Sense: the final frontier

Abstract

Despite its central role within language disability, ‘sense’ remains one of the most neglected areas of clinical linguistic study. The paper reviews the chief theoretical issues involved in investigating vocabulary, the core domain of sense, and illustrates the vagueness and randomness which traditionally characterize its study. The implications of making the conceptual jump from WORDS to LEXICAL ITEMS (LEXEMES) are discussed, and the main features of a lexical syllabus outlined, with particular reference to the role of sense relations and the unsatisfactory state of dictionary definitions in books aimed at children.