Lexicology

Lexicology

The term «lexicology» is of Greek origin / from «lexis» - «word» and «logos» -
«science». Lexicology is the part of linguistics, which deals with the vocabulary and
characteristic features of words and word-groups.

The term «vocabulary» is used to denote the system of words and word-groups that
the language possesses.

he term «word» denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the
association of a group of sounds with a meaning. This unit is used in grammatical
functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest unit of a language, which can stand
alone as a complete utterance.
The term «word-group» denotes a group of words which exists in the language
as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning, the unity of syntactical
function, e.g. the word-group «as loose as a goose» means «clumsy» and is
used in a sentence as a predicative / He is as loose as a goose/.

Lexicology can study the development of the vocabulary, the origin of words
and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development of their sound
form and meaning. In this case it is called historical lexicology. Another branch
of lexicology is called descriptive and studies the vocabulary at a definite
stage of its development.
Lexicology is a branch of linguistics – the science of language. The literal
meaning of the term “lexicology” is “the science of the word”. Lexicology as a
branch of linguistics has its own aims & methods of scientific research. Its
basic task – being a study & systematic description of vocabulary in respect to
its origin, development & its current use. Lexicology is concerned with words,
variable word-groups, phraseological units & morphemes, which make up
words.
Distinction is made between GENERAL LEXICOLOGY & SPECIAL
LEXICOLOGY. General lexicology is a part of General linguistics. It is
concerned with the study of vocabulary irrespective of the specific
features of any particular language. Special lexicology is the lexicology
of a particular language (Russian, German, French, etc.).
Lexicology is closely connected with other branches of linguistics:
phonetics, for example, investigates the phonetic structure of language &
is concerned with the study of the outer sound-form of the word.
Grammar is the study of the grammatical structure of language. It is
concerned with the various means of expressing grammatical relations
between words as well as with patterns after which words are combined
into word-groups & sentences. There is also a close relationship between
lexicology & stylistics, which is concerned with a study of a nature,
functions & styles of languages.
• general lexicology – part of general linguistics, is concerned with the study
of vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular language;

• special lexicology – the lexicology of a particular language, i.e. the study and
description of its vocabulary and vocabulary units, primarily words as the
main units of language.; special lexicology is based on the principles worked
out and laid down by general lexicology, a general theory of vocabulary.
Special lexicology employs synchronic (q.v.) and diachronic (q.v.)
approaches: - special descriptive lexicology (synchronic lexicology) – deals
with the vocabulary and vocabulary units of a particular language at a certain
time - special historical lexicology (diachronic lexicology) – deals with the
changes and the development of vocabulary in the course of time.
Lexicology presents a wide area of knowledge.

1. Historical lexicology deals with the historic change of words in the

course of lang. development.

2. Comparative lexicology studies closely relative languages from the

point of view of their identity and differentiation.

3. Contrastive - both relative and unrelative languages establishes

differences and similarity.

4. Applied lexicology - translation, lexicography, pragmatics of speech.

Lexicology investigates various meaning relations existing in the lang.,

how the lexicon words to provide and support meaningful communication.
Each word is a part of entire system language vocabulary. Every item of a
language stands closely with 2 other items.

the sintagmatic level

the paradygmatic level.

On the sintagmatic level the semantic structure of a word is analyzed in it’s

linear relationships with neighbouring words.

On the paradigmatic level - relationship with other words in the vocabulary

system: synonyms, polysemantic words, antonyms.
Semantics
Semantics (from Ancient Greek sēmantikós, "significant")is the study of
reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of
several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and computer
science.
In linguistics, semantics is the subfield that studies meaning. Semantics can address
meaning at the levels of words, phrases, sentences, or larger units of discourse. Two
of the fundamental issues in the field of semantics are that of compositional
semantics (which pertains on how smaller parts, like words, combine and interact to
form the meaning of larger expressions such as sentences) and lexical semantics
(the nature of the meaning of words). Other prominent issues are those of context
and its role on interpretation, opaque contexts, ambiguity, vagueness, entailment and
presuppositions
Several disciplines and approaches have contributed to the often contentious field of
semantics. One of the crucial questions which unites different approaches to
linguistic semantics is that of the relationship between form and meaning, and some
major contributions to the study of semantics have derived from studies in the 1980–
1990s in related subjects of the syntax–semantics interface and pragmatics

