LEXICOLOGY AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics. Object, main concepts, theoretical and practical

value of lexicology.
2. Lexicology in its relations to other levels of linguistic structure and other branches of
linguistics.
3. Vocabulary as a system.
4. Methods of lexicological research.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Arnold, Irina. The English Word. - Moscow: Vyshaja Shkola. 1966. Chapter 1
Introduction P. 11 50.; Chapter 11 English Vocabulary as a System P. 249 274.
.., .., .. :
. . 3- -. - .: , 2001. C. 6 12.
Rayevskaya N.M. English Lexicology. Kiev.: Vysca Scola, 1979. P. 10 44.
MAIN CONCEPTS OF THE THEME:
applied lexicology,
descriptive/synchronic lexicology,
etymology,
general lexicology,
historical/diachronic lexicology,
ICs analysis
lexeme,
lexical system
lexicography
lexicology,
lexicon
onomasiology,

paradigmatics,
phraseology,
semasiology,
set expression,
special lexicology,
syntagmatics,
vocabulary,
word equivalent,
word,
wordstock/ stock of words

THEME IN A NUTSHELL
Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, inquiring into the origins and meanings of words.
English lexicology aims at investigating and studying the morphological structures of English
words and word equivalents, their semantic structures, relations, historical development, formation
and usages. Its a theoretically oriented course.
English lexicology is a subbranch of linguistics, but it embraces other academic disciplines,
such as phonetics, morphology, semantics, etymology, stylistics, lexicography.
Branches of lexicology: onomasiology (naming and nominative processes), semasiology
(theory of meaning), etymology (source of vocabulary and word origin), phraseology (theory of set
expressions), lexicography (the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries), onomastics (the
study of the history and origin of proper names, esp. personal names), terminology (the body of
terms used with a particular technical application in a subject of study, theory, profession, etc.).
Two main approaches to the study of words: synchronic and diachronic.
Two main types of relations: paradigmatic and syntagmatic.
BASIC CONCEPTS: WORD AND VOCABULARY
Word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic
function.
Four features:
1. a minimal free form of a language;
2. a sound unity;
3. a unity of meaning;
4. a form that can function alone in a sentence.
A word is a symbol that stands for something else in the world. Certain sounds will represent
certain persons, things, places, properties, processes and activities outside the language system. This
symbolic connection is almost always arbitrary, and there is no logical relationship between the
sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual thing and idea itself.
Vocabulary: all the words in a language make up its vocabulary. It can not only refer to total
number of the words in a language, but stand for all the words used in a particular historical period.
CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS
By use frequency: basic word stock and non-basic vocabulary
By notion: content words and functional words
By origin: native words and borrowed words
Basic word stock: the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over centuries and forms the
common core of the language. It constitutes a small percentage of the English vocabulary but it is
the most important part of it. The characteristics:
1. all national character (the most important feature);
2. stability;
3. productivity;
4. polysemy;
5 collocability.
Non-basic word-stock includes: 1. Terminology ; 2. Jargon ; 3. Slang; 4. Argot; 5. Dialectal
words; 6. Archaisms; 7. Neologisms etc.
Content words (notional words) denote clear notions, including: nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverb and numerals, which denote objects, phenomena, action, quality, state, degree, quantity.
They constitute the main body of the English vocabulary and are numerous. Functional words
(empty words or form words): do not have notions of their own. Their chief function is to express
the relation between notions, the relation between words and between sentences. They include
prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries and articles. Functional words make up a very small number
of the vocabulary, remain stable. Functional words do far more work of expression in English on
average than content words.
Native words (Anglo-Saxon words) were brought to Britain in the fifth century by the
German tribes: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. They are small in number, about 50,000 to

60,000, but they form the mainstream of the basic word stock and stand at the core of the language.
They have other two features: neutral in style and frequent in use. The percentage of native words in
use runs usually as high as 70 to 90 percent. Borrowed words (loan words or borrowings) are taken
over from foreign languages. English is a heavy borrower. Loans constitute approximately 80
percent of the Modern English vocabulary.
There are more criteria for words classification.

VOCABULARY AS A SYSTEM
The vocabulary of a language is not chaotic but systematic. Groupings can be distinguished
according to several principles: synchronic, diachronic; semantic; formal (structural) etc.
aspect
alphabetical
aspect

dimension taken into

consideration
sound

groupings (popular terms)

A B C D E etc

rhyming aspect
word length
word frequency

morphological
aspect

number of letters or
syllables
frequency of usage

number and type of

morphemes

common morpheme

monosyllables, polysyllables

ness, deaness, librarianess,

titaness, sultaness, glibness,
dubness
man, nice, interesting

basic/core

be, have, a, the, of

non-basic/periphery

slang, argot, terminology,

dialectal words, neologisms
hand

root/morpheme words (one free

morpheme only)
derivatives (min 2 morphemes, at
least one is bound)

source
(+degree of
assimilation, +
borrowed aspect)

hand-made, handclasp,
hand-up, hand-to-scale

compound derivatives (min 2 free

morphemes, and 1 bound
morpheme referring to the whole)

hander-up
hand-tooled, hand-to-mouth

root (word-family)

