Questions:

1. What are the aims of lexicology concerned with systematizations?

2. What is a system? Describe peculiarities of lexical system.

3. What is a set? What is a fuzzy set? Give examples of sets within lexical system.

4. Prove that lexical system is in a state of constant change.

5. How are lexical system and extra-linguist reality connected?

6. What are the main grammatical and phonetical features of English that influence its lexical system?

Types of Semantic Relations of Words

I.V. Arnold, The English Word, §1.5. The Notion of Lexical System [pp. 23-25]

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Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations

ast but not least, one final point may be made about the lexical system, namely that its elements are characterized by their combinato­rial and contrastive properties determining their syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships. A word enters into syntagmatic (linear) combinatorial relationships with other lexical units that can form its context, serving to identify and distinguish its meaning. Lexi­cal units are known to be context-dependent. E. g. in the hat on her head the noun head means 'part of the body', whereas in the head of the department head means 'chief'. A word enters into contrastive paradigm­atic relations with all other words, e. g. head, chief, director, etc. that can occur in the same context and be contrasted to it. This principle of contrast or opposition is fundamental in modern linguistics […].

P

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic studies are functional

aradigmatic and syntagmatic studies of meaning are functional because the meaning of the lexical unit is studied first not through its relation to referent but through its functions in relation to other units.

Functional approach is contrasted to referential oronomasiological approach, otherwise called theory of nom­ination, in which meaning is studied as the interdependence be­tween words and their referents, that is things or concepts they name, i.e. various names given to the same sense. The onomasiological study of lexical units became especially prominent in the last two decades. The revival of interest in onomasiological matters is reflected in a large volume of publications on the subject. […].

T

Valency

he study of the lexical system must also include the study of the words' combinatorial possibilities — their capacity to combine with one another in groups of certain patterns, which serve to identify mean­ings. Most modern research in linguistics attaches great importance to what is variously called valency, distributional characteristics, colligation and collocation, combining power or otherwise. This research shows that combinatorial possibilities of words play an important part in almost every lexicological issue.

S

Basis of syntagmatic relations and methods of their study

yntagmatic relationships being based on the linear character of speech are studied by means of contextual, valency, distributional, transformational and some other types of analysis.

P

Basis of pragmatic relations

aradigmatic linguistic relationships determining the vocabulary system are based on the interdependence of words within the vocabulary (synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, etc.).