Modern philology, as a science, consists of several main sections, each of which is devoted to the study of a particular linguistic phenomenon or class. One of these sections is devoted to a category such as words. Today we will talk about what lexicology is, what is its subject, and what exactly is it studying.
Definition
First of all, we start with the definition of the concept itself and a list of the main problems that science deals with.
Lexicology is a section of linguistics that studies vocabulary, that is, the vocabulary of a language. Tokens have a dual structure. They simultaneously have a content plan and a plan of expression.
In general, science studies the following problems:
- The lexical composition of the language.
- The relationship between words and concepts assigned to them.
- The main types of lexical meanings are direct, figurative.
- The history of words, vocabulary replenishment.
- Groups of words depending on their stylistic meaning, frequency of use.
Sections
In lexicology distinguish various sections and subsections.
These include:
- General lexicology, which studies the general laws of the development of vocabulary, its functioning.
- Specific, studying the vocabulary of a particular language.
- Historical - studies the history of the occurrence of words, ways to replenish the vocabulary. Its second name is etymology.
- Comparative - studies the vocabulary of two or more languages, highlighting in it general and various features in structure and semantics.
- Applied lexicology is a science that studies the issues of linguodidactics, speech culture, as well as the features of dictionaries.
Communication with other disciplines
We found out what lexicology is, now it's time to talk about what philological sciences it is connected with.
First of all, it is closely connected with lexicography, the science of the creation and functioning of dictionaries. The object of the study of lexicography are dictionaries in which all data about words is recorded - their semantics, grammatical features, scope of use, history of occurrence. Lexicographers obtain all these data directly using lexicology.
It is also associated with etymology, the science of the origin of words. In etymological dictionaries , not only the meaning of the word is recorded, but also its origin, the history of formation and transformation. Sometimes in the training course "Lexicology", the definition of which we gave, etymology is not allocated in a separate section.
Onomastics is the science of proper nouns. It studies the emergence and functioning of proper names - names and surnames, names of cities, villages, rivers, firms, space objects.
Stylistics - studies the functioning of certain groups of words in a particular style, depending on their meaning and origin, scope.
Phraseology - a science that studies phraseological units, proverbs and sayings, the ways of their occurrence, meaning. Quite often in the textbooks on the Russian language you can see the section “Lexicology and Phraseology”, although some authors of textbooks and training courses still prefer to do them in two sections when studying.
School course
Familiarization with lexicology, as with any other section of linguistics, begins at school. Starting from the fifth grade, children are introduced to the basics - they explain what lexicology is, learn to distinguish synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, choose pairs for them, talk about the ambiguity and unambiguity of the word, consider the phenomenon of paronymy. Then they introduce the active and passive supply, various layers of vocabulary - jargon, dialecticisms, vernacular, clericalism.
Students also develop vocabulary skills - they learn to find words in them, read dictionary entries correctly and extract the necessary information from them.
In high school, the acquired knowledge is repeated, systematized and consolidated.
University study
At the philological faculties, the study of the “Lexicology” section of the Russian language begins in the second year. During the course, students analyze the basic concepts of lexicology, study layers of vocabulary by origin, its functional varieties, stylistic capabilities of classes and groups of words.
Concepts such as synonymy, antonymy, polysemy and homonymy, and paronymy are carefully studied. At the same time, students are introduced to various dictionaries. Quite often, phraseology is also included in the course, giving it a few lessons.
Also quite often, simultaneously with lexicology, they study lexicography, highlighting it as a separate special course.
findings
We found out what lexicology is, what are its main areas of work, and with what philological sciences is it most closely connected. The study of this section of linguistics begins at school, and when studying at the university at the Faculty of Philology, previously acquired knowledge is deepened and improved.