Word-formation and the lexicon

Abstract

According to a widespread view the lexicon is a kind of appentlix to the grammar, whose function is to list what is unpredi.ctableand irregular about the words of a language.In more recent studi.es it has been acquiring a rich internal organization of its own and is becoming recognized as the site of pervasive grammatical J."egularities.The particular approach to the lexicon that I will oesume in this paper comes out of this trend, integrating several ideas from work on both morphology and phonology in the seventies.i shall begin by outlining the central assumptions and their motivation, and proceed to a series of issues raised by this framework which have 1 to do with the proper formulation of word-formation processes.1.The lexicon.The :idea that morphology is organized in a hierarchy of levels is implicit :in Panini and was adopted from him.by Whitney (1889) and Bloomfield (1933, 1939) in terms of the distinction between "primary" and "secondary" suffixation.SieJ!el M A l C 4 Kiparsky that if both suffixes are added to a stem, -(i)an precedes -1.srn.This is confirmed by words like Nendelianism~golianism 9 versus ~;~..!~~lismfan, ,.,Mongolismlan.In fact, as predicted there are no words at all in >' 1 -ismian.More p.enerally, the primary suffix -(i)an is capable of being followed by primary (as well as secondar:Y)-suffixes, while the secondary suffix -ism is not capable of beinp, followed by primary suffixes.Thus, with the primary suffix -ize, it ls possible to form such verbs as monBolianize, parisianize, hegel ianize, but not such verbs as ,.,mongolismize, *southernisnize, *E_f!P__italismize.Correspondingly, -ism is capable of being _preceded by secondary (as well as primary) suffixes, while -(i)an is not capable of being preceded by secondary suffixes.So the secondary suffix -er can precede -ism, witness dissenterism, booksellerism (which happen to occur illWebster's Unabridp.edbut could in any case be freely made up), while -er cannot precede -(i)an: ,.,dlssenterian, >'booksellerian (compare the acceptable llitleriilil, Carterian, wliere -er is not a secondary suffix).-