FROM COGNITION TO LINGUISTICS: THE CASE OF LEXICALIZATION
Olivier Bertrand
Ecole Polytechnique & CNRS/ATILF, France
olivier.bertrand@polytechnique.fr
In a famous article entitled “Lexicalization and Institutionalization” (1994: 2164-2167), Lipka gave a
definition of what a lexicalization process is:
The phenomenon is characterized as ‘a gradual, historical process, involving phonological
and semantic changes and the loss of motivation. These changes may be combined in a single
word’.
The objective of this paper is to show that the linguistic process of lexicalization comes from a cognitive
motivation. Lexicalization is fundamentally diachronic as well as a semantic change process. My concern
is to evaluate the move from conception of a neologism in a language to the point of recognition in the
language. Here is the continuum that is implied in the process:
1. (re) distribution of semantic patterns
2. (re) analysis of the lexeme
3. use of the lexeme in the language (= neologism)
4. the new lexeme is included in dictionaries
Steps one and two imply cognition as a prerequisite to the linguistic changes of steps three and four.
I will work on the evolution of different words in French and English such as the evolution of corruption.
How does such a lexeme evolve semantically from a very concrete signification of “destruction” to the
abstract meaning of “alteration of the thought”, then belonging to the lexicon of political science and
theology?
Here is the process of lexicalization that can be schematized:
Schema A
Steps to Lexicalization
Lexicalization
Semantic lexicalization
Formal lexicalization
Plain
Complex
By derivation
By borrowing
1. Redistribution
1. Redistribution
1. Distribution
1. Distribution
2. Reanalysis
2. Reanalysis
2. Analysis
2. Analysis
Schema B
Types of Lexicalization
Lexicalization
Institutional Lexicalization
General lexicon
Specific lexicon
Popular lexicalization
oral language
I will discuss the degree on cognition in the process of lexicalization in linguistics by measuring the
influence of society in the neologism process. How and when a lexeme can be considered as a real word
in a given language? Does the process come first from linguistics or from a cognitive stimulus? What
does linguistic owe to cognition in creative language?
I will compare lexicalization to grammaticalization in order to find out whether or not there is a common
mental process in the two linguistic principles.
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