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Module # 1
Lecture # 1. Theme: (2 hours) “Lexicology”.
Subtheme # 1: “The aims and principles of Lexicology”
Thesis:
Lexicology (from Greek origin lexis – “word” and logos – “science”) is the brunch or part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary of a language and the properties of words as the main units of language. The term “vocabulary” is used to denote the system of words and word-groups that the language possesses. The literal meaning of the term Lexicology is “the science of the word”. The basic task of Lexicology is the study and systematic description of the vocabulary of some particular language in respect to its origin, development and current use. In other words, Lexicology is concerned with words and word-combinations (or word-groups), phraseological units and morphemes which make up words.
Lexicology must be separated from the rest of the linguistic disciplines. In contrast with phonology, morphology and syntax, it is essentially a socio-linguistic discipline. Lexicology, then is the part of linguistics which is concerned with the “lexis” or the study and analysis of words.
Problematic questions:
- How aims and objectives of Lexicology are differentiated?
- Are there any new problems of Lexicology today?
- What are the theoretical and practical values of Lexicology?
- What is the origin of Lexicology?
- What are the linguistic and literal meaning of the term Lexicology?
Subtheme # 2: “The object of Lexicology”
Thesis:
The object of Lexicology is a word and word-combinations or word-groups. When we study Lexicology we should research the word and word-combinations in different sides, for example, its origin, meaning or semantics, development, multilevel structure.
As the main object a word has many functions. The term “word” denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance.
A word is a language unit has a particular sound complex, has a particular meaning, is capable of a particular grammatical employment and able to form a sentence by itself.
A word is a unit of speech which serves the purposes of human communication.
The definition of a word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the simplest word has many different aspects. Being the central element of any language system the word is a sort of focus for the problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and also for some other sciences that have to deal with language and speech, such as philosophy, psychology and probably quite a few other branches of knowledge. Any definition that was given to word is conditioned by the aims and interests of its author.
The complete correct definition of the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, belong to grammatical employment and characterised by formal and semantic unity.
The modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and internal structures of the word.
On Lexicology course we analyze the word according to three structures: the morphological, semantic, stylistic. There are several linguistic functions of a word: nominative, significative (polysemantic), expressive, communicative, descriptive, pragmatic.
Problematic questions:
- Why do we say that word has multilevel structure?
- What are the linguistic functions of a word?
- What is the difference between a word and a morpheme?
- What is the concrete and final linguistic definition of a word?
Subtheme #3: “The types of Lexicology”
Thesis:
Lexicology is divided into General, Special, within Special Historical and Descriptive, Comparative and Contrastive types.
1) General Lexicology is part of General Linguistics, it is concerned with the study of vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular language.
2) Special Lexicology is the Lexicology of a particular language, i.e. the study and description of its vocabulary and units, primarily words as the main units of language. It goes without saying that every special lexicology has its own inner branches as historical and descriptive lexicology.
Historical (Diachronic) Lexicology is a branch of linguistics discusses the origin of different words, their change and development, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form and meaning. (Greek dia-“through” and chronos – “time”)
Descriptive (Synchronic) Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage of its development. It studies the vocabulary at a definite stage of its development. The Descriptive Lexicology of the English language deals with the English word in its morphological and semantic structures, investigating the interdependence between these two aspects. (Greek syn-“together, with” and chronos – “time”)
3) Comparative and Contrastive Lexicology aims to study the correlation between the vocabularies of two or more languages and find out the correspondences between the vocabulary units of the languages under comparison. The difference between the terms comparative and contrastive is that comparative methods give the similarities and differences of vocabulary of related languages and contrastive aims to investigate the vocabulary of non-related languages.
Problematic questions:
- What are the characteristic features of each type of Lexicology?
- What is the difference between the terms comparative and contrastive?
- What is the origin of diachronic and synchronic types of Lexicology?
- What are the differences between related and non-related languages?
Subtheme # 4: “Links of Lexicology with other branches of linguistics”
Thesis:
Lexicology is closely connected with the Theory of Phonetics, the Theory of Grammar, Stylistics, the History of a language, the General Linguistics, the Theory and practice of Translation.
The connection of Lexicology with the Theory of Phonetics is very important. It is important to know that the words consist of phonemes, they have no meaning of their own, the meaning is introduced on the level of morphemes. A close connection between Lexicology and Grammar is conditioned by the inseperable ties between the objects of their study. Even isolated words as presented in a dictionary bear a definite relation to the grammatical system of the language, because they belong to some part of speech and confirm to some lexico-grammatical characteristic of the word class to which they belong. Words seldom occur in isolation. Alongside with their lexical meaning they possess some grammatical meaning.
