LG and other branches of science

LG and other branches of science

LG and Phonetics. A word is then association of a given group of sounds with the given meaning (tip-top). A word unity is conditioned by a number of phonological units. Phonemes follow each other in a fixed sequence (tip-top)/ the discrimination between words may be based upon stress (‘im’port). Stress also distinguishes compounds from homonymies of the group (blackbird – black bird). Phonetics helps in the studying of synonyms, homonyms, polysemy.

LG and Stylistics. The problem of meaning, connotations, synonymy, functional differention of the vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and some issues.

LG and Grammar are connected in the object of their study. Even isolated words bare a definite relation to the grammatical system, because they belong to some part of speech & conform to some lexical, grammatical characteristics of the word class to which they belong. The ties between lexicology and grammar are particularly strong in the sphere of word formation. The characteristic features of English word building, the morphological structure of the English word are depended on the peculiarity of the grammatical system.

LG and Social Linguistics SL is the branch of Linguistics dealing with the causal relations between the way a word develops and facts of social life. The changes of the language are due to the linguistic and extra linguistic courses, or to a combination of both.

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.

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 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 Indo-European 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. Assimilation – the process of adaptation phonetic, gram. and semantic features of language. 3 basic types: phonetical – sounds are adopted; grammatical – when a borrowed word occurs (спутник); semantic – connected with the meaning of the word.

International words.

It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages and not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts, which are significant in the field of communication. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e.g. philosophy, chemistry, biology; sports terms: football, baseball, tennis; foodstuffs and fruits imported from exotic countries: coffee, chocolate, banana, grapefruit; clothing: pullover, shorts.

Etymological doublets

Doublets are words which have the same origin but they are different in phonetic shape and in meaning.

Doublets appeared in English in different ways.

1.) One of the pair may be a native word and the other a borrowed one. EG: the word “shirt” is a native one. “skirt” was borrowed from Scandinavian. (одежда)

2.) Both the words are borrowed, but from different languages. EG: senior (from Latin) sir (from French)

3.) Both the words are borrowed from one of the same language, but at different period of time. EG: cavalry (Normandy French) – кавалерия. Chivalry (Parisian Language) – рыцарство (ch-показывает о более позднем происхождение)

4.) Shortening may bring to life etymological doublets. EG: history and story, defense and fance, fantasy - fancy.

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).

Translation-loan(s) (калька) – are borrowings which are made up by means of literally translating words and word combinations. EG: from the Russian language: пятилетка – five-year plan. from German: Wunderkind – wonder child. from Italian: prima ballerina – first dancer.

Native element

1.) Indo-European element

2.) Germanic element

3.) English proper element

Indo-European element

moon - луна, tree - дерево, brother - брат, mother - мать, do - делать, be - быть, new - новый, that - тот, me - меня, two – два

Indo-European vocabulary is linked to:

family relations, parts of the human body, animals, plants, time of day, heavenly bodies, a number of adjectives, the numerals from one to a hundred, pronouns (personal and demonstrative), a number of verbs

Germanic element

sand - sand, (Norw.); earth - jord; make - machen (German); find - fine (Norw.); boat - båt, broad - bred, drink - drikke (Norw.), trinken (Germ.)

English proper element

bird, woman, lord, lady, sheriff

Etymological hybrids

Hybrids - words consisting of a native and a borrow morpheme. EG: beauty|ful – исконная часть (suffix), заимств. (root), eat|able – наоборот

Stages of assimilation

· Fully assimilated words

· Partially assimilated words

· Unassimilated words

#3 English vocabulary as a system.

We speak differently in different situations. The way we speak and the choice of words depend on the situation in which the processes of communication is realized. There are different situations, EG: teacher- student, manager-boss.

As we are speaking about the functions of all this words in different situations we have to define “functional style”.

Under a “function style” we understand language means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication.

The basic vocabulary is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and living core. That is why words of this stratum show a considerably greater stability in comparison with words of the other strata, especially informal.

Basic vocabulary words can be recognised not only by their stylistic neutrality but, also, by entire lack of other connotations (i. e. attendant meanings). Their meanings are broad, general and directly convey the concept, without supplying any additional information.

EG: begin-start-commence; child-kid-infant

The words begin and child are neutral and the rests are stylistically marked their usage is restructed to some specific communicative situations.

Neutral words are very important in the lang. They form the so-called basic vocab. They can be used every day, every where and by everybody, both in oral and written speech. These words make the processes of communication possible.

Levels of language usage.

Each of us employs a different level of usage (word choice) depending upon whether we are speaking or writing, upon who are our audience, upon the kind of occasion, etc. Different levels of usage are combinations of cultural levels and functional varieties. Included generally in such levels are dialect, ungrammatical speech, slang, illiteracies, and even colloquial language, as well as technical terms and scientific expressions.

• formal speech

• informal speech

Formal vocabulary. Formal words are used in the so-called formal situations: giving a lecture, writing a business letter.

a) bookish or learned words.

These words are used in written speech, in the books, that we read.

They may be met in the authors narrations, descriptions.

Learned word are used in oral speech as well, mostly in the speech of well educated people. We must remember that the overuse of bookish words makes our speech absurd, rediculars and just funny.

b) scientific-prose words.

These words are used to express scientific concepts and ideas. There are many terms and set phrases among them.

c) Archaic words.

Archaisms are words or word combinations which are partly or completely out of use today.

EG: the word nay=no; eve=evening; morn=morning

Archaisms are different from historisms. The archaisms are words denoting objects and phenomena that have come out of use. EG: hansom – вид экипажа у которого кучер сидит сзади на высоте.

d ) Professional terminology are words that belong to special scientific professional or trade terminological systems.

Informal vocabulary. Informal vocabulary is used when speaking with friends, relatives, acquaintance.

There are several sub-groups in this group:

1) Colloquial words. They in their turn are divided into literary-colloquial, familiar-colloquial, and low- colloquial.

Literary-colloquial words do not break the norms of the language. We use these words in our everyday speech. EG: He has caught a cold.

Many of the clichés belong to this group: EG: Благодарю Вас! Thank you! Thanks.

These word are also use in fiction. They are used in the speech of the characters and in modern books, literature, in the author’s narration.

Familiar-colloquial words sound rude. They are colorful and expressive. They’re used by the young people, who want to be grown up and want to be independent and by those people whose cultural and educational background is poor. EG: I’m fed up with it – я сыт по горло.

Low-colloquial words are met in the speech of the illiterate people

EG: by the characters of “Pygmalion”

It should be noted that there is no strict boarder line between literary and familiar col., and fam. and low colloquial.

EG: familiar combinations: “awfully nice”, “not so bed”

Slang

Slangizms are a very interesting groups of words. One of the characteristics of slangizm is that they are not included into Standard English (EG: mug = face; trap = mouth)

Such words are based on metaphor, they make speech unexpected, vivid and sometimes difficult to understand.

Slang appears as a language of a subgroup in a language community. We can speak of black-americans’ slang, teenagers’ slang, navy and army slang. (Slang is used by different people of social or professional groups(widely spread in every day speech), special slang is futher subdivided into – University slang-teenager slang – sport slang).

 

#4 Morphological structure of a word

Word is the principal and basic unit of the language system, the largest on the morphologic and the smallest on the syntactic plane of linguistic analysis.

According to the number of morphemes words can be classified into monomorphic and polymorphic. Monomorphic or root-words consist of only one root-morpheme, e.g. small, dog, make, give, etc. All polymorphic word fall into two subgroups: derived words and compound words – according to the number of root-morphemes they have.

Derived words are composed of one root-morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes, e.g. acceptable, outdo, disagreeable, etc. (Words which consist of a root and an affix or several affixes are called derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of affixation.)

Compound words are those which contain at least two root-morphemes, the number of derivational morphemes being insignificant.

There can be both root- and derivational morphemes in compounds as in pen-holder, light-mindedness, or only root-morphemes as in lamp-shade, eye-ball, etc.

The term morpheme is derived from Greek morphe “form ”+ -eme. The Greek suffix –eme has been adopted by linguistic to denote the smallest unit or the minimum distinctive feature.

The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of form. A form in these cases a recurring discrete unit of speech. Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of words, not independently, although a word may consist of single morpheme.

The morphemes, which make up new words are called lexical morphemes. The lexical morphemes may be roots and affixational (affixes morphemes)

Root morphemes are the semantic centre of the word.

As for affixes, they can be prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes stand in front of the root. Suffixes follow the root.

Morphemes can be free and bound. Root morphemes are free. They coincide with independent words, and can function in the sentence by themselves. EG: boyish (boy можно употреблять отдельно). Affixes are bound morphemes. They can’t function in the sentence alone. But: ladd|like, eat|able.(there are exist semi-sufficsis. –like,–able can be both suffices and independent words.)

The morphemic structure of the word may be studied on 2 levels: morphemic and derivational. The main unit of the morphemic level is morpheme. The main unit of the derivational level is the stem. It is that part of the word, to which grammatical flexions are added. (The stem is defined as that part of the word which remains unchanged).

According to the morphological structure of the word, all words (stems) may be devited into the following groups:

1.) simple (root) words. a hat, a boy.

2.) derived (производные) words (derivatives). They include root and affixal morphemes: ladylike, eatable, sunny.

3.) compound (сложные) words. They have two or more stems. EG: snow-fall, girlfriend.

