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LECTURE 1.
THE WORD AND ITS MEANING
OUTLINE
Lexicology is a branch of linguistics that deals with the vocabulary of the language and characteristics of words as the main lexical units. Lexical units comprise words and set expressions, or groups of words of fixed character.
There are over 200 definitions of a word but none is generally accepted. The word reflects world mapping which is culturally and nationally specific. Word use is also pre-determined by person’s social and educational status, gender, age, etc.
The word performs the following functions:
The word is the smallest meaningful unit possessing the following features:
The word is a two-facet unit combining meaning and form. The relationship between the two is denoted by the term motivation. If the connection between the meaning of a word and its form is clear and the form helps us to understand the meaning, the word is considered motivated. If the connection is conventional, the word is said to be non-motivated at the present stage of language development.
There are three types of motivation:
II. Types of meaning.
The meaning is not homogeneous. It is a system of systems:
1). It combines lexical and grammatical meanings, e.g. actress is a personal noun.
2). Lexical meaning includes denotative and connotative ones.
3). Denotative meaning is conceptual (what a word denotes), it is divided into semantic
components called semes , e.g. Father is a male parent. Denotative components may
be culturally predetermined (cf. winter in Siberia and in Australia, it is a season
between autumn and spring but all other characteristics are different: duration,
temperature, etc.).
4). Connotative meanings express the speaker’s attitude to the subject of speech and may
be as follows:
5). A word may be polysemantic, i.e. it may have several interrelated denotative
meanings:
III. Semantic changes and their causes.
1.Specialization, or narrowing of meaning
e.g. garage – a safe place
meat – any food
2.Generalization, or widening of meaning
e.g. ready (in O.E. – ready for a ride, now – ready for any activity)
arrive – to land at a shore
3.Elevation of meaning (getting better, going higher)
e.g. queen (in O.E. – woman)
knight (in O.E. – young servant).
4.Degradation of meaning (getting worse, lower)
e.g. a spinster – a woman that spins wool
idiot – a private person
5. Transference of meaning. The name of one thing is used to name some other things.
Transference is further subdivided into metaphor, metonymy and euphemism.
e.g. to die: to perish, to pass away, to join the silent majority, to meet one’s maker, to be with the angels, to cross the Great Divide, etc.
toilet: WC, bathroom, the necessary facilities, powder room, ladies/ gents, public conveniences, cloakroom, throne room, porcelain collection, Windsor Castle, etc.
Causes of semantic changes may include linguistic and extra-linguistic ones.
The latter are connected with social, political, economic, cultural and scientific development.
e.g. computer, space, feedback, bikini, villain, boor, etc.
The former embrace differentiation of synonyms (e.g. time and tide), borrowings (hound and dog), preserving the old meaning in idioms (love token, token of respect), etc.
LECTURE 2.
PHRASEOLOGY
Set expressions are stable ready-made units with fixed integrate structure. They are contrasted to free phrases and semi-fixed combinations. A free phrase permits substitution of any of its elements without any semantic change in the other element, e.g. to go early: to work, get up, move, etc. early: to go late, quickly, down, etc.
In semi-fixed combinations there are some boundaries for the substitution, e.g. go to school (market, college, court, etc.) is used only with nouns of places where definite actions are performed.
Features that make set expressions stable:
Euphonic: rhythm, rhyme, alliteration,e.g. safe and sound, stuff and nonsense, by hook or by crook.
Semantic stylistic features: simile, contrast, metaphor, synonymy, antonymy, e.g. as like as two peas, as old as hills, more or less, from beginning to end, a lame duck, arms race, to swallow a pill, proud and hauty.
A bit of expressions are connected with different spheres of people’s life, nature, etc.
There are different approaches to studying and classifying phraseological units.
2.Larin’s classification is also semantic but diachronic. He believes that each unit goes through three stages in its development. First it is a free word combination, then a motivated metaphoric phrase and then an idiom with lost motivation, e.g. to give a sack, to give a cold shoulder, to dance attendance on smb., etc.
Semantic classifications of Vinogradov and Larin are open to criticism since the degree of motivation may be different for different speakers depending on their knowledge of history, customs and traditions, level of education, etc. So they are subjective, not reliable enough.
LECTURES 3-5.
WORD-BUILDING. STRUCTURE OF WORDS.
OUTLINE
I. Structural types of words.
Each word consists of morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of the language. According to the role they play in constructing words, morphemes are divided into roots and affixes.
The root expresses the main lexical meaning of a word. The root may often be homonymous with the word. Such roots are called free morphemes. Affixes are always bound morphemes, they can function only within a word.
