Lexis: Once upon a time: vocabulary. Two advantages: Adjectival form – lexical. More specific meaning than “vocabulary.” Lexis refers to “meaning” words rather than grammatical – or “glue” – words. (E.g., “people,” “purple” are lexical; “in,” “might” are grammatical.)

Key words Root/Base word: what is left when all affixes are removed Morpheme: The smallest component of a word that carries meaning Affix: Morpheme attached before or after base word to change its meaning Prefix: Affix before a base word Suffix: Affix after a base word Inflectional suffix: Suffix that changes the grammar of a noun, verb, adjective Derivational suffix: Suffix that changes the changes the word class (e.g. adjective to noun: slow – slowness. Derivational prefix: Prefix that changes the meaning of a word – e.g. pick/unpick Absolute/Comparative/Superlative: Many adjectives have three forms. – Tall (absolute) – Taller (comparative – “taller than…”) – Tallest (superlative – the most tall)

What could you say about the way the following words are ‘made’? Pick Unpick Unpicked Pigs Barked Unlikely Motherhood Salty Cherry Taller Chairman Hardship Player Root word: What is left when all prefixes and suffixes are removed. Also called the base word. Root/base word: pick Prefix: Un Root/base word: pick Prefix: Un- Suffix: -ed Root/base word: pig Suffix: s (pluralisation) Compound word: word: chair; man Made up of 2 free morphemes

Emerging meanings Portmanteaus & compounds – Portmanteau: blend of parts from two words (“slithey” = slimy + lithe) – Compound: two complete words joined to make a single word (chairman) Neologisms – Also “coinages”: new words Antonomasia – Use of proper nouns in broad/generic/figurative sense (e.g., “Shakespeare” = writer; Hoover = any vacuum cleaner) Polysemy – Multiple or many meanings

Key words Synonym – two words which have the same meaning Antonym – the opposite to another word Polyseme – a word with more than one meaning.

Polysemes & idioms can affect lexical/semantic clarity. Idiom: Phrase or sentence that cannot be understood by a literal, word-by-word definition/“translation”; often metaphorical; functions as complete lexical unit, or lexeme.

Semantic Field:An area, or field, of meaning, and the words associated with that field. Semantic fields contains words with related senses.  E.g. “Red,” “blue,” “purple” all belong to the semantic field of…

Hyponym (“hypo-” under): A word whose sense/meaning is included in that of a broader, “umbrella” term. E.g., “daisy” is a hyponym of “flower.” The abstract noun form is “hyponymy.” Hypernym (“hyper-” over): A term that includes the senses/meanings of its hyponyms. Meronym: A term which is included in a larger, inclusive term, because the meronym is a part of the whole. E.g. “page,” “cover,” “spine” are meronyms of “book.” Abstract noun: meronymy.

Denotation: The meaning/reference of a word. Connotation: The associations/suggestions of a word. Usage: This word has connotations of… This word denotes… This word is connotative of…

Key Words What is sociolinguistics? Sociolinguistics: the study of the relationship between language and society. Social factors can affect language, just as language can shape the ways we think about, or construct, society. What is sociolinguistics?

Dialect A way of speaking, particular to an area or region, which has distinct syntax and vocabulary. Sociolect A way of speaking, particular to a social group (e.g., the difference between adults and teenagers, within the same region; a way of speaking associated with a social class). Idiolect The way of speaking particular to an individual.

Ways of speaking (not necessarily to do only/primarily with dialect, sociolect, idiolect): Change from above: deliberately changing certain habits of speech (“h” dropping) Change from below: the “natural”/“accidental” change in language habits – change from below often leads to stereotype... What is sociolinguistics?

Phoneme – basic units of sound from which language is built. (NOT the same as saying “letter”; different letters may represent the same phoneme Alliteration – deliberate use of words beginning with the same sound Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds for effect Onomatopoeia – the sound of the word itself resembles the sound/event described. (Lexical onomatopoeia – meaningful onomatopoeic words [“bang,” “clatter”]; non-lexical – e.g., “vroom”) Rhyme – repetition/correspondence of words’ final sounds (“behold,” “cold”) Rhythm – pattern or flow created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables

Graphology: Any layout/presentational features Comment on how graphological features impact on/affect meaning. Avoid saying: “This text has lots of graphology.” Instead: “This text has several significant/interesting graphological features...”