Longman Dictionary of

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lexical access
be considered a single lexeme. In a dictionary, each lexeme merits a separate
entry or sub-entry.
lexical access n
(in speech production) the retrieval of words from the speaker’s lexicon
(LEXICON 4 ). According to psycholinguistic models of speech production,
vocabulary is stored in some form in the speaker’s lexicon and must be
accessed in order to be used during the process of communication.
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 TENSE
and grammatical aspect is affected by lexical aspect (see ASPECT). For
example, the hypothesis holds that language learners first acquire the
English progressive 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 nondurative (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 TENSE in the early stages of language learning is more
likely to reflect the encoding of aspect.
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. lexical a
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