- •Isbn 5—7107—4955—9
- •Isbn 5—7107—4955—9
- •Introduction. What Is a Word? What Is Lexicology? . . 6 Chapter 1. Which Word Should We Choose, Formal
- •1 By the vocabulary of a language is understood the total sum of its words. Another term for the same ie the stock of words.
- •In the word-group a black bird each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept: bird — a kind of living creature; black — a colour.
- •The Main Lexicological Problems
- •Exercise
- •Informal Style
- •Informal vocabulary is used in one's immediate circle: family, relatives or friends. One uses informal words when at home or when feeling at home.
- •Informal words and word-groups are traditionally divided into three types: colloquial, slang and dialect words and word-groups. Colloquial Words
- •Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put over, make up, make out, do away, turn up, turn in, etc.
- •Б16л1ятэка мдлу
- •Dialect Words
- •1 Bruddersford, the scene of the extract, is easily recogniz able as Bradford, Priestley's birthplace.
- •Exercises
- •1 United — the name of a football team.
- •5. What are the main features of dialect words?
- •1 Eliza means the money that Higgins gave her on their previous meeting.
- •III. A. Read the following extract.
- •1 Tall stories — stories that are hard to believe.
- •Formal Style
- •Learned Words
- •It is also true that some of these words should be carefully selected and "activized" to become part of the students' functional vocabulary.
- •Archaic and Obsolete Words
- •It should be pointed out that the borderline between "obsolete" and "archaic" is vague and uncertain, and in many cases it is difficult to decide to which of the groups this or that word belongs.
- •Professional Terminology
- •Basic Vocabulary
- •Exercises
- •6. A r t h u r: Jack! Jack! Where's the stage manag- er?
- •2. "Where did the car hit him?" asked the coroner. "At the junction of the dorsal and cervical verte- brae ," replied the medical witness.
- •V. Revise your lists of formal and informal words and the examples given in Ch. 1 and 2, and compose the following brief situations. Your style should suit both the subject and the situation.
- •1 By etymology of words is understood their origin.
- •Italian also contributed a considerable number of words to English, e. G. Piano, violin, opera, alarm, colonel.
- •It seems advisable to sum up what has been said in a table.
- •1 By the native element we mean words which were not borrowed from other languages but represent the original stock of this particular language.
- •I. Family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter.
- •11. Parts of the human body: foot (cf. R. Пядь),
- •1 Autumn is a French borrowing.
- •2 Cognates — words of the same etymological root, of common origin.
- •Exercises
- •The Roman Occupation
- •Why Are Words Borrowed?
- •Do Borrowed Words Change or Do They Remain the Same?
- •International Words
- •It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, and not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of communication.
- •It is quite natural that political terms frequently occur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism.
- •Translation-Loans
- •Are Etymological and Stylistic Characteristics of Words at All Interrelated?
- •Exercises
- •British Dramatists
- •1 Veni, Vidi, Vici (Lat.) — I came, I saw, I conquered (famous words ascribed to Julius Caesar)
- •2 Weeny, Weedy, Weaky means "tiny", "frail", "weak".
- •Affixation
- •1 Stem is part of the word consisting of root and affix. In English words stern and root often coincide.
- •1 The table gives examples of especially frequent native affixes. Some Native Suffixes1
- •International suffixes.
- •Semantics of Affixes
- •1 Some of the listed adjectives have several meanings, but only one is given so as to keep the list manageable.
- •Conversion
- •Verbal paradigm
- •Exercises
- •1 See footnote on p. 97.
- •XIII. 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.
- •Composition
- •In the following extract a family are discussing which colour to paint their new car.
- •1 R. "цвета гремучей змеи". The father of the family is absolutely against the idea of buying the car, and the choice of this word reflects his mood of resentment.
- •In the word-group a tall boy each 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.
- •1 Knids — fantastic monsters supposed to inhabit the Cosmos and invented by the author of this book for children.
- •Shortening (Contraction)
- •Idiot! It's from my grandfather!
- •Some of the Minor Types of Modern Word-Building. Sound-Imitation (Onomatopoeia1)
- •1 [Dnsmsts pis]. This type of word-formation is now also called echoism (the term was introduced by 0. Jespersen).
- •Reduplication
- •In a modern novel an angry father accuses his teenager son of doing nothing but dilly-dallying all over the town.
