(LANGUAGE METHODS) Lexis and Semantics Flashcards
Proper Noun
Names of people, places or organisations. E.g. Paris
Abstract Noun
Concepts, ideas, emotions. Intangible. E.g. Sadness, Hope, Happiness
Concrete Nouns
Tangible. E.g. Table, Shoe
Collective Nouns
Plurals. E.g. Flock of Birds, Pride of Lions
Personal Pronoun
I, you, she, they,
Demonstrative Pronoun
This, these, that, those.
Relative Pronoun
Who, whom, which, that.
Reflexive Pronoun
Myself, themselves, yourself.
Possessive Pronoun
My, your, his.
Material Verbs
Describing action or events. E.g. fought, hit
Relational Verbs
States of being. E.g. were, seem, become.
Mental Verbs
Thought and speech. E.g. pondered, think, love.
Dynamic Verbs
Where something changes. E.g. remove, paint.
Stative Verbs
Nothing changes. E.g. believe, hold, love.
Transitive Verbs
Require an object. E.g. Give, see.
Intransitive Verbs
Don’t require an object. E.g die, sleep, yawn.
Auxiliary Verbs
Additional, Supplementary. Something that helps/gives assistance. Assists main verb in a verb phrase. E.g. I WAS running. I SHOULD eat more greens.
Primary Auxiliaries (e.g. be, do, have)
Often used to distinguish tense.
Modal Auxiliaries
Show possibility, probability, certainty, obligation or necessity and will always be attached to a main verb. E.g. you may leave now. You ought to say sorry. I will eat that cake.
Preposition
Show relation in terms of time or place. E.g. before, in, under.
Conjunction
Joins two subordinate clauses together. E.g. And, because, so.
Determiner
In front of nouns to add detail or to clarify.
Adjectives
Add details to nouns.
Adverbs
Describes verbs. E.g. QUICKLY moved. SUDDENLY jumped.
Lexical Words
‘Meat’ of a language. Have explicit meanings and new additions to these word classes are always appearing. E.g. table, bird, fear.
Functional Words
Have less explicit meanings and serve to highlight the relationships between other words. New additions are rare. E.g. the, before, they, since, and.
Lexical Cohesion
Using words to make a text flow.
Lexical Connectors
Words like therefore, firstly, later.
Anaphoric Referencing
Noun before pronoun. E.g. TOM was tired. HE hadn’t slept well at all.
Cataphoric Referencing
Pronoun before noun. E.g. When HE woke up, TOM was still tired.
Ellipsis
Straight to the point. E.g. Where did you go last year? PORTUGAL
Substituting
Changing one set of lexical items for another. E.g. MY MOBILE PHONE is so out of date. I must look into getting a NEWER MODEL.
Semantics
Refers to the study of meaning and how meaning is created within texts. Also concerned with the relationship between lexical items.
(Semantic Relationships): synonymy
Words with similar semantic value. E.g. cry and wail
(Semantic Relationships): Antonymy
Words with opposite semantic value. E.g. Life and Death.
(Semantic Relationships): Hyponymy
Hierarchy of lexical items from more general to more specific. E.g. Animals -> Mammal -> Canine -> Dog -> Cocker Spaniel.
Euphemism
Mild or indirect expression used instead of one that is considered in some way offensive, painful or unpleasant. E.g. passed away.
Dysphemism
A use of language that emphasises unpleasantness. E.g. kicked the bucket.
Complementary and Gradable Antonyms
Complementary Antonyms represent true opposites (e.g. True and False) however Gradable Antonyms can be considered in terms of degree (e.g. Short and Long).
Figurative Language
Things like ACOASTMAP. Figurative Language is beyond the literal. E.g. similes, metaphors, personification, idiom (e.g. it’s raining cats and dogs).
Epistemic Modality
Likelihood and certainty - possibility of things being true. E.g. you MUST be starving.
Deontic Modality
Possibility and necessity in terms of freedom to act (including permission and duty). E.g. You MUST leave now.
