16 Unit 2 Lexis What is lexis? Lexis refers to individual words or sets of words, for example: tree, get up, first of all, all's well that ends well, i.e. units of vocabulary which have a specific meaning, Key concepts What kinds of meaning can words have? We often speak of the meaning of words. In fact words have different kinds of meaning. Firstly, there is the meaning that describes the thing or idea behind the vocabulary item, e.g. a tree is a large plant with a wooden trunk, branches and leaves. This meaning is called ‘denotation’, and we speak of ‘denotative meaning’. Then ther is figurative meaning. We speak, for example, of ‘the tree of life’ or ‘a family tree’. This imaginative meaning comes from, but is different from, a word’s denotative meaning. There is also the meaning that a vocabulary item has in the context (situation) in which it is used, e.g. in the sentence ‘We couldn't see the house because of the tall trees in front of it’ we understand how tall the trees are partly from knowing the meaning of tal! and partly from knowing how tall a house is, so the meaning of tail in this sentence is partly defined by the context The meaning of some vocabulary items can also come from their form, e.g. from prefixes, suffixes or compounds (nouns made from two or more separate words). Adding prefixes or suffixes to base words (the basic words or parts of a word from which other words can be made) can, for example, give them an opposite meaning (e.g. unsafe, illegal) or a comparative (e.g. easy-easier), or superlative meaning (e.g. new-newest). It may also change their part of speech (e.g. instruct-instruction, quick— quickly). The process of adding affixes is called affixation. Compound nouns get their meaning from being together (e.g. telephone number, bookshop). They have a different meaning from the individual words they are made up of There are also words that regularly occur together, such as collocations, fixed jioms. Collocations are words that often occur together (e.g. f0 take a holiday, heavy rain, arrive at, depend on). There are many words which collocate in a language, and the degree of collocation can vary. For example, watch out is a very strong collocation as these words very often occur together, whereas watch a video is less strong and watch the postmen is not a collocation. The words in watch the postmen can occur together but don’t do so often enough to make them a collocation. Fixed expressions are expressions which can’t be changed (e.g. to tell you the truth new born, it’s up to you). Idioms are a kind of fixed expression as they can’t be changed. but their meaning is usually different from the combination of the meaning of the individual words they contain (e.g. to be under the weather, to have green fingers, once in a blue moon), Collocation: ed expressions and idioms are all different kinds of chunks. ‘Chunks’ refers to language that occurs in (semi-)fixed units and that we usually learn as one piece. Have a good trip, I'd like to .., how about .., my name's ... are further examples of chunks expressions andUnit 2 Lexis Words also have different relationships with one another. They may, for example, be synonyms (words with the same or similar meanings) or antonyms (words with opposite meanings). They may be part of the same lexical set (groups of words that belong to the same topic area, e.g. family, furniture, food). They may also belong to the same word family (words that come through affixation from the same base word. e.g. real, really, realistic, unreal). False friends, homophones, homonyms and varieties of English are other ways in which words can relate to one another, False friends are very important in language teaching and learning. They are words which have the same or a similar form in two languages but a different meaning. Embarazado, for example, means pregnant in Spanish. It does not mean embarrassed, though it looks as if it does to an English speaker! Homophones and homonyms are important, too, in language learning. Homophones are words with the same pronunciation but a different meaning or spelling (e.g. know-no; whether-weather; there-their). Homonyms are words with the same spelling and pronunciation as another word, but a different meaning, .g. ‘they sat on the river bank’, ‘he put all his savings into the bank’. Words can also relate to one another through being examples of different varieties of English, i.e. different kinds of English spoken around the world, e.g. Indian, Australian, US, South African, British, These varieties sometimes affect lexis as the same things can be called by different names in different varieties, e.g. flat (British English), apartment (US inglish), wnt (Australian English), or cookie (US English) and biscuit (British English) The table below shows examples of some of the form and meaning relationships of two words Lexical features clear (adjective) paper (noun) Denotations easy to understand 1 material used to write on or wrap 2 not covered or blocked things in 3 having no doubt 2a newspaper 3.a document containing information Synonyms simple (of denotation 1) (none) certain (of denotation 3) ‘Antonyms/Opposites | confusing (of denotation 1) (none) untidy, covered (of denotation 2) unsure (of denotation 3) Lexical sets well-written (of denotation 1) stone, plastic, cloth, etc. Word families clearly, unclear, clarity (none) Homophones (none) (none) Homonyms (none) (none) False friends French ‘clair; Le.light in colour __| possibly in some languages Prefixes + base word _| unclear (none) Base word+suffixes _ | clearly, a clearing paperless Compounds clear-headed paper knife, paper shop, paperback Collocations clear skin, a clear day lined paper, white