INTRODUCTION
LEXICOLOGY is the study of words, the meaningful units of language, or the vocabulary of a language as
a system.
Word is one of the units of speech or writing that native speakers of a language usually regard as the
smallest isolable meaningful element of the language.
A word is the smallest free form in a language, in contrast to a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of
meaning. A word may be a sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printing,
which symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or of a
combination of morphemes.
Words must be analyzed in respect of both their form and their meaning. Therefore, lexicology relies on:
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MORPHOLOGY: the study of the forms of words and their components.
Form = morphological / external structure of words.
It is often associated with the study of word formation, dealing with the process of making new
words.
SEMANTICS: the study of their meanings.
Meaning = semantic / internal structure of words.
It is often analyzed on 2 levels:
o Syntagmatic: the meaning of the word in its relationship with neighboring words in
connected speech.
o Paradigmatic: the meaning of the word in its relationship with other words in the vocabulary
system.
ETYMOLOGY
1. ETYMOLOGY is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning
have changed over time.
2. Etymology of English:
English derives from Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), a West Germanic variety, although its current
vocabulary includes words from many languages. English belongs to the Indo-European family of
languages.
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Old English (450-1100 AD)
The history of English started when 3 Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) invaded Britain during
5th century AD. The language of the Angles was called Englisc – from which the word English is
derived. The Celtic-speaking inhabitants of Britain were pushed by the invaders into what is now
Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which
developed into what we now call Old English. About half of the most commonly used words in
Modern English have Old English roots.
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Middle English (1100-1500)
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In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of France today), invaded and
conquered England. French became the language of the Royal Court and the upper classes, while
the lower classes continued to speak English. In the 14th century, English became dominant in Britain
again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English.
Modern English
o Early Modern English (1500-1800)
The Great Vowel Shift started at the end of Middle English, with vowels being pronounced
shorter and shorter. Contact with people from other countries and the Renaissance led to many
new words entering the language. The invention of printing brought standardization to spelling
and grammar, and the dialect of London, where most publishers were, became the standard. In
1604 the first English dictionary was published.
o
Late Modern English (1800-present)
Late Modern English has many more words compared to Early Modern English, because of two
reasons: the Industrial Revolution and new technology created a need for new words, and the
British Empire at its height conquered many countries, from which the English language adopted
foreign words.
3. Borrowed words in the English language:
The vocabulary of any language consists of two groups – the native words and the borrowed words.
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a. Types of borrowings:
International words
Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive
borrowings from one ultimate source are called international words.
E.g. scientific, technological (radio), political terms (democracy), terms of arts and sports (golf), imported
fruits and food (coffee, cocoa).

Etymological doublets
One of a pair of (or several) words more or less similar in meaning and phonation, appearing in language
as the result of borrowing from the same source at different times.
E.g. hospital (Latin) – hostel (Norman French) – hotel (Paris French); to capture – to catch – to chase

Translations-loans (calques)
Translation loans are words and expressions formed from the material already existing in the language
but according to patterns taken from another language, by way of literal word-for-word or root-for-root
translation.
E.g. wonder child (German: wunderkind); first dancer (Italian: prima ballerina)

Hybrids
A hybrid is a word whose different elements are of etymologically different origin.
E.g. automobile (Greek: auto – self, Latin: mobilis – moveable); homosexual (Greek: homos – same,
Latin: sexus – gender)
b. Changes to borrowings
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Phonetic assimilation: changes in sound and stress.
Sounds that are unfamiliar to the English language were replaced by similar native sounds. E.g. café
The stress on the final syllable of words borrowed from French or Latin was transferred to the first
syllable. E.g. honour, reason
Grammatical assimilation: Borrowed words acquire new grammatical categories and paradigms by
analogy with other English words. However, some words retain their foreign inflexions or have two
plural forms. E.g. coconut – coconuts, phenomenon – phenomena, formula – formulae/formulas
Semantic assimilation: adopt only one of the original meanings, or acquire new meanings not found
in its former semantic structure. E.g. move (Eng) – mouvoir (French)
WORD FORMATION
Word formation or word building is the process of creation of new words from the resources of a
particular language.
1. Basic concepts
 MORPHEME: smallest component of a word or other linguistic unit that has semantic meaning.
o Free morphemes: can stand by themselves
o Bound morphemes: cannot stand on their own but need to be attached to a free
morpheme.
o Morphemes that derive new words, or that are used to create new words, are called
derivational morphemes.
 ROOT: the basic part of a word which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. It is
the part of the word left when all affixes are removed.
 STEM: part of the word to which grammatical affixes are added. A stem may consist of a root or a
root plus derivational morphemes.
 BASE: every form to which an affix can be added is a base. Root, stem = base.
 AFFIX:
o Affix: collective term referring to a bound morpheme joined before, after, or within a root or
stem.
o Prefix: occurs in the front of a root/stem.
o Suffix: occurs at the end of a root/stem.
o Infix: occurs inside of a root/stem.
 PARADIGM: the system of grammatical forms of a word.
E.g.: the verbal paradigm of ‘learn’: learns, learned, learning.
2. Types of words + word formations:
 ROOT WORDS: Words that only have a root morpheme in its structure.
 DERIVED WORDS: Words that have a root and an affix.
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COMPOUND WORDS: Words that have 2 or more stems.
CONTRACTED WORDS: Words that are formed by contracting certain elements of an existing word
or word group.
a. DERIVATION / AFFIXATION is the formation of new words by adding affixed to other words or
morphemes.
Etymological
Native affixes
Productive
Productive affixes
(can be used to form
new, occasional or
potential words readily
understood by
speakers of a language)
Borrowed affixes
(Latin, Greek)
Non-productive affixes
Semantic
Prefixes of
 location
 time and order
 size
 number
 attitude
Negative prefixes
Functional
Noun-forming
Pejorative prefixes
Adverb-forming
Adjective-forming
Verb-forming
b. CONVERSION (zero-derivation) is the formation of new words by changing the part of speech of
existing ones with their morphemic shape unchanged.
E.g. Adv -> N: ups and downs
Adj -> N: a native
V -> N: talk the talk, walk the walk
Adj -> V: to green (to plant trees on), to yellow (to turn into yellow color)
N -> V: to access, to eye
 Grammatically: A word formed by conversion has a new paradigm peculiar to its new part of
speech.
 Semantically: A word formed by conversion has a slightly different meaning from that of the
original word, but there are certain semantic or logical associations between the two.
c. COMPOSITION / COMPOUNDING is the formation of new words by combining 2 or more existing
words.
Structural
NEUTRAL: formed by combining 2 stems without
using linking elements.
 Simple neutral compounds: both
components are roots words
 Derivational compounds: 1 or both
components are derived words
 Contracted compounds: 1 component is a
contracted word
Semantic
IDIOMATIC: compounds whose meanings do not
correspond to the meanings of their components.
 Meaning partially changed
E.g. black-market
 Meaning completely changed or lost
E.g. happy-go-lucky
MORPHOLOGICAL: formed by combining 2 stems
with the help of a linking vowel or consonants.
NON-IDIOMATIC: compounds whose meanings
can be seen as the sum of the meanings of their
components.
SYNTACTIC: strings of words formed from
segments of speech, preserving in their structure
the syntagmatic relation typical of speech.
Compounds vs Word combinations
Graphically
Phonetically
Semantically
Syntactically + Morphologically
Components of a compound are
often joined or hyphenated
(except some compound adj
used after a linking verb)
Only one stress falling on the
first syllable
(except some compound adj:
open-minded, well-known..)
Expresses only 1 concept
A complete unity indivisible,
belonging to the same part of
speech. No extra word can be
added.
Words in a word combination
are always separate
Each word has a stress of its
own
Expresses 2 or more concepts
Each word is an independent
unit belonging to a different
part of speech. Extra words can
be added.
d. SHORTENING / CONTRACTION is the formation of new words by contracting certain elements of
existing words or word groups.
 Clipping: excluding certain part of the existing word.
o Initial: E.g. telephone -> phone
o Final: E.g. laboratory -> lab
o Initial-final: E.g. influenza -> flu
o Medial: E.g. mathematics -> maths
 Abbreviation: a word is formed from the initials of a group of words.