hand, handclasp, handed,

handedness, hand-up,
hander-up, handful, handmade, hand-pick, handpicked, hand-to-mouth,
hand-tooled, hand-to-scale,
handful, hopeful, fruitful,
beautiful;
overdo, overeat, oversleep,
overestimate
father, nose, cow, tree, red,
be, to stand, to sit
to see, to hear, fox, grass,
fur, head, old, good
bird, boy, lady, girl, lord,
woman, daisy, always
face, husband, table
rajah, restaurant, clich,
datum, avocado, chao,
lambada, pipe of peace, by
heart, fair sex, superman

native

borrowing/loan-word

semantic,
functional aspects

notion

handed, handedness,
handful

compounds (min 2 free

morphemes, bound morphemes
are possible)

affix (word-family)

origin

example of scales and

illustrations
A, ab, aba, abac, abaca,
aback, abactinal etc.

content words (denoting clear

notions)

nouns, verbs, adjectives,

numerals, adverbs

lexicogrammatical
aspect (several
groupings
constitute a part
of speech)
linguistic and
extra-linguistic
aspect

semantic aspect

common lexicogrammatical meaning,

paradigm, substituting
elements and possibly a
characteristic set of
affixes
the things which the
words refer to are
closely connected and
occur together in
reality; common part of
speech and lexicogrammatical group
the things which the
words refer to are
closely connected and
occur together in
reality; signification,
the system of logical
notions, grammatical
meaning is not
considered
similarity of meaning

functional/empty/clear/form
words (expressing the relations
between notions, words,
sentences)
English nouns , etc.

thematic groups

relations of inclusion
semantic structure
semantic unity,
structural stability,
figurativeness

verbs, nouns , adjectives

together (light n, to shine v,
bright adj.)

synonyms

nice-fine-beautiful,
wonderful-cool-rad,
motherland-fatherland;
to die-to pass away-to go to
Philadelphia;
whoever-whosoever,
whisky-whiskey;
up-down, hopeful-hopeless;
economic-economical;
dance a flamingo
(instead of flamenco),
reprehend-instead of
comprehend
animal (cat, dog, pig)
radar, biochemistry
face, hand, to go, heavy
thing
to show the white feather, to
buy smth for a song, a
snake in the grass, to bear a
grudge
The devil is not as black as
its painted
to come home
to speak, man, often
solitude, cordial,
miscellaneous,
knee-joint, still life
granny, let-down, baby-sit,
touchy
whatchamacallit, whodunit,
absobludylutely

lexical variants
antonyms
paronyms
malapropisms

hyperonyms/ hyponyms
monosemic word
polysemic word
semantic diffusion
phraseological units

phraseological expressions
stylistic aspect

register

personal names, animal

names, collective names,
abstract nouns, material
nouns, object nouns,
toponymic proper nouns,
etc
terms of kinship (father,
mother, sister, son etc);
colours (white, black,
green, grey etc);

ideographic groups

euphemisms

difference in meaning

conjunctions, auxiliaries,
articles, prepositions

free phrases
neutral
literarybookish/
formal words
colloquial

learned words
terms
standard/literary
colloquialisms
substandard/
non-literary
colloquialisms

pragmatic aspect

emotionality (attitude)

quantitative
change; time axis

currency (period)

appreciative
neutral
derogatory
expletive words
neologism
archaic words

frequential aspect
motivation of
structure

sociolinguistic
aspect

obsolete word,
historism

frequency of
occurrence
structural pattern

basic (frequent)
nonce-words
motivated

function and
regionality

non-motivated
words with faded motivation
standard varieties, dialect, pidgin,
creole etc

high-elevated/poetic words,
profanity, obscenity,
blasphemy;
oath or swear words
Nick (newly-industrializing
company), teledish
(aerial)
ere (before);
diligence
He ha-had (laughed).
mouth of the river, buzz,
giggle, self-made,
to earn, table
British English, American
English, Canadian English;
Caribbean English; Manx
English; Aboriginal
English; Chinook jargon etc

NON-SEMANTIC GROUPINGS
alphabetical grouping
The sound is taken into consideration. Outcome is almost null with few exceptions of etymological
value. For instance, words beginning with w are mostly native. Many words beginning with ph [f]
and ps [s] are Greek (philology, psychology). Those beginning with sk [sk] are of Scandinavian
origin (sky, skate, ski) and not palatalized, but the ones with sh [] are native and palatalized (shirt);
rhyming grouping
The sound is taken into consideration but the other way round (game, fame);
word length
The number of letters is taken into consideration. Important for lexicostatistics, communication
engineering. The number of letters and esp. syllables correlates to the word frequency, the number
of meanings and stylistic characteristics of the lexical item.
word frequency
This approach is very important for lexicography and language teaching. The most frequent words
are polysemantic and stylistically neutral.
METHODS OF LEXICOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Distributional analysis, method of oppositions, substitution, ICs analysis, transformational
analysis, componential analysis, semasiological analysis (reveals word meaning), onomasiological
analysis of lexico-semantic groups (reveals peculiarities of the use of words in each language as
well as the frequency value of words with different semantic components), onomasiological
comparative (is intended to reveal the words which are used to denote one the same object).