Standard LFs form a proper subset of normal LFs. A normal LF ƒ is called Standard if and only if it satisfies both following conditions:
1. Broadness of the domain of ƒ: ƒ is defined for a relatively large number of keywords; 2. Diversity of the range of ƒ: ƒ has a relatively large number of expressions as elements of its possible values and these expressions are more or less equitably distributed between different keywords.
Normal LFs that do not satisfy both Conditions 1 and 2, on the one hand, and degenerate LFs, on the other, are called Non-Standard. An example of a Non-Standard LF is the meaning ‘without addition of dairy product’. It has two expressions in English, a phraseological one—BLACK (with COFFEE: black coffee), and a free one—WITHOUT MILK (tea without milk is not *black tea). This meaning fails Condition 1: it is too specific and applicable only to one beverage. It thus corresponds to a Non-Standard LF.
1. Syn [Lat. synonymum] = synonym.
2. Anti [Lat. antonymum] = antonym. 3. Convijk [Lat. conversivum] = conversive.
4. Gener [Lat. genus] = the closest generic concept for L.
5. Figur [Lat. figuraliter ‘figuratively’] = standard received metaphor for L.
6. S0 = Substantival, output N having a congruent meaning to L (which can be of any part of speech except N):
7. A0 = Adjectival, output A having a congruent meaning to L (which can be of any part of speech except A):
8. V0 = Verbal, output V having a congruent meaning to L (which can be of any part of speech except V):
9. Adv0 = Adverbial, output Adv having a congruent meaning to L (which can be of any part of speech except Adv):
10. Si = standard name of the i-th (Deep-Syntactic) actant of L.
11. Sinstr = standard name of the instrument used in the situation denoted by L.
12. Smed = standard name of the means used to bring about the situation denoted by L.
13. Smod = standard name of the mode through which the situation denoted by L is realized.
14. Sloc = standard name of the location where the situation denoted by L is realized.
15. Sres = standard name of the result of the situation denoted by L.
16. Ablei [Lat. habilis ‘able, manageable’] = determining property of the i-th potential DSyntA of L (‘such that it can L easily’/‘such that it can be L-ed easily’):
17. Quali [Lat. qualitas] = determining property of the i-th probable DSynt-actant of L (‘such that it is predisposed to L’/‘such that it is predisposed to be L-ed’):
18. Ai = determining property of the i-th DSyntA of L from the viewpoint of its role in the situation ‘L’.
19. Advi = the determining property of the action by the i-th DSyntA of L from the viewpoint of the role of the DSyntAi of L in the situation denoted by L.
20. Imper [Lat. imperāre ‘[to] command’] = imperative expression meaning ‘do L!’
21. Result [Lat. resultāre ‘[to] result’] = ‘[to] be the expected result of L’:
22. Centr [Lat. centrum ‘center’] =‘the center/culmination of L’
23. Magn [Lat. magnus ‘big, great’] = ‘very’, ‘to a (very) high degree’, ‘intense(ly)’:
24. Ver [Lat. verus ‘real, genuine’] = ‘as it should be’, ‘meeting intended requirements’:
25. Bon [Lat. bonus ‘good’] = ‘good’:
26. Locin [Lat. locus ‘place’] = preposition governing L and designating a containing spatial location (‘being in’):
27. Locad [Lat. locus ‘place’] = preposition governing L and designating an entering spatial relation (‘moving into’):
28. Locab [Lat. locus ‘place’] = preposition governing L and designating an exiting spatial relation (‘moving out of’):
29. Instr [Lat. instrumentum ‘instrument’] = preposition meaning ‘by means of L’:
30. Propt [Lat. propter ‘because of’] = preposition meaning ‘because of’/‘as a result of L’:
31. Operi [Lat. operāri ‘[to] do, carry out’] = a light verb used as part of the expression ‘realize/carry out L':
32. Funci [Lat. functionāre ‘[to] function’]:
33. Laborij [Lat. labōrāre ‘[to] work, toil’]:
34. Incep [Lat. incipere] = ‘begin’:
35. Cont [Lat. continuāre] = ‘continue’:
36. Fin [Lat. fīnīre] = ‘cease’:
37. Caus [Lat. causāre] ‘cause’ [≈ ‘do something so that a situation occurs’] 38. Perm [Lat. permittere] =‘permit/allow’ [≈ ‘do nothing which would cause that a situation does not occur]’ 39. Liqu [Lat. *liquidāre] = ‘liquidate’ [≈ ‘do something so that a situation does not occur’] 40. Reali [Lat. realis ‘real’]
