Lexis

Question 1

Lexis paragraph

Answer 1

• Word use/change (e.gl neologisms)
• Semantic field
• Lexical and semantic change
• Formality

Question 2

Halliday functional theory of language change lexis theory

Answer 2

Language always changes/adapts to needs of its users
- Changes in technology and industry often fuel the need for new words
- Words fall out of usage e.g. ‘vinyl’ for records, replaced by initialism M.P.3
- Colloquialisms and slang also manifest changes - creating new words/usages, then discarding them e.g. rad

Question 3

Deutscher - motives for language change lexis theory

Answer 3

1. Economy - tendency to save effort, behind the short-cuts speakers often take in pronunciation. When these short-cuts accumulate they can create new sounds
2. Expressiveness - speakers attempts to achieve greater effect for their utterances/extend their range of meaning e.g. changing “no” with hyperbole/metaphor “not in a million years”
3. Analogy e.g. “two foots attempts to introduce regularity to areas of the language that happen to be quite disorganised. Some of these innovations do catch on e.g. the reduction in irregular plural nouns in the English language