Feller Sebastian. Lexical Meaning in Dialogic Language Use

John Benjamins, 2010. — vii, 184 pages. — (Dialogue Studies). — ISBN: 978-90-272-8754-0.Lexical Meaning in Dialogic Language Use addresses a number of central issues in the field of lexical semantics. Starting off from an action-theoretical view of communication meaning is defined as something that speakers do in dialogic language use. Meaning as ‘meaning-in-use’ opens up a new perspective on a number of aspects: how can we define the lexical unit? What about the make-up of the meaning side? Does polysemy really exist? And is encyclopaedic information to be fully integrated into the lexicon?These questions are examined along the analyses of authentic lexical material from corpora. At the end exemplary lexical entries represent both the expression and meaning side of the analyzed material, providing incentive not only for theory but also for practical applications like foreign language teaching, lexicography, translational studies, and so forth.This book will appeal to anyone interested in language use and meaning and understanding especially.The whole and its parts
Towards a holistic understanding of language
The aim of this work
State-of-the-art theories
Structuralism
Psychological models
Logical semantics
Transformational theory and the Generative Lexicon
Cognitive theories of meaning
Use theories and action-theoretical models
Corpus linguistics
Some consequences for this work
Theoretical foundation
The framework for the semantic analyses: Language-in-use
Linguistic v. non-linguistic knowledge
Meaning as predication: Meaning-in-use
The lexical unit: Testing the limits
Meaning or meanings?
Methodological preliminaries
The selection of examples
The test set-up
Corpus data: Handle with care
The semantic representation
The semantic analysis (Part I) – The semantic interplay of subject-NP and VP
‘to support’
‘to pay’
‘to carry’
‘to say’
The semantic analysis (Part II) – New lexical entries. A pilot study
New lexical entries around ‘to support’
New lexical entries around ‘to carry’
New lexical entries around ‘to pay’
New lexical entries around ‘to say’The lexical unit redefied
Practical implications
From lexical units to lexical concepts – An outlook