How does the lexicon work?*

Abstract

An approach to the lexicon based on covert lexical phenomena at a level below that of the lexeme is proposed. A tentative model is outlined. It is argued that a (temporary) concurrence of form and meaning referred to as a morphosemantic concurrence (MSC) underlies actual words, promoting lexical and semantic maintenance as well as change. Acting in concert, MSCs maintain a morphosemantic equilibrium, particularly that between polysemy and synonymy/antonymy. The corpus used in this study is Cantonese, although reference is made also to English. It is suggested that there exists an observable interface between the morphosemantics of the lexicon and language praxis. The theory proposed has been tested experimentally, and a brief report on the experiment is included.