1 - Lexis and the lexicon: some general considerations

Summary

Before we can begin to discuss lexical acquisition and lexical processing, we need to address the difficult issue of what the lexicon actually is and how it relates to other aspects of language. This chapter begins by noting the importance of the word-concept in our perception of language and by exploring the problem of defining this concept, but then devotes its greater part to a discussion of the broader issue of the domain of the lexicon.

Language seen as words

If there were no other reason for being interested in the lexical dimension of language, such an interest would readily enough be justified by the fact that for most people language is largely a matter of words. As Stubbs (1986: 99) puts it, ‘when people think of a language, they think almost invariably of words’. A sense of this perception can be had from some of the ways in which language and language use are referred to in everyday English:

I want a word with you.

That child never says a word.

I can't understand a word he says.

A word in the right ear will do the trick.

Her words are perfectly clear on this point.

There are some words on the back of the packet.

The wording is all wrong.

You'd better re-word that or you'll have a major dispute on your hands.