On Feb 29, 2008, at 9:43 PM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:

> But this just gets us back to the fact that lexical classes are
> prototypes rather than discrete categories.

Herb, I think it is useful to distinguish two separate sources of  
difficulty with lexical classes.  One, comes from the idea that the  
lexical classes are, as you put it so well, merely prototypes  
("merely" is my addition).  So the personal pronouns are strongly  
pronouns displaying all their characteristics, while the indefinite  
pronouns are just barely pronouns.  They don't have antecedents,  
don't have case, gender, number, or person and they do form  
possessives with apostrophe s.

But a second source of difficulty with lexical classes stems from the  
fact that words that fit centrally in one class can, in some  
contexts, function in an entirely different class.  We "book"  
reservations, build "stone" houses, and take a "drive."

Both of these characteristics of lexical classes seem to me to  
contribute to the difficulty we, and especially our students, have  
when we try to pin them down.

Peter Adams
Community College Baltimore County

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