Abstract: This article offers a semantic analysis of the process whereby ewe and lamb are selected as constituents for the compound word ewe lamb, semantic principles being set forth when necessary, such as the principles of Semantic Copying (SC) and Semantic Percolation (SP) , both of which play essential roles in the semantic combination of ewe and lamb. SC is employed to widen the scope of elemental distribution and raises the semantic criteria for a morpheme as candidate. That explains why ewe goes through the filter while female, bitch, hen, girl, etc. are blocked. SP ensures that the meaning of lamb is inhereited and protected in its compound hyponym, and that contradictions between ewe and lamb are resolved. That explains why ewe is still chosen even though the word contains the element [adult] which conflicts with [non-adult] in lamb. No arbitrary or illogical step has been found throughout the entire process of the semantic combination of ewe and lamb. So the conclusion follows that ewe lamb has no less logical motivation than female lamb, a modifier-head phrase.
Key Words: Semantic Copying, Semantic Percolation, semantic combination, transparency.
Wu, Xiaojing. 2006. How is the compound word ewe-lamb coined? Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2006(1) : 31-36.
-----
No comments:
Post a Comment