Things to look for when studying lexis

1    FREQUENCY
Are words predominantly HIGH or LOW frequency?

If HIGH FREQUENCY are they:

Standard English

Non Standard - dialect? colloquialism? taboo?

Germanic origin

Cliché or catchphrase

Idiom

If LOW FREQUENCY are they:

Technical/specialist

Latinate

Obsolete/obsolescent

Nonce-word/neologism

Comment on how these factors affect the text's LEVEL OF FORMALITY and REGISTER
Say whether they are appropriate for the text's PURPOSE and READERSHIP

2    GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY
Comment on whether or not one grammatical category tends to predominate

NOUNS
Common - focus on objects/ concepts?
Proper - focus on people/places?
Abstract - focus on abstract ideas/emotions?

ADJECTIVES
Descriptive emphasis?
Comparatives/superlatives - questions of degree significant?

VERBS
Is there a focus on action?
Are they performatives - language as action?

PERSONAL PRONOUNS & POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
1st person - personal opinion/experience?
2nd person? - address to reader - informative? persuasive?
3rd person - narrative? objective? impersonal?

Usually the predominant grammatical category will reflect or be determined by the purpose or content of the text. Look for anything UNEXPECTED.

3    SEMANTIC FIELDS

The topic of a text will determine at least some of the semantic fields that will be found. It is still worth looking at semantic clusters (groups of words within a text which share at least on semantic property) to consider their effect on STYLE and REGISTER.

Remember that on their own the factors described here may be of little significance. Look for where they OVERLAP, where you may find that the factors are likely to be most significant in terms of PURPOSE, READERSHIP, GENRE, TONE and REGISTER

© CD Selwyn Jones 2003