Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

On Wednesday 14 September 2005 23:31, tladatsi AT charter.net wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Since we are in Semantics 101, we can say that a lexeme is
> the minimal semantic unit of a language.   So flee, fled,
> fleeing, and fleer are forms of the English lexeme flee (to
> get away from danger quickly), even though they are spelled
> and pronounced rather differently.   Although pronounced
> exactly the same and spelled very similarly, the noun flea
> (any of various small, wingless, bloodsucking insects of
> the order Siphonaptera) is an entirely different lexeme
> from the verb flee.   In contrast, the lexeme fly probably
> includes both the verb fly (flying, flown, flies, flew and
> even flied) as well as the noun fly (any of numerous two-
> winged insects of the order Diptera or a baseball hit high)
> since the noun is derived from the verb can both capture
> the same idea, i.e. flight (either doing it and something
> that does it).  A nearly identical relationship exists
> between the Hebrew word for *bird* and the verb *he flies*,
> they are spelled identically (un-pointed ?VK) and
> pronounced very similarly.
>
> If I write *Fly!*, am I taking the imperative form of the
> verb or announcing the presence of the noun?  They are the
> same lexeme but there is, nonetheless, ambiguity.  If I say
> *I caught a fly*, in my hand there can be one of two nouns
> but only one possible lexeme.  Puns can either play on
> different senses of the same word (or lexeme) or different
> senses or sounds of a different word.

I'm thinking of the famous children's pun, "What has 18 legs and catches 
flies?"  Answer: a baseball team.  In this case, the pun comes from an 
ambiguity of context: the one being asked is supposed to assume that "flies" 
refers to the insect, when in fact it refers to a ball hit into the air in 
baseball.

> Genesis 25:19 ? 34, offers an interesting test.  Esau was
> born ?DM.   He traded his birthright for a bowl of ?DM.
> His nickname was ?DM.  His descendants lived in country
> called ?DM.  I will go way out on a limb and suggest that
> in each case, the same lexeme is being used. There are
> slight differences in pronunciation but the un-pointed text
> appears absolutely identical.  The author is clearly and
> intentionally creating and exploiting ambiguity (both
> visual and phonetic) both to create puns and make a
> political point.  All of this is done with the same lexeme.

Peter may be correct that these aren't necessarily the same lexeme but are 
rather homonyms, but whether they're the same lexeme or different ones isn't 
important in the long run; what matters is the ambiguity that produces the 
play on words.

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Maybe I'll trade it for a new hat."