Editing Distributed morphology (section)

===Allosemy===

Allosemy – the phenomenon in which a single morpheme can have multiple semantic realizations – is handled the same way allomorphy is handled in DM: through contextual specification and the Elsewhere Condition. The Encyclopedic List contains the semantic meaning and context for each entry in the list. When a single morpheme is realized with multiple possible meanings, it has multiple entries in the Encyclopedic List. Thus, we can derive multiple possible meanings of ‘look’  with the following entries:  (note:   √  indicates square root, CAPS LOCK indicates semantic concept)

#√ look ←→ PHYSICAL APPEARANCE / [__]V Adj
#√ look ←→ NOTABLE GLANCE / [__]N  <!--sp NOTABLE ?-->
#√ look ←→ CONSULT A SOURCE / [ __ up]V 
#√ look ←→ λ x, λ y, y looks at x / elsewhere

	The contextual specifications for  √ look will ensure that it has the appropriate interpretation given the context. The contextual specifications can only include various pieces of information, such as the word class of the item, the word class of a sister node, or even the specific morpheme of the sister node. However, it cannot contain any information about a non-sister node (although there will be some complications when a word intervenes between a word and the relevant sister node ex. “look the book up.”). And, just as in the Exponent List, an item in the Encyclopedic List can be specified as being inserted ‘elsewhere:’ in all contexts where the contextual specification of all other entries for that morpheme are not met. Besides expressing the notion of a ‘default’ semantic meaning of a given morpheme, having the elsewhere condition as an explicit contextual specification also allows for the expression of morphemes that do not have a default semantic meaning.
	For many English speakers, ‘cahoot’ only has an interpretation when preceded by ‘in’ (ex. John was in cahoots with the Russians.) The entry for ‘cahoot’ might have the following entry for such a context:

#√ cahoot ←→ CONSPIRACY / [  in [ ___ -sg ] ]
 	
	To express the fact that this is the only context where cahoot has a meaning, we simply posit that there is no entry for cahoot with the elsewhere condition for its contextual specification. Thus, by allowing for the omission of the elsewhere specification, we can express the fact that certain morphemes require a specific context for interpretation.
	We can use contextual specification to model other aspects of idiomatic meaning, namely, the fact that idiomatic meaning often does not hold across different syntactic configurations.  The expression the shit hit the fan loses its idiomatic meaning if passivized: #the fan was hit by the shit. We can express this fact by specifying voice on the contextual specification for the verb:

#√ hit ←→BECOME AN EXTREME SITUATION / [voiceactive [ ____ fan]]

	Finally, just as in allomorphy, the Maximal Subset Principle will play a part if the contextual specification for one alloseme is a subset of another alloseme. While the following entries for eat, meant to express two possible meanings for the phrase eat up (ex. John ate up the story vs. John ate up all his food), are not necessarily the exact specifications, they illustrate a hypothetical use of the Maximal Subset Condition:

#√ eat ←→ ENJOY / [ ____ up] [non-food object]
#√ eat ←→ FINISH THE FOOD / [ ____ up]
 
	The FINISH THE FOOD entry for √ eat will be inserted whenever eat up is followed by any food object. However, when eat up is followed by a non-food object, both entries’ contextual specifications will be met. However, the ENJOY entry is inserted, because more conditions in its contextual specification are met. Thus, the Maximal Subset Condition will choose the alloseme whose contextual specification is most completely satisfied, when there is competition among Encyclopedic List entries.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>