4. The Notion of Lexical System

Vocabulary of any language is not a chaotic mass of words, but a system of interdependent and interrelated elements. It is known as the lexico-semantic system of language. Its elements are words, some part of morphemes and phraseological units. They are interrelated in many different ways. A change in one part of this system brings about changes in other parts of the system. Its elements may change their meanings, functions or drop out altogether. E.g., when the noun autumn was borrowed from French into Old English, it superseded the noun haerfest in the meaning «season of the year». Harvest (n) now means «reaping», «gathering of grain».

The relations between the elements of the vocabulary system are rather regular, so it is possible to predict other elements and their meanings, and also to form new elements. So, if a student knows the meaning of the adjective beautiful, he will guess the meanings of wonderful and sorrowful. But vocabulary is not a rigid system; there is no mathematical accuracy in it. Therefore it contains all kinds of exceptions. E.g., the adjectives powerful, thoughtful, fruitful have antonyms formed by means of the suffix -less: powerless, thoughtless, and fruitless. But the adjectives beautiful, wonderful have no such antonyms.

Another exampleis that there is a regular relationship between a superordinate term with general meaning and specific words whose meanings are included in the scope of the former, e.g., flower – tulip, lily, daffodil…; parents – mother, father; tools – hammer, saw, screw... But there is no superordinate term for black, white, yellow, red, for male and female.

Lexico-semantic system is an open system. It means that the number of its elements constantly changes, some words come in, others drop out; so the system is in permanent flux. Different kinds of relations exist between its units. These relations involve such aspects of the word as its form, meaning, function -– and fall into two basic types: paradigmatic relations and syntagmatic relations.

Paradigmatic relations exist in vocabulary, between elements of the same class (e.g., part of speech, word-building family, etc.). They are relations of choice. In speech only one of the elements of the system is selected (one of the synonyms, homonyms, members of the word-building family, one of the grammatical forms, etc.). Paradigmatic relations may be of different types:

I. Relations involving content, or meaning:

1) Relations of similarity (synonyms): wet, humid, moist;

2) Relations of contrast (antonyms): big - little, far - near, ascend - descend;

3) Relations of subordination, or inclusion. They underlie at least two types of subsystems: 1. hypo-hyperonymic groups, thematic groups: animal – fox, wolf, bear, etc.; flower – tulip, rose, lily, daffodil. The superordinate term, or the hyperonym, is the word with the generic meaning; words subordinated to it are its hyponyms. This type of relations penetrates the whole system of vocabulary, forming its hierarchic structure. Let us consider a part of this structure.

4) meronymic groups, which represent relations between the whole and its parts, e.g., body – head, trunk, legs, arms…