Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Fundamentals of English Lexicology - Coggle Diagram
Fundamentals of English Lexicology
Lexicology Overview
Definition: Study of words, their structure, meaning, and usage.
Lexicology is derived from Greek:
Lexis = Word
Logos = Learning
Scope
Lexical structure
Word formation
Semantics (word meaning)
Classification of words
Lexicography (dictionary compilation)
Branches of Lexicology
General Lexicology:
Studies vocabulary features common to all languages.
Special Lexicology:
Focuses on the vocabulary of a specific language.
Descriptive (Synchronic): Studies vocabulary at a given time.
Historical (Diachronic): Studies vocabulary evolution.
Contrastive Lexicology
Compares vocabularies of different languages.
Key Lexicological Concepts
Morpheme: Smallest meaningful unit in a word.
Phraseology: Study of stable word combinations (e.g., idioms, proverbs).
Semantics: Study of word meaning.
Referential Meaning: Links word to the object/concept.
Functional Meaning: Word's role in a sentence.
Motivation
Lexical Motivation: Word's meaning relates to its form (e.g., compounds).
Non-Motivated: Words with meanings unrelated to form (e.g., idioms).
Relationship with Other Linguistic Fields
Phonetics: Studies the sound form of words
Grammar: Categorizes words into parts of speech.
Syntax: Analyzes word combinations and sentence structure.
Sociolinguistics: Explores the impact of social factors on language.
Stylistics: Examines word usage in different styles of communication.
History of Language: Traces vocabulary changes over time.
Vocabulary
Defined as the sum total of words in a language.
Key Terms
Lexicon: Mental or written dictionary of words.
Word: Smallest unit of meaning with a grammatical function.
Vocabulary Characteristics
Adaptive system: Responds to changes in culture and communication.
Language Structure and Word Formation
Two Perspectives
Syntagmatic Relations: Linear relationship of words in a sentence.
Paradigmatic Relations: Words grouped by meaning or structure (e.g., synonyms).
Word-formation Processes
Affixation: Adding prefixes or suffixes.
Conversion: Changing word class without altering form.
Composition: Combining two words.
Shortening: Creating abbreviations (e.g., acronyms, blends).