Editing Lexicology (section)

== Approach ==
{{See also|Diachrony and synchrony}}'''General lexicology''' is the broad study of words regardless of a language's specific properties. It is concerned with linguistic features that are common among all languages, such as phonemes and morphemes. '''Special lexicology''', on the other hand, looks at what a particular language contributes to its vocabulary, such as [[grammar]]s.<ref name=":22" /> Altogether lexicological studies can be approached two ways:

# '''Diachronic or historical''' lexicology is devoted to the evolution of words and [[Word formation|word-formation]] over time. It investigates the origins of a word and the ways in which its structure, meaning, and usage have since changed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Popescu|first=Floriana|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1063709395|title=A paradigm of comparative lexicology|date=2019|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=1-5275-1808-6|location=Newcastle|pages=19–20|oclc=1063709395}}</ref>
# '''Synchronic or descriptive''' lexicology examines the words of a language within a certain time frame. This could be a period during the language's early stages of development, its current state, or any given interval in between.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Halliday|first=M. A. K.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741690096|title=Lexicology : a short introduction|date=2007|publisher=Continuum|others=Colin Yallop|isbn=978-1-4411-5054-7|location=London|pages=56–57|oclc=741690096}}</ref>

These complementary perspectives were proposed by [[Swiss people|Swiss]] linguist [[Ferdinand de Saussure]].<ref name=":4" /> Lexicology can have both comparative and contrastive methodologies. '''Comparative lexicology''' searches for similar features that are shared among two or more languages. '''Contrastive lexicology''' identifies the linguistic characteristics which distinguish between related and unrelated languages.<ref name=":3" />