Differences between lexical and grammatical meanings

1) Grammatical meaning is more abstract and more generalized in comparison with lexical meaning. Grammatical meaning unites words into big groups (such as parts of speech or lexical- grammatical classes).

E.g. book s, pen s, boy s - the common element is grammatical meaning of plurality

2) Lexical meaning can be observed from another perspective: the meaning of each word has 3 facets. They are the following:

1) the word denotes something (the denotative meaning);

2) the word expresses our attitude to the thing under discussion (the connotative meaning);

3) each word has its own communicative value (that is when, how, where, by whom, in what context the word can be used): the usage of words depends on the communicative situation (formal, informal), the social relations between interlocuters, the type and the purpose of communication. That is the pragmatic facet of word meaning.

Types of connotative meaning

1) emotional – denotes feelings (terrific)

2) evaluative – (dis)approval (wicked)

3) intensifying – to exaggerate (huge)

 

 

The structure of a polysemantic word

Words can be polysemantic and monosemantic. The number of monosemantic words is very small (they are usually terms). Most words in a language have more than 1 meaning and such words are called polysemantic.

Polysemy - is the existence within one word of several connected meanings. It is the result of the development and changes of the original meaning. Thus, the semantic structure of a polysemantic word is represented by a set of connected meanings, which go back to one and the same source. The meanings of a polysemantic word are called lexico-semantic variants.

Polysemy can be studied synchronically and diachronically.

A diachronic study will focus on the process of acquiring new meanings.

The first meaning, in which the word appeared in a language, is called the primary meaning. All the other meanings are called secondary or derived meanings.

A synchronic study regards polysemy as co-existence of different meanings of the same word. This study relies on the comparative value of each individual meaning and on frequency of its occurrence in speech.

The basic meaning - is the meaning, which occurs to us first, when we hear or see the word. The basic meaning is usually the most frequent meaning. The basic meaning is also the first meaning in a dictionary entry.

All the other meanings are called minor meanings.

 

 

THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPOSITION

From the point of view of etymology, English vocabulary can be divided into 2 parts: 70% of borrowings in English language, 30% of native words. Borrowings usually take place under 2 circumstances: 1) when people have a direct contact with another people; 2) when there is a cultural need to borrow a word from another language (to explain a new concept).

ROMANIC BORROWINGS

Latin borrowings: they are divided into 3 periods:

1) 5 century, words are connected with trade (pound, inch, kitchen, wall, port);

2) The time of Christianity, words are connected with religion (Latin words: alter, cross, dean; Greek words: church, angel, devil, anthem);

3) Time of renaissance, words were borrowed after great vowel shift (17 century) (item, superior, zoology, memorandum, vice versa, AM, PM).

French: the largest group of borrowings is French borrowings. Most of them came into English during the Norman Conquest. Normans belong to the race of scand. origin but during their residence in Normandy they had given up the native language and adopted the French dialect. During 3 centuries after the Norman Conquest French was the language of the court, of the nobility. There are following semantic groups of French borrowings:

1) words relating to government (administer, empire, state);

2) ~ military affairs (army, war, battle);

3) ~ jurisprudence (advocate, petition, sentence);

4) ~ fashion (luxury, coat, collar);

5)~ jewelry (topaz, pearl);

6)~ food and cooking (lunch, cuisine, menu);

7)~ literature and music (pirouette, ballet).

Italian: cultural and trade relations between England and Italy in the epoch of renaissance brought in many Italian words:

1) musical terms: concert, solo, opera, piano, trio;

2) political terms: manifesto;

3) geological terms: volcano, lava.

Among the 20th century Italian borrowings, we can mention: incognito, fiasco, and graffiti.

Spanish: a large number of such words was penetrated in English vocabulary in 1588 when Phillip 2 sent a fleet of armed ships against England (armada, ambuscade); trade terms: cargo, embargo; names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, guitar; names of vegetables and fruits: tomato, tobacco, banana, ananas.

