Lexicology Essays - Lexicology, Linguistics, Grammar, Semantics

Lexicology Essays - Lexicology, Linguistics, Grammar, Semantics Lecture I. Introduction. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics 1.The subject and the tasks of lexicology. Lexicology and other branches of linguistics. 2.Lexical units. Word as the main lexical unit. Literature: 1. .. . : , 2007. C. 9-13. 2. .. . / .. . : , 2008. C. 3-4. 1. The subject and the tasks of lexicology The term lexicology is composed of two Greek morphemes: lexis - word, phrase, and logos - science. The literal meaning is the science of word. Thus, lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary and characteristic features of words and word-groups. Lexicology has its own aims, methods of research and its basic task is study and systematic description of vocabulary (lexicon) in respect to its origin, development and current use. It gives a systematic description of the word-stock of the language; It investigates the words structure, word formation, the semantic structure of English words; It also investigates the main principles of the classification of vocabulary units into various groups and ways of forming new vocabulary units; It studies the relations between different lexical layers of the vocabulary. There are two principle approaches in linguistic science to the study of language material: synchronic and diachronic. It means that the vocabulary of the language can be studied synchronically, that is, at a given stage of its development (descriptive lexicology). The descriptive lexicology of the English language deals with the English word in its morphological (morprhemes the word consisits of) and semantical (meaning of the word) structures and investigates the interdependence between these two aspects. The vocabulary can also be studied diachronically, in the context of the processes through which it grew, developed and acquired its modern form (historical lexicology). Historical lexicology studies the origin of words and word-groups, the development of their sound form and meaning. The two approaches shouldnt be set one against the other. In fact, they are interconnected and interrelated because every linguistic structure and system exists in a state of constant development so that the synchronic state of a language system is a result of a long process of linguistic evaluation, of its historical development. Closely connected with historical lexicology is comparative lexicology which studies the correlation between the vocabularies of two or more languages, and finds out the correspondences between the vocabulary units of these languages. Distinction is naturally made between general lexicology and special lexicology. General lexicology is a part of general linguistics; it studies the vocabulary and semantic processes irrespectively of the specific features of any particular language. Special lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language (e.g. English, Ukrainian, etc.). There are different branches of lexicology: etymology, word groups and phraseology, semasiology and onomasiology, morphology, word-building, lexicography, stylistics. Etymology is the branch of linguistics which deals with the origin and history of words. Semasiology is a science which studies the meaning of the words. Semasiology is closely connected to onomasiology, which goal is to find the linguistic forms, or the words, that can stand for a given concept/idea/object. While onomasiology starts from concepts, semasiology starts from forms and asks for their meanings. Semasiology is concerned with meaning and the change of meaning. A typical semasiological question is: Which meanings does this word have?, for instance, Which meanings does the word glass have?. A semasiological perspective is more the perspective of a listener who is looking for the meaning of a word s/he has heard. People speak of onomasiology when they are looking for grammatical forms that can stand for a given function, e.g.How can I express future time?, and when they are looking for conversational patterns that can be used in a given communicative task, e.g. How can I greet somebody? Morphology is the branch of lexicology which deals with the structure of the word. The ways the word is formed are studied by the word-building. The spheres of the use of the word are studied by the stylistics. Phraseology is the branch of lexicology specialising in word-groups which are characterised by stability of structure. The questions of words description and systematization is a subject of lexicography. Lexicology is closely connected with general linguistics, the history of the