Linguistics, SLA and Lexicon as the Unit of Language

Abstract

Each one of the major linguistic schools takes a different compartment of language as the main building block which shapes the totality of a language. The claim is that most of the linguistic theories have ceded to the prominence of lexicon as one major component of language. Through introducing the concept of lexical features, into the Minimalist Program, Chomsky has acknowledged the fact that lexicon features determine a word’s meaning, its morphological shape and its syntactical behavior in syntax. Constructions are based on particular lexical items which have been acknowledged as crucial in SLA although with different labels such as holophrases, prefabricated patterns, formulaic speech, formulae, sequences in SLA, chunks, and formulaic expressions or utterances. By adopting a lexical approach in studying language and language teaching and learning, the need for a new teaching methodology has always been felt, a demand which has never been satisfied.