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structural and semantic analysis primarily from the synchronic
point. In other words, Modern Lexicology investigates the
problems of word-structure and word-formation, the semantic
structure of words, the main principles underlying the
classification of vocabulary units into various groupings, the laws
governing the replenishment of the vocabulary with new
vocabulary units. It also studies the relations existing between
various lexical layers of the vocabulary and the specific laws and
regulations that govern its development. The source and growth of
the vocabulary, the changes it has undergone in its history are also
dwelt upon, as the diachronic approach revealing the vocabulary in
the making cannot but contribute to the understanding of its
workings at the present time.

2. A word as a fundamental unit of a language
The real nature of a word and the term itself has always been
one of the most ambiguous issues in almost every branch of
linguistics. To use it as a term in the description of language, we
must be sure what we mean by it. To illustrate the point here, let us
count the words in the following sentence:
You can’t tie a bow with the rope in the bow of a boat.
Probably the most straightforward answer to this is to say
that there are 14. However, the orthographic perspective taken by
itself, of course, ignores the meaning of the words, and as soon as
we invoke meanings we at least are talking about different words
bow, to start with.
Being a central element of any language system, the word is
a focus for the problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax,
morphology, stylistics and also for a number of other language and
speech sciences. Within the framework of linguistics the word has
acquired definitions from the syntactic, semantic, phonological
points of view as well as a definition combining various
approaches. Thus, it has been syntactically defined as “the
minimum sentence” by H.Sweet and much later as “the minimum

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