lavrova_n_a_a_coursebook_on_english_lexicology_angliiskaya_l

Introduction

English lexicology is not only a purely theoretical discipline aimed to upgrade students’ knowledge of its past, its present and its perspectives for the future, but is also an in-depth practical course with multiple objectives, namely:

•to inspire students’ curiosity about the past of words;

•to help them differentiate between subtle shades of meaning;

•to facilitate the recognition of different word-building patterns;

•to further the recognition of novel formations, actively used in the modern media-discourse;

•to broaden their repertoire of synonymic ways of referring to reality;

•to make students’ English more authentic and idiomatic;

•to ultimately make students’ interaction with foreigners smoother

and more gratifying, so that it should become a mutually beneficial experience.

While writing this book, the author took into account some of the latest trends both in theoretical lexicology and in the lexical changes typical of modern English. It must also be noted that some sections are covered in greater detail, while others represent a narrower scale of material. Here is the rationale behind some of the exercises offered by the author.

The exercises on word-building do not only cover traditional and typical word-building patterns in English, such as composition and derivation, but also less wide-spread and codified, such as blending (contamination), formations with semi-affixes, combining forms. The rationale behind including such formations is manifold. Firstly, some of them are traditionally made use of in the formation of terms (combining forms), others have gained popularity quite recently and are extensively used in media-discourse (blending). Secondly, if a word-building pattern becomes foregrounded, it should not be overlooked. This is the case with blending (or contamination), whose activation is down to several factors: the condensed and compressed form of blends makes them a very efficient means of expressing several notions through a single lexeme; it also aids to create a new notion, more often than not, pragmatically and emotion-

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ally charged and/or humorously tinged. Blends are a potential metaphoric formation: two notions and two words are merged due to some more or less objective or subjective similarity. The more distant the notions are, the more striking the emerging blend is likely to be.

The introduction of endocentric, exocentric (bahuvrihi), copulative and appositional compounds highlights various semantic and structural types of compound words and deepens students’ understanding of the nature and essence of nomination and the features that were chosen as the basis of nomination – whether reflecting the essence of the referent or seemingly superficial. In the latter case the resultant compound is, as a rule, idiomatic, metaphorical and evokes vivid imagery.

Paraphrasing a text belonging to a different register makes a learner of English sensitive to formal and informal contexts and to stylistic colouring of words. Ultimately, it is supposed to inculcate in them a sense of appropriateness of a particular word or an expression and stylistic specifics thereof.

Exercises centered around regional varieties of English are meant to raise students’ awareness of different types of English and to get them to understand that they are not to be mixed up. Getting familiar with some of the dialects of the British Isles may prove to be beneficial for learners of English and to facilitate interaction in case of their travelling abroad.

Finding a Russian equivalent for English idioms as well as constructing proverbs from smaller rearranged blocks does not only expand students’ knowledge thereof, but also develops their analytical skills and establishes typological characteristics of both languages. The exercise that involves converting a literally described situation into a metaphoric idiom provides entertainment, fun, a diversion from the traditional academic exercises and activates students’ mental skills that involve searching for the relevant item in the long-term memory and filling a fitting slot.

Each section of the book is divided into two parts – the “Points to ponder” part and the “Exercises” part. In the first part some theoretical questions, tasks as well as theoretical information are provided to facilitate a transition to the second part, which is comprised of exercises that are related to the topic under consideration.

Many of the exercises are provided with keys, but only those where we felt learners may have difficulty in finding answers on their own or when access to the pertinent reference sources may not easily be available.

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1. Word

Points to ponder

Over the years different definitions of the word have been suggested, some of them are based on the purely semantic criterion, others put the premium on structural, functional, stylistic, communicative or pragmatic aspects of the word.

Investigate the problems of word definition and answer the following questions (do the tasks suggested):

–Comment on the following definitions of the word and choose the one which seems the most appropriate to you. Specify the criterion that underlies each definition. Which of the definitions is the least precise?

1.A word is an uninterrupted string of letters which is preceded by a blank space and followed by a blank space or punctuation mark.

2.A word is an utterance conveying a single meaning.

3.A word is a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use (Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 2008).

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4.A word is a sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or of a combination of morphemes (American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition, 2000).

5.A word is one of the units of speech or writing that native speakers of a language usually regard as the smallest isolable meaningful element of the language, although linguists would analyze these further into morphemes (Collins English Dictionary, 6th edition 2007).

6.A word is the smallest unit of language that can be used independently; such a unit represented in writing or printing, usually separated off by spaces (Chambers Dictionary, 9th edition, 2003).

–In Western linguistic tradition it is still fashionable to single out the morpheme as the minimal unit of communication. What is the problematic aspect underlying this methodology?

–Enumerate structural and semantic characteristics of the word and say how it differs from a word-combination. Are there any fuzzy sets (borderline cases)?

–How can you prove that “washing machine” is a word? Supple some other similar cases of a two-unit word.

–Are “wrap up” and “single out” cases of one word or are they two words?

–What is the difference between a word and a sentence?

The notion of “word” is one of the central in lexicology. However, there is still no unanimous opinion as to what the word really is, that is to say, it is not amenable to an unambiguous definition. The

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term “word” usually designates a structure smaller than a word combination, but larger that a single sound segment (Zé Amvela E., 2010). This simple and comprehensible definition is not free from fault: the indefinite article in the English language is a single sound segment and yet it is definitely a word. Definitions of the word are legion, some of them highlighting structural, notional, functional, phonological and other aspects of the word (see above). From the structural perspective, a word can be defined as a unit of language or speech that consists of one or more morphemes at least one of which can be used independently. This is, so to speak, the ideal scenario, because some words consist of morphemes that are no longer used in speech independently. Some examples are: receive, conceive, confer, refer, etc. These words consist of a prefix and a remnant root which is, synchronically, a bound form no longer recognized by the majority of native speakers as a meaningful element.

According to the notional criterion, the word is defined as a linguistic unit conveying a single notion. This definition purports to distinguish between a word and a phrase, which conveys not one but at least two notions. According to the functional criterion the word possesses a fullyfledged nominative function. Unlike that of a word, the functions of a morpheme and a phrase can be, respectively, defined as constitutive and a poly-nominative, the function of a sentence being predicative-communi- cative. According to the phonological criterion, the word is a combination of sounds preceded and followed by pauses and conveying a meaning which distinguishes it from other words in a language.

One of the most daunting lexicological tasks concerning the word is to distinguish between a compound word and a word-combination (a phrase). Some compounds represent the so-called fuzzy sets, that is, language elements whose status veers. What is meant here is that orthographically compounds can be spelt solid, hyphenated and spaced (A. Cruse, Jackson H., G.G. Bondarchuk): “Note that the orthographic treatment of compounds is by no means consistent. Some are written as one word (with or without a hyphen between two roots), while others are written as two or more words (emphasis mine)” [Jackson H., Zé Amvela E., 2010:92]. “Compounds may be spelt either solid (landmark) or hyphenated (land-law) or open (land mass). There may be some variation especially between hyphenated and open compounds: land-crab appears hy-

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