In Linguistics ? I understand you don't need their default interpretations minutely dissected part by part to find that difference.
They’re pretty synonymous with each other on the surface but I think lexis is placed a bit higher in the ‘linguistic hierarchy’ ( alluding to lexicology as a branch of study here with ‘vocabulary’ being merely part and parcel of the former. )
What I mean is that , for example, we can obviously say that the lexis is the vocabulary ( words ) or the complete aggregate of units in a particular language but we can’t ‘do’ the reverse, I guess.
So the difference, in my opinion, is that lexis is considered to be that whole meaningful word-stock of a language but without the definitions, that is to say lexis is not in a dictionary, so to speak, whereas vocabulary is seen as a collection of words with their meanings.
To back up the synonymy argument though , the following quotes :
“The word-stock- also known as the vocabulary or lexis “ ( 1962 R.Quirk, Use of English v.72 )
“ Patterns of vocabulary , or lexis, which describe the company words keep. ( 1964 English Studies XLV.24 )
By the way, just in general, if someone like Randolph Quirk ( and he is, indubitably , one of the biggest and renowned language authorities , says ‘vocabulary OR lexis’, I personally really don’t care about any difference here :)
I'm not sure if this is that ‘difference’ you’re trying to pin down precisely here but I hope it helps.
edytowany przez savagerhino: 03 lut 2011