Lexeme
{{Short description|Unit of lexical meaning}}
{{For|its use in the context of computer science|Lexeme (computer science)}}
A lexeme ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-lexeme.ogg|ˈ|l|ɛ|k|s|iː|m}}) is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning,The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language. David Crystal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. p. 118. {{ISBN|0521401798}}. a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single root word. For example, in the English language, run, runs, ran and running are forms of the same lexeme, which can be represented as RUN.{{NoteTag |1 = RUN is here intended to display in small caps. Software limitations may result in its display either in full-sized capitals (RUN) or in full-sized capitals of a smaller font. Either is regarded as an acceptable substitute for genuine small caps.}}
One form, the lemma (or citation form), is chosen by convention as the canonical form of a lexeme. The lemma is the form used in dictionaries as an entry's headword. Other forms of a lexeme are often listed later in the entry if they are uncommon or irregularly inflected.
Description
The notion of the lexeme is central to morphology,{{Cite book
| veditors = Bonami O, Boyé G, Dal G, Giraudo H, Namer F
| title = The lexeme in descriptive and theoretical morphology
| location = Berlin
| publisher = Language Science Press
| year = 2018
| format = pdf
| url = http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/165
| doi = 10.5281/zenodo.1402520
| doi-access=free
| isbn = 978-3-96110-110-8
| last1 = Bonami
| first1 = Olivier
| last2 = Boyé
| first2 = Gilles
| last3 = Dal
| first3 = Georgette
| last4 = Giraudo
| first4 = Hélène
| last5 = Namer
| first5 = Fiammetta
}}
the basis for defining other concepts in that field. For example, the difference between inflection and derivation can be stated in terms of lexemes:
- Inflectional rules relate a lexeme to its forms.
- Derivational rules relate a lexeme to another lexeme.
A lexeme belongs to a particular syntactic category, has a certain meaning (semantic value), and in inflecting languages, has a corresponding inflectional paradigm. That is, a lexeme in many languages will have many different forms. For example, the lexeme RUN has a present third person singular form runs, a present non-third-person singular form run (which also functions as the past participle and non-finite form), a past form ran, and a present participle running. (It does not include runner, runners, runnable etc.) The use of the forms of a lexeme is governed by rules of grammar. In the case of English verbs such as RUN, they include subject–verb agreement and compound tense rules, which determine the form of a verb that can be used in a given sentence.
In many formal theories of language, lexemes have subcategorization frames to account for the number and types of complements. They occur within sentences and other syntactic structures.
Decomposition
A language's lexemes are often composed of smaller units with individual meaning called morphemes, according to root morpheme + derivational morphemes + affix (not necessarily in that order), where:
- The root morpheme is the primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced to smaller constituents.{{cite web |url = https://glossary.sil.org/term/root |title = SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms: What is a Root? |website = Sil.org |date = 3 December 2015 |access-date=2021-05-14}}
- The derivational morphemes carry only derivational information.{{cite web |url = https://glossary.sil.org/term/derivational-affix |title = SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms: What is a Derivational Affix? |website = Sil.org |date = 3 December 2015 |access-date=2021-05-14}}
- The affix is composed of all inflectional morphemes, and carries only inflectional information.{{cite web |url = https://glossary.sil.org/term/inflectional-affix |title = SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms: What is an Inflectional Affix? |website = Sil.org |date = 3 December 2015 |access-date=2021-05-14}}
The compound root morpheme + derivational morphemes is often called the stem.{{cite web |url = https://glossary.sil.org/term/stem |title = SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms: What is a Stem? |website = Sil.org |date = 3 December 2015 |access-date=2021-05-14}} The decomposition stem + desinence can then be used to study inflection.
See also
Notes
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References
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External links
- {{Wiktionary-inline|lexeme}}
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{{Lexicology}}
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