Lexis + Semantics

Question 1

What is a Denotation?

Answer 1

Semantical Term
- The literal, generally accepted, dictionary definition of a word
- Example: ‘she was cold’- she was literally cold in temperature
- No pragmatical meaning.
- Objective.

Question 2

What are Connotations?

Answer 2

Semantical Term
- The associated meanings we have with certain words, depending on the person reading/hearing the word, + on the context in which the word appears
- Example: ‘red’ connotes danger, love, anger, e.t.c
- Much more subjective than denotation.

Question 3

What is Synonymy?

Answer 3

Lexical Term
- Use of words which have the same meaning
- Example: malady + illness

Question 4

What is Antonymy?

Answer 4

Use of words which have opposite meanings.

Question 5

What are Homophones?

Answer 5

Words which have the same sound but are spelled differently.

Question 6

What is Homonymy?

Answer 6

Words which sound the same and are spelled the same but have different meanings.

Question 7

What is a Semantic Field?

Answer 7

Semantical Term
- Pattern of words with similar meanings found across a text or texts
- Example: ‘bolt’, ‘trap’, ‘cage’)

Question 8

What is Ambiguity?

Answer 8

Words/phrases capable of more than one meaning. Can be caused by use of homophones/homonyms and can be deliberate or by accident.

Question 9

What is an Eponym?

Answer 9

Name of a person after whom something is named (Sandwich, Braille)

Question 10

What are Proprietary/Proper names?

Answer 10

Name given to a product by one organisation, becomes the commonly used name for similar products (Ipad, Tampax, Hoover)

Question 11

What is ‘Neologism’?

Answer 11

Describes creation of a new word or expression, term ‘Coinage’ often used to describe a completely new word.

Question 12

What are prefixes and suffixes?

Answer 12

• Prefixes- addition of a bound morpheme to the beginning of a root word, e.g. ‘dis’ ‘pre’ ‘ex’ ‘un’
• Suffixes- addition of a bound morpheme to ending of a root word, e.g. (radical)ising, (happy)ness

Question 13

What is a Conversion?

Answer 13

Word that changes its word class without adding a suffix, e.g. Text (noun and verb)

Question 14

What is compounding?

Answer 14

Semantical Term
- Combining of separate words to create a new word (sometimes adding a hyphen to link them)
- Example: teapot, blackboard, laptop.

Question 15

What is Clipping?

Answer 15

Shortening words and phrases, e.g. blog, phone, tea instead of cup of tea

Question 16

What is Back Formation?

Answer 16

Removal of an imagined affix from an existing word, e.g. babysit from babysitter, edit from editor, burgle from burglar.

Question 17

What is Blending?

Answer 17

Two words fusing to make a new one, e.g. smog (smoke and fog), brunch (breakfast and dinner)

Question 18

What are Acronyms and Initialism?

Answer 18

• Acronyms- Initial letters of a phrase, but sounded as a word, e.g. LOL, RADAR (Radio Detection and Raging)
• Initialism- Initial letters of a phrase, each being pronounced separately, e.g. CD (compact disk)

Question 19

What are Achaic and Obsolete Words?

Answer 19

• Archaic- no longer current or applicable (outdated)
• Obsolete- no longer have any use.

Question 20

What is Amelioration and Pejoration?

Answer 20

• Amelioration- word develops a positive meaning.
• Pejoration- Word develops a negative meaning

Question 21

What is a Discourse Maker?

Answer 21

Word/phrase that indicates a change in topic ore return to a previous topic.

Question 22

What are Polysemic Lexis?

Answer 22

Semantical Term
- A word that is capable of having several possible meanings.
- Example: ‘set’ can refer to a ‘set of cutlery’, a ‘tennis set’, what happens to jelly, e.t.c.)

Question 23

What is Overt and Covert Prestige?

Answer 23

• Covert Prestige- less formal language
• Overt Prestige- more formal language

Question 24

Define High + Low Frequency Lexis.

Answer 24

Lexical Term
• High-frequency lexis: words that appear often in everyday speech
• Low-frequency lexis: words that appear more rarely, such as specialist terms from a field, e.g. medicine

Question 25

Define Etymology

Answer 25

Lexical Term
- The history of a word
- Including the language it came from, if appropriate, + when it began to be regularly used.

Question 26

Define French/Latinate Lexis.

Answer 26

Lexical Term
- Words derived from French or Latin, or both, are more rarely used
- Often seen as aging a higher status and/or being more specialist.

Question 27

Define Collocation.

Answer 27

Semantical Term
- 2 or more words that are often found together in a group or phrase with a distinct meaning
- Example: ‘fish and chips’, ‘back to front’

Question 28

Explain the difference between Lexical + Semantical Fields.

Answer 28

• Lexical field identifies the main subject matter of a text (e.g. food in a recipe, money in an article on economics).
• Whereas, a semantic field is a group of words that have similar meanings, which may not be the main subject matter of the text.