Lectures 1&2

Question 1

An area of language study concerned with the nature, meaning, history and use of
words and word elements and also with the critical description of lexicography.

Answer 1

Tom McArthur- about lexicology

Question 2

The study of the whole structure and history of the vocabulary of a language

Answer 2

Collins English Dictionary- about lexicology

Question 3

A branch of linguistics that concerned with the meaning and use of words

Answer 3

Longman Concise English Dictionary- about lexicology

Question 4

The study of the form, meaning and behaviour of words

Answer 4

New Oxford Dictionary of English-about lexicology

Question 5

The study of the lexis

Answer 5

Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar- about lexicology

Question 6

LEXIS

Answer 6

A term used especially in British linguistics for the vocabulary of a language; it consists especially of its stock of lexemes

Question 7

LEXICON

Answer 7

A term used especially in American linguistics for the vocabulary of a language; it consists of its stock of lexemes

Question 8

is the study of morphemes and their arrangements in forming words; the study of the structure of words

Answer 8

Morphology

Question 9

Syntax

Answer 9

the study of the arrangement of words in phrases, clauses, sentences

Question 10

Morpheme

Answer 10

A minimal unit of form and meaning;

the smallest meaningful unit of language;

it is the smallest because it cannot be divided into smaller units; it is meaningful because it shows that there is a relationship between the morpheme and the non-linguistic world

Question 11

Morphemes can be:

Answer 11

free [e.g. dog, boy, cat, sing, read] – they can occur s individual words
bound [-er, -ing, -s, plural] – they can occur only with free morphemes

Question 12

Morph

Answer 12

is a concrete/actual/physical realization of a morpheme in a given utterance (dog, cat, read, sing, -ing, -er are all morphs).

Do not confuse morphs with syllables. Morphs are realizations of morphemes and
represent a specific meaning; syllables are parts of words which are isolated on the basis of pronunciation.

Question 13

Etymology

Answer 13

• refers to the historically verifiable sources of the formation of a word and the development of its meaning;
• etymology is defined as the study of the whole history of words, not just of their origin.
• The term was coined by the Stoics, a group of Greek philosophers and logicians, 4th c. BC.

Question 14

Etymon

Answer 14

– the earliest traceable form from which a later word is derived

• e.g. rex/regis (king) is the Latin etymon of English regal, while the Indo-European verbal root reg- (to move in a straight line, lead, rule) is the etymon of rex/regis

Question 15

1. the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning

2. a branch of semiotics dealing with the relation between signs and the objects they refer to.

Answer 15

Longman Concise English Dictionary- about semantics

Question 16

1. the branch of linguistics that deals with the study of meaning, changes of
   meaning, and the principles that govern the relationship between words and their meanings.
2. the study of the relationship between signs and symbols what they represent.

Answer 16

Collins English Dictionary- about semantics

Question 17

-the study or analysis of the relationships between linguistic forms
and meaning.
- is defined as the study of meaning. Its aim is to explain and describe meaning.
-The term is a borrowing of the French term la Semantique (M. Breal, 1883).

Answer 17

Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar- about semantics

Question 18

the principles of the editing of a dictionary – making of dictionaries

Answer 18

Longman Concise E. Dictionary- about lexicography

Question 19

• the process of writing/compiling a dictionary – making of dictionaries
• The term refers to a special technique, the writing and compilation of dictionaries, the process of compiling dictionaries.
• may be seen as derived from lexicological theory, so lexicography is ‘applied lexicology’.
• Lexicology, morphology, syntax, phonology and sociolinguistics are essential

Answer 19

Collins English Dictionary- about lexicography

Question 20

Syntax:

Answer 20

• deals with the arrangement of words in sentences; it is basic to language study; it is accountable for the manner/way in which we understand sentences;
• Syntax is basic to language study; it deals with general facts about language;
• it deals with rules that apply to classes of words as a whole.
• Lexicology deals with the way in which individual words function.

Question 21

Morpheme - According to Bloomfield:

+E.g. ‘Boys and girls were singing in the rain’

Answer 21

1. The morpheme is the unit of morphology
2. Language is analyzed as an arrangement of data.
3. Language consists of minimal units of form and meaning
   E.g. ‘Boys and girls were singing in the rain’.
   - This is an eight-word sentence.
   - It consists of 11 morphemes: [boy, -s, and, girl, -s, were, sing, -ing, in, the, rain]

Question 22

Morpheme- According to Vendryes:

+E.g.: ‘Boys and girls were singing in the rain’.

Answer 22

Language is analyzed as units of:
a. grammatical meaning (morphemes)
b. lexical meaning (lexemes)
E.g.: ‘Boys and girls were singing in the rain’.
- This is an eight-word sentence.
- It consists of: 5 lexemes (upper-case items) + 7 morphemes (lower-case items)
BOY + -s + and + GIRL + -s + BE + past + SING + -ing + in + the + RAIN

Question 23

Folk Etymology

Answer 23

– process where speakers cannot analyze an old, ancient form, so they replace it with a different form
• example of F.E.: bridegroom – in Middle English the spelling was ‘bridegome’; the form ‘gome’ ceased to be unuderstood and was altered to the word ‘groom’
• adder (=reptila) – Old Eng: ‘noedre’; Middle Eng: ‘a naddre’ => the word was altered to ‘an adder’

Question 24

Phonology

Answer 24

the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages