Confusing Grammatical Words With Lexical Items

Fontaine (2017: 11):

SFL is not alone in having to address these issues. In other areas of linguistics, such as in typological studies, “[t]he structure of the lexicon and its consequences for the language system have received much less attention” (Hengeveld, Rijkhoff and Siewierska, 2004:527). However, considering the structure of the lexicon forces the theory to engage with the associated assumptions. For example, in considering certain noun and verb pairs resulting from conversion, such as talk, walk, etc., Luuk (2010:352) explains that “[i]n English … tense-aspect-mood marking encodes predicate and determiners encode argument”. The fluidity between nouns and verbs in these cases raises interesting questions about word classes as I have argued elsewhere Fontaine (2017a).

Blogger Comments:

[1] As previously explained, the assumption of a mental lexicon is inconsistent with the assumptions of SFL Theory. Considering the assumptions of SFL theory forces a reconsideration of the assumption of the structure of a mental lexicon.

[2] To be clear, here again Fontaine confuses the notion of word as lexical item with word as a grammatical rank scale unit ('noun', 'verb', 'word class').

[3] To be clear, by including these observations from another theory, Fontaine confuses lexical items, which are the synthetic realisation of the most delicate lexicogrammatical features, with grammatical words that are the direct realisation of (less delicate) grammatical features.

"The Need For Flexibility In Lexical Representation"

Fontaine (2017: 10):

In other functional approaches, the need for flexibility in lexical representation is being identified. For example, more flexible lexical representations and flexible lexicon (García Velasco, 2016), flexible word classes (Rijkhoff and van Lier, 2013) and fluid grammar (Steels and De Beule, 2006 and Steels, 2011). Indeed, cognitive models also suggest the need for a more flexible grammar. Pickering and Garrod (2004:21) state that their model of interactive alignment “challenges linguists to come up with a more flexible account of grammar capable of capturing linguistic constraints on linked sentence fragments”. While a detailed look at flexible models is beyond the scope of this paper, these approaches have influenced my thinking on this topic. In the next section I will argue for a loosening of semantics in terms of lexical representation to allow for the meaning potential (Hanks, 2013) of a lexeme instantiated by a lexical item.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the needs of theories that do not share the same theoretical assumptions and method of inquiry are not evidence of the needs of SFL Theory. The need for this type of flexibility in such approaches stems from viewing language 'from below' (from the expression of meaning) rather than 'from above' (from the meaning that is expressed) — the latter being the perspective taken in SFL Theory.

[2] As previously explained, the notion of lexical representation in a mental lexicon is inconsistent with SFL Theory and, as Edelman (1989: 228) argues, inconsistent with 'the known facts of human biology and brain science'.

[3] As will be seen in the examination of the next section, this loosening of semantics — despite the location of lexical items on the lexicogrammatical stratum — involves viewing language 'from below', such that a single form is the expression of different meanings. This is the opposite perspective of the  view 'from above' in SFL Theory, which takes meaning as the point of departure, and inquires as to how it is expressed lexically.

[4] To be clear, unknown to Fontaine, the instantiation relation between a lexical item as potential and as instance is already part of the architecture of SFL Theory, and it is a relation that obtains on the lexicogrammatical stratum, not the semantic stratum.