Lexicology is derived from two Greek morphemes: lexis which means word and logos which means learning. Lexicology is an independent science with its own target and the object of study.
Lexicology is a branch of linguistics which aims at systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use.
Lexicology studies the following problems:
1. Semasiology and semantic classification of the vocabulary
2. Etymology of words
3. Word-groups and phraseological units
4. Word structure
5. Word formation
6. Fundamentals of English lexicography
7. Paradigmatic relations in the vocabulary (synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, homonymy)
8. Stylistic peculiarities of the English vocabulary
9. Regional varieties
10. Methods of lexicological research
The general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific features of any language, is known as General Lexicology.
Special Lexicology devotes its attention to the description of the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language. Every Special Lexicology is based on the principles of General Lexicology and forms a part of General Linguistics.
Historical Lexicology deals with the evolution of any vocabulary, as well as of its single elements, with the origin of various words, their change and development.
Descriptive Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given stage of its development, with the English words in its morphological and semantic structure.
Comparative Lexicology studies closely relative languages from the point of view of their identity and differentiation.
Contrastive Lexicology studies both relative and non-relative languages and establishes differences and similarities.
Applied Lexicology deals with translation, lexicography, pragmatics of speech.
The branch of linguistics, dealing with relations between the way the language works and develops and the facts of social life is termed Sociolinguistics.
The vocabulary of any language is not just a chaotic assembly of words. It’s a system. The term system as applied to lexicology is used to denote the set of all lexical units associated and functioning together according to some certain laws. They are homogeneous interdependent units of the same order related in certain ways, as it is constantly adjusting itself to the changing conditions of human communication and cultural surrounding.
The lexical system is composed of interrelated groups of words. Their members have features in common which distinguish them from the members of the other subgroups of the lexical system. The relations existing between the members of such subgroups are those of synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, etc.
Lexicology studies the recurrent patterns of semantic relationships and phonological, morphological or contextual means by which they may be expressed. Its aim is systematization.
Each lexical unit possesses a certain number of characteristic features making each separate word different from all other words. This feature is called lexical distinctive feature.
A lexical opposition is defined as the semantically relevant relationship of partial difference between two partially similar words. The features that the two contrasted words possess in common form the basis of a lexical opposition, e.g. pool, pond, lake, sea, ocean – the feature is the variant for size. Without a basis of similarity, no opposition is possible.
Syntagmatic relations are based on the linear character of speech, i.e. on the influence of context. The term context is defined as the minimum stretch of speech necessary to determine which of the possible meaning of a polysemantic word is used. Eg: blue eyes and to feel blue.
Paradigmatic relations are based on the interdependence of words within the vocabulary. 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 similar meaning (e.g. work-labour, refuse-reject-decline), of different stylistic characteristics (e.g. man-chap-guy).
The lexical system is not the only one, there is also a grammatical system, but the lexical one is the largest and the most changing.
The definition of the word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the simplest word has many different aspects.
Being the central element of any language system, the word is a sort of focus for the problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and so on.
Within the scope of linguistics, the word has been defined syntactically, semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches. E.g. Henry Sweet defined the word syntactically as “the minimum sentence” and much later L. Bloomfield defined it as “the minimum form”.
Modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word. By external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure.
The internal structure of the word, or its meaning is referred to the word’s semantic structure. This is certainly the word’s main aspect. Words can serve the purposes of human communication due to their meaning. The area of lexicology specializing in the semantic studies of the word is called semantics.
Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses both external (or formal) unity and semantic unity. Formal unity of the word is sometimes interpreted as indivisibility.
The formal unity of the word can be illustrated by comparing a word and a word-group comprising identical constituents (a bluebell – колокольчик, a blue bell – синий бубенчик). The word bluebell is characterized by unity; it possesses a single grammatical framing: bluebells. In the word-group a blue bell each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own. Other words can be inserted between its components. As for semantic unity in the word-group a blue bell each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept. The word bluebell conveys only one concept. This is one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external structure.
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.
So, 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 characterized by formal and semantic integrity.
Meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word with the ability of denoting real objects, qualities, actions and abstract notions. Meaning has the sound form, the concept and the actual referent. The complex relationships between referent (object, denoted by the word), concept and word are traditionally represented by the following triangle.
Thought or reference (concept) --- Symbol (word, sound form) --- Referent (object)
The sound form of the word is not identical to its meaning as in different languages one and the same meaning is conveyed by different sound forms, on the other hand there are such cases when almost identical sound forms in different languages have different meanings, e.g. СПИД - speed, кот – caught, три – tree.
Another proof of the conventional character of the connection between the sound form and meaning is homonymy, e.g. write – right – rite.
Meanings and concepts are not identical either. Concepts are results of generalization and abstraction. They are practically the same for the whole mankind. But the meanings of words are different in different languages.
It is also important to distinguish meaning from referent, i.e. from the object, denoted by the word. It is possible to denote one and the same object by more than one word with different meaning, e.g. building, house, thing, the object, something. Meaning is not equal to the actual properties of the referent. There are words which have meanings, but the objects they denote do not exist, e.g. spirit, angel.
Thus, meaning cannot be identical with any point of the triangle (referent, concept, symbol).
Lexical meaning. The definition of lexical meaning has been attempted more than once in accordance with the main principles of different linguistic schools. The disciples of F. de Saussure consider meaning to be the relation between the object or notion named, and the name itself. Descriptive linguistics of L. Bloomfield defines the meaning as the situation in which the word is uttered. In our country definitions given by many authors, however different in detail, agree in one basic principle: lexical meaning is the realization of the notion by means of a definite language system.
Lexical meaning is not homogeneous. It includes denotative component and connotative component.
The denotative component is the one which makes communication possible. One of the functions of the word is to denote, that is to serve as linguistic expression for a notion (concept) or as a name for an existing object. This component is obligatory; it expresses the conceptual content of a word.
The denotative meaning may be of two types:
· Significative, evoking a general idea (A good laugh is sunshine in the house)
· Demonstrative, identifying (Some large blue china jars and parrot-tulips were ranged on the mantel shelf)
Another component of a lexical meaning is the connotative, which is optional and gives some additional information about the word. Connotative meaning expresses emotional content of the word, its capacity to evoke or directly express emotion.
Notorious (denotative component – widely known, connotative component – for criminal acts or bad traits of character (negative, evaluative connotation).
Celebrated (denotative component is the same – widely known, connotative component – for special achievement in science, art, etc (positive, evaluative connotation).
A meaning can have two or more connotative components. There are the following types of connotations:
1) the connotation of degree or intensity. To like – to love – to adore
2) the connotation of duration. To stare – to glance
3) emotive connotation. Lonely – alone
4) the evaluative connotation. Celebrated – notorious
5) the causative connotation. To shiver – to shudder
6) the connotation of manner. To stroll – to stride – to pace
7) the connotation of attendant circumstances. To peep – to peer
8) the connotation of attendant features. Pretty – handsome - beautiful
9) stylistic connotation. Girl -girlie – lass – lassie – bird – birdie
Grammatical meaning
Another type of meaning is grammatical. It is the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of words (mood, number, case, etc)
E.g.: dogs, cats, men (the lexical meaning is different here)
In the following examples the lexical meaning is identical but grammatical is different: boy-boys, boy’s, boys’.
The lexical meaning is strongly dependent upon the grammatical meaning, upon the part of speech to which the word belongs. Every word may be used in a limited set of syntactical functions, and with a definite valency. It has a definite set of grammatical meanings, and a definite set of forms.
Lexico-grammatical meaning
The lexico-grammatical meaning is regarded as the feature according to which definite words are grouped together. Every lexico-grammatical group of words or class is characterized by its own lexico-grammatical forming, the common dominator of all the meanings of the words which belong to this group. The lexico-grammatical meaning of each lexico-grammatical group is approximated in the lexical meaning of generic terms, i.e. words that are called semantically wide. These are words expressing notions in which abstraction and generalization are so great that they can substitute any word of their class.