What is lexical integrity?

Lexical integrity is the principle that syntactic rules cannot refer to or manipulate the parts of a word; a word is an atom from the point of view of syntax. Lexicalist theories adopt it, while syntacticist theories reject it.

What is the difference between weak and strong lexicalism?

Weak lexicalism keeps derivation in the lexicon but allows inflection to interact with the syntax, whereas strong lexicalism places both derivation and inflection in the lexicon, fully insulating word formation from syntax.

Lexicalism versus Syntacticism

The lexicalism debate asks whether words are built in an autonomous lexical component, opaque to syntax, or whether the syntax itself constructs words from smaller pieces.

Definition

Lexicalism is the thesis that word formation takes place in a component distinct from syntax, so that syntax cannot see or alter the internal structure of words; syntacticism is the opposing thesis that words are assembled by the same syntactic operations that build phrases.

Scope

This topic covers the foundational disagreement over the locus of word formation: the Lexicalist Hypothesis and the principle of lexical integrity, the distinction between weak and strong lexicalism, and the syntacticist counterposition that dissolves the lexicon. It does not cover the specific machinery of Distributed Morphology or particular interface phenomena, which are treated in sibling topics.

Core questions

Is there an autonomous lexicon in which words are formed?
Does the principle of lexical integrity hold, barring syntax from manipulating word-internal structure?
How do weak and strong versions of lexicalism differ?
What evidence favours building words in the syntax rather than the lexicon?

Key concepts

Lexicalist Hypothesis
lexical integrity
weak versus strong lexicalism
autonomy of the lexicon
syntactic word formation
atomicity of words

Key theories

The Lexicalist Hypothesis: Chomsky's proposal, prompted by the behaviour of derived nominals, that derivational morphology occurs in the lexicon rather than by syntactic transformation, insulating word structure from syntax.
The syntacticist alternative: The position, exemplified by Distributed Morphology, that there is no presyntactic word-forming lexicon and that words are constructed by the syntax, denying lexical integrity as a primitive.

History

The debate began with Chomsky's (1970) Remarks on Nominalization, which argued that derived nominals are formed in the lexicon, launching the lexicalist tradition. Di Sciullo and Williams (1987) defended the atomicity of words and the principle of lexical integrity. The rise of syntactic theories of word formation, especially Halle and Marantz's (1993) Distributed Morphology, revived syntacticism and made the locus of word formation a central architectural question.

Debates

Lexical integrity as principle or tendency: Whether syntax is strictly barred from accessing word-internal structure, or whether apparent violations show lexical integrity to be a strong tendency rather than an absolute principle.

Key figures

Noam Chomsky
Anna Maria Di Sciullo
Edwin Williams
Alec Marantz

Seminal works

chomsky1970
disciulliowilliams1987
hallemarantz1993

Frequently asked questions

What is lexical integrity?: Lexical integrity is the principle that syntactic rules cannot refer to or manipulate the parts of a word; a word is an atom from the point of view of syntax. Lexicalist theories adopt it, while syntacticist theories reject it.
What is the difference between weak and strong lexicalism?: Weak lexicalism keeps derivation in the lexicon but allows inflection to interact with the syntax, whereas strong lexicalism places both derivation and inflection in the lexicon, fully insulating word formation from syntax.