An Introduction to Lexicology

Lecture 1.
Course aims
provide for - theoretical + practical framework
word studies
enable learners - mind map - etymologically,
historically, taxonomically and structurally descriptive
approaches
find links, similarities and particulars in the
interpretation of English and Romanian words and use
the adequate terminology to sustain their observations
and argumentative commentary
Examination aims and tasks
Minimum standards:
In-term assignments
(a) Classroom activities
(b) Home assignments
Exam assignments
(a) Portfolio (electronic and print versions) a full file:
(b) Cover and title page
(c) Table of Contents
(d) Home assignments
Presentation layout
An introduction to vocabulary
Language units. Basics.
Lexicology as a system
Branches of lexicology
Relationships with other linguistic sciences
Lexicographical products and their distinctive features
Vocabulary
Words – role(s)
enable people: know the world around
learn and express themselves, communicate, impress
their fellow workers, make their life better in a
monolingual or multilingual society
Words – analytical view
may be interpreted discretely /in the most diverse
combinations or associations
may be the raw materials of different kinds of scientific
analyses and interpretations
Words
Whatever a word is, it is not the same thing in all languages.

“Word is what native speakers think a word is”

(Matthews 1972: 75).
“basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a
particular meaning to a particular group of sounds capable of a
particular grammatical employment “
(Levitchi 1970: 13).
“a unit of spoken language: a written sign representing such an
utterance”
(McArthur 1996: 1119).
In sum: a fundamental term in both general and technical discussion
of language.
 Vocabulary vs. Lexicon
Vocabulary (<Latin origin) Lexicon (<Greek)
 1. a list or collection of words or 1. a book containing an
of words and phrases usually alphabetical arrangement of the
alphabetically arranged and words in a language and their
explained or defined: LEXICON definitions: VOCABULARY
 2.a. a sum or stock or words
2a. the vocabulary of a
employed by a language, group, language, of an individual
individual or work in a field of speaker or of a group of
knowledge b: a list or collection speakers or of a subject b: the
of terms or codes available for total stock of morphemes in a
language
use (as in an indexing system)
 3. a supply of expressive
techniques or devices  3. repertoire or inventory
Lexicology
The term was first used in English in the 1820s
Nevertheless, concerns in/studies of words had existed
before the 19th century
Lexicology (<Gr. lexis + logos = study of words)
a) the language science which focuses on vocabulary
b) branch of linguistics which studies the vocabulary items of a
language, including their meanings and relations, and changes in
their form
Language units. Basics
Morphemes –smallest meaningful units in traditional
grammar as well as lexicology
e.g. Swell, swelled, swollen, swelling, swells [swell] +
[-ed], [-en], [-ing], [-s]  swell – free/independent
morpheme;
-ed, -en, etc. bound/dependent morphemes
Lexeme – the basic working unit in lexicology
Language units. Basics II
Despite numerous points of similarity, English and Romanian
lexicologists use a language-specific terminology.
 Base – the generic term used in English lexicology and
morphology with reference to any lexical unit which
accepts affixes

Depolarization = superficially looks like a simple linear string of items:

[de-affix] + [pol/e/-base]+[ar-affix]+[ize-affix]+[ation-affix]

Stem – a word stripped of all affixes which are

recognizable as such in English:
man, person, apply
Language units associated
“The English lexicon is so vast and varied that it is
impossible to classify it into neat categories.” (Crystal 1985:
1518)

Lexical formation / phrase[me], set phrases, idioms, collocations,

clichés, proverbs, maxims, aphorisms
– from two elements: at night, at noon and going up to
five/six elements – in the middle of nowhere)
Lyons (1985: 145)
 a) word lexemes - structurally – one word
 b) phrasal lexemes - phrases in the traditional sense of the term:
put up with, red herring
Set phrases
chains or associations of words which never change their form,
irrespective of their position at sentence level:
 day in day out, in the daybreak, at dawn, at dusk, by word of mouth, by no means,
under no circumstances, from tip to toe, on cloud nine, high and dry
She used to work from dawn to dusk.
They heard the news from the vineyard.
The job could not be done in the wink of an eye.
Structurally: two words: on foot, by land
Three words: hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, from time immemorial
Four words: from cover to cover, one for the road
Five words: a slip of the tongue, once in a blue moon, at the crack of
dawn
Six words: at the end of the day,
Idioms
 expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself
grammatically or cannot be understood from the
individual meanings of its elements:
 to keep tabs on (inf.) = to observe carefully,
 to play the Spanish violin = to cry on somebody’s shoulder,
 to rain over one’s parade = to ruin one’s plans
◦ There is a lady in the neighbourhood who has always
been keeping an eye on my wife.
◦ As a student she used to burn the midnight oil at least
once a week.
Collocations
 Traditionally: A word/phrase - always used with another word
or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to native speakers.
o You take her the way she is, that is bright-eyed and bushy tailed.
 narrow: the combination of words formed when two or more
words are often used together in a way that sounds correct:
◦ We have had some heavy rains and rough winds lately.
◦ The phrase a hard frost is a collocation.
 broad: the regular use of some words and phrases with others,
especially in a way which is difficult to guess:
o Romanian legends have been transmitted by word of mouth for
centuries .
Collocations expressing quantity
A bar of
A tin of
A box of
A dozen eggs
A pint of
A batch of
A heap of
A mass of
A bunch of
A spate of
Clichés
 A trite or a overused idea
 Emerge when expressions outlive their usefulness as
conveyors of information
‘Yes’ linguists – very few with hardly an argument in
favour of using them: they fill in a lexical gap in
conversation and so they act like ‘life-jackets’
‘No’ linguists – (a) characterize users to be lazy thinkers,
unimaginative minds who are unable to yield their own
ideas/wording patterns; (b) when learned ones are
used, speakers wish to impress or to show off.
Clichés
Formal:
to cut the Gordian knot, cum grano salis, to add insult
to injury, a blessing in disguise , from time(s)
immemorial

