The lexicon tag has no wiki summary.
3
votes
1answer
41 views
Are lexicons finite in principle?
As we all know, every language has open classes of morphemes. If we discovered a new mineral whose natural florescence captured the public's attention, there would be no difficulty coining a new ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
Is there any synchronic difference between homonymy and polysemy?
Is there any synchronic difference between homonymy and polysemy?
As a literate English speaker, I can usually tell when words that are pronounced
identically have different etymologies thanks ...
0
votes
1answer
50 views
Tools to identify lexicalization
Is there any tests or morphological test which can help to identify whether an expression is lexicalised or not? For example, whether some compounds are processed through morphological processes or ...
1
vote
0answers
19 views
How much do languages vary when it comes to the prevalence of compound words in their lexicons?
Apparently, languages differ when it comes to the prevalence of compound words in their lexicons. For example, the fact that compound words are more prevalent in Chinese than in French was mentioned ...
4
votes
2answers
125 views
Are we witnessing the death of stative “think”?
For those who came in late: From what I understand, English stative verbs don't take the progressive. We can use progressive in utterances with dynamic verbs. Witness "I'm eating," "She's ...
1
vote
0answers
38 views
What, if any, aspects of linguistic typology affect the percentage of loanwords that a language has in its lexicon?
By "loanword," I'm referring to words borrowed into language X from other languages and altered only as the phonology of language X requires. Examples would include "le weekend" in French, "das ...
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Is it common for languages that lack grammatical number to make frequent use of numerical expressions?
Is it common for languages that lack grammatical number to make frequent use of numerical expressions?
This question was prompted by something I heard about Chinese, which lacks morphology that ...
0
votes
0answers
20 views
Is there a Word Menu-like wordnet program for searching subject/topic word groups?
I really like Word Menu, the lexicon that groups words by subject or topic. Color words are grouped under "colors," for instance, and words like "hammer" and "lathe" are grouped under "tools -> ...
5
votes
0answers
95 views
Mutual lexical borrowings between Arabic, Persian and Turkish: a reference request
As an occasional learner of these languages, I find the linguistic situation of Arabic, Persian and Turkish very interesting: they are three genetically unrelated languages (if you stick to ...
7
votes
0answers
203 views
Did Georgian ever have a native word for “dolphin”?
During my time in Georgia one word came to puzzle me and I'm still thinking about it:
დელფინი (delp'ini) "dolphin"
Wiktionary says this comes from Greek via Russian.
The thing is Georgia is on ...
3
votes
0answers
116 views
Do some languages have significantly more or fewer idioms than others?
Among the well-attested languages for which large corpora have been gathered, does the number of idiomatic expressions per language vary significantly? Are there fewer idioms in some languages than ...
5
votes
1answer
128 views
Are there any languages in which verbs are a closed class?
In English, the verb "do" can be a transitive verb whose object stands for an action. So, we English speakers can "do a somersault," "do a back flip," and "do a cartwheel." The productivity of this ...
