Lecture english lexicology as a subject plan of the lecture

The subject of Lexicology and types of Lexicology Branches of English Lexicology Connections with other branches of Linguistics

LECTURE 1. ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY AS A SUBJECT
Plan of the lecture:

1. 
   
   The subject of Lexicology and types of Lexicology
   
2. 
   
   Branches of English Lexicology
   
3. 
   
   Connections with other branches of Linguistics
   
4. 
   
   Word as the basic lexical unit
   
5. 
   
   Synchronic and diachronic approaches to the study of lexical units
   
6. 
   
   Significance of vocabulary studies in language learning
   

Lexicology (from Greek ‘lexis’ - word, phrase, and ‘logos’ - learning) is a branch of Linguistics which deals with the study of the vocabulary. The vocabulary consists of words, word groups and word-formational morphemes, which, taken together, constitute the word stock of the language. Hence, Lexicology is a branch of Linguistics which studies the word stock, or the lexicon of the language in respect to its composition, origin, development and current use.
According to the language material studied we distinguish:
a) General Lexicology - which studies the vocabulary of the language as a universal human phenomenon, is respective of the specific features of any particular language.
b) Special Lexicology - studies the vocabulary of a particular language (German, Uzbek, English, etc.).
According to the time axis, we can analyse the vocabulary and its units from the synchronic (gr. `syn`-`together with’, and `chronos`,-`time`) and the diachronic (`dia`-`through`) approaches.
The synchronic approach is specific for the Descriptive Lexicology and the diachronic approach is specific for the Historical Lexicology.
Closely connected with the Historical Lexicology are the Contrastive and the Comparative Lexicologies. Their aims are to study the correlation between the vocabularies of two or more languages and find out the correspondences between the types and peculiarities of vocabulary units of the languages under comparison. Let’s look at the semantic field of kinship terms in English and Uzbek:
English and Uzbek terms
father ота, ада, дада
mother она, опа, ойи, ая
grandfather бува, дода
grandmother буви, ойи
aunt амма, хола
uncle тога, амаки
sister опа, сингил
brother ака, ука
sister-in-law кайинсингил, кайнагач
brother-in-law кайин
son-in-law куев
daughter-in-law келин
son угил
daughter киз
cousin n/a
niece жиян
nephew жиян
The difference in number, structure and meaning of the kinship words in English and Uzbek may be due to different social, cultural and historical conditions of the language development and nationally specific family relations.
Lexicology analyses the vocabulary from different aspects. Each aspect of the lexical units which make up the vocabulary has its own methods and principles of analysis. There the following main branches of Lexicology which study separate aspects of lexical units:

1. Lexicography;

   
   

2. Word-Structure;

   
   

2. Word-Formation;

3. Semasiology and semantic classifications of words;
4. Etymology;
5. Phraseology (stable word-groups and proverbs and sayings);
6. Variants and dialects of Modern English;
7. Methodology of linguistic research.
Lexicology also studies all kinds of semantic groupings and semantic relations: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, semantic fields, etc.
Meaning relations as a whole are dealt with in Semasiology — the study of meaning which is relevant both for Lexicology, Grammar, Stylistics, etc.