mental
action environmental
influential event relating
TRANSITIVITY

49. cognition
emotion
perception
simple perceiver
affected perceiver
agent perceiver
perc third party agent]
mental

50. seeing
feeling
hearing
simple perceiver
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51. places the M (Main Verb) in the clause
expounds the M with a lexical item (e.g. heard)
specifies and places any realised associated Participant Role(s)
specifies re-entry and preferences for the Participant Role(s)
specifies any complementation types, re-entry and preferences, particularly in the case of mental processes
e.g. he heard the intruder
he heard the intruder arriving
he heard the intruder arrive
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52. Cl S/Per M C/Ph ngp ngp Victor heard the intruder
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53. the grammar of individual lexical items: verb complementation
in and out of lexis
normal like
high love
very high adore
positive liking
negative liking
mental…
normal dislike
high loathe
very high detest
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54. complementation of [liking] processes
positive liking:
[+ V-ing]
[+to + infinitive]
[+ngp]
negative liking:
[+ngp]
[+V-ing] (rare)
[+to + infinitive] (v.v. rare or unattested)
different probabilities of rareness between dislike, loathe and detest
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55. normal like high love very high adore positive liking 70% Ph thing
negative liking
70% Ph thing
70% prospective
30% Ph situation
dislike % performance
normal
high hate
very high loathe
95% Ph thing
5% Ph performance
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56. lexicalise: M < “dislike”
consequences
lexicalise: M < “dislike”
for Ph re-enter system network for ENTITY TYPE,
prefer [95% thing/5% situation, dependent situation, performance] (e.g. ing)
for Em enter system network for Thing,
prefer [concrete, living, 95% human – 5% animal]
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57. re-entry into the system network with probabilities set
lexicalise as
‘dislike’
like
dislike
re-enter network for situation (clause) or thing (nominal group) for complementation
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58. lexical items have their own grammar
mental process remember in sense of ‘celebrate’ or ‘hold a special place in one’s memory’
he is remembered by old timers as the doctor who never sent the bill (COBUILD)
the 1991 cup will always be remembered (COBUILD)
30% active
70% passive
‘lexis or grammar first’ issue

59. Lexical items often have their own grammar (?)
cultural classification
particularisation
THING
quantification
premodification
modification
postmodification
happiness
mass
count
hammer
saw
e.g. the, this, that, these, my
e.g. a, some, three,
big, unusual
that we wanted
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60. 2. Experiential Meaning
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61. lexical organisation in terms of lexical semantic relations
a holding position?

62. lexical semantic relations
The Experiential Organisation of Lexis
lexical semantic relations
hyponymy
meronymy
opposition (e.g. antonymy, complementarity etc.)
identity (synonymy) (similarity)
cross-classification

63. taxonomy/hyponymy thing living non-living
animal plant natural thing artefact
fish mammal insect tree flower rock water instrument building

64. system network
fish mammal insect tree flower rock water instrument building
animal plant natural thing artefact
living non-living
thing

65. tool as such tool saw saw tool hammer hammer
HYPONYMY
tool as such tool saw saw
tool hammer hammer
tool specified screwdriver screwdriver
chisel chisel
drill drill
tool as such : h < “tool”
hammer : h < “hammer”

66. whole saw saw part saw handle blade MERONYMY
parts are generalised to the extent that they are shared by different ‘wholes’
whole saw : h < “saw”
handle : h < “handle”

67. sharp edge of object blunt OPPOSITION sharp : a < “sharp”
hard : a < “hard”

68. 5. POLYSEMY
AND
HOMONYMY
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69. POLYSEMY
Head
1. the part of the body which contains the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and the brain - in animals at the front of the body, in man on top, a bonobo’s head
2. the end where this part rests, the head of the bed, of the grave
3. the mind or brain, my heart says yes, but my head says no
4. a ruler or leader, head of state
5. a headache, I’ve got a terrible head this morning
6. the front side of a coin, heads or tails?
7. a measure of height or distance, he won by a short head

