Lexis

Lexis

Lexis is individual words or sets of words, i.e. vocabulary items, that have a specific meaning.

Meaning: Vocabulary items have different kinds of meaning

Denotation: The meaning that describes the thing or idea behind the vocabulary item,

e.g.
TREE- A large plant with wooden trunk, branches and leaves.


Figurative meaning: We speak, for example, of the tree of life or family tree. This imaginative meaning comes from, but is different from, denotation.

Context: There is also the meaning that the vocabulary item has in the context (situation) in which it is used.

Prefixes and Suffixes/ Compound words/Collocations:

The meaning of some vocabulary items is created by adding prefixes or suffixes to base words: nationality, unprofessional…..
Or by making compound words (two or more words together that have meaning as a set: telephone number, bookshop)
Or by collocations (words that often occur together, e.g. to take a holiday, heavy rain)

Synonyms: Words with the same or similar meaning.

Antonyms: Words with opposite meaning.

Lexical Sets: Groups of words that belong to the same topic area: members of the family, types of food.