4.) Compound derivatives (сложнопроизводные). They have two or more stems in their structure and derivational affixes. EG: film-goer

5.) Contracted compounds (сложносокращенные) In such words one of the stems is shortened. EG: TV-set

Conversion, derivation and composition are the most productive ways of word-building.

Conversion is a type of modern English word-building when a word from one part of speech is transformed into another part of speech (e.g. to hand – a hand).

Composition is the making of a new word by joining two or more stems together.

Structurally these words are classified into the following groups:

1.) простые сложные слова. neutral compounds, where the stems are joined together, without any linking element. EG: shop-window, badroom.

2.) морфологические слож. слова. morphological compounds, in which the stems are joined by a vowel or a consonant. EG: Anglo-Saxon, statesman, bridesmaid

3.) Синтаксич. слож. слова или компрессивы или телескопные. Synthetic compounds, in which stems are joined by a prepositions or by some other form-word. The formal sign is a hyphen. EG: mother-in-law, good-for-northing.

4.) Сложнопроизводные слова. Derivational compounds, in which the stems have affixes in their stems. EG: film-goer, blue-eyed.

5.) Сложносокращ. слова. Contracted compounds, in which one of the stems is shortened. EG: TV-set, sitcom.

Compound words are made of 2 derivational stems. The types of structure of compound words: neutral, morphological, syntactic.

In neutral compound the process is released without any linking elements (blackbird, shopwindow, sunflower.

Morphological – few in number. This type is non productive. Represented by words, where 2 stems are combined by a linking vowel/ consonant (Anglo-Saxon, statesman, craftsmanship).

Syntactic – formed of segments of speech preserving articles, prepositions, adverbs. Mother-in-law (Syntactic compounds represent specifically English word structure. They are formed from segments of speech describing typical relations).

Productivity is the ability of the affixes to form new words at a certain period.

Affixes can be classified into productive and non-productive.

By productive ones we mean the affixes which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development.

Less productive ways of word-building: shortening=contraction

· Phone = telephone

· Fence = defence

· Vac = vacation

· Hols = holidays

· Ads = advertisements

· BBC = British Broadcasting Corporation

· M.P. = Member of Parliament

Non-productive is morphological compound.

Back formation a verb is produced from a noun by subtraction (вычитание) bagger – to bag, babysitter – to babysit

“Stone wall” problem

The problem is: “Is the “stone wall” a compound or a word combination. The answer depends on how we treat the first component. If we understand it as a noun stem then it is a compound. If the first component is an adjective it’s a word combination. The generally accept point of view is that “stone wall” is a specific type of compound, so called unstable compound.

There are several criteria which help us distinguish between a compound and a word combination:

1.) Semantic criterion. A compound denotes one notion a word combination, denotes two or several or more notions. EG speech sound – it’s a sound of phoneme (1 notion), a difficult sound (2 notion)

2.) Phonetic criterion – in a compound there is one stress, in a word combination there are two stresses. EG:,black’board, ‘blackboard.

3.) Morphological criterion – a compound has single grammatical framig a word combination doesn’t have such a quality. EG: a spring day-spring days.

4.) Syntactical criterion. We can always enlarge a word combination by inserting a word. EG: a tall boy- a tall handsome boy, stone and concrete wall.

Shortening is a process of the substituting a part for a whole. There are different types of shortened words. In clippings one of the parts of the word is cut off EG: phone (from telephone)-the begging of the word is shortened. Food Mart (from Market)-the middle of the word is shortened. Ed(itor)-редактор – the end of word is shortened.

There are abbreviations which consists of the initial letters of words. EG: NATO, MP-member of parliament. Some time abbreviation are read as words. NATO, VIP.

Shortened words of different kinds are often met in newspaper styles.

Blending (стяжение) - Is blending part of two words to form one word (merging into one word), combining letters/sounds they have in common as a connecting element. Smoke + fog = smog, Breakfast + lunch = brunch, Smoke + haze = smaze (дымка)

- addictive type: they are transformable into a phrase consisting of two words combined by a conjunction “and” smog → smoke & fog

- blending of restrictive type: transformable into an attributive phrase, where the first element serves as modifier of a second. Positron – positive electron, Medicare – medical care

#5 The semantic structure of a word.

The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, is nowadays commonly referred to as the word's semantic structure. This is certainly the word's main aspect.

The branch of linguistics, which specializes in the study of meaning, is called semantics.

Lexical semantics deals with a language's lexicon, or the collection of words in a language. It is concerned with individual words (unlike compositional semantics, which is concerned with meanings of sentences.) (the study of the meaning of words and phrases and the relationships between them)

The modern approach to semantics is based on the assumption that the inner form of the word (its meaning) presents a structure, which is called the semantic structure of the word.

