1. Lexicology. Definition.

Links with other branches of linguistics

Lexicology is the part of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of a language and the properties of words as
the main units of language. The term "lexicology" is composed of two Greek morphemes "lexis" meaning word and
"logos" which denotes "learning, a department of language". Thus, lexicology is the "science of the word".

The general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific features of any particular language is
known as general lexicology. It is the part of general linguistics. Special lexicology devotes its attention to the
description of the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language. It should be mentioned that every
special lexicology is based on the principles worked out and laid down by general lexicology.

There is a close relationship between lexicology and phonetics; it is concerned with the study of the outer
sound form of the word. Lexicology and grammar, it is concerned with the various means of expressing grammatical
relations between words and with the patterns after which words are combined into word groups and sentences.
Lexicology and stylistics or to be more exact linguostylistics, It is concerned with the study of the nature, functions
and structure of stylistic devices, on one hand, and with the investigation of each style of language, on the other.

It goes without saying that the vocabulary of any language is never stable, it is constantly changing, growing
and decaying. Every new phenomenon in human society and human activity in general, which is of any importance
for communication, finds a reflection in vocabulary. Thus, a word is a generalized reflection of reality. The branch of
linguistics dealing with causal relations between the way the language works and develops, on one hand, and the fact
of social life, on the other, is termed sociolinguistics.

2. Two approaches to language study

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 or diachronically.

The synchronic approach is concerned with the vocabulary of a language as it exists at a given time, at a
given stage of his development, at the present time. Special descriptive lexicology deals with the vocabulary and the
vocabulary of a particular language at a certain time. The evolution of any vocabulary as well as of its single
elements forms the object of historical lexicology.

The diachronic approach deals with the changes and the development of vocabulary in the course of time.

The distinction between the synchronic and diachronic study is merely a difference of approach separating
for the purposes of investigation what in real life language is inseparable. These two approaches mustn't be
contrasted; in fact they are interconnected and interdependent. Every linguistic structure and system actually exist in
a state of constant development, thus, the synchronic state of a language system is a result of a long process of
linguistic evolution, of its historical development.

3. What is a word?

It is significant that many scholars have attempted to define the word as a linguistic phenomenon. Yet none
of the definitions can be considered totally satisfactory in all aspects. Despite all the achievements of modern science
certain essential aspects of the nature of the word still escape us. Nor do we fully understand the phenomenon called
language of which the word is a fundamental unit. We know nothing or almost nothing about the mechanism by
which a speaker's mental process is converted into sound groups called words nor about the reverse process.

First the word can be defined as a unit of communication. Secondly, the word can be perceived as the total
of the sounds which comprise it. Third, the word, viewed structurally possesses several characteristics.

The modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal
structures of the word. The internal structure of the word or its meaning is referred to as the word semantic structure.
Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses both external or formal unity and semantic
unity. Formal unity of the word is sometimes interpreted as indivisibility. The word is a speech unit used for the
purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to
grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic unity.
 Semasiology

The branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning is known as semasiology. The name comes
from Greek "semasia" - "signification" (from sema - "sign" and semantikas - "significant".

4. Meaning as a linguistic notion

There are two main categories of definitions of meaning - referential or analytical definition of meaning and
functional or contextual definition of meaning.

Referential or analytical definition of meaning

The essential characteristic of the referential approach is that it distinguishes between the three components
that are closely connected with meaning.

1. The sound form

2. The concept
3. The referent

This is the "basic triangle". The sound form of the linguistic sign [i:gl] is connected with our concept of the
bird which it denotes and through it with the referent the actual bird. It is easily observed that the sound form of the
word is not identical with its meaning. There’s no inherent connection between the sound cluster [i:gl] and the
meaning of the word eagle. For example the English word "eagle" and Armenian " արծիվ" have different sound
forms but express the same meaning.

When we examine a word we see that its meaning though closely connected with the underlying concept is
not identical with it. Concept is a category of human cognition. Concepts are the results of abstraction and
generalization. Thus they are almost the same for the whole humanity in one and the same period of its historical
development. The meanings of words however are different in different languages.

Distinguishing meaning from the referent is off the utmost importance. Meaning is linguistic whereas the
denoted object or the referent is beyond the scope of language. For example in speech the referent can be denoted by
the word ՛՛cat, animal, pussy, Tom, this, pet՛՛. All this words have the same reference but different meanings. The
meaning is not to be identical with any of the 3 points of the triangle - the sound form, the concept and the referent,
but is closely connected with them.

