Lexicology lexis=word; logos=learning is a branch of linguistics which deals with the study of words and different properties of linguistic units. Modern lexicology aims at giving a systematic description of a word-stock of the modern English vocabulary, their component parts and various types of word-groups.
The term vocabulary is used to denote the system formed by the sum total of all the words and word equivalents that the language possesses.
General lexicology is the general study of words and vocabulary irrespective of any specific features of any particular language.
Special lexicology devotes its attention to the description of the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language.
Special lexis can have 2 approaches: diachronic historical lexis and synchronic descriptive lexis.
The object of historic lexicology is the evolution of the vocabulary and its single elements. It deals with the origin of words, their change and development and investigates linguistic and extralinguistic factors influencing the structure meaning and usage of the vocabulary.
Descriptive lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a particular stage of its development and its studies the function of words, their specific structure and their place in the system of the language.
Synchronic state of the language is the result of the historic development of it. Phonetics is concerned with the sound forms of the word and lexicology deals with the word form of the language. Stylistics studies many problems treated in lexicology. These are the problems of meaning, connotations, synonymy, and functional differentiation of vocabulary according to the sphere of communication. The difference and interconnection between grammar and lexicology is one of the important controversial issues in linguistics. The connection is conditioned by lexico-grammatic characteristic of words and their function and the sentence. Sociolinguistic and lexicology = investigates the social causes of the changes in the vocabulary; the word-stock of the language etc.
Word denotes the basic unit of the language which associates a particular group of sounds with a particular meaning and has peculiar grammatical characteristics.
The word is the structural and semantic entity within the language system. It is the largest on the morphological and the smallest on the syntactic level of linguistic analysis.
A paradigm is a system showing a word in all its word-forms.
The lexical meaning of the word remains the same throughout the paradigm. The grammatical meaning varies from one form to another. 2 approaches to the paradigm:
1 Paradigm reveals the differences and relationships between the form of 1 word.
2 Paradigm is a pattern to distinguish one part of speech from another.
Besides the grammatical forms of words there is a distinction between lexical varieties. The distinction is made between 2 basic groups:
1 In actual speech a polysemantic word is used in one of its meanings; it is called a lexico-semantic variant. e.g.: To know the truth. To know one table from another.
2 Comprises phonetic and morphological variants. e.g.: often f-ft. Within the language system the word exists as a system and unity of all its forms and variants. This system of words is called the vocabulary of a given language.
