Lexical Gaps

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> When talking about words, linguists mostly focus on those words that are an established part of the vocabulary. However, in some cases it is useful to refer to the words that are <jats:italic>not</jats:italic> part of the vocabulary: the nonexisting words. Instead of referring to nonexisting words, it is common to speak about <jats:italic>lexical gaps</jats:italic> , since the nonexisting words are indications of “holes” in the lexicon of the language that could be filled. </jats:p>