A course In Modern English Lexicology

§ 41. Lexical Context the groups of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word under consideration. This can be illustrated by analysing different lexical contexts in which polysemantic words are used. The adjective heavy, e.g., in isolation is understood as meaning ‘of great weight, weighty’ (heavy load, heavy table, etc.). When combined with the lexical group of words denoting natural phenomena such as wind, storm, snow, etc., it means ’striking, falling with force, abundant’ as can be seen from the contexts, e.g. heavy rain, wind, snow, storm, etc. In combination with the words industry, arms, artillery and the like, heavy has the meaning ‘the larger kind of something’ as in heavy industry, heavy artillery, etc.
The verb take in isolation has primarily the meaning ‘lay hold of with the hands, grasp, seize’, etc. When combined with the lexical group of words denoting some means of transportation (e.g. to take the tram, the bus, the train, etc.) it acquires the meaning synonymous with the meaning of the verb go.
It can be easily observed that the main factor in bringing out this or that individual meaning of the words is the lexical meaning of the words with which heavy and take are combined. This can be also proved by the fact that when we want to describe the individual meaning of a polysemantic word, we find it sufficient to use this word in combination with some members of a certain lexical group. To describe the meanings of the word handsome, for example, it is sufficient to combine it with the following words — a) man, person, b) size, reward, sum. The meanings
‘good-looking’ and ‘considerable, ample’ are adequately illustrated by the contexts.
The meanings determined by lexical contexts are sometimes referred to as lexically (or phraseologically) bound meanings which implies that such meanings are to be found only in certain lexical contexts.
Some linguists go so far as to assert that word-meaning in general can be analysed through its collocability with other words. They hold the view that if we know all the possible collocations (or word-groups) into 48
which a polysemantic word can enter, we know all its meanings. Thus, the meanings of the adjective heavy, for instance, may be analysed through its collocability with the words weight, safe, table; snow, wind, rain; industry, artillery, etc.
The meaning at the level of lexical contexts is sometimes described as meaning by collocation.1
In grammatical contexts it is the grammatical
§ 42. Grammatical Context (mainly the syntactic) structure of the context that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. One of the meanings of the verb make, e.g. ‘to force, to enduce’, is found only in the grammatical context possessing the structure to make somebody do something or in other terms this particular meaning occurs only if the verb make is followed by a noun and the infinitive of some other verb (to make smb. laugh, go, work, etc.). Another meaning of this verb ‘to become’, ‘to turn out to be’ is observed in the contexts of a different structure, i.e. make followed by an adjective and a noun (to make a good wife, a good teacher, etc.).
Such meanings are sometimes described as grammatically (or structurally) bound meanings. Cases of the type she will make a good teacher may be referred to as syntactically bound meanings, because the syntactic function of the verb make in this particular context (a link verb, part of the predicate) is indicative of its meaning ‘to become, to turn out to be’. A different syntactic function of the verb, e.g. that of the predicate (to make machines, tables, etc.) excludes the possibility of the meaning ‘t o become, turn out to be’.
In a number of contexts, however, we find that both the lexical and the grammatical aspects should be taken into consideration. The grammatical structure of the context although indicative of the difference between the meaning of the word in this structure and the meaning of the same word in a different grammatical structure may be insufficient to indicate in w h i с h of its individual meanings the word in question is used. If we compare the contexts of different grammatical structures, e.g. to take+ nown and to take to+noun, we can safely assume that they represent different meanings of the verb to take, but it is only when we specify the lexical context, i.e. the lexical group with which the verb is combined in the structure to take + noun (to take coffee, tea; books, pencils; the bus, the tram) that we can say that the context determines the meaning.
It is usual in modern linguistic science to use the terms p a t t e r n or s t r u с t u r e to denote grammatical contexts. Patterns may be represented in conventional symbols, e.g. to take smth. as take +N. to take to smb. as take to+ N.2 It is argued that difference in the distribution of the word is indicative of the difference in meaning. Sameness of 1 See also ‘Methods and Procedures of Lexicological Analysis’, § 4, p. 246.
2 See ‘Semasiology’, § 3, p. 1-7. Conventional symbols habitually used in distributional patterns are as follows:
N — stands for nouns or their functional equivalents, e.g. personal pronouns. V —
stands for verbs except auxiliary and modal verbs (be, have, shall, etc.). A — stands for adjectives or their functional equivalents, e.g. ordinal numerals. D — stands for adverbs or their functional equivalents, e.g. at home.
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distributional pattern, however, does not imply sameness of meaning. As was shown above, the same pattern to take + N may represent different meanings of the verb to take dependent mainly on the lexical group of the nouns with which it is combined.
Dealing with verbal contexts we consider