Лексикология английского языка

Учебное пособие охватывает всю программу курса лексикологии английского языка. В нём рассмотрены важнейшие темы лексикологии: типы 
лексических единиц, их структура, словообразование, этимологический состав английской лексики и пути её развития, фразеология, синонимия, 
антонимия, омонимия, лексикография и варианты 
английского языка. Теоретический материал тесно 
связан с материалами для практической и самостоятельной работы. 
Учебное пособие снабжено глоссарием лингвистических терминов, справочным материалом по аффиксам английского языка и истории английской  
и американской лексикографии. 

Е. А. Кругликова
ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИЯ 
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Учебное пособие

ИНСТИТУТ ФИЛОЛОГИИ  
И ЯЗЫКОВОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

 

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации 
Сибирский федеральный университет 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Е. А. Кругликова 
 
 
 
 
ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИЯ  
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА 
 
 
 
Учебное пособие 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Красноярск 
СФУ 
2016  

 

 

УДК 811.111:81'373(07) 
ББК 81.432.1я73 
 
К840 
 
 
 
Р е ц е н з е н т ы: 
И. А. Битнер, 
кандидат 
филологических 
наук, 
доцент 
кафедры английской филологии Красноярского государственного 
педагогического университета им. В. П. Астафьева; 
Ю. В. Лукиных, 
кандидат 
педагогических 
наук, 
доцент, 
заведующий кафедрой гуманитарных дисциплин Красноярского 
института экономики – филиала Санкт-Петербургского университета 
управления и экономики 
 
 
 
Кругликова, Е. А.  
К840  
Лексикология английского языка : учеб. пособие /  
Е. А. Кругликова. – Красноярск : Сиб. федер. ун-т, 2016. – 
162 с.  
 
ISBN 978-5-7638-3479-6 
 
 
Учебное пособие охватывает всю программу курса лексикологии 
английского языка. В нём рассмотрены важнейшие темы лексикологии: 
типы 
лексических 
единиц, 
их 
структура, 
словообразование, 
этимологический состав английской лексики и пути её развития, 
фразеология, 
синонимия, 
антонимия, 
омонимия, 
лексикография  
и варианты английского языка. Теоретический материал тесно связан  
с материалами для практической и самостоятельной работы.  
Учебное пособие снабжено глоссарием лингвистических терминов, 
справочным материалом по аффиксам английского языка и истории 
английской и американской лексикографии.  
Предназначено для студентов направления 45.03.02 «Лингвистика»,  
а также преподавателей, учащихся колледжей и лицеев, интересующихся 
проблемами современной лингвистики. 
 
 
УДК 811.111:81'373(07) 
ББК 81.432.1я73 
 
 
 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-7638-3479-6   
    © Сибирский федеральный университет, 2016

CONTENTS 

 

 
 
 
PREFACE ..................................................................................... 5 

 
Part I. FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY  
AND LEXICOGRAPHY ......................................................... 8

 
1. LANGUAGE AND LEXICOLOGY ..................................................... 8 

2. LEXICOGRAPHY .......................................................................... 14 

3. ENRICHING VOCABULARY.  
WORD STRUCTURE. AFFIXATION .............................................. 26 

4. WORD-BUILDING. CONVERSION. COMPOSITION ...................... 33 

5. WORD-BUILDING. SHORTENING. SECONDARY WAYS  
OF WORD-BUILDING .................................................................. 40 

6. WORD-GROUPS  AND PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS ....................... 45 

7. SEMASIOLOGY. WORD-MEANING .............................................. 59 

8. SEMANTIC CHANGE ................................................................... 66 

9. HOMONYMY. SYNONYMY.  ANTONYMY ...................................... 75 

10. THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH WORDS ............................................. 86 

11. VARIANTS AND DIALECTS  OF ENGLISH .................................... 98 

Part II. PRACTICAL EXERCISES  AND TESTS ........................... 111 

1. EXERCISES .............................................................................. 111 

2. TRAINING TESTS ...................................................................... 124 

REFERENCE MATERIAL ........................................................... 132 

SHORT HISTORY OF DICTIONARY MAKING ................................... 132 

AFFIXES ......................................................................................... 135 

GLOSSARY ..................................................................................... 139 

TOPICS FOR REPORTS  AND PRESENTATIONS ............................. 153 

 
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................ 155 
 
 

