Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology Theory
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An Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology Theory is a Morphological Theory with a rigorous distinction of Lexemes and Grammatical Morphemes.
- AKA: LMBM.
References
- http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/
- Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology (LMBM) is known for its rigorous distinction of lexemes and grammatical morphemes. The theory is formally described in Lexeme - Morpheme Base Morphology, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, (1995). This site explains one of the four basic hypotheses of LMBM: The Separation Hypothesis. For the other three, the Aristotelean Hypothesis, Unitary Grammatical Functions, and the Base Rule Theory, refer to the book. In this document you may click 'Outline of the Theory' below to begin a short overview of the Separation Hypothesis, or click any of the subsections to move directly to a specific topic, including general topics outside LMBM but related to the study of morphology. The appropriate address for comments and questions is located at the bottom of this page.
- http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/homepage.html#lexmorph
- Lexemes and Morphemes
- Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology (LMBM) is a variant of what Aronoff (1994) refers to as a 'lexeme-base' morphological theory. Lexeme-base morphology assumes that only the lexeme is a true linguistic sign where 'lexeme' is defined exclusively and explicitly as any and all noun, verb, and adjective stems. The effects of lexical and inflectional derivation on the lexeme do not affect its status as a sign at all. These processes, it follows, must involve elements other than linguistic signs.
- Lexical (derivational) and inflectional morphemes hence must represent different types of linguistic elements. The fundamental claim which distinguishes LMBM from other morphological frameworks is its rigid distinction of lexemes and (grammatical) morphemes, hence its name, 'Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology.' Beard (1988, 1995) argues that grammatical morphemes differ from lexemes in the following ways (detailed arguments may be found in 'LMBM and Word Syntax' at this website):
- 1. lexemes belong to open classes; morphemes belong to closed classes.
- 2. lexemes do not allow zero or empty forms; morphemes do.
- 3. lexemes have extra-grammatical referents; morphemes have grammaitical functions.
- 4. lexemes may undergo lexical derivation; morphemes may not.
- 5. lexemes are not paradigmatic; morphemes are.
- Lexemes and Morphemes
1995
- (Beard, 1995) ⇒ Robert Beard. (1995). “Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology: A General Theory of Inflection and Word Formation." SUNY Press.
1994
- Mark Aronoff. (1994). “Morphology by Itself. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
1986
- Robert Beard. (1986). “Neurological Evidence for Lexeme/Morpheme-based Morphology.” In: Proceedings of the International Conference "Theoretical Approaches to Word Formation". Acta Linguistica Academia Scientiarum Hungarica, 36.