1. The object of Lexicology

1. The object of Lexicology. The definition of the word. General and special lexicology. Branches of Lexicology.

2. The connection of Lexicology with Phonetics, Stylistics and Grammar

3. Motivation

1. Lexicology (from Greek lexis `word` and logos learning) is the part of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of a language and the characteristics of words as the main units of language.

Vocabulary - the system formed by the sum of all the words of a language.

Word - the basic unit of a language characterized by definite phonetic and grammatical form.

Each word has some aspects:

1) It has a sound form because it is a certain arrangement of phonemes;

2) It has its morphological structure, being also a certain arrangement of morphemes, when used in actual speech, it may occur in different word forms, and signal various meanings.

There are two types of Lexicology.

General Lexicology deals with the general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific features of any particular language.

Special Lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language (e.g.English, Russian, etc.), i.e. the study and description of its words and vocabulary. Special Lexicology may be historical and descriptive.

Historical Lexicology discusses the origin of words, their change and development and investigates the forces modifying their structure and meaning.

Descriptive Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage of its development. It studies the functions of words, their structure.

2. The word is studied in other branches of Linguistics and not in Lexicology only. And Lexicology in its turn is closely connected with General linguistics, the History of the language, Phonetics, Stylistics, Grammar.

The connection of Lexicology with Phonetics is important. Because on the acoustic level words consist of phonemes, and phonemes participate in signification. They have no meaning of their own but they are used to build up morphemes which serve to distinguish between meanings.

E.g. Our queer old dean – our dear old queen (compare).

A close connection between lexicology and grammar is conditioned by the 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 have some lexicogrammatical characteristics of the word class to which they belong. Lexicology is linked with the history of a language since the latter investigates the changes and the development of the vocabulary of a language. There is also a close relationship between lexicology and stylistics. Stylistics, but from a different angle, studies many problems treated in lexicology. These are the problems of meaning, synonymy, polysemy, differentiation of vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and some other issues.

3. The term motivation is used to denote the relationship existing between the morphemic or phonemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other. There are three main types of motivation: phonetical motivation, morphological and semantic motivation.

E.g. The word hiss is motivated by a certain similarity between the sounds which make it up, and those referred to by the sense: its motivation is phonetical. Examples are also: bang, buzz, giggle, whistle etc.

The derived word rethink is motivated as its morphological structure suggests the idea of thinking again. Its motivation is morphological.

Semantic motivation is based on the co-existence of direct and figurative meanings.

E.g. Mouth denotes a part of the human face, and at the same time it can mean metaphorically any opening or outlet: the mouth of a river, for instance.

If there is no influence of other words on the word under discussion, the word under discussion is said to be non-motivated.

From the historical point of view, motivation changes in the course of time. Words that are non-motivated at present may have lost their motivation due to changes in the vocabulary.

E.g. The verb earn doesn’t suggest any necessary connection with agriculture at present. Historical analysis shows that it is derived from OE earnian “to harvest”. In ME this connection no longer exists, the motivation is lost and earn is now a non-motivated word.

Word – the basic unit of language, directly corresponds to the object of thought (referent) – which is a generalized reverberation of a certain 'slice', 'piece' of objective reality – and by immediately referring to it names the thing meant.