PREFACE 

 
 
5 
 
 
 

PREFACE 

 

 
 
 
This book is based on a series of lectures on English Lexicology delivered 
by the author at Siberian Federal University of Krasnoyarsk, Russia. It is written 
for students of English language / linguistics and may also be of interest to all 
readers who would like to gain some information about the vocabulary resources 
of Modern English.  
The overall idea of the book is to present just a core knowledge in English 
Lexicology which is meant to prepare students for carrying out further research 
on topics they are interested in.  
In Part I “Fundamentals of English Lexicology and Lexicography” the 
reader can find a short theoretical survey of the wide word theory and of the 
main problems associated with the English vocabulary with concise definitions 
of all essential issues. The structural division of this part reflects the major 
distinctive areas of lexicology today and examines the following topics: 
1. Language and Lexicology 
2. Lexicography  
3. Word-structure 
4. Enriching 
Vocabulary. 
Word-building 
(affixation, 
conversion, 
composition, shortening, secondary ways of word-building) 
5. Word-groups and Phraseological units 
6. Semasiology. Word meaning 
7. Semantic Change 
8. Homonymy. Synonymy. Antonymy 
9. The Origin of English Words 
10. Variants and Dialects of English. 
Part I incorporates lectures with the description of the main concepts of 
the English Lexicology followed by the list of key terms and questions with the 
aim to assist students in understanding and systematizing the material under 
study.  
As the book seeks to combine theory and practice, Part II “Practical Tests 
and Exercises” comprises 27 exercises and 4 tests which are designed to help 
students focus on and understand how this or that linguistic phenomenon from 
the field of the English Lexicology can be actualized in the practical study. A wide 
range of different tasks are aimed at expanding their abilities to reflect upon and 

PREFACE 

 
 
6 
 
 
 

analyse linguistic phenomena and will contribute to better understanding of 
fundamental principles of lexicology and enhancing their linguistic competence in 
general.  

Reference Material comprises resources of further information which can 
be used while revising information and doing exercises. The table “Short History 
of Dictionary Making” presents an elaborate list of dictionaries in chronological 
order with the focus on British and American lexicography, which can help 
students to systemize the material on the topic.  
The exhaustive table of affixes with their origin and examples is a reference 
tool while doing exercises on word-building and etymology.  
The Glossary is a complete list of all the terms and concepts described in 
the book; the alphabetic order will easily help students to find the necessary 
item. 
In the Reference Material there are also topics for reports and 
presentations for further research and studies in the area of English Lexicology.  
The Bibliography comprises all the resources used by the author and cited 
in the book. 

Part I. FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY AND LEXICOGRAPHY 

 
 
7 
 
 
 

 
ABBREVIATIONS 

 
 
ibid 
 
in the same place 
i.e. 
 
that is 
e.g. 
 
for example 
viz. 
 
in other words 
IC 
 
immediate constituents 
UC 
 
ultimate constituents 
N / n  
noun 
V / v  
verb 
Adj. / adj. 
adjective 
Adv. / adv. 
adverb 
AmE  
American English 
BrE 
 
British English 
OE 
 
Old English 
ME 
 
Middle English 
 
 
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 

 
 
Figure 1. Syntagmatic vs paradigmatic level 
Figure 2. Practical and theoretical branches of lexicography  
Figure 3. Mel’čuk’s classification of set-phrases 
Figure 4. Cowie’s classification of word combinations 
Figure 5. Cowie’s phraseological continuum 
Figure 6. Burger’s typology 
Figure 7. Semantic triangles 
Table 1. Terms used for ‘sentence-like’ and ‘word-like’ combinations.  
 
 
FONTS 

 
 
Bold is used for highlighting the key terms, e.g.: The aptness of a word to appear 
in various combinations is described as its lexical valency or collocability. 

 
Italics are used for examples (affixes, words, sentences) and for book titles, e.g.:  
The distribution of the word-group side by side is not identical with the 
distribution of its component members. 
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is considered a landmark in American 
lexicography. 

 
Single inverted commas are used for describing meaning, e.g.: A change in the order 
and arrangement of the same ICs signals the compound words of different lexical 
meanings, cf.: a fruit-market (‘market where fruit is sold’) and market-fruit (‘fruit 
designed for selling’). 

