14. Vocabulary classifications

1) Morphological and functional grouping. Lexico-grammatical groups

2) Thematic and Ideographic groups. Semantic fields.

3) Terminological systems

4) Emotionally coloured and emotionally neutral vocabulary

5) Non-semantic grouping

Morphological grouping: 1) hand, dog; 2) derivative: handful, doggie; 3) handbook, dog-cheap; 4) left-handed, dog-legged. Word-families: dog, doggish, doglike, doggy, to dog, dog-cart. Troublesome, lonesome, tiresome, handsome.

Functional grouping: notional, functional.

Lexico-grammatical groups. Baker, artist, volunteer, visitor, workman. Audience and honesty: I am referring to what goes on inside the audience’s mind when they see the play (Arden); Honesty isn’t everything but I believe it’s the first thing (Priestley).

Thematic grouping: sheep – ram, ewe, lamb. Hyperonym – hyponyms. V.A. Moskovitch: blue, green, yellow, red. Red: 1) scarlet, orange, crimson, rose; 2) vermilion, wine red, cherry, coral, copper-red.

Ideographic grouping: light, bright, shine.

Semantic fields. Trier, Porzig, Ipsen, A. Shaikevitch (faint, feeble, weary, sick, tedious, whole).

Terminological system. Synonymous terms: phraseological unit, idiom, set expression.

Atomic. Power. Gene (1909), isotope (1913), penicillin (1929), transistor (1952).

The origin of terms shows 4 main channels: 1) telegraph, telemechanics, supersonic; 2) borrowing form another terminological system; 3) word-formation; 4) borrowing from other languages.

Emotionally coloured and emotionally neutral vocabulary

Emotional words proper. Daddy, darling; drunkard, gangster. Interjections. Hear, hear! Hell! Nonsense! Come! Hark! Neutral words: copy, report, reach, sell.

Intensifiers: ever, even, all, whatever, whenever. Whyever didn’t you go? Why didn’t you go? Intensifying adverbs: awfully, dreadfully, terribly, tremendously, wonderfully.

Evaluatory words. “fabricate” – “forge”. “Silly ass,” said Dick. “He’s jealous because he didn’t win a prize.” (Dickens).

Non-semantic grouping. Alphabetic organization. The rhyming dictionary. Grouping according to the length of words. Grouping based on a statistical analysis.

15. The origin of English words

1) Native words

2) Borrowings

3) Classification of borrowings according to the borrowed aspect

4) Classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation

5) Classification of borrowings according to the language from which they are borrowed

6) Etymological doublets

7) International words

Classification of borrowings according to the borrowed aspect

Phonetic borrowings, translation loans, semantic borrowings, morphemic borrowings.

Phonetic borrowings: labour, travel, table, chair, people; apparatchik, nomenklatura, sputnik; bank, soprano, duet.

Translation loans: fair sex, living space, «pipe of peace», «pale-faced», from German «masterpiece», «homesickness», «superman».

Semantic borrowings: to live – to dwell, brigade, pioneer.

Morphemic borrowings: goddess, uneatable.

Classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilations

Completely assimilated: correct – corrected, gate –gates, capital, service.

Partly assimilated: a) sari, sombrero, taiga, kvass; b) bacillus - bacilli, phenomenon - phenomena, datum -data, genius – genii; c) voice, zero; sky, skate, ski; girl, get, give, kid, kill, kettle; police, cartoon; camouflage, bourgeois; memoir, boulevard; d) symbol, synonym; phoneme, morpheme, chemistry, chaos; psychology; accompany, affirmative; buffet, coup, debris; beau, chateau, trousseau; chic, parachute; bouquet; rouge; machine; Autobahn; dictat; reich; sitskrieg; Volkswagen.

Non-assimilated borrowings (barbarisms): tete-a-tete, dolce vita, duende, gonzo.

Classification of borrowings according to the language form which they were borrowed.

Latin borrowings: street, port, wall. Alter, cross, dean, and Greek words: church, angel, devil, anthem. Formula – formulae, memorandum, minimum, maximum, veto. Appendicitis, aspirin; acid, valency, alkali; engine, antenna, biplane, airdrome; socialism, militarism; zoology, physics; homonym, archaism, lexicography.

French borrowings. The influence of French on the English spelling: lufian – love, chest, ship, this, yet, queen, house. Semantic groups of French borrowings: a) administer, empire, state, government; b) army, war, banner, soldier, battle; c) advocate, petition, inquest, sentence, barrister; d) luxury, coat, collar, lace, pleat, embroidery; e) topaz, emerald, ruby, pearl; f) lunch, dinner, appetite, to roast, to stew. After 1650: a) belle-lettres, conservatorie, brochure, nuance, piruette, vaudeville; b) corps, echelon, fuselage, manouvre; c) entresol, chateau, bureau; d) ragout, cuisine.

Italian borrowings: bank; volcano, granite, bronze, lava; manifesto, bulletin; alto, baritone, basso, tenor, falsetto, solo, duet, trio, quartet, quintet, opera, operetta, libretto, piano, violin; gazette, incognito, autostrada, fiasco, fascist, dilettante, grotesque, graffito.

Spanish borrowings: a) cargo, embargo; b) tango, rumba, habanera, guitar; c) tomato, potato, tobbaco, cocoa, banana, ananas, apricot.

Scandinavian borrowings: syster (ON), sweoster (OE) sister (Modern E); fiscr (ON), fisc (OE), fish (Modern E); felagi (ON), felawe (OE), fellow (Modern E).

Bull, cake, egg, kid, knife, skirt, window; flat, ill, happy, low, odd, ugly, wrong; call, die, guess, get, give, scream; same, both, till, fro, though; they, them, their; take off, give in.

German borrowings: cobalt, bismuth, zink, quarts, gneiss, wolfram; iceberg, lobby, rucksack, Kindergarten; Luftwaffe, Bundeswehr, gestapo, gas chamber; Volkswagen.

Holland borrowings: freight, skipper, pump, keel, dock, reef, deck, leak.

Russian borrowings: rouble, copeck, pood, sterlet, vodka, sable; taiga, tundra, steppe; narodnik, moujik, duma, zemstvo. volost, ukase; nihilist, intelligenzia, Decembrist; collectivization. udarnik, Komsomol; shock worker, collective farm, five-year plan; perestroika, glasnost, nomenklatura, apparatchik.

Etymological doublets

Latino-French doublets: uncia (Latin), inch (English from Latin), ounce (English form French); moneta (Latin), mint (English from Latin), money (English from French); camera (Latin), camera (English from Latin), chamber (English from French).

Franco-French doublets. Doublets borrowed from different dialects of French: canal (Norman), channel (Paris); captain (Norman), chieftain (Paris); catch (Norman), chaise (Paris).

Scandinavian-English doublets: skirt (Scandinavian), shirt (English); scabby (Scandinavian), shabby (English).

French doublets: gentle – genteel; gallant – ga’llant.

Superior – supreme

International words: allegro, andante, baritone, concert, barcarole; automation, cybernetics, gene; kraal, anaconda; football, match; sweater, tweed, shorts.