ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Transcription

1 Филиал федерального государственного бюджетного образовательного учреждения высшего профессионального образования «Кемеровский государственный университет» в г. Анжеро-Судженске ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

2 Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации Филиал федерального государственного бюджетного образовательного учреждения высшего профессионального образования «Кемеровский государственный университет» в г. Анжеро-Судженске Кафедра иностранных языков ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА Методические указания и практические задания Анжеро-Судженск 2013

3 УДК ББК 81.2 Л43 Печатается по решению методического совета филиала Кемеровского государственного университета в г. Анжеро-Судженске Л43 Лексикология английского языка: методические рекомендации и практические задания / сост. Е. А. Монастырская; филиал Кемеровского государственного университета в г. Анжеро-Судженске. Анжеро- Судженск, с. Методические рекомендации и практические задания составлены с целью помочь студентам овладеть материалом по лексикологии современного английского языка. Рекомендации помогут систематизировать теоретические знания и использовать их в практике устной и письменной речи. ББК 81.2 Монастырская Е.А., 2013 АСФ КемГУ,

4 Contents I. Introduction...5 II. Language units Morphemes Splinters Structural types of English words Disputable Cases of Word-Formation Practical Part...13 III. Meaning and Concept Approaches to Lexical Meaning Similarity and Difference between Meaning and Concept Types of Lexical Meaning Lexical and Grammatical Meaning Practical Part...17 IV. Semantic Changes Causes of Semantic Changes Main Gradual Ways of Semantic Changes Main Momentary Ways of Semantic Changes Secondary Gradual Ways of Semantic Changes Secondary Momentary Ways of Semantic Changes Practical Part...21 V. Word Combination Lexical and Grammatical Combinability Meaning of Word Combinations Interdependence of Structure and Meaning Motivation in Word Combinations Practical Part...26 VI. Phraseology Phraseology as Science Origin of Phraseological Units in Modern English Practical Part

5 VII. Word-building Main Ways of Word-building in Modern English Secondary Ways of Word-building Practical Part VIII. Semantic Structure of English Words Polysemy. Types of Semantic Components Analysis of the Structure of Polysemantic Words Practical Part IX. Homonyms, Synonyms, Paronyms and Antonyms Homonyms Synonyms Paronyms Antonyms Practical Part X. The Origin of English Words Native Words Kinds of Borrowings Etymological Doublets Practical Part Список использованных источников

6 I. Introduction The term lexicology is of Greek origin (from lexis word and logos science ). Lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary and characteristic features of words and word-groups. The term word denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning. This unit is used in grammatical functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance. The term word-group denotes a group of words which exists in the language as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning, the unity of syntactical function, e. g. the word-group as loose as a goose means clumsy and is used in a sentence as a predicative ( He is as loose as a goose ). Lexicology can be general and special. General lexicology is the lexicology of any language, part of General Linguistics. It is aimed at establishing language universals linguistic phenomena and properties common to all languages. Special lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language (English, German, Russian, etc.). Lexicology can study the development of the vocabulary, the origin of words and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form and meaning. In this case it is called historical lexicology. Another branch of lexicology is called descriptive and studies the vocabulary at a definite stage of its development. Lexicology is closely connected with other branches of linguistics: with Phonetics because the word s sound form is a fixed sequence of phonemes united by a lexical stress; with Morphology and Word-Formation as the word s structure is a fixed sequence of morphemes; 5

7 with Morphology because the word s content plane is a unity of lexical and grammatical meanings; with Syntax because a word functions as a part of the sentence and performs a certain syntactical function; with Stylistics, Socio- and Psycholinguistics because a word functions in different situations and spheres of life. But there is also a great difference between lexicology and other linguistic disciplines. Grammatical and phonological systems are relatively stable. Therefore they are mostly studied within the framework of intralinguistics. Lexical system is never stable. It is directly connected with extralinguistic systems. It is constantly growing and decaying. It is immediately reacts to changes in social life. Lexicology is subdivided into a number of autonomous but interdependent disciplines: 1. Lexicological Phonetics. It studies the expression plane of lexical units in isolation and in the flow of speech. 2. Semasiology. It deals with the meaning of words and other linguistic units: morphemes, word-formation types, morphological word classes and morphological categories. 3. Onomasiology or Nomination Theory. It deals with the process of nomination: what name this or that object has and why. 4. Etymology. It studies the origin, the original meaning and form of words. 5. Praseology. It deals with phraseological units. 6. Lexicography. It is a practical science. It describes the vocabulary and each lexical unit in the form of dictionaries. 7. Lexical Morphology. It deals with the morphological stricture of the word. 8. Word-formation. It deals with the patterns which are used in coining new words. 6

8 II. Language units In modern English the following language units can be mentioned: morphemes, splinters, words, nominative binomials, nonidiomatic and idiomatic word-combinations, sentences. 2.1 Morphemes The external structure of the word, and also typical wordformation patterns, are studied in the framework of word-building. By external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure. A word can be divided into smaller sense units morphemes. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful language unit. For example, in the word post-impressionists the following morphemes can be distinguished: the prefixes post-, im-, the root - press, the noun-forming suffixes ion, -ist, and the grammatical suffix of plurality -s. Morphemes are divided into two large groups: lexical morphemes and grammatical (functional) morphemes. Both lexical and grammatical morphemes can be free and bound. Bound morphemes are attached to free morphemes. They cannot stand alone. Free lexical morphemes are roots of words which express the lexical meaning of a word; they coincide with the stem of simple words. Thus, unbound or free-standing morphemes are individual elements that can stand alone within a sentence, such as cat, laugh, look, and box. They are essentially what most of us call words. Bound lexical morphemes are affixes: prefixes, suffixes and also blocked (unique) root morphemes (e. g. Fri-day, cran-berry). Free grammatical morphemes are function words: articles, conjunctions and prepositions (e.g. the, with, and ). Bound grammatical morphemes are inflexions (endings), e. g. -s for Plural of nouns, -ed for Past Indefinite of regular verbs, - ing for Present Participle, -er for Comparative degree of adjectives. 7

9 2.2 Splinters Scientists include splinters in the affixation stock of the Modern English word-building system. Splinters are the result of clipping the end or the beginning of a word and producing a number of new words on the analogy with the primary wordgroup. For example, there are many words formed with the help of the splinter euro (apocopy produced by clipping the end of the word European ) such as Euratom Eurocard, Euromarket, Europlug, Eurotunnel. There are also splinters which are formed by means of apheresis, that is clipping the beginning of a word. The splinter quake is used to form new words with the meaning of shaking, agitation. This splinter was formed by clipping the beginning of the word earthquake (words with this splinter: Marsquake, Moonquake, youthquake etc). The splinter rama(ama) is a clipping of the word panorama of Greek origin where pan means all and horama means view. In Modern English the meaning view was lost and the splinter rama is used in advertisements to denote objects of supreme quality, e.g. autorama means exhibition-sale of expensive cars, trouserama means sale of trousers of supreme quality etc. Splinters can be called pseudomorphemes because they are neither roots nor affixes, they are more or less artificial. In English there are words which consist of two splinters, e.g. telethon, therefore it is more logical to call words with splinters in their structure compound-shortened words consisting of two clippings of words. Splinters are treated sometimes as semi-affixes. Splinters have only one function in English: they serve to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech, whereas prefixes and suffixes can also change the part-of-speech meaning (e. g. post- post-war events). 8

10 2.3 Structural types of English words Word, as it was mentioned above, is the smallest language unit which can stand alone as a complete utterance. First, the word is a unit of speech which serves the purposes of human communication. Secondly, the word can be perceived as the total of the sounds which comprise it. Third, the word, viewed structurally, possesses several characteristics. Thus, 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 unity. According to the nature and the number of morphemes constituting a word there are different structural types of words in English: simple, derived, compound, compound-derived. Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (in many cases the inflexion is zero), e. g. seldom, chairs, longer, asked. Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inflexion, e. g. derestricted, unemployed. Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion, e. g. baby-moons, wait-and-see (policy). Ways of Forming Compound Words English compounds can be formed not only by means of composition but also by means of: a) reduplication: too-too sentimental; b) partial conversion from word-groups: to micky-mouse 1) синхронизировать музыку с действиями на экране ; 2) неискренний, 3) can-do исполнительный, энергичный ; c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups: to fingerprint (fingerprinting), to baby-sit (baby-sitter); d) analogy: lie-in (on the analogy with sit-in); e) contrast: brain-gain (in contrast to brain-drain). 9

11 Classification of English Compounds 1. According to the parts of speech classification compounds are subdivided into: a) nouns: baby-moon; b) adjectives: power-happy; c) adverbs: headfirst ( стремглав, очертя голову ); d) prepositions: into, within; e) numerals: fifty-fifty. 2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are subdivided into: a) neutral, which are formed by joining together two stems without any joining morpheme: ball-point; b) morphological where components are joined by a linking element: astrospace, handicraft, sportsman; c) syntactical where components are joined by means of form-word stems, e. g. do-or-die. 3. According to their structure compounds are subdivided into: a) compound words proper which consist of two stems: to job-hunt, train-sick; b) compound-affixed words, where besides the stems we have affixes: ear-minded, hydro-skimmer, astrophysical; c) compound words consisting of three or more stems: cornflower-blue, singer-songwriter; d) compound-shortened words, e. g. V-day, Eurodollar, Camford (Кембриджский и Оксфордский университеты). 4. According to the relations between the components compounds are subdivided into: a) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic centre and the structural centre and the second component is subordinate: honey-sweet сладостный, gold-rich (американский зимоустойчивый урожайный сорт абрикоса с большими вкусными плодами до 150 г. Дозревает в конце июля. Выведен в 1971 году университетом в Вашингтоне, США.), love-sick снедаемый любовью, Tom-cat; 10

12 b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent. Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has two functions. Such compounds are called additive: Anglo-Saxon, woman-doctor. There are also tautological compounds. They are formed by means of reduplication: no-no, fifty-fifty or with the help of rhythmic stems: criss-cross, walkietalkie. 5. According to the meaning of the whole compound we can point out idiomatic and non-idiomatic compounds. Idiomatic compounds are very different in meaning from the corresponding free phrase: a blackboard is quite different from a black board. Nonidiomatic compounds are not different in their meaning from corresponding free phrases: airmail, speedometer. There are two characteristic features of English compounds: a) both components in an English compound can be used as words with a distinctive meaning of their own, e.g. a 'green-house and a 'green 'house; b) English compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of compound words which have form-word stems in their structure, e.g. middle-of-the-road, off-the-record. Compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion, e. g. middle-ofthe-roaders, job-hopper. Sometimes it is rather difficult to distinguish between simple and derived words, especially in the cases of phonetic borrowings from other languages and of native words with blocked (unique) root morphemes, e. g. perestroika, cranberry, absence etc. As far as words with splinters are concerned it is difficult to distinguish between derived words and compound-shortened words. If a splinter is treated as an affix (or a semi-affix) the word can be called derived, e. g. telescreen, maxi-taxi, shuttlegate, cheeseburger. But if the splinter is treated as a lexical shortening of one of the stems, the word can be called compound-shortened word formed from a word combination where one of the compo- 11

