- •Министерство финансов Российской Федерации
- •Всероссийская государственная налоговая академия
- •Лексикология английского языка
- •English lexicology
- •Введение
- •Lecture 1
- •The structure of the word
- •The main problems of lexicology
- •Phraseology
- •Vocabulary as a system
- •Vocabulary
- •Exercise (p. 11, answers)
- •Lecture 2
- •Informal Style
- •Functional style
- •Informal style
- •Colloquial words
- •Dialect words
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 3 Formal Style
- •Learned words
- •Archaic and obsolete words
- •Professional terminology
- •Basic vocabulary
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 4 The Etymology of English Words
- •The earliest group of English borrowings
- •Celtic borrowings. The fifth century a.D.
- •3. The period of Cristianization. The seventh century a.D.
- •5. Norman French borrowings (1066).
- •6. The Renaissance Period.
- •7. The Etymological Structure of English Vocabulary
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 5 The Etymology of English Words
- •1. The historical circumstances which stimulate the borrowing process
- •2. Three stages of assimilation
- •International words
- •Etymological doublets
- •Translation-loans
- •Interrelations between etymological and stylistic characteristics of English words
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 6 Word-Building
- •The main ways of enriching the English vocabulary
- •Affixation (or Derivation)
- •Some frequent native suffixes
- •Some productive affixes
- •Some non-productive affixes
- •Semantics of affixes
- •Conversion
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 7
- •Composition
- •Semi-Affixes
- •Shortening (Contraction)
- •Some of the minor types of modern word-building. Onomatopoeia (Sound-imitation)
- •Reduplication
- •Back-Formation (Reversion)
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 8
- •Thought or Reference
- •3. Polysemy
- •4. Two levels of analysis
- •Types of semantic components
- •Meaning and context
- •Answer these questions.
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 9 Development of New Meanings
- •Causes of development of new meanings
- •The process of development and change of meaning
- •Transference based on resemblance (similarity)
- •Transference based on contiguity
- •Broadening (or Generalization) of meaning. Narrowing (or Specialization) of meaning
- •I. “Degeneration” of meaning.
- •II. “Elevation” of meaning.
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 10 Homonyms: Words of the Same Form
- •4. Sources of homonyms
- •5. Homonymy and polysemy
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 11 Synonyms
- •Which words do we call synonyms?
- •Synonyms are one of the language’s most important expressive means
- •The problem of criteria of synonymy
- •The dominant synonym
- •Classification system for synonyms established by V.V. Vinogradov
- •Classification of synonyms based on difference in connotations
- •Types of connotations
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 12 Euphemisms. Antonyms
- •Euphemisms. Their types and functions
- •Antonyms. Which parts of speech do most antonyms belong to?
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 13 Phraseology
- •Phraseology as an expressive resource of vocabulary
- •Phraseological units and free word-groups. Criteria for distinguishing
- •2) The second type of restriction is the restriction in introducing any additional components into the structure of a phraseological unit.
- •Proverbs
- •The traditional principle for classifying phraseological units
- •The semantic principle of classification for phraseological units
- •The structural principle of classification for phraseological units
- •Classification system offered by Professor a.I. Smirnitsky
- •The classification system of phraseological units suggested by Professor a.V. Koonin
- •Vocabulary
- •Lecture 14 Types of Dictionaries
- •Lexicography and dictionaries
- •Bilingual dictionaries
- •Special bilingual dictionaries
- •Unilingual dictionaries
- •Special unilingual dictionaries
- •Vocabulary
- •Литература
- •Contents
- •Practical Exercises to Lectures in English Lexicology Lecture 2. Informal Style Exercises
- •II. A. Read the following extract.
- •III. Read the following jokes. Write out the informal words and word-groups and say whether they are colloquial, slang or dialect.
- •Lecture 3. Formal Style Exercises
- •Lecture 4. Etymology of English Words (part 1) Exercises
- •I. Subdivide all the following words of native origin into: a) Indo-European, b) Germanic, c) English proper.
- •II. Read the following jokes. Explain the etymology of the italicized words. If necessary consult a dictionary.
- •III.Identify the period of the following Latin borrowings; point out the structural and semantic peculiarities of the words from each period.
- •IV. In the sentences given below find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings. How can the Scandinavian borrowings be identified?
- •V. Read the following jokes and identify the Scandinavian borrowings.
