Lexicology as a Branch of Linguistics

The term lexicology is of Greek origin from “lexis” which means “word” and “logos” which means “science”. Lexicology is the part of linguistics which studies:

1. The origin of words

2. Word structure

3. Word formation in the language

4. The meanings of the words

5. The main principles of classification of words

6. The laws that govern the enlarging of the vocabulary

The term vocabulary is used to denote the system of word and word groups that the language has. Modern English lexicology gives a systematic description of the vocabulary of Modern English.

OE – Old English

ME – Middle English

MnE – Modern English

The central problem of lexicology is meaning. And meaning is the central problem of philosophy, so lexicology helps to study philosophical problems.

Etymology of the English Vocabulary (Word-Stock)

According to their origin English words may be divided into two groups:

1. Native words

2. Borrowed words (borrowings)

Native words are words which belong to the original English vocabulary and which are known from the old English manuscripts.

Borrowings are words taken from another language and modified according to the standards of the English language. English history is very reach in different kinds of contacts with other countries that’s why it’s very reach in borrowings.

1. The Roman invasion

2. The adoption of Christianity

3. Scandinavian and Norman conquests

4. The development of British colonialism

5. Trade and cultural relations enriched the English vocabulary

About 70% of the English vocabularies are borrowings

English words were borrowed from different languages, common:

1. Celtic

2. Latin

3. Greek

4. Scandinavian

5. Italian

6. Spanish

7. German

8. French

9. Russian and others

Most borrowings are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish). Borrowings enter the language in 2 ways: through oral and written speech.

Borrowings may be direct and indirect that’s through another languages (e.g. Latin through which many Greek words came into English).

International words are words that were borrowed from one source by several languages. From Latin and Greek: philosophy, chemistry, physics. English words: football, hockey, cricket.

Russian words: sputnik, perestroika, glasnost, cosmonaut, intelligencia.

Assimilation of borrowings

Assimilation is the process of changing the borrowed word. The process of assimilation includes the changes in the sound form, morphological structure, grammar characteristics, meaning and usage.

According to the degree of assimilation all borrowed words can be divided into 3 groups:

1. Completely assimilated borrowings. They are words which have undergone all types of assimilation. They are often used and are stylistically neutral. They take active part in words formation. Completely assimilated borrowings are not felt as foreign words. E.g. sport (French), animal (Latin), face (French), husband (Scandinavian).

2. Particularly assimilated borrowings. They are words which haven’t undergone one of the types of assimilation. They are subdivided into:

1. Borrowings not assimilated semantically. Such words usually denote objects and notions characteristic of the country from which they were borrowed. E.g. “shah”, “sherbet” (Arab.), “rikshaw” (China).

2. Borrowings not assimilated grammatically. E.g. nouns borrowed from Latin or Greek which keep the original plural form, e.g. “datum” – “data”, “crisis” – “crisises”.

3. Borrowings not assimilated phonetically. These words have peculiarities (особенности) in stress, combinations of sounds that are not standard for English. E.g. “machine”, “regime”, “camouflage”.

4. Borrowings not assimilated graphically. E.g. “ballet”, “cafe”, “symbol”, “psychology”.

3. Unassimilated borrowings or barbarism. They are words from other languages used by the English people in conversation on in writing but not assimilated in any way. And for which there are corresponding English equivalents, e.g. “ciao”, “adios”, “tete-a-tete”, “dolce vita”.