41. Fact0/i [Lat. factum ‘fact’]
42. Labrealijk [a hybrid of Labor and Real]
43. Involv [Lat. involvere ‘[to] drag along’] = verb meaning ‘[to] involve Y’, ‘[to] affect Y’
44. Manif [Lat. manifestāre ‘[to] manifest’] = verb meaning ‘L manifests itself [≈ becomes apparent] in Y’
45. Degrad [Lat. degradāre ‘[to] degrade’] = verb meaning ‘[to] degrade’ ≈ ‘[to] become permanently worse or bad’.
46. Son [Lat. sonāre ‘[to] sound’] = verb meaning ‘[to] emit characteristic sound’.
Simple LFs can be combined to form complex LFs:
Certain expressions (collocations or derivations) can simultaneously realize two LFs, resulting in a configuration of LFs:
Lexical Functions play an important part in the lexicon, which of necessity must include information about the collocational and derivational properties of LUs. In MTT, the LFs for L are included in the entry for L in the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary:
REVULSION Definition X’s revulsion for Y ≡ ‘X’s (strong) negative feeling about Y caused by X’s perception of Y, similar to what people normally experience when they perceive something that makes them sick and such that it causes that X wants to stop perceiving Y’.
Government Pattern
2. at N3. for N4. toward N
1) CII.2 : N denotes something that can be seen or felt 2) CII.4 : N denotes people [‘C’ stands for ‘column;’ the Roman numeral identifies the column, and the Arabic numeral, the cell in it.] John’s 〈his〉 revulsion against racism 〈against dismal results of his endeavors〉. John’s 〈his〉 revulsion at the sight of sea food; John’s 〈his〉 revulsion for work 〈for all those killings〉; John’s 〈his〉 revulsion for 〈= toward〉 these scoundrels 〈toward the government〉 Impossible: John’s 〈his〉 revulsion *at these words [correct expression: ... for these words] [by Constraint 1] John’s 〈his〉 revulsion *towards these words [by Constraint 2]
Lexical Functions
Anti∩: attraction
Examples He did it from deep revulsion for the bitterness of the sectarian strife. Any revulsion they might feel from fat-ass bastards they ran up against professionally was ad hominem and not ad genus [A. Lurie]. Mary turned her head away in revulsion. I felt no revulsion for her maternal fantasies, only a practical concern. She met his advances with revulsion. Pam was driven to revulsion (by the sight of the dead animal) 〈*The sight of the dead animal drove Pam to revulsion〉. Revulsion at slaughter cut war short [newspaper heading].
Fontenelle, Thierry. (2008) Using a bilingual dictionary to create semantic networks. In Thierry Fontenelle (ed.), Practical Lexicography: A reader, 175–185. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ↩
The material in this article is based to a large extent on Mel’čuk, Igor A. (2007). Lexical Functions. In H. Burger, D. Dobrovol’skij, P. Kühn & N. Norrick (eds.), Phraseology. An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, 119–13. Berlin/New York: W. de Gruyter. The material in the list of LFs and the sample ECD entry below is reproduced from that source with kind permission of the author. ↩
Žolkovskij, Aleksandr & Igor A. Mel’čuk, I. (1967). O semantičeskom sinteze. Problemy kibernetiki 19, 177–238. ↩
Mel’čuk, Igor A. (1974). Opyt teorii lingvističeskix modelej «Smysl ⇔ Tekst». Moscow: Nauka. ↩
Mel’čuk, Igor A. (1996). Lexical Functions: A tool for the description of lexical relations in the lexicon. In Leo Wanner (ed.), Lexical Functions in Lexicography and Natural Language Processing, 37–102. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ↩
Mel’čuk, Igor A. (1998). Collocations and Lexical Functions. In Anthony P. Cowie (ed.) Phraseology. Theory, analysis, and applications, 23–53. Oxford: Clarendon. ↩
Mel’čuk, Igor A. (2003). Collocations dans le dictionnaire. In Th. Szende (ed.), Les écarts culturels dans les dictionnaires bilingues, 19–64. Paris: Honoré Champion. ↩
Mel’čuk, Igor A. (2007). Lexical Functions. In H. Burger, D. Dobrovol’skij, P. Kühn & N. Norrick (eds.), Phraseology. An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, 119–131. Berlin/New York: W. de Gruyter. ↩
Wanner, Leo. (ed.) (1996). Lexical Functions in Lexicography and Natural Language Processing. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ↩
Gelbukh, A.; Kolesnikova, O. (2013). Semantic Analysis of Verbal Collocations with Lexical Functions. Studies in Computational Intelligence. Vol. 414. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-28771-8. ISBN 978-3-642-28770-1. 978-3-642-28770-1 ↩