70. specifies polysemy/homonymy
whole body
part of body
head
limb
chest
h < ‘head’
animal….
whole bed
part of bed
furniture…
head
foot
h < ‘head’
whole hammer
part of hammer
tool…
shaft
head
h < ‘head’
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71. POLYSEMY
A condensed and simplified section of the network showing different paths for two senses of the noun BED
......
natural thing
artefact
bed (32)
......
furniture
......
......
......
for vegetables
......
garden
......
for flowers (208)
use of land
32: bed : h < “bed”
208 : for flowers : h < “bed”

72. (a lexical co-occurrence relationship)
4. COLLOCATION
(a lexical co-occurrence relationship)
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73. top collocates of ? abandon aboard aircraft big board captain cargo
Collins Wordbanks data + BNC data
span of 4 words either side of node
(T- and Z-scores > 9.00)
abandon
aboard
aircraft
big
board
captain
cargo
carry
container
crew
cruise
greek
greenpeace
hospital
naval
navy
passenger
pirate
plane
rescue
sail
sea
shore
sink
space
tall

74. top collocates of ? owner patrol people pleasure race rescue ride
Collins Wordbanks data + BNC data
: span of 4 words either side of node
(T- and Z-scores > 9.00)
owner
patrol
people
pleasure
race
rescue
ride
river
rock
row
sail
sink
sea
show
small
speed
train
trip
vietnamese
water
aboard
fish
fleet
hire
inflatable
miss
moor
motor
narrow

75. Subject + Main Verb + [Complement(s)] + [Adjunct(s)]
Participant Process [Participant(s)] [Circ(s)]
Noun Verb Noun/Adjective Noun
thieves steal money weekend
Modifier Head Temperer + Apex
Quality Thing Intensifier + Quality
Adjective Noun Adverb Adjective
clever thieves very clever
Some very clever thieves stole the money over the weekend
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76. specifies collocational relations
lexical collocates or semantic classes of collocates that expound any functional element(s) associated with the functional element expounded by the lexical item in question (the collocant) may be specified by probabilistic preference statements.
COLOUR COLLOCATES OF WINE
Word Overall frequency Joint frequency t-score
red
white
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77. for modifier prefer [50% classifying, (48% red, 48% white), (30% dry, 30% medium, 20% sweet)]
wine (1)‏
beer
cider
50% red
0% black
0% green
50% white
0% blue
0% yellow
if [wine] then
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78. modifiers of wonderful (BNC through Kilgarriff’s Sketch Engine)
absolutely 48
41.65
most
117
40.0 so 68
31.41
truly 18
29.62
really 25
23.19
quite 20
20.99
very 28
18.58
just 19
16.67
rather 10
16.55
perfectly 3
9.56
pretty
9.3
deeply 2
7.04
especially
6.87
simply
5.36

79. modifiers of fantastic (BNC through Kilgarriff’s Sketch Engine)
absolutely 22
36.37
most 21
24.51
really 10
18.75
truly 3
13.17 so 6
11.56
increasingly
11.3
just
6.83

80. preferences for re-entry for the tempering (intensification) of fantastic
for td (degree temperer) prefer
[tempered quality, by degree, relative degree, higher degree, 0% simple intensity /30% hyperbolic intensity/ 20% simple affective emphasis/ 30% insistent affective emphasis/20%pseudo-superlative]
N.B. [simple intensity] is essentially removed from system (0%)
so no *very fantastic

81. 9. TECHNICALITY
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82. technicality heart specialist cardiologist bell ringer campanologist
if [technical] then h < “campanologist,
else h < “bell ringer”

