Τhe primitives of the lexicon: Insights from aspect in idioms

Abstract

This work discusses the primitives of the mental lexicon through exploring aspectual compositionality in VP idioms. A comparison between idiomatic VPs and their non-idiomatic counterparts is employed to show whether the determination of aspect in idioms is compositional in both the idiomatic and the non-idiomatic VPs. Aspectual mismatches across the two domains of interpretation are presented and a point in favor of aspectual compositionality in idioms is made. Bringing together insights from theoretical linguistics and neurolinguistic research, it is proposed that the existence of aspectual accomplishments in a particular type of idioms should lead to a re-evaluation of the frequently entertained idea of storing idioms (XPs) in the mental lexicon as elementary lexical units.