Conjoined lexical units
A single reading of a surface form can correspond to multiple lexical units. When this happens, the lexical units are connected with +.
Note: In the analyser, the conjoined whole is considered one lexical unit, while during transfer they are considered separate.
Note also: This is not the same as ambiguity – one surface form can have several readings, and each reading may be a simple or conjoined lexical unit.
For some phenomena, the join is explicitly marked in the dictionary. An example would be Catalan determiners, where a surface form like pel has a reading analysed as per<pr> + el>det<.
Minimal Example: English Possessives
An example of where this might be useful is English plurals and possessives:
^dog/dog<n><sg>$ ^dogs/dog<n><pl>$ ^dog's/dog<n><sg>+'s<gen>$ ^dogs'/dog<n><pl>+'s<gen>$
In monodix this is written with <j/>
<pardef n="dog__n"> <e><p> <l></l> <r><s n="n"/><s n="sg"/></r> </p></e> <e><p> <l>s</l> <r><s n="n"/><s n="pl"/></r> </p></e> <e><p> <l>'s</l> <r><s n="n"/><s n="sg"/><j/>'s<s n="gen"/></r> </p></e> <e><p> <l>s'</l> <r><s n="n"/><s n="pl"/><j/>'s<s n="gen"/></r> </p></e> </pardef> <e lm="dog"><i>dog</i><par n="dog__n"/></e>
In lexc this is written with %+
LEXICON NounInfl %<n%>%<sg%>: # ; %<n%>%<pl%>:s # ; %<n%>%<sg%>%+'s%<gen%>:'s # ; %<n%>%<pl%>%+'s%<gen%>:s' # ; LEXICON NounRoot dog:dog NounInfl ;
In lexd this is written with +
LEXICON NounNumPos <sg>: <pl>:s <sg>+'s<gen>:'s <pl>+'s<gen>:s' LEXICON NounRoot dog:dog PATTERNS NounRoot NounNumPos
More Involved Example: Chukchi Incorporation
Chukchi can incorporate nouns into verbs. A simplified example is given below:
LEXICON VerbRoot
амэчатык:амэчат
анӈатык:анӈат
LEXICON NounRoot
варат
ватап
PATTERN VerbStem
VerbRoot
NounRoot [<n><incorp>+:>{ы}] VerbRoot
PATTERNS
VerbStem [<v>:]
This generates the forms
^амэчат/амэчатык<v>$
^анӈат/анӈатык<v>$
^варат>{ы}амэчат/варат<n><incorp>+амэчатык<v>$
^варат>{ы}анӈат/варат<n><incorp>+анӈатык<v>$
^ватап>{ы}амэчат/ватап<n><incorp>+амэчатык<v>$
^ватап>{ы}анӈат/ватап<n><incorp>+анӈатык<v>$
Equivalent lexc:
LEXICON Root
NounIncorp ;
VerbRoot ;
LEXICON NounIncorp
варат:варат NounIncorpInfl ;
ватап:ватап NounIncorpInfl ;
LEXICON NounIncorpInfl
%<n%>%<incorp%>%+:%>%{ы%} VerbRoot ;
LEXICON VerbRoot
амэчатык:амэчат VerbInfl ;
анӈатык:анӈат VerbInfl ;
LEXICON VerbInfl
%<v%>: # ;
Roughly equivalent monodix (replacing >{ы} with ы since these are for composing with Twol)
<pardef n="noun_root"> <e><i>варат</i></e> <e><i>ватап</i></e> </pardef> <pardef n="verb_root"> <e><p> <l>амэчат</l> <r>амэчатык</r> </p></e> <e><p> <l>анӈат</l> <r>анӈатык</r> </p></e> </pardef> <pardef n="verb_infl"> <e><p> <l></l> <r><s n="v"/></r> </p></e> </pardef> <pardef n="noun_incorp_infl"> <e><p> <l>ы</l> <r><s n="n"/><s n="incorp"/><j/></r> </p></e> </pardef> <e> <par n="verb_root"/> <par n="verb_infl"/> </e> <e> <par n="noun_root"/> <par n="incorp_infl"/> <par n="verb_root"/> <par n="verb_infl"/> </e>
