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Lexical Description
Lexicology and lexicography support, respectively, the study of word origin/meaning and dictionary making. They form a part of the discipline of linguistics. The lexical process determines and compiles dictionary definitions collected from a variety of citations. This subjective act establishes how many different meanings apply to a particular word. The lexicographer then determines the level of prescription.
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Definition by Lexical Description
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Subjectivity
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Lexicology and lexicography form a part of the discipline of linguistics. The lexical process subjectively collects dictionary definitions from various citations and establishes how many different meanings apply to a word.
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Description
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Dictionaries contain descriptive and not prescriptive definitions. They describe the language as spoken and do not prescribe how to speak it.
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Semantics
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Linguists divide knowledge about language into four overlapping categories: the lexicon, phonology, syntax, and semantics. Lexical descriptions (semantics) deal with the meaning of both sentences and words because sentence meanings essentially derive from the words that they contain.
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Generally, dictionaries describe the language as spoken and do not prescribe how to speak it. They contain descriptive and not prescriptive definitions. Primarily, linguists divide knowledge about language into four overlapping categories: the lexicon, phonology, syntax, and semantics. Lexical descriptions form part of the fourth category: semantics.
The process of lexical decomposition allows the reduction of word meanings to their semantic components. Viewed narrowly, lexicology concerns itself only with etymology and meaning. However, since the mid 1960s, lexical definition, has included the meaning of both sentences and words because sentence meanings essentially derive from the words that they contain.
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