And logos which denotes ‘learning, a department of knowledge’. Thus, the literal

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Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, the science of language. The term
Lexi c o l o g y is composed of two Greek morphemes: lexis meaning ‘word, phrase’
and logos which denotes ‘learning, a department of knowledge’. Thus, the literal
meaning of the term L e x i 
с 
o l 
о 
g 
у 
is ‘the science of the word’. The literal
meaning, however, gives only a general notion of the aims and the subject-matter of
this branch of linguistic science, since all its other branches also take account of
words in one way or another approaching them from different angles. Phonetics, for
instance, investigating the phonetic structure of language, i.e. its system of
phonemes and intonation patterns, is concerned with the study of the outer sound
form of the word. Grammar, which is inseparably bound up with Lexicology, is the
study of the grammatical structure of language. It is concerned with the various
means of expressing grammatical relations between words and with the patterns
after which words are combined into word-groups and sentences.
Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of
scientific research, its basic task being a study and systematic description of
vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use. Lexicology is
concerned with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units, and with
morphemes which make up words.
There are two principal approaches in linguistic science to the study of
language material, namely the synchronic (Gr. syn — ‘together, with’ and chronos
— ‘time’) and the diachronic (Gr. dia — ‘through’) approach. With regard to
S p e c i a l Lexicology the synchronic approach is concerned with the vocabulary of
a language as it exists at a given time, for instance, at the present time. It is special
D e s 
с 
r i p t i v e L e x i c o l o g y that deals with the vocabulary and vocabulary
units of a particular language at a certain time. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology is therefore a course in Special Descriptive Lexicology, its object of
study being the English vocabulary as it exists at the present time. The diachronic approach in terms
of Special Lexicology deals with the changes
and the development of vocabulary in the course of time. It is special Historical
Lexicology that deals with the evolution of the vocabulary units of a language as
time goes by. An English Historical Lexicology would be concerned, therefore, with
the origin of English vocabulary units, their change and development, the linguistic
and extralinguistic factors modifying their structure, meaning and usage within the
history of the English language.
Lexicology studies various lexical units: morphemes, words, variable wordgroups and phraseological
units. We proceed from the assumption that the word is the
basic unit of language system, the largest on the morphologic and the smallest on the
syntactic plane of linguistic analysis. The word is a structural and semantic entity
within the language system. Lexicology
studies various lexical units: morphemes,
words, variable word-groups and phraseological units Semasiology as a Branch of Linguistics
The branch of the study of language concerned with the meaning of words and word equivalents is
called semasiology. The name comes from the Greek word semasia meaning signification. As
semasiology deals not with every kind of meaning but with the lexical meaning only, it may be
regarded as a branch of Lexicology. Grammatical meaning is the meaning conveyed in a sentence by
word order and other grammatical signals. Also called structural meaning. Linguists distinguish
grammatical meaning from lexical meaning (or denotation)--that is, the dictionary meaning of an
individual word The word combines in its semantic structure two meanings – lexical and
grammatical. Lexical meaning is the individual meaning of the word (e.g. table). Grammatical
meaning is the meaning of the whole class or a subclass. For example, the class of nouns has the
grammatical meaning of thingness. If we take a noun (table) we may say that it possesses its

