ABSTRACT
Much of what has been written concerning lexis over the years has assumed that the proper place for discussion of the subject is within semantics. Chapter 2 of this book underlines that fact. The question now to be raised in this chapter is: what happens when we try to incorporate the insights of discourse analysis into our view of how the lexicon operates? What readjustments will have to be made to received wisdom on such matters as word meaning, lexical relations, the discourse-functioning of vocabulary and the nature of the lexical item itself? While we may not wish to reject the claims made by semanticists as to the nature and functioning of the lexicon, we may wish to add new dimensions to our view of vocabulary, and to attempt to integrate the best insights of semantics, corpus-based lexicology and discourse analysis. This chapter will therefore consider some of the ways in which vocabulary studies have been advancing across new frontiers in recent years, and will have some suggestions to make as to how discourse analysis could be applied in vocabulary teaching and learning.