13 nents was shortened, e. g. busnapper was formed from bus kidnapper, minijet from miniature jet. In the English language of the second half of the twentieth century there developed so called block compounds, (compound words which have a uniting stress but a split spelling), such as chat show, pinguin suit etc. Such compound words can be easily mixed up with word-groups of the type stone wall, so-called nominative binomials. Such linguistic units serve to denote a notion which is more specific than the notion expressed by the second component and consists of two nouns, the first of which is an attribute to the second one. If we compare a nominative binomial and a compound noun with the structure N+N we shall see that a nominative binomial has no unity of a stress. The change in the order of its components will produce a new lexical meaning, e. g. vid kid is a kid who is a video fan while kid vid means a video-film for kids or else lamp oil means oil for lamps and oil lamp means a lamp which uses oil for burning. Among language units we can also point out word combinations of different structural types of idiomatic and non-idiomatic character, such as the first fiddle, old salt and round table, high road. There are also sentences which are studied by grammarians. Thus, we can draw the conclusion that in Modern English the following language units can be mentioned: morphemes, splinters, words, nominative binomials, non-idiomatic and idiomatic wordcombinations, sentences. 2.4 Disputable Cases of Word-Formation There exist syntagmas which are intermediate between compounds and word-combinations: complexes of the give up, stone wall and mother-in-law types. 1) Complexes of the give up type are highly productive. The first component is a simple verb. The status of the second one is disputable: an adverb, a postpositive(постпозитивная частица), etc. The units are often polysemantic and idiomatic: come off 12

14 («оторваться» о пуговице), fall out (побочный эффект; поссориться). They are more colloquial than their synonyms of Romance origin: give up (abandon). 2) Complexes of the stone wall type are very productive in bookish style: office management, steel production. The second element is a noun. The status of the first one is disputable: an adjective, a noun, a noun-stem. The units are motivated and correlate with prepositional phrases. his life story the story of his life. Their spelling is inconsistent: haircut, crime report, arm-chair. 3) Complexes of the mother-in-law type are phrases that are used as one word. They are mostly occasional units coined in speech: Some people are do-it-nowers, others do-it-some-othertimers. These complexes are usually hyphenated in writing and are pronounced with one heavy stress like many compound words. 2.5 Practical Part 1) Group the given morphemes by their functions Say, raspberry, the, Monday, -ed, dis-, for, with, Wednesday, unit, ham, -ness, is, a, stem, root, -ish, Friday, but, -ing, un-, and 2) Copy out the words grouping them by the splinters formed by means of apheresis or apocope. Define the meaning of splinters, explain their origin if you know Europlug, euromarket, minijet, minivan, miniwar, maxiseries, maxi-taxi, maxi-sculpture, baconburger, beefburger, milliongate, shuttlegate, Irangate, dognapper, busnapper, laundromat, cashomat, groceteria, booketeria, booteteria, marsquake, moonquake, youthquake, trouserama, autorama, aircade, autocatde, musicade, artmobile, bookmobile, snowmobile, tourmobile, moonscape, streetscape, townscape, seascape, motel, boatel, floatel, airtel, dancathon, telethon, speakathon, readathon, walkathon, moviethon, swimathon, talkathon, swearthon. 13

15 III. Meaning and Concept 3.1 Approaches to Lexical Meaning There are two main approaches to lexical meaning: referential and functional. The referential approach studies the connection between words and concepts they denote. The referential model of meaning is the so-called basic semantic triangle. It consists of: 1. The sound-form (Sign) of the word: [bз:d]. 2. The referent (Denotatum) the object which the word names: the actual bird. 3. The concept (Designatum) The essential properties of this object which are reflected in human mind: a feathered anial with wings. Meaning is closely connected with all parts of the semantic triangle but cannot be equated with any of them. Generally speaking, 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. Functional approach studies relations between words. The functional approach assumes that the meaning of a linguistic unit can be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units and not through its relation to concept or referent, e.g. we know that the meaning of bird n and bird v is different because they function in speech differently. Analysing various contexts in which these words are used we can observe that they have different distribution. As the distribution of the two words is different, their meanings are different too. The same is true of a polysemantic word: Look at me You look tired. Consequently, semantic investigation is confined to the analysis of the difference or sameness of meaning. The functional approach is a valuable complement to the referential theory. 14

16 3.2 Similarity and Difference between Meaning and Concept Meaning and concept are very closely associated but not identical. Meaning is a linguistic category. Concept is a logical and psychological category, a unit of thinking. Meaning and concept coincide only in scientific terms that have no general meanings (morpheme, phoneme, amoeba) and in terminilogical meanings of polysemantic words, e.g. legal, medical or grammatical usages of the word «case». In other aspects meaning and concept do not coincide. Concept is emotionally and stylistically neutral. Meaning may include non-conceptual parts: kid, gorgeous, birdie. One and the same concept can be expressed differently: die pass away, kick the bucket. The number of concepts does not correspond to the number of words and meanings. One concept may be expressed by several synonymous words: child, kid infant. One polysemantic word may express several concepts: draw move by pulling (draw a boat out of the water), obtain from a source (draw water from a well), make with a pen, pencil or chalk (draw a straight line). Some words do not express concepts at all: well, must, perhaps. Concepts are mostly international. Meanings are nationally specific. Words expressing identical concepts may have different meanings and different semantic structures in different languages: house дом; blue - синий, голубой. 3.3 Types of Lexical Meaning The content plane of words includes denotative and connotative meanings. Denotative or referential meaning, the basic type of lexical meaning, is the word s reference to the object. This reference may be individual (The dog is trained) or general (It s not a dog). That is why denotative meaning is subdivided into demonstrative and significative. 15

17 Connotative meaning includes various additional meanings: emotional, evaluative intensifying and expressive, e.g. hillock, to devour. As a rule, connotation co-exists with denotation. However, sometimes it comes to the fore and weakens the word s denotative meaning. Words also may have a certain stylistic value. It means that they refer to this or that situation or functional style: science, everyday life, business: get obtain procure; child kid infant. The type of denotative meaning varies in different groups of words. 3.4 Lexical and Grammatical Meaning The word is a lexical-grammatical unity. Its content plane includes two types of meaning: lexical and grammatical. Lexical meaning is individual, unique. It does not belong to any other word in the same language: bicycle a vehicle with two wheels, handle-bars to guide it with, a seat, and two pedals to make it go. Grammatical meaning is general, standard. It belongs to a whole class of words and word-forms: bicycle a noun in the common case, singular. At the same time lexical and grammatical meanings co-exist in the word and are interdependent: 1. Lexical meaning affects grammatical meaning: abstract or mass nouns have no plural form (joy, sugar), relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison (watery), statal verbs are not used in progressive tenses (see, understand). 2. Grammatical meaning affects lexical meaning. Different meanings of the polysemantic word go have their own grammatical peculiarities, e.g.: He has gone to China moved (go + adverb of place); They are going to get married soon are planning (be going + to-infinitive); The children went wild with excitement became (go + adjective). 16

18 3. Combinability of the word depends both on its lexical and grammatical (part-of-speech) meaning, e.g. the noun tea combines with strong but not with strongly. 4. Grammatical form may be isolated from the paradigm and become lexicalized: works factory. 3.5 Practical Part 1) Answer the questions: 1. What are the main approaches to lexical meaning? 2. What is the referential approach? 3. What is the basic semantic triangle? 4. What does the functional approach assume? 5. What is the difference between meaning and concept? 6. When do meaning and concept coincide? 7. When do meaning and concept differ? 8. What types of lexical meaning do you know? 9. What is denotative meanings? 10. What is connotative meanings? 11. Define two types of meaning: lexical and grammatical. 12. How do lexical and grammatical meanings co-exist in the word? 2) Analyse the meanings of the given words from the point of view of referential approach: dog, bicycle, case, bird, building, teacher, pupil, car, mouth, morpheme, cupboard, love, John, he, amoeba, kid, hearth, son, London, this, valour 3) Group the words in task 3 by the types of their denotative meanings: 1) the words with relative meaning, that depends on a context or situation; 2) the words that name the individual object or person and refer to each member of a whole class; 3) the words that only point to the referent and their meaning in isolation is general whereas in speech it s always individual; 4) the words with the referent that can be perceived by the mind and not by the senses);5) the words that refer to an object or person 17

19 4) What connotative meanings can be found in the following words: hillock, rose, to devour, sonny, fry (n), home, fanatical, crippled, ailment, wan, doggish, to stroll, ingenuity, mediocrity, to endure, feast, to awe, jailbird, to itch 5) Group the words and words combinations by the concepts they express: to die; child; to eat; stubborn; kid; to pass away; stiff-necked; to devour; hard-nosed; infant; to gobble; to call off all bets; pigheaded; to gorge; to kick the bucket 6) What concepts do the following words express? In which of the given words do concepts and meaning coincide? Iron; mail; to draw; to take; morpheme; limb; flat; pucker; apocope, case IV. Semantic Changes 4.1 Causes of Semantic Changes The meaning of a word can change in the course of time. Transfer of the meaning is called lexico-semantic word-building. In such cases the outer aspect of a word does not change. The causes of semantic changes can be extra-linguistic and linguistic. For example, the change of the lexical meaning of the noun pen was due to extra-linguistic causes. Primarily pen comes back to the Latin word penna (a feather of a bird). In the course of time the name was transferred to steel pens which were later on used for writing. Still later any instrument for writing was called a pen. On the other hand, causes may be linguistic. For example, one of two synonyms (native and borrowed) can specialize in its meaning. The noun tide in Old English was polysemantic and denoted time, season, hour. When the French words time, season, hour were borrowed into English they ousted the word tide in these meanings. It was specialized and now means regular rise and fall of the sea caused by attraction of the moon. The mean- 18

20 ing of a word can also change due to ellipsis: the word-group a train of carriages had the meaning of a row of carriages, later on of carriages was dropped and the noun train changed its meaning, it is used now in the function and with the meaning of the whole word-group. 4.2 Main Gradual Ways of Semantic Changes There exist different classifications of semantic changes. According to the Herman Paul s classification there are main and secondary ways of semantic changes. The two main ways where the semantic change is gradual are specialization and generalization. Specialization is a gradual process when a word passes from a general sphere to some special sphere of communication, e.g. case has a general meaning circumstances in which a person or a thing is. It is socialized in its meaning when used in law (a lawsuit), in grammar (a form in the paradigm of a noun), in medicine (a patient, an illness). The difference between these meanings is revealed in the context. Generalization is the gradual transfer from a concrete meaning to an abstract one, e.g. journey was borrowed from French with the meaning one day trip, now it means a trip of any duration ( jour means a day in French). All auxiliary verbs are cases of generalization of their lexical meaning because they developed a grammatical meaning: have, be, do, shall, will when used as auxiliary verbs are devoid of their lexical meaning which they have when used as notional verbs or modal verbs, c.f. I have several books by Austin and I have read some books by Austin. 4.3 Main Momentary Ways of Semantic Changes The two main ways where the semantic change is momentary are metaphor and metonymy. Metaphor is a momentary transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison. Metaphor can be based on different types of similarity: 19

21 a) similarity of shape: head (of a cabbage), bottleneck, teeth (of a saw, a comb); b) similarity of position: foot (of a page, of a mountain), head (of procession); c) similarity of function, behaviour: a whip (an official in the British Parliament whose duty is to see that members were present at the voting), a bookworm (a person who is fond of books); d) similarity of colour: orange, hazel, chestnut. A special type of metaphor is when proper names become common nouns, e.g. philistine a mercenary person, vandals destructive people. Metonymy is a momentary transfer of the meaning on the basis of contiguity. There are different types of metonymy: a) the material of which an object is made may become the name of the object (a glass, boards); b) the name of the place may become the name of the people or of an object placed there (the House members of Parliement, the White House the Administration of the USA); c) names of musical instruments may become names of musicians when they are united in an orchestra (the violin, the saxophone); d) the name of some person may become a common noun ( boycott was originally the name of an Irish family who were so much disliked by their neighbors that they did not mix with them); e) names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they invented (watt, om, roentgen); f) some geographical names can also become common nouns through metonymy ( Holland (linen fabrics), Brussels (a special kind of carpets), china (porcelain). 4.4 Secondary Gradual Ways of Semantic Changes The secondary gradual ways of semantic changes are elevation and degradation. Elevation is a gradual transfer of the meaning when it becomes better in the course of time: knight originally meant a 20

22 boy, then a young servant, then a military servant, then a noble man. Now it is a title of nobility given to outstanding people. Degradation is a gradual transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the course of time, e.g. villain originally meant working on a villa, now it means a scoundrel. 4.5 Secondary Momentary Ways of Semantic Changes The secondary momentary ways of semantic changes are hyperbole and litotes. Hyperbole is a momentary transfer of the meaning when the speaker uses exaggeration, e.g. to hate (doing something), not to see somebody for ages. Hyperbole is often used to form phraseological units, e.g. to split hairs. Litotes is a momentary transfer of the meaning when the speaker expresses the affirmative with the negative or vice versa, e.g. not bad ( it is good ), no coward, not half as important. 4.6 Practical Part 1) Match the definitions and the terms: a transfer of the meaning when the speaker expresses the affirmative with the negative a transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the course of time a transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison a transfer of the meaning when it becomes better in the course of time a transfer of the meaning when the speaker uses exaggeration a transfer of the meaning on the basis of contiguity 1 metonymy 2 elevation 3 hyperbole 4 metaphor 5 degradation 6 litotes 2) Complete the definitions: 21

23 1. Specialization and generalization are two main ways where 2. Metaphor and metonymy are two 3. Secondary ways of semantic changes are 4. A gradual process when a word passes from a general sphere to a special one is called 5. A transfer from a concrete meaning to an abstract one is called 6. Ellipsis is omission of a word or a phrase necessary 7. Metaphor can be based on 8. Among types of metonymy there exist 9. Elevation is the transfer 10. Degradation is the transfer 11. We use hyperbole when we want to 12. Litotes is a figure of speech that expresses 3) Find out metaphors and metonymies. Which types of these semantic changes are used in the given sentences? 1. She (fame) is a gipsy (J. Keats). 2. Sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword. 3. You've got a nice fox on. 4. My body is the frame wherein 'tis (thy portrait) held (W. Shakespeare). 5. As his unusual emotions subsided, these misgivings gradually melted away. 6. And winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay (G. Byron). 7. He is now in the sunset of his days. 8. Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save, From the cradle to the grave Those ungrateful drones who would Drain your sweat nay, drink your blood! (Shelley). 9. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent (W. Shakespeare). 22

24 10. Miss Fox s hand trembled she slipped it through Mr. Dombey's arm, and felt herself escorted up the steps, preceded by a cocked hat and a Babylonian collar (Ch. Dickens). 11. Mr. Dombey s cup of satisfaction was so full at this moment, however, that he felt he could afford a drop or two of its contents, even to sprinkle on the dust in the by-path of his little daughter (Ch. Dickens. Dombey and Son). 12. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder, It struggles, and howls at fits (Shelley). 13. The round game table was so boisterous and happy. 14. the indignant fire which flashed from his eyes, did not melt the glasses of his spectacles (Ch. Dickens). 4) Find out examples of semantic changes. Translate and explain the meaning 1. I hate doing domestic chores. 2. What can I say? Not bad. 3. Your father is so low he has to look up to tie his shoes. 4. -I think it is not half as important. At least for me. 5. -I hope she didn t catch what we were talking about. She did. And she was not a little angry. 6. Hello! Haven t seen you for ages. 7. Now we have a refuge to go to. A refuge that the Cylons know nothing about! It won't be an easy journey." 8. I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far. 9. I am not unaware how the productions of the Grub Street brotherhood have of late years fallen under many prejudices. 10. You're so low down you need an umbrella to protect yourself from ant piss. 5) Answer the questions: 1) What is lexico-semantic word-building? 23

25 2) What types of semantic changes do you know? Give the examples. 3) What is ellipsis? 4) What two main ways of semantic changes are there in classification of Herman Paul? 5) Name the secondary ways of semantic changes in classification of Herman Paul. 6) Explain the meaning of the terms: metaphor, metonymy, elevation, degradation, hyperbole and litotes. Give the examples. V. Word Combination 5.1 Lexical and Grammatical Combinability The word-combination (WC) is the largest two-facet lexical unit observed on the syntagmatic level of analysis. Lexical combinability (collocation) is the aptness of a word to appear in certain lexical contexts, e.g. the word question combines with certain adjectives: delicate, vital, important. Each word has a certain norm of collocation. Any departure from this norm is felt as a stylistic device: to shove a question. The collocations of correlated words in different languages are not always identical. Compare the collocation of flower цветок in some word-combinations: garden-flowers, hothouse flowers садовые цветы, оранжерейные цветы. But the English word cannot enter into combination with the word room to denote flowers growing in the rooms, cf.: комнатные цветы pot flowers. Grammatical combinability (colligation) is the aptness of a word to appear in certain grammatical contexts, e.g. the adjective heavy can be followed by a noun ( heavy storm ), by an infinitive ( heavy to lift ). Each grammatical unit has a certain norm of colligation: nouns combine with pre-positional adjectives (a new dress), relative adjectives combine with pre-positional adverbs of degree (dreadfully tired). The departure from the norm of colliga- 24

26 tion is usually impossible: mathematics at clever is a meaningless string of words because English nouns do not allow of the structure N + at + A. 5.2 Meaning of Word Combinations Meaning of WCs is anlysed into lexical and grammatical (structural components). Lexical meaning of the WC is the combined lexical meanings of its component words: red flower red + flower. But in most cases the meaning of the whole combination predominates over the lexical meaning of its constituents, e.g. the meaning of the monosemantic adjective atomic is different in atomic weight and atomic bomb. Polysemantic words are used in WCs in one of their meanings: blind man (horse, cat) blind type (print, handwriting). Only one meaning of the adjective blind (unable to see) is combined with the lexical meaning of the noun man (human being) and only one meaning of man is realized in combination with blind. The meaning of the same adjective in blind type is different. Structural (grammatical) meaning of the WC is conveyed by the pattern of arrangement of the component words, e.g. the word combinations school grammar and grammar school consist of identical words but are semantically different because their patterns are different. The structural pattern is the carrier of a certain meaning quality- substance that does not depend on the lexical meanings of the words school and grammar. 5.3 Interdependence of Structure and Meaning The pattern of the WC is the syntactic structure in which a given word is used as its head: to build + N (to build a house); to rely + on + N (to rely on smb). The pattern and meaning of head-words are interdependent. The same head-word is semantically different in different patterns, cf.: get+n (get a letter); get+to+n (get to Moscow); get+n+inf (get smb to come). 25

27 Structurally simple patterns are usually polysemantic: the pattern take+n represents several meanings of the polysemantic headword: take tea (coffee), take measures (precautions). Structurally complex patterns are usually monosemantic: the pattern take+to+n represents only one meaning of take take to sports (to smb). 5.4 Motivation in Word Combinations Motivation in word combinations (WC) may be lexical or grammatical (structural). The WC is motivated if its meaning is deducible from the meaning, order and arrangement of its components: red flower red+flower quality+substance A+N. Nonmotivated WCs are indivisible lexically and structurally. They are called phraseological units. The WC is lexically non-motivated if its combined lexical meaning is not deducible from the meaning of its components: red tape means bureaucratic methods. It is impossible to guess what the meaning of this WC concern with. The WC represents a single indivisible semantic entity. The WC is structurally non-motivated if the meaning of its pattern is not deducible from the order and arrangement of its components: red tape quality+substance A + N bureaucratic methods substance N. The structure of red tape (A + N) does not coincide with the structure of bureaucratic methods (S). 5.5 Practical Part 1. Complete the definitions: 1) The word-combination (WC) is 2) Collocation is 3) Colligation is 4) Meaning of the WCs consists of 5) Lexical meaning of the WCs is 6) Grammatical meaning of the WCs is 7) The structural pattern is 8) The WC is motivated if 26

28 9) Non-motivated WCs are 10) The WC is lexically non-motivated if 11) The WC is grammatically non-motivated if 12) A stylistic device is 2. Are collocations of the given English and Russian WCs identical or not? 1) garden-flowers садовые цветы 2) hot-house flowers оранжерейные цветы 3) pot flowers комнатные цветы 4) go to bed идти спать 5) go to school ходить в школу 6) take bus number three сесть на автобус номер 3 7) take a book взять книгу 8) generously constructed woman пышнотелая женщина 9) well-constructed plot of a novel хорошо придуманный сюжет романа 10) cupboard love корыстная любовь 11) everlasting love вечная любовь 12) love in a cottage рай в шалаше 3. Analyze the given WCs and find out the departures from the norms of colligations and collocations if any: 1) Heavy storm 2) Heavy to lift 3) A new dress 4) Dreadfully tired 5) To consult a doctor 6) Mathematics at clever 7) To be a beautiful fox on 8) To drive away care 9) To have tenterhooks on 10) To set eyes from smb 11) Swallow dive 12) The table at to sit 27

29 4. Which of the given WCs are lexically, structurally or lexically and structurally non-motivated? Prove your answer analyzing the lexical and grammatical meanings of the WCs Red flower, red tape, blind gut, blue devils, eligible bachelor, gray mare, green-eyed monster, split chin, devil s darning-needle, wrinkled forehead, lake lawyer, love apple, auburn hair, thrifty mediocrity VI. Phraseology 6.1 Phraseology as Science Phraseology is the branch of linguistics that deals with phraseological units with more or less complicated meanings. Phraseological units are non-motivated word-groups indivisible lexically and structurally. Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units. They are compiled in special dictionaries. Phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it. American and British lexicographers call such units «idioms». The upper bound of phraseology is a complex sentence and the lower bound is a group of two words. It s necessary to say that most of problems in phraseology are developed by Russian scientists. There are lots of works in phraseology written by outstanding Russian linguists such as V.V. Vinogradov, A.I. Smirnitskiy, N.N. Amosova, S.G Gavrin, I.V. Arnold, A.V. Koonin. He classified phraseological units according to the degree of motivation of their meaning. There are the following types of phraseological units given by V.V.Vinogradov: 1) Fusions or idioms (фразеологические сращения или идиомы) are non-motivated word-groups used as counterparts of words. We cannot guess the meaning of the whole from the meanings of its components, they are highly idiomatic and cannot be translated word for word into other languages, e.g. on Shank s mare - (on foot), at sixes and sevens - (in a mess) 28

30 2) Unities (фразеологические единства) are non-motivated word-groups with the meaning formed by the meanings of its components. 3) Collocations (сочетания) are word-groups in which one of its components has phraseologically bound meaning that occurs only in definite word combinations denoting definite concepts. Such collocations cannot be used as counterparts of words. V.V. Vinogradov developed his classification for Russian phraseological units. A.V. Koonin classifies phraseological units according to their semantic meanings and according to the ways they are formed. According to their semantic meanings A.V. Koonin distinguishes the following types: 1) Idioms are word-groups with the figurative meaning that isn t deducible from the meaning of its components. 2) Semi-idioms are word-groups that have two phraseosemantic variants. The first one has the literal complicated meaning. The second one has the comprehended metaphorical meaning. 3) Non-idiomatic phraseological units with the complicated meaning that isn t deducible from the meanings of its components. 6.2 Origin of Phraseological Units in Modern English There exist native and borrowed phraseological units in English. The greatest number of phraseological units belongs to native word-groups formed by unknown authors, e.g. have a bee in one s bonnet носиться с какой-либо идеей ; in for a penny, in for a pound назвался груздем, полезай в кузов ; pay through the nose платить втридорога. Native English phraseological units are connected with traditions, customs, believes, realities and historical facts. English phraseological units connected with traditions and customs of English people: 29