he semantic level of language interacts with other modules or levels (like syntax) in
which language is traditionally divided. In linguistics, it is typical to talk in terms of
"interfaces" regarding such interactions between modules or levels. For semantics,
the most crucial interfaces are considered those with syntax (the syntax–semantics
interface), pragmatics and phonology (regarding prosody and intonation).
 Formal semantics
Formal semantics seeks to identify domain-specific mental operations which
speakers perform when they compute a sentence's meaning on the basis of its
syntactic structure. Theories of formal semantics are typically floated on top of
theories of syntax such as generative syntax or combinatory categorial grammar and
provide a model theory based on mathematical tools such as typed lambda calculi.
The field's central ideas are rooted in early twentieth century philosophical logic, as
well as later ideas about linguistic syntax. It emerged as its own subfield in the 1970s
after the pioneering work of Richard Montague and Barbara Partee and continues to
be an active area of research.
 Conceptual semantics
This theory is an effort to explain properties of argument structure. The assumption
behind this theory is that syntactic properties of phrases reflect the meanings of the
words that head them.[4] With this theory, linguists can better deal with the fact that
subtle differences in word meaning correlate with other differences in the syntactic
structure that the word appears in.[4] The way this is gone about is by looking at the
internal structure of words.[5] These small parts that make up the internal structure of
words are termed semantic primitives
 Cognitive semantics
Cognitive semantics approaches meaning from the perspective of cognitive
linguistics. In this framework, language is explained via general human cognitive
abilities rather than a domain-specific language module. The techniques native to
cognitive semantics are typically used in lexical studies such as those put forth by
Leonard Talmy, George Lakoff, Dirk Geeraerts, and Bruce Wayne Hawkins. Some
cognitive semantic frameworks, such as that developed by Talmy, take into account
syntactic structures as well.
 Lexical semantics
A linguistic theory that investigates word meaning. This theory understands that the
meaning of a word is fully reflected by its context. Here, the meaning of a word is
constituted by its contextual relations.[7] Therefore, a distinction between degrees of
participation as well as modes of participation are made.[7] In order to accomplish
this distinction, any part of a sentence that bears a meaning and combines with the
meanings of other constituents is labeled as a semantic constituent. Semantic
constituents that cannot be broken down into more elementary constituents are
labeled minimal semantic constituents
Morphology
 Morphology
Morphology is the study of words. Morphemes are the minimal units of words that
have a meaning and cannot be subdivided further. There are two main types: free and
bound. Free morphemes can occur alone and bound morphemes must occur with
another morpheme. An example of a free morpheme is "bad", and an example of a
bound morpheme is "ly." It is bound because although it has meaning, it cannot
stand alone. It must be attached to another morpheme to produce a word.

Free morpheme: bad

Bound morpheme: -ly
Word: badly
 Morphology
When we talk about words, there are two groups: lexical (or content) and function (or
grammatical) words. Lexical words are called open class words and include nouns,
verbs, adjectives and adverbs. New words can regularly be added to this group.
Function words, or closed class words, are conjunctions, prepositions, articles and
pronouns; and new words cannot be (or are very rarely) added to this class.
 Morphology
Affixes are often the bound morpheme. This group includes prefixes, suffixes,
infixes, and circumfixes. Prefixes are added to the beginning of another morpheme,
suffixes are added to the end, infixes are inserted into other morphemes, and
circumfixes are attached to another morpheme at the beginning and end. Following
are examples of each of these:

Prefix: re- added to do produces redo

Suffix: -or added to edit produces editor
 Morphology
There are two categories of affixes: derivational and inflectional. The main difference between
the two is that derivational affixes are added to morphemes to form new words that may or
may not be the same part of speech and inflectional affixes are added to the end of an existing
word for purely grammatical reasons. In English there are only eight total inflectional affixes:

-s 3rd person singular present she waits

-ed past tense he walked
-ing progressive she's watching
-en past participle she has eaten
-s plural three tables
-'s possessive Holly's cat
-er comparative you are taller
-est superlative you are the tallest
 Morphology
The other type of bound morphemes are called bound roots. These are morphemes
(and not affixes) that must be attached to another morpheme and do not have a
meaning of their own.
English Morphemes

• A) Free
• 1)Open Class
• 2)Closed Class

• B) Bound
• 1) Affix: Derivational Inflectional
• 2)Root
 Morphology
There are six ways to form new words. Compounds are a combination of words,
acronyms are derived from the initials of words, back-formations are created from
removing what is mistakenly considered to be an affix, abbreviations or clippings are
shortening longer words, eponyms are created from proper nouns (names), and
blending is combining parts of words into one.

• Compound: doghouse
• Acronym: NBA (National Basketball Association) or scuba (self-contained
underwater breathing apparatus)
• Back-formation: edit from editor
• Abbreviation: phone from telephone
• Eponym: sandwich from Earl of Sandwich
• Blending: smog from smoke and fog
Syntax
 Syntax
In linguistics, "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words
combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term "syntax" comes from the
Greek, meaning "arrange together." The term is also used to mean the study of the
syntactic properties of a language. In computer contexts, the term refers to the
proper ordering of symbols and codes so that the computer can understand what
instructions are telling it to do.
 Syntax
• Syntax is the proper order of words in a phrase or sentence.

