LEXICOLOGY AS A LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINE

Lexicology - the semantic or morphological study of the linguistic stock of a language,

particularly as to content, meaning or use of the individual forms; the study of the words in a
language, their meaning and use, their derivation and history.
Lexicography - the listing and describing of the words or morphemes of a language,
particularly from the standpoint of meaning, with the possible addition of derivation and
history. (Mario Pei, uoted by !achek"
Lexicology, unlie lexicography, is concerned with the study of the regularities which can be
ascertained in the vocabulary of the e#amined language, of the mutual relations of the
individual items of that vocabulary, in short, in discovering its structure.
Lexicography is descriptive; registration of the units of the vocabulary of the given language
according to some fi#ed principle - formal (alphabetical order"
- dictated by considerations of content (arrangement
according to the semantic relationship - dictionaries of ideas".
T!E ACT O" NA#ING
$oca%ulary i&e'( - naming units of language, employed by the speakers of that language in
the $onomatological$ function.
%he ono'a&ological pro%le' - naming of facts of the e#tralingual reality.
%he proce(( o) na'ing is the first part&stage of the more comprehensive process of lingual
(&yli*a&ion (whenever a member of a language community delivers an utterance". (Mathesius"
%he second stage - organi'ation of the names established during the first stage into larger
wholes, clauses and sentences - the )unc&ional (yn&ax+
(anguage is an open (y(&e' - i.e. it contains some peripheral elements which are not
satisfactorily integrated in it, and whose e#istence appears to motivate most of the change( to
which the system of language is e#posed at any epoch of its development. (anguage is a
,yna'ic, no& a (&a&ic (y(&e'.
(e#ical level is more prominently open than the phonic or grammatical levels. )or this reason
many scholars have voiced their doubts whether the vocabulary may be ascribed the systemic
status at all.
*ohuslav %rnka+ vocabulary is only an in-en&ory o) i&e'( serving as materials for the
genuinely systemic levels of language (phonic, morphological, syntactic, etc.".
*ut undoubtedly some aspects of the vocabulary of the given language clearly reveal a pattern
characteristic of that language and different from the patterns found in other languages (e.g.
the way of naming newly emerging facts; homonymy".
%he cen&ral pro%le' o) lexicology , naming facts of the e#tra-linguistic reality which
surround the speakers of the given community of language. %hese surroundings mostly appear
to be identical in various language communities throughout the world, despite some partial
differences possibility of study from the functionalist viewpoint.
Lexe'e - -a meaningful spoken form (word or stem" that is an item of vocabulary, abstracted
from sentence words; a complete grammatical form. (Mario Pei, uoted by !achek"
Lexe'e . a /or, . -a spoken segment that can be used in isolation- (. not the part of such a
word, which cannot be used independently, such as prefi#es, suffi#es, etc.".
*loomfield+ -/or, i( a 'ini'u' )ree )or'.- /t is free to take up different positions in a
sentence (morphemes cannot".
Mathesius+ -/or, i( &he ('alle(& in,epen,en&ly u&ili*a%le (eg'en& o) an u&&erance
charac&eri*e, %y a cer&ain 'eaning.-
(yons (0123"+ -/or,( ,o no& na'e 0or (igni)y1 &hing(, &hey re)er &o &he'+-
4gden and 5ichards , indirect relationship between the symbol and the referent.
%64786% or 9:;9:
symbolises refers to
(causal relationship" (causal relationship"
9<M*4( stands for 5:):5:;%
(indirect relationship"
SE#ANTIC 2ELATIONS!IPS 3ET4EEN LEXICAL UNITS 0SENSE 2ELATIONS15
POLYSE#Y, !O#ONY#Y, !YPONY#Y, SYNONY#Y AND ANTONY#Y
0co'ple'en&ari&y, con-er(ene((1+
(e#ical items are opposed to each other, and this opposition yields ,i(&inc&i-e )ea&ure(, also called
(e'e( or (e'an&ic ele'en&(, whereas the content of a le#eme may be called (e'e'e.
(=tekauer, p. 0>>"
Co'ponen&ial analy(i( (.feature analysis"+ universal abstract constituents&features+ ?4;?5:%: #
@*9%5@?%, @?%/4;, 97*9%@;?:, A7@(/%< (@(/!:+ vegetable # animal, animal in the wider
sense # human", 67M@;, @;/M@%:, M@(: # ):M@(:, @B7(% # ;4;-@B7(%, ?4MM4;,
?47;%@*(: # 7;?47;%@*(:, etc.
(e#icon contains systems of le#ical items which are intricately interrelated and in which the meaning
of each individual word depends on its opposition to other items in the set.
:#amples of relations+
Inclu(ion (inferential meaning, *olinger", exclu(ion.
Scale - items on it have no absolute value, but the value is shown by comparison.
boiling hot - hot - warm - tepid - cold - ice cold
#e&aphorical ex&en(ion 0(hi)& o) 'eaning1 6 the girl smiles # the sun smiles, kill a person # kill time,
the man runs # the water runs and the nose runs and the car runs on petrol.
%he cau(a&i-e rela&ion - a relation found in verbs only.
(=tekauer, p. 0>3"
9emantic fields - every word is determined in its meaning by the presence of other words in the
vocabulary (those that are related to the same or associated ranges or phenomena".
C. %rier+ D)ields are linguistic realities e#isting between single words and the total vocabulary; they are
parts of a whole and resemble words in that they combine into some higher unit-.
/tems in the field occur in (e7uence( or cycle( , some e#hibit a par&6/hole rela&ion(hip, some are
ordered hierarchically or by &axono'y.

