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

Semantic combinability of words is based on the meanings of words. It is conditioned by the nature of the denotata of words, i.e. it reflects the connections, relations and associations between objects, properties or events in reality. Semantic links between the combining words serve as a basis for free word-groups.

Semantic agreement is the presence of common semantic features (semes) and the absence of contradictory semantic features in the combining words; it is the basic law of semantic combinability. Consider the example below:

*The yellow idea cut the tree.

*Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

Word-groups:

Constructed in speech

Substitution is possible

individual meanings of the components (motivated)

each notional word functions as a separate syntactic unit

unpredictable