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LECTURE 1
THE FUNDUMENTALS OF LEXICOLOGY

1. The object and aims of lexicology
2. A word as a fundamental unit of a language
3. Lexicology, its interrelations with other sciences
4. Subbranches of lexicology
5. Methods of investigation

Key terms: lexicology, word, external features, internal
features, lexeme, semasiology, onomastics, phraseology,
etymology, distributional analysis, immediate constituents
analysis, componental analysis, transformational analysis,
contrastive analysis

1. The object and aims of lexicology
Language is studied from different angels every English and
Ukrainian units are composed of several elements without they
can’t exist. They are sound, form, meaning and usage. General
linguistics studies the language from all these angles: phonetics,
grammar, lexicology, stylistics. Lexicology (the term “lexicology
word” and “logos” – “science”). It means “the science of the
word”) is the branch of linguistics which deals with the
vocabulary of a language and properties of words (and word-
groups) as the main units of language. Lexicology is concerned
with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units, and with
morphemes which make up words.
By the vocabulary (or the stock of words) of a language is
understood the total sum of its words and word equivalents that the
language possesses.
Modern Lexicology aims at giving a systematic description
of the word-stock of language. Words, their component parts –
morphemes – and various types of word-groups, are subjected to

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