Unit 1

Introduction to English
Lexicology and Lexicography

Dra. M. Isabel Balteiro Fernández

balteiro@ua.es
Dpto. Filología Inglesa
Universidad de Alicante
 Overview

1. Introduction
2. Lexicology
3. Lexicography

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 1. Introduction: Lexicology and
Lexicography
Lexicology Lexicography

- Its object is the vocabulary - Its object is the dictionary.

of a given language. Discuss!

- Its task is to investigate the - Its task is to make

structure of the vocabulary. dictionaries.
compile them

in order to compile dictionaries, they work with words

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Lexicology
 2. Lexicology

2.1. Definition
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within
Linguistics
2.3. The interests of Lexicology and lexicologists
2.4. Lexicology and research

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 Flexive/ Inflectional: you don't create a

2. Lexicology
different word. The same word which
changes a little bit its form. Grammatical
context. Dog/dogs. Work/worked

Derivative/ derivational morphemes. You

create new words adding prefixes and
2.1. Definition suffixes. Worker, employer... From verbs
to nouns.

how the words are

 Branch of Linguistics which studies (investigates, describes and theorizes
about) quantity of words the language has
 the vocabulary items of a language (word stock),
 the properties of words,
 including their meanings and relations (synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, semantic fields,
etc.), and changes in their form and meaning through time.
-/ + formality they depend on register

 ‘Vocabulary’ (more colloquial), ‘lexis’ (half-way between the

colloquial and the learned) and ‘lexicon’ (more learned).
second meaning: which refers to the word stock we have in our brains.
words I have in storage in mind.

Lexicology deals with

third definition: dictionary as a synonim of lexicon

 simple words in all their aspects,
 complex and compound words, washing-machine : first element is a complex word -ing

 the meaningful units of (a) language. theatre-goer: the second element is a complex word -er

worker: -er the person who does the action

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 2. Lexicology
2.1. Definition
“(…) in lexicology the stock of words or lexical
items is not simply regarded as a list of isolated
elements. Lexicologists try to find out
generalizations and regularities and especially
consider relations between elements. Lexicology is
therefore concerned with structures, not with a
mere agglomeration of words”
(Lipka 2002: 8)

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 2. Lexicology
2.1. Definition: its basic unit

 The subject-matter of Lexicology is the word

 The term ‘word’ denotes:
 the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association
of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable
of a particular grammatical employment.

 A word is at the same time a semantic, grammatical and

phonological unit.
 rainfall, passer-by
 washing-machine / washing machine ?? 1 referent/ 1 meaning

water tank
something specific

grammatically is also a unit

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 2. Lexicology
2.1. Definition. Branches of Lexicology

 General Lexicology
 Special(ized) Lexicology lexicology of bussiness
 Contrastive lexicology Comparative: similarities between languages
Contrastive: differences constrastive linguistics

 Historical lexicology or etymology Historical L.: history of words, how words developed
through time. Emphasis on facts
 Descriptive lexicology how words are. Description. Diachronic L. : development of words through time.
They are used as synonims.

Prescriptive lexicology how

Both: development.
 words should be. etymology: origin of words. Sometimes etymology
They give us rules. and history are mixed.

 2 approaches: synchronic and diachronic

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 2.1. Definition. Two approaches to the study
of Lexicology

 Two approaches:

 Synchronic (descriptive) approach: concerned

with the vocabulary of a language as it exists at a
given time or at the present time.

 Diachronic (historical) approach: deals with

the evolution of the vocabulary units of a language
over time.

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 to beg & beggar
may be useful for descriptive l. and sometimes is necessary

Descriptive lexicology Historical lexicology

 Synchronically, these  Diachronically we learn that the
words are related as a noun beggar was borrowed
simple word (to beg) and from Old French and the verb
a derived word (beggar). to beg appeared in the English
The noun beggar is language as a result of back
derived from the verb to derivation – the formation of a
beg by means of the suffix word from the stem (base) of
–ar. another word, by means of
it fits but it is strange
cutting off suffixes (prefixes)
back formation: quite rare as beggar and television/ televise
from the source word, i.e. it
was derived from the noun
beggar.
 2. Lexicology
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within Linguistics

2.2.1. Lexicology and Morphology and/or

Word-formation
2.2.2. Lexicology and Semantics
2.2.3. Lexicology and Etymology
2.2.4. Lexicology and Lexicography

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 2. Lexicology
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within Linguistics

Lexicology relies on information from:

 morphology, the study of forms of words and their
components,

 semantics, the study of their meanings.

 etymology, the study of the origins of words.

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 2. Lexicology
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within Linguistics
2.2.1. Lexicology and Morphology and/or Word-
Formation
is the highest point morph. is more theoretical, it is abstract
 Morphology is the study of morphemes (the smallest meaningful units, which
may constitute words or parts of words) and their arrangements in forming
words. laws, theories
 Word-formation (= lexical morphology; the creation of new words) vs.
“Morphology” (usually understood as inflectional morphology) it deals with mechanims.
this describes
 Derivation: employer, employee Creation of words

 Back-formation: televise, peddle

 Compounding: trouble-maker, know-all, killjoy Functional Shift / Zero derivation
 Shortening: pop, flu, bus, laser, NGO
 Blending: brunch, motel
 Conversion: to doctor, to father, the haves and the have-nots
 Borrowing: cockroach, hoosegow (=slang jail; obs.)
 Anything missing? Clipping: acronyms

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 2. Lexicology
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within Linguistics
2.2.2. Lexicology and Semantics

 Semantics:
 the study of meaning,
 It explains and describes meaning in natural languages.

 Lexical semantics
 deals with the meaning of words and the meaning relations
that are internal to the vocabulary of a language.

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 2. Lexicology
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within Linguistics
2.2.3. Lexicology and Etymology
 Etymology
 the study of the history of words.
 It investigates the origins of individual lexemes, the affinities they have had
to each other, and how they have changed in meaning and in form to reach
their present state.
activity/ actividad
constipated: origin

 Etymological information goes beyond the origin of the word.

 It also makes reference to cognates in other languages.
 In the case of borrowed words, it gives the source language, together with
the date when the borrowing took place.
 It supplies any other information on the previous history of the word.
 In square brackets in dictionary entries.

 Have a look at: https://view.genial.ly/600803e1e1ef6e0d2aa3b1a7/horizontal-

infographic-timeline-the-history-of-silly
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children/ happy / innocent people

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 2. Lexicology
2.2. Lexicology and other disciplines within Linguistics
2.2.4. Lexicology and Lexicography

 Lexicology and Lexicography are closely connected:

 same object of investigation: vocabulary (its form, meaning, usage,
origin)
 use of each other’s achievements.

 Lexicographical compilation may be considered as derived from

lexicological theory (Jackson 1988: 248). In this sense
lexicography can be regarded as ‘applied lexicology’.

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 2. Lexicology
2.4. The interests of Lexicology and lexicologists (1 of 4)

 Task 1:
 In groups of 4 or 5 people answer to these
questions:
 Prepare a list of activities or tasks that lexicologists do
and are interested in.
 What do they research on?
 How do they do research? Which are the sources of their
data?
Please,
 First, revise and read through the previous slides and try to infer some of those.
 Second, search for information in Google Scholar. Use articles, books and/or book
chapters and cite them.
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