Multiword expressions and lexicalism: the view from LFG
Jamie Y. Findlay · 2017
Multiword expressions (MWEs) pose a problem for lexicalist theories like Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), since they are prima facie counterexamples to a strong form of the lexical integrity principle, which entails that a lexical item can only be realised as a single, syntactically atomic word.In this paper, I demonstrate some of the problems facing any strongly lexicalist account of MWEs, and argue that the lexical integrity principle must be weakened.I conclude by sketching a formalism which integrates a Tree Adjoining Grammar into the LFG architecture, taking advantage of this relaxation. Multiword expressionsBaldwin & Kim (2010, 269) define multiword expressions (MWEs), as lexical items that: (a) can be decomposed into multiple lexemes; and (b) display lexical, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and/or statistical idiomaticity.This is a very broad definition, covering everything from full-fledged idioms like cut the mustard to mere hackneyed expressions like never tell me the odds.In this paper, my focus is on semantic idiomaticity, this being the prototypical feature of MWEs, but what I say has implications for, and is not incompatible with, the other kinds as well.