paper 1718 Module Figurative meanings | aclearhead ‘on paper (e.g, It seemed a good idea on paper) idioms to-clear the decks (to start afresh) | to put pen to paper We can see from this table that words sometimes have several denotations. The context in which we are writing or speaking makes it clear which meaning we are using. Words can also change their denotations according to what part of speech they are, e.g. the adjective clear and the verb fo clear. We can also see from the table that not all words have all the kinds of form or meaning relationships. Key concepts and the language teaching classroom Read these tips and tick the ones which are most important for you. ‘* Fully knowing a word involves understanding its form and meaning, e.g. what part of speech it is, how it is pronounced and spelt, all the meanings it can have. This cannot take place the first time a learner meets a new word. It takes learners a long time to fully understand and use a word. At first they will probably just learn its most frequent denotative meaning, its spelling and pronunciation. ‘¢ Learners need to meet the same words again and again as they advance in their language learning. In this way their memory of them will be consolidated and they will get to know more about the word, e.g. other meanings, collocations, the lexical sets they are part of. They can meet words again in texts, or in vocabulary extension activities (i.e. activities that give more practice), such as brainstorming. labelling, categorising, making lexical sets. ¢ Whether we are learning our first or our second language, we often recognise a word before we can use it, and we can often recognise the meaning of many more words than we can use. The words we recognise are called our ‘receptiv. vocabulary; the words we can use are called our ‘produ usually teaches learners key (important) words and exposes them to many more. The learners pick these words up, initially only recognising their meaning, then eventually using them productively. e’ vocabulary. A teacher ‘* As words can get part of their meaning from context, and context helps to show the in context rather than in isolation, e.g through texts, stories or descriptions of events that we tell the students about @ We can use the relationships in meaning between words (synonyms, lexical sets, word families, etc.) and the ways in which they can be built (prefixes, suffixes, compounds) to make activities to help our students extend their knowledge of words, e.g. making opposites, building words through affixation, brainstorming lexical sets and word families. meaning of words, it is useful to teach then When we teach learners new words we can check if these words have any false friends in their language or if these words are homophones or homonyms of othe! they know. Then we can point this out to the learners and help to save them from misunderstandings. © At beginner level and with young learners, we often teach neral words for categories first, then gradually introduce different items from that category. For example, we may teach clothes before teaching jeans, shirt, Tshirt, etc.Unit 2 Lexis ‘© A lot of language often occurs in chunks, e.g. collocations, fixed expressions, Experts think that children learning their first language learn the chunks as a whole rather than in parts. This helps'them to remember them better and recall (remember) them more quickly. As teachers we can highlight (draw learners’ attention to) chunks of language for learners. | @ Itis useful for learners to keep vocabulary records in whit h they record the meaning of the new words, their part of speech, examples of use, any collocations, their pronunciation, any synonyms, etc. Students can return to add information about individual words as they learn more about them. See Unit n for factors affecting the learning of vocabulary, Units 16,18 and 22 for techniques for the teaching and assessment of vocabulary, and Unit 23 for resources for teaching vocabulary. / os UP PRMEELED (See page 238 for answers) 1 What does each of these sets of words have in common? Are they synonyms, antonyms, lexical sets, compounds, idioms, collocations, word families, homophones, words with prefixes or words with suffixes? A table, chair, sofa, bed, bookcase, chest of drawers, desk B old-young, bright-dark, loud-quiet, fast-slow, first-last, long-short C tobe over the moon, all roads lead to Rome, pay through the nose D a straight road, a brilliant idea, hard work, no problem, extremely grateful E neat-tidy, precisely-exactly, to doubt-to question, nobody-no one F microwave, toothbrush, paper clip, lampshade, bottle top G illness, badly, useless, doubtful, affordable, ability, practical H imperfect, rewrite, unable, illiterate, incorrect, ultramodern I learn, learner, learning, learned J bear-bare, flour-flower, sea-se REFLECTION Thi which-witch, right-write k about these teachers’ comments. Which do you agree with and why? L There are some advantages in using translation to teach meaning, but some disadvantages, too. 2 I think it’s really important for my learners to keep a vocabulary notebook in which they write the word, its meaning(s), its pronunciation, its collocations, etc. 3. Getting to know words is like getting to know a friend — you learn more about them bit by bit. PyRTeehaa ae rena ee ey 1 Look up three words from your coursebook in an English-English dictionary. What kinds of information are given for each word? Decide which information is important for your students. 2 Look at Chapter 7 ‘Vocabulary’ in Learning Teaching (Second edition) by Jim Scrivener, Macmillan 2005. It tells you more about the meaning of words and gives lots of ideas for teaching vocabulary. 19