LEXICOLOGY - English Language Glossary Terms (2024-)

WORD CLASSES

nouns and pronouns

a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. words that replace nouns.

auxiliary verbs

can convey information about tense, mood, person, and number

e..g, am, are, do, has been

modal verbs

contextually indicates a modality such as a likelihood, ability, permission, request, capacity, suggestion, order, obligation, necessity, possibility or advice

e.g., will, would, can, could, may, might, shall, should, must and ought

adjectives

define or modify nouns

e.g., huge, wicked, elated, etc.

prepositions

demonstrates erlationship bertween nouns and object/subject. they position things in space or time.

e.g., under the desk, behind the chair, before dinner, with photoshop, by drinking

coordinating conjunction

links words, phrases and clauses together.

e..g., FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

subordinating conjunction

can only join clauses together - link subordinate clause to main clause

e.g., because, since, if, unless, while, whereas

determiners

to express definiteness, indefiniteness, quantity, ordinal

e.g., the book, a table, every day, one drink, third look

interjections

words or phrases that express emotion

e.g., 'ouch!', 'sorry!'

WORD FORMATION PROCESS and WORD LOSS

neologism

newly coined expression, word or usage. new words

e.g., "iPad", "networking"

borrowings

borrowing lexemes from other languages and incorporating it into their lexicon

commonisation

the process whereby a proper noun or brand name becomes a common noun

e.g., "esky" encompassing all cooler boxes, "kleenex" replacing tissues

nominalisation

nouns that are created from adjectives

e.g.,"argument" is a nominalization of "argue."

obsolescence

a language ceases to be actively used and is abandoned by its native speakers in favour of another language/other languages.

archaism

words that are no longer used in everyday life