The Boundary between Grammar and Lexicon
Evidence from Japanese verb morphology
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All linguists recognize that competence in a natural language involves knowledge of a lexicon or dictionary; most assume that it also involves knowledge of a grammatical system. Just where the boundary between the lexicon and the grammar lies, however, is a question on which there is little consensus. This problem arises in particular with regard to the field of morphology, with many morphologists taking all morpheme combinations to result from the operation of the syntactic computational system and many others assuming that morphological units like stems and words are either lexically listed or created by nonsyntactic means. The present study, using Japanese and Ryukyuan verbal morphology as its primary database, argues that evidence from the both the syntactic and the phonological branches of the grammar converge on the conclusion that, while inflectional morphology is fully syntactic, derivational morphology has properties that militate against a syntactic treatment. The boundary between grammar and lexicon, then, falls at the boundary between inflection and derivation, rendering morphology “split” between syntactic and nonsyntactic subparts. The work should be of interest not only to morphologists, but to all concerned with the distinction between grammatical and lexical competence.
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 368] Expected January 2025. xvii, 259 pp. + index
Publishing status: In production
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Preface | pp. xi–xiv
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Inflectional category names | pp. xv–xvi
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On the transcription of Japanese | pp. xvii–xviii
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Chapter 1. The syntactic nature of inflection | pp. 1–17
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Chapter 2. An apparent challenge: Morphosyntactic and phonological fusion | pp. 18–49
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Chapter 3. The nonsyntactic nature of verbal derivation | pp. 50–87
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Chapter 4. An apparent challenge: Syntactic and lexical causatives | pp. 88–120
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Chapter 5. The suffixal alternations of Japanese verbal inflection | pp. 121–154
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Chapter 6. Analysis A in Ryukyuan | pp. 155–178
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Chapter 7. Explaining the choice of Analysis A | pp. 179–211
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Chapter 8. The timing of the adoption of Analysis A | pp. 212–233
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Chapter 9. Conclusion: A sharp boundary | pp. 234–237
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Abbreviations | p. 238
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References | pp. 239–259
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFK: Grammar, syntax
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009020: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Morphology