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5.1 Lexical Semantics Lexical semantics examines the meaning of individual words. In contrast to the earlier structuralist theories of language, which focused primarily on the formal aspects of language, lexical semantics examines the nuances of word meaning and how they are related to one another. This approach looks at the relationships between words, such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and meronymy, as well as the contextual factors that influence word meaning.

Lexical semantics investigates how the meaning of a word is shaped by its morphological structure, its semantic features, and its relationships with other words in the lexicon. For example, the word "dog" can be understood in terms of its component morphemes (dog), its semantic features (e.g., animal, domestic, four-legged, barks), and its relationship to other words like "cat," "poodle," and "mammal." Lexical semantics examines how these factors interact to determine the meaning of individual lexical items.

One important aspect of lexical semantics is the study of polysemy, which refers to the phenomenon where a single word has multiple related meanings. For instance, the word "bank" can refer to a financial institution, the edge of a river, or the where one deposits money. Lexical semantics investigates how these different senses of "bank" are related and how the context helps determine which meaning is intended.

Lexical semantics also examines the ways in which word meanings can change over time, a process known as semantic change. For example, the word "nice" originally meant "foolish" or "stupid," but over time its meaning shifted to denote something positive and desirable. Lexical semanticists study the mechanisms behind such semantic shifts, looking at factors like metaphor, metonymy, and grammaticalization.

In addition to these diachronic (historical) aspects of word meaning, lexical semantics also investigates the synchronic (cross-sectional) relationships between words. This includes analyzing the semantic features that differentiate synonyms, the logical relationships between hyponyms and hypernyms, and the oppositional meanings of antonyms.

Overall, lexical semantics provides a rich and nuanced understanding of how words mean, going beyond the simple denotative definitions found in dictionaries. By examining the complex web of relationships between lexical items, lexical semantics sheds light on the dynamic and contextual nature of word meaning.

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