МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РЕСПУБЛИКИ

БЕЛАРУСЬ

МИНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

Т. Н. Суша

_{Лексикология}

английского языка

Практикум

на английском языке

Рекомендовано Научно-методическим центром

учебной книги и средств обучения Министерства образования Республики Беларусь в качестве учебно-методического пособия для студентов специальности „Современные иностранные языки" высших учебных заведений

Минск 2GC1

УДК 802.0-3 БВК 81.2Аи

С917

Рецензенты: кафедра теории и практики перевода (английский язык) Института предпринимательской деятельности; ЛМ. Лещееа, док­тор филологических наук, зав. кафедрой (Академия управления при Пре­зиденте Республики Беларусь)

Рекомендовано Советом Минского государственного лингвисти­ческого университета

Суша Т.Н.

С917 Лексикология английского языка. Практикум: Учеб.-метод, посо­бие / На англ. языке; Минск, гос. лингв, ун-т. - Ми., 2001. - 62 с.

Пособие знакомит студентов с детально рвзработаяньгми планами семинар­ских занятий по основным темам курса лексикологии английского языка. Каж­дая тема включает перечень проблем, вопросы для обсуждения, заданна н уп-ражненмя, основную и дополнительную литературу. Относительная автоном­ность разделов н тем позволяет вносить необходимые изменения в рекомендо­ванную последовательность изучения и количество часов.

Предназначено для студентов факультетов иностранных языков вузов.

УДК 802.0-3 ББК «1.2Ан

©Т.Н. Суша, 2001

CONTENTS

1 r^fiicc >>> 4

Introduction ... ........ ......... .......N. V

Seminar Outlines

Etymological Characteristics of the English Lexicon 14

^{Word Meaning...... . 18}

Polysemy 22

^{Homonymy.... ■• •■•...••IX 1. •« 27}

Semantic and Non-semantic Classifications

of English Words .................. . . 31

^{Phraseological Units... .. ............. a. ■■•••■■>.<•<•-..• ...... ...... 35}

Stylistic and Social Stratification of the English

Lexicon.. 41

Regional Varieties of the English Language: Lexical Differences

Ways of Enriching and Expanding the English

Lexicon •-<•.•■.<■... Jm

British and American Lexicography........ 55

Recommended Reading.. 60

PREFACE

The present manual is compiled to meet the needs of students taking a course inEnglish Lexicology, one of the basic lin­guistic courses in the University Curriculum. The manual presents a practical aid for students in their preparation for seminars and the ex­amination in English lexicology.

The aim of the manual is to draw the students' attention to some of the main points of the topics discussed, to develop skills of lexi­cological analysis of the language material and to outline recom­mended reading.

The manual is compiled in conformity with the Lexicology Syllabus (Теория английского языка. Раздел 3. Лексикология английского языка Программа по специальности Г.02.05. - Со­временные иностранные языки; П.02.07. - Английский язык. Мн., 2000).

The contents and the structure of the manual are determined by the purpose formulated above.

The manual consists of the following parts: Introduction Seminar Outlines Recommended Reading

In the I n t г о d u с t i о n the major lexicological topics discussed in the course are outlined.

The main body of the manual is constituted by seminar outlines. They are structured as follows:

Topics for Discussion

Key Terms

Tasks and Exercises

Questions

Recommended Reading and Dictionaries.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleagues of the Department of Eng­lish Lexicology who read the draft version of the manual and encour­aged me to present the materials in the form of a book. I am especially indebted to Professor Irina Tokareva.

I am thankful to the reviewers of the manuscript, Professor Lyudmila Lcshchova and Professor Yacov Vovshin, for their valuable suggestions. I also thank visiting lecturers of MSLU Brian Blackwell, Caroline Linse, and Brendan Weston for verbal comments.

I am grateful to Olga Petrova and Dmitry Sologubov whose as­sistance in typing the manuscript greatly facilitated the publication.

T. Susha

Introduction

The following topics are considered in the course of E n g 1 i s h Lexicology:

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics.

2. Lexical units. The notion of lexeme.

3. General characteristics of the English lexicon.

4. Etymological characteristics of the English lexicon.

5. Word meaning. Approaches to meaning. 6.' Types of meaning.

7. Word meaning and motivation.

8. Semantic change in English.

9. Polysemy.

10. Homonymy.

11. Types of semantic relations in the lexicon.

12. Semantic and non-semantic classifications of English words.

13. The structure of English words. Principles of morphemic analysis. Morphemic types of words in English.

14. Principles and basic notions of derivational analysis. Deriva­tional types of words in English.

15. Affixation.

16. Conversion.

17. Compounding.

18. Abbreviation. Other ways of word creation.

19. Word-groups. Colligation and collocation.

20. Phraseological units.

21. The stylistic and social stratification of the English lexicon.

22. Regional varieties of the English language: Lexical differ­ences.

23. Ways of Enriching and Expanding the English lexicon.

24. British and American lexicography.

25. Methods and procedures of lexicological research.

For more details see: Теория английского языка. Программа по специальности Г.02.05. - Современные иностранные языки; П.02.07. - Английский язык. Мн., 2000.

At present the course in English Lexicology com­prises five 2-hour lectures and ten 2-hour seminars. They are arranged as shown in Table 1 (Lectures and Seminars). If the lecturer adopts a different plan of study, he may change the amount of hours or the or­der of the topics to suit his plan of lectures and seminars. The tasks, exercises, and questions suggested in the manual may be extended and modified by the teacher.

The topics "The Structure of English words", "English word-formation", "Affixation", "Conversion", "Compounding", "Abbreviation ", and "Other ways of word creation" will be presented in the form of a workbook under the title English Word-Formation.

The topics which are not reflected in Table 1 are meant for inde­pendent study.

In preparing this manual the author has tried to take into account the latest achievements and publications in linguistic science in the field of lexicology.

For a detailed discussion of the topics/problems given above manuals of lexicology are recommended (see Recommended Reading, p. 55). In addition every seminar outline is supplied with linguistic lit­erature for further reading, in which account is taken of what is avail­able in the library of the University.

Every branch of learning is characterized by its key terms. In seeking guidance about the basic lexicological concepts and terms students are referred to Encyclopedias of Language and Dictionaries of Linguistic Terms (seep.56).

L ectures and Seminars

SEMINAR OUTLINES

LEXICAL UNITS

Topics for Discussion

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics.

2. Lexicology and its links with other branches of linguistics. The theoretical and practical value of lexicology.

3. Lexical naming. Types of lexical naming. (General overview.)

4. The word as the basic lexical unit. The problem of the word in English. Word variants.

5. The concept of lexeme.

6. The size of the English lexicon.

7. The size of a person's lexicon.

mental lexicon morpheme

derivational morpheme naming

lexical naming phraseological unit ready-made unit set expression/phrase two-faceted unit vocabulary word

word-group word stock word variants

Key Terms

lexeme

lexical item/unit lexical system lexicalization lexicology

cognitive lexicology

contrastive lexicology

descriptive lexicology

diachronic/historical lexicology

general lexicology

special lexicology

synchronic lexicology lexicon lexis

Tasks and Exercises