This MA thesis discusses sense-formation capabilities of lexis. The examples substantiating the theory are drawn from the lexis of ball games. The ball games taken into consideration are tennis, soccer, handball, and basketball. In the first part, the thesis focuses on the types of meaning. Special attention is given to the question of whether the lexis of ball games can be assigned all types of meaning. It is established that this is not the case. It is shown that problems occur in trying to determine the connotative and textual meaning, as the lexis in question is terminological. What is also mentioned in this chapter in its broad and narrow sense is the word-formation meaning, which is not dealt with in greater detail. In the second part, the thesis focuses on intralexemic semantic relations. Special attention is given to the question of whether the lexis of ball games can undergo all types of transference based on contiguity, that is to say, synecdoche, metonymy and metaphor. It is expected that the lexis of ball games cannot undergo all types of transference based on contiguity, as it is terminological. The basic feature of terminological lexis is monosemy thus rendering synecdoche, metonymy and metaphor absent or impossible. In the final part, the thesis focuses on interlexemic relations. More specifically, it focuses on semantic relations: synonymy, antonymy, hypernymy, hyponymy, cohyponymy, and heteronymy.
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