Poly(e'y (8reek polsmos . having many meanings" - words with two or more senses.
!yperlexe'e ()ilipec" - a polysemic le#eme with several meanings.
Polysemy is a manifestation of the economi'ing tendency in the language+
Polysemy is revealed by means of antonymy+ man (. a male adult" # woman
man # boy
man (. human" # animal
child # adult
child # parent
General x (peci)ic (en(e+ cat (. beast of prey, e.g. tiger, lion, panther" # cat (. common cat, a
pet animal"
Bifferent senses of a polysemous word linked to ,i))eren& gra''a&ical )or'(+
ucho - ui (animate" # ucha (inanimate"
brother - brothers (members of a family" # brethren (members of a religious group"
bratr - brati # brat
hang - hung (. povEsil" # hanged (. obEsil"
antenna - antennae (organs on the heads of insects and crustaceans" # antennas (aerials"
Polysemy by the means of &he con&ex& - most often+
operation (surgery # army (battle or transfer of troops" # mathematics # technology #
economy"
Di))erence( %e&/een language( - polysemy in one language # two or more different words in
the other+
flower # 0. kvtina, F. kvt (bloom"
kl # 0. key (to a lock", F. spanner (a metal tool to turn nuts and bolts", G. clef (a sign in
music"
%he basis for the development of additional meanings is usually a &ran()er performed on the
basis of i,en&i&y or (i'ilari&y.
(=tekauer, pp. 0HI-0H0"

!o'ony'y
!o'ony'( - two or more words that are identical in form but different in meaning.
2eal ho'ony'( - sound and look (in written form" identical+
bank (. slope", bank (. an institution where people deposit or borrow money"
!o'ophone( - they sound identical, but are spelled differently+
through # through
!o'ograph( - they have identical spelling, but different pronunciation+
lead Jli+dK # JledK, wind JwindK # JwaindK

"al(e )rien,( 0faux amis1 - interlanguage homonyms.
Parony'y 6 words similar in form, but totally different in meaning (cosmic-cosmetic,
historical-hysterical".
Synony'y
Synony'( - words or phrases with the same or nearly the same meaning.
)ew true synonyms; most pairs or rows of synonyms have nearly the same denotation and a
different connotation. 9ynonymous relations link words from different le#ical strata (standard,
dialect, informal". Tau&ony'(, no& (ynony'( (according to some le#icologists" - dialectal
synonyms (valley - dale", standard-slang synonyms (girl-bird-lass", synonyms from two
standards (*r. spanner - @m. wrench".
%he variants which are not synonyms either+
- spelling variants (colour - color, whisky - whiskey"
- pronunciation variants Jdi-K-Jdai-K (digest, director"
- morphological variants (effectivity - effectiveness, brothers - brethren", adLectival affi#es -ic
and -ical, prefi# a- (wait - await"
- nominal vs. verbal constructions (walk - take a walk"
- doublets due to conversion (reading - read (this is a good read""
- paraphrases (female dog - bitch, male duck - drake, the victor from @usterlit' -;apoleon"
(=tekauer, pp. 0HG-0H>"
A%(olu&e (ynony'( 6 words agreeing in denotation, connotation and distribution (kind - sort,
!a"ykovda - lingvistika, "empis - geografie". 5ather in ?'ech than in :nglish. 4ften a
domestic word vs. a loanword. 9ome have become e#tinct (luba - chemie", dated or out-of-
date (wireless replaced by radio".
Clo(e (ynony'( differing in a single (e'e+
!ump - leap (both mean Dchange in vertical position-, but leap in addition also contains the
seme Dchange in hori'ontal position-.
close (stresses e#clusion" - shut (stresses the process"
Synony'( ,i))ering in in&en(i&y - greater intensity is often accompanied by e#pressive or
stylistic connotations (break - smash, cry - shout, scream, screech, yell, howl, s#uall".
S&yli(&ic (ynony'( - oppositions neutral - marked, neutral - formal, neutral - obsolete, neutral
- poetic.
Near6(ynony'( - words which are closely related with the members of a synonym group (or
a semantic field"
An&ony'y
4ppositeness ((yons" - two words have opposite meanings.
6 an&ony'y 0con&rary an&ony'(1 6 gradable adLectives (i.e. implicitly comparable terms"
which may be modified with adverbs (very, much, slightly, etc$"
6 co'ple'en&ari&y 0con&ra,ic&ory8co'ple'en&ary an&ony'(1 6 oppositeness between pairs
of non-gradable words. %he denial of one word in such a pair implies the assertion of the
other and the assertion of one implies the denial of the other.
6 con-er(ene((
An&ony'( -(+ nega&i-e /or,(5
%he derivatives with prefi#es in-, un-, non-, dis- usually are not rated as antonyms but as
nega&i-e /or,(, i.e. mere denials of the positive meanings (certain - uncertain, literate -
illiterate". 9ometimes both a real antonym and a negative word are available (easy - uneasy,
difficult, married - unmarried, single".

