lavrova_n_a_a_coursebook_on_english_lexicology_angliiskaya_l
.pdf
Exercises
I
Going by the given definitions of the stem and the root, identify them in the following English words:
Stem is the part of a word that remains when inflections are removed, it serves as a derivational basis for other words.
Root is the core part of a word that carries its primary meaning, it is left over when a prefix or a suffix has been removed from it.
Unmentionables, smallest, serendipity, supercilious, director, discredit, disability, eventuality, meticulousness, friendship, parturition, capability, mileage
II
Specify the word-building pattern of the underlined words.
1.What is the make of your car?
2.My hairdresser did a good perm to my hair.
3.At first the password to Harry Potter’s dorm was ‘balderdash’, but then it was changed into ‘gobbledegook’
4.‘I can’t administer a dressing to your wound because the nature of injury might be conducive to the formation of pus if it’s not exposed to the sun and fresh air’ said the nurse.
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5.This regulation can be accepted mutatis mutandis.
6.– I think you need a good shake.
–I’m not drinking it.
–Certainly not. What I mean is
that you need a proper telling-off, man.
7. – Do you need a hand?
– Sorry?
– I mean, shall I help you?
8.I don’t want to act as a go-between or a middleman in you row.
9.If the said subject fails to clarify the provenance of these possessions, the ramifications will include a legal action on my client’s behalf.
III
Analyze the underlined words from the point of view of their morphemic structure
Mr. Moon, with the air of a man who has remembered something which he had overlooked, shoved a sock in his guest’s mouth and resumed his packing. He was what might be called an impressionist packer. His aim appeared to be speed rather than neatness. He bundled his belongings in, closed the bag with some difficulty and stepping to the window opened it. Then he climbed out onto the fire-escape, dragged his suitcase after him and was gone. (P.G. Wodehouse)
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The Rev. Thomas was a man of extreme nervous temperament. He was, par excellence, a fusser and when he fussed, his digestive apparatus collapsed and he suffered agonizing pains. (Agatha Christie)
To Forsyte imagination that house now was a sort of Chinese pillbox, a series of layers in the last of which was Timothy. One did not reach him, or so it was reported by members of the family who, out of old-time habit or absent-mindedness would drive up once in a blue moon and ask after their surviving uncle. (John Galsworthy)
IV
Spot cases of conversion in the sentences below.
1.I kept glancing at the files of kopjes which, seen from a different angle, seemed to change with every step so that even known landmarks, like a big mountain that has sentinelled my world since I first became conscious of it, showed an unfa-
miliar sunlit valley among its foothills (D. Lessing, “The Old Chief Mshlanga”, 1956, P. 9).
2.And then he grinned, too widely, and lowered his face to the figurine, and crushed its head in his teeth, chomping and chewing widely, swallowing in lumps. His teeth ground the china to a fine powder, which dusted the lower part of his face (N. Gaiman, “Neverwhere”, 1996, P. 210).
3.We played in the sandpit for a little while, and then he went down the slide a few times, and then he had a ride on one of those wooden horses that have a big spring coming out of
the bottom of them so you can wobble around (N. Hornby, “Slam”, 2007, P. 234).
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4.The prohibition against “um” probably grew into a general expectation of flawless speaking with the advent of the radio. The popularity of the technology exploded in the 1920s in a way that contemporary Americans who witnessed the rise of the Internet would recognize (M. Erard, “Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean”, 2007, P. 128). 
5.Take a moment to map out your own sphere of influence. Where is it strongest, beginning with the sphere of your formal authority? (“Power, Influence and Persuasion”, 1992, P. 41).
6.If lists of universals show that languages do not vary freely, do they imply that languages are restricted by the structure of the brain? Not directly. First, one must rule our two alternative explanations (S. Pinker, “The Language Instinct”, 1994, P. 234).
7.I met a couple out walking two large black dogs of uncertain genetic background. The dogs were romping playfully in the tall grass, but, as always, happens, at the first sight of me their muscles tautened, their eyes turned a glowing red… (B. Bryson, “Notes from a Small Island”, 1998, P. 113).