Stylistics are the problems of meaning, synonyms, differentiation of vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and some other issues. To find out the images hidden in their root and their stylistic properties, is the meaning of a literary text whether prosaic or poetic in order to know the message the author has to convey.
Phonetics (phonemes, morphemes), Grammar (part-of-speech, sentence, word patterns), Stylistics (images hidden in the root, metaphor, metonymy), History of a language (borrowings, territorial variants, etymology, evolution), General linguistics (semantic field, terminology, phraseological units, new words), theory and practice of translation (context, meaning).
Problematic questions:
- What links of lexicology with other branches of linguistics is more subjective and help to contribute the discipline?
- How can we explain the connections of Lexicology with Phonetics?
- How can we explain the connections of Lexicology with Grammar?
- How can ewe xplain the connections of Lexicology with Stylistics?
- How can we explain the connections of Lexicology with the History of a language?
- How can we explain the connections of Lexicology with Translation?
Subtheme # 5: “The morphological structure of the words. Types of morphemes”.
Thesis:
By external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure. A morpheme is also an association of a given meaning with a given sound pattern. But unlike a word it is not autonomous. Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of words, not independently, that is why the morpheme may be defined as the minimum meaningful language unit.
The internal structure of the word, or its meaning is nowadays commonly referred to as the word’s semantic structure. This certainly the word’s main aspect.
The main unit of the lexical system of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning is a word. This unit is used in grammatical functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest language unit which can stand alone as a complete utterance.
A word, however, can be divided into smaller sense units – morphemes. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful language unit. Morphemes are divided into two large groups: lexical and grammatical morphemes. Both lexical and grammatical morphemes can be free and bound. Free lexical morphemes are roots of words which express the lexical meaning of the word, they coincide with the stem of simple words. Free grammatical morphemes are function words: articles, conjunctions and prepositions.
Bound lexical morphemes are affixes: prefixes, suffixes and also blocked root morphemes. Bound grammatical morphemes are inflexions (endings).
According to the nature and the number of morphemes constituting a word there are different structural types of words in English: simple, derived, compound, compound-derived.
Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion.
Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inflexion.
Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion.
Compound – derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion.
When speaking about the structure of words stems also should be mentioned. The stem is the part of the word which remains unchanged throughout the paradigm of the word. The stems, the same as words, can be simple, derived, compound and compound-derived.
According to the role morphemes can be divided into roots and affixes. Roots are the words which express the lexical meaning of the word, they coincide with the stem of simple words.
Affixes can be divided into suffixes, prefixes and infixes. A suffix is a derivational morpheme following the stem and forming a new derivative in a different part of speech or a different word class. The main function of suffixes is to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. A prefix is a derivational morpheme standing before the root and modifying meaning. An infix is an affix placed within the word.
According to the position morphemes can be divided into prefixes, suffixes and infixes.
According to the functions and meaning morphemes can be divided into derivational, functional, productive and non-productive.
Problematic questions:
- Why is it important to analyze the word from the morphological, semantic and stylistic points of view?
- According to what criteria do we distinguish productive and non-productive morphemes?
- What are the aims and principles of morphemic analysis?
- What is the difference between external and internal structures of a word?
- What are the types of morphemes according to role, position, functions and meaning?
- What are the differences between lexical and grammatical, free and bound morphemes?
- What are the basic types of a stem?
Subtheme # 6: “Problems of Lexicology”
Thesis:
The problems of Lexicology:
-
Word-formation
-
Semasiology and types of word meaning
-
Paradigmatic (synonymy and functional style) and syntagmatic relations of words
-
Phraseology
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Lexicography. Types of dictionaries.
-
The study of vocabulary as a system.
The problem of word-building is associated with prevailing morphological word-structures and with processes of making new words. Semantics is the study of meaning. Modern approaches to this problem are characterized by two different levels of study: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
On the syntagmatic level, the semantic structure of the word is analysed in its linear relationships with neighbouring words in connected speech. In other words, the semantic characteristics of the word are observed, described and studied on the basis of its typical contexts.
On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationships with other words in the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in comparison with other words of similar meaning.
Phraseology is the branch of lexicology specializing in word-groups which are characterized by stability of structure and transferred meaning.
One further important objective of lexicological studies is the study of the vocabulary of a language as a system. The vocabulary can be studied synchronically, that is, at a given stage of its development, or diachronically, that is, in the context of the processes through which it grew, developed and acquired its modern form.
Lexicography is the branch of lexicology that deals with the problems of dictionary compiling.
Problematic questions:
- What problems Lexicology deals with?
- What problems are the central or basic one?
