Language And The Lexicon

The lexicon represents the building blocks of language: words and vocabulary. Most of us think of language in terms of words, and words are also integral to the way in which linguists approach language as an object of study. The lexicon and lexical issues must be taken in consideration in every domain of language study and, conversely, the lexicon cannot be viewed in isolation from other aspects of language. 'Language and the Lexicon' provides a comprehensive yet accessible overview of lexicology, introducing the reader to the lexicon by exploring the lexical aspects of a range of different areas of language: syntax, morphology, semantics, phonology, language variation, language change, language acquisition and language processing. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, the book introduces the key concepts employing examples from a wide variety of languages in order to illustrate the points made. This book is ideally suited to those approaching lexicology for the first time. With its wide breadth of focus and diverse topics, it can equally serve as a first introduction to linguistics.

This volume does not offer a complex perspective of the L2 lexicon, but rather represents a sustained attempt to answer some very basic questions clustered around the relationship between the L2 mental lexicon and the L1 mental lexicon. It provides a review of L1 and L2 lexical research issues such as similarities and differences between the conditions of L1 and L2 acquisition, the respective roles of forming and meaning in L1 and L2 processing, and the degree of separation/integration between L1 and L2 lexical operations.

A considerable proportion of our everyday language is "formulaic". It is predictable in form and idiomatic--apparently stored in fixed or semi-fixed chunks. This book explores the nature and purposes of formulaic language, and looks for patterns across the research findings from the fields of discourse analysis, first language acquisition, language pathology and applied linguistics. It gradually builds up a unified description and explanation of formulaic language as a linguistic solution to a larger, non-linguistic, problem, the promotion of self.

This text brings together investigations from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds (with an emphasis on linguistics, psycholinguistics, and computer science) to examine how young children rapidly acquire the vocabulary of their native tongue, and with few errors along the way.

This book is unique because it explores the multilingual lexicon by providing insights from research studies conducted in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics and neurolinguistics. It goes beyond the use of two languages and thus concentrates on a new and developing area in linguistic research. The different perspectives provide a link to the mainstream work on the lexicon and vocabulary acquisition and will stimulate further debate in these areas and in the study of multilingualism.

This volume is a response both to the increasing interest in multilingual phenomena and lexical issues in language learning. It is of interest to scholars and graduate students interested in bi- and multilingualism, second and multiple language acquisition, language processing and language learning, mental lexicon, applied linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics and language teaching. Recent research on third language acquisition and trilingualism has made clear that most multilingual studies actually deal with vocabulary learning or the lexicon. So far books on the mental lexicon have mainly been concerned with two languages in contact. This book is unique because it explores the multilingual lexicon by providing insights from research studies conducted in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics and neurolinguistics. It goes beyond the use of two languages and thus concentrates on a new and developing area in linguistic research. The different perspectives included in this volume provide a link to the mainstream work on the lexicon and vocabulary acquisition and will stimulate further debate in these areas and in the study of multilingualism.

In the study of bilingualism, the lexical level of language is of prime importance because, in practical terms, vocabulary acquisition is an essential prerequisite for the development of skill in language use; from a theoretical point of view, the mental lexicon, as a bridge between form and meaning, plays a crucial role in any model of language processing. A central issue in this volume is at which level of the bilingual speaker's lexicon languages share representations and how language-specific representations may be linked. The contributors favor a dynamic, developmental perspective on bilingualism, which takes account of the change of the mental lexicon over time and pays considerable attention to the acquisition phase. Several papers deal with the level of proficiency and its consequences for bilingual lexical processing, as well as the effects of practice. This discussion raises numerous questions about the notion of (lexical) proficiency and how this can be established by objective standards, an area of study that invites collaboration between researchers working from a theoretical and from a practical background.

What is language and how can we investigate its acquisition by children or adults? What perspectives exist from which to view acquisition? What internal constraints and external factors shape acquisition? What are the properties of interlanguage systems? This comprehensive 31-chapter handbook is an authoritative survey of second language acquisition (SLA). Its multi-perspective synopsis on recent developments in SLA research provides significant contributions by established experts and widely recognized younger talent. It covers cutting edge and emerging areas of enquiry not treated elsewhere in a single handbook, including third language acquisition, electronic communication, incomplete first language acquisition, alphabetic literacy and SLA, affect and the brain, discourse and identity. Written to be accessible to newcomers as well as experienced scholars of SLA, the Handbook is organised into six thematic sections, each with an editor-written introduction.