Unit 2: LEXIS

Lexis, refers to individual words or sets of words, for example, tree, get up, first of all. When we talk, we use words that have different kind of meaning. Here we have two kinds of meaning. First, the denotative meaning, it describes the thing or the idea behind the vocabulary item. For example, a tree is a wooden trunk, branches and leaves. Then we have the figurative meaning. For example, the family tree, the tree of life. Also, we have the context meaning, which refers to the situation in which is used. Example, we couldn’t see the house because of the tall trees in front of it. Besides, the meaning of some vocabulary items comes from their form: prefixes, suffixes, compounds (words made from two or more separated words). There are words that occur together, this is called, collocation. Another feature is the idioms that are kind of fixed expression and cannot be changed for example, to be under the weather, to be blue, so on. Also, chunks refer to language that occurs in semi-fixed units (I’d like to, how about) there are different relationships with one another. Synonyms (words with similar meaning) Antonyms (words with opposite meaning) false friends, homophones, homonyms and varieties of English are other ways in which words can relate to one another.

Examples of some of the form and meaning relationship of two words:

Lexical features	Clear (adj)	Paper(noun)
Lexical sets	Well-written	Stone, plastic, cloth
Word families	Clearly, unclear	none

Regarding all of this, about how I could apply my knowledge. Well, for first instance, when I will be teaching my students for the first time I will give them new words and I will try to use them the most of the time I can. This will help them to consolidate the meaning of the words in their memories. After that, they will use the word productively since they picked up the meaning of that word. Also, I can use just key words and use flash cards too.

If you’d like to see more visit this websites:

·Wikipedia,. (2015). Lexis (linguistics). Retrieved 19 April 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexis_%28linguistics%29

·Answers.com,. (2015). The Meaning of Lexis. Retrieved 19 April 2015, from http://english.answers.com/definitions/the-meaning-of-lexis