According to their function and meaning affixes are divided into derivational that serve to form new lexemes (words) and functional that express grammatical meanings and serve to create grammar forms of the same word. Functional affixes are also called flections (inflections), or endings. When a functional affix is stripped from a word, what remains is the stem. If the stem contains nothing but the root, it is a simple stem. If a stem also contains one or more derivational affixes, it is a derived stem.
Depending on their structure and type of formation words are divided into:
II. Affixation. Classification of affixes. Suffixes and prefixes.
Affixation is a way of forming new words by adding derivational affixes to the stem. Derivational affixes are classified in a number of ways.
According to their position in a word affixes are divided into prefixes, which precede the root, suffixes, which follow the root, and infixes inserted into the root (historically n in stand is an infix).
According to the degree of productivity affixes are divided into productive that help to form new words nowadays and non-productive no longer used in word-formation at the present stage of language development, e.g. –lock (as in the word wedlock).
According to their origin affixes are divided into native and borrowed. Native affixes are those, which already existed in O.E. or were formed from O.E. words. A root morpheme in a compound word may gradually develop into a suffix and become a bound form no longer homonymous with any Modern English word. E.g. –dom (O.E. fate, power), -hood (O.E. state), etc.
The most important native affixes are: -d, -dom, -ed, -en, -fold, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ish, -less, -like, -let, -lock, -ly, -ness, -red,-ship, -some,-teen, -ty, -th, -wise, -y.
Borrowed affixes are classified according to their origin: Latin (-able, -ible, -ant/ent), French (-age, -ance, -ence, -ancy, -ency, -ard, -ate), Greek (-ist, -ism, -ite), etc. Affixes are borrowed only if a large number of words with the same affix are borrowed, if both the meaning and the function of the affix are clear and if the structural pattern corresponds to the structural patterns already existing in the language. If all these conditions are fulfilled, the foreign affix may even become productive and combine with native stems or borrowed stems within the system of the English vocabulary. E.g. –able in laughable, unforgettable, unforgivable. The English words balustrade, brigade, cascade are borrowed from French but the English word blockade was coined by analogy from an English root with the borrowed suffix.
The next classification deals with suffixes and divides them according to the part of speech the words they help to form belong to:
1) noun-forming suffixes: -age (bondage, breakage), -ance/-ence (assistance, reference), -ant/-ent (desinfectant, student), -dom (freedom, kingdom), -hood(widowhood, sisterhood), -ee(nominee, trainee, employee), -er(teacher, writer), -ess(actress, lioness), -ing (building, moving), -ion (rebellion), -tion (creation), -ation (explanation), -ism (heroism, criticism),
-ist(novelist), -ment (government), -ness (tenderness), -ship(scholarship), -ty (minority);
2) adjective-forming suffixes: -able(unbearable), -al(formal), -ant/ent (dependent),
-ary(revolutionary), -ate/ete(accurate, complete), -ful(delightful), -an(African), -ish(reddish, childish), -ive(active), -less(useless), -ly(manly), -ous(curious), some (tiresome), -y(cloudy, dressy);
-ise(specialise), -ish (establish).
As to their lexico-grammatical meanings suffixes can be further subdivided, for example, noun suffixes into:
In contrast to suffixes most prefixes do not radically change the basic lexico-grammatical
meaning of the stem but just modify it. So the prefixed derivative and its prototype usually belong to the same part of speech. E.g. behave- misbehave, read – re-read, please – displease, grateful – ungrateful. Some prefixes are used with words of one part of speech only, others – with several parts of speech, e.g. re- with verbs and nouns, un- with adjectives, verbs and nouns.
In some cases, however, prefixes may also change general lexico-grammatical meaning and form words belonging to a different part of speech as compared with the original word:
The meanings conveyed by prefixes are as follows:
1) negative or reversative: de-, dis-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, non-, un, anti-.
e.g. decentralise, disagree, impatient, illiterate, irregular, nonsense, unhappy, unmask ,
anticlockwise.
2) repetitive: re-.
e.g. rearrange, remake, remarriage.
e.g. outdo, outnumber, overgrow, overfeed, underestimate, superman.
e.g. misbehave, mistake.
e.g. post-mortem, postgraduate, prepay, pre-war.
e.g. transatlantic, subway, input, output, aboard.
III. Conversion (zero derivation).
Another type of derivation is conversion, or zero derivation. This is a process of coining a new word belonging to a different part of speech without adding any derivative element to the original word. So the basic form of the original word and that of the derived word are homonymous, e.g. Don’t forget to dust the furniture.
