SYSTEMIC DESCRIPTION OF GERMANIC LEXEMES (EXAMPLIFIED BY THE LEXEME WEOROLD IN OLD ENGLISH)

Abstract

The article aims at presenting a procedure of systemic description of the linguistic characteristics inherent in lexemes in Germanic languages. The present research is of a complex nature. A complex approach exercised to achieve the goals of the research suggests addressing a number of consecutive descriptive tasks pertaining to particular linguistic aspects, to wit: etymology, morphonology, semantics and word-formation. The analysis focuses on the Old English noun ‘weorold’ intended to examplify the typical formal procedure of description. The scientific methods used in the course of the research are as follows: descriptive method, comparative-historical, etymological analysis, morphemic analysis, distributive analysis, method of oppositions, component analysis. In the aspect of etymology the lexical correlations of the lexeme under study and its morphological components are detected in cognate old and modern Germanic languages. In the aspect of morphonology the analysis focuses on the morphological structure of the noun ‘weorold’ and its evolution in the Old English period as compared with the prewritten period. There also is some study of the phonetic factors and processes which conditioned the phonemic composition of the lexeme ‘weorold’ and the interaction of its phonemes as separate entities. In terms of semantics attention is largely paid to the development of the main meanings. To this end an inventory of all the dictionary meanings with contextual examples is provided. In the aspect of word-formation the productivity of the analyzed lexeme as a word-forming basis is put to scrutiny. The compounds formed on the basis of the noun ‘weorold’ are noted to feature a unity of semantics provided by the word-forming basis that they share. The article may be of interest to linguists who do research in Germanic studies, lexicology and history of English.