- •VI. Explain the etymology of the following words.
- •VII. Think of 10—15 examples of Russian borrowings in English and English borrowings in Russian.
- •VIII. Read the following text. Identify the etymology of as many words as you can. The Roman Occupation
- •Lecture 5. The Etymology of English Words (part 2)
- •IV. State the origin of the following translation-loans. Give more examples.
- •Lecture 6. Word-Building Exercises
- •I. The italicized words in the following jokes and extracts are formed by derivation. Write them out in two columns:
- •II. Explain the etymology and productivity of the affixes given below. Say what parts of speech can be formed with their help.
- •III.Deduce the meanings of the following derivatives from the meanings of their constituents. Explain your deduction. What are the meanings of the affixes in the words under examination?
- •IV. In the following examples the italicized words are formed from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate these derivatives into Russian and explain the difference in meaning.
- •V. Explain the difference between the meanings of the following words produced from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate the words into Russian.
- •VI. One of the italicized words in the following examples was made from the other by conversion. What semantic correlations exist between them?
- •VII. Explain the semantic correlations within the following pairs of words.
- •VIII. Which of the two words in the following pairs is made by conversion? Deduce the meanings and use them in constructing sentences of your own.
- •IX. Read the following joke, explain the type of word-building in the italicized words and say everything you can about the way they were made.
- •Lecture 7. Word-Building (continued) Exercises
- •I. Find compounds in the following jokes and extracts and write them out in three columns: a. Neutral compounds. B. Morphological compounds. C. Syntactic compounds.
- •II. Identify the neutral compounds in the word combinations given below and write them out in 3 columns: a. Simple neutral compounds. B. Neutral derived compounds. C. Neutral contracted compounds.
- •IV. Say whether the following lexical units are word-groups or compounds. Apply the criteria outlined in the foregoing text to motivate your answer.
- •V. Find shortenings in the jokes and extracts given below and specify the method of their formation.
- •Lecture 8. What is “Meaning”? Exercises
- •I. Define the meanings of the words in the following sentences. Say how the meanings of the same word are associated one with another.
- •III. The verb "to take" is highly polysemantic in Modern English. On which meanings of the verb are the following jokes based? Give your own examples to illustrate the other meanings of the word.
- •IV. Explain the basis for the following jokes. Use the dictionary when in doubt.
- •V. Read the following jokes. Analyse the collocability of the italicized words and state its relationship with the meaning.
- •I.Explain the logical associations in the following groups of meaning for the same words. Define the type of transference which has taken place.
- •II.Analyse the process of development of new meanings in the italicized words in the examples given below.
- •III. Explain the basis for the following jokes. Trace the logical associations between the different meanings of the same word.
- •IV. Have the italicized words evaluative connotations in their meanings? Motivate your answer and comment on the history of the words.
- •Lecture 10. Homonyms: Words of the Same Form Exercises
- •I. Find the homonyms in the following extracts. Classify them into homonyms proper, homographs and homophones.
- •II. On what linguistic phenomenon is the joke in the following extracts based? What causes the misunderstanding?
- •III. A. Find the homonyms proper for the following words; give their Russian equivalents.
- •IV. A. Classify the following italicized homonyms. Use Professor a. I. Smirnitsky's classification system.
- •Lecture 11. Synonyms Exercises
- •I. Give as many synonyms for the italicized words in the following jokes as you can. If you do not know any of them consult the dictionaries.1
- •II. Carry out definitional and transformational analysis on the italicized synonyms using the explanations of meanings given below. Define the types of connotations found in them.
- •III. Say why the italicized synonyms in the examples given below are not interchangeable.
- •IV. Within the following synonymic groups single out words with emotive connotations.
- •V. Identify the stylistic connotations for the following italicized words in the jokes given below and write their synonyms with other stylistic connotations.
- •Lecture 12. Euphemisms. Antonyms Exercises
- •I. Find the dominant synonym in the following groups of synonyms. Explain your choice.
- •II. Find the dominant synonyms for the following italicized words and prove that they can be used as substitutes. Are they interchangeable? What is lost if we make the substitution?
- •III.Find the euphemisms in the following sentences and jokes. Name the words for which they serve as euphemistic substitutes.
- •IV. Find antonyms for the words given below.
