LECTURE 1

LEXICOLOGY AS A LINGUISTIC

1.1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics

Lexicology: gr. lexis – “word”, logos – “learning”.
Lexicology is a part of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of a language
and the properties of words as the main units of the language. It also studies all
kinds of semantic grouping and semantic relations: synonymy, antonymy,
hyponymy, semantic fields, etc.
The term vocabulary is used to denote a system formed by the sum total of all
the words and word equivalents that the language possesses.
The subject-matter of lexicology is the word, its morphemic structure, history
and meaning.

There are several branches of lexicology:

- the general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific
features of any particular language, is known as general lexicology;
- special lexicology focuses on the description of the peculiarities in the
vocabulary of a given language;
- a branch of study called contrastive lexicology provides a theoretical
foundation on which the vocabularies of different languages can be compared and
described.
Vocabulary studies include such aspects of research as semasiology,
onomasiology, etymology.
Semasiology is a branch of linguistics whose subject-matter is the study
of word meaning and the classification of changes in the signification of words
or forms, viewed as normal and vital factors of any linguistic development.
Onomasiology is the study of the principles and regularities of the
signification of things / notions by lexical and lexico-phraseological means of a
given language.
Etymology (= historical lexicology) studies the evolution of a
vocabulary forms.
- Descriptive lexicology studies the functions of words and their specific
structure as a characteristic inherent in the system.
Within the framework of lexicology, both synchronic (is concerned with the
vocabulary of a language as it exists at a certain time) and diachronic (terms of
special lexicology deals with the changes and the development of the vocabulary in
the course of time) or historical (the evolution of vocabulary units as time goes
by) approaches to the language suggested by the Swiss philologist Ferdinand de
Saussure are effectively realized.
 1.2. Interrelations of Lexicology with other sciences

Lexicology is closely connected with general linguistics, the history of the

language, phonetics, stylistics, and grammar.
According to S. Ullmann, lexicology forms next to phonology, the second basic
division of linguistic science.
Grammar reflects the specific lexical meaning and the capacity of words to be
combined in human actual speech. The lexical meaning of the word, in its turn, is
frequently signaled by the grammatical context in which it occurs.
Morphological indicators help to differentiate the variant meanings of the
word.
The interrelation between lexicology and phonetics becomes obvious if we
think of the fact that the word as the basis unit in lexicological study cannot exist
without its sound form, which is the object of study in phonology.
The meaning of the word is determined by several phonological features:
a) qualitative and quantitative character of phonemes;
b) fixed sequence of phonemes;
c) the position of stress.

1. 3. Aims of Lexicology
Modern English Lexicology aims at giving a systematic description of the
word-stock of Modern English.
Modern English Lexicology investigates the problems of word-structure and
word-formation in Modern English, the semantic structure of English words, the
main principles underlying the classification of vocabulary units into various
groupings.
It also studies the relations existing between various lexical layers of the
English vocabulary and the specific laws and regulations that govern its
development at the present time.
Lexicography is the science dealing with dictionary compiling. Lexicography
is a practical application of Lexicology. Lexicology studies various lexical units:
morphemes, words, variable word-groups and phraseological units.

1. 4. The word as the fundamental object of lexicology

A word is a fundamental unit of a language.
Being a central element of any language system, the word is a focus for the
problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology, stylistics etc. It has been
syntactically defined as "the minimum sentence" by H. Sweetand much later as
"the minimum independent unit of utterance" by L. Bloomfield. E. Sapir
concentrates on the syntactic and semantic aspects calling the word “one of the
smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated meaning, into which the sentence
resolves itself”.
Our native school of linguistics understands the word as a dialectical double-
facet unit of form and content, reflecting human notions, and in this sense being
considered as a form of their existence.
The word is a basic unit of a language resulting from the association of a
given meaning with a given cluster of sounds susceptible of a certain
grammatical employment.
As for the nature of the word, first, the word is a unit of speech which serves
the purposes of human communication. Secondly, the word can be perceived as the
total of the sounds which comprise it. Third, the word, viewed possesses several
characteristics:
a) The modern approach to the word as a double-facet unit is based on
distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word.
*the external structure = morphological structure;
*the internal structure = semantic structure;
b) Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses both
its external (or formal) unity and semantic unity. A word always conveys one
concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external
structure.
c) A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility to grammatical
employment. In speech most words can be used in different grammatical forms in
which their interrelations are realized.
The formal/structural properties of the word are:
1) isolatability (words can function in isolation, can make a sentence of their
own under certain circumstances);
2) inseparability/ unity (words are characterized by some integrity);
3) a certain freedom of distribution (exposition in the sentence can be
different);
4) susceptibility to grammatical employment;
5) a word as one of the fundamental units of the language is a double facet
unit of form (its external structure) and meaning (its internal/semantic structure).
A word is the smallest naming unit of a language with a more or less free
distribution used for the purposes of human communication, materially
representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to
grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic unity.
There are four basic kinds of words:
1) orthographic words – words distinguished from each other by their
spelling;
 2) phonological words - distinguished from each other by their
pronunciation;
3) word-forms which are grammatical variants;
4) words as items of meaning, the headwords of dictionary entries, called
lexemes.
A lexeme is a group of words united by the common lexical meaning, but
having different grammatical forms.
Any language is a system of systems consisting of two subsystems:
1) the system of words' possible lexical meanings;
2) the system of words' grammatical forms.
Semantics is the study of meaning. Modern approaches to this problem are
characterized by two different levels of study: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
On the syntagmatic level, the semantic structure of the word is analyzed in its
linear relationships with neighboring words in connected speech.
On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationships with other
words in the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in comparison with
other words of a similar meaning, of opposite meaning, of different stylistic
characteristics.
Consequently, the key problems of paradigmatic studies are synonymy,
antonymy, and functional styles.
One further important objective of lexicological studies is the study of the
vocabulary of a language as a system. Revising the issue, the vocabulary can be
studied synchronically (at a given stage of development), or diachronically (in the
context of the processes through which it grew, developed and acquired its modern
form).