- •(Shilly-shallying — irresolution, indecision) Back-Formation (Reversion)
- •Exercises
- •1 Mammal — one of the class of animals which feed their young with milk from the breast (e. G. Human beings, dogs, whales).
- •1 Tidbit — very important news.
- •2 The Afro-American — the name of a newspaper.
- •3 A. A. Fire — anti-aircraft fire (r. Зенитный огонь).
- •4 Stowaway — one who hides himself on a ship to make a journey without paying.
- •1 Bluecoat — policeman.
- •2 Roughhouse — play that has got out of hand and turned into brawling (r. Скандал, драка).
- •3 Booby trap — a trap laid for the unawary as a practical joke, often humiliating (r. Ловушка).
- •4 Black shirt — a fascist (black shirts were part of uniform of the Italian Fascist party).
- •5 We'll put you up front.— r. 1.Мы пошлем вас на передовую. 2. Мы посадим вас в первый ряд (игра слов).
- •1 Salt — strategic armament limitation talks.
- •2 Greenhorn — a raw, simple, inexperienced person, easily fooled.
- •3 Dress coat — a black, long-tailed coat worn by men for formal evening occasions.
- •4 D region — the lowest region of the ionosphere extending from 60 to 80 km.
- •5 See footnote on p. 97.
- •5 Лексикология 129
- •Is polysemy an anomaly or a general rule in English vocabulary?
- •Is polysemy an advantage or a disadvantage so far as the process of communication is concerned?
- •Fire,rt. I
- •IV II V I Flame 1
- •1 We give only a fragment of the semantic structure of bar, so as to illustrate the point.
- •(In a public house or hotel) a counter or room where drinks are served; e, g. They went to the bar for a drink.
- •Types of Semantic Components
- •Connotation of duration
- •Emotive connotation
- •Meaning and Context
- •In the following joke one of the speakers pretends to misunderstand his interlocutor basing his angry retort on the polysemy of the noun kick:
- •1 Kick, n. — 1. Thrill, pleasurable excitement (inform.); 2. A blow with the foot.
- •A sad voice,
- •A sad story,
- •Exercises
- •In this chapter we shall have a closer look at the complicated processes by which words acquire new meanings.
- •Let us deal with each of these questions in turn. 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
- •1 Also: see Supplementary Material, p. 279.
- •I. "Degeneration" of meaning.
- •Exercises
- •I bow [Ьэи], n. — a flexible strip of wood for propelling arrows
- •Sources of Homonyms
- •Classification of Homonyms
- •I match, n. — a short piece of wood used for I producing fire
- •I wren, n. — a bird
- •Lay, V. (Past Indef. Of to lie)
- •1 Left, V. (Past Indef., Past Part, of to leave) j bean, n.
- •Exercises
- •V. A. Classify the following italicized homonyms. Use Professor a. I. Smirnitsky's classification system.
- •3. A) stylistic characteristics, b) semantics, c) word-build- ing.
- •4. A) homonymy, b) word-building.
- •In the following extract, in which a young woman rejects a proposal of marriage, the verbs like, admire and love, all describe feelings of attraction, approbation, fondness:
- •In the following extract an irritated producer is talking to an ambitious young actor:
- •Criteria of Synonymy
- •In surprise, curiosity, etc.
- •It is sufficient to choose any set of synonyms placing them in a simple context to demonstrate the point. Let us take, for example, the synonyms from the above table.
- •Types of Connotations
- •The Dominant Synonym
- •Its semantic structure is quite simple: it consists only of denotative component and it has no connotations.
- •Euphemisms
- •In the following extracts from p. G. Wodehouse we find slang substitutes for two other "unpleasant" words: prison and to imprison.
- •Antonyms
- •I do love you both together!
- •I love to mark sad faces in fair weather;
- •Exercises
- •1 For information on Hyponymy see Supplementary Material, p. 280.
- •1. Policeman (holding up his hand); Stop!
- •How to Distinguish Phraseological Units from Free Word-Groups
- •In a free word-group such changes can be made without affecting the general meaning of the utterance: This big ship is carrying a large cargo of coal to the port of Liverpool.
- •Proverbs
- •Exercises
- •Warning
- •Great Discovery
- •In deep water — in trouble or danger.
- •In low water, on the rocks — in strained financial circumstances.
