It is used in official and business activities (India, Pakistan, other former British colonies); more than 3,000 newspapers in India are in English
Historical lexicology studies extra-linguistic forces (changes in social, political, cultural and everyday life, in science reflected in words and their meaning).
Semantics is the study of meaning relevant both for lexicology and grammar.
Comparative, Contrastive (English and Russian lexis)
Semantics is the study of meaning
5. Historical or diachronic (etymology): The origin of words, their change and development. The linguistic and extra-linguistic forces influencing their structure, meaning, usage and development of words.
In historical lexicology: diachronic approach;
In descriptive lexicology: synchronic approach;
syn – simultaneous;
chronos – time;
dia – through the time (the Swiss philologist Ferdinand de Saussure’s dichotomy).
Post = posta – posita (fr. Lat. through French and Italian) – place;
(16 century): ‘One of a number of men with horses along roads to deliver the King’s ‘packet’ from stage to stage’ (obs.)
Mail (Am. from Old French male) = mail of letters ‘a bag of letters’
Sack fr. ‘To get the sack’ (to dismiss from service)
Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics dealing with causal relations btw the ways of life reflected in the lg. (education, mass media, lg planning, etc.): CD-ROM, e-mail, SMS, pager,cyberspace, Internet,PIN, hacker, cellphone, spam, web, dot com, etc.
The importance of studying English lexicology:
1. It is the world’s most widely used lg. (300mln. people speak it) – lingua franca of business, science, education, politics and pop music.