The semantic structure of the word does not present an indissoluble unit nor does it necessarily stand for one concept. Most words convey several concepts and thus possess the corresponding number of the meanings. A word having several meanings is called polysemantic and the ability of words to have more than one meaning is described by the term polysemy.

The meaning of the word is made up of the grammatical and lexical meaning. (Two trends in modem semantics)

Grammatical meaning is the meaning in terms of grammar. Grammatical meaning refers to that part of meaning which indicates grammatical relationships or functions, such as tense meaning, singular meaning, etc.

Lexical meaning is studied on two levels: paradigmatic and sintagmatic.

On the syntagmatic connection, the connection of the word with other words in the system of the language are studied.

On Syntagmatic level the linear connections of words in speech are studied. (in the sentence, in the text). On this level we study combinability of words. EG: John (he, young man) came in (comes)

Paradigmatic connection include: synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy

Lexico-semantic paradigm

Synonyms are words which belong to the same part of speech and the same thematic group, and are so close semantically that to use the correct in speech we must know their shade of meaning and stylistic connotation.

Antonymy. Words belonging to the same part of speech identical in speech expressing contrary or contradictory notion.

Hyponymy. The meaning of the word which is general includes the meanings of a group of other words; EG: furniture (a table, a chair…)

Semantical components

Lexical meaning (semantical component). Comparing word forms of one word we observe that lexical meaning is identical in all forms of the words. Eg.: the word forms “go, goes, went, going, gone” possess different grammatical meaning of tense, person..., but one and the same component denoting the process of movement.

• denotational component

• connotational component

Polysemy

Polysemy means that a word has two or more meaning. If it has only one meaning it’s called mono-semantic. Polisementic words are greater in number. Polysemy is explained by the following: the word names an object of reality according to some of its quality or characteristic of its object.

Very often the quality of one object are identical with a quality of another object, because of this one the same word is used to denote this object. EG: The word “glass” has the meanings “стакан, зеркало”, they are interconnected because both the object are made of the same material.

This very idea may be expressed differently: The world around us is varied and its objects are many.

The means of the language on the other hand are limited, so one word denotes several objects. All the meanings of the word taken together make up its symantic structure. As a rule context shows us which of the meanings of the word is used. EG: blind… 1.) handwriting – неразборчивый почерк 2.) man – слепой человек.

Polysemy and semantic structure (all the lexical & lexico-gr-cal variants of a word taken together) exist only in language, not in speech. Polysemy does not interfere with the communicative function of the language because in every particular case the situation and context cancel all the unnecessary meanings and make speech unambiguous.

Polysemous forms can be divided into words that show regular and irregular polysemy.

Regular polysemy is systematic polysemy that recurs in the language. The words have a systematic relationship between them.

EG: in the English word girl can mean both small female child and girlfriend

In irregular polysemy the systematic relationship between the different meanings does not exist.

It can also be divided into subcategories. These categories are radial polysemy and chain polysemy.

In radial polysemy, you have one specific definition of the term at the center of a whole group of other meanings. This meaning connects all the other ones to each other.

EG: the world field («поле» - «пространство», «участок», «место сражения», месторождение», «сфера деятельности»)

In chain polysemy, the different definitions one word has form a chain that connects each definition to the previous and next one. The first and last meaning might not have all that much in common.

EG: the word bleak: «незащищенный от ветра» (bleak hillside) →«холодный, суровый» (bleak wind) → «унылый, печальный, мрачный» (bleak prospects).

Homonymy

Homonymy. Different in meaning, but identical in sound or spelling form.

Sources (origin):

1. The result of split of polysemy (capital – столица, заглавная буква)

Homonymy differs from polysemy because there is no semantic bond (связь) between homonyms; it has been lost & doesn’t exist.

2. as the result of leveling of grammar in flections, when different parts of speech become identical in their forms. Care (in OE) - caru(n), care (OE) – carian (v)

3. By conversion (slim – to slim, water – to water)

4. With the help of the same suffix fro the same stem (основа). Reader – the person who reads/a book for reading.

5. Accidentally. Native words can coincide in their form beran – to bear, bera (animal) – to bear

6. Shortening of different words. Cab (cabriolet, cabbage, cabin)

Homonyms can be of 3 kinds:

1. Homonyms proper (the sound & the spelling are identical) bat – bat – flying animal (летучая мышь) - cricket bat (бита, back - part of body, away from the front, go to back

2. Homophones (the same sound form but different spelling) flower – flour, sole – soul, rain – reign, bye-by-buy

3. Homographs (the same spelling) tear [iə] – tear [εə, lead [i:] – lead [e]

 

 

#6 Paradigmatic relations of words in English.