- •Exercises
- •III. A. Read the following text. Compile a list of the phraseological units used in it.11 Classify them according to Academician Vinogradov's classification system for phraseological units.
- •If you split hairs, you are very pedantic, but if you don't turn a hair you are very calm.
- •Out of the Fire Into the Frying Pan
- •More Precise
- •XI. Group the following italicized phraseological units, using Professor Koonin's classification system. Translate them into Russian.
- •In one of his stories Oscar Wilde said that the English "have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language."
- •Vocabulary of American English
- •The Grammar System of American English
- •Exercises
- •1 In this book two prominent scholars, an American and an Englishman, discuss the differences between the American and British varieties of English.
- •IV. Read the following passage. Draw up a list of terms denoting the University teaching staff in Great Britain and in the usa. What are the corresponding Russian terms?
- •XII. Read the following joke and find examples of words which are characteristic of American English.
- •XIII. Read the following extract. Explain the difference in the meanings of the italicized words in American and Brit- ish English.
- •In America just as in English, you see the same shops with the same boards and windows in every town and village.
- •XIV. Read the following passage. Do you share Professor Quirk's opinion about neutralizing the differences between the two forms of English? If so, give your own examples to prove it.
- •XIX. Read the following extract. What is a citizen of the usa called? Analyse the suggested variants of names from the point of view of word-building.
- •In the development of language it is well established that the things first to receive names were the definite, tangible things coming most close in everyday experience.
- •From "semantics" by f. R. Palmer Hyponymy (Extract)
- •In the last section we discussed classes or sets of incompatible items. But there are also words, that refer to the class itself. This involves us in the notion of in-
- •Dictionaries
- •List of authors quoted
6. A r t h u r: Jack! Jack! Where's the stage manag- er?
Jack: Yes, Mr. Gosport?
Arthur: The lighting for this scene has gone mad.
This isn't our plot. There's far too much light. What's gone wrong with it?
Jack: I think the trouble is they have crept in numbers two and three too early. (Calling up to the flies.) Will, check your plot, please. Number two and three spots should be down to a quarter instead of full.... And you've got your floats too high, too.
(From Harlequinade by T. Rattigan)
7. It was none other than Grimes, the Utility our-fielder, Connie had been forced to use in the last game because of the injury to Joyce — Grimes whose miraculous catch in the eleventh inning had robbed Parker of a home run, and whose own homer — a fluky one — had given the Athletics another World's Championship.
(From Short Stories by R. Lardner)
b. Make up lists from the italicized words classifying them into: A. learned: 1) officialese, 2) literary; B. terms (subdivide them into groups and state to what professional activity each belongs); C. archaic words.
III. a. Make up a list of literary learned words selected from the following.
1. Absent, he was still unescapably with her, like a guilty conscience. Her solitudes were endless meditations on the theme of him. Sometimes the longing for his tangible presence was too achingly painful to be borne. Disobeying all his injunctions, breaking all her promises, she would drive off in search of him. Once, at about midnight, Tonino was called down from his room at the hotel by a message that a lady wanted to speak to him..He found her sitting in the car, "But I couldn't help it, Г simply couldn't help it," she cried, to excuse herself and to mollify his anger. Tonino refused to be propitiated. Coming like this in the middle of the night! It was madness, it was scandalous!..
(From Brief Candles by A. Huxley)
2. To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament. Who is more happy, when, with heart's content, Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair And gentle tale of love and Ianguishment?
(J. Keats)
b. Make up a list of learned words used in the extract from the work written by P. G. Wodehouse (page 30). Point out the lines in which the incongruity of formal and informal elements used together produces a humorous effect.
IV. Read the following jokes. Look up the italicized words in the dictionary (unless you know their meanings) and prove that they are professional terms. State to which sphere of human activity they belong. On what is the humour based in each of the jokes?
1. A sailor was called into the witness-box to give evidence.
"Well, sir," said the lawyer, "do you know the plaintiff and defendant?"
"I don't know the drift of them words," answered the sailor.
"What! Not know the meaning of "plaintiff" and "defendant?" continued the lawyer. "A pretty fellow you to come here as a witness! Can you tell me where on board the ship the man struck the other?"
"Abaft the binnacle," said the sailor.
"Abaft the binnacle?" said the lawyer. "What do you mean by that?"
"A pretty fellow you," responded the sailor, "to come here as a lawyer, and don't know what "abaft the binnacle" means!"