Lecture # 2. Theme: “Semasiology” (2 hours)
Subtheme # 1: “Semasiology and semantics”
Thesis:
The brunch of the study of language concerned with the meaning of words is called semasilogy. It is the central branch of Lexicology. The word comes from the Greek semasia “signification” (from “sema”- sign and “semantikos”- significant). Semasiology deals with not only the lexical meaning of the words, but also grammatical meaning, if to say semasilogy studies the change in meaning which words undergo. Semasiology is singled out as an indepemdent branch of lexicology alongside word-formation, etymology, phraseology and lexicography. However, at present there is no universally accepted definitions of meaning or rather a definition reflecting all the basic characteristic features of meaning. However, different definitions of meaning help to sum up the general characteristics of the notion.
Problematic questions:
- What is the difference between semasiology and semantics?
- What is the origin of semasiology?
- What are the problems of semasiology?
- Is semasiology or semantics the same or different?
Subtheme # 2: “The objects of semasiological study”
Thesis:
The main objects of semasiological study are semantic development of words, its causes and classification, relevant distinctive features and types of lexical meaning, polysemy and semantic structure of words, semantic grouping and connections in the vocabulary system, i.e. synonyms, antonyms, terminological systems. Semasiology, the brunch of linguistics which studies the semantics of linguistic units, semantics, the meaning of words, expressions or grammatical forms.
Problematic questions:
- What are the main objects of semasiological study?
- What semantic groupings and connections in the vocabulary system?
- Which structure is important for a word either morphological or semantic?
Subtheme # 3: “The meaning of the words and its types”
Thesis:
Meaning is the inner form of the word. There are three main categories of definitions which may be referred to as : analytical or referential definition of meaning, functional or contextual definition of meaning, operational or information-oriented definition of meaning.
1) Analytical or referential definition of meaning seek to find out the essence of meaning establishing the interdependence between words of the objects or phenomena they denote. If we hear a sound-form a certain idea arises in our mind and the idea brings out a certain referent that exists in the reality. The dotted line suggests that there is no intermediate relation between word and referent, it is established only through the concept, because there are no objects or phenomena in the reality that predict a certain sound-form.
2) Functional or contextual definition of meaning seeks that the true meaning of a word is to found by observing what a man does with it not what he says about it, the proponents of functional approach to meaning define it as the use of the word in the language. It has been suggested that the meaning of a word is revealed by substituting different contexts. Here the meaning of a linguistic unit may be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units.
3) Operational or information-oriented definition of meaning seeks to define meaning through its role in the process of communication. They are more interested in how the words work, how the meaning works than what the meaning is. Meaning is defined as information conveyed from the speaker to the listener in the process of communication.
Word-meaning is made up various components. These components are usually described as types of meaning. They are grammatical, lexical, part-of-speech, denotational, connotational, differential, distributional.
1) The Grammatical meaning may be defined as the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words, as, e.g. the tense meaning in the word forms of verbs (asked, thought, walked) or the case meaning in the word forms of various nouns (girl’s, boy’s night’s). when we distinguish between the functional meaning which operates at various levels as the interrelation of various linguistic units and referential meaning as the interrelation of linguistic units and referents (or concepts). By grammatical meaning we designate the meaning proper to sets of word forms common to all words of a certain class.
2) The Lexical meaning is identical in all the forms of the word. They possess different grammatical meanings of tense, person and so on, but in each of these forms we find one and the same semantic component denoting the process of movement. By lexical meaning we designate the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions.
3) The part-of-speech meaning is used to classify lexical items into major word-classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and minor word-classes (articles, prepositions, conjunctions).
4) The Denotational or denotative meaning means that component of the lexical meaning which makes communication possible. To denote is to serve as linguistic expression for a notion or as a name for an actually existing object referred to by a word (also referential or extentional meaning) The first or given meaning of the words. Denotation- the expression of the main meaning, meaning proper of a linguistic unit.
5) The connotational or connotative meaning means the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. It means the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. The emotional content of the word is its capacity to evoke or directly express emotion (also called emotive charge, intentional or affective connotations of words). The figurative, secondary meaning of the words. Connotation- supplementary, complementary meaning or stylistic shade which is added to the word’s main meaning and which serves to express all sorts of emotional, expressive, evaluative overtones.
The emotional charge is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as linguistic units and forms part of the connotational component of meaning. But as for stylistic meaning of the word we mean their stylistic reference (about literary, neutral and colloquial layers).
6) The Distributional meaning is the meaning of the order and arrangement of morphemes making up the word. It is found in all words containing more than one morpheme.
7) The Differential meaning is the semantic component that serves to distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphemes. In words consisting of two or more morphemes one of the constituent morphemes always has differential meaning.
Problematic questions:
- What is the difference between a meaning and a notion?
- What are the characteristic features of lexical, grammatical, parts-of-speech, denotational, connotational, differential and distributional types of word meaning?
- Why the meaning of words is represented by three (analytical, functional, operational) categories of definition of meaning?