• Syntax is a tool used in writing proper grammatical sentences.

• Native speakers of a language learn correct syntax without realizing it.

• The complexity of a writer's or speaker's sentences creates a formal or informal

level of diction that is presented to its audience.
 Hearing and Speaking Syntax
Syntax is one of the major components of grammar. It's the concept that enables
people to know how to start a question with a question word ("What is that?"), or that
adjectives generally come before the nouns they describe ("green chair"), subjects
often come before verbs in non-question sentences ("She jogged"), prepositional
phrases start with prepositions ("to the store"), helping verbs come before main
verbs ("can go" or "will do"), and so on.

For native speakers, using correct syntax is something that comes naturally, as word
order is learned as soon as an infant starts absorbing the language. Native speakers
can tell something isn't said quite right because it "sounds weird," even if they can't
detail the exact grammar rule that makes something sound "off" to the ear.
 Syntactic Rules
English parts of speech often follow ordering patterns in sentences and clauses,
such as compound sentences are joined by conjunctions (and, but, or) or that
multiple adjectives modifying the same noun follow a particular order according to
their class (such as number-size-color, as in "six small green chairs"). The rules of
how to order words help the language parts make sense.
 Syntactic Rules
Sentences often start with a subject, followed by a predicate (or just a verb in the
simplest sentences) and contain an object or a complement (or both), which shows,
for example, what's being acted upon. Take the sentence "Beth slowly ran the race in
wild, multicolored flip-flops." The sentence follows a subject-verb-object pattern
("Beth ran the race"). Adverbs and adjectives take their places in front of what they're
modifying ("slowly ran"; "wild, multicolored flip-flops"). The object ("the race")
follows the verb "ran", and the prepositional phrase ("in wild, multicolored flip-flops")
starts with the preposition "in".
 Syntax vs. Diction and Formal vs. Informal
Diction refers to the style of writing or speaking that someone uses, brought about by
their choice of words, whereas syntax is the order in which they're arranged in the
spoken or written sentence. Something written using a very high level of diction, like
a paper published in an academic journal or a lecture given in a college classroom, is
written very formally. Speaking to friends or texting are informal, meaning they have a
low level of diction.

"It is essential to understand that the differences exist not because spoken language is a
degradation of written language but because any written language, whether English or
Chinese, results from centuries of development and elaboration by a small number of
users."Jim Miller
 Syntax vs. Diction and Formal vs. Informal
Formal written works or presentations would likely also have more complex
sentences or industry-specific jargon. They are directed to a more narrow audience
than something meant to be read or heard by the general public, where the audience
members' backgrounds will be more diverse.

Precision in word choice is less exacting in informal contexts than formal ones, and
grammar rules are more flexible in spoken language than in formal written language.
Understandable English syntax is more flexible than most.
 Types of Sentence Structures
Types of sentences and their syntax modes include simple sentences, compound
sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences. Compound
sentences are two simple sentences joined by a conjunction. Complex sentences
have dependent clauses, and compound-complex sentences have both types
included.
 Types of Sentence Structures
• Simple sentence: Subject-verb structure ("The girl ran.")

• Compound sentence: Subject-verb-object-conjunction-subject-verb structure ("The

girl ran the marathon, and her cousin did, too.")

• Complex sentence: Dependent clause-subject-verb-object structure ("Although

they were tired after the marathon, the cousins decided to go to a celebration at
the park.")

• Compound-complex sentence: Four clauses, dependent and independent

structures ("Although they weren't fond of crowds, this was different, they decided,
because of the common goal that had brought everyone together.")
 Syntax Variations and Distinctions
Syntax has changed some over the development of English through the centuries.
"The proverb Whoever loved that loved not at first sight? indicates that English
negatives could once be placed after main verbs" (Aitchison, 2001). And not all
people speak English in exactly the same way. Social dialects learned by people with
common backgrounds—such as a social class, profession, age group, or ethnic
group—also may influence the speakers' syntax. Think of the differences between
teenagers' slang and more fluid word order and grammar vs. research scientists'
technical vocabulary and manner of speaking to each other. Social dialects are also
called "social varieties."
 Beyond Syntax
Following proper syntax doesn't guarantee that a sentence will have meaning,
though. Linguist Noam Chomsky created the sentence "Colorless green ideas sleep
furiously," which is syntactically and grammatically correct because it has the words
in the correct order and verbs that agree with subjects, but it's still nonsense. With it,
Chomsky showed that rules governing syntax are distinct from meanings that words
convey.