 Blending: merging parts of existing words into one to form a new word.
o The beginning of a word + the end of another: brunch = breakfast + lunch
o The beginnings of 2 words combined: cyborg = cybernetic + organism
o Blending around a common sequence of sounds: motel = motor + hotel
e. Minor types of word formation
 ONOMATOPOEIA / SOUND IMITATION is the creation of words from sounds that resemble those
associated with the objects or actions to be named or that seem suggestive of its qualities.
 REDUPLICATION is the formation of words by repeating root or stem of a word, or part of it,
either without any phonetic changes, or with a variation of the root – vowel or consonant.
o Rhyming: e.g. super-duper, walkie-talkie
o Exact: e.g. bye-bye
o Ablaut: e.g. chit-chat, ding-dong
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BACK-FORMATION / REVERSION is the creation of new words by extracting actual or supposed
affixes from existing ones.
E.g. edit (v) from editor (n), greed (n) from greedy (adj)
WORD MEANINGS
MEANING is a component of the word through which a concept (mental phenomena) is communicated,
thus, providing the word with the ability to denote real objects, qualities, actions, abstract notions, etc.
SEMANTICS is the study of meaning in language.
3 concepts of meaning:
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Words -> Things: words ‘name’ or ‘refer to’ things.
Words -> Concepts -> Things: The link between words and things is not direct but can only be
made through the use of our minds.
Stimuli -> Words -> Responses: Meaning is deduced from the situation in which speech is used –
the stimuli that leads someone to speak, and the response that results from this speech.
Semantic structure of a word
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1st level of analysis: a system of different meanings.
2nd level of analysis: sets of semantic components within each separate meaning.
Types of semantic components
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DENOTATION: the literal meaning of the word
CONNOTATION: the associations, emotional suggestions, or implications connected to a word.
POLYSEMY is the existence of several connected meanings within a word as a result of the development
or changes of the original meaning.
There are 2 different explanations for polysemy:
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Linear explanation: there is a literal meaning from which the other meanings are derived.
Subsuming explanation: there is a core meaning with specific senses triggered either by the
context or by rules.
Causes of changes to the meanings of words:
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Historical / extra-linguistic causes
Linguistic factors
TRANSFERENCE is the process of development of a new meaning, or a change of meaning.
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METAPHOR is transference based on resemblance or similarity between 2 things.
METONYMY is transference based on understood association or relatedness.
GENERALIZATION is the extension of semantic capacity of a word in its historical development process.
SPECIALIZATION is the restriction of semantic capacity of a word in its historical development process.
DEGRADATION is the acquisition of less pleasant or more emotive meaning of a word in its historical
development process. ELEVATION is the acquisition of more pleasant or less emotive meaning of a word
in its historical development process.
HOMONYMY - SYNONYMY – ANTONYMY
HOMONYMS are words which are the same in sound and/or spelling, but different in their meanings.
Classification:
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Homonyms proper: words identical in both pronunciation and spelling.
Homophones: words that are the same sound but of different spelling.
Homographs: words that are the same in spelling but different in sound.
Sources:
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Phonetic changes: loss of affixes, simplification of conjunct consonants, loss of syllables
Borrowing: words borrowed from different languages may also undergo phonetic changes and
become homonyms.
Word formation: conversion, shortening, affixation
Split polysemy / disintegration: when the central meaning of a polysemantic word disappears
from the word’s semantic structure, associations between the other meanings become severed,
the semantic structure loses its unity and falls into different parts which become accepted as
independent words.
SYNONYMS are words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or
nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts.
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Ideographic: words conveying the same notion but differing in shades of meaning.
Stylistic: words which, without explicitly displaying semantic difference, are distinguished
stylistically
Absolute: words identical in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics
Contextual: words similar in meaning only in specific contexts.
Dominant: a central word of a group of synonyms expressing the notion common to all
synonyms of the group in the most general way, without contributing any additional
information.
ANTONYMS are words belonging to the same part of speech with contradictory meaning.
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Root word (absolute) antonyms:
o Antonyms proper: polar members of a gradual opposition, implying comparison
o Complementary antonyms: binary opposition, not one means other, e.g. true-false
o Relational antonyms: reciprocal relationship, e.g. borrow-lend
Derivational antonyms: formed by derivation from the same root.