31 By (with) bell, book and candle the last words in the church ceremony were doe to the book, quench the candle, ring the bell!. This idiom means completely and entirely. Baker s dozen is translated as чертова дюжина. According to the old English custom bakers gave bread sellers 13 loaves of bread. The thirteenth loaf was for bread seller. The Russian for Good wine needs no bush is хороший товар сам себя хвалит. According to the old custom in Britain publicans hung out ivy bushes as a sign that there was wine for sale in their taverns. English phraseological units connected with realities: Carry coals to Newcastle ехать в Тулу со своим самоваром. Newcastle is the centre of coal industry in Britain. Play fast and loose вести нечестную игру, играть ч-л чувствами. This phraseological unit is connected with an old game that was often played at the English fairs. A belt was wound round the stick and then unwound. Spectators could not catch the manipulation and constantly lost a bet. Put smb. in the cart поставить к-л в тяжелое положение. Criminals were driven in a cart to the place of execution. A strange bedfellow странный знакомый. In the Middle Ages in England separate beds were used rather seldom and persons of the same sex often slept together. English phraseological units connected with beliefs A black sheep паршивая овца, позор семьи. According to the old belief a black sheep is marked by devil. Lick into shape придавать форму. An unlicked cub желторотый юнец, молоко на губах не обсохло. Both the phraseological unit are connected with the old belief. It says that bear cubs are born unshaped and a she-bear gives them a shape by licking them. English phraseological units connected with astrology To be born under a lucky (unlucky) star; Believe in one s star; Bless (thank) one s star; Curse one s star; The stars were against it. 30

32 English phraseological units connected with legends Have kissed the Blarney stone быть льстецом. The old legend says that everyone who has kissed the stone situated in the castle Blarney in Ireland gets the gift of flattering speech. Halcyon days спокойные дни. The old legend says that halcyon brings out nestlings in midwinter. The nest is swimming in the sea for about two weeks and in this period the sea is perfectly calm. English phraseological units connected with historical facts Dutch defense - притворная защита ; A Dutch feast - пир, на котором хозяин напивается первым ; Dutch courage. The phraseological units having in their structure the component Dutch come back to the English-Holland competition at sea and in wars in the seventeenth century. English phraseological units connected with proper names Tom, Dick and Harry первый встречный. A Sully Lunn сладкая булочка. There was a women-confectioner in XVIII whose name was Sully Lunn. Native English phraseological units of terminological origin Military terms: Mark time 1) маршировать на месте; 2) бездействовать. Sport: Jump the gun 1) начать бежать до выстрела; 2) забегать вперед, предрешать события. Shakespeare s statements There are over 100 of Shakespeare s statements in the English language. They occur only once in Shakespeare s works and their form is fixed. The green-eyed monster ревность (Othello); Have an itching palm - быть взяточником, жадным (Julius Caesar); Midsummer madness - умопомрачение, чистое безумие (Twelfth Night); The seamy side - неприглядная сторона, изнанка (Othello). Borrowed phraseological units come back to Bibles, Greek, Latin, French and other languages. 31

33 6.3 Practical Part 1. Analyze the semantic meaning of the phraseological units and arrange them according to the Koonin s classification 1) to bear smb a grudge иметь зуб на кого-либо 2) to knit one s brows нахмуриться 3) Have a bee in one s bonnet носиться с какой-либо идеей 4) Bite off more than one can chew взяться за непосильное дело 5) In for a penny, in for a pound (рискнул на пенни, рискуй и на фунт) взялся за гуж не говори, что недюж 6) Pay through the nose платить втридорога 7) Every dog has its day будет и на нашей улице праздник 8) first night премьера 9) a Dutch concert кошачий концерт 10) to mark time 1) шаг на месте (воен. термин); 2) бездействовать 11) a running fire 1) беглый огонь (воен.); 2) град критических замечаний 12) to kick the bucket сыграть в ящик 13) half the battle 1) наполовину выигранный бой (воен.); 2) залог успеха, полдела 14) a Dutch courage храбрость во хмелю 15) a Dutch feast пир, на котором хозяин напивается первым 16) to find a mare s nest попасть пальцем в небо 17) let bygones be bygones что было, то быльем поросло 18) to talk shop говорить о делах (на профессиональные темы) в гостях 19) the rank and file 1) рядовой состав (воен. термин); 2) рядовые люди, рядовые члены организации 20) To drive care away развеяться 21) To be on tenterhooks быть как на иголках 22) Swallow dive прыжок в воду ласточкой 32

34 2. Choose the right translation of the word combinations and phrases. Classify them as in the first task 1. the green eyed monsteлёная тоска ревность; зеленоглазый монстр; зе- 2. to meet the eye таращить глаза; привлекать внимание; встречаться глазами 3. to have Butterflies in иметь бабочек в животе; нервничать; иметь больной живот the stomach 4. How goes the enemy? Как наш враг? Каково расположение врага? Который час? 5. Little pitchers have long ears маленькие щенки имеют длинные уши; иметь острый слух; маленькие дети любят слушать разговоры взрослых 7. tooth and nail хватать все подряд; изо всех сил (не на жизнь, а на смерть); зубы и ногти 8. hammer and tongs драться всем, что под рукой; энергично, яростно, засучив рукава; молоток и щипцы 9. to quarrel with one s bread and butter поссориться с хлебом и маслом; не иметь даже хлеба с маслом; бросить занятие, дающее средства к существованию 10. a short fuse короткое замыкание; вспыльчивость; недолгая любовная интрижка 11. the apple of Sodom яблоко Содома; красивый, но гнилой внутри; яблочный пирог «Содом» 12. devil s darning-needle очень сложная штопка; стрекоза; налим; игла дьявола 13. out of the blue как гром среди ясного неба; откровение свыше; вид с высоты птичьего полета 33

35 14.red carpet 15.beef tea 16.black frost 17.lunatic asylum бюрократия; красная ковровая дорожка (перед высоким гостем); торжественный прием крепкий чай; говяжий бульон; ирландский алкогольный напиток мороз без снега; внезапный снегопад; тяжелые дни обсерватория; психбольница; комната страха 18. granny farm бабушкин домик в деревне; дом престарелых; сельское хозяйство 19. culture vulture человек, интересующийся искусством; вандал; предмет искусства 20. by hook or by crook в любом случае; всеми средствами; ни в коем случае 21. high and dry оставленный без помощи; цел и невредим; заносчивый 3. Match the phraseological units and their translation A. To be on tenterhooks 1) иметь зуб на кого-либо B. to find a mare s nest 2) пир, на котором хозяин напивается первым C. In for a penny, in for a 3) быть как на иголках pound D. to kick the bucket 4) рядовой состав E. hammer and tongs 5) что было, то быльем поросло F. Pay through the nose 6) попасть пальцем в небо G. to have Butterflies in the stomach 34 7) носиться с какой-либо идеей, быть помешанным на чем-либо H. Have a bee in one s bonnet 8) сыграть в ящик I. let bygones be bygones 9) нервничать J. the rank and file 10) взялся за гуж не говори, что недюж

36 K. Dutch feast 11) как гром среди ясного неба L. Bite off more than one can 12) не на жизнь, а на смерть chew M. out of the blue 13) торжественный прием N. tooth and nail 14) засучив рукава O. red carpet 15) вспыльчивость P. to knit one s brows 16) платить втридорога Q. Little pitchers have long 17) мороз без снега ears R. How goes the enemy? 18) нахмуриться S. to mark time 19) взяться за непосильное дело T. a short fuse 20) шаг на месте U. black frost 21) маленькие дети любят слушать разговоры взрослых V. to bear smb a grudge 22) Который час? 4. Match the parts of word combinations from the first and the second columns A. To be on 1) the bucket B. to find 2) dive C. In for a penny, 3) in the stomach D. to kick 4) the blue E. hammer 5) and file F. Pay 6) darning-needle G. to have Butterflies 7) tenterhooks H. Have a bee 8) or by crook I. let bygones 9) fuse J. the rank 10) and tongs K. to quarrel with 11) a mare s nest L. Bite off more than 12) in for a pound M. out of 13) in one s bonnet N. tooth 14) time 35

37 O. by hook 15) be bygones P. to knit 16) long ears Q. Little pitchers have 17) through the nose R. How goes 18) a grudge S. to mark 19) vulture T. a short 20) and nail U. devil s 21) one can chew V. to bear smb 22) one s bread and butter W. culture 23) one s brows X. Swallow 24) the enemy? 5. Complete the given phrases and define them according to the Arnold s classification To bear smb. a ; Little pitchers have ; How goes ; Bite off more ; Tooth ; Hammer ; Let bygones ; To be on ; In for a penny, ; To have Butterflies ; Have a bee ; The rank ; Swallow ; To kick ; High and ; To find ; Out of ; Dutch ; To knit ; Granny ; The green ; To quarrel with ; Lunatic 6. Explain the origin and the meaning of the given word combinations Blue stocking; play fast and loose; a snake in the grass; a strange bedfellow; the golden age; good wine needs no bush; by bell, book and candle; Platonic love; Dutch courage; the apple of discord; the thread of Ariadne; baker s dozen; the golden mean; put smb. in the cart; appetite comes with eating VII. Word-building 7.1 Main Ways of Word-building in Modern English Affixation Affixation has been one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation. 36

38 Suffixation Suffixation is the way of forming words by adding the suffix to the stem. Suffix is a derivational morpheme affixed after the stem. The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech, e.g. educate v educatee n; to train v trainee n. There exist different classifications of suffixes. 1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different parts of speech are given here: a) noun-forming suffixes: -age (bondage, breakage, mileage, vicarage); -ance/-ence 2 (assistance, reference); -ant/-ent (disinfectant, student); -dom (kingdom, freedom, officialdom); -ее (employee); -eer (profiteer); -er (writer, type-writer); -ment (government, nourishment); -ness (tenderness); -able/-ible/-uble audible, soluble); -al (formal); -ic (poetic); -ical (ethical); -ant/-ent (repentant, dependent); -ary (revolutionary); -ate/-ete (accurate, complete); -ous/-ious (tremendous, curious); -some (tiresome); 37 -ess (actress, lioness); -hood (manhood); -ing (building, meaning, washing); -ion/-sion/-tion/-ation (rebellion, tension, creation, explanation); -ism/-icism (heroism, criticism); -ist (novelist, communist); -ship (friendship); -(i)ty (sonority). b) adjective-forming suffixes: (unbearable, -ed/-d (wooded); -ful (delightful); -an/-ian (African, Australian); -ish (Irish, reddish, childish); -ive (active); -less (useless); -like (lifelike); -ly (manly); -y (cloudy, dressy)

39 c) adverb-forming suffixes: - ly (coldly); -ward/-wards (upward, northwards); -wise (likewise). d) numeral-forming suffixes: -fold (twofold); -teen (fourteen); -th (seventh); -ty (sixty). e) verb-forming suffixes: -ate (facilitate); -er (glimmer); -en (shorten); -fy/-ify (terrify, specify, solidify); ise/-ize (analyse); -ish (establish). 2. Semantic classification Another classification is based on the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem the suffixes serve to signalize. The elements of one lexico-grammatical class possess the same lexico-grammatical meaning. They are characterized by the identical morphological patterns and a common set of derivational affixes. Taking up nouns we can subdivide them into proper and common nouns. Among common nouns we shall distinguish personal names (in the meaning of the agent of the action), names of other animate beings, collective nouns, falling into several minor groups, material nouns, abstract nouns and names of things. Abstract nouns are signalled by the following suffixes: -age, - ance/ -ence, -ancy/-ency, -dom, -hood, -ing, -ion/-tion/-ation, - ism, -ment, -ness, -ship, -th, -ty. (-hood childhood, -ness politeness, -ence/ance tolerance). Nouns of quality as a part of abstract nouns have the suffixes: -ness copelessness,-ity answerability. Personal nouns denote the agent of the action. They are emo- 38

