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Mgr. Ingrida Vaňková, PHD

This document provides an overview of lexicology, including definitions of key terms like word, lexeme, and subdisciplines. It defines lexicology as the study of words, their properties, usage, origins, and relationships within a language's vocabulary. Key points include that a word is the smallest independent linguistic unit that conveys meaning, and that lexicology examines words from orthographic, phonological, morphological, and other perspectives. It also outlines traditional subdisciplines like onomasiology, onomastics, semantics, etymology, morphology, and phraseology.

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Daryna Lukashuk
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40 views

Mgr. Ingrida Vaňková, PHD

This document provides an overview of lexicology, including definitions of key terms like word, lexeme, and subdisciplines. It defines lexicology as the study of words, their properties, usage, origins, and relationships within a language's vocabulary. Key points include that a word is the smallest independent linguistic unit that conveys meaning, and that lexicology examines words from orthographic, phonological, morphological, and other perspectives. It also outlines traditional subdisciplines like onomasiology, onomastics, semantics, etymology, morphology, and phraseology.

Uploaded by

Daryna Lukashuk
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lecture 1

Mgr. Ingrida Vaňková, PhD.


Definition and subject of
Lexicology
Lexicology is the study concerned with the
properties, usage and origin of words, regularities and
relations in the vocabulary of a language.

Vocabulary is all the lexical items that are used in a


particular language. The items of vocabulary are not
organised only in order to the alphabet, but also in
a special way (formally, semantically).
Definition of a Word
Word is a minimal unit, that can be used independently-
unit that can be used in isolation and that does not consist
of parts that can be used independently.
Word (not a compound word) is a fixed sequence of
sounds (rarely a single sound) or its representation in
writing, used in a language to express an idea and thus
communicate a meaning. It cannot be divided into smaller
units of independent use, although, a linguistic analysis
may uncover in it more than one morpheme.
Eight Concepts of the term „word“
1) The orthographic word is the word understood in
terms of alphabetic or syllabic writing systems: a visual
sign with space around it.
2) The phonological word is the word understood in
terms of sound: a spoken signal that occurs more
commonly as part of a longer utterance than in isolation
and is subject to rhythm.
3) The morphological word is the word in terms of form
that lies behind both the orthographic and the
phonological word.
 
Eight Concepts of the term
„word“
4) The lexical word (also called a full word, content word,
lexeme, lexical item) means the word that in terms of content
relates to things, actions, and states in the world. It is usually
realized by one or more morphological words, as when do,
does, doing, did, done are taken to be five ´versions´ of the
one verb DO.
5) The grammatical word is the word that in terms of
syntactic function contrasts with the lexical word and is an
element in the structural system of a language. It serves to
link lexical words. In English, conjunctions, determiners,
interjections, particles, and pronouns are grammatical
words.
Eight Concepts of the term
„word“
 6) The onomastic word – the word in terms of naming special,
often unique reference: the difference between Napoleon and
emperor.
 7) The lexicographical word – the word in terms of dictionaries is
usually presented in an alphabetic setting. Many dictionaries have
an entry did as the past of do, an entry them as the object form of
they, and so on, with cross-references to the representative form.
 8) The statistical word – the word in terms of occurrences in texts
is embodied in such instructions as ´Count all the words on the
page. This instruction may or may not include numbers, codes,
names, and abbreviations, all of which are not necessarily part of
the everyday conception of ´word´.
Basic Units within Lexicology
Basic unit within lexicology – lexeme- headword in a
dictionary
Word as a lexeme- is a series of letters, a series of
phonemes, made up of morphemes, it occurs in several
grammatical forms, and may have one or more senses
There is a distinction between lexeme (a family of lexical
forms) and lexical unit (fusion of 1 lexical form and 1
meaning)
Lexeme can be simple (one word) or complex (multi-word
expression)
The meaning of a lexical unit is called sememe – it
consists of semes
Subdisciplines of Lexicology
Traditionally it includes:
The study of naming extra-linguistic reality
(onomasiology)
The study of proper names (onomastics)
The study of meaning (lexical semantics,
semasiology)
History of words (etymology)
Word formation (lexical morphology)
The study of multi-word expressions (phraseology)

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