A Lexicalization of Prefixed Lithuanian Verbs

Abstract

The aim of the article is to identify the criteria of identification of lexicalization of prefixed Lithuanian verbs and to apply them for corpus analysis. A prefixed verb lexicalizes when it becomes semantically independent word whose lexical meaning is not related to its formant and its root word. It is important to comprehensively describe lexicalized verbs and ways to identify them due to their importance for lexicographers who write corpus-based dictionaries, language technologies because computers have to identify these exceptional cases and for foreigners who study Lithuanian because they also have to grasp these individual, exceptional cases of word formation. Firstly, in this article, a broader conception of lexicalization is discussed in order to reveal the context of the phenomenon. Secondly, the criteria of identification of lexicalization of prefixed Lithuanian verbs were identified utilizing the theoretical works. Thirdly, by the example of four common prefixed verbs, it is demonstrated how criteria could be applied for identifying cases of lexicalization in corpus. Thirdly, how criteria could be applied for identifying cases of lexicalization in corpus is demonstrated by the example of four common prefixed verbs.