40 tionally neutral and occur with the following suffixes: -an {grammarian), -ant/-ent (servant, student), -arian (vegetarian), -ее (examinee), -er (porter), -ician (musician), -ist (linguist), -ite (sybarite), -or (inspector), and a few others. Nouns of feminine gender may be classed as a subgroup of personal nouns. Suffixes of feminine gender are few and not frequent: -ess (actress), -ine (heroine), -rix (testatrix), -ette (cosmonette). Suffixes denoting nationality are: ian (Russian), -ese (Japanese), -ish (English). Suffixes denoting collectivity are: -dom (kingdom), -ry (peasantry), -ship (readership), -hood. The above classification should be accepted with caution. It is true that in a polysemantic word at least one of the variants will show the class meaning signalled by the affix. There may be other variants, however, whose different meaning will be signalled by a difference in distribution, and these will belong to some other lexico-grammatical class. Cf. settlement, translation denoting a process and its result, or beauty which, when denoting qualities that give pleasure to the eye or to the mind, is an abstract noun, but occurs also as a personal noun denoting a beautiful woman. The word witness is more often used in its several personal meanings than (in accordance with its suffix) as an abstract noun meaning evidence or testimony. The coincidence of two classes in the semantic structure of some words may be almost regular. Collectivity, for instance, may be signalled by such suffixes as -dom, -ery-, -hood, -ship. It must be borne in mind, however, that words with these suffixes are polysemantic and show a regular correlation of the abstract noun denoting state and a collective noun denoting a group of persons of whom this state is characteristic, сf. knighthood. Alongside with adding some lexico-grammatical meaning to the stem, certain suffixes have emotional connotation. There are the suffixes of derogation and suffixes of endearment. 39

41 The derogatory suffixes are: -ard (drunkard), -ling (underling); -ster (gangster), -ton (simpleton), These seem to be more numerous in English than the suffixes of endearment. The suffixes of endearment are: -y/-ie/-ey, -kin/-kins, -let, -ock, -ette. Emotionally coloured d i m i n u t i v e suffixes rendering also endearment differ from the derogatory suffixes in that they are used to name not only persons but things as well. This point may be illustrated by the suffix -y/-ie/-ey (auntie, cabbie (cabman), daddy), but also: hanky (handkerchief), nightie (night-gown). Other suffixes that express smallness are -kin/-kins (mannikin); -let (booklet); - ock (hillock); -ette (kitchenette). The c o n n o t a t i o n of some diminutive suffixes is not one of endearment but of some outlandish elegance and novelty, particularly in the case of the borrowed suffix -ette (kitchenette, launderette, lecturette, maisonette, etc.).these are not very productive. That is why there is a tendency to express the same meaning by the semi-affix (or splinter) mini : mini-skirt, mini-car. 3. Suffixes added to certain groups of stems are subdivided into: a) suffixes added to verbal stems: -er commuter, -ing suffering; b) suffixes added to noun stems: -less smogless, -ism adventurism; c) suffixes added to adjective stems: -en weaken, -ish longish. 4. Origin of suffixes The English language has a lot of native and borrowed suffixes. Native suffixes existed in English in the Old English period or were formed from Old English words. A bound form, for instance, may be developed from a free one. This is precisely the case with such English suffixes as -dom, -hood, -lock, -ful, -less, -like, - ship, e. g. ModE -dom < OE dōm fate, power, cf. ModE doom. The suffix -hood that we see in childhood, boyhood is derived from 40

42 OE hȃd state. The OE lac was also a suffix denoting state. The process may be summarised as follows: first lȃc formed the second element of compound words, then it became a suffix and lastly was so fused with the stem as to become a dead suffix in wedlock. The nouns freedom, wisdom, etc. were originally compound words. The most important native suffixes are: -d, -dom, -ed, -en, - fold, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ish, -less, -let, -like, -lock, -ly, -ness, -oc, - red, -ship, -some, -teen, -th, -ward, -wise, -y. The suffixes of foreign origin are classified according to their source into Latin (-able/-ible, -ant/-ent), French (-age, -ance/-ence, -ancy/-ency, -ard, -ate, -sy), Greek (-ist, -ism, -ite), etc. 5. Productivity of suffixes should not be confused with its frequency which is a synchronic characteristic and means the existence in vocabulary of a great number of words containing the morpheme in question. a) productive: -er dancer, -ize specialize, -ly wetly, -ness closeness; b) semi-productive: -ette kitchenette, -ward sky-ward; c) non-productive: -ard drunkard, -th length. 6. Structure of suffixes a) simple: -er (speaker), -ist (taxist); b) compound -ical, (ironical), -ation (formation), -manship (sportsmanship), ably/ibly (terribly), (reasonably). Prefixation Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. Prefix is a derivational morpheme affixed before the stem. Prefixation in English is chiefly characteristic of verbs and words with deverbal stems. The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech, e.g. happy - unhappy, head overhead. They seldom affect the lexico-grammatical component of the stem. Prefixes can be classified according to different principles. 41

43 1. Semantic classification Prefixes can be classified according to the semantic meaning they bring to stems. The semantic effect of a prefix may be termed adverbial because it modifies the idea suggested by the stem for manner, time, place, degree and so on. So we can obtain prefixes denoting time, place, degree relations and so on: mis- is equivalent to the adverbs wrongly and badly. pre- and post- refer to time and order, e. g. historic :: prehistoric, pay :: prepay, view :: preview. The last word means to view a film or a play before it is submitted to the general public. Compare also: graduate :: postgraduate (about the course of study carried on after graduation), Impressionism :: Post-impressionism. The latter is so called because it came after Impressionism as a reaction against it. in-, a-, ab-, super-, sub-, trans- modify the stem for place, e. g. income, abduct to carry away, subway, transatlantic. out-, over- and under- serve to modify the meaning of the stem for degree and size. Out- means in a manner that surpasses : outlive to live longer ; outnumber to exceed in number ; outrun to surpass in running. Cf. In Hamlet : It out-herods Herod. Out-herods means to surpass in violence and extravagance of Herod. Over- denotes redundancy (избыточность) of an action whereas under- names the imperfection of an action. Compare such verbs as overfeed and undernourish. A prefix denoting repetition of the action expressed by the stem: re- may be prefixed to almost any verb or verbal noun: rearrange v, recast v put into new shape, reinstate v to place again in a former position, refitment n repairs and renewal, remarriage n, etc. There are, it must be remembered, some constraints. Thus, while reassembled or revisited are usual, rereceived or reseen do not occur at all. The group of negative prefixes is rather numerous: de-, dis-, in-/im-/il-/ir-, поп-, ип-. Part of this group has been also more accurately classified as prefixes giving negative, reverse 42

44 or opposite meaning. de- occurs in many neologisms, such as decentralise, decontaminate remove contamination from the area or the clothes, denazify, etc. dis- expresses the general idea of negation. It may mean not, and be simply negative or the reverse of, asunder (порознь, отдельно), away, apart and then it is called reversative. Cf. agree : : disagree not to agree appear : : disappear (disappear is the reverse of appear), appoint : : disappoint to undo the appointment and thus frustrate the expectation, disgorge eject as from the throat, dishouse throw out, evict. im-/ir-/il are defined as allomorphs (positional variants of the same prefix). Their form then depends on the initials of the stem with which they will assimilate. A prefix such as im- occurs before bilabials (impossible), its allomorph ir- before r (irregular), il- before l (illegal). It is in- before all other consonants and vowels (indirect, inability). non- is often used in abstract verbal nouns such as noninterference, nonsense or non-resistance, and participles or former participles like non-commissioned (about an officer in the army below the rank of a commissioned officer), non-combatant (about any one who is connected with the army but is there for some purpose other than fighting, as, for instance, an army surgeon.) non- used to be restricted to simple unemphatic negation. Beginning with the sixties non- indicates not so much the opposite of something but rather that something is not real or worthy of the name. E. g. non-book is a book published to be purchased rather than to be read, non-thing something insignificant and meaningless. un- (the most frequent) may convey two different meanings, namely: 1) Simple negation, when attached to adjective stems or to participles: happy : : unhappy, kind : : unkind, even : : uneven. It is immaterial whether the stem is native or borrowed, as the suffix unreadily combines with both groups. For instance, uncommon, un- 43

45 important, etc. are hybrids. 2) The meaning is reversative when un- is used with verbal stems. In that case it shows action contrary to that of the simple word: bind : : unbind, do : : undo, mask : : unmask, pack : : unpack. 2. Origin of prefixes a) native (Germanic): un-, over-, under- unhappy, overfeed, undernourish; b) Romanic: in-, de-, ex-, re- inactive, ex-student, rewrite; c) Greek: sym- sympathy, hyper- hypertension. 3. Function of prefixes According to their function prefixes may be convertive and non-convertive: a) convertive prefixes transfer derivatives to a different part of speech in comparison with their original stem: em-, de- bronze to embronze, bus to debus; b) non-convertive prefixes: dis-, under-, un- to agree - to disagree, to go to undergo, easy uneasy. 4. Stylistic value a) stylistically neutral: un-, over-, re- unnatural, oversee, resell; b) literary-bookish: ultra- ultra-viole, bi- bifocal; 5. The grammatical type of the stem prefixes combine with a) deverbal: re- rewrite, over- overdo, out- outstay; b) denominal: ex- ex-wife, un- unbutton, de- detrain; c) deadjectival: in- inactive, un- uneasy, bi- bi-annual. Composition Composition is the way of word-building when a word is formed by joining two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound word depends upon: a) A unity of stress. As a rule, English compounds have one uniting stress, e.g. 'best-seller. We can also have a double stress in an English compound: 'blood- vessel. The main stress may be on the second component: sky-'blue. 44

46 b) Solid or hyphenated spelling. Spelling in English compounds is not very reliable because they can have different spelling even in the same text, e.g. war-ship, blood-vessel can be spelt through a hyphen and also with a break. Insofar, underfoot can be spelt solidly and with a break. c) Semantic unity. It is often very strong. In such cases we have idiomatic compounds where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of meanings of its components, e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain-drain. In non-idiomatic compounds semantic unity is not strong, e.g. airbus, astrodynamics. d) Unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. They are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes grammatically: These girls are chatter-boxes. Conversion Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English wordbuilding system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero suffuxation. Conversion is the main way of forming verbs in Modern English. Verbs can be formed from nouns of different semantic groups and have different meanings because of that. If verbs are formed from nouns: a) they can have instrumental meaning denoting parts of a human body, tools, machines, instruments, weapons: to eye, to hammer, to machine-gun (вести пулеметный огонь), to rifle (стрелять из винтовки); b) verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being: to crowd, to wolf (пожирать с жадностью), to ape; c) verbs can denote acquisition, addition, deprivation: to fish, to dust, to paper; d) verbs can denote an action performed at the place: to park, to bottle, to corner. Verbs can be converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the change of the state: to tame, to slim. Verbs can be also converted from other parts of speech: to down (adverb), to pooh-pooh (interjection). 45

