General problems of lexicology. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics

General problems of lexicology. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics

The term lexicology is dervied from two Greek words: lexis (“word”) and logos (“theory”, “learning”). Lexicology is a separate branch of linguistics which deals with two objects of investigation:

1. words as comparatively autonomous language units, their properties, their structure

and, on the other hand,

2. vocabulary as a system, consisting of the above said units.

 

However, a study of this kind may deal with the words and vocabularies irrespective of a particular language. In this case this theory shall be named general lexicology.

Special lexicology devotes its attention to the words and vocabulary of some given language: as an example there is modern English lexicology.

Historical lexicology, sometimes also called etymology or etymological theory, is a separate branch of linguistics, which studies the origin of different words and the ways in which the semantic structure of such words changes in the course of time.

Descriptive lexicology deals with the vocabulary of the given language at a given stage of its development. Descriptive lexicology is also named synchronic lexicology.

Unlike descriptive, we may single out diachronic lexicology, which naturally studies the historical development of the word system.

 

Hence the full naming of our course sounds as “Special descriptive lexicology of the modern English language”. The complete course may be subdivided into two unequal parts according to two separate subjects of studies:

1. the theory of English word as a complex structure;
2. the study of the English vocabulary as a complex system.

 

Within the first part of the course the word is not only studied as a linguistic phenomenon, but also as a philosophical notion too, because included here is the semantic structure of words that is the word in the complexity of its notion that is in its permanent development.

Besides the morphological structure of the words is to be given special attention, as morphemes are also considered to be meaningful units of the language (as well as words).

 

All the above said phenomena are referred to the word-building theory. As the vocabulary system does not only consist of separate words, but includes any other meaningful units, the study of the English words is to be finished with the scrutiny of the English set expressions.

 

Anyone who studies lexicology should clearly imagine the value of the word theory. A number of factors determine the importance of modern English lexicology, which are:

1. English is among the most widespread languages on the globe today. It has the status of the global language. English is spoken as a second language by the greatest number of people in the world;
2. lexicology is one of the three basic aspects of language studies alongside with the sound system and grammar taking the intermediate between these two. So it may be named the linking element within the whole theory of language;
3. great is the philosophical and psychological singificance of such studies, as they touch upon the problems of meaning and its change and thus contact of the general theory of sign, so lexicology is linked with semasiology and onomasiologyОномасиология - отрасль семантики, изучающая наименования, использование языковых средств для обозначения внеязыковых объектов. В отличие от семасиологии (см.), отражающей направление от средства выражения к выражаемому значению, О. основывается на движении от обозначаемого предмета к средствам его обозначения, шире - от содержания к форм;
4. lexicology came into being to meet the demands of applied linguistics, so it may have, apart of its theoretical aspect, a definite practical singnificance, which may be traced to lexicography, theory of terms, vocabulary standardization, etc.;
5. the deep knowledge of lexicology is making an important basis in teaching of the English language. The word can hardly be taught if it’s separated from the other words, from the sentence, the context, the text and the speech flow. The word may only exist and function within the system of complex connections with all other units of language. Finally the word becomes valid only when it enters various relations with other words, which relations may be synonymic, antonymic, those of omonymy.

 

The course of modern English lexicology has versatile connections with a number of other language disciplines. It cannot be observed in isolation from them. In reality in any living language, irrespective of its historical development, words are comprized of smaller elements, which are meaningful morphemens and meaningless phonemes. On the other hand words form greater structures, which are word combinations (that is set expressions and free combinations), as well as sentences.

Words and speech always stand in definite relations with each other, hence it is cocluded that lexicology is connected with phonetics and syntax.

Another branch of linguistics showing connetions with lexicology, though from a different viewpoint, is stylistics. Stylistics also deals with some general problems of lexicology, like connotations, stylistic synonymy, functional differentiation of vocabulary, etc.

Interconnections between lexicology and general grammar are also obvious: words may be studied separately from each other, but only for experimental purposes and for the sake of analysis. They never occur in speech in complete isolation.

Besides differentiation between two kinds of meaning, which coexist in every word, that is lexical and grammatical meanings, should be observed in semasiology. In words of the natural language these two types of meaning are typically combined.

 

So defining in most general terms the object of study of lexicology we may say that this object is a lexical unit. Meanwhile we should bear in mind that such lexical units are extremely versatile.

An important thing is that the word occupies the central position among all other lexical units and is forming the bulk of the vocabulary. Paradoxically, however, the notion of word has not yet received any universally satisfying definition.

Morphemens, being the smallest meaningful units of languages, unlike words, are unable to form sentences.

The third type of lexical units, alongside with morphemes and words, are set expressions. Unlike free word combinations, they contain meanings which cannot be split into smaller elements, and in this way set expressions can be brought together with words.

 

Sintagmata may divide a sentence into several parts which express separate ideas.

 

One of the most complicated problems in lexicology is that of the vocabulary. A word is a system; a vocabulary should also be viewed as a complex system. Its complexity can be seen in the fact that up to our days the vocabulary of any separate language cannot be studied as a whole, but only if subdivided into quite a number of definite groups or subsystems, compiled in accordance with this or that basic principle.

Another reason for the complexity of a national vocabulary is that it is not a chaotic sum of units, but an everchangeable unity of elements, associated and functioning together, according to certain and rather rigid laws. These laws, at least some of them, may be common to quite a number of languages or the majority of languages, but sometimes they may also be specific for the given language, that is why any national vocabulary can be named an adaptive system, because it is constantly adjusting itself to the everchanging requirements and conditions of human communication and the surrounding of the speaking community.

The above said conditions may stretch far beyond the language itself and refer to this fears(?) of culture, education, technology, sports, entertainment and everyday life.

Word as the basic unit of language

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

W. Shakespear (“Romeo and Juliette”, act 2, scene 2)

 

It has always been clear that the word is the basic unit of any language, irrespective of the national affinity of this language, stage of its development, form of expression (oral or written), natural or artificial character. At the same time the problem of defining the notion of a word appeared to be one of the most complicated questions, both in linguistics as well as beyond its boundaries. The main obstacle here was in giving a laconic and exhaustive definition of this basic term. Each attempt to define a word has always started with a try to describe it. This is the way we shall follow in our case as well.

To begin with, the word itself can be readily split into smaller units of two kinds: meaningful (morphemes) and meaningless (phonemes). The main complexity here is the fact that the units of these three language levels (phonological, morhpological and lexical) may all conicide in fluent speech. Moreover, such auxiliary forms as articles and prepositions may historically be turned into morphemes and in many cases become morphemes and start to function as such.

The complexity still rises if we take into account the fact that a separate word may also coincide with a sentence, the latter being a unit of an opposite higher lingual level. When used in sentences, that is together with other words, the word becomes syntactically organized. In the course of development of linguistics quite a number of definitions can be proposed, each reflecting a different approach and viewpoint of its author.

1. We will start with the highest linguistic levels, which are syntax and semantics. So the word was syntactically defined by Henry Sweet and Leonard Bloomfield as “a minimum free form”. That means that a word can form a sentence.

2. A synatcical plus semantic definition of words was given by Edward Sapir, who called the word “one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated meaning, into which a sentence resolves itself”. Sapir was also the first to point out such an important characteristics of the word as its indivisibility (a lion – an African lion (divisibility of a word combination), alive (indivisible)). A split of one word into separate elements will inevitably result in the distortion and disturbance of the meaning (alive – a live performance (change of meanings)).

3. On the other hand the English language knows quite a number of transitive forms which take the middle position between separate words and word combinations which sound the same way. A purely semantic treatment of the problem can be found in Stephen Ullman’s explanation: “A connected discourse will fall into a number of meaningful segments, which are ultimately composed of meaningful units. These meaningful units are called words”.

4. The eminent French scholar of the 20^th century Antoine Meillet combined several approaches, which were the semantic, the phonological and the grammatical criteria, and worked out the following formula: “A word is defined by the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds, capable of a particular grammatical employment”.

