Metalanguage: Lexicology

Nouns

Words that name people, places, things, or ideas.

Pronouns

Words that replace nouns in a sentence (e.g., he, she, it, they).

Verbs

Words that describe actions, occurrences, or states of being.

Auxiliary Verbs

Verbs that help the main verb express tense, mood, or voice (e.g., is, have, will).

Modal Verbs

A type of auxiliary verb that expresses necessity, possibility, or ability (e.g., can, must, should).

Adjectives

Words that modify nouns or pronouns by describing qualities or states (e.g., happy, blue, large).

Adverbs

Words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, often expressing manner, time, frequency, or degree (e.g., quickly, yesterday, very).

Prepositions

Words that show relationships between nouns (or pronouns) and other parts of the sentence, often indicating direction, location, or time (e.g., in, on, before).

Conjunctions

Words that connect words, phrases, or clauses.

Coordinators

Conjunctions that link elements of equal importance (e.g., and, but, or).

Subordinators

Conjunctions that link dependent clauses to main clauses (e.g., because, although, if).

Determiners

Words that specify or quantify a noun, such as articles (a, the), possessives (my, our), and quantifiers (some, every).

Interjections

Words or expressions that convey emotion, often standing alone (e.g., wow!, oh no!, ouch!).

Function Words

Words that serve grammatical purposes, providing structure rather than meaning (e.g., and, the, is).

Content Words

Words that convey meaning, including nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (e.g., book, run, happy, quickly).

Neologism

The creation of new words or expressions, often to describe new concepts or objects (e.g., selfie, googling).

Borrowings

Words adopted from other languages into English, often with some phonetic or orthographic adjustments (e.g., café from French, yoga from Sanskrit).

Commonisation

The process by which a proper noun becomes a common noun or verb through widespread use (e.g., thermos, hoover).

Nominalisation

The process of turning a verb or adjective into a noun (e.g., decide → decision, happy → happiness).

Obsolescence

The gradual loss of a word as it becomes irrelevant due to changes in culture or technology (e.g., cassette tape).

Archaism

Words or expressions that are no longer in common use but may persist in historical contexts, literature, or ceremonial language (e.g., thee, thou).