leksykologi

Lexicology, or leksykologi as it is known in some languages, is the branch of linguistics that studies the lexicon—the vocabulary of a language—and how it functions in communication. It examines not only individual words but also fixed expressions and their roles within speech and writing. The field encompasses both the forms of lexical units and their meanings, uses, and histories.

Core topics in leksykologi include lexical semantics (how word meanings and sense relations such as synonymy, antonymy, and polysemy are organized), word formation (mlexical morphology, derivation, compounding), and the structure of the lexicon (lemmas, lexical entries, and their grammatical properties). It also covers collocations and phraseology, semantic fields, lexical borrowing, and semantic change over time. The study often considers sociolinguistic and pragmatic factors that influence word use, such as register, context, and discourse.

Lexicology is distinct from lexicography. Lexicology provides theoretical insight into vocabulary and its organization, while lexicography is the practice of compiling dictionaries and other lexical resources. Methods used in leksykologi include corpus-based analysis, historical and comparative linguistics, etymology, and the development of lexical databases and resources. In modern research, computational lexicology and lexical resources like wordnets support applications in natural language processing, language teaching, and language planning, as well as the creation of dictionaries and other reference works.