Title of the Study Program

English Philology
Title of the Module English Lexicology
Faculty, Department Faculty of Philology, Department of English Philology
Instructor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Linas Selmistraitis
Address Room 209, Department of English Philology, Lithuanian
University of Educational Sciences, 39 Studentų St., Vilnius
LT-08106, Lithuania, tel. +370 5 2757258, e-mail:
linas.selmistraitis@leu.lt
Language of Instruction English
Required Prerequisites The English Language B2 level according to CEFR1
Suggested Academic Cycle Bachelor degree studies (from 3rd year of studies)
or Year of Studies
Semester Autumn
ECTS Credits 3
Contact Hours per Week 3
Compulsory/ Elective Compulsory
Methods of Teaching Lectures, seminars and individual consultations
Form of Assessment Examination

Course Description

The course introduces to the study of words: meaning, development and change of
meaning, origin, morphemic structure, derivation, systematic relations. The course takes up
the history and provenance of English words from their entry into the language up to the
present day. Following a general survey of the lexicon, special vocabularies, word formation,
neologisms, foreign borrowings and the slang and dialect lexicon will be examined. The
course surveys them and outlines the lexicon of English as exemplified in dictionaries.
Principles and problems of etymology are discussed, along with continuity and change in the
lexicon.
The course aims at providing students with a deeper understanding of the word
structure and meaning, as it relates to the mind, print and computer, achieving theoretical and
practical mastery of different arias of English lexicology, acquiring habits of appropriate and
effective usage of dictionaries.

Topics

1. The object of science of lexicology. Lexicology and other branches of linguistics.

Lexis as a system. General problems of the word theory. The word definition.
Phonetic, morphological and semantic motivation of the word.
2. The word as a language sign. Soussure’s theory. Ogden’s and Richards’s semiotic
triangle. Notion and lexical meaning of the word. Denotative and referential meanings
of the word. J. Lyons’ theory. Connotative meanings of the word.
3. Polysemy of the word. Semantic structure of the word: lexico-semantic variants and
their interrelation. Componential analysis and its aim.
4. Causes, nature and result of semantic change of the word. Linguistic and extra-
linguistic causes of semantic changing of the word. Metaphorical and metonymical
meanings. Narrowing and widening of meaning. Amelioration and degradations of
meaning.

1
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
 5. Notion of the morpheme. The word and the morpheme. Classification of morphemes
according to different criteria. Notion of lexeme and word forms. Roots, stems,
affixes, allomorphs.
6. Affixation. Derivational affixes and bases and their valency. Classification of prefixes
and suffixes according to parts of speech, origin, productivity, activity, and meaning.
7. Conversion. Factors and causes of conversion origin in the English language. Patterns
of conversion: N>V, V>N, Adj.>V. Semantic relations in conversion pairs.
Substantivization. Adjectivization.
8. Composition. Features of English compounds. Criteria for distinguishing between a
compound and a word collocation. Classification of compounds according to their
belonging to parts of speech, types of building, structural patterns and semantics.
Compound derivatives, their patterns.
9. Word cutting/clipping. Acronyms. Abbreviations. Reduplication. Back formation.
Blending.
10. Homonymy and polysemy. Classification of homonyms. Sources of homonyms.
Synonyms and their classification (ideographic and stylistic). Synonymic duplicates.
Sources of synonyms. Paronyms. Antonyms. Classification: contrary and
contradictory gradable. Root and derivational antonyms.
11. Semantic fields and hierarchical word relations. Hyponymy and hyperonymy.
Thematic and ideographic word groups. English terminology, its semantic and
structural peculiarities. Neologisms, archaic and obsolete words.
12. The origin of English vocabulary. Latin and Greek influence. Borrowings from
Scandinavian languages. French borrowings. Etymological dublets. Assimilation of
borrowings
13. Relations between language dialects, variants and notion of Standard English.
American English variant. The English language in Canada, Australia, India, etc.
Notion of Creole languages.

Readings

1. Carter, R. 2012. Vocabulary: Applied Linguistics Perspectives. Routledge.

2. Davies, D. 2005. Varieties of Modern English. London: Longman
3. Davis, M. 2008. English word-formation. Ljubljana.
4. Harley, H. 2006. English Words. A Linguistic Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing
5. Jackson, H., Amvela, E. 2001. Words, Meaning and Vocabulary. London, New York:
Continuum
6. Jasudavičiūtė, R., Selmistraitis, L. 2006. Seminars in English Lexicology: Word
building. Vilnius: VPU Publishing House.
7. Katamba, F. 2005. English words: structure, history, usage. London, New York:
Routledge.
8. Katamba, F., Stonham J. 2006. Morphology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
9. Plag, I. 2003. Word-Formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10. Selmistraitis, L. 2011. Seminars in English Lexicology: Semantics. Vilnius: VPU
Publishing House.
11. Šeškauskienė, I. 2013. Ways with words: insights into the English lexicon and some
cross-linguistic aspects of study. Vilnius: Vilnius University Publishing House :
Vilnius University.