Functional or contextual definitions of meaning

The functional approach to meaning maintains that the meaning of the linguistic unit can be studied only
through its relation to other linguistic units. According to the given approach the meanings of the words to move and
movement are different because these words function in speech differently. The position of a word in relation to
other words is called distribution of the word. The same is true of different meanings of one and the same word.
Analyzing the function of a word in linguistic context and comparing these contexts we conclude that meanings are
different. For example the verb to take can mean to take a seat (to sit down) or to take to somebody (to begin to like
smb). The functional approach is sometimes described as contextual as it is based on the analysis of various contexts.

The word as a structural and semantic entity within the language system has two main types of meaning:
grammatical and lexical. The grammatical meaning may be defined as the components of meaning recurrent in
identical sets of individual forms of different words like parents, sisters, students - he, she, it - goes, speaks, answers.
Unlike the grammatical meaning the lexical meaning is identical in all the forms of the word, for example the word-
forms "write, wrote, writes, written, writing" possess different grammatical meanings of tens person and so on but in
each of these forms we find the same semantic component. Both lexical and grammatical meanings make up the
word, meaning as neither can exist without the other.

5. Denotational and connotational meaning

The semantic structure of the word is not homogeneous, but comprises two components of meaning:
denotational and connotational. Uses of a language cannot have any knowledge or thought of the objects or
phenomena of the real world around them unless this knowledge is ultimately embodied in words which have
essentially the same meaning for all speakers of that language. This is the denotational meaning. Denotational
component expresses the notional content of a word and so makes the communication possible. Apart from
denotational component there is another component which introduces into speech some additional information as to
the speaker's attitude toward the subject matter as well as some information as to his relation with his interlocutor.
Such a digital information is called connotation which in its turn maybe various including several types of
connotations. The emotive charge is the ability of a word to express some feeling or to evoke some emotion in the
listener. It covers the scale of both positive and negative emotions. The evaluative component involved the scale of
approval and that of disapproval. F.ex. large - big - tremendous. Stylistically words can be subdivided into literary,
neutral and colloquial layers. F.ex. parent - mother - mommy.

Bookish words are not stylistically homogeneous they can be subdivided into smaller groups

1. Terms or scientific words

2. Poetic words and archaisms
3. Barbarism and foreign words.

The colloquial words may be subdivided into

1. Common colloquial words

2. Slang
3. Professionalism
4. jargonisms
5. vulgarisms
6. Dialectical words
7. Colloquial coinages /նորակազմություն/.

6. Causes, nature and results of semantic change

Word meaning is liable to change in the course of the historical development of language. The factors
accounting for semantic changes may be roughly subdivided into two groups extra-linguistic and linguistic.

By extra linguistic causes various changes in the life of the speech community are meant, changes in
economic and social structure, changes in scientific concepts. Some changes of meaning occur due to purely
linguistic causes - factors acting within the language system. The commonest form is the so called ellipsis. In a
phrase made up of two words one of these is omitted and its meaning is transferred to its partner. For example to
starve in old English meant to die and was used with the word hunger, now to starve means to die of hunger. Another
linguistic cause is discrimination/differentiation of synonyms. The word ‘land’ meant both solid part of earth's
surface and the territory of a nation later the word country was borrowed as it synonym now people use country as
the territory of a nation. A necessary condition of any semantic change is some connection between the old meaning
and the new one.

There are two kinds of association evolved in various semantic changes:

1. Similarity of meanings
2. Contiguity of meanings

Similarity of meanings or metaphor may be described as the semantic process of associating two referents
one of which in some way resembles the other. For example a pointer of a clock or watch resembles a human's hand
so we see the expression "hands of the clock".

Contiguity of meanings or metonymy may be described as the semantic process of associating two
referents one of which makes part of the other or is closely connected with it. For example tongue is an organ of
speech but we also use it to say language, so we use mother tongue and not mother language.

The results of semantic change can be generally observed in restriction or extension of meaning.

1. Restriction of meaning - the word hound used to denote "dog of any breed", now it denotes only a "dog
used in the chase".
 2. Extension of meaning - the word target originally meant "a small round shield" but now means
"anything that is fired at".

Results of semantic change can also be observed in amelioration or deterioration of meaning:

1. Amelioration of meaning /լավացում/ is the improvement of the connotational component of meaning.

The word minister originally denoted "a servant" but now "a person administering a department of
state".
2. Deterioration of meaning /վատացում/ is the acquisition by the word of some derogatory emotive
charge. The word boor originally denoted "a peasant" and now denotes "a clumsy or ill-bred fellow".