Ways to classify words

· Non-semantic grouping

· Morphological

· Grammatical

· Semantic

Non-semantic grouping

· Alphabethical order

· Reverse order and rhyme

· Length of words

· Statistical frequency of words

Alphabethical order. The sound is taken into consideration. Outcome is almost null with few exceptions of etymological value. For instance, words beginning with w are mostly native. Many words beginning with ph [f] and ps [s] are Greek (philology, psychology). Those beginning with sk [sk] are of Scandinavian origin (sky, skate, ski) and not palatalized, but the ones with sh [⌠] are native and palatalized (shirt);

(Alphabetic organization is the simplest and most universal grouping of written words used in most dictionaries. Grouping according to the words’ final letters is used in inverse dictionaries and helps to make lists of words with similar suffixes or rhymin words.)

Reverse order and rhyme. The sound is taken into consideration but the other way round (game, fame);

Length of words. The number of letters is taken into consideration. Important for lexicostatistics, communication engineering. The number of letters and esp. syllables correlates to the word frequency, the number of meanings and stylistic characteristics of the lexical item.

(The number of letters is taken into consideration. Important for lexicostatistics, communication engineering. The number of letters and esp. syllables correlates to the word frequency, the number of meanings and stylistic characteristics of the lexical item.)

Statistical frequency of words. Grouping according to the words’ frequency is based on statistical counts. It is used for practical purposes in lexicography, language teaching and shorthand. It is also important theoretically – the most frequent words are polysemantic and stylistically neutral.

(This approach is very important for lexicography and language teaching. The most frequent words are polysemantic and stylistically neutral.)

Morphological grouping

· Root or morpheme words: their stem contains one free morpheme (dog)

· Derivatives: they contain no less than two morphemes of which at least one is bound (dogged, doggedly)

· Compound words consist of not less than two free morphemes, the presence of bound morphemes is also possible (dog-days ’hottest part of the year’)

· Compound derivatives: contain not less than two free morphemes and one bound morpheme referring to the whole combination (dog-legged)

Nouns: (из презентации)

· personal names

· animal names

· collective names (for people)

· collective names (for animals)

· abstract nouns

· mass nouns

· object nouns

· proper names for people

· toponymic proper names

Their origin

1. Borrowings give a lot of synonyms EG: to ask (native) – to question (French) – to interrogate (Latin)

2. Affixation: EG: changeable-changeful

3. conversion: EG: laughter-to laugh

4. Shortening: EG: laboratory-lab

Euphemisms. There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, direct or impolite. They are often described in a round – about way by using substitutes, called euphemisms. (e.g. lavatory – powder-room, washroom, restroom, retiring-room, (public) comfort station, lady’s (room), gentlemen’s (room), water-closed, W.C., public conveniences, toilet, wind-sort castle.)

Euphemism may be used due to genuine concern not to hurt someone’s feelings (a stupid person can be said to be not exactly brilliant).

Antonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which have contrasting meanings such as hot-cold. They usually appear in pairs, but a polysemantic word may have an antonym for each of its meanings (light-heavy, light-dark).

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives which is quite natural because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted. Verbs take second place (to lose-to find). Nouns are not rich in antonyms (friend- enemy).

Antonymic adverbs can be subdivided into 2 groups:

a) adverbs derives from adjective (warmly-coldly);

b) adverbs proper (now-then, here-there).

Together with synonyms antonyms represent the language’s important expressive means. Authors often use antonyms as a stylistic device of contrast.

Hyponymy is a relation between two words in which the meaning of one of the words includes the meaning of the other word. (The lexical relation corresponding to the inclusion of one class in another is hyponymy.) EG: Blue, Green are kinds of color. They are specific colors and color is a general term for them, vehicle includes car, bus, taxi; horse entails animal; table entails furniture and so on.

#7 Syntagmatic relations of words in English.

The laws of combinability are studied by syntagmatics on the other hand, in the system of the language every word has certain characteristic which predetermine its combinability with other words.

The aptness of the word to appear in various combination of word is called “valency”

EG: a verb can combine with a noun.

EG: it can have a direct-object (to buy a book)

Lexical (semantic) valency

The aptness of a word to appear in various combinations is described as its lexical valency or collocability. The noun job, for example, is often combined with such adjectives as backbreaking, difficult, hard; full-time, part-time, summer, cushy, easy; demanding; menial, etc. The noun myth may be a component of a number of word-groups, e.g. to create a myth, to dispel a myth, to explode a myth, myths and legends, etc. Lexical valency acquires special importance in case of polysemy as through the lexical valency different meanings of a polysemantic word can be distinguished, for instance, cf.: heavy table (safe, luggage); heavy snow (rain, storm); heavy drinker (eater); heavy sleep (sorrow, disappointment); heavy industry (tanks).