- What types of connotations do exist in Lexicology?
- What is the role of context in identifying the given meaning of words?
- How we differentiate types of meaning from each other?
- Is meaning or notion the same or different?
- Which of three categories of definition of word-meaning is more effective?
Subtheme # 4: “Motivation and its types”.
Thesis:
One more notion you should know when we speak about the meaning of the word is motivation.
There are three types of motivation.
The morphological motivation is a direct connection between the structural pattern of the word and its meaning. It is the relationship between morphemes. F: one morpheme words sing, tell, eat are non-motivated, if we add suffixes or prefixes and form words as singer, rewrite, eatable they are described as motivated.
The phonetical motivation is a direct connection between the phonetical structure of the word and its meaning. F: words swish, sizzle, boom, splash they may be defined as phonetically motivated because the soundclusters are a direct imitation of the sounds these words denote.
The semantic motivation is a relationship between the central and coexisting meaning or meanings of a word which are understood as a metaphorical extension of the central meaning. It means generalization of the denotational meaning of a word permitting it to include new referents which are in some way like the original class of referents. F: a woman who has given birth is called a mother, by extension, any act that gives birth is associated with being a mother. A necessity is the mother of invention, a mother looks after a child, so that we can say she became a mother to her orphan nephew, also mother country, a mother tongue.
Problematic questions:
- What is the difference between motivated and non-motivated words?
- Is it possible that one word may combine different types of motivation?
- What types of motivation there are in English vocabulary system?
Subtheme # 5: “Polysemy”
Thesis:
When we study about the semantic structure of the word, it is necessary to make a brief survey of another semantic phenomenon which is closely connected with it. It is generally known that most words have number of meanings. A word having several meanings is called polysemantic and the ability of words to have more than one meaning is described by the term polysemy. Most English words are polysemantic. The system of meanings of any polysemantic word develops gradually, mostly over the centuries as more and more new meanings are either added to old ones, or oust some of them. So complicated process of polysemy development involve both the appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones. One of the most important drawbacks of polysemantic words is that there is sometimes a chance of misunderstanding when a word is used in a certain meaning but accepted by a listener or reader in another. That is why context is a powerful preventative against any misunderstanding of meanings. It leads us to the conclusion that context is a good and reliable key to the meaning of the word.
Problematic questions:
- Why words have an ability of having several meanings?
- What is the drawback of polysemantic words?
- What is the role of context for polysemantic words?
- Is it advantage or disadvantage having polysemantic words in certain languages?
Lecture # 3. Theme: “Semantic change ”(2 hours)
Subtheme # 1: “Semantic causes: linguistic and extra-linguistic”
Thesis:
The systems of meanings of polysemantic words evolve gradually. The older a word is, the better developed is its semantic structure, i.e. words acquire new meanings. The semantic change may be analysed according to the cause, nature and results.
The factors accounting for semantic changes may be roughly subdivided into two groups: extra-linguistic, linguistic causes.
By extra-linguistic causes (non-verbal) we mean various changes in the life of the speech community, changes in economic and social structure, changes in ideas, scientific concepts, way of life, changes in culture, arts as reflected in word meanings. Newly created objects, new concepts and phenomena must obtain names. We already know of two ways for providing new names for newly created concepts: making new words (word-building) and borrowing foreign ones. One more way of filling such vocabulary gaps is by applying some old word to a new object or notion. F: when the first textile factories appeared in England, the old mill was applied to these early industrial enterprises. In this way mill (a Latin borrowing of the first century) added a new meaning to its former meaning “a building in which corn is ground into flour”. The new meaning was “textile factory”. F: carriage which had the meaning “a vehicle drawn by horses”, but with the first appearance of railways in England, it received a new meaning, that of “a railway car”.
By linguistic causes we mean factors acting within the language system or through the influence of other words, mostly of synonyms. F: the word land in old English meant both “solid part of earth’s surface” and “the territory of a nation”. When in middle English period the word country was borrowed at its synonym, the meaning of the word land was somewhat altered and “the territory of a nation” came to be denoted mainly by the borrowed word country.
Problematic questions:- Why do words change their meanings?
- What are the factors accounting for semantic changes?
- What are the distinguishing features of verbal and non-verbal causes?
Subtheme # 2: “Nature of semantic change: linguistic metaphor and linguistic metonymy”
Thesis:
Generally speaking, of any semantic change has some associations between the old meaning and the new. There are two kinds of association involved in various semantic changes: similarity of meaning (metaphor) and contiguity of meaning (metonymy). In other words transference based on Resemblance is metaphor. Transference based on contiguity is metonymy. The process of development of a new meaning or a change of meaning is traditionally termed transference. The transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison or resemblance is called metaphor. For example,