83. technicality non-technical technicality technical bell ringer
campanologist

84. 6. FIELD SPECIFICITY
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85. lexical fields and genres
lexical field specification leads to probabilistic preferences across the network
if {gardening} prefer:
grow, weed, dig, prune, plant, water, rake, etc.
soil, garden, border, plants, vegetables, leaves, flower etc.
ripe, young, dead, green, diseased, bumper etc.
many of these will be specified by preferences
e.g. plant (process) will specify roses, vegetables, trees etc. as preferential complement
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86. VERSUS METAPHORICAL/IDIOMATIC REALISATION
7. CONGRUENT
VERSUS METAPHORICAL/IDIOMATIC REALISATION
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87. congruent versus metaphorical/idiomatic
a nuisance
a pain in the neck
relax
take it easy
enjoy oneself
have a good time
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88. congruence/metaphorical
congruent
a pain in the neck
nuisance
nuisance
if metaphorical then re-enter at thing, prefer ………., else h < “nuisance”

89. 8. FORMALITY
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90. (experiential denotatative equivalence)‏
scale of formality
(experiential denotatative equivalence)‏
inebriated
intoxicated
drunk
sloshed
pissed
rat-arsed
state of drunkenness
if formal then h < “intoxicated”
if casual then h < “sloshed”
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91. 9. APPRAISAL
AND EVALUATION
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92. appraisal and evaluation
affect
judgement
appreciation
lexical resource
to what degree does the resource for appraisal draw on the ideationally oriented resource (e.g. adjectival lexis)?
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93. 10. LEXICAL COHESION
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94. logogenesis and lexical cohesion
the Rottweiler
the dog
the animal
the hound
the beast
the thing
referent thing
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95. 11. CROSS-CLASSIFICATION
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96. cross-classifies all lexical senses in terms of contextual and lexicogrammatical relevant features
CULTURAL CLASSFICIATION
FIELD SPECIFICITY
FORMALITY
TECHNICALITY
SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABILITY
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97. CULTURAL CLASSIFICATION
cross-classifies all lexical senses in terms of contextually and lexicogrammatically relevant features (multiple metafunctional determination)
CULTURAL CLASSIFICATION
FIELD SPECIFICITY
FORMALITY
TECHNICALITY
SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABILITY
food
grub
nosh
nourishment etc
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98. theoretical and descriptive issues with the ‘lexis as most delicate grammar’ approach
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99. ‘top-down’ perspective
computational applications of SFG ‘execute’ system networks in a left-right, top-down manner, moving from major clause systems to group systems. The choice of nominal lexis is therefore procedurally dependent on systems in the clause.
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100. system network as relation
clause and verbal lexis
ngp and nominal lexis
adjectival group and adjectival lexis
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101. some problematic issues with the LAMDG approach
1. lexical systems cannot (yet?) be entirely motivated formally (as are grammatical systems)
2. individual lexical senses/items often have their own external grammar
3. does lexical choice follow or precede grammatical choice?
4. Where does phraseology fit in?
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102. 1. lexical systems cannot (yet) be motivated formally
“It may well be that the nature of language is such that this ‘most delicate grammar’ will evaporate in distinctions which are so slenderly statistical that the system has, in effect, been replaced by the open set” (Halliday 1961/1976:69).
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103. identification of lexical items by grammatical means
the difference between any lexical item in the language and any other, however minimal semantically, has a grammatical reflex (reactance)
no two lexical items in the language share exactly the same set of grammatical contexts
In reality, these grammatical contexts are of both a grammatical and a lexical nature (hence lexicogrammatical contexts)
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104. (co-)occurrence tendencies
(from corpus linguistic investigation)
collocational: a tendency to co-occur with certain lexical items or semantic classes of lexical item
colligational: a tendency to co-occur in certain grammatical frameworks rather than others
discoursal: a tendency to occur in certain contexts within discourses/texts
registerial/generic: a tendency to occur in certain registers and genres rather than others
Lexical Priming (Hoey 2005)
these are tendencies, expressible probabilistically
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105. lexical classes maximally distinguished by the grammar
THINGS [nouns]
PROCESSES [verbs]
