Lexicology is a branch of linguistics – thescience of a language. The term “lexicology” is composed of two Greek morphemes“lexic” – word, phrase and “logos” which denotes learning, “a department ofknowledge”. Thus, the literal meaning of the term “lexicology” is “the scienceof the word”.

Lexicon is a term used in linguistics toindicate the archive of lexemes. Lexemes are abstract, minimal units in alanguage that link related forms of a word together. For example, the words fly, flight, flew, flying, and so on, are all morphologic variations ofthe lexeme fly. Lexicology investigates different lexical units: words,variable word-groups, phraseological units and morphemes which make up wordsand dealing with the vocabulary of a language. Lexicology studies a word indifferent aspects: the patterns of semantic relationship of words as also theirphonological, morphological and contextual behavior. The term “vocabulary” isused to denote the system formed by the sum total of all the words and wordequivalents that language possesses [Arnold, 2012:9]. It shows the system ofinterdependent elements with specific peculiarities of its own, different fromother lexical systems. The basic task of lexicology is the study and systematicdescription of the vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and currentuse. In Lexicology the word and the vocabulary of a language is studied as a system.As for definition of the famous scientist I.V. Arnold: “Lexicology studies therecurrent patterns of semantic relationships, and of any formal phonological,morphological or contextual means by which they may be rendered. It aims atsystematization” [Arnold, 1979:14]. The lexical system of every languagecontains productive elements typical of this particular period, others that areobsolete and dropping out of usage, and finally, some new phenomena, significantmarks of new trends come to use. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has itsown aims and methods of scientific research of lexical system on the ways andtendencies of vocabulary development. The principal distinction is naturallymade between General Lexicology and Special Lexicology.

General lexicology is a part of Generallinguistics. It is concerned with the general study of words and vocabularyirrespective of the specific features of any particular language. Itinvestigates linguistic phenomena and properties common to all languages whichare generally referred to as language universals.

Special lexicology devotes its attention tothe description of the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of aparticular language (Russian, Kazakh, German, French, etc.). Our attention willbe devoted to the study of Modern English Lexicology which aim is to give asystematic description of the word-stock of Modern English. So, Modern EnglishLexicology investigates the problems of word-structure and word-formation, thesemantic structure of English words, the main principles underlying the classificationof vocabulary units into various groupings. The research methods used inLexicology have been closely connected with the general trends in Linguistics.There are two principal approaches in linguistic science to the study oflanguage material: synchronic (Greek ‘syn’ – ‘together, with’ and ‘chronos’

– ‘time’) and diachronic (Greek ‘dia’ –‘through’) approaches. With regard to Special Lexicology the synchronicapproach is concerned with the vocabulary of a language as it exists at a giventime, for instance, at the present time. It is Special Descriptive Lexicologythat deals with the vocabulary units of a particular language at a certaintime. The discipline Modern English Lexicology is therefore a course of SpecialDescriptive Lexicology which studies the functions of words and their specificstructure, its morphological and semantic structures, its object of study beingthe English vocabulary as it exists at the present time.

 

“The modern approach of word studies isbased on distinction between the external and the internal structures of theword”[Antrushina, 2004:7]. By external structure of the word we mean itsmorphological structure. For example, in the word uncomfortable the followingmorphemes can be distinguished: the prefixun-, the root comfort and the adjective forming suffix – able. All these morphemesconstitute the external (morphological) structure of the word uncomfortable.The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, is commonly referred to theword’s semantic structure. This is certainly the word’s main aspect because aword can serve the purposes of human communication solely due to theirmeanings. The diachronic approach deals with the changes and the development ofa vocabulary in the course of time. It is special Historical Lexicology thatdeals with the evolution of the vocabulary units of a language as time goes by.An English Historical Lexicology would be concerned with the origin of Englishvocabulary units, their change and development, the linguistic and extralinguistic factors modifying their structure, meaning and usage within thehistory of the English language. These two approaches should not be contrastedor set one against the other. In fact, they are interconnected and interrelatedbecause every linguistic structure and system exists in a state of constantdevelopment. “Lexicology came into being to meet the demands of many differentbranches of applied linguistics, namely of lexicography, standardisation ofterminology, information retrieval, literary criticism and especially offoreign language teaching” [Arnold, 2012:13]. Lexicology is linked withContrastive and Comparative Linguistics which purposes are to study thecorrelation between the vocabularies of two or more languages and find out thecorrespondences between the vocabulary units of the languages under comparison.In recent years a great deal of research work has been written to provide ascientific theoretical basis on which the vocabularies of different languagescan be compared and described. It is particularly concerned with comparingEnglish and Kazakh, Russian words.