Lexicalization
{{Short description|The process of becoming a word or adding words to a language}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
In linguistics, lexicalization is the process of adding words, set phrases, or word patterns to a language's lexicon.
Whether word formation and lexicalization refer to the same process is controversial within the field of linguistics. Most linguists agree that there is a distinction, but there are many ideas of what the distinction is.{{Cite journal |last=Lipka |first=Leonhard |title=Lexicalization and Institutionalization in English and German |journal=Linguistica Pragensia |date=January 1992 |pages=1–13 |url=http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5105/1/5105.pdf |access-date=10 October 2014}} Lexicalization may be simple, for example borrowing a word from another language, or more involved, as in calque or loan translation, wherein a foreign phrase is translated literally, as in marché aux puces, or in English, flea market.
Other mechanisms include compounding, abbreviation, and blending.{{cite book|last1=Talmy|first1=Leonard|title=Toward a Cognitive Semantics|date=2000|publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge, MA|url=http://linguistics.buffalo.edu/people/faculty/talmy/talmyweb/Volume2/chap1.pdf|access-date=10 October 2014}} Particularly interesting from the perspective of historical linguistics is the process by which ad hoc phrases become set in the language, and eventually become new words (see lexicon). Lexicalization contrasts with grammaticalization, and the relationship between the two processes is subject to some debate.
In psycholinguistics
In psycholinguistics, lexicalization is the process of going from meaning to sound in speech production. The most widely accepted model, speech production, in which an underlying concept is converted into a word, is at least a two-stage process.
First, the semantic form (which is specified for meaning) is converted into a lemma, which is an abstract form specified for semantic and syntactic information (how a word can be used in a sentence), but not for phonological information (how a word is pronounced). The next stage is the lexeme, which is phonologically specified.Harley, T. (2005) The Psychology of Language. Hove; New York: Psychology Press: 359
Some recent work has challenged this model, suggesting for example that there is no lemma stage, and that syntactic information is retrieved in the semantic and phonological stages.Caramazza, A. (1997) How many levels of processing are there in lexical access? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 14, 177-208.
In sign languages
One way sign languages adopt new words is through fingerspelling, but in some cases these borrowings undergo a systemic transformation in form and meaning to become what are referred to as 'lexicalized signs'{{cite book|title=Self-paced Modules for Educational Interpreter Skill Development: Fingerspelling |publisher=Minnesota Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf |last1=Boinis |first1=S. |last2=Gajewski Mickelson |first2=P. |last3=Gordon |first3=P. |last4=Krouse |first4=L.S. |last5=Swabey |first5=L |date=1996 |location=Little Canada, Minnesota |pages=F-12, F-14}} or 'loan signs.' These manual borrowings can act the same as other signs and can undergo regularly morphological changes.{{cite journal |first1=Ursula |last1=Bellugi |first2=Don |last2=Newkirk |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=1981 |volume=Spring 1981 |issue=30 |jstor=26203610 |title=Formal Devices for Creating New Signs in American Sign Language |page=4}} For example, regular, predictable changes may be made to hand shape and palm orientation. Similarly, movement and location of the sign may add grammatical information. Letters may also be elided or omitted.{{cite book |chapter=American Sign Language |first1=Carol |last1=Neidle |first2=Joan Cottle |last2=Poole Nash |doi=10.1515/9781614518174-007 |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |editor1-first=Julie |editor1-last=Bakken Jepsen |editor2-first=Goedele |editor2-last=De Clerck |editor3-first=Sam |editor3-last=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor4-first=William B. |editor4-last=McGregor |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2 |year=2015 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter Inc. & Ishara Press |location=Berlin |page=38}} Lexicalized signs may also be developed from gestures related to handling an object.{{cite book |first1=Lorraine |last1=Leeson |first2=John I. |last2=Saeed |first3=Carmel |last3=Grehan |chapter=Irish Sign Language (ISL) |doi=10.1515/9781614518174-024 |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |year=2015 |page=462}}
See also
References
- Brinton & Traugott, 2005, Lexicalization and Language Change. Cambridge University Press.
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