lexis and semantics Flashcards
what is lexis?
a term used to refer to vocabulary
what are word classes?
group words together based on their particular roles and functions in the text e.g. adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs
what is an adjective?
a word naming an attribute of a noun
what is a noun?
a word used to identify any of a class of people place or thing (common noun) or a particular one of these groups (proper noun)
what is a verb?
describes an action, state or occurrence
what is an adverb?
modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb or adverb to express a relation of place, time, manner etc
what is a grammatical word class?
tend to provide connections and cohesion between other words e.g. pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions
what is a pronoun?
functions in place of a noun e.g. i, you, he, she, it
what is a determiner?
modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun has e.g. a, the, every
what is a preposition?
governing a noun or pronoun expressing a relation to another element of the clause e.g. on, after, for
what is a conjunction?
used to connect clauses or sentences to coordinate words in the same clause
what is meant by semantics?
the study of meaning in language
what is a homonym?
a word that has more than one meaning
what is a semantic field?
a group of words that fulfil the same kind of role and function in speech and writing e.g. the semantic field for war might include guns, explosions, death, fighting
what is meant by collocates?
words that typically appear together e.g. the words cosmetic and surgery in cosmetic surgery and fish and chips rather than chips and fish
what are fixed expressions?
a well used group of words that becomes accepted and part of a larger structure e.g. at the end of the day, see you later
what are synonyms?
words that have equivalent meanings to others e.g. pretty, beautiful
what are antonyms?
words that have opposite meanings e.g. loud, quiet
what is meant by hyponymy?
the way of viewing the relationship between more general and specific words e.g. electronics is a more general way of referring to items such as laptop, iphone, playstation
what is meant by euphemism?
a more socially acceptable way of saying something e.g. powder my nose instead of going to the loo
what is meant by dysphemism?
using a blunt or direct word instead of a more polite or indirect alternative, close to taboo e.g. a doctor telling a family that their relative has “kicked the bucket”
what is a clause?
a group of words centred around a verb phrase
what is the subject of a clause?
usually a noun phrase, acts as the key focus of the clause and is often the focus of a process
what is the object of a clause?
usually a noun phrase, identifies the entity being acted on by the action of a verb process
what is the complement of a clause?
usually a noun phrase, it is the attribute of a subject in a relational verb process
what is the adverbial of a clause?
usually an adverb or prepositional phrase, identifies the circumstance of a verb process in terms of time, place or manner
