Lexicology: A Short Introduction

by M.A.K. Halliday, Colin Yallop

This readable introductory textbook presents a concise survey of lexicology. The first section of the book is a survey of the study of words, providing students with an overview of basic issues in defining and understanding the word as a unit of language. This section also examines the history of lexicology, the evolution of dictionaries and recent developments in the field. The second section extends this study of lexicology into the relationship between words and meaning, etymology, prescription, language as social phenomenon and translation. A Short Introduction will be of interest to undergraduate students of linguistics.

Genres: Linguistics

117 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2007

About the author

Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday is a British-born Australian linguist who developed the internationally influential systemic functional linguistic model of language.

Reviews

[Mahira · Rating 4 out of 5]

About what you'd expect from a short introduction. As I haven't read any other not-so-short introduction to lexicology yet, I can't really say whether or not everything relevant has been touched on, but it at least kind of leaves you with such a feeling – I would say the very basic overall issues regarding the relationship between word (i.e. form) & meaning are presented nicely here with not just authors' but also Saussure's and Firth's view on the matter, along with relationship between meaning & society and meaning & world, basic linguistic process of semantic change etc.
Some of the subchapters felt more like a lexicography introduction to me which, I suppose, is not without its reason but it might add to the confusion between the two disciplines, should there be any beforehand.

[Luân Luun]

i want to read this book