- •Table of Contents
- •Lexicology as a Science. The Object of Lexicology The main lexicological units. Their similarity and distinctive functions
- •Questions:
- •Types of Lexicology. Approaches to Language Study
- •Questions:
- •The Aims and Tasks of the Course of Modern English Lexicology
- •Questions
- •Links of Lexicology with Other Branches of Linguistics
- •Questions:
- •Semasiology Meaning as a Linguistic Notion. Approaches to Meaning Study
- •Questions:
- •The Semantic Triangle. The Interrelation of Meaning with Sound-form, Referent and Concept.
- •Questions:
- •Types of Meaning
- •Questions:
- •Semantic Structure of Words. Componential Analysis
- •Questions:
- •Aspects of Lexical Meaning
- •Questions:
- •Word-Meaning and Motivation
- •Questions:
- •Polysemy and Homonymy Diachronic and Synchronic Approaches to Polysemy
- •Questions:
- •Polysemy and Context. Types of Context
- •Questions:
- •Two Processes of the Semantic Development of a Word
- •Questions:
- •Homonymy Sources of Homonyms
- •Questions:
- •Classification of Homonyms
- •Questions:
- •Polysemy and Homonymy: Etymological and Semantic Criteria
- •Questions:
- •Change of Meaning Causes of Semantic Change
- •Questions
- •Nature of Semantic Change. Metaphor, Metonymy and Other Minor Types
- •Questions:
- •Results of Semantic Change
- •Questions:
- •Historical Changeability of Semantic Structure
- •Questions:
- •Lexical Paradigmatics English Vocabulary as a System
- •Questions:
- •Types of Semantic Relations of Words
- •Questions:
- •Different Groupings of Words Morphological Groupings
- •Questions:
- •Semantic Groupings Synonyms
- •Questions:
- •Antonyms
- •Questions:
- •Syntagmatic Relations of Words Lexical and Grammatical Valency
- •Questions:
- •Types of Word-Groups
- •Questions:
- •Phraseology Criteria of phraseological units
- •Questions:
- •Classification of Phraseological Units
- •Questions:
- •The Ways of Forming Phraseological Units
- •Questions:
- •Proverbs and Sayings
- •Questions:
- •Morphological Structure of English Words and Word-Formation Morphemes, Their Definition. Allomorphs
- •Questions:
- •Classification of Morphemes
- •Questions:
- •Morphemic and Derivational Analyses
- •Questions:
- •Productive Ways of Word-Building Affixation. Synonymity, homonymity and polysemy of affixes
- •Questions:
- •Conversion. Approaches to Conversion. Synchronic and Diachronic Treatment of Conversion. Types of Relations between Converted Pairs
- •I. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs).
- •II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives).
- •Questions:
- •Compounding
- •Questions:
- •Shortening and Other Minor Types
- •Questions:
- •Questions:
- •Historical Changeability of Word-Structure
- •Questions:
- •Etymology Words of Native Origin
- •Questions:
- •Borrowings Causes and Ways of Borrowing. Criteria of Borrowings
- •Questions:
- •Assimilation of Borrowings
- •Questions:
- •Influence of Borrowings
- •Influence on semantics
- •Influence on lexical territorial divergence
- •Questions:
- •Etymological Doublets
- •Questions:
- •International Words
- •Questions:
- •Lexicological analysis of the text
- •11.Etymology.
- •Example analysis:
- •Mind-map of lexicology terms
- •Definitions Seminar 1. Lexicology as a science. The object of lexicology.
- •Seminar 2. Semasiology.
- •Seminar 3. Polysemy and Homonymy.
- •Seminar 4. Change of Meaning.
- •Seminar 6. Syntagmatic relations o words.
- •Examination Questions
Lexical Paradigmatics English Vocabulary as a System
I.V. Arnold, The English Word, §1.5. The Notion of Lexical System [pp. 21-23]
It has been claimed by different authors that, in contrast to grammar, the vocabulary of a language is not systematic but chaotic. In the light of recent investigations in linguistic theory, however, we are now in a position to bring some order into this "chaos".
L
Systematization as an aim of lexicology
exicology studies the recurrent patterns of semantic relationships, find of any formal phonological, morphological or contextual means by which they may be rendered. It aims at systematization.There has been much discussion of late, both in this country and abroad, concerning different problems of the systematic nature of the language vocabulary. The Soviet scholars are now approaching a satisfactory solution based on Marxist dialectics and its teaching of the general interrelation and interdependence of phenomena in nature and society.
