Lexical function

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The term lexical function (LF) plays a central role in the meaning-text model (BTM). An LF describes the relationship between two words, i.e. a word X and a word Y, which is connected to X in terms of its meaning. X or Y can also be word combinations. The relationship between X and Y is noted as with mathematical functions: f (X) = Y; the mathematical function 'f' corresponds to the LF in the BTM; with 'X' one speaks of the argument of the LF and 'Y' is the value of the LF; z. B. Syn (USSR) = Soviet Union.

The concept of the LF was developed by IA Meľčuk and AK Žolkovskij in 1963 and 1964. The first publications on it appeared immediately in the following years. Since then, more than 70 different LFs have been postulated by the Moscow Semantic School, which can be roughly divided into two types: (i) 'lexical substitute' or 'paradigmatic LF' to describe the substitutability of words and (ii) 'lexical parameters' or 'syntagmatic LF' to describe the combinability of words ( collocations , especially according to the significance-oriented collocation term). Representatives of the first group would be synonyms ('Syn') and conversive ('Conv', e.g. give - get ). The names for the lexical functions are derived from Latin terms. One of the most important lexical parameters is the LF 'Magn': This is defined by the paraphrase 'very, to a high degree'; z. B. Magn (hurt) = seriously, as in the sentence Hans seriously injured Peter . Further examples: Magn (rain) = stronger; Magn (scream) = loud, loudly, with a full throat, as if on a stick.

The lexical functions play an important role in the description of natural languages, as they can be used to represent the correlating words and word combinations in an abstract form. This has great advantages for the foreign language learner and also for the translator because many of these closely related words cannot be translated directly into the foreign language. Compare, for example, the LF Magn for one of the English equivalents of injure , namely to injure : Magn (to injure) = badly, seriously (and not heavily ).

literature

  • IA Melʹčuk: Opyt teorii lingvističeskich modelej «Smysl ⇔ Tekst» . Moscow 1974, OCLC 251816542 .
  • R. Zangenfeind: The meaning-text model. Dictionary and grammar of an integral language description. (= Slavic contributions. Volume 471). Munich / Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86688-083-2 .
  • L. Wanner (Ed.): Lexical Functions in Lexicography and Natural Language Processing . Amsterdam, Philadelphia 1996, ISBN 1-55619-383-1 .
  • IA Melʹčuk, AK Žolkovskij, Ju. D. Apresjan et al: Tolkovo-Kombinatornyj slovarʹ sovremennogo russkogo jazyka : Opyty semantiko-sintaksičeskogo opisanija russkoj leksiki. (= Vienna Slavic Almanac. Special Volume. 14). Vienna 1984, OCLC 859851723 .
  • IA Melʹčuk et al .: Dictionnaire explicatif et combinatoire du français contemporain . (= Recherches lexico-sémantiques. I-IV ). Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal 1984, ISBN 2-7606-0659-7 .