Linguistic relations between words are classified into syntagmatic and paradigmatic.

Syntagmatic relations are based on the linear character of speech, i.e. on the influence of context. The term context is defined as the minimum stretch of speech necessary to determine which of the possible meaning of a polysemantic word is used. Eg: blue eyes and to feel blue.

Paradigmatic relations are based on the interdependence of words within the vocabulary. On the paradigmatic level the word is studied in its relationships with other words in the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in comparison with other words of similar meaning (e.g. work-labour, refuse-reject-decline), of different stylistic characteristics (e.g. man-chap-guy).

The lexical system is not the only one, there is also a grammatical system, but the lexical one is the largest and the most changing.

3. The Theory of the Word

The definition of the word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the simplest word has many different aspects.

Being the central element of any language system, the word is a sort of focus for the problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and so on.

Within the scope of linguistics, the word has been defined syntactically, semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches. E.g. Henry Sweet defined the word syntactically as “the minimum sentence” and much later L. Bloomfield defined it as “the minimum form”.

Modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word. By external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure.

The internal structure of the word, or its meaning is referred to the word’s semantic structure. This is certainly the word’s main aspect. Words can serve the purposes of human communication due to their meaning. The area of lexicology specializing in the semantic studies of the word is called semantics.

Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses both external (or formal) unity and semantic unity. Formal unity of the word is sometimes interpreted as indivisibility.

The formal unity of the word can be illustrated by comparing a word and a word-group comprising identical constituents (a bluebell – колокольчик, a blue bell – синий бубенчик). The word bluebell is characterized by unity; it possesses a single grammatical framing: bluebells. In the word-group a blue bell each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own. Other words can be inserted between its components. As for semantic unity in the word-group a blue bell each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept. The word bluebell conveys only one concept. This is one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external structure.

A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility to grammatical employment. In speech most words can be used in different grammatical forms in which their interrelations are realized.

So, the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic integrity.

Meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word with the ability of denoting real objects, qualities, actions and abstract notions. Meaning has the sound form, the concept and the actual referent. The complex relationships between referent (object, denoted by the word), concept and word are traditionally represented by the following triangle.

Thought or reference (concept) --- Symbol (word, sound form) --- Referent (object)

The sound form of the word is not identical to its meaning as in different languages one and the same meaning is conveyed by different sound forms, on the other hand there are such cases when almost identical sound forms in different languages have different meanings, e.g. СПИД - speed, кот – caught, три – tree.

Another proof of the conventional character of the connection between the sound form and meaning is homonymy, e.g. write – right – rite.

Meanings and concepts are not identical either. Concepts are results of generalization and abstraction. They are practically the same for the whole mankind. But the meanings of words are different in different languages.

It is also important to distinguish meaning from referent, i.e. from the object, denoted by the word. It is possible to denote one and the same object by more than one word with different meaning, e.g. building, house, thing, the object, something. Meaning is not equal to the actual properties of the referent. There are words which have meanings, but the objects they denote do not exist, e.g. spirit, angel.

Thus, meaning cannot be identical with any point of the triangle (referent, concept, symbol).