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What is a Lexicon?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lexicon: The term
is also sometimes used in the title of an encyclopedic dictionary or an
encyclopedia, especially for 19th century works and those written in
German (lexikon).
In linguistics, lexicon has a slightly more specialized definition, as it
includes the lexemes used to actualize words. Lexemes are formed according
to morpho-syntactic rules and express sememes. In this sense, a lexicon
organizes the mental vocabulary in a speaker's mind: First, it organizes
the vocabulary of a language according to certain principles (for
instance, all verbs of motion may be linked in a lexical network) and
second, it contains a generative device producing (new) simple and complex
words according to certain lexical rules. For example, the suffix '-able'
can be added to transitive verbs only such that we get 'read-able' but not
'*cry-able'. (Though exceptions exist to this rule: one can certainly
imagine a 'sleep-able mattress' or the expression, 'Sure, that's
workable.')
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