QUALITIES [adjectives/adverbs]
SPATIO-TEMPORAL AND LOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS [prepositions]
although they do cross-classify semantically
e.g. please, pleasure, pleasant, pleasantly
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106. classes of THING (nouns) maximally distinguished by the grammar
COUNT
THING
NON-COUNT (MASS)
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107. increase in delicacy concrete count abstract event THING mass concrete
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108. further increase in delicacy
living
concrete natural
non-living
artefactual
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109. even further increase in delicacy
tool as such saw
tool hammer
tool specified screwdriver
chisel
drill
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110. can such features be motivated grammatically, and if so, how?
even still further increase in delicacy
whole
hammer head
part
shaft
can such features be motivated grammatically, and if so, how?
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111. distribution of nouns by external (clause) function3
0.69%
104
24.07% 41
9.49% 55
12.73%
113
26.15%
116
26.85%
boat 35
8.72% 30
7.48% 62
15.46% 65
16.20%
115
28.67% 94
23.41%
ship 7
1.73% 2
0.49% 84
20.79% 45
11.13%
121
29.95%
145
35.89%
vessel
gen m q A C S
S = Subject A = Adjunct m = modifier (in ngp)
C = Complement q = qualifier (in ngp) g = genitive (in ngp)
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112. distribution of nouns by internal relations (within the nominal group)pl ps pp pa qa
qual
mod
vessel
452
179
40%
184
41% 43
10%
127
28% 26 6%
103
23%
206
46%
ship
377
135
36 %
150
40% 36
10%
129
34% 48
13% 46
12%
149
40%
boat
377
179
47%
140
37% 36
10%
119
32% 81
21% 32 8%
142
38%
pl = plural ps = particularised singular pp = particularised plural
pa = particularised alone qa = quantified alone qual = qualified
mod = modified
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113. the influence of lexical choice on other grammatical systems
TRANSITIVITY
MOOD
THEME
VOICE
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114. ‘lexis or grammar first’ issue
mental process remember in sense of ‘celebrate’ or ‘hold a special place in one’s memory’
he is remembered by old timers as the doctor who never sent the bill (COBUILD)
the 1991 cup will always be remembered (COBUILD)
30% active
70% passive
‘lexis or grammar first’ issue
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115. Where does phraseology fit in?
Idiom
“The principle of idiom is that a language user has available to him or her a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they might be analysable into segments” (Sinclair 1987:320)
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116. phraseological expressions
phraseological/idiomatic multi-word expressions can be specified by ‘pre-determined pathways’ through the system network
obligatory features are assigned 100%, as are all features in their path
semi-fixed elements will be specified by relative probabilities (e.g. 60% - 40%)
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117. ....you hear she's popped her clogs .... (COBUILD)
(…) semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they might be analysable into segments” (Sinclair 1987:320)
....you hear she's popped her clogs .... (COBUILD)
The process pop and the thing clog are obligatorily co-selected
clog obligatorily selects for plural clogs
clogs co-selects possessive determiner (his, her, their etc)
The majority of clause elements are available as with the process die (TENSE, ASPECT, POLARITY, CIRCUMSTANCE etc.) but with some important restrictions
? he was popping his clogs when I last saw him
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118. euphemistic pass@ away dying
direct
congruent
euphemistic away
dying
kick-the-bucket idiomatic the bucket
pop-one’s-clogs
+ dd + clogs
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119. Preselection all features marked preselected by rule
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120. a pre-determined pathway through a system network
100%
100%
100%
100%
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121. some features of phraseological representation in the Cardiff Grammar
because of the selection of features (and associated realisation rules) the expression will have a ‘regular’ lexicogrammatical representation.
this is important (and necessary) for semi-fixed expressions
and even for fixed expressions which can be subject to creativity
the representation will not necessarily be ‘literal’
e.g pop one’s clogs is a one role process, like die, so one’s clogs is not a normal complement, but an extension of the verb pop.
because of obligatory feature selection, the outputted expression is tantamount to unanalysed
Bruce Lee popped some amyl nitrate and his clogs (COBUILD)
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122. phraseology, formulaicity, idiomaticity etc
fixed and semi-fixed expressions that seem to be outside of the lexicogrammatical area, or somewhere between grammar and lexis
by and large
the thin end of the wedge
to tell you the truth
on a bender
have a nice day
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