Lexicology as a Science

Lexicology (from Greek lexis ‘word’ and logos ‘learning’) is part of linguistics which deals with the
vocabulary of a language and the properties of words.
Under the term vocabulary we mean the system formed by all the words of the language.
The term word denotes the basic unit of a given language which represents a group of sounds associated
with a particular meaning and capable of a particular grammatical employment. Thus, a word is at the same
time a phonological, semantic and grammatical unit.
The general study of words and vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular
language is known as general lexicology.
Linguistic phenomena common to all languages are generally referred to as language universals.
Special lexicology studies the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language.
The evolution of any vocabulary forms the object of historical lexicology which deals with the origin of
various words, their change and development, the linguistic and extra-linguistic forces modifying their
structure, meaning and usage.
Descriptive lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage of its
development. The descriptive lexicology of the English language studies the interdependence of the
morphological and semantic structures of the English words.
The distinction between the historical or diachronic (Gr. dia ‘through’ and chronos ‘time’) and the
descriptive or synchronic (Gr. syn ‘together’, ‘with’) approaches to the study of linguistic phenomena is due to
the Swiss philologist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913).
This distinction is very important, though it should be kept in mind that the two aspects are
interdependent and cannot be understood without one another.
The development of language is inseparable from the development of society. The changes in social,
political or everyday life, production or science, manners or culture are reflected in the language, and mostly in
its lexical system.
The branch of linguistics, dealing with causal relations between the way the language works and
develops, on the one hand, and the facts of social life, on the other, is termed sociolinguistics.
Some scholars use this term in a narrower sense paying attention to the analysis of speech behaviour in
small social groups.
The treatment of words in lexicology cannot be divorced from the study of all the other elements in the
language system to which words belong. Thus, lexicology is closely connected with general linguistics, the
history of the language, phonetics, stylistics and, especially, grammar.
The connection of lexicology with phonetics is explained by the fact that on the acoustic level words
consist of phonemes, and therefore phonemes participate in signification. They have no meaning of their own:
the form-meaning unity is introduced only on a higher level, i.e. on the level of morphemes. As for phonemes,
they serve to distinguish between meanings.
Stylistics, although from a different angle, studies many problems treated in lexicology. These are the
problems of meaning, synonymy, differentiation of vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and
some other issues.
A close connection between lexicology and grammar is conditioned by the manifold 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 conform to some lexico-
grammatical characteristic of the word class to which they belong (e.g., an apple – a noun in the singular).
Words seldom occur in isolation. They are arranged in certain patterns conveying the relations between
the things for which they stand, therefore alongside with their lexical meaning they possess some grammatical
meaning. The two kinds of meaning are often interdependent. That is to say, certain grammatical functions and
meanings are possible only for the words whose lexical meaning makes them fit for these functions, and, on the
other hand, some lexical meanings in some words occur only in definite grammatical functions and forms and
in definite grammatical patterns.
E.g., The functions of a link verb rendering the meaning of ‘become something’ are usually fulfilled by
words of motion: come true, go wrong, turn red, run dry.
The verb to go in the form of Participle II following the link verb to be may denote absence: The house
is gone.