What are the differences between lexis, lexicon, vocabulary?

scherz0 · September 14, 2021, 3:42am

Google yielded two answers. But Logan R. Kearsley, MA in Linguistics from BYU is too recondite. Can you please explain at the level of a 16 y.o.? What does “analytical level of a language that deals with vocabulary” mean?

A lexicon is a set or inventory of all the lexemes in a language. (What counts as a lexeme is a whole other question all on it’s own!)

Lexis is the analytical level of a language that deals with vocabulary (as opposed to morphology or syntax). It’s also defined as “the complete group of all words in a language”, which, depending on how you define “word” vs. “lexeme”, may or may not be the same thing as the lexicon. Languages with sufficiently productive morphology, for example, may have an infinite set of words (lexis), but will still have a finite lexicon of lexemes that can be listed in a dictionary.

Vocabulary refers to a subset of words in a language that are used in a particular context or known to a particular person. Thus, you have “my vocabulary”, “legal vocabulary”, “vocabulary words for next week’s quiz”, and “the vocabulary you need to understand this book”.

Siberia’s comment is too brusque on detail.

obsrvr524 · September 16, 2021, 7:20am

A lexicon is a list of the root words (lexemes) used in a language (“run” but not “running” or “ran”).

If you analyze a complete language and list every word ever used - you have created a “lexis” of that language. A lexis is the list of ALL words in a language and how they have been used (“run”, “running”, and “ran”)

A vocabulary is a limited word set within the lexis applicable to a particular context or use.