LEXICOLOGY

LEXICOLOGY

 

The term “lexis” refers to the vocabulary (word with the meaning) of a language,each itself  being reffered to as a lexeme or lexical item.The entire range of lexical items in a language is known as its lexicon.Lexicology refers to the study of the vocabulary of a language and the development of its lexicon.

The different between the grammatical word (the morpheme) and the lexical word (the lexeme).In the example,”foot” there is the grammatical word(morpheme) “foot” which has its grammatical function as a noun (naming an object),while the lexical word (lexeme) “foot” refers to the part of the body at the bottom of the leg on which we stand.Thus the meaning of the lexeme “foot”is different from the grammatical function of the morpheme “foot”.Taking this a little futher,we get the semantic word (the sememe)”foot” which can be used to refer to either the unit of measurement of twelve inches or also to the base or bottom of something.

Difference of Morpheme,Lexeme and Sememe:

1.Ball

Morpheme = (grammatical word) noun-naming an object or thing

Lexeme = (meaning word) the round object used in games

Sememe = (extended meaning word) formal/social event/dance

2.Eye

Morpheme = noun-naming an object/thing

Lexeme = organs with which we see to look at closely,carefully

Sememe = quiet centre of a storm

3.Hand

Morpheme = noun-naming an object/thing

Lexeme = the moveable part of the body at the end of the arm to give from one’s own hand

Sememe = the moving pointer on a clock etc.

            
 A few terms that are of importance in lexicology should be examined here

Lexical Decomposition

Lexical decomposition is a means of characterizing the detail lexical features of a word.For example taking the words “kitten”,”puppy”,and “fawn” we can see some commonality in them.

Collocation

Collocation refers to the co-occurrence possibility or compatibility of a word with other words.For example,”black”collocates well with “black” box,”black”coffe,”black”board and “black”bird.

Denotation and Connotation

Denotation refers to the strict definition of a word,the class of things denoted by a word.It is the referential or dictionary meaning of a lexical item.For example the lexeme “mother” has its dictionary definition as “female parent”.Connotation.on the other hand,goes into the extralinguistic association and overtones of meanings of words.These meanings would not be explicitly stated in the dictionary.Thus for “mother” connotative meaning would entail,”compassion,love,comfort,solace,strength” and other maternally eminent qualities.

Reference:

A Liguistic Primer for Malaysians_Loga Mahesan Baskaran