Descriptivity grading of finnish body-part terms

  • Three quantificational approaches to the measurement of lexical descriptivity are proposed, based on: the semantic sum of the parts of a lexeme is equal to the whole, paraphrase-term and term-paraphrase congruence, explicitness of semantic elements of a construction. Combination of all possible values into tripartite sets and then into equipollent groups results in a system composed of 12 grades. This system was tested with a semantic domain of the Finnish lexicon: body-part terms. The descriptivity indices for each lexical item were correlated with natural divisions of the body, construction-motivation types (form, function, location), grammatical construction types (endo- and exocentric compounds, derived forms, metaphors), and loanwords. These comparisons result in a number of grade profiles whereby specific descriptivity grades are characteristically associated with one or more types of body section, construction motivation, and grammatical construction. Diachronic and synchronic evidence points overwhelmingly to a process of semantic narrowing in the development of descriptive words and labels from phrases or sentences.

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Metadaten
Author:Russell Ultan
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-251154
Series (Serial Number):Arbeiten des Kölner Universalien-Projekts : akup (16)
Publisher:Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Institut für Linguistik, Universität zu Köln
Place of publication:Köln
Document Type:Working Paper
Language:English
Year of Completion:1975
Year of first Publication:1975
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2012/08/07
GND Keyword:Finnisch; Körperteil; Deskriptivität
Issue:Juni 1975
Page Number:28
HeBIS-PPN:349586179
Sammlungen:Linguistik
Linguistik-Klassifikation:Linguistik-Klassifikation: Semantik / Semantics
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Lexikologie/Etymologie / Lexicology/Etymology
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht