Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Rivne State Humanities University

Romance and Germanic Philology Department

Notes on Modern English Lexicology

Compiled by

kandidat of philological sciences,

professor O.I. Pavlova

Rivne – 2010

Topic I: English Lexicology as a Science

Plan

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics. Its subject-matter and tasks.

2. The structure of lexicology.

3. The main methods of lexicological research.

4. The place of lexicology among other sciences.

Literature:

1. Antrushina G.B., Afanasyeva O.V., Morozova N.N. English Lexicology. – M., 1999.

2. Kashcheyeva M.A., Potapova I.A., Tyurina N.S. Practical Lexicology. – L., 1974.

3. Kveselevich D.I., Sasina V.P. Modern English Lexicology in Practice. – Zh., 2000.

4. Kuznetsova V.S. Notes on English Lexicology. – K., 1966.

5. Rayevska N.M. English Lexicology. – K., 1979.

6. Бабич Г. Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М., 2008.

7. Гороть Є.І., Бєлова С.В. Нариси з лексикології сучасної англійської мови. – Луцьк, 2008.

8. Дубенец Э.М. Современный английский язык. Лексикология. – М., 2004.

9. Минаева Л.В. Лексикология и лексикография английского языка. – М., 2003.

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics. Its subject-matter and tasks

Linguistics is a science about a natural human language in general. The main branches of linguistics are phonology, lexicology, grammar, stylistics and others.

Lexicology (from Greek words: lexis – word, lexikos – pertaining to word, and logos – learning, science) studies the vocabulary of a given language. The subject-matter of lexicology is the word, its morphemic structure, history, meaning and its stylistic value.

So, lexicology is the study of words. For some people studying words may seem uninteresting. But if studied properly, it may well prove exciting and novel.

The knowledge of lexicology provides us with a clear understanding of the laws of vocabulary development and helps to master the language.

One can hardly acquire a perfect command of English without having knowledge of English lexicology.

The main tasks of lexicology are to determine:

1) the general characteristics of the English word-stock in its modern state;

2) the specific features and structural patterns of English words;

3) productive and non-productive types and means of word-building;

4) the complex nature of word-meaning and the modern methods of its research;

5) the stylistic peculiarities of the English vocabulary;

6) the changes that the English vocabulary underwent in its historical development;

7) the vocabulary resources of Modern English (synonyms, antonyms, etc.);

8) English phraseological units.

We can not acquire a perfect command of English without having knowledge of

all the above-mentioned things.

2. The structure of lexicology

We should distinguish between general, special, historical, descriptive, contrastive, computational and applied lexicology.

The general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific features of any particular language, is known as general lexicology. The description of the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language is the subject-matter of special lexicology. The latter is based on the fundamental principles of general lexicology, which forms a part of the general science of language.

Historical lexicology makes a study of the vocabulary as a system, whereas descriptive lexicology describes the vocabulary in its modern state.

Contrastive lexicology investigates the word-stock of different languages with the aim of revealing the genetic affinity of languages, their structural and semantic differences and similarities.

Computational lexicology is that branch of computational linguistics which is concerned with the use of computers in the study of the vocabulary.

Applied lexicology mainly embraces the following 4 spheres: lexicography, translation, linguistic pedagogy and speech culture.

The main branches of lexicology are semasiology, etymology, onomasiology, phraseology and onomastics.

Semasiology studies word-meaning and the classification of changes in the signification of words and forms, viewed as normal and vital factors of linguistic development.

Etymology studies the origin or derivation of a word as shown by its analysis into elements, by pointing out the root upon which it is based.

Onomasiology is the study of the principles and regularities of the specification of things and notions by lexical and lexico-phraseological means of a given language.

Phraseology is the branch of linguistics specializing in word-groups which are characterized by stability of structure and transferred meaning.

Onomastics studies proper names and it is subdivided into anthroponymy (a science about people’s names), toponymy (a science about geographical names) and ethnonymy (a science about peoples’ names).