- •V. Find antonyms in the following jokes and extracts and describe the resultant stylistic effect.
- •Lecture 13. Phraseology
- •VI. Read the following proverbs. Give their Russian equivalents or explain their meanings.
- •VII. Give the English equivalents for the following Russian proverbs.
- •VIII. Give the proverbs from which the following phraseological units have developed.
- •IX. A. Read the following text. Compile a list of the phraseological units used in it.1Classify them according to Academician Vinogradov's classification system for phraseological units.
- •X.Complete the following sentences, using the phraseological units given in the list below. Translate them into Russian.
- •XI. Complete the following similes. Translate the phraseological units into Russian. If necessary, use your dictionary.
- •XII. Complete the following sentences, using the words from the list below. Translate the phraseological units into Russian.
- •XIII. In the examples given below identify the phraseological units and classify them on the semantic principle.
- •XIV. Read the following jokes. Classify the italicized word-groups, using Professor Smirnitsky's classification system for phraseological units. Out of the Fire Into the Frying Pan
- •More Precise
- •XV. Group the following italicized phraseological units, using Professor Koonin's classification system. Translate them into Russian.
- •Вишнякова Светлана Марковна,
- •Публикуется в авторской редакции
Vocabulary
abode место жительства
affixation аффиксация, деривация
coining сoздание
compound word сложное слово
composition словосложение
conversion конверсия
curtailed сокращённый
deduce выводить
facilitate содействовать
nonce-word слова, образованные для данного случая
nuance оттенок
radical корень (слова)
readjustment перегруппировка; приспособление
root word корневые, простые корневые слова
shortening syn contraction сокращение
slyly тайком, украдкой
stem основа
subtle трудный, запутанный
word-building словообразование
Lecture 7
Word-Building (continued)
(pp. 104 – 120)
Composition.
Groups and subgroups of compounds. Productive and non-productive types of composition.
Semantic aspects of compound words.
A compound and a word-combination.
Semi-affixes.
Shortening (Contraction)
Onomotopoeia.
Reduplication.
Back-formation (Reversion).
Composition
This type of word-building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the three most productive types in Modern English, the other two are conversion and affixation. Compounds, though certainly fewer in quantity than derived or root words, still represent one of the most typical and specific features of English word-structure.
Groups and subgroups of compounds.
There are at least three aspects of composition that present special interest.
The first is the structural aspect. Compounds are not homogenous in structure. Traditionally three types are distinguished: neutral, morphological and syntactic.
In neutral compounds the process of compounding is realized without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems, as in blackbird, shop-window, bedroom, tallboy (высокий комод), etc. There are three subtypes of neutral compounds depending on the structure of the constituent stems.
The examples above represent the subtype which may be described as simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affixless stems.
Compounds which have affixes in their structure are called derived or derivational compounds. E.g. blue-eyed, golden-haired, lady-killer (сердцеед), film-goer (киноман), music-lover (меломан), first-nighter (театрал, посещающий театральные премьеры), late-comer (опоздавший), newcomer (новичок), early-riser (ранняя пташка), evil-doer (злодей). The productivity of this type is confirmed by a considerable number of comparatively recent formations, such as teenager, babysitter, doubledecker (a ship or bus with two decks). Numerous nonce-words are coined on this pattern which is another proof of its high productivity, e.g. (goose-flesher (“murder story” – триллер).
The third subtype of neutral compounds is called contracted compounds. These words have a shortened (contracted) stem in their structure: TV-set, V-day (Victory day), G-man (Government man – FBI agent), T-shirt, etc.
Morphological compounds are few in number. This type is non-productive. It is represented by words in which two compounding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, e.g. Anglo-Saxon, handiwork (ручная работа), handicraft (ремесло), spokesman (представитель), statesman (государственный деятель).
In syntactic compounds we find a feature of specifically English word-structure. These words are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs, as in the nouns lily-of-the-valley (ландыш), Jack-of-all-trades (мастер на все руки), good-for-nothing (негодяй, бездельник), mother-in-law (тёща). Syntactical relations and grammatical patterns current in present-day English can be clearly traced in the structures of such compound nouns as know-all (всезнайка), know-nothing (невeжда), go-between (посредник), whodunit (детектив). The last word (meaning “a detective story”) was obviously coined from the ungrammatical variant of the word-group who (has) done it.