8.He sat with the package on his knees, aware of the passengers’ glances, and somehow knew the colour was a giveaway (I. McEwan, “The Innocent”, 1999, P. 92).
9.The place emptied rapidly. The horizontal diggers, the tunneling sergeants, had long departed. The British vertical men had left just as the excitement was growing, and no one noticed them go (I. McEwan, “The Innocent”, 1999, P. 114).
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V
In an endocentric compound the head word is described by the first modifying component; in exocentric compounds both components refer to an unexpressed semantic head, this type of compound is traditionally called “bahuvrihi”, the meaning of
such a compound is, par excellence, based on metonymic transference. In copulative compounds both parts describe the complex nature of the referent, that is, the referent simultaneously possesses two, very often opposed, qualities (e.g. bittersweet). In appositional compounds both parts provide equal descriptions for the referent (actor-director)).
Define the type of compound – endocentric, exocentric, copulative, appositional:
Milkman, blindfold, straphanger, longlegs, whitecollar, bullfinch, backstage, backlog, backdrop, tadpole, pinpoint, greenback, tall-boy, highbrow, sweetmeats, sweetheart, headache, backpack, ladybird, treadmill, dough-nut, nightmare, pigtail.
VI
Match the left-hand word with the right hand-hand word to form a compound. Say whether it’s idiomatic or non-idiomatic. What do the words mean?
Pigeon |
day |
Salt |
walk |
Free- |
mark |
Dead |
lizard |
Dumb |
thing |
Field |
hole |
Jay |
for-all |
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Land |
cellar |
Lounge |
bell |
Nay |
pan |
Play |
say |
Way |
lay |
VII
The word-building pattern of contamination, also known as blending and telescoping, was traditionally a marginal model in English. At the beginning of the XXI century, however, the pattern is gradually gathering momentum and is extensively
used in advertising. Contamination (or blending) consists in creating a new, as a rule occasional, word formed from morphemic splinters of two or more lexemes.
A)Try to guess from the context what products the given names advertise.
B)Name the source-words of blends.
C)Say what the rationale behind each blend is.
1.Chewels
a.chewing transparent candies
b.candies in the form of a jewel
c.sugarless liquid-centre chewing gum
2.Charmaternity
a.nursing and maternity bras
b.utensils for child-feeding
c.apparel for pregnant women
3.Crystalace
a.tiles
b.exquisite lace
c.decorative ledges patterned after lace
4.Pleascent
a.perfume
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b.hair permanent
c.herbal shampoo
5.Scriptip
a.markers
b.erasers
c.correction liquid
6.Slimderella
a.rubber girdles
b.tights
c.pills for losing weight
7.Softint
a.hair colouring
b.paintbrushes
c.markers
VIII
Assign the blends below to one of the seven thematic groups and define their components? The thematic groups are as follows: 1) journalism, 2) advertising, 3) politics and business, 4) cinematography, 5) culinary, 6) students’ slang, 7) computer (all blends are real):
Appeteasing, Chindia, europreneurs, amBUSHed, pandaplomacy, aquamatic, aristicat, cosmedicake, fabulash, filmusical, cinemagnate, docufantasy, autoslobile, basketbrawl, frappuccino, lamburger, D-graded, examnesia, herbacue, qualitea, Indy-pendence, netpreneurs, n(euro)sis, diplonomics, dramassassin, fuelishness, tragicomedy, clamato, crunchips, croissandwich, Bushonomics, blog, emoticon, netiquette, netizen.
