Lexicology

Encyclopedia : L : LE : LEX : Lexicology

Lexicology is a speciality in linguistics dealing with the study of the lexicon. The term first appeared in the 1820s, though obviously there were lexicologists before that.

A good example of lexicology at work, and one everyone is familiar with, is the dictionary or thesaurus. As there are many different types of dictionaries, there are many different types of lexicologists. There are difficulties in working out what simple words such as 'the' mean, and what complicated words mean. Also which words to keep in and which not to include.

Noted Lexicologists:

Damaso Alonso, (Oct. 22, 1898-) Spanish literary critic and lexicologist
Roland Barthes, (Nov. 12, 1915-Mar. 25, 1980) French writer, critic and lexicologist
Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Pierre Larousse (1817-1875)
Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843)

Bibliography:

Words, Meaning, and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology, (ed. H. Jackson); ISBN 0304703966
Toward a Functional Lexicology, (ed. G. Wotjak); ISBN 0820435260
Lexicology, Semantics, and Lexicography, (ed. J. Coleman); ISBN 1556199724

Societies:

Association for Automatic Language Processing (ATALA), Paris, France http://www.atala.org
International Training in Communication (ITC) http://www.itcintl.com
International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), Minneapolis, MN http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/aila

External links

[SIL glossary letter 'L'] - glossary of linguistic terms
[Onomasiology Online] - website dedicated predominantly to historical lexicology (ed. by Joachim Grzega)

Compare to Lexicography, Lexeme

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