There are several important points to be made here.
T
System. Vocabulary as an adaptive system
he term system as used in present-day lexicology denotes not merely the sum total of English words, it denotes a set of elements associated and functioning together according to certain laws. It is a coherent homogeneous whole, constituted by interdependent elements of the same order related in certain specific ways. The vocabulary of a language is moreover an adaptive system constantly adjusting itself to the changing requirements and conditions of human communications and cultural surroundings. It is continually developing by overcoming contradictions between its state and the new tasks and demands it has to meet.A
Sets
set is described in the abstract set theory as a collection of definite distinct objects to be conceived as a whole. A set is said to be a collection of distinct elements, because a certain object may be distinguished from the other elements in a set, but there is no possibility of its repeated appearance. A set is called structured when the number of its elements is greater than the number of rules according to which these elements may be constructed. A set is given either by indicating, i.e. listing, all its elements, or by stating the characteristic property of its elements. For example the closed set of English articles may be defined as comprising the elements: the, a/an and zero. The set of English compounds on the other hand is an infinite (open) set containing all the words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms.I
Fuzzy sets
Vocabulary is in a state of constant change
n a classical set theory the elements are said to be definite because with respect to any of them it should be definite whether it belongs to a given set or not. The new development in the set theory, that of fuzzy sets, has proved to be more relevant to the study of vocabulary. We have already mentioned that the boundaries of linguistic sets are not sharply delineated and the sets themselves overlapping.The lexical system of every epoch contains productive elements typical of this particular period, others that are obsolete and dropping out of usage, and, finally, some new phenomena, significant marks of new trends for the epochs to come. The present status of a system is an abstraction, a sort of scientific fiction which in some points can facilitate linguistic study, but the actual system of the language is in a state of constant change.
L
Vocabulary and extra-linguistic reality
exicology studies this whole by determining the properties of its elements and the different relationships of contrast and similarity existing between them within a language, as well as the ways in which they are influenced by extra-linguistic reality.The extra-linguistic relationships refer to the connections of words with the elements of objective reality they serve to denote, and their dependence on the social, mental and cultural development of the language community.
The theory of reflection as developed by V.I. Lenin is our methodological basis, it teaches that objective reality is approximately but correctly reflected in the human mind. The notions rendered in the meanings of the words are generalized reflections of real objects and phenomena. In this light it is easy to understand how things that are connected in reality come to be connected in language too. […] the original meaning of the word post was 'a man stationed in a number of others along a road as a courier', hence it came to mean the vehicle used, the packets and letters carried, a relay of horses, the station where horses could be obtained (shortened for post-office), a single dispatch of letters. E. g.: It is a place with only one post a day (Sidney Smith). It is also used as a title for newspapers. There is a verb post 'to put letters into a letter-box.'
T
Interaction of grammatical features and lexical meanings
he reflection of objective reality is selective. That is, human thought and language select, reflect and nominate what is relevant to human activity.E
Vocabulary as a set of interrelated adaptive subsystems
ven though its elements are concrete and can be observed as such, a system is always abstract, and so is the vocabulary system or, as Academician V.V. Vinogradov has called it, the lexico-semantic system. The interdependence in this system results from a complex interaction of words in their lexical meanings and the grammatical features of the language. V.V. Vinogradov includes in this term both the sum total of words and expressions and the derivational and functional patterns of word forms and word-groups, semantic groupings and relationships between words. The interaction of various levels in the language system may be illustrated in English by the following: the widespread development of homonymy and polysemy, the loss of motivation, the great number of generic words and the very limited autonomy of English words as compared with Russian words are all closely connected with the mono-morphemic analytical character of the English language and the scarcity of morphological means. All these in their turn result, partly at least, from levelling and loss of endings, processes undoubtedly connected with the reduction of vowels in unstressed syllables. […]The term system as applied to vocabulary should not be understood to mean a well-defined or rigid system. As it has been stated above it is an adaptive system and cannot be completely and exactly characterized by deterministic functions; that is for the present stateof science it is not possible to specify the system's entire future by its status at some one instant of its operation. In other words, the vocabulary is not simply a probabilistic system but a set of interrelated adaptive subsystems.