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Semantics II (Some Definitions) 1. Lexicon The lexicon is the collective name for the list of the lexemes of a language. We may call it the vocabulary of the language. But it has to be remembered that all the lexemes of a language are not single word forms. The lexicon also includes the phrasal lexemes which have an idiomatic meaning that cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words which constitute them. 2. Lexemes Lexemes are the word forms and phrasal expressions having an idiomatic meaning used in a language which are listed in a dictionary using their base forms or citation forms or stem forms or in any other way which distinguishes them from one another. It must be remembered, however, that the base form and the citation form of all the words of English except BE is identical. The lexemes are listed in the dictionary which gives not only their meanings but also all the grammatical information about them. All the lexemes of a language are not single word form...

Syntax –  Constituents,  Categories  and Phrase Structure Rules A. Constituents Constituents are the units which may be words, phrases (groups of words not qualifying as sentences) or clauses (sentences embedded in lager sentences) that go into the making of a larger structure.   For example, the sentence – Boys are naughty – has three constituents all of which are words. In the sentence – The naughty boy broke the glass, - again, we have three constituents two of which are noun phrases and the third one is a verb. In the sentence – The boy who is naughty broke the glass – we have a clause (a sentence within a sentence)   - 'who is naughty' - as a constituent of a larger sentence. Traditional grammar operated with words as the constituents of sentences. The words were then classified into parts of speech such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs etc. But modern grammarians have rejected this classification because 1. Their defini...

Syntax as the Grammar of a Language Some linguists have identified syntax with grammar. They are of the opinion that syntax and grammar are synonymous and the syntactical rules are nothing but the rules of the grammar of a language. However, it is not possible to agree with them. Of course, syntactical rules are reflected in the grammar of the concerned language. But grammar covers a much broader area than syntax. We may say that syntax is a part of grammar but just one part. There is an area in every language which is common to both. But at the same time, there is a part of grammar which is not covered by syntax. Also there are certain things which are exclusive to syntax and are not covered by grammar. Syntax is the branch of linguistics which deals with the linear ordering of elements (words, phrases and clauses) in the well-formed (acceptable) sentences of a language. In the case of most of the languages, the order moves from left to right but in some like Urdu, it mo...