41 Ways of replenishment. Neologisms

The changes occurring in the vocabulary are due both to linguistic and non-linguistic causes, but in most cases to the combination of both.  There are two ways of enriching the vocabulary as has been mentioned above: A. vocabulary extension — the appearance of new lexical items. New vocabulary units appear mainly as a result of: 1. productive or patterned ways of word-formation; 2. non-patterned ways of word-creation; 3. borrowing from other languages. B. semantic extension — the appearance of new meanings of existing words which may result in homonyms.

Productive word-formation is the most effective means of enriching the vocabulary. The most widely used means areaffixation (prefixation mainly for verbs and adjectives, suffixation for nouns and adjectives), conversion (giving the greatest number of new words in verbs and nouns) andcomposition (most productive in nouns and adjectives).

'New’ words that appear as a result of productive word-formation are not entirely new as they are all made up of elements already available in the language. The newness of these words resides in the particular combination of the items previously familiar to the language speaker. As has already been mentioned productivity of derivative devices that give rise to novel vocabulary units is fundamentally relative and it follows that there are no patterns which can be called ‘fully’ productive.

Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing in the language can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. In such cases we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word «umbrella» developed the meanings: «авиационное прикрытие», »политическое прикрытие». A new lexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenon which already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases we have transnomination, e.g. the word «slum» was first substituted by the word «ghetto» then by the word-group «inner town». A new lexical unit can be introduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case we have «a proper neologism», many of them are cases of new terminology.

Here we can point out several semantic groups when we analize the group of neologisms connected with computerization, and here we can mention words used:

a) to denote different types of computers, e.g. PC, super-computer, multi-user, neurocomputer / analogue of a human brain/;

b) to denote parts of computers, e.g. hardware, software, monitor, screen, data, vapourware / experimental samples of computers for exhibition, not for production/;

c) to denote computer languages, e.g. BASIC, Algol FORTRAN etc;

d) to denote notions connected with work on computers, e.g. computerman, computerization, computerize, to troubleshoot, to blitz out / to ruin data in a computer’s memory/.

42.Territorial variants of the English language

Speaking about the lexical distinctions between

the territorial variants of the English

language it is necessary to point out that from

the point of view of their modern currency in different parts of the English-

speaking world all lexical units may be divided into g e n e r a l

E n g l i s h , those common to all the variants and locally-marked, those

specific to present-day usage in one of the variants and not found in the

others (i.e. Briticisms, Americanisms, Australianisms, Canadianisms,1

etc.).

When speaking about the territorial differences of the English language

philologists and lexicographers usually note the fact that different

variants of English use different words for the same objects. Thus in describing

the lexical differences between the British and American variants

they provide long lists of word pairs like

BE AE

flat - apartment

underground subway

lorry truck

pavement sidewalk

post mail

tin-opener can-opener

government administration

leader editorial

teaching staff faculty

From such lists one may infer that the words in the left column are the

equivalents of those given in the right column and used on the other side

of the Atlantic. But the matter is not as simple as that.

These pairs present quite different cases.

It is only in some rare cases like tin-opener — can-opener or fishmonger

— fish-dealer that the members of such pairs are semantically

equivalent.

In pairs like government — administration, leader — editorial only

one lexical semantic variant of one of the members is locally-marked.

Thus in the first pair the lexical semantic variant of administration — ‘the executive

officials of a government’ is an Americanism, in the second pair

the word leader in the meaning of ‘leading article in a newspaper’ is a

Briticism.

In some cases a notion may have two synonymous designations used

on both sides of the Atlantic ocean, but one of them is more frequent in

Britain, the other — in the USA. Thus in the pairs post — mail, timetable

— shedule, notice — bulletin the first word is more frequent in Britain,

the second — in America. So the difference “here lies only in wordfrequency.

44

There are many different types of English

dictionaries. First of all they may all be

roughly divided into two groups — e n c y c l o p a e d i c and l i n -

g u i s t i c .

The two groups of reference books differ essentially in the choice of

items included and in the sort of information given about them. Linguistic

d i c t i o n a r i e s are wоrd-books, their subject’ matter is lexical units

and their linguistic properties such as pronunciation, meaning, peculiarities

of use, etc. T h e e n c y c l o p a e d i c d i c t i o n a r i e s , the biggest

of which are sometimes called simply encyclopaedias are t h i n g -

books, that give information about the extra-linguistic world, they deal

with concepts (objects and phenomena), their relations to other objects and

phenomena, etc.

Linguistic dictionaries may be divided into different categories by different

criteria. According to the nature of their word-list we may speak

about g e n e r a l d i с t i о n a r i e s , on the one hand, and restriсted,

on the other. The terms g e n e r a l and r e s t r i c t e d do not refer to

the size of the dictionary or to the number of items listed. What is meant is

that the former contain lexical units in ordinary use with this or that proportion

of items from various spheres of life, while the latter make their

choice only from a certain part of the word-stock, the restriction being

based on any principle determined by the compiler. To r e s t r i c t e d

d i c t i o n a r i e s belong

211 Classificationof Linguistic Dicterminological,

phraseological, dialectal word-books, dictionaries of new

words, of foreign words, of abbreviations, etc.

As to the information they provide all linguistic dictionaries fall into

those presenting a wide range of data, especially with regard to the ’semantic

aspect of the vocabulary items entered (they are called explanatory)

and those dealing with lexical units only in relation to some of their characteristics,

e.g. only in relation to their etymology or frequency or pronunciation.

These are termed specialised dictionaries.

All types of dictionaries, save the translation ones, may be m о n o -

l i n g u a l or b i l i n g u a l , i.e. the information about the items

entered may be given in the same language or in another one.

Care should be taken not to mix up the terms m o n o l i n g u a l

and e x p l a n a t o r y , on the one hand, and b i l i n g u a l and

t r a n s l a t i o n dictionaries on the other. The two pairs of terms reflect

different dimensions of dictionaries. The terms m o n o l i n g u a l

and b i l i n g u a l * pertain to the language in which the information

about the words dealt with is couched. The terms e x p l a n a t o r y and

t r a n s l a t i o n dictionaries characterise the kind of information

itself

45

Lexicography, the science, of dictionary-compiling, is closely connected

with lexicology, both dealing with the same problems — the form,

meaning, usage and origin of vocabulary units — and making use of each

other’s achievements.

On the one hand, the enormous raw material collected in dictionaries is

widely used by linguists in their research. On the other hand, the principles

of dictionary-making are always based on linguistic fundamentals, and

each individual entry is made up in accordance with the current knowledge

and findings of scholars in the various fields of language study. The compiler’s

approach to various lexicological problems (such as homonymy,

phraseological units, etc.) always finds reflection in the selection and arrangement

of the material.