Informal:
• so to say, at this moment in time, every Tom, Dick and
Harry, (as) dead as a doornail, much of muchness, as
it were
Proverbs
A repository of culture and tradition
A symbol of national wisdom
Longer chunks of language, studied within paremiology
Different structures:
Like cures like.
When hell freezes over.
An Englishman's home is his castle.
As you bake, so shall you eat.
Too many cooks will spoil the broth.
He that cannot ask cannot live.
He who has an art has everywhere a part.
Lexicology as a system
‘system’:
 1. the sum total of English words
 2. to their relationships

The ‘system’ studies:

recurrent patterns of semantic relationships
recurrent patterns of formal, phonological,
morphological or contextual means

System requires systematization

Lexicology as a system
 Linguistic relationships:
 Syntagmatic –based on the linear character of speech
(influence of the context; the context – the minimum stretch
of speech necessary and sufficient to determine which of
the possible meanings of a polysemantic word is meant)
 The will was written in the presence of a notary public.
 Theodor was a man of strong will.
 They will be here in time.

 Paradigmatic - based on the interdependence of words

within the vocabulary (classes, subclasses and groups of
words)
 Dog-house, house-dog
Importance of lexicology
Theoretically
systematic description of the present-day vocabulary
provides for the accurate inventory of the language at a
certain time interval in its evolution
emphasizes the means which suggest the
expressiveness of words as well as their stylistic value
Branches of lexicology
 Traditional:
 Semantic relationships:
◦ based on the word signification;
◦ result in synonymic and antonymic series of words
 Morpho-semantic relationships:
◦ characterize the lexical items derived from a common basic element;
◦ result in word associations, derivations and word families (friend,
friendly, unfriendliness)
 Syntagmatic relationships
 Free (sit and chair, table, down, etc.)
 Syntagmatic ties of the type established among lexical items
which are part of set idioms and phrases
Branches of lexicology
 General lexicology
◦ The general study of words and vocabulary
 Special lexicology
 Describes the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a language
in focus
 Historical/diachronic lexicology
◦ discusses the origin of various words, their development and
changes and investigates the linguistic and extralinguistic
factors modifying their structure, meaning and usage
 Descriptive/synchronic lexicology
◦ Focuses on the vocabulary placed within certain temporal
limits
Methods of analysis
 Morpho-phonemics: the significant differences of
pronunciation of a single morpheme (the relationships
between morphology and phonology). See, for ex. nation-
national; ocean-oceanic, half-halves, etc.
 Lexical semantics/semasiology: the meaning of words and
the dynamics of their meanings, semantic relations between
words (antonymy, synonymy, etc.). The techniques used in
the analysis of meanings - contextualization and linguistic
ambiguity
Methods of analysis
Etymology: the biography of words (investigates
the origin of lexemes, the affinities they may or
may have shared, how they have changed their
meaning and form to reach their current position. It
joins the two preceding methods of analysis for
along the centuries words may have undergone
significant changes either in their form or in their
meaning or in both.
Sociolinguistics: deals with the causal
relationships between the way language works and
develops, on the one hand and the facts of social
life on the other.
Lexicology and other language sciences
Lexicology is related to:
Phonetics and phonology
Stylistics
Grammar
Lexicography
Onomasiology
Terminology
Terminography
Lexicographic products
Different criteria of classification distinguish the following word
explaining products and their subsumed typologies:
dictionaries, which may be presented in these formats:
Hard: OED, Websters,Longmans, etc.
Electronic: Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics, etc.
Online: Oxford, thefreedictionary.com, etc
lexicons: monolingual and bilingual
thesauri: monolingual – Roget’s Thesaurus
glossaries: monolingual and bilingual
Language companions: monolingual
 Oxford Companion to the English Language (McArthur 1996)

Language encyclopedia: monolingual

 Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Crystal 1985)
 Enciclopedia limbii romane (Sala 2000)
References
Crystal, David,1985, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Levitchi, Leon, 1970, Limba engleza contemporana. Lexicologie,
Bucuresti: Editura didactica si pedagogica
Lyons, John, 1985, Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Matthews, P.H.,1972, Inflectional Morphology. A theoretical study
based on aspects of Latin verb conjugation
ttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-linguistics/article/p-h-matthews-
morphology-an-introduction-to-the-theory-of-wordstructure-cambridge-textbooks-in-
linguistics-1-london-cambridge-university-press-1974-pp-243-
index/928FFB471AEBCA3BE16B5A4BD20BE7AA
McArthur, Thomas, 1996, The Oxford Companion to the English
Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press