Researchers in bilingualism have investigated whether the bilingual
person stores words in different lexicons for each language. Speed of access
to the lexicon may be faster in one language than the other.lexical ambiguity n
see ambiguous
lexical approach n
an approach to language teaching that is based on the view that the basic
building blocks of teaching and learning are words and lexical phrases,
rather than grammar, functions or other units of organization. The lexicon
is seen as playing a much more central role in language organization,
language learning, and language teaching than, for example, grammar,
and occupies a more central role in syllabus design, course content, and
teaching activities.
lexical aspect hypothesis n
also aspect hypothesis, inherent lexical aspect hypothesis
(in language acquisition) the hypothesis that the acquisition of tenseand
grammatical aspect is affected by lexical aspect (see aspect). For example,
the hypothesis holds that language learners first acquire the English pro-
gressive affix -ing in conjunction with specific verbs like play or read, which
refer to actions that are inherently durative, rather than in connection with
verbs like fall, which refers to an action that is inherently abrupt or non-
durative (although it is possible to say I was falling, viewing the action as
durative). Also according to this view, what appears to be the acquisition of
tensein the early stages of language learning is more likely to reflect the
encoding of aspect.
lexical bundlen
a type of fixed phrase consisting of a sequence of three or more words
that co-occur frequently in a particular type of writing or register such as
academic writing. For example, a wide variety of, one of the most, the
relative importance of.
lexical category n
the four main lexical categories are n(noun), v(verb), a(adjective) and p
(preposition). Entries in a lexicon (see lexicon^2 ) or dictionary usually
show, among other information, the lexical category of a particular word,
e.g. lexicala.
lexical category