Lecture 1
Lexicogy
Bill Bryson's book "The Mother
Tongue":
It is often said that what most immediately
sets English apart from other languages is the
richness of its vocabulary.
Webster’s Third New International
Dictionary lists 450,000 words, and the
revised Oxford English Dictionary has
615,000, but that is only part of the total.
Technical and scientific terms would add
millions more. Altogether, about 200,000
English words are in common use, more than
in German (184,000) and far more than in
French (a mere 100,000).
The limits of my language are the limits of my mind.
All I know is what I have words for. (Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1929)
While without grammar very little can be conveyed, without
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. ( David Wilkins, 1972)
Lexis is the core or heart of language. (Michael Lewis, 1993)
Learners carry around dictionaries, not grammar books.
(Norbert Schmitt, 2010)
The term “lexicology” is of
Greek origin ( from “lexis” –
“word” and ‘logos” - “science”).
The sub jec t o f Lexicology is the part of
linguistics which deals with the
an d i ts aims
lexicology vocabulary and characteristic
features of words and word-groups.
Lexicology studies the
g y a s t h e p a r t o f
Lexicolo development of the vocabulary,
linguistics the origin of words and word-
groups, their semantic relations
and the development of their
sound form and meaning
Lexicology is linked with Grammar
because the word is used in speech as a Lexicology
grammatical unit, in certain grammatical Grammar
forms and functions. Grammar studies
means of expressing grammatical
relations between words in speech and
patterns after which words are combined
into word-groups and sentences.
Lexicology has connections with
Phonetics. If we change the stress, we
change the meaning of the word and
Stylistics
even the part of speech, e.g. rEcord – to
record, pERmit - to permIt. Phonetics
Stylistics is linked with Lexicology as it
studies many problems treated in
lexicology such as the problem of
meaning, connotation, synonymy,
different functional styles.
The word is a speech unit used for
the purposes of human
communication, materially
representing a group of sounds,
possessing a meaning, susceptible
to grammatical employment and
What is a Word?
characterized by formal and
semantic unity.
The word is the fundamental unit
of language . It is a dialectical unity
of form and content.
The word denotes the basic unit of
The word
a given language resulting from the is the bas
association of a particular meaning unit of a ic two-fa
language cet
with a particular group of sounds and mean having fo
capable of a particular grammatical ing, chara rm
structura cterized b
employment. A word therefore is at l and sem y
the same time a semantic, and by se antic inte
grammatical and phonological parability. grity
unit. So, the subject-matter of
lexicology is the word, its
morphemic structure, history and
meaning.
The term “vocabulary” is
used to denote a system of
words and word-groups a Lexicon is (a list of) all
language possesses. The term the words used in a
itself appeared in the 16th particular language or
century (from Medieval Lat. subject,or a dictionary
vocare – to name, call) and (Cambridge dictionary).
was used to denote a list of
words with definitions and
translations (vocābulārium).
Phraseology is the branch
of lexicology specializing in
The main branches of lexicology word-groups. Those are
The internal structure of the word or its meaning, nowadays characterized by stability of
commonly referred to as the word’s semantic structure. This is structure and transferred
certainly the word’s main aspect. The area of lexicology meaning.
specializing in the semantic studies of the word is called The evolution of
semasiology. vocabulary forms the object
Semasiology (from Greek semasia “signification”) is a branch of of historical lexicology or
linguistics whose subject-matter is the study of word meaning and etymology (from Gr.
the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms,
etymon “true, real”),
viewed as normal and vital factors of any linguistic development. It
discussing the origin of
is the most relevant to polysemy and homonymy.
various words, their change
and development,
examining the linguistic and
extra-linguistic forces that
modify their structure,
meaning and usage.
Lexicography is the
theory and practice of
compiling dictionaries.
Lexicology
Morphology Etymology
Phraseology
Semasiology Lexicography
WORD BUILDING OR
WORD-FORMATION
THERE ARE TWO PRINCIPAL
APPROACHES IN LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
Modern
TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE
MATERIAL:
THE SYNCHRONIC (GR. SYN —
‘TOGETHER, WITH’ AND CHRONOS —
approaches
‘TIME’);
to study
THE DIACHRONIC (HISTORICAL ) (GR.
DIA — ‘THROUGH’) APPROACH.
With regard to special lexicology the The diachronic approach in terms of
synchronic approach is concerned with special lexicology deals with the changes
and the development of vocabulary in the
the vocabulary of a language as it exists at
course of time. It is special historical
a given time, for instance, at the present lexicology that deals with the evolution of
time. It is special desсriptive lexicology the vocabulary units of a language as time
(the synchronic approach) that deals with goes by (the diachronic approach).
the vocabulary and vocabulary units of a
particular language at a certain time. English historical lexicology would
be concerned, therefore, with the origin of
English vocabulary units, their change and
A Course in Modern English
development, the linguistic and
Lexicology is therefore a course in extralinguistic factors modifying their
special descriptive lexicology, its object structure, meaning and usage within the
of study being the English vocabulary as history of the English language.
it exists at the present time.
icolo
x
Le
gy
Special desсriptive Special historical General Comparative Contrastive
lexicology lexicology lexicology lexicology lexicology
the synchronic the diachronic is the study of searches for identifies the
words regardless of linguistic
approach approach similar features
a language’s specific characteristics
that are shared
properties. It is
among two or which distinguish
concerned with
linguistic features more languages. between related
that are common and unrelated
among all languages, languages.
such as phonemes
and morphemes.
On the syntagmatic level
the semantic structure of the word is
Lev e ls o f st ud y analysed in its linear relationships with
neighbouring words in connected speech. In
in Le xic o lo gy other words, the semantic characteristics
of the word are observed, described and
studied on the basis of its typical
e a r e t w o d if f e r e n t contexts.
Ther
h e s t o t h e s t u d y On the paradigmatic level
approac
s e m a n t ic s t r u c t u r e : the word is studied in its relationships with other words in
of the the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in
comparison with other words of similar meaning (e. g. work, n.
— labour, n.; to refuse, v. — to reject v. — to decline, v.),
of opposite meaning (e. g. busy, adj. — idle, adj.; to accept, v,
— to reject, v.), of different stylistic characteristics (e. g.
man, n. — chap, n. — bloke, n. — guy, n.). Consequently, the
main problems of paradigmatic studies are synonymy,
antonymy, functional styles.
Верба Л.Г. Порівняльна лексикологія
англійської та української мов. Вінниця:
Нова книга, 2008. 246 с.
Квеселевич Д.І., Сасіна З.І. Практикум з
лексикології сучасної англійської мови.
Вінниця: Нова Книга, 2001. 126 с.
Раєвська Н.М. Англійська лексикологія.
Київ: Вища школа, 1979. 300 с.
Andreichuk N., Babelyuk O. Contrastive
Lexicology of English and Ukrainian
Recommended
Languages: Theory and Practice. Kherson
Publishing House: Helvetica, 2019. 234 p. literature:
Arnold I.V. The English Word. M.:
Высшая школа, 1986. 295 p.
Jackson H. et al An Introduction to
English Lexicology: Words, Meaning and
Vocabulary. Bloomsbury Academic,
2021. 272 p.
Nikolenko A.G. English Lexicology.
Theory and Practice. Vinnytsya: Nova
Knyha, 2007. 525 p.
https://www.etymonline.com
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com
Tha nk s fo r
your
atten ti o n!
