Lexis and Semantics

Lexis: Deals with the vocabulary system in English language Semantics: Deals with meaning and how that is generated within texts Textual cohesion: Describes how a text is logically structured to create a coherent sense of meaning

Word Class Noun Verb Ad ecti!e Ad!erb Determiner Con unction "reposition "ronoun

Description/Function Names of objects, feelings, attitudes, people and places Shows actions, events or states of being, feeling or thinking dds detail to nouns dds detail to verbs "ositioned in front of nouns to add detail or to clarify $inks words, phrases and clauses together Shows relation in terms of time or place &eplaces nouns and can also refer forwards and backwards to them in longer stretches of text

Example Cottage, love Seems, run !leak Extraordinarily #he, a, an nd, but, or, although, because %n, at, by, on %, me, you, his, her, our

T#pes o$ Noun "roper Abstract Concrete

Function &efers to names of people or places &efers to states, feelings and concepts without a physical existence &efers to objects that have a physical existence

Examples "aris, $ondon "ain, happiness Countable' table Non(countable' furniture

T#pes o$ Verb %aterial &elational %ental D#namic Stati!e

Function Describe actions or events Describe states of being or used to identify Describe perception, thought or speech "rocesses where there is a change in state over time "rocesses where the state remains constant

Examples )it, run, eat, push, read, hold !e, appear, seem, become #hink, speak, believe, love "aint, eat, remove $ove, hold, believe

'ase $orm: #he simple form of an adjective e*g* small, beautiful Comparati!e: #he form used to compare two items, adjectives using er or combined with +more, e*g* smaller, more beautiful Superlati!e: djectives using est or combined with +most, e*g* smallest, most beautiful

Cohesion:

measure of how well a text fits together as a whole, its internal logic and construction

&e$erencin(: -hen lexical items replace those already mentioned or about to be mentioned e*g* +% believe him* #ony would never lie*, Anaphoric re$erencin(: &eferencing back to an already stated lexical item Cataphoric re$erencin(: &eferencing forward to an as yet undisclosed lexical item Substitution: #he replacing of one set of lexical items for another e*g* my mobile phone is so out of date, % must look into getting a newer model Ellipsis: #he missing out of a word or words in a sentence Denotation: strict +dictionary, meaning of a lexical item

Connotation: n associated, symbolic meaning relying on culturally shared conventions Semantic/Lexical $ield: $exical items that are similar in meaning and properties S#non#m: -ords with very similar semantic value e*g* cry, weep, howl, whimper Anton#m: -ords with opposite semantic value )#pon#m#: #he term for the hierarchical structure that exists between lexical items* %t is an important cohesive device

Subordinate: $abrador

+lower, word in the hyponymic chain. a more specific lexical item e*g*

Superordinate: +higher, word in the hyponymic chain. a more general lexical item e*g* /ammal Emoti!e lan(ua(e: $anguage that encourages readers to respond emotionally rather than rationally* /any words have emotive connotations and readers may respond to these rather than their denotations %etaphor: 0se of a term to describe something that it does not denote, to suggest similar 1ualities between the two Simile: comparison of one thing with another, using the words +like, or +as,