The range of the lexical valency of words is linguistically restricted by the inner structure of the English word-stock. Though the verbs lift and raise are usually treated as synonyms, it is only the latter that is collocated with the noun question.

The restrictions of lexical valency of words may also manifest themselves in the lexical meanings of the polysemantic members of word groups. For example, the adjective heavy in the meaning ‘rich and difficult to digest’ is combined with the words food, meals, supper. But it cannot be used with the words cheese or sausage (the words with more or less the same component of meaning) implying that the cheese or the sausage is difficult to digest.

The lexical valency of correlated words in different languages is different, cf.: in English pot flowers – in Russian комнатные цветы.

Argument structure of verbs

1) Transitive verbs are characterized by the obligatory presence of two non-prepositional arguments: a subject and a direct object. Transitive verbs assign accusative case to their direct object, while the subject receives nominative case.

Subject [Nominative]		Object [Accusative]
John	broke	the window
John	painted	the door

 

2) Intransitive verbs. An intransitive verb does not have an object. In the following sentences, cry, work, laugh, and talk are intransitive verbs:

· The baby was crying.

· I work for a large firm in Paris.

· They laughed uncontrollably.

· We talked for hours.

3) Ditransitive verbs are very similar to transitive verbs but they have one more argument, which is traditionally called indirect object.

EG: He gave her the letter. ('The letter' is the direct object, what he gave, and 'her' is the indirect object, the person he gave it to. This sentence can also be written 'He gave the letter to her'.)

Semantic roles

• Agent (Ag) The thing that is responsible for doing the action (also Actor)

• Theme (Th) The thing that is moved, changed, described (also Patient)

• Goal (Go) The thing where an action ends (or for which the action was done) (also Recipient)

• Location (Loc) The place where the theme is

• Event (Ev) Something that takes place, that happens

• Experiencer (Exp) Someone who experiences a psychological state

• Referent (R) The thing a noun refers to

On the subject we find the roles of Agent, Location, Experiencer; while on the direct object we find the roles of Patient (when it is “affected” by the event), Theme (when it is not affected by the event).

Syntactic valency

Grammatical (syntactic) valency is the aptness of a word to appear in specific grammatical (or rather syntactic) structures. The minimal grammatical context in which words are used when brought together to form word-groups is usually described as the pattern of the word-groups. For instance, the verb offer can be followed by the infinitive (to offer to do smth.) and the noun to suggest can be followed by the gerund (to suggest doing smth.) and the noun (to suggest an idea). The grammatical of these verbs is different.

The grammatical valency of correlated words in different languages is not identical, cf.: in English to influence a person, a decision, a choice (verb + noun) — in Russian влиять на человека, на решение, на выбор (verb + preposition + noun).

Passive syntactic valency

defined by a Part of speech a word belongs to

• better: V (works better)

• is leaving: C (that he is leaving)

• beautiful: N (a beautiful girl)

The realization of the aptness of the word to appear in various combinations is called combinability. In other words it’s the actual ability of word to combine in speech.

Sintactical combinability is the ability of words to appear in certain grammatical structure. EG: an adjective performs the function of an attribute when it combines with the noun. (a good student.)

In a word combination there is always the head-word (or key-word) which makes it possible to classify the word-groups. EG: a brave-man (adj.+ N.), to pay money (V+N), to depend on smb. (V+Preposition+Pronoun).

Lexical combinability is the ability of words to combine in speech according to lexical meaning. The lows of lexical combinability are often explained by the complex character of the lexical semantic system of the language. EG: In Russian we can say: -Потуши свет/мясо. In eng. – to switch off; - to stew meat.

Types of Context

• Variable

• Constant

• Fixed (regularly repeated)

Types Of Variable Context

Lexical context: Words are used in certain lexical contexts, i.e. in combinations with other words. E.g. the noun question is often combined with such adjectives as vital, pressing, urgent, delicate, etc.

1. blind cat, blind horse, blind mouse

2. blind fury, blind passion, rage, panic, hatred

3. blind battle, blind attack, blind choice

4. blind tube, blind alley, blind valley

5. blind arch, blind door, blind wall, blind hedge

Syntactic context:

Words are also used in grammatical (syntactic) contexts. The minimal grammatical context in which the words are used to form word-groups is usually described as the pattern of the word-group. E.g., the adjective heavy can be followed by a noun (A+N) – heavy food, heavy storm, heavy box, heavy eater. But we cannot say «heavy cheese» or «heavy to lift, to carry», etc.

The aptness of a word to appear in specific grammatical (or rather syntactical) structures is termed grammatical valency.

