How we learn vocabulary

Acquisition of a lexical itemHow do we make lexical choice?Four Important Paradigmatic Relations

Examples

CONTENT

Out of bookBut, related to the topic

When we acquire a new lexical item, we do not simply tack it on to the end of a list of already-learned items.

Rather, the new item has to find its place within the lexicon we have already acquired.

We encounter the item ‘sponsorship’ for the first time: it becomes part of the set of items we already have for the types of money-giving,such as donation, award, grant,fee………

It doesn’t become part of the items we already know

To learn a set of lexical items is to learn the features which distinguish or relate the items.

A cow is a thing that goes moo, gives milk, lives on a farm.

Later, children learn the name of semantic field that : ‘cows are part of animals’

Learning vocabulary is learning to make the best lexical choice for the needs of the moment.

Students therefore need to have an array of lexemes, so that they can see the contrast between them.

Dictionaries are the most intermediary between the developing lexical intuition of the student and the target lexical world of the language.

How do we make lexical choice?

When we choose an item from all those belonging to a semantic field we are trying to find the best one to suit what we want to express, we can tell the difference between them.

Definition is identifying what two items have in common and what makes them different.

Important Paradicmatic RelationsSynonyms are not very useful because they are

so unusual. It may be impossible to find in a language two

words with the same meaning.

? house/domicile ?

Antonyms are also unusual.Most of the lexical items in the language don’t

have opposites.

big/small

furniture/?

Hyponymy is a relationship between words in which the meaning of a specific one is included in that of another more general one.

Incompatibility is mutual exclusiveness within the same category.

clarinet

flute

In studying definitions it is also possible to work the other way round, taking a set of defining attributes (often called semantic features or components) and seeing which lexeme best captures them.

Natural

+

-

-

-

Hurried

-

+

+

-

Forward

+

+

+

+

One foot always on

the ground

+

+

-

+

walk

march

run

limp

MOVE, FORWARD DIRECTION, FOOT IN FRONT OF OTHER

MOVE: There is one contrast with ‘not move’ (stop) and others by varying speed or manner: run: ‘to move very quickly, by moving your legs more quickly than when you walk’

FORWARD: the contrasts are all with direction-sideways, backwards,upwards.climb: ‘to move up, down or across something using your feet and hands, expecially when this is difficult to do’

Esra İpek