6.Word is made up of many components and they are usually described as types of meaning. Among the word’s various characteristics, meaning is certainly the most important.

Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system. This type of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word. The lexical meaning of every word depends upon the part of speech to which the word belongs. (ex: drive – drives – drove – driven possess different grammatical meaning of tense, person, etc. but each form has the same semantical component denoting the process of movement).

Grammatical meaning is an expression in speech of relationships between words based on contrasting features of arrangement in which they occur. The grammatical meaning is more abstract and more generalized than the lexical one. It unites words into big groups such as parts of speech or lexico-grammatical classes. Such word form as ‘girls’, ‘tables’ denote completely different objects but have the common element, the grammatical meaning of plurality.

Lexico - grammatical meaning is the common denominator of all the meanings of words belonging to a lexico – grammatical class of words, it is the feature according to which they are grouped together.

Words in which abstraction and generalization are so great that they can be lexical representatives of lexico - grammatical meaning and substitute any word of their class are called generic terms.

The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to serve as linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object. The denotative meaning may be significative, if the referent is a concept, or demonstrative, if it is an individual object. The term referent or denotatum (pl. denotata) is used in both cases. Language users can’t have any knowledge of the real word unless this knowledge is expressed by words which have the same meaning for all speakers of a given language. This type of meaning is a component of lexical meaning and makes communication possible.

Connotative meaning is the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. Word possesses an element of emotive evaluation. When analyzing synonyms “love” and “like” we observe the difference in the emotive charge of the items of the set. This doesn’t depend on the feeling of the single speaker, but is true for all speakers of the language. Unlike the denotative meaning, connotations are optional.

5 Some changes of meaning can be explained by purely linguistic factors. There are several types of semantic changes:

1) specialization (Narrowing) of meaning when a word represented a notion of broad scope has come to render a notion of a narrower scope, so restriction of meaning takes place. When the meaning is specialized the word can name fewer objects, it has fewer reference. At the same time the content of the notion is being enriched because it includes great number of relevant features by which a notion is characterized.

2) generalization (broadening) of meaning takes place when changes in a denotative meaning result in the application of the word and (ex.: :”to arrive” = “to come to shore, to land” and now = “to come”; “pipe” = “a musical wind instrument” and now “any hollow oblong cylindrical body”

The process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is called transference. (don’t mix up with transference of meaning). In transference based on resemblance an association may be built not only between two physical objects, but also between a concrete object and an abstract concept (‘star” = ‘heavenly body”, “famous actor or actress”).

Metaphor (gr. “meta” = “change”, “pherein” = “bear”) is a semantic process based on resemblance (ex.: we can call a cunning person “fox”)

Contiguity of meaning or metonymy (“meta” = “change”, “onoma” = “name”) is a semantic process of associating two references one of which make the part of the other or is closely connected with it (ex.: a woman may be called a coat, a skirt)

1 вопр Lexicology (from Gr lexis “word” and logos “learning”) is the part of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of the language and the properties of words as the main units of language.

2.Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research, its basic task being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use.

Lexicology is concerned with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units, and with morphemes which make up words.

Distinction is naturally made between

General Lexicology

Special Lexicology

General Lexicology is concerned with the general study of words and vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular language.

Special Lexicology is concerned the study and description of vocabulary and vocabulary units of a given language.

3. The term word denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning. This unit is used in grammatical functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance.