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In linguistics, lexicalization is the process of adding words, set phrases, or word patterns to a language's lexicon.
Whether word formation and lexicalization refer to the same process is controversial within the field of linguistics. Most linguists agree that there is a distinction, but there are many ideas of what the distinction is. Lexicalization may be simple, for example borrowing a word from another language, or more involved, as in calque, wherein a foreign phrase is translated literally, as in marché aux puces, or in English, flea market.
Other mechanisms include compounding, abbreviation, and Blend word. Particularly interesting from the perspective of historical linguistics is the process by which ad hoc phrases become set in the language, and eventually become new words (see lexicon). Lexicalization contrasts with grammaticalization, and the relationship between the two processes is subject to some debate.
First, the Semantics form (which is specified for meaning) is converted into a lemma, which is an abstract form specified for semantic and Syntax information (how a word can be used in a sentence), but not for Phonology information (how a word is pronounced). The next stage is the lexeme, which is phonologically specified.Harley, T. (2005) The Psychology of Language. Hove; New York: Psychology Press: 359
Some recent work has challenged this model, suggesting for example that there is no lemma stage, and that syntactic information is retrieved in the semantic and phonological stages.Caramazza, A. (1997) How many levels of processing are there in lexical access? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 14, 177-208.
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