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individual lexical meaning (it corresponds to a definite piece of furniture) and the grammatical
meaning of thingness (this is the meaning of the whole class). Besides, the noun ‘table’ has the
grammatical meaning of a subclass – countableness. Any verb combines its individual lexical
meaning with the grammatical meaning of verbiality – the ability to denote actions or states. An
adjective combines its individual lexical meaning with the grammatical meaning of the whole class of
adjectives – qualitativeness – the ability to denote qualities. Adverbs possess the grammatical
meaning of adverbiality – the ability to denote quality of qualities Lexical meaning refers to the
sense (or meaning) of a word (or lexeme) as it appears in a dictionary. Also known as semantic
meaning, denotative meaning, and central meaning. Contrast with grammatical meaning (or
structural meaning) a metaphor is defined as a semantic change based on a similarity in form or
function between the original concept and the target concept named by a word. For example, mouse:
small, gray rodent with a long tail → small, gray computer device with a long cord. Semasiology is a
branch of linguistics concerned with the meaning of words
and word equivalents. The main objects of semasiological study are as follows: types
of lexical meaning, polysemy and semantic structure of words, semantic development
of words, the main tendencies of the change of word-meanings, semantic grouping in
the vocabulary system, i.e. synonyms, antonyms, semantic fields, thematic groups,
etc. Polysemy is very characteristic of the English vocabulary due to the
monosyllabic character of English words and the predominance of root words. The
greater the frequency of the word, the greater the number of meanings that constitute
its semantic structure. A special formula known as "Zipf's law" has been worked out
to express the correlation between frequency, word length and polysemy: the shorter
the word, the higher its frequency of use; the higher the frequency, the wider its
combinability , i.e. the more word combinations it enters; the wider its combinability,
the more meanings are realised in these contexts. Metaphor. The transfer of name based on the
association of similarity. It is the
application of a name or a descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally
applicable, e.g. head of an army, eye of a needle.
Metonymy. The transfer of name based on the association of contiguity. It is a
universal device in which the name of one thing is changed for that of another, to
which it is related by association of ideas, as having close relationship to one another,
e.g. the chair may mean "the chairman", the bar -"the lawyers". Synonymy is the coincidence in the
essential meaning of words which usually
preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics.
Synonyms are two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and
possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings,
interchangeable in some contexts. These words are distinguished by different shades
of meaning, connotations and stylistic features.
The synonymic dominant is the most general term potentially containing the
specific features rendered by all the other members of the group. The words face,
visage, countenance have a common denotational meaning "the front of the head"
which makes them close synonyms. Face is the dominant, the most general word;
countenance is the same part of the head with the reference to the expression it bears;
visage is a formal word, chiefly literary, for face or countenance.
In the series leave, depart, quit, retire, clear out the verb leave, being general
and most neutral term can stand for each of the other four terms. According to whether the
difference is in denotational or connotational
component synonyms are classified into ideographic and stylistic. Ideographic synonyms denote
different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.
They are nearly identical in one or more denotational meanings and interchangeable
at least in some contexts, e.g. beautiful - fine - handsome -pretty Beautiful conveys,

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for instance, the strongest meaning; it marks the possession of that quality in its
fullest extent, while the other terms denote the possession of it in part only. Fineness,
handsomeness and prettiness are to beauty as parts to a whole.
In the synonymic group choose, select, opt, elect, pick the word choose has the
most general meaning, the others are characterised by differences clearly statable:
select implies a wide choice of possibilities (select a Christmas present for a child),
opt implies an alternative (either this, or that as in Fewer students are opting for
science courses nowadays); pick often implies collecting and keeping for future use
(pick new words), elect implies choosing by vote (elect a president; elect smb (to be)
chairman).
Stylistic synonyms differ not so much in denotational as in emotive value or
stylistic sphere of application.
Literary language often uses poetic words, archaisms as stylistic alternatives of
neutral words, e.g. maid for girl, bliss for happiness, steed for horse, quit for leave. Contextual or
context - dependent synonyms are similar in meaning only under
some specific distributional conditions. It may happen that the difference between the
meanings of two words is contextually neutralised , E.g. buy and get would not
generally be taken as synonymous, but they are synonyms in the following examples:
I'll go to the shop and buy some bread.
I'll go to the shop and get some bread.
The verbs bear, suffer, stand are semantically different and not interchangeable
except when used in the negative form: I can't stand it, I can't bear it.
One of the sources of synonymy is borrowing. Synonymy has its characteristic
patterns in each language. Its peculiar feature in English is the contrast between
simple native words stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and
learned words of Greco-Latin origin.
Native English: to ask, to end, to rise, teaching, belly.
French Borrowings: to question, to finish, to mount, guidance, stomach.
Latin borrowings: to interrogate, to complete, to ascend, instruction, abdomen.
There are also words that came from dialects, in the last hundred years, from
American English, in particular, e.g. long distance call AE - trunk call BE, radio AE -
wireless BE. (Absolute) Total synonyms are those members of a synonymic group which can replace
each other in any given context, without the slightest alteration in denotative meaning
or emotional meaning and connotations. They are very rare. Examples can be found
mostly in special literature among technical terms and others, e.g. fatherland - motherland, suslik -
gopher, noun - substantive, functional affix - flection, inflection,
scarlet fever - scarlatina Antonymy in semantics refers to words that have opposite meanings. These
are usually in pairs, for example: hot/cold, tall/short, loud/quiet. An antonym is a word that has the
opposite meaning of another word. An antonym does not have to be an exact opposite of the original
word, as long as it expresses a generally opposite idea It is also possible for one word to have
several antonyms. For example, some antonyms of unite are:
divide
break