Word Categories
The Lexicon
The first assumption we will make is that one of the things that a speaker of a language
knows is facts about words. We know, for instance, how a given word is pronounced,
what it means and where we can put it in a sentence with respect to other words. To
take an example, the English word cat is known to be pronounced [kæt], is known to
mean ‘a small, domesticated animal of meagre intelligence that says meow’ and is
known to be able to fit into the marked slots in sentences (2), but not in those marked
in (3):
The first assumption we will make is that one of the things that a speaker of a language
knows is facts about words. We know, for instance, how a given word is pronounced,
what it means and where we can put it in a sentence with respect to other words. To
take an example, the English word cat is known to be pronounced [kæt], is known to
mean ‘a small, domesticated animal of meagre intelligence that says meow’ and is
known to be able to fit into the marked slots in sentences (2), but not in those marked
in (3):
(2) a the cat slept
b he fed Pete’s cat
c I tripped over a cat
(3) a *the dog cat the mouse
b *cat dog howled
c *the dog slept cat a kennel
b he fed Pete’s cat
c I tripped over a cat
(3) a *the dog cat the mouse
b *cat dog howled
c *the dog slept cat a kennel
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