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4 - Vocabulary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

R. M. W. Dixon
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Victoria
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Summary

Study of the forms and meanings associated with the open word classes (nouns, adjectives, verbs) in Australian languages is a vast topic in need of detailed study. A full treatment would require several volumes. Here I simply outline some of the main points, some of the problems and some of the tentative results to date.

First, a caveat is in order. There is a fine line between the recognition of a genuine meaning–form correspondence and fanciful hypotheses about relationships between words whose forms and meanings show a coincidental similarity. Consider three examples from English, of a single form with two meanings: fast, which can mean ‘quick’ or ‘firm, secure’ (as in stuck fast); ear which can be ‘organ of hearing’ or ‘part of a cereal plant’ (e.g. ear of corn); and bank which can be ‘raised shelf of ground’ (e.g. river bank) or ‘institution to do with money’. Some native speakers think that in all three cases the two meanings of the form must be related while others consider that in all three cases they are unrelated.

In fact the two senses of fast have developed from an Old English adjective fæst ‘firm’ (see Stern 1931: 216 for an account of the semantic shifts involved). But for ear and bank there is no historical relationship. The first sense of bank (as in river bank) is a Germanic form, while the second is a loan from Middle French banque.

Type
Chapter
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Australian Languages
Their Nature and Development
, pp. 96 - 130
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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  • Vocabulary
  • R. M. W. Dixon, La Trobe University, Victoria
  • Book: Australian Languages
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486869.007
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  • Vocabulary
  • R. M. W. Dixon, La Trobe University, Victoria
  • Book: Australian Languages
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486869.007
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Vocabulary
  • R. M. W. Dixon, La Trobe University, Victoria
  • Book: Australian Languages
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486869.007
Available formats
×