47 Nouns can also be converted from verbs. Converted nouns can denote: a) instant of an action: a jump, a move; b) process or state: sleep, walk; c) agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted: a help, a flirt; d) object or result of the action: a find, a burn; e) place of the action: a drive, a stop. Sometimes nouns are formed from adverbs: ups and downs. Shortening Shortenings (or contracted words) are produced in two different ways. The first is to make a new word from a syllable of the original word. The letter may lose its beginning ( phone from telephone, fence from defence ), its ending ( hols from holidays ) or both the beginning and ending ( flu from influenza ). The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word group: U.N.O., B.B.C., M.P. This type is called initial shortenings (acronyms). They are found not only among formal words but also among colloquialisms and slang: g.f. (girl-friend). Here are some more examples of informal shortenings: movie ( moving-picture ), specs ( spectacles ), I.O.Y. ( I owe you ), metrop ( metropoly ), posish ( position ), undergraduates. Informal speech abounds in words of this type: exam, lab, prof, vac, hol, co-ed (a girl student at a coeducational school or college). 7.2 Secondary Ways of Word-building Sound interchange is the way of word-building when some sounds are changed to form a new word, e.g. to strike stroke, to sing song. Stress interchange can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of Romanic origin: nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs on the last syllable, e.g. accent to accent. 46

48 Sound imitation is the way of word-building when a word is built by imitating different sounds: a) sounds produced by human beings: to whisper, to mumble; b) sounds produced by animals, birds, insects: to moo, to hiss, to buzz; c) sounds produced by nature and objects: to splash, to bubble, to clatter. Blending is a way of forming words from a word-group or two synonyms, e.g. hustle (hurry and bustle), cinemaddict (cinema addict). Back-formation (disaffixation) is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new word, e.g. to bach (from bachelor), to televise (from television). The part-of-speech meaning of the primary word is changed, verbs are formed from nouns. 7.3 Practical Part 1. Answer the questions: 1) What are the main ways of word-building in Modern English? 2) What are the secondary ways of word-building in Modern English? 3) What kind of word-building is sound interchange? 4) What kind of word-building is back-formation? 5) What kind of word-building is sound imitation? 6) What kind of word-building is stress interchange? 7) What kind of word-building is blending? 8) What is affixation? 9) What classifications of suffixes are there in lexicology? 10) What is the difference between suffixation and prefixation? 11) What classifications of prefixes are there in lexicology? 2. Find out oppositions in which words or word forms are differentiated due to an alternation in the phonemic composition of the root. Define this kind of a word-building 47

49 Food; lay; live; drank; sit; rise; abode; bear; sung; tell; goose; feed; knit; driven; tooth; stroke; speak; drunk; knot; speech; burden; foot; life; drink; teeth; abide; bite; ride; torn; full; sang; strike; road; fill; tale; geese; feet; drove; bit; tear; sing; drive; raise; set; lie; tore 3. Group the words according to the secondary ways of word-building Docudrama (documentary + drama), vidkid (video + kid), to bach (>bachelor), burgle (> burglar), baby-sit (>baby-sitting), to lase (>laser) (light amplification of stimulated emission of radiation), mimsy (miserable + flimsy), flight-test (> flight-testing), illiterature (illiterate+literature); hustle (hurry+bustle) 4. Group the words according to the part-of-speech classification of suffixes Vicarage, lioness, twofold, soluble, solidify, employee, African, outwardly, manly, manhood, likewise, lifelike, repentant, manifold, upward, establish, shorten 5. Group the words according to the semantic classification of suffixes Politeness, tolerance, testatrix, shallowness, kingdom, beauty, fusion, witness, amplification, knighthood, sybarite, answerability 6.Pick out the words with the meaning of derogation and endearment according to the connotation of suffixes Underling, auntie, hanky, simpleton, hillock, nightie, kitchenette, manikin, drunkard 7. Group the words according to the semantic classification of prefixes Postgraduate, decontaminate, inability, abduct, out-herods, refitment, non-thing 48

50 VIII. Semantic Structure of English Words 8.1 Polysemy. Types of Semantic Components The word polysemy means plurality of meanings. It exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic. There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and concatenation. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primary meaning, e.g. face (the front part of the human head - the primary meaning; the front part of a building, the front part of a watch, the front part of a playing card; expression of the face, outward appearance - secondary meanings). In cases of concatenation secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain, e.g. crust 1. hard outer part of bread, 2. hard part of anything (a pie, a cake), 3. harder layer over soft snow, 4. sullen (угрюмый, замкнутый) gloomy person, 5. Impudence (бесстыдство, дерзость: none of your impudence). Here the last meanings have nothing to do with primary ones. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. This phenomenon is called the split of polysemy. Semantic Structure of Polysemantic Words The analysis of the semantic structure of a polysemantic word is based on the following set of oppositions: 1. Direct-derived meaning: rat animal like, but larger than a mouse; rat cowardly person; strike-breaker. 2. Extended-restricted meaning: to knock strike, hit; to knock of a petrol engine make a tapping or thumping noise. 3. Free-bound meaning: hat cover for the head; hat nonsense (to speak through one s hat). 4. General-specialized meaning: case instance or example of the occurrence of smth; case (med.) person suffering from a disease. 49

51 5. Neutral-emotional meaning: nut fruit consisting of a hard shell enclosing a kernel that can be eaten; nut (slang) head of a human being. Types of Semantic Components The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of a word is usually termed denotative component (also, the term referential component may be used). The denotative component expresses the conceptual content of a word. The following list presents denotative components of some English adjectives and verbs: Denotative components lonely, adj. alone notorious, a., widely. known celebrated, adj. widely known to glare, v. known to look ]... to glance, v. to look to shiver, v. to tremble to shudder, v. to tremble It is quite obvious that the definitions given in the right column only partially and incompletely describe the meanings of their corresponding words. To give a more or less full picture of the meaning of a word, it is necessary to include in the scheme of analysis additional semantic components which are termed connotations or connotative components. Let us complete the semantic structures of the words given above introducing connotative components into the schemes of their semantic structures. 50

52 lonely, adj. notorious, adj. celebrated, adj. widely known widely known Connotative components Kind of connotation melancholy, sad Emotive connotation for criminal acts or bad traits of character for achievement in science, art, etc. to glare, v. to look steadily, lastingly in anger, rage, etc. to glance, v. to look briefly, passingly Denotative components alone, without company Evaluative connotation, negative special Evaluative connotation, positive 1. Connotation of duration 2. Emotive connotation Connotation of duration to shiver, v. to shudder, v. to tremble to tremble lastingly (usu) with the cold briefly with horror, disgust, etc. 1. Connotation of duration 2. Connotation of cause 1. Connotation of duration 2. Connotation of cause 3. Emotive connotation The above examples show how by singling out denotative and connotative components one can get a sufficiently clear picture of what the word really means. The schemes presenting the seman- 51

53 tic structures of glare, shiver, shudder also show that a meaning can have two or more connotative components. 8.2 Analysis of the Structure of Polysemantic Words When analysing the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, it is necessary to distinguish between two levels of analysis. 1) On the first level, the semantic structure of a word is treated as a system of meanings. For example, the semantic structure of the noun fire could be roughly presented by this scheme (only the most frequent meanings are given): Fire, n. I Flame II. An instance of destructive burning; e. g. a forest fire III. Burning material in a stove, fireplace, etc.; e. g. There is a fire in the next room. A camp fire. IV. The shooting of guns, etc.; e. g. to open (cease) fire V. Strong feeling, passion, enthusiasm; e. g. a speech lacking fire. The above scheme suggests that meaning I holds a kind of dominance over the other meanings conveying the concept in the most general way whereas meanings II V are associated with special circumstances, aspects and instances of the same phenomenon. Meaning I (generally referred to as the main meaning) presents the centre of the semantic structure of the word holding it together. It is mainly through meaning I that meanings II V (they are called secondary meanings) can be associated with one another, some of them exclusively through meaning I, as, for instance, meanings IV and V. But there are lots of cases when it would hardly be possible to establish any logical associations between some of the meanings of polysemantic words (e.g. the noun bar etc.). 2) This brings us to the second level of analysis of the semantic structure of a word. 52

54 On the second (deepest) level the semantic structure of a word is treated as the set of semantic components within each separate meaning. Let s analyze the structure of the polysemantic word dull to prove the point: Dull, adj. I. Uninteresting, monotonous, boring; e. g. a dull book, a dull film. II. Slow in understanding, stupid; e. g. a dull student. III. Not clear or bright; e. g. dull weather, a dull day, a dull colour. IV. Not loud or distinct; e. g. a dull sound. V. Not sharp; e. g. a dull knife. VI. Not active; e. g. Trade is dull. VII. Seeing badly; e. g. dull eyes (arch.). VIII, Hearing badly; e. g. dull ears (arch.), Yet, one distinctly feels that there is something that all these seemingly miscellaneous (вспомогательное) meanings have in common, and that is the implication of deficiency, be it of colour (m. III), wits (m. II), interest (m. I), sharpness (m. V), etc. The implication of insufficient quality, of something lacking, can be clearly distinguished in each separate meaning. But it is obvious that the centre holding together the complex semantic structure of this word is not one of the meanings but a certain component that can be easily singled out within each separate meaning. In fact, each meaning definition in the given scheme can be subjected to a transformational operation. Dull, adj. I. Uninteresting deficient in interest or excitement. II. Stupid deficient in intellect. III. Not bright deficient in light or colour. IV. Not loud deficient in sound. V. Not sharp deficient in sharpness. VI. Not active deficient in activity. VII. Seeing badly deficient in eyesight. 53

55 VIII. Hearing badly deficient in hearing. The transformational operation with the meaning definitions of dull reveals something very significant: the semantic structure of the word is "divisible", as it were, not only at the level of different meanings but, also, at a deeper level. Each separate meaning seems to be subject to structural analysis in which it may be represented as sets of semantic components. In terms of componential analysis, one of the modern methods of semantic research, the meaning of a word is defined as a set of elements of meaning which are not part of the vocabulary of the language itself, but rather theoretical elements, postulated in order to describe the semantic relations between the lexical elements of a given language. In other words the meaning of a word is the set of information quanta or semantic features interrelated in a certain way. This set of semantic features (sememe) consists of smaller indivisible semantic elements constructed in a hierarchical way. The principle unit of the word s semantic structure is called seme, semantic feature, component of meaning, quantum of information. According to the position of semantic feature in the word s semantic structure V.G. Gak distinguishes archiseme that is the principle one and differential semes. Archiseme expresses the properties of the whole class of objects. Differential semes specify the archiseme that becomes differential in the semantic structure of the words with more abstract meaning. 8.3 Practical Part 1. Answer the questions: 1) What does the term polysemy mean? 2) How does a word develop semantically? 3) What is the difference between concatenation and radiation from the semantic point of view? 4) What is split of polysemy? 5) What provides the quantitative and qualitative growth of expressive resources in language? 54

56 6) How is the semantic structure of a polysemantic word organized? 7) What are the main oppositions of semantic analysis of a polysemantic word? 8) How is the semantic structure of a word treated by componential analysis? 9) What is sememe? 10) What is the difference between archiseme and differential semes? 11) What is the difference between denotative and connotative components of the semantic structure of a word? 12) What are homonyms? 13) What causes homonyms in language? 14) What classifications of homonyms are there in linguistics? 2. Determine the denotative and connotative meanings in the following pairs of words Muzzle face, fat plump, obstinate mulish, infant kid, beg implore, friend crony, fragrance reek, love adore, talent genius, famous notorious, gobble eat. 3. Determine the main and derived meanings of the underlined words. Translate the sentences. Say whether lexical or grammatical context is predominant in determining the meaning of a word A. 1. Do not suspend the lamp from the ceiling, fix it to the wall. 2. The molecules of the substance remain suspended in the solution. 3. The law was suspended. 5. He was suspended from all international games for three years. 6. The Lords nave the power to suspend non-financial legislation for two years. B. 1. It's like having a loose cobra around the house. 2. You can get it loose or in packets. 3 To say so would be loose grammar. 4. Have the loose tooth out. 5. That would be rather a loose translation. 6. Fix the loose end to the wall. 7. Your shoe lace got loose. 8. There was some loose change in his pocket but nothing else. 9. He has loose manners. 55

