Lexicology

Lexicology is a speciality in linguistics dealing with the meaning and usage of words, as concieved in a dictionary or thesaurus. The term first appeared in the 1820's, though obviously there were lexicologists before that.

As there are many different types of dictionaries, there are many different types of lexicologists. There are difficulties is 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

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

Compare to Lexicography, Lexeme