ГОС_1 / Lexicology / Lecture1 / The Theoretical and Practical Value of Lexicology

The Theoretical and Practical Value of Lexicology

The Theoretical Value of Lexicology is determined by its subject matter, the vocabulary of language which forms one of the three main aspects of language. The other two aspects of language are its grammar and sound system. One of the key questions in linguistics and philosophy namely in the theory of cognition, the relationship between the name and the thing named is studied within semaceology and onomaceology parts of Lexicology dealing with the meaning of the word.

Lexicology came into being to meet the needs of many different branches of applied linguistics namely of Lexicography, standardization of terminology, Information Retrieval (информационный поиск), machine translation, literary criticism, the study of professional jargons, speech therapy and especially of foreign language teaching.

Lexicography, or Applied Lexicology, deals with compiling and describing dictionaries. The Practical Value of Lexicology, or Lexicography, is quite obvious. The Practical Value of Lexicology in teaching foreign languages lies in the fact that it helps stimulate a systematic approach to the facts of vocabulary and expose the peculiarities of the words of a foreign language in comparison with the words of the native tongue. The choice of methods of teaching is largely dependant upon the typological features of the native and foreign languages and their vocabulary systems.