All the rest of the definitions used in the modern linguistics are either the variations of the above or combinations of the same.

 

The general complexity of the problem of word treatment is stimulated by the fact that the word is traditionally understood as a linguistic phenomenon, meanwhile we do not fully understand the phenomenon called the language. The greatest problem here is the nature of the relations between the word and its referent, that is the thing (object, phenomenon, etc.) it denotes. What we know today is:

1. the word includes a total number of sounds or letters;
2. the word is a complex structure, possessing several characteristics, referred to both its form and content;
3. the word is making the basis of verbal communcation.

Thus the external structure of the word is its morphological complexity, studied by the word-building theory. The internal structure of the word is reflected in its meaning. It is making the semantic organization of the lexical unit and is studied by semasiology.

Among the aspects of the word structure is its unity, both formal and semantic. This unity may be treated as the integral indivisibility of words. Example:

There may be two words like broad sword and broadsword. The meanings of both are different. We may also say the broadest sword, by which having two words, yet no such process can take place with the word broadsword, because it may only permit addition of suffixes at its end (e.g. broadswording).

Summing the problem up we may say that the word is the fundamental unit of language, a dialectal unit of form and contents, manifested so in the course of verbal communication. The word is both a language and a speech unit, used in and for human communication.

From the material viewpoint it is represented by a group of sounds or letters, which possess a meaning, which can be grammatically employed and characterised by formal and semantic indivisibilty.

A written word is a unity of letters, separated by two spaces.

The semantic triangle

The word may be treated as the best illustration of other langugage signs. From this point the structure of words is comparatively complicated. Ferdinand de Saussure was the first to state that the word is two-fold, as it consists of a concept and a sound or letter form. This simple scheme was further accepted and developed by the German scholar Gotlieb Frege.

The semantic triangle consists of: the concept, the sound/letter form and the referent. There are words that don’t have referent (God), there are words without concept (proper names, etc.). The triangle is a simplified form, representing the links between the three triangle apexes, while in reality it is much more complicated.

The triangle is actually not enough. There must be at least 6 coinciding apexes, i.e. triangles in the heads of two interlocutors. Besides, we don’t have sounds and referents in our heads, we have ideas of sounds and ideas of referents, which doubles the number of apexes again.

The problem of the semantic triangle can be considered more or less solved only if we observe the question of motivation of words. The term motivation denotes the relationship, existing between the structural pattern of the word and its meaning. There are three basic types of motivation:

1. phonetic type (e.g. the iconic signs, illustrated by co-words or sound imitating words);
2. morphological motivation (reflected in the morphological structure of words, e.g. film star, driver, to rewrite, an ex-wife, a teenager, etc.);
3. semantic motivation (the case, when the connection between the meaning of the word and its form is purely conventional, such words are called non-motivated, and their number in the language is the greatest).

 

There is a phenomenon of loss of motivation in such cases there is fortnight, which was derived from the expression fourteen nights, or спичка which is actually derived from спица. In addition to this Charles Spears and Roman Jacobson distinguished word indexes such as this, that, today, tomorrow, you, we, etc. Pure forms of this or that sign patter are rarely found in actual languages. They are always mixed in one and the same word, although one type is always dominating.

Lexical meaning and the semantic structure of English words

There’s a separate branch of linguistics, concerned with the meaning of words and named semasiology from old Greek semasia (‘singnification’) + logos (‘learning’). The main objects of semasiological studies are the semantic development of words, as well as different types of lexical meaning. The relations between the words which bear alike meanings is polysemy. The notion of the meaning as a complex structure, that is the semantic structure of words. The semantic groupings and connections between such groups within the vocabulary system.

It should be born in mind that apart from its lexical meaning, every word has another type of meaning, which is called grammatical. The grammatical meaning of every word exists due to the fact that all words belong to this or that grammatical class or category and possesses a definite grammatical paradigm.

Lexicology treats the problem of the lexical meaning of words and starts with this meaning’s definition. The most common and universally accepted definition sounds as follows: “Lexical meaning is the actualization of a concept or emotion by means of a definite language system.”