7. Polysemy

Words as a rule are not units of a single meaning. Words are polysemantic that means they possess more
than one meaning. If polysemy is viewed diachronically it is understood as the growth and development of the word
or as a change in the semantic structure of the word. A word may retain its previous meaning or meanings and at the
same time acquire one or several new ones. The primary meaning of the word "table" is "a flat slab of stone or
wood". All other meanings are secondary as they are derived from the primary meaning of the word and appeared
later than the primary meaning.

Synchronically we understand polysemy as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word as a
certain historical period of the development of the language. Intuitively we feel that demeaning that first occurs to us
whenever we hear or see the word "table" is "an article of furniture". This emerges as the basic or the central
meaning of the word and all other meanings are minor in comparison.

The concept of the central meaning is interpreted in terms of the frequency of occurrence of this meaning,
thus the meaning having the highest frequency is usually the one representative of the semantic structure of the word.

Of great importance is the stylistic stratification of meanings of a polysemantic word as individual meaning
may differ in their stylistic reference. There is nothing colloquial or slangy about the word yellow denoting color, but
when yellow is used in the meaning of sensational it is both slang and American.

It should be noted that as the semantic structure is never static, the relationship between the diachronic and
synchronic evaluation of individual meanings might be different in different periods of the historical development of
language. The primary meaning may become synchronically one of its minor meanings and diachronically a
secondary meaning may become the central meaning of the word.

8. Polysemy and context. Types of context

The term context denotes the minimal stretch of speech determining each individual meaning of the word.
Contexts may be of two types - linguistic and extra linguistic.

Linguistic contexts may be subdivided into lexical and grammatical. In lexical context of primary
importance are the groups of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word under consideration. For example
the adjective heavy used with the words load, table means of great weight, with the words rain, storm, snow - means
striking, falling with force and with the words industry, artillery - heavy means the larger kind of something. The
individual meaning depends on the lexical meaning of the words with which the word is combined. In grammatical
context it is grammatical structure that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. The
verb to make in the structure to make + pronoun + verb means to force. But in the structure to make + adjective +
noun means to become.

9. Homonyms

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling or at least in one of these aspects, but
different in their meaning. One source of homonyms is phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their
historical development, for example night and knight. Borrowing is another source of homonyms, for example
"bank" is a native word meaning a shore and "bank" - "a financial institution" is an Italian borrowing. Word-
building also can be one of the sources of homonyms. The most important type is conversion - Pale (adj) vs. pale
(v). Shortening is a type of ward building which increases the number of homonyms. "Fan" comes from "fanatic".
"Fan" in Latin denotes "an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air". Another source of
homonyms is called split polysemy. Two or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same
word when for some reason the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts.

Classification of homonyms
Russian scholar prof. Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes. Full homonyms are words
which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm, for example match - a game, a
contest and match - a short piece of wood used for producing fire.
Partial homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech but don't have the same
paradigm or they belong to different categories of parts of speech but have one identical form in their paradigms (to
lay (v)- lay (past indefinite of to lie), rose (noun) - rose (verb)).
Homonyms maybe also classified by the type of meaning:
1. Lexical homonyms are words which belongs to the same part of speech and the grammatical meanings of all its
forms are identical (match - match).
2. lexical-grammatical homonyms are words which belong to different parts of speech and differ in lexical
meaning (light (n) - light (adj)).
3. Grammatical homonyms are words which are different in grammatical meaning only (asked (past indefinite) -
asked (past perfect)).
The most widely accepted classification of homonyms is that recognizing homonyms proper, homographs and
homophones.
1. Proper homonyms are words identical both in spelling and in sound-form but different in meaning.
2. Homographs are words identical in spelling but different both in their sound-form and meaning.
3. Homophones are words identical in sound-form but different both in spelling and in meaning.

10. Synonyms

Synonyms are traditionally described as words different in sound form but identical or similar in meaning.
Firstly it seems impossible to speak with identical or similar words as this part of the definition cannot be applied to
polysemantic words. Secondly it seems impossible to speak of similarity of lexical meaning as a whole as it is only
the denotational component that may be described as identical or similar. We must take into account the
connotational meaning. Cases of complete synonymy are very few and are as a rule in technical vocabulary. Many
scholars suggest the criterion of interchangeability that is synonyms are words which can replace each other in any
given context without the slightest alteration in the denotational or connotational meaning. But words
interchangeable in any given context are also very rare. Thus, synonyms are words different in their sound-form but
similar in their denotational meaning and interchangeable at least in some context.