GERMANIC BORROWINGS:

Scandinavian: By the end of the Old English period English underwent a strong influence of Scandinavian due to the Scandinavian conquest of the British Isles. As a result of this conquest there are about 700 borrowings from Scandinavian into English (pronouns: they, them, their; verbs: to call, to want, to die; adj: flat, ill, happy; noun: cake, egg, knife, window.! letter combination “sk”: skin, sky, skirt etc.

German: in the period of Second World War such words were borrowed as: luftwaffe (возд. авиация); bundeswehr (вооруженные силы ФРГ). After the Second World War the following words were borrowed: Volkswagen, berufsverbot (запрет на профессию (в ФРГ)), and some other words (cobalt, wolfram, iceberg, rucksack ). Dutch: Holland and England have had constant interrelations for many centuries and more then 2000 Dutch words were borrowed into English. Many of them are nautical terms and were mainly borrowed in the 14th century, such as: skipper, pump, keel, dock; and some words from everyday life: luck, brandy, and boss.

Russian: Among early Russian borrowings there are mainly words connected with trade relations, such as: rubble, kopeck, sterlet, vodka, and words relating to nature: taiga, tundra, steppe. After the October revolution many new words appeared in Russia, connected with the new political system, new culture, and many of them were borrowed into English: collectivization, udarnik, Komsomol and also translation loans: five-year plan, collective farm. One more group of Russian borrowings is connected with perestroika, suck as: glasnost, nomenclature, and apparatchik.

Native words – words of Anglo-Saxon origin or those whose origin can’t be traced. They denote the most important objects and phenomena. They are usually monosyllabic, highly polysemantic and stylistically neutral. They have a high word-building potential and enter lots of set-phrases and idioms. They are divided into 3 basic groups:

1) The words which have cognates (words of the same etymological root, of common origin) in many Indo-European languages. For ex: family relations: father (Vater), mother, daughter, son; parts of human body: foot, heart, nose; wolf, cow, cat; numerous verbs: stand, sit; the numerals from 1 to 100; heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star.

2) The words, which have cognates with words of the language of the Germanic group. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the I-E group/ For ex: parts of human body: head, hand, arm, finger; animals: bear, fox; natural phenomena: rain, frost; human dwellings and furniture: house, bench; adj: green, blue, old, good, small, high; verbs: see, hear, tell, say, drink, give.

3) the English element proper. Ex.: bird, boy, girl, woman, lord, always.

 

Etymological doublets – are pairs of words, which have one and the same original form, but which have acquired different forms and even different meanings during the course of linguistic development. Ex: the words shirt and skirt etymologically descend from the same root. Shirt is a native word, skirt is a Scandinavian borrowings. Their phonetic shape is different, and yet there is a certain resemblance, which reflects their common origin. Their meanings are also different but easily associated: they both denote articles of clothing. Etymological triplets (groups of three words of common root) – hospital (Lat) – hostel (Norm. Fr) – hotel (Par. Fr).

Translation-Loans. This term is equivalent to borrowing. They are not taken into the vocabulary of another language more or less in the same phonetic shape in which they have been functioning in their own language, but undergo the process of translation. It is obvious that it is only compound words, which can be subjected to such an operation, each stem being translated separately. Ex: collective farm (колхоз); wonder child (Wunderkind); five-year plan (пятилетка)

International words. There are some words, the meaning of which is identical in most European languages. These words are called International. They can be traced etymologically. They appear in different languages as a result of simultaneous and successful borrowing from one and the same source. Thus, they are actually national. However, they comprise a special stock, common to many countries and their etymology is a secondary fact.

International words differ from other borrowings in that they reflect the relations of a number of countries and not the relations between 2 countries (as in the case of borrowed words). Neither should they be confused of the common Indo-European stock.

As a rule international words are either of political or scientific- technological nature.

E.g. democracy, party, monarchy, medicine, telephone

International words are often confused with other words, which came from the same source, but have diverged meaning. The notion “misleading words’’ (false friends of a translator) is generally used to denote these words.

E.g. accurate- is not аккуратный

conserves- is not консервы

complexion- is not комплекция

magazine- is not журнал