57 C. 1.He gets up early. 2. The speaker called for an early settlement of the issue. 3. Do it at the earliest opportunity. 4. He wants an early answer. 5. Only a joint conference will bring about an early solution of the problem. 6. Early training tells. 7. The early bird catches the first worm. D. 1. The steak is tough. 2. Don't worry, it won't get me down. I'm tough. 3. This is a tough problem. 4. He is for a tough policy. 5. Prof. Holborn is a tough examiner. IX. Homonyms, Synonyms, Paronyms and Antonyms 9.1 Homonyms Causes and sources of homonymy Homonyms are words different in meaning but identical in sound or spelling, or both in sound and spelling. Homonyms can appear in the language not only as a result of split of polysemy, but also as a result of levelling of grammar inflexions, when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect: care from caru and care from carian. They can also be formed by means of conversion: slim to slim. They can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem: reader a person who reads and a book for reading. They can be the result of forming splinters, completives and lexical abbreviations: bio a splinter with the meaning biology, biological as in the word biometrics ; bio a combining form with the meaning life as in the word biology ; bio a lexical shortening of the word biography with the meaning a short biography. Homonyms can also appear in the language accidentally when two words coincide in their development, e.g. two native words can coincide in their outer aspects: to bear from beran (to carry) and bear from bera (an animal). A native word and a borrowing can coincide in their outer aspects, e.g. fair from Latin feria and fair from native fager (blond). Two borrowings can 56

58 coincide, e.g. base from the French base (Latin basis) and base (low) from the Latin bas (Italian basso ). Homonyms can develop through shortening of different words: COD from Concise Oxford Dictionary and cash on delivery. Classification of homonyms Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling and sound forms and he pointed out three groups: perfect homonyms, words identical in sound and spelling: school косяк рыбы and школа ; homographs, words with the same spelling but pronounced differently: bow поклон and bow лук ; homophones, words pronounced identically but spelled differently: night ночь and knight рыцарь. Another classification was suggested by A.I. Smirnitsky. He added to Skeat s classification one more criterion: grammatical meaning. He subdivided the group of perfect homonyms into two types: a) perfect homonyms which are identical in their spelling, pronunciation and their grammar form: spring in the meanings the season of the year, a leap, a source ; b) homoforms which coincide in their spelling and pronunciation but have different grammatical meaning: reading present participle, gerund, verbal noun; to lobby lobby. I.V. Arnold pointed out the following groups of homonyms: a) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms and different in their lexical meanings: board a council and board a piece of wood sawn thin; b) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms, but different in their lexical meanings and paradigms: to lie lied lied, and to lie lay lain; c) homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms: light (lights) light (lighter, lightest); d) homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, in their basic forms and paradigms, but coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms: a bit and bit (from to bite); 57

59 e) patterned homonyms differ from other homonyms, having a common component in their lexical meanings. They are formed either by means of conversion, or by levelling of grammar inflexions. These homonyms are different in their grammatical meanings, in their paradigms, but identical in their basic forms: warm to warm. 9.2 Synonyms Synonyms are words different in their outer aspects, but identical or similar in their inner aspects. In English there are many synonyms, because there are a lot of borrowings: hearty (native) cordial (borrowing). After a word is borrowed it undergoes desynonymization, because absolute synonyms are unnecessary for a language. However, there are some absolute synonyms in the language, which have exactly the same meaning and belong to the same style: to moan, to groan (стонать); homeland, motherland. In cases of desynonymization one of the absolute synonyms can specialize in its meaning and we get semantic synonyms: city (borrowed) town (native). The French borrowing city is specialized in its meaning. Sometimes one of the absolute synonyms is specialized in its usage and we get stylistic synonyms: to begin (native) to commence (borrowing). Here the French word is specialized. So, we can say that stylistic synonyms are caused by changing in usage. Stylistic synonyms can also appear by means of abbreviation: exam (colloquial), examination (neutral). Among stylistic synonyms we can point out euphemisms: the late (dead), to perspire (to sweat). On the other hand, there are slang synonyms. They are expressive, mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names for some things that are frequently used: mad daft (бесшабашно веселый; глупый), potty, balmy, loony (придурок; кретин; полоумный), bonkers (чушь, чепуха; слетевший с катушек), touched, nutty (безответственный; безумный; глупый; легковерный). 58

60 There are also phraseological synonyms, these words are identical in their meanings and styles but different in their combinability with other words in the sentence: to visit museums but to attend lectures ; teachers question their pupils, judges interrogate witnesses. There are also contextual synonyms which are similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions: buy and get are not synonyms out of context but they are synonyms in the following examples: I ll go to the shop and buy some bread and I ll go to the shop and get some bread. In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning, which can substitute any word in the group. Such words are called synonymic dominants: piece is the synonymic dominant in the group slice, lump, morsel (lump a large piece of something without definite shape; morsel 1) a small quantity of anything, 2. a small amount of solid food; a mouthful). A lot of compound nouns denoting abstract notions, persons and events are correlated with phrasal verbs. We have such synonymous pairs as: arrangement (расположение, устройство) layout lay out ; reproduction (воспроизведение) playback play back. Conversion can also serve to form synonyms. Laughter смех laugh смех (noun verb). There are also cases of different affixation: effectivity effectiveness. It can be treated as a lexical variant but not a synonym. Variants can also be phonetical (vase [veiz] - [va:z]) and graphical (to-morrow - tomorrow). Thus, some linguists point out that the peculiar feature of English is the contrast between simple native words which are stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Greсo-Latin origin, e.g.: to ask to question to interrogate; belly stomach abdomen: to end to finish to complete. 59

61 9.3 Paronyms Paronymy is an intermediate phenomenon between homonymy (identical sound-form) and synonymy (similar meaning). Paronyms are words which are partially similar in form but different in meaning and usage: proscribe prescribe. The coinciding parts are not morphemes but meaningless sound-clusters. Pairs like historic-historical (words containing the same root-morpheme) are usually treated as synonyms. Yet words of both groups are easily confused in speech even by native speakers: sensible sensitive ; prudent-) prudish. Improper usage of learned [`lə:nɪd] (научный) and sonorous (высокопарный) language results in the so-called `malapropisms (нелепое употребление слов). E.g. to have a supercilious (superficial) knowledge in accounts. This kind of word confusion is due to ignorance and produces a humorous effect. Malapropisms may be viewed as a kind of paronyms. The words are attracted to each other because of their partial phonetic similarity. 9.4 Antonyms Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech, identical in style, expressing contrary(противоположное) or contradictory (противоречивое) notions. V. N. Comissarov classified antonyms into two groups: absolute (root) antonyms (late - early) and derivational antonyms (to please to displease, honest - dishonest). Absolute antonyms have different roots and derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes. In most cases negative prefixes form antonyms (un-, dis- non-). Sometimes they are formed by means of antonymous suffixes: -ful and -less (painful - painless). The difference between derivational and root antonyms is also in their semantics. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other: active-inactive. Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant 60

62 members of the group will be absolute antonyms: ugly, plain, goodlooking, pretty, beautiful. Leonard Lipka in the book Outline of English Lexicology describes three types of oppositeness: a) complementarity: male female. The denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, and vice versa; b) antonyms: good bad. It is based on different logical relationships; c) convergence: to buy to sell. It is mirror-image relations or functions: husband-wife, above-below, pupil-teacher. L. Lipka also gives the types which he calls directional oppositions: up-down, consequence opposition: learn-know, antipodal opposition: North-South, East-West. L. Lipka also points out nonbinary contrast or many-member lexical sets. In such sets of words we can have outer and inner pairs of antonyms: excellent, good, average, fair, poor. Not every word in a language can have antonyms. This type of opposition can be met in qualitative adjectives and their derivatives: beautiful-ugly, to beautify-to uglify. It can be also met in words denoting feelings and states: to respect-to scorn, respectful-scornful and in words denoting direction in space and time: here-there, up-down, before-after. If a word is polysemantic, it can have several antonyms, e.g. the word bright has the antonyms dim, dull, sad. 9.5 Practical Part 1. Answer the questions: 1. What are the synonyms? 2. What is the difference between the absolute and stylistic synonyms? 3. What is the difference between the euphemisms and slang synonyms? 4. What is the difference between the phraseological and contextual synonyms? 5. What serves to form synonyms? 61

63 6. What is the difference between the synonyms, homonyms and paronyms? 7. What are the antonyms? 8. What is the difference between the absolute and derivational antonyms? 9. What types of oppositions are antonyms based on? 10. What are the antonyms formed by? 2. Define types of the synonyms and their meanings to begin to commence; to visit museums to attend lectures; homeland motherland; the late dead; to perspire to sweat; to ask a question to question pupils to interrogate witnesses; mad daft, potty, balmy, loony; exam examination; belly stomach abdomen; to end to finish to complete; to moan to groan; to buy some bread to get some bread 3. State the main semantic differences between the members of the synonymic groups. Do these differences lie within the denotational or connotational components of meaning? Gather, collect, assemble, congregate; discuss, argue, debate, dispute; help, aid, assist; employ, hire; mend, repair, patch, rebuild; occupation, calling, vocation, business; position, place, situation, post 4. Fill in the blanks with a suitable paronyms Campaign, company. 1. The election... in England lasts about a month. 2. It was Napoleon's last When... stays too long, treat them like members of the family and they'll soon leave. 4. Misery loves Come along for Two are..., three are none. 7. The film... merged. 8. Don't talk about your diseases in Classify the following pairs of antonyms given below slow - fast, post-war - pre-war, happiness - unhappiness, above - below, asleep awake, appear - disappear, late - early, ugly - beautiful, distraction - attraction, spend - save 6. Read the following jokes and say what linguistic phenomenon they are based on 62

64 1) A Scotchman was going on an excursion to New York. He handled the agent a ten-dollar bill as the agent called "Change at Jersey City". "No jokes now! I want my change right away," said the frightened Scotchman. 2) She: Now that we're engaged, dear, you'll give me a ring, won't you? He: Yes, dear, certainly. What's your telephone number? 3) "When rain falls, does it ever get up again?" "Yes, in dew time!" 4) "What's the difference between soldiers and girls?" "The soldier faces powder. Girls powder faces". 7. Translate the following sentences. Find homonyms and define their types 1. Excuse my going first, I'll lead the way. 2. Lead is heavier than iron. 3. He tears up all letters. 4. Her eyes filled with tears. 5. In England the heir to the throne is referred to as the Prince of Wales. 6. Let's go out and have some fresh air. 7. It is not customary to shake hands in England. If the hostess or the host offers a hand, take it; a bow is sufficient for the rest. 8. The girl had a bow of red ribbon in her hair. 9. Mr. Newlywed: Did you see the button on my coat, darling? Mrs. Newlywed: No, love. I couldn't find the button, so I just sewed up the button hole. 10. Do not sow panic. 11. He took a suite at the hotel. 12. No sweet without sweat. 13. What will you have for dessert? 14. The sailors did not desert the ship. 15. He is a soldier to the core. 16. The enemy corps was routed. 17. The word 'quay' is a synonym for Embankment'. 18. The guests are supposed to leave the key with the receptionist. 19. When England goes metric, flour will be sold by the kilogram. 20. The rose is the national flower of England. 21. In England monarchs reign but do not rule. 22. The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. 63

