ABSTRACT
Words are the elements of language most closely associated with the way we conceptualise the world we live in. As our world changes, so do the words that reflect it. It is therefore through the study of vocabulary, or lexis,1 that we can discover which areas of experience are of particular importance or carry a particular emotional charge for a speech community, at any given point in time. Certain fields may be taboo, and veiled in euphemism; some may suddenly burgeon while others dwindle and fade; whole strata of the lexis may be exclusive to particular social groups, or restricted to use in certain types of discourse. It is up to the lexicologist to detect such concentrations, gaps and shifts, and to draw conclusions which will inevitably be closely linked to the social and cultural history of the speakers concerned.
