Goddard, Cliff (2007). A “lexicographic portrait” of forgetting. In Mengistu Amberber (Ed.), The language of memory in a crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 119-137). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.21.08god
Abstract:
This study aims to provide a detailed NSM analysis of the English verb forget. It examines its three main clausal complement types (to-complement, e.g. I forgot to lock the door; that-complement, e.g. I forgot that the door was locked; and wh-complement, e.g. I forgot where I put the key), NP-complements, and several more specialized constructions.
The picture that emerges is of a set of interrelated lexicogrammatical constructions, each with a specific meaning, forming a polysemic lexical “family”. Although the study concentrates on English alone, the semantic differences between the various constructions it has identified make it rather clear that one cannot expect a similar range of meanings to map across to apparently similar lexemes in other languages.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