LANGUAGE "IGU2ES5 #ETAP!O2, #ETONY#Y, SI#ILE, TA3OO,
EUP!E#IS#, DYSP!E#IS#, UNDE2STATE#ENT, !YPE23OLE,
SYNECDOC!E, LITOTES+ LOAN 4O2DS+
"igura&i-e language - an e#pressive use of language when words are used in a non-literal
way to suggest illuminating comparisons and resemblances ()igure( o) (peech". /t has a local,
restricted effect in which special meaning is e#tracted from the linking of two unlike words.
#e&aphor - a figurative e#pression in which one notion is described in terms usually
associated with another. %he linkage between the two words is implicit. (launch an idea"
#e&ony'y - a semantic change where an attribute is used for the whole (crown%king".
PMenesenN poLmenovOnN na skutePnost, kterO Le s pQvodnN skutePnostN spLata nELakou
prostorovou, Pasovou, kvalitativnN, funkPnN, pMNPinnou a Linou souvislostN Pi soume'nostN. ;a
ro'dNl od metafory si metonymie v podstatE vRdy uchovOvO primOrnN vS'nam pMenOTenUho
poLmenovOnN, pou'e ho 'asouvO do po'adN. Ce pMedstavitelnO Lako ListS druh elipsy (vypil
sklenici". Metonymie a&u9ln: (&vacet podvlkaek podvalo se nahoru a eklo$$$", u*u9ln:
(nos stbrnou liku"; on&ex&o-9 (st 'aka, hr(t &vo(ka, )raha ro"hodla".
Si'ile - a figurative e#pression that makes an e#plicit comparison (as tall as a tower".
Ta%oo - e#pressions which people avoid using in polite society because they believe them
harmful or feel them embarrassing or offensive.
Euphe'i(' , a figure of speech in which an unpleasant, offensive, harsh or blunt word or
e#pression is avoided and a vague or indirect e#pression or one that is milder is used instead
(pass away*on for die, little girls+room for lavatory or toilet; developing countries for
backward countries; single-parent family; previously owned, gosh for ,od".
Dy(phe'i(' , the substitution of a derogatory or unpleasant term for a pleasant or neutral
one and a term so used (pushing up daisies, sniff it".
Un,er(&a&e'en& ; (an unduly" restrained statement or e#pression, representing the facts as
being less than is actually the case.
!yper%ole , a figure of speech consisting in emphatically e#aggerated or e#travagant
statement, used to e#press strong feeling or produce a strong impression, not meant to be
taken literally (-here were millions of people in the street$ -he heat drives me cra"y$ smashing
new dress. skyscraper".
Synec,oche - a figure of speech in which the part is used for the whole or the whole is used
for the part (wheels for car, creatures for cats".
Li&o&e( - a figure of speech where something is understated, often ironically. :.g. an
affirmative is e#pressed by the negative of the contrary. (/o small amount". (/ot bad,
meaning good".
Irony - language that e#presses a meaning other than that literally conveyed by the words.
(-hat+s marvellous, said of poor work"
Para,ox - an apparent contradiction that contains a truth. @ situation, fact or statement which
seems impossible and&or difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or
characteristics.