Search results for "Lexical definition"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Constraints on ontology changing complexation processes: Evidence from event-related brain potentials
2010
This paper investigates complex anaphoric reference (i.e., when an anaphor refers to a propositionally structured referent). Complex anaphors (e.g., this process, this event) differ in their ontological feature setup, and the ontological type assigned to a referent can change due to the lexical meaning of the complex anaphor. Previous research has proposed that such changes have to comply with an ontological ‘abstractness constraint’ restricting the direction of ontological change. We present an event-related potential study that provides evidence that violations of the abstractness constraint result in processing costs. The data reveal that violating this constraint by shifting the referen…
Precategoriality and syntax-based parts of speech
2008
Late Archaic Chinese is a precategorial language, i.e., a language whose lexical items are not preclassified in the lexicon for the syntactic functions of N and V. This will be shown on the basis of structural-conceptual criteria as those developed by Croft (2000) and Sasse (1993b) as well as on the basis of methodological criteria as those suggested by Evans & Osada (2005). As is claimed in Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 2005), the meaning of lexical items is derived by integrating their own lexical meaning with the meaning contributed by the construction. The construction analysed in this paper is the argument structure construction. Linking between lexicon and syntax is subject…
Naja, normal und normal. Zur Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik der x-und-x-Konstruktion im Deutschen
2012
This article deals with the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of the x und x (‘x and x’) construction in German, cf. A: Schade, dass die [Schabracken] so teuer sind! B: Naja, teuer und teuer, wenn die Qualitat stimmt, dann finde ich den Preis okay. (A: ‘What a pity that the horsetrappers are so expensive!’ B: ‘Well, expensive and expensive, if the quality is good, the price is fine with me.’). The specific discourse function of this construction is to negotiate the situational meaning of a previously used lexical item. Typologically, it has been claimed that the pattern is language-specific for Scandinavian. The paper challenges this assumption, providing empirical evidence from a questionna…