65 X. The Origin of English Words 10.1 Native Words Native words, though they constitute only 30 % of the English vocabulary, are the most frequently used words. Native words are subdivided into two groups: Indo-European and Common Germanic. The oldest layer of words in English are words met in Indo- European languages. there are several semantic groups of them: a) words denoting kinship: father (Vater, pater), mother (Mutter, mater), son (Sohn), daughter (Tochter); b) words denoting important objects and phenomena of nature: the sun (die Sohne), water (Wasser); c) names of animals and birds: cat (Katze), goose (Gans), wolf (Wolf); d) names of parts of a human body: heart (Herz); e) some of the most often used verb: sit (sitzen), stand (stehen); f) some numerals: two (zwei), three (drei). A much larger group of native vocabulary are Common Germanic words (German, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic). Here we can find the nouns: summer, winter, storm, rain, ice, ground, bridge, house, life, shoe; the verbs: bake, burn, buy, drive, hear, keep, learn; the adjectives: broad, dead, deaf, deep. Native words have a great world-building capacity, form a lot of phraseological units, they are mostly polysemantic Kinds of Borrowings More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French, Italian, Spanish). Borrowed words are different from native ones by their phonetic structure, by their morphological structure and also by their grammatical forms. It is also characteristic of borrowings to be non-motivated semantically. 64

66 English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other countries, that is why it is very rich in borrowings. Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria: a) according to the aspect which is borrowed; b) according to the degree of assimilation; c) according to the language from which the word was borrowed. Classification of Borrowings According to the Borrowed Aspect There are the following groups: phonetic borrowings, translation loans, semantic borrowings, morphemic borrowings. Phonetic borrowings are the most characteristic ones in all languages. They are called loan words proper. Words are borrowed with their spelling, pronunciation and meaning. then they undergo assimilation, each sound in the borrowed word is substituted by the corresponding sound of the borrowing language. In some cases the spelling is changed. The structure of the word can also be changed. The position of the stress is very often influenced by the phonetic system of the borrowing language. The paradigm of the word, and sometimes the meaning of the borrowed word are also changed. Such words as labour, travel, table, chair, people are phonetic borrowings from French; apparatchik, nomenklatura, sputnik are phonetic borrowings from Russian; bank, soprano, duet are phonetic borrowings from Italian; lobby, Ostarbaiter, iceberg are phonetic borrowings from German. Translation loans are word-for-word (or morpheme-for-morpheme) translations of some foreign words or expressions. The notion is borrowed from a foreign language but it is expressed by native lexical units. To tale the bull by the horns (Latin), fair sex (French), collective farm (Russian). Semantic borrowings are such units when a new meaning of the unit existing in the language is borrowed: there are semantic borrowings between Scandinavian and English, such as the meaning to live for the word to dwell which in Old English had the meaning to wander. 65

67 Morphemic borrowings are borrowings of affixes which occur in the language when many words with identical affixes are borrowed from one language into another, so that the morphemic structure of borrowed words becomes familiar to the people speaking the borrowing language: goddes (native root + Romanic suffix -ess), uneatable (English prefix un- + English root + Romanic suffix -able). Classification of Borrowings According to the Degree of Assimilation The degree of assimilation of borrowings depends on the following factors: a) from what group of languages the word was borrowed (if the word belongs to the same group of languages to which the borrowing language belongs it is assimilated easier); b) in what way the word is borrowed: orally or in the written form (words borrowed orally are assimilated quicker); c) how often the borrowing is used in the language (the greater the frequency of its usage, the quicker it is assimilated); d) how long the word lives in the language (the longer it lives, the more assimilated it is). Accordingly, borrowings are subdivided into: completely assimilated, partly assimilated, non-assimilated (barbarisms). Completely assimilated borrowings are not felt as foreign words in the language. Completely assimilated verbs belong to regular verbs: correct corrected. Completely assimilated nouns form their plural by means of s-inflexion: gate gates. In completely assimilated French words the stress has been shifted from the last syllable to the first one: capital, service. Partly assimilated borrowings are subdivided into the following groups: a) borrowings non-assimilated semantically, because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from the language of which they were borrowed: sari, sombrero (clothing), taiga, steppe (nature), rickshaw, troika(foreign vehicles), rupee, zloty, peseta (money); 66

68 b) borrowings non-assimilated grammatically: some nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek retain their plural forms bacillusbacilli, genius-genii; c) borrowings non-assimilated phonetically, e.g. some French borrowings retained their stress on the final syllable or special combinations of sounds: police, cartoon, camouflage, boulevard [`bu:ləva:] (бульвар, аллея, обс-яч дерев-ми); d) borrowings partly assimilated graphically, e.g. in Greek borrowings ph denotes the sound [f] (phoneme, morpheme), ch denotes the sound [k] (chaos, chemistry). Non-assimilated borrowings (barbarisms) are borrowings which are used by Englishmen rather seldom and are nonassimilated, e.g. addio (Italian), têt-á- têt (French), duende (Spanish). Classification of Borrowings According to the Language From Which They Were Borrowed a) Romanic borrowings (Latin and Greek). They appeared in English during the Middle English period due to the Great Revival of Learning: memorandum, minimum, maximum, veto; (between the late 12th and the late 15th century) b) French borrowings: words relating to government: administer, empire; words relating to military affairs: soldier, battle; words relating to jurisprudence: advocate, barrister; words relating to fashion: luxury, luxurious, rouge, perfume, coat; words relating to jewelry: emerald, pearl; words relating to food and cooking: dinner, appetite; c) Italian borrowings: bank, bankrupt (the 14th century); volcano, bronze, manifesto, bulletin (the 17th century); various musical terms falsetto, solo, duet; gazette, incognito (the 20th century); d) Spanish borrowings: trade terms cargo, embargo; names of dances and musical instruments tango, rumba, guitar; names of vegetables and fruit; 67

69 e) Scandinavian borrowings. There are 700 of them. They are such nouns as bull, cake, egg, knife; such adjectives as flat, ill, happy; such verbs as call, die, guess; pronouns and connective words - same, both, though; pronominal forms they, them, their; f) German borrowings. There are 800 of them: geological terms zink, quarts, gneiss; words denoting objects used in everyday life kindergarten, lobby, rucksack; units borrowed in the period of the Second World War SS-man, Luftwaffe, Bundeswehr; units borrowed after the period of the Second World War Ostarbeaiter, Volkswagen; g) Dutch borrowings. There are about 2000 of them. They were mainly borrowed in the 14th century: freight, skipper, pump (they are mainly nautical terms); h) Russian borrowings: words connected with trade relations sterlet, vodka, pood, copeck, rouble; words which came into English trough Russian literature of the 19th century zemstvo, volost, moujik; words connected with political system udarnik, collective farm, Soviet power, five-year plan Etymological Doublets Sometimes a word is borrowed twice from the same language. As a result, we have two different words with different spellings and meanings but historically they come back to one and the same word. Such words are called etymological doublets: Latino-French doublets Latin English from Latin English from French uncia inch ounce Franco-French doublets Norman cannal captain Paris channel chieftain 68

70 Scandinavian-English doublets Scandinavian English skirt shirt screech shriek 10.4 Practical Part 1. Answer the questions 1. What groups are native words subdivided into? 2. What semantic groups can be singled out in Indo- European words? 3. Are native words mostly monosemantic or polysemantic? 4. How do borrowed words differ from native ones? 5. What are the classifications of borrowings? 6. What are the phonetic borrowings? 7. What are the translation loans? 8. What are the semantic borrowings? 9. What are the morphemic borrowings? 10. What factors does the assimilation of borrowings depend on? 11. What are the completely assimilated words? 12. What groups are partly assimilated words subdivided into? 13. What are barbarisms? 14. What are etymological doublets? 2. Borrowed words are adjusted in the three main areas of the new language system: the phonetic, the grammatical and the semantic. Single out the words partially or completely assimilated phonetically or grammatically Norman French borrowings: table, plate, courage, chivalry regime, valise, matinee, cafe, ballet Latin borrowings: datum, phenomenon, criterion cup, plum, street, wall 69

71 Spanish borrowings: Tomato, potato, cargo, embargo, rumba, guitar German borrowings: Blitzkrieg, blitz, SS-man, Luftwaffe 3. Define types of borrowings according to the borrowed aspect: Blitz, pajamas, collective farm, tet-a-tet, fair sex, shampoo, to take the bull by the horns, a lightning war, a snake in the grass, blitzkrieg, sari, uneatable, masterpiece, wonder child 4. Define whether the words given below are international, etymological doublets or words of the same roots Gaol (Norm. Fr.) jail (Par. Fr.); son: the Germ. Sohn, the R. сын; canal (Lat.) channel (Fr.); Lexicology: Gr. lexis + logos; corpse (Norm. Fr.) corps (Par. Fr.); Star: Germ. Stern, Lat. Stella, Gr. Aster; Biology: Gr. bios + logos; to capture (Lat.) to catch (Norm. Fr.) to chase (Par. Fr.); senior (Lat.) sir (Fr.); shrew, n. (E.) screw, n. (Sc.); sad: Germ, satt, Lat. satis, R. сыт, Snscr. sd-; stand: Germ, travel (Norm. Fr.) travail (Par. Fr.); Mathematics: Gr.: mathema; stehen, Lat. stare, R. стоять, Snscr. stha-; Philosophy: Gr. phileo + Sophia; captain (Lat.) chieftan (Fr.); cavalry (Norm. Fr.) chivalry (Par. Fr.); hospital (Lat.) hostel (Norm. Fr.) hotel (Par. Fr.) 70

72 Список использованных источников 1. Антрушина Г. Б. Лексикология английского языка / Г. Б. Антрушина, О. В. Афанасьева, Н. Н. Морозова. 3-е изд., стереотип. М.: Дрофа, с. 2. Арнольд И. В. Лексикология современного английского языка: учеб. пособие / И. В. Арнольд. М.: Высшая школа, Артемова А. Ф. Идиомы английского языка: сборник упражнений: учеб. пособие / А. Ф. Артемова, О. А. Леонович. М.: Высш. шк., с. 4. Дубенец Э. М. Современный английский язык: Лексикология : учеб. пособие / Э. М. Дубенец. М.: ГЛОССА- ПРЕСС; СПб.: КАРО, с. 5. Кунин А. В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка: учеб. пособие А. В. Кунин. 3-е изд., стереотип. Дубна: Феникс +, с. 6. Cambridge international dictionary of idioms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 7. Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Debbie Danks. Separate blends: a formal investigation of the blending process in English and its relationship to associated word formation processes. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. 71

73 Учебное издание Лексикология английского языка Методические указания и практические задания Составитель: Монастырская Елена Александровна Подписано к печати г. Формат 60x84 1/16. Усл. печ. л.4,2. Ризография. Тираж 50 экз. Заказ Филиал федерального государственного бюджетного образовательного учреждения высшего профессионального образования «Кемеровский государственный университет» в г. Анжеро-Судженске , Кемеровская область, г. Анжеро-Судженск, ул. Ленина, 8. Отпечатано на участке оперативной полиграфии филиала федерального государственного бюджетного образовательного учреждения высшего профессионального образования «Кемеровский государственный университет» в г. Анжеро-Судженске , Кемеровская область, г. Анжеро-Судженск, ул. Ленина, 8. 72