The complexity of the word meaning is manyfold. Therefore, the most important types of such semantic complexity may be described as follows:

1. Every word has a simultaneous combination of its lexical and grammatical meanings. E.g. “’father’ is a personal noun” – in this statement the first word “father” can be replaced by many others, thus its lexical meaning is ignored.
2. Many words not only name the given object, but also reflect certain associations, which in their turn express the attitude of the speaker to the named object. These associations, all taken together, make the connotative element or simple connotation of the word meaning. E.g. daddy is a colloqual form, showing endearment.
3. The denotational meaning of the word can be segmented into smaller semantic components, named sems. E.g. “father” is a male parent – the word is opposed to female parent or to child, etc.
4. A word may be and the majority of words are polysemantic. E.g. “father” is a) male parent, b) ancestor, c) founder, d) priest.

 

It should be pointed out that the grammatical meaning is defined, as an expression or in speech, of those relationships between words, which are based on certain contrastive features of the arrangements in which these words occur. In natural fluent speech it is of course difficult, if at all possible, to separate the lexical and grammatical meanings from each other within the single semantic structure of the word. That is why considered also should be the lexico-grammatical meaning of words, which is an integrative denominator of all possible meanings of the words belonging to one lexico-grammatical class. The lexico-grammatical meaning is a feature, according to which words are most easily and primarily grouped together.

The conceptual content of the word is expressed in its denotational or denotative meaning (i.e. the object named). The information based on complex associations, which originated in habitual contexts, these contexts being either verbal or situatinal and of which both the speaker and the listener are aware, is named connotational meaning.

The interaction between the denotation and connotation elements in the meaning of one word is no less complicated than in case of combination of lexical and grammatical meanings. The connotative component is considered to be optional, and even in those cases when it is present in the semantic structure of the unit, its proportion with respect to denotation may vary greatly.

The expressive function of the language with its orientation towards the speaker’s emotions and the pragmatic function dealing with the predetermined effect of the utterance on the listener are both contained in and rendered through connotations. Scholars point out for principle types of connotations:

1. stylistic connotations

When associations concern the situation in which the word is uttered and percieved, or the social circumstances (which may be either formal or familiar) or the relationship between the interlocutors (which may be poilte or rough, etc.) or the type of purpose of communication (which may be official, poetical, etc.) then the con notation is stylistic.

2. emotional connotations

The emotive connotation, also named effective, is acquired by the word as a result of the word’s frequent use in the contexts, corresponding to different emotional situations.

3. evaluative connotations

The evaluative connotation expresses only two types of evaluation, which are positive and negative, so such a connotation may be regarded as either approval is disapproval of the object of speech.

4. expressive or intensifying connotations

The intensifying connotation may be roughly characterized as general exaggeration of the basic meaning.

 

Linguists also point out some defninte variations of meaning which may be highlighted in accordance with the style and sphere of usage of words. From this viewpoint we may have:

1. colloquial meaning,
1. literary colloquial,
2. familiar colloquial,
3. slang,
4. vulgar;
2. bookish meaning,
1. general bookish,
2. poetic bookish,
3. scientific bookish (learnid).

 

From the point of view of its diachronic or historical perspective, the meaning may be:

1. present-day (current) – is in the use;
2. obsolescent (выходящий из употребления) – being in the process of getting out of use;
3. obsolete – presently out of use.

 

Speaking about different types of connotation, one should not confuse them with the phenomenon of polysemy, characterizing the majority of words in modern developed languages. The fact that constantly attracts the attention of scholars is that the English word, as compared to the word of other national languages, such as e.g. Russian, has developed and still develops much greater polysemy, which is due to a number of reasons:

1. the long life of modern English,
2. the monosyllabic character of the English word and the language in general and the predominance of root words in this language.

 

Each word has special structural singnals denoting the differences in the meanings of these lexical units. Alongside with structural there are also contextual signals of this type, although lexical and lexico-grammatical variations of the word, taken together, form the semantic structure, also named the semantic paradigm of this word.