Lecture 6.

Theme: English Vocabulary as a System.

1. Different types of поп - semantic groupings.

For different purposes of study different types of groupings may prove effective: synchronic or diachronic,semantic or formal,depending on possible distribution or taking words as isolated units. There is no optimum short cut equally good for all purposes.

The simplest,most obvious non - semantic grouping,extensively used in all branches of applied linguistics is the alphabetical organization of written words,as represented in most dictionaries. It is of great value as the simplest and the most universal way of facilitating the search for necessary word.

Morphological groupings.

On a higher,i.e. on the morphological level words are divided into four groups according to their morphological structure,namely the number and type of morphemes which compose them. They are: root words, derivatives (that contain no less than two morphemes of which at least one is bound),compound words.

Lexico- grammatical groups.

By lexico-grammatical group one understands a class of words which have a common lexico-grammatical meaning,a common paradigm,the same substituting elements and possible a characteristic set of suffixes rendering the lexico-grammatical meaning. Thus English nouns are subdivided into the following lexico- grammatical groups: personal names,animal names,collective names(for people),collective names(for animals),abstract nouns,material nouns, object nouns,proper names. Lexico- grammatical groups should not be confused with parts of speech.

Thematic and ideographic groups.

Well - known thematic subgroups are: terms of kinship,names for parts of the human body,colour terms,military terms and so on. The basis of grouping this time is not only linguistic butalso extra - linguistic: the words are associated because the things they name occur together and are closely connected in reality.

Ideographic groups

(in which words belonging to different parts of speech are linguistically and thematically related. They are mostly studied diachronically on the basis of comparative linguistics. Here words and expressions are classed not according to their lexico-grammatical meaning but strictly according to their signification,i.e. to the system of logical notions.Thus such words as "light,bright,shine" and other words connected with the notion of light are united as something permitting living beings to see the surrounding objects.

2.Synonyms and Antonyms.

These groupings of words are based on similarities and contrasts. Taking up similarity of meaning and contrasts of phonemic shape we observe that every language has in its vocabulary a variety of words,similar in meaning but distinct in morphemic composition, phonemic shape and usage.

The basis of a synonymic opposition is formed by the first of the two word components, i.e. the denotational component. Itshould be remembered that the term opposition means the relationship of partial difference btw. two partially similar elements of a language.

A common denotational component brings the words together into a synonymic group. All the other components can vary and thus form the distinctive features of the synonymic opposition. Synonyms can therefore be defined in terms of linguistics as two or more words of the samelanguagebefongintothe same part ofspeech andpossesingoneоrmore identical or nearly identicaldenotational meanings, interchangeable at least in some contexts without any

considerable alteration in denotalional meaning, but differing in morphemic composition, phonemic shape, shades of meaning, connotations, affective value, style and idiomatic use.