exponence (n.)

A concept in a HIERARCHICAL LINGUISTIC analysis, referring to the relationship of correspondence between linguistic UNITS at a higher LEVEL of analysis and units at a lower level. For example, WORDS can be said to have PHONOLOGICAL units (such as PHONEMES) as their exponents, and the exponents of the latter are PHONETIC features. The term REPRESENTATION is equivalent. In this sense, abstract units are expounded by other abstract units or by physical units.

An alternative emphasis restricts the application of the term to the physical expression of any abstract unit (i.e. at any LEVEL), e.g. a MORPH being the exponent of a MORPHEME, a PHONE of a PHONEME, a particular FORMATIVE (such as -s) of a SYNTACTIC CATEGORY (such as ‘plural’), the item going of the LEXEME go. There are plainly many possible types of exponence relationships (e.g. to handle the ‘fusion’ or ‘overlapping’ of exponents). This sense of the term receives a specific technical status in HALLIDAYAN linguistic theory, referring to one of the SCALES of analysis which interrelates the CATEGORIES of the theory, viz. the relationship postulated between these categories and the raw DATA. For example, the LEXICAL item table is an instance of (an ‘exponent’ of) the CLASS of NOUNS. Other scales in this approach are labelled RANK and DELICACY.