 
Double inverted commas are used for quotes or unconventional word use, e.g.:  
A corpus is “an extension of the traditional archive” [Čhermák 2003, 18]. 

ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY: A SHORT INTRODUCTION  

 
 
8 
 
 
 

Part I 
 
FUNDAMENTALS  
OF ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY  
AND LEXICOGRAPHY 

 
 
 
1. LANGUAGE AND LEXICOLOGY 
 
 
§1. The Object of Lexicology. Links of Lexicology 

with other Branches of Linguistics 
§2. Sub-branches of Lexicology 

 
 
Lexicology (of Greek origin: lexis ‘word’ + logos ‘learning’) is one of the 
branches of linguistics concerned with words. Lexical study involves 
such diverse areas as the sense relationships between words, word-structure and 
word formation, properties of words and their combinations, principles 
underlying the classification of vocabulary units into various groupings, the 
compilation of dictionaries, the use of abbreviations and many others. Thus, the 
lexicology deals with the vocabulary and characteristic features of words and 
word-groups as the main units of the language.  
A comparison of the words ‘vocabulary’, ‘lexis’ and ‘lexicon’ would show that 
three items may be considered more or less synonymous. However, it must be 
added that the first one is more colloquial, the third is more learned and technical, 
and the second may be situated half-way between the other two. A distinction 
must, nevertheless, be drawn between the terms ‘vocabulary’, ‘lexis’ and ‘lexicon’ on 
the one hand, and ‘dictionary’ on the other. While each of the first three may refer 
to the total work stock of the language, a dictionary is only a selective recording of 
that stock at a given point in time [Jackson and Ze’Amwella 1998]. 
The term vocabulary is used to denote the system formed by the sum 
total of all the words and word equivalents [Arnold 1986, 9]. It is an adaptive 
system adjusting itself to the changing requirements and conditions of human 
communication and cultural surrounding. 

§1.

Part I. FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY AND LEXICOGRAPHY 

 
 
9 
 
 
 

A lexicon is a list of words in a language or that a particular person knows – 
a vocabulary – along with some knowledge of how each word is used (a kind of 
mental dictionary). A lexicon may be general or domain-specific; we might have, 
for example, of several thousand common words of English and German, or the 
lexicon of the technical terms of dentistry in some language. The words that are 
of interest are usually open-class or content words, such as nouns, verbs, and 
adjectives, rather than closed-class or grammatical function words, such as 
articles, pronouns, and prepositions, whose behavior is more tightly bound to 
the grammar of the language. A lexicon may also include multi-word expressions 
such as fixed phrases (by and large), phrasal verbs (tear apart), and other common 
expressions (Merry Christmas!). 
Strictly speaking, a useful distinction may be made between the lexicon as 
an object defined by linguistic theory and the dictionary, which presents ‘certain 
information drawn from the lexicon in a stylized way’ [Grimes 1988, 167]. 
Grimes also describes the lexicon as simply the totality of all the information 
there is about words and word-like objects in a natural language; it registers 
items and their properties in contrast to the grammar, which registers 
combinations of items and their properties [ibid, 168]. 
Each word or phrase in a lexicon is described in a lexical entry; exactly 
what is included into each entry depends on the purpose of the particular 
lexicon. The details that are given may include any of its properties of spelling 
and sound, grammatical behavior, meaning or use and the nature of its 
relationships with other words. A lexical entry is therefore a potentially large 
record specifying many aspects of the linguistic behavior and meaning of a word. 
The term word denotes the basic unit of a language of a given language 
resulting from the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of 
sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment [Arnold 1986, 9].  
A word therefore is simultaneously a semantic and grammatical and 
phonological unit. It is the smallest unit of the language which can stand alone 
as a complete utterance. It is a small unit within a vast, efficient and perfectly 
balanced system [Антрушина 2000]. 
The phoneme, morpheme and sentence have their fixed place in the 
language system, whereas the word belongs both to the morphological and to the 
syntactical and lexical plans. The word is a bridge between morphology and 
syntax, making the transition from morphology to syntax gradual and 
imperceptible [Бабич 2008, 17]. Every word is a semantic, grammatical and 
phonological unity. It is used for the purpose of communication and its content 
or meaning reflects human notions. Concepts fixed in the meaning of words are 

ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY: A SHORT INTRODUCTION  

 
 
10 
 
 
 

formed as generalized reflections of reality, therefore in signifying them words 
reflect reality in their content. The acoustic aspect of the word serves to name 
objects of reality. When a word first comes into existence, it is built out 
according to the existing patterns of the elements available in the language 
[Бабич 2008, 18]. “The word is the fundamental unit of language. It is a 
dialectal unity of form and content. Its content and meaning is not identical to 
notion, but it may reflect human notions, and in this sense may be considered as 
the form of their existence” [Арнольд 1986]. 
The term word-group denotes a group of words which exists in the 
language as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning, the unity of syntactical 
function (as loose as a goose – ‘clumsy’, a predicative). 
The modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between 
the external and the internal structures of the word.  
By the external structure we mean its morphological structure. All these 
morphemes constitute the external structure of the word.  
The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, is nowadays 
commonly referred to as the word’s semantic structure. Words can serve the 
purposes of human communication solely due to their meanings. The area of 
lexicology specializing in the semantic studies is called semantics.  
Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses 
both external (or formal unity) and semantic unity. Formal unity of the word is 
sometimes inaccurately interpreted as indivisibility. But the word is not strictly 
speaking indivisible. Yet, it component morphemes are permanently linked 
together in opposition to word-groups, both free and with fixed contexts, whose 
components possess a certain structural freedom [Антрушина и др. 2000].  
On the syntagmatic level, the semantic structure of the word is analyzed 
in its linear relationships with neighbouring words in connected speech. A word 
enters into syntagmatic (linear) combinatorial relationships with other lexical 
units, that can form its context, serving to identify and distinguish its meaning 
as lexical units are context-dependent [Арнольд 1986, 23]. Using syntagmatic 
analysis we analyse syntax or surface structure – one element selects the other 
element either to precede or to follow it (e.g., the definite article selects a noun 
and not a verb). For example, in phrases ironing board, bed and board, board  
of trustees, go on board the word board acquires different meaning in different 
context.  
On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationship with 
other words in the vocabulary system. A word enters into contrastive 
paradigmatic relations with all other words that can occur in the same context 

Part I. FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY AND LEXICOGRAPHY 

 
 
11 
 
 
 

and can be contrasted to it. Therefore, a word can be studied in comparison with 
other words of similar meaning, of opposite meaning or of different stylistic 
characteristics. Paradigmatic analysis is the analysis of paradigms (e.g. 
substituting words of the same type or class to calibrate shifts in connotation). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Syntagmatic (sequence) 
 
 
 
 
The 
 
first 
 
question 
 
was 
difficult 
 
 
Paradigmatic 
 
 
second 
word  
 
 
easy 
(substitution) 
 
 
third  
problem 
 
 
funny 
 
 
 
 
 
last 
 
exam  
 
 
silly 
 
 
 
 
 
final  
paper  
 
 
loaded 
 

 
Fig. 1. Syntagmatic vs paradigmatic level 
 
 
Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations may be represented in a diagram 
as in Fig.1. This shows that every word may be considered in terms of two 
dimensions or axes of structure. The ‘horizontal’ or syntagmatic and the ‘vertical’ 
or paradigmatic. It is precisely in terms of syntagmatic and paradigmatic 
relations that the meaning of English words can be determined.  
As the vocabulary or the lexical system of the language forms the system of 
the language as other systems, its study in lexicology should not be separated 
from the other constituents of the system, so it has close ties with other branches 
of linguistics. Lexicology is only one possible level of language analysis, others 
being phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics and none of them can be 
studied successfully without reference to the others. All these different levels of 
analysis interact with one another in various ways, and when we use language, 
we call on all simultaneously and unconsciously. 
There is a relationship between lexicology and phonetics since phonetics is 
concerned with the study of the word, with the sound-form of the word. 
Lexicology is connected with grammar as words presented in a dictionary bear a 
definite relation to the grammatical system of the language because they belong to 
some part of speech and conform to some lexico-grammatical characteristics of the 
word class to which they belong. Lexicology is linked with the history of the 
language since the latter investigates the changes and the development of the 
vocabulary of the language. Stylistics studies such problems concerning lexicology 
as the problems of meaning, synonymy, differentiation of the vocabulary