Lexicology and My English Study 英语词汇学论文.docVIP

Lexicology and My English Study I. What Is Lexicology? The term lexicology was borrowed from the French word lexicology, which contains two morphemes: one is Greek lexicology, meaning ‘workbook’ or ‘vocabulary;’ the other is French logie, meaning ‘the study or science of.’ So the literal meaning of the term is ‘the science of words.’ The term first appeared in the 1820s, though there were lexicologists in essence before the term was coined. Computational lexicology as a related field (in the same way that computational linguistics is related to linguistics) deals with the computational study of dictionaries and their contents. An allied science to lexicology is lexicography, which also studies words in relation with dictionaries – it is actually concerned with the inclusion of words in dictionaries and from that perspective with the whole lexicon. Therefore lexicography is the theory and practice of composing dictionaries. Sometimes lexicography is considered to be a part or a branch of lexicology, but the two disciplines should not be mistaken: only lexicologists who do write dictionaries are lexicographers. It is said that lexicography is the practical lexicology; it is practically oriented though it has its own theory, while the pure lexicology is mainly theoretical. Comprehensively speaking, lexicology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the vocabulary of a given language. It deals with words, their origin, development, history, structure, meaning and application. In short, it is the study of the signification and application of words. Ⅱ. Aims and Significance of Lexicology The aim of the term lexicology is to give a systematic description of the English vocabulary. Concretely speaking, English lexicology offers students an insight into the origin and development of the English vocabulary. It deals with meanings of Modern English words and their changes in the course of historical development. It discusses the problems of word-structure an