A theory for a usage-based cognitive lexicography
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Paolo V. DiMuccio-Failla
Abstract
Our theory merges usage pattern lexicology (in the English tradition) with cognitive lexical semantics. Its main objective is to describe and explain conventional (non-creative) everyday language production by studying normal word usage patterns (WUPs), first introduced by Sinclair and later adapted to automated natural language processing by Hanks. We defend Sinclair’s thesis that normal WUPs constitute (univocal) extended lexical units, and also Hanks’s insight that WUPs of verbs are co-determined by their argument structures and semantic preferences, selected from a consistent taxonomy of concepts. Accounting also for extralinguistic, purely cognitive pattern features, we make a conjecture about the way WUPs activate conceptual structures in our minds. We adapt Brugman and Lakoff’s radial networks of word meanings to our theory, and also incorporate Langacker’s schematic model of a lexical network, while arguing that his reservations about its cognitive reality are not justified when dealing with extended lexical units. We highlight the role that collocations play in such radial networks of schematic trees and propose a pragmatic mechanism driving the conventionalization of univocal WUPs. We also show that normal WUPs can be represented in a standardized way, and propose a method to identify them by evaluating their naturalness/idiomaticity. A theory of definition is currently in development. In appendix, we present two full entries of our phrase-based active dictionary (PAD)1, one in English for the verb agree2 and one in Italian for the verb seguire. Some features, like lexical functions, are not yet implemented.
Abstract
Our theory merges usage pattern lexicology (in the English tradition) with cognitive lexical semantics. Its main objective is to describe and explain conventional (non-creative) everyday language production by studying normal word usage patterns (WUPs), first introduced by Sinclair and later adapted to automated natural language processing by Hanks. We defend Sinclair’s thesis that normal WUPs constitute (univocal) extended lexical units, and also Hanks’s insight that WUPs of verbs are co-determined by their argument structures and semantic preferences, selected from a consistent taxonomy of concepts. Accounting also for extralinguistic, purely cognitive pattern features, we make a conjecture about the way WUPs activate conceptual structures in our minds. We adapt Brugman and Lakoff’s radial networks of word meanings to our theory, and also incorporate Langacker’s schematic model of a lexical network, while arguing that his reservations about its cognitive reality are not justified when dealing with extended lexical units. We highlight the role that collocations play in such radial networks of schematic trees and propose a pragmatic mechanism driving the conventionalization of univocal WUPs. We also show that normal WUPs can be represented in a standardized way, and propose a method to identify them by evaluating their naturalness/idiomaticity. A theory of definition is currently in development. In appendix, we present two full entries of our phrase-based active dictionary (PAD)1, one in English for the verb agree2 and one in Italian for the verb seguire. Some features, like lexical functions, are not yet implemented.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Patterns of meaning in lexicography and lexicology 1
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Section 1: Lexicographical issues: The phraseological dimension of language in learner’s lexicography and the PhraseBase project
- Introduction to the PhraseBase project 15
- A theory for a usage-based cognitive lexicography 19
- Exploring BERT’s contextualized word embeddings: a suitable method for a lexicography-oriented analysis of argument structures? 91
- Towards a phrase-based active dictionary 111
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Section 2: Theoretical issues
- Verb senses and argument semantics: From linguistic theory to lexicographic practice 119
- Valency vs. Patterns: What do corpora tell us about argument structure? 139
- Layer upon layer, mistake after mistake – a case for learner’s dictionaries? 159
- Patterns of meanings between syntax and lexicon. a lexicological and lexicographic overview of italian partially lexically specified constructions 181
- A carry-coals-to-Newcastle exercise: The nature of phraseological units and their place in a constructicon of english 207
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Section 3: Methodological issues
- Language awareness as a prerequisite for a successful use of lexicographic resources 239
- Regular polysemy in Spanish nouns: corpus analysis and some implications for lexicography 257
- No word is an island: The phraseological nature of lemma in interlingual comparison 277
- Analysing, compiling, and representing argument pattern structures: From form to meaning and back 297
- Index 317
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Patterns of meaning in lexicography and lexicology 1
-
Section 1: Lexicographical issues: The phraseological dimension of language in learner’s lexicography and the PhraseBase project
- Introduction to the PhraseBase project 15
- A theory for a usage-based cognitive lexicography 19
- Exploring BERT’s contextualized word embeddings: a suitable method for a lexicography-oriented analysis of argument structures? 91
- Towards a phrase-based active dictionary 111
-
Section 2: Theoretical issues
- Verb senses and argument semantics: From linguistic theory to lexicographic practice 119
- Valency vs. Patterns: What do corpora tell us about argument structure? 139
- Layer upon layer, mistake after mistake – a case for learner’s dictionaries? 159
- Patterns of meanings between syntax and lexicon. a lexicological and lexicographic overview of italian partially lexically specified constructions 181
- A carry-coals-to-Newcastle exercise: The nature of phraseological units and their place in a constructicon of english 207
-
Section 3: Methodological issues
- Language awareness as a prerequisite for a successful use of lexicographic resources 239
- Regular polysemy in Spanish nouns: corpus analysis and some implications for lexicography 257
- No word is an island: The phraseological nature of lemma in interlingual comparison 277
- Analysing, compiling, and representing argument pattern structures: From form to meaning and back 297
- Index 317
