It is the relation between the notion named and the name itself.

There are two main approaches to the study of words and

meanings: the onomasiological and semasiological. The former deals with

the idea of linguistic denoting of notions. The latter is interested in the semantic

peculiarities of names and the character of their functioning in the language.

E.g. one object can have several names and one name can be used for denoting

different objects: плавать- to swim, to float, to drift: to swim – плыть- участвовать в соревнованияхб быть погруженным etc.

The notion of the lexical system is connected with the systematic nature of a

language vocabulary.

Linguistic relationships between words are basically of two types: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.

Syntagmatic. relations are based on the linear character of speech, i.e. on the influence of context.They define the meaning the word has when it is used in combination with other words in the flow of speech: to give a book – to give a smile.

Paradigmatic relations are those relations that exist between individual lexical items which make up a subgroup of vocabulary items, e.g. synonimic relations. Paradigmatic relations define the meaning of the word through its interrelation with other members of the subgroup, e.g. to give, to present, to confer etc.

2. Links with other branches of linguistics

In the actual process of communication, different elements of language system (phonemes, morphemes, words rtc.) are interdependent and stand in defi­nite relations to one another. Lexicology is connected with various branches of linguistics, studying these elements. It is connected with phonetics, grammar, stylisics, history of a language and sociolinguistics.

The connection of lexicology with phonetics is very important. It can be explained by the fact that words consist of phonemes, and therefore phonemes participate in signification. Their functions are constitutive and distinctive, thus they build up morphemes, and distinguish between meanings.

Such factors as stress help to see the word-unity and discriminate between the words: `torment –to tor`ment; `present-to pre`sent or to distinquish compounds from homonymous word combinations: `blackbird - 'black'bird.

Historical phonetics and historical phonology help in the diachronic study of synonyms, homonyms and polysemy.

There is also a close link of lexicology and stylistics. The latter also studies many key problems of lexicology, such as the problems of meaning, synonymy and differentiation of vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and EMs and SDs, which are various lexical forms that exist in the language for the purpose of intensifications of an utterance. Both instylistics and lexicology speak about such notions as connotations and imagery.

Lexicology is also connected with History of the language, as the latter studies the changes and the development of the vocabulary of a language.

The connection between grammar and lex­icology is one of the important issues in linguistics. I.V. Arnold insists that a close connection between lexicology and grammar is conditioned by the ties between the objects of their study. Even isolated words bear a definite relation to the grammatical system of the language because they belong to some part of speech and conform to some lexico-grammatical characteristic of the word class to which they belong. But words seldom occur in isolation. They are arranged in certain patterns conveying the relations between the things they denote, so alongside with their lexical meaning they possess some grammatical meaning. The ties between lexicology and grammar are particularly strong in the sphere of word-formation which before lexicology became a sepa­rate branch of linguistics had even been considered as part of grammar. Even today some scholars continue insisting on the grammatical status of lexicology.The morphologi­cal structure of the English word are largely dependent upon the peculi­arity of the English grammatical system.

Lexicology is bound up with sociolinguistics, which studies the social causes of the changes in the vocabulary of a language. The vacubulary of a language directly reacts to the changes in social life, thus with new objects and notions new words to denote them come into existence.