Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

National Dragomanov Pedagogical University

Institute of foreign philology

Report on the course:

Lexicology

Theme: Lexicography of the usa and Great Britain

Student:

Daria Anosova

Group 41 AK

Teacher of a Lexicology:

Stefanova N.O.

Kyiv 2014

Contents

Introduction

1. Lexicology and lexicography. Main problems of lexicography

2. The history of American lexicography

3. The history of British lexicography

4. Classification of dictionaries

4.1. Notion of dictionary. Functions, types, components.

4.2. Common used dictionaries

Conclusion

References

Introduction

It's well known that we can't imagine studying any language in the world without such an important thing as a dictionary. It's obvious that it plays the most leading role in studying a language. But there's such a problem as what kind of a dictionary we must choose to improve our speech skills day by day.

This report is devoted to the lexicography as a science of dictionary-making. The pursuit of lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:

Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.

Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language and developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries. This is sometimes referred to as met lexicography.

There is some disagreement on the definition of lexicology, as distinct from lexicography. Some use "lexicology" as a synonym for theoretical lexicography; others use it to mean a branch of linguistics pertaining to the inventory of words in a particular language. .[1; 272]

It is now widely accepted that lexicography is a scholarly discipline in its own right and not a sub-branch of linguistics.

The theme of the report is actual because whose activity is closely connected with studying or teaching a language constantly needs a good dictionary which can always help at any time.

So the object of the investigation is lexicography as a science. The subject of investigation is dictionary-making itself.

There're the following aims of the investigation: to show the importance of dictionary-making in modern linguistics, to study the history of lexicography and its modern development, to make out the dictionary its notion, functions, classification and components.

1. Lexicology and lexicography. Main problems of lexicography Lexicology and Lexicography

Both lexicology and lexicography are derived from the Greek work lexiko (adjective from lexis meaning 'speech', or 'way of speaking' or 'word'). The common concern of both of them is 'word' or the lexical unit of a language. Lexicology is derived from lexico 'word' plus logos 'learning or science' i.e. the science of words. Lexicography is lexico 'word' plus graph 'writing' i.e. the writing of words. The etymological meaning of these words speaks for itself the scope of these branches of linguistics. Lexicology is the science of the study of word whereas lexicography is the writing of the word in some concrete form i.e. in the form of dictionary. As we shall see later, lexicology and lexicography are very closely related, rather the latter is directly dependent on the former and may be called applied lexicology.

As already noted, both lexicology and lexicography have a common subject 'word'. The sum total of all the words of a language forms the vocabulary or lexical system of a language. The words of a language are like constellations of stars in the firmament. Every word although having its own independent entity is related to others both paradigmatically and syntagmatically. The paradigmatic relations are based on the interdependence of words within the lexical system. The syntagmatic relations show the relation of words in the patterns of arrangement. In other words the vocabulary of a language is not a chaos of diversified phenomena but consists of elements which, though independent, are related in some way. A word has a particular meaning, it has a particular group of sounds, and a particular grammatical function. As such it is a semantic, phonological and grammatical unit. Lexicology studies a word in all these aspects i.e. the patterns of semantic relationship of words as also their phonological, morphological and contextual behaviour. Words undergo constant change in their form and meaning and lexicology studies the vocabulary of a language in terms of its origin, development and current use. The study of the interrelationship of lexical units is done in terms of the contrasts and similarities existing between them.

As a word does not occur in isolation, lexicology studies it with its combinative possibilities. And thus the scope of lexicology includes the study of phraseological units, set combinations etc.

Like general linguistics, of which lexicology is a branch, lexicology can be both historical and descriptive, the former dealing with the origin and development of the form and meaning of the lexical units in a particular languages across time and the latter studying the vocabulary of a language as a system at a particular point of time. But there are many areas in lexicology, where one cannot be studied in isolation, without regard to the other. They are, thus, interdependent.

The lexicological studies can be of two types, viz., general and special. General lexicology is concerned with the general features of words common to all languages. It deals with something like universals in language. Special lexicology on the other hand studies the words with reference to one particular language.

Lexicological studies can be, further, of comparative and contrastive type wherein the lexical systems of two languages are studies from a contrastive point of view.

Lexicology fulfills the needs of different branches of applied linguistics, viz., lexicography, stylistics, language teaching, etc.

As the vocabulary or the lexical system of a language forms a system of the language as other systems, its study in lexicology should not be separated from the other constituents of the system. So lexicology is closely related to phonetics and grammar.

The relation between phonetics and lexicology is very important. Words consist of phonemes, which, although not having meaning of their own, serve in formation of morphemes, the level where meaning is expressed. So they serve to distinguish between meanings. Moreover, meaning itself is indispensable for phonemic analysis. The difference of meaning in /pIt/ and /pUt/ helps in the fixation of the phonemes /I/ and /U/. Historical phonetics helps in the study of polysemy, homonymy and synonymy.

The link between lexicology and grammar is also very close. Each word has a relation in the grammatical system of a language and belongs to some parts of speech. Lexicology studies this relationship in terms of the grammatical meanings as also their relationship with the lexical meaning. In the field of word formation, lexicology is still more closely related to grammar. Both study the patterns of word formation.

Language is a social phenomenon. The study of language cannot be divorced from the study of the social system and the development in society. The development and progress in the social, political and technological system is manifest in the vocabulary of a language. New words are introduced and old words die out. New meanings are added to words and old meanings are dropped out. Lexicology studies the vocabulary of a language from the sociological points also.

Lexicography also studies the lexicon as lexicology does but "whereas lexicology concentrates more on general properties and features that can be viewed as systematic, lexicography typically has the so to say individuality of each lexical unit in the focus of its interest". (Zgusta 1973, 14). Lexicography has been generally defined as the writing or compiling1 of a lexicon or dictionary, the art or practice of writing dictionaries or the science of methods of compiling dictionaries. The word was used as early as 1680. (Oxford English Dictionary/Lexicography).

In lexicology the word is studied as a part of the system. In lexicography it is studied as an individual unit in respect of its meaning and use from the practical point of its use by the reader of the dictionary for learning the language or comprehending texts in it or for any other purpose like checking correct spelling, pronunciation etc. A word may have different and varied characteristic, all of which may not be needed by a lexicographer. His work is guided more by the purpose of the dictionary and the type of the audience. He presents the words of the lexical system in a way so as to make it more practically useable in real life situation i.e. in actual speech. For example lexicology may give the theoretical basis for enumerating different meanings of a polysemous word, but how these meanings are worded and presented in the dictionary is governed by the practical problems of utility of the dictionary for different types of readers. The aim of lexicology is to study the vocabulary of a language as a system, so the treatment of individual units may not claim to be complete because the number of units is very larger. Its goal is systematization in the study as a whole but not completeness as regards individual units. So it cannot claim to be a perfectly systematic treatment. Here, every entry is treated as an independent problem. Lexicologists present their material in sequence according to their view of the study of vocabulary. The lexicographers are mostly guided by the principle of convenience in retrieval of the data and arrange words usually in alphabetical order.

Lexicology provides the theoretical basis of lexicography. The lexicographer although knowing all the semantic details of a lexical unit might, at times, have to take such decisions and include such features in the definition which might be his own observations. In lexicology the study of words is objective, governed by the theories of semantics and word formation. There is no scope for individual aberrations. In lexicography, in spite of all the best attempts on the part of the lexicographer, many a definition become subjective, i.e. they are not free from the bias of the dictionary maker. (cf. the meaning of oats in Johnson's Dictionary.)

General lexicology deals with the universal features of the words of languages. In this sense lexicology is not language specific, whereas lexicography is more or less language specific in spite of its universal theoretical background. Its theories have no other validation except for practical applicability in the compilation of a dictionary.

Whereas lexicology is more theory oriented, lexicography is more concerned with concrete application (i.e. results) of these theories. So "in a certain sense lexicography may be considered a superior discipline to lexicology, for results are more important than intentions and the value of theoretical principles must be estimated according to results". (Doroszewski 1973, 36).

Lexicography is the science and art of compiling dictionary. The word 'dictionary' was first used as Dictionarius in this sense in the 13th century by an English man John Garland. The word Dictionarium was used in the 14th century. The first book published under the English title Dictionary was Latin-English Dictionary by Sir Thomas Elyot (1538). For a medieval scholar a dictionary was a collection of diction or phrases put together for the use of pupils studying Latin. One of the purposes of dictionary in medieval times was glossing texts and employing synonyms for them.

Dictionaries are prepared to serve different practical needs of the people. A reader looks at the dictionary mainly from the following points of view: - (1) as a reference book for different types of information on words e.g. pronunciation, etymology, usage etc. this may be called the store house function of the dictionary.  (2) as a reference point for distinguishing the good or proper usage from the bad or wrong usage. This is the legislative or the court house function of the dictionary2.

Johnson (1755) described the lexicographer as "a writer of dictionaries. ……a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of word". Little did he realize at that time that his dictionary would, for almost a century, serve as the 'Bible' of the English language, the second function noted above.

Besides these a dictionary also serves as a clearing house of information. In order that these functions be performed adequately, the information in the dictionaries should be collected from as many sources as possible, and should be authentic and easily retrievable. Lexicography in this way is an applied science. [7]