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LECTURE 1
LEXICOLOGY AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS.
BASIC NOTIONS OF LEXICOLOGY
The term lexicology is composed of two Greek morphemes: lexis
meaning word, phrase and logos which denotes learning, a department of
knowledge. Thus, the literal meaning of the term lexicology is the science of
the word.
Lexicology is the part of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of the
language and characteristic features of words and word-groups.
Basic Notions of Lexicology
The term word denotes the basic structural-semantic unit of a given
language the main function of which is to designate real objects, qualities,
actions and abstract notions.
The word is the basic unit of the language resulting from the association
of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a
particular grammatical employment. A word is therefore simultaneously a
semantic, grammatical and phonological unit. It is the smallest language unit
that can stand alone as a complete utterance.
Thus, in the words boy and the groups of sounds constituting
them are associated with the meaning a male child up to the age of 17 or 18
and respectively (also some other
meanings, but these are the most frequent) and with a definite grammatical
employment, i.e. they are nouns and thus may have a plural form boys,
; they are personal nouns and the English noun may have the
Possessive form boys (e.g. the boys father) and the Russian noun may be used
in the Genitive Case expressing the same meaning: , they may
be used in certain syntactic function: in the above example the English noun is
used attributively, while the Russian noun performs the function of an object.
Word-meaning is a component of the word through which a concept
is communicated, thus the word denotes real objects, qualities, actions and
abstract notions. Word-meaning is not homogeneous but is made of various
components that are usually described as types of meaning. The three main
types of meaning are the grammatical, lexical and lexical-grammatical
meaning.
The term vocabulary is used to denote the system of words and word-
groups that the language possesses.
By word-groups (word-combinations) we understand a group of
words which exists in the language as a ready-made unit, has the unity of
meaning, the unity of syntactic function. For example, the word group as loose
as a goose means clumsy and is used in a sentence as a predicative: He is as
loose as a goose. These units may have a single word synonyms (e.g. to give a
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kiss to kiss, to make an offer to offer) and synonyms in the form of a word-
combination (e.g. to take a powder to leave in a hurry, milk and honey
prosperity and abundance).
Branches of Lexicology
Distinction is made between General Lexicology and Special Lexicology.
General Lexicology is a part of General Linguistics. It is concerned with
the general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific
features of any particular language. Linguistic phenomena and properties
common to all languages are generally referred to as language universals.
Special Lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language (e.g.
English, Russian, Ukrainian etc.), i.e. the study and description of its words
and vocabulary. Every special lexicology is based on the principles worked out
and laid down by General Lexicology, a general study of vocabulary, which
forms a part of General Linguistics.
There are two principal approaches to the study of language material in
linguistic science, namely the synchronic (or descriptive) and the diachronic
(or historical) approach. According to these approaches Special Lexicology
falls into historical and descriptive.
Historical Lexicology or Etymology deals with the origin of various
words, their change and development, and investigates the linguistic and
extra-linguistic forces modifying their structure, meaning and usage.
Historical Lexicology surveys the vocabulary as a system in its evolution (i.e.
in its diachronic aspect), describing its change and development in the course
of time.
The study of the vocabulary of a given language in its synchronic aspect,
i.e. at a given stage of its development, is the subject-matter of Descriptive
Lexicology. It studies the functions of words and their specific structure as a
characteristic inherent in the system. In other words, it deals with the word in
its morphological and semantic structures investigating the interdependence
between these two aspects.
A branch of study called Contrastive Lexicology provides a theoretical
basis on which vocabularies of different languages can be compared and
described. The main concern of Contrastive Lexicology is to identify and
classify the main common (isomorphic) and divergent (allomorphic) lexical
features characteristic of the languages under investigation.
Lexical Semantics is a branch of Lexicology devoted to the study of
word-meaning. It consists of two parts: Semasiology and Onomasiology.
Semasiology (Theory of Meaning) as a branch of Semantics studies
the meaning of words and phrases going from the plane of expression to the
plane of content. The study consists in considering different meanings of the
word, determining interrelations between them, as well as discovering
semantic relations between different words. Semasiology is interested in the
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questions: What meanings does the word have?, What does the word
mean? For instance, what meanings does the word star have? It has two
meanings celestial object and celebrity.
Onomasiology (Theory of Nomination) as a branch of Semantics
studies the meaning of words and phrases moving from the plane of content
to the plane of expression. It is concerned with the means and ways of naming
the elements of reality; it shows how the objects receive their names and what
features are chosen to represent them. The study starts from an object or a
notion and consists in analyzing different words correlated with it.
Onomasiology answers the questions: What words or word-groups are used
to denote a certain meaning?, What means is this or that meaning expressed
by? For example, what words are used to denote the meaning of a celestial
object? To denote this meaning the words star, planet, comet, galaxy, etc. are
used.
The difference between these two parts is illustrated by the
Diagram below.
Onomasiology
meaning object
Semasiology
Basic Literature:
1. .. = Practical
Course in English Lexicology : . . .
. . / . . . .:
, 2008. 288 .
2. . . /
. . . : , 2007. 528 .
.
8
3. . . /
. . . .: , 1971. 336 . . .
Additional Literature:
1. . . : .
- . . . / . , . .: ,
1986. 295 . . .
2. . . / . . .
: ; :
, 2005. 176 . . .
3. . . . =
Modern English Studies. Lexicology: . . .
. . . / . . . .:
, 2009. 224 .
4. . . :
. /
. . . .: -, 2002. 192 . . .
5. .. : . .:
, 2006. 464 .
6. .. : . .:
, 2006. 424 .
7. : - .
. . / . . , . . , . . , . . .
.: , 1979. 269 . . .
8. Ganetska L. V. LEXI-MAKER: Modern English Lexicology in Tables,
Figures and Exercises. : , 2004. 96 .