What is a lexical category?

Definition

A lexical category is a syntactic category for elements that are part of the lexicon of a language. These elements are at the word level.

Also known as:

part of speech

word class

grammatical category

grammatical class

Discussion

Lexical categories may be defined in terms of core notions or 'prototypes'. Given forms may or may not fit neatly in one of the categories (see Analyzing lexical categories). The category membership of a form can vary according to how that form is used in discourse.

See:

Payne, T. 1997a 32

Kinds

There are major and minor lexical categories.

Major categories:

Every language has at least two major lexical categories:

noun
verb

Many languages also have two other major categories:

Minor categories:

Many languages have minor lexical categories such as:

Note:

Grammatical categories are distinct from formal relational categories such as subject, object and predicate, or functional categories such as agent, topic or definite.

Context for this page:

Concept module: lexical category
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): L
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004