In this group of compounds we find a great number of neologisms, and whodunit is one of them.
The structure of most compounds is transparent and clearly betrays the origin of these words from word-combinations.
Semantic aspect of compound words.
Another focus of interest is the semantic aspect of compound words, that is, the question of correlations of the separate meanings of the constituent parts and the actual meaning of the compound. Can the meaning of a compound word be regarded as the sum of its constituent meanings?
To try and answer this question, let us consider the following groups of examples.
Classroom, bedroom, dining-room, sleeping-car, reading-room, dancing-hall.
This group seems to represent compounds whose meanings can really be described as the sum of their constituent meanings. Yet, in the last four words we can distinctly detect a slight shift of meaning. The first component in these words, if taken as a free form, denotes an action or state of whatever or whoever is characterized by the word. Yet, a sleeping-car is not a car that sleeps (cf. a sleeping child), nor is a dancing-hall actually dancing (cf. dancing pairs).
The shift of meaning becomes much more pronounced in the second group of examples.
Blackboard, blackbird, football, chatterbox (болтун), lady-killer, good-for-nothing (бездельник).
In this compounds one of the components (or both) has changed its meaning: a blackboard is neither a board nor necessarily black, football is not a ball but a game, a chatterbox not a box but a person, and a lady-killer kills no one but is merely a man who fascinates women. In all these compounds the meaning of the whole word cannot be defined as the sum of the constituent meanings.
Yet, despite a certain readjustment in the semantic structure of the word, the meanings of the constituents of the compounds of this second group are still transparent: you can see through them the meaning of the whole complex. At least, it is clear that a blackbird is some kind of bird and that a good-for-nothing is not meant as a compliment.
In the third group of compounds the process of deducing the meaning of the
whole from those of the constituents is impossible. The key to the meaning seems to have been lost: ladybird (божья коровка)is not a bird but an insect, tallboy not a boy but a piece of furniture.
The compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the separate meanings of their constituent parts (2nd and 3rd group) are called idiomatic compounds, in contrast to the first group known asnon-idiomatic compounds.
The suggested subdivision into three groups is based on the degree of semantic cohesion of the constituent parts, the third group representing the extreme case of cohesion where the constituent meanings blend to produce an entirely new meaning.
Composition is not quite so flexible a way of coining new words as conversion but flexible enough as is convincingly shown by the examples of nonce-words. Among compounds are found numerous expressive and colourful words. They are also comparatively laconic, absorbing into one word an idea that otherwise would have required a whole phrase (cf. The hotel was full of week-enders and The hotel was full of people spending the weekend there).
Both the laconic and the expressive value of compounds can be well illustrated by English compound adjectives denoting colours (cf. snow-white – as white as snow).
A compound and a word-combination
A further aspect of composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination.
The graphic criterion of distinguishing between a word and a word-group seems to be sufficiently convincing, yet in many cases it cannot wholly be relied on. The spelling of many compounds,tallboyamong them, can be varied even within the same book. In the case oftallboythesemanticcriterion seems more reliable, for the difference in the meanings of the word and the word-group certainly points to the highest degree of semantic cohesion in the word:tallboydoes not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture. Moreover, the word-groupa tall boy conveys two concepts (1. a young male person;2. big in size), whereas the wordtallboyexpresses one concept.
Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept.
The phoneticcriterion for compounds may be treated as that of a single stress. The criterion is convincingly applicable to many compound nouns, yet does not work with compound adjectives:
cf. ‘blackbird, ‘tallboy,
but:‘blue-‘eyed, ‘absent-‘minded.
Still, it is true that the morphological structure of these adjectives and their hyphenated spelling leave no doubt about their status as words and not word-groups.
Morphological and syntactic criteria can also be applied to compound words in order to distinguish them from word-groups.
In the word-group a tall boyeach of the constituents is independently open to grammatical changes peculiar to its own category as a part of speech:They were the tallest boys in their form.
Between the constituent parts of the word-group other words can be inserted: a tall handsome boy.
The compound tallboy – and any other compound – is not subject to such changes. The first component is grammatically invariable; the plural form ending is added to the whole unit:tallboys. No word can be inserted between the components.
All this leads us to the conclusion that, in most cases, only several criteria (semantic, morphological, syntactic, phonetic, graphic) can classify a lexical unit as either a compound word or a word-group.