Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 1290that generate new complex words in the lexicon on the basis of the words already presenttherein. The results of the word formation rules transfer directly into the lexicon as fullyspecified lexical units of the language. Later theo ries of word syntax are based on theassumption that the formation and interpretation of complex words represent the resultsof the modular interaction of different components of the grammar.ReferenceAronoff, M. 1976. Word formation in generative grammar. Cambridge, MA.word grammardependency grammarword meaning lexical meaning vsgrammatical meaningword order (also linear precedence,serialization, topology)Word order refers to the linear relation of words and phrases within larger units. Animportant distinction in word order studies is that between rigid and variable, or free,word order. Rigid word order means that a change in the order of elements within aphrase changes the syntactic function and the semantic interpretation of these elements,e.g. That man sleeps vs man that sleeps; Philip sees Caroline vs Caroline sees Philip.Variable (or free) word order means that linear rearrangements do not trigger suchgrammatical changes, e.g. Philip I saw vs I saw Philip. Although many languages exhibitconsiderable word order variation, it is commonly acknowledged that no genuine freeword order language exists. Therefore, word order studies are carried out in terms oflinearization patterns that are commonly referred to as ‘basic (or dominant, unmarked,natural) word order.’ This term captures the fact that there are word order preferences,rather than strict word order rules in terms of the grammatical status of the elementsinvolved. With regard to the major constituents of the clause ( syntactic function) theterm ‘basic order’ is typically identified with the order that occurs in stylistically neutral,independent, indicative clauses with full noun phrase (NP) participants, where the subjectis a definite human agent, the object is a definite non-human patient and the verbrepresents an action, not a state or a process ( process vs action). Since basic order