IX
Organize the following words into groups taking into account their word-building patterns – composition, derivation, formations
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with semi-affixes, combining forms (комбинирующиеся формы), blending:
zestimate (v.); womenomics (n.); inland (adv.); webonoics (n.); stress- resistant (adj.); headfirst (adv.); waiflike (adj.); semicircle (n.); telegenic (adj.); enslave (v.); telephone (n.) ; washave (v.); toycoon (n.); overdo (v.); squarectangle (n.); carjack (v.); outwit (v.); eurepair (n.); whitecollar (n.); clamburger (n.); ensnare (v.); anticlockwise (adv.); bootique (n.); booklegger (n.); tragicomic (adj.); torrible (adj.); slimnastics (n.); roundwich (n.); treetop (n.); quicktionary (n.); homicide (n.); qatnapper (n.); pupcorn (n.); irregardless (adj.); leadvantage (n.); genomics (n.); classociation (n.); copelessness (n.); St. Petersburg; Edinburgh; buttlegger (n.); disctraction (n.); attraction (n.); netsomnia (n.); nescape (n.); motorcade (n.); butterine (n.); bushonomics (n.); brewtal (adj.); clockwise (adv.); parapsychology (n.); eavesdrop (v.); outcastaway (n.) ; newseum (n.); technocrat (n.); moneymoon (n.); childlike (adj.); telephone (n.); desktop (n.); defendamins (n.); brathlete (n.).
blending
combining forms
composition
derivation
formations with semi-affixes
X
A) Allocate the selected words into three groups – contaminated, occasional, neological. Can the word simultaneously belong to several groups?
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B) Describe the word-building pattern of each word:
to feel towny; Spanish acquistadores (about Mexican banks); a big falsey-toothy smile; to be pally with smb; webonomics; laboRATory; a question of omenish nature; travelocity; meritocracy; retronym; women in tentish dresses; pill-gotten gains; $tar; to feel lovingful of smb.; propheteering; x-ray; radar; laser; to feel déjà-vu-sque; dancercise; winterval; prequel; PFInancial services; to lead an applauseless life; an oletimey pitcher of tea; medicase; car-clogged highway; n(euro)sis; kidult; bucket-eared; kyatastrophe; razorthin whisper; badvantage; blog; to speak in a clenchedteethedly way; glocalisation; bachelord; replicant; delicate spindly-thin boors; misunderestimate; taxicology; cyberspace; contradictate; robotics; flashy-darty look, eyes; Beatles; weekend-empty place; stressure; xenocide.
XI
Some elements of a word may receive an unprecedented boost in usage in combination with rootwords. Although originally found as part of a single word, they become fashionable and wide-spread due to the topicality of the notion they convey. These are
such elements as “franken-”, “e-”, “(o)rexia, “eco-”, “Mc-”, “-speak”, “(a)thon”, “-gate” and some others. The number of such words is currently on the increase, therefore it is hardly possible to enumerate all of them. The status of these word-building elements is hard to define, for convenience’ sake, we choose to refer to them as “vogue neo-semi-af- fixes” (модные нео-полуаффиксы). They are not affixes proper as they appeared relatively recently and as a result are rarely registered by dic-
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tionaries; nor should they be called “combining forms” (as some linguists suggest), because combining forms are restricted to Latin and Greek roots, often found in combination with each other; calling them “roots” is also dubious, for they hardly ever function in speech independently, and even if they occasionally do, this is rather an exception than the rule. It seems that referring to them as “semi-affixes” is most appropriate, inasmuch as their meaning is more precise and concrete than that of affixes.
Below are a number of words containing vogue neo-semi-affixes. Study them closely, trace the word that caused them to appear and say what they currently mean.
Adspeak, artspeak, businesspeak, computerspeak, femspeak, videospeak, gayspeak, technospeak, doublespeak, litcritspeak, videospeak, discospeak, Olymspeak, Pentagonspeak, Freudspeak, bureaucratspeak
e-Bay, e-commerce, e-trade, e-cards, e-medicine, e-financing, e-gold, e-library, e-pals, e-mentoring, e-music, e-museum, e- how, e-boat
iTools, iTunes, iFilm, iVillage, iWon, iEarn, iPad, iPod, iOS
Frankenfood, Frankenbeans, Frankencorn, Frankenfruit, Frankenrice, Frankenplants, Frankenword
McJob, McFashion, McTheatre, McNews, McWord
Bikeathon, talkathon, walkathon, telethon, discothon, Bachathon
Nannygate, oilgate, Irangate, Hollywoodgate
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