Types Of Phrasemes

• Verbal phrasemes: to knit (one’s) brows; to beggar description; to grind (one’s) teeth; to lose (one’s) temper; to have no stomach (for smth)

• Nominal phrasemes: blank verse; blue funk; broken tea

• Different senses with different indicative minimums: small beer, small hours, small talk

Phraseoloids

Phraseoloids are semi-phraseological units; they are vivid, stable expressions standing between the free combinations and metaphorical idioms. They are formed from the words which are used in the literal meaning. (units of semi-fixed context: pay a visit/call…)

Idioms (Phraseological units) are habitually defined as non-motivated word-groups that cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready-made units; the other essential feature of phraseological units is stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure. (black sheep of the family, dark horse)

Fixed expressions

• Cliches: to have no idea of; to mean business; as a matter of fact

• Fixed expressions with frozen referents: chest of drawers; book of reference

• Expressions with a uniquely collocated element: artesian well

Familiar quotations

As to familiar quotations, they are different from prov­erbs in their origin. They come from literature but by and by they become part and parcel of the language, so that many people using them do not even know that they are quoting, and very few could accurately name the play or passage on which they are drawing even when they are aware of using a quotation from W. Shakespeare.

Excepting only W. Shakespeare, no poet has given more of his lines than A. Pope to the common vocabulary of the English-speaking world. The following are only a few of the best known quotations: To err is human; To forgive, divine; For fools rush in where angels fear to tread; At every word a reputation dies.

 

#9 English lexicography.

Lexicography is the science and practice of compiling dictionaries and describing them.

The history of British and American lexicography.

The history of dictionary-making for the English language goes as far back as the Old English period where its first traces are found in the form of glosses of religious books with interlinear translation from Latin. (Aelfric of Eynsham (Эльфрик Грамматик) (the Old English period): the first glossary)

Regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries were already in existence in the 15th century. (Ortus vocabulorum (ca. 1430, printed in 1500) and Promptorium parvulorum (1440, printed in 1499, the first English-Latin bilingual dictionary)).

The unilingual dictionary is a comparatively recent type. The first unilingual English dictionary, explaining words by English equivalents, appeared in 1604. It was meant to explain difficult words occurring in books. Its title was “ A Table Alphabeticall “, containing and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard usuall English words borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine or French. The little volume of 120 pages explaining about 3000 words was compiled by one Robert Cawdrey, a schoolmaster. Other books followed, each longer than the preceding one.

In the 18 century hard-word dictionaries began to be replaced by ordinary-word dictionaries focusing on literary usage. In 1702 John Kersey published his New English Dictionary and moved away from the 'hard word' tradition. It included words of daily language and aimed 'for Young Scholars, Tradesmen and the Female Sex' to teach them 'to spell trucly'.

The best dictionary of this time was the Universal Etymological Dictionary by Nathaniel.

The first attempt at a dictionary including all the words of the language, not only the difficult ones, was made by Nathaniel Bailey who in 1721 published the first edition of his “ Universal Etymological English Dictionary ”. He was the first to include pronunciation and etymology.

In 1755 Dr. Samuel Johnson, the poet, essayist and literary critic published his great Dictionary of the English Language in two volumes consisting of 2,300 pages with 40,000 entries. This work became the most authoritative text for several generations of Englishmen and was superseded only by the Oxford English Dictionary. It took Johnson more than eight years to write it (instead of the intended three), and it was the first English dictionary ever compiled by a writer of the first rank.

The dictionary was a scholarly record of the whole language, based on a corpus of examples (an important innovation!) by the 'best' authors of that time like Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Addison, Bacon, Spenser (though many of them were reproduced from memory). Thus it became a prescriptive, 'purifying' guide to the best usage of the English language for more than a century. Johnson's attempts to fix the language, his thorough choice of the words for inclusion, and high repute in which the dictionary was held established a lofty bookish style that was given the name of " Johnsonian " or " Johnsonese ".

A pronouncing dictionary that must be mentioned first was published in 1780 by Thomas Sheridan, grandfather of the great dramatist. In 1791 appeared “ The Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language ” by John Walker, an actor.

The Golden Age of English lexicography began in the last quarter of the 19th century when the English Philological Society started work on compiling what is now known as “ The Oxford English Dictionary ” (OED), but was originally named “ New English Dictionary on Historical Principles ”. It is still occasionally referred to as NED.

The purpose of this monumental work is to trace the development of English words from their form in Old English, and if they were not found in Old English, to show when they were introduced into the language, and also to show the development of each meaning and its historical relation to other meanings of the same word.

The result is a kind of encyclopaedia of language used not only for reference purposes but also as a basis for lexicological research.

The first part of the Dictionary appeared in 1884 and the last in 1928. Later it was issued in twelve volumes and in order to accommodate new words a three volume Supplement was issued in 1933. These volumes were revised in the seventies. Nearly all the material of the original Supplement was retained and a large body of the most recent accessions to the English language added.

“ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English ” was first published in 1911, i.e. before the work on the main version was completed. It is not a historical dictionary but one of current usage. A still shorter form is “ The Pocket Oxford Dictionary ”.

Another big dictionary, also created by joined effort of enthusiasts, is Joseph Wright ’s “ English Dialect Dictionary ”.

It was Noah Webster, universally considered to be the father of American lexicography, who emphatically broke away from English idiom, and embodied in his book the specifically American usage of his time. His great work, “ The American Dictionary of the English Language ", appeared in two volumes in 1828 and later sustained numerous revised and enlarged editions. N. Webster attempted to simplify the spelling and pronunciation that were current in the USA of the period. He devoted many years to the collection of words and the preparation of more accurate definitions.

Later on, the title “ International Dictionary of the English Language ” was adopted, and in the latest edition not Americanisms but words not used in America (Britishisms) are marked off.

N. Webster’s dictionary enjoyed great popularity from its first editions. This popularity was due not only to the accuracy and clarity of definitions but also to the richness of additional information of encyclopaedic character, which had become a tradition in American lexicography. As a dictionary N. Webster’s book aims to treat the entire vocabulary of the language providing definitions, pronunciation and etymology. As an encyclopaedia it gives explanations about things named, including scientific and technical subjects. It does so more concisely than a full-scale encyclopaedia, but it is worthy of note that the definitions are as a rule up-to-date and rigorous scientifically.

The other great American dictionaries are the “ Century Dictionary ", first completed in 1891; “ Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary ", first completed in 1895; the “ Random House Dictionary of the English Language ", completed in 1967; “ The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the English Language ", first published in 1969, and C.L. Barnhart ’s “ The World Book Dictionary ” presenting a synchronic review of the language in the 20th century. The first three continue to appear in variously named subsequent editions including abridged versions. Many small handy popular dictionaries for office, school and home use are prepared to meet the demand in reference books on spelling, pronunciation, meaning and usage.

What’s in an entry

· Spelling: the headword indicates the normal spelling, but any variations will follow

· Pronunciation: within rounded () or slash // brackets, together with any variations

· Inflections: if these are formed irregularly or occasion some spelling adjustment such as doubling of consonants, dropping of ‘e’ or changing ‘y’ to ‘i’

· Word class: usually indicated by conventional abbreviations, ‘n’ for noun, ‘adj’ for adjective, etc.; verbs are also marked for ‘transitive’ (vt) or ‘intransitive’ (vi)

• Senses (значения): where a lexeme has more than one meaning, each sense is usually numbered; where a sense, or group of senses belong to a different word class or subclass, this is indicated before the sense(s) concerned

• Definition: each sense is given a definition, which is an explanation of its meaning

· Examples: where the elucidation of a sense benefits from an illustrative phrase or sentence, usually given in italic type

• Usage: where a sense is restricted in its contexts of use, an appropriate label precedes the sense concerned; if the restriction applies to all the senses of a lexeme, the label precedes any of the senses

· Run-ons: undefined derivatives (with a word class label), idioms, phrasal verbs (if they are not included as headwords), usually in bold type

• Etymology: conventionally in square brackets as the final item in the entry

Learner’s lexicography

Learner lexicography has as its objective to develop principles that help practitioners to produce lexicographic tools that fulfil the needs of specific types of users in specific types of situations in the real world. Furthermore, lexicography has to be measured on the basis of the methods used to achieve the objective. The dictionary should be analysed in terms of three significant features, namely its functions, data and structures, as this strengthens the basis of learner lexicography because it leads to a proper study and understanding of the competences and needs of learners. Finally, the modern theory of dictionary functions encourages theoretical and practical lexicographers to adopt a new way of thinking when planning and compiling learner's dictionaries.

LG and other branches of science

LG and Phonetics. A word is then association of a given group of sounds with the given meaning (tip-top). A word unity is conditioned by a number of phonological units. Phonemes follow each other in a fixed sequence (tip-top)/ the discrimination between words may be based upon stress (‘im’port). Stress also distinguishes compounds from homonymies of the group (blackbird – black bird). Phonetics helps in the studying of synonyms, homonyms, polysemy.

LG and Stylistics. The problem of meaning, connotations, synonymy, functional differention of the vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and some issues.

LG and Grammar are connected in the object of their study. Even isolated words bare a definite relation to the grammatical system, because they belong to some part of speech & conform to some lexical, grammatical characteristics of the word class to which they belong. The ties between lexicology and grammar are particularly strong in the sphere of word formation. The characteristic features of English word building, the morphological structure of the English word are depended on the peculiarity of the grammatical system.

LG and Social Linguistics SL is the branch of Linguistics dealing with the causal relations between the way a word develops and facts of social life. The changes of the language are due to the linguistic and extra linguistic courses, or to a combination of both.