The submorpheme sm-, or how Arabic can help explain English

Abstract

Line Argoud has demonstrated that the notional load correlated with the English submorpheme sm- includes three notional fields: “to strike a blow”, “activities realized by the labial region”, and “activities linked to the nose as an organ”. I demonstrate that this can easily be explained by adopting the organization set out in the Theory of Matrices and Etymons (TME) which I have proposed for Arabic. The analysis which I have provided for Arabic sheds light on the organization of the meanings of this particular submorpheme in English.

Keywords

• theory of matrices and etymons
• submorphemics
• Arabic lexicon
• notional domain