Chapter 3. Lexical change and the architecture of the Lexicon

This chapter explores new evidence from lexical change in connection with the debate concerning the nature of the Lexicon: whether it is root-based or word-based. A principled distinction is drawn between (genuine) lexical change, which affects roots, and grammaticalization, which affects selected words in sentence contexts and involves copying the targeted words. The data is mostly drawn from various Arabic dialects with implications for other similar Semitic languages such as Hebrew, where roots are purely consonantal and where words consist of consonantal roots and vocalic melodies in a non-concatinative arrangement.