As a type of word-building conversion exists in a lot of languages but in English it has developed most intensely due to the lack of morphological signs indicating the part of speech a word belongs to, e.g. home may be a noun (Home, sweet home), an adjective (home assignment), an adverb (go home), a verb (A missile automatically homes the target).
Conversion is the predominant way of forming new verbs in Modern English. They may be formed from nouns (to hand, to shoulder, to knee, to finger, to eye, to nose, etc.), from adjectives (to busy, to slow), from adverbs (to down) and other parts of speech. Nouns may be formed from verbs (a good catch, a short walk, a long drive), adverbs (ups and downs), etc.
A special case of conversion is substantivation of adjectives, i.e. conversion of adjectives into nouns. The degree of substantivation may be full or partial. Fully substantivized adjectives share all the characteristics of nouns: can be used in the singular and in the plural, in the common and possessive cases, with the indefinite, definite or zero articles, e.g. a private, a group of privates, the private’s uniform, privates’ duties. Words female, male, criminal, native, red, grown-up and some others belong to the fully substantivated. Partially substantivated adjectives cannot add –s or ‘s, are always used with the definite article and refer to a group of people, e.g. the blind, the dead, the wounded, the poor, etc.
Most regularly conversion involves simple words but affixed and prefixed words may be converted as well (though less commonly): commission- to commission. Conversion may be combined with compounding, e.g. a drawback, a handout, a take-over, to pinpoint, to blacklist.
IY. Compounding. Classification of compounds. Criteria of compounding. Borderline cases (semi-affixes).
Compounding is a way of forming new words by joining together two or more stems that occur in the language as free forms (separate words).
There are several classifications of compound words.
According to the way the stems are joined we distinguish:
According to the structure of stems we distinguish:
According to the relations between the stems compounds are divided into endocentric and exocentric. In endocentric compounds one of the stems is the main and the other describes, characterizes it, serves to differentiate it from similar ones. E.g. a sun-beam (not moon-beam or torch-beam), text-book (not exercise-book or note-book or reference book). The main component is also grammatically the most important part which undergoes morphological changes: sunbeams, brothers-in-law, textbooks. In exocentric compounds we cannot distinguish the main stem, the status of stems is equal, e.g. a killjoy.
According to their conformity to current grammatical patterns of the language, compounds are divided into syntactic, which conform to the patterns and may be transformed into corresponding word combinations, and asyntactic, which do not. E.g. syntactic: a sea-shore (a shore of the sea), bookselling (selling books), a bookbinder (a person who binds books). Asyntactic: babysitting (not sitting babies), bookmaker (not a person who makes books).
According to the degree of their motivation, compounds are divided into idiomatic and non-idiomatic. Idiomatic compounds are different in meaning from the corresponding word combinations, e.g. a blackboard is not necessarily black and may be not a board at all being made of plastic, linoleum, etc. In non-idiomatic compounds the meaning is equal to the sum of the meanings of its components, e.g. text-book, seagull.
It is not always easy to differentiate a compound word from a word combination. There are several criteria to help with this task. Unfortunately, no one type of criteria is normally sufficient for establishing the status of a lexical unit, is relevant by itself. We need at least two of them to be sure.
1). Graphic criterion: solid or hyphenated spelling proves that the unit is a compound word. However, English spelling is not consistent enough, e.g. airline, air-line, air line; textbook, phrase-book, reference book.
2). Phonological criterion: compounds usually have a single stress on the first syllable: ice-cream, blackboard (compare: a black board – each word is equally stressed). But the rule doesn’t hold with adjectives which are always double-stressed (green-grey, snow-white), the stress may be logical (It’s an express train, not a passenger train) or the stress may help to differentiate the meaning of compounds (e.g. mankind).
3). Semantic criterion: A compound expresses a single idea, which is not identical in meaning to the sum of the meanings of its components in a free phrase (e.g. blackboard). But it cannot be applied to clearly motivated compounds (e.g. sunrise) or to idiomatic phrases (e.g. it rains cats and dogs).
4). Syntactical criterion is based on comparing a compound and the phrase comprising the same morphemes. E. g. black birds can be modified by very (very black birds) and it is impossible with the compound blackbirds. However, the criterion cannot serve to distinguish compounds from set expressions in which the words cannot be modified either: black market, black list (cannot say a very black list).
5). Morphological criteria include: a) formal integrity (e.g. shipwrecks may be wrecks ofa ship or wreck of several ships or wrecks of several ships; window-cleaner does not clean just one window, the same about cigar-smoker or lip-reading. The plural number present in the corresponding phrases is neutralized in compounds.