Branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study. Lexicology – ‘the science of the word’

Main objects of semasiological study:
-semantic development of words, its causes and classification;
-relevant distinctive features and types of lexical meaning;
-polysemy and semantic structure of words;
-the phenomena of homonymy and paronymy.
21. Approaches to the definition of word meaning: functional, referential and others.
There are three classical theories of meaning:
-analytical or referential (F.de Saussure’s disciples)
Meaning is the relation between the object or phenomenon named and the name itself;
-notional or conceptual (Aristotle, John Locke, A.I. Smirnitskiy, etc.)
Meaning is a certain representation of an object / phenomenon / idea / relation in the mind;
-functional or contextual (L. Bloomfield)
Meaning is the situation in which a word is uttered, i.e. its context.
22. Types and aspects of word meaning.
Aspects of Meaning
-Objective aspect (denotation): word ↔ referent;
-Notional aspect, i.e. significant features common for classes of objects (signification): word ↔ sense;
-Pragmatic aspect, i.e. the speaker’s attitude to the referent (connotation);
-Systemic or differential aspect, i.e. the relations of the signified word with other words within a word-group or in speech.
Types of meaning:
Word-meaning is not homogeneous but is made up of various components the combination and the interrelation of which determine to a great extent the inner facet of the word.
Grammatical meaning is the meaning which unites words into big groups such as parts of speech or lexico-grammatical classes. It is recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words, e.g. stones, apples, kids, thoughts have the grammatical meaning of plurality.
Lexical meaning is the meaning proper to the word as a linguistic unit; it is recurrent in all the forms of this word and in all the possible distributions of these forms, e.g. the word-forms write, writes, wrote, writing, written have different grammatical meanings of tense, person, aspect, but the same lexical meaning ‘to make letters or other symbols on a surface, especially with a pen or pencil’.