Types of synonyms

Synonyms are classified into two types: idiographic and stylistic. Idiographic synonyms can be defined as
words conveying the same notion but differing in connotation (shades of meaning). For example: forest - wood,
apartment - flat. Stylistic synonyms differ in stylistic characteristics. For example: girl - girlie, birdy - maiden.

Types of connotations

1.The connotation of degree or intensity /to like- to admire- to love -to adore -to worship/.
2.The connotation of duration /to stare- to glare- to gaze -to glance -to peep- to peer/. All the synonyms except to
glance denote a lasting act of looking at somebody or something, whereas to glance describes a brief, passing
look.
3.The evaluative connotation labels it good or bad. Well known -famous -notorious- celebrated. The adjective
notorious has a negative evaluative connotation and celebrated a positive one.

All synonymic groups have a central word which possesses the highest frequency of use compared with its
synonyms. This word is called the dominant synonym. Any dominant synonym covers the meanings of the rest of the
synonyms.

11. Antonyms

We use the term antonym to indicate words of the same category of parts of speech which have contrasting
meanings. There are different principles of classification of antonyms. According to their derivational structure
antonyms are divided into two groups: absolute or root antonyms (late - early, dark- light) and derivational antonyms
(honest- dishonest, to please - to displease). According to the traditional classification antonyms can be classified
into three groups: contradictories, contraries and incompatibles.

1. Contradictories - (dead - alive, single - married). To use one of the terms is to contradict the other and to use
"not" before one of them is to make it equivalent to the other.
2. Contraries differ from contradictories mainly because contradictories admit of no possibility between them.
Someone is either single or married, either dead or alive, whereas contraries admit such possibilities.
3. Incompatibility is the relations of exclusion but not of contradiction. To say "morning" is to say "not
afternoon, not evening, and not night".

Interchangeability is typical of antonyms as well: Dry -wet, a dry shirt - a wet shirt, but dry air - damp air. So
antonyms are words different in sound-form and characterized by different types of semantic contrast of denotational
meaning and interchangeability at least in some contexts.

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are
adjectives /high- low/, verbs take second place /to open- to close/, nouns are not rich in antonyms, but still some
examples can be given /friend-enemy/, adverbs can be subdivided into two groups: adverbs derived from
adjectives /warmly- coldly/, adverbs proper /now- then/.

12. Word groups and phraseological units

Word groups are divided into free word groups and phraseogical units or idioms. There are two major
criteria for distinguishing between phraseological units and free word groups: semantic and structural. The
semantic shift affecting phraseological units does not consist in a mere change of meanings of each separate
constituent part of the unit. The meanings of the constituents merge to produce an entirely new meaning. Thus,
phraseological unit is a stable word group characterized by a completely or partially transferred meaning. The
semantic change may affect either the whole word group or only one of its components. Structural invariability of
phraseological units finds expression in a number of restrictions.

1. Restriction in substitution: no word can be substituted without destroying the sense.

2. Restriction in introducing any additional components into the structure of a phraseological unit.
3. Grammatical invariability.

Principles of classification

The traditional and oldest principle for classifying phraseological units is based on the original their content
and might be called "thematic". On this principle idioms are classified according to their sources of origin, "source"
referring to the particular sphere of human activity, of life of nature, of natural phenomena. Vinogradov's
classification system is founded on the degree of semantic cohesion between the components of a phraseological
unit. He classifies phraseological units into three classes: phraseological combinations, unities and fusions.
a. Phraseological combinations are word groups with a partially changed meaning. They may be said to be
clearly motivated, that is the meaning of the unit can be easily deduced from the meanings of its constituents /to
be good at smth, to have a bite/.
b. Phraseological unities are word groups with a completely changed meaning, that is the meaning of the unit
does not correspond to the meanings of its constituents. They are partially motivated units, that is the meaning of
the whole unit can be deduced from the meanings of the constituents, the metaphor is clear and transparent /a big
bug, to sit on a fence/.
c. Phraseological fusions are word groups with a completely changed meaning, but in contrast to the unities,
they are non-motivated, that is, their meaning cannot be deduced from the meaning of its constituents /to set one's
cap at smb/.