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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Lexemes and meanings

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Ruth Mathys <ruth_mathys AT sil.org>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Lexemes and meanings
  • Date: Sun, 5 May 2013 18:44:49 -0400

Here is another example from Hebrew, I have just met with today. From the Hebrew root כבה KBH, 'extinguish', we have the "lexeme" (or googleme) כבאי KABA-IY, 'firefighter'. As I see it, the ending -IY of KABA-IY is the "smoothed" personal pronoun, or identity marker, היא HIY referring to the person performing the act KABAH, and corresponding to the ending -er in the English word firefight-er. The corresponding feminine form כבאית KABA-IY-T, with the additional marker את AT, is, of course, not listed separately. But, there is another כבאית KABA-IY-T in which the -IY-T ending refers, not a firefighteress, but rather to an engine מכונית MKON-IYT.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On May 4, 2013, at 7:37 PM, Ruth Mathys wrote:

I've seen it claimed here repeatedly that a single lexeme necessarily has a

single meaning in all the contexts it is used in.  I think that is nonsense.

I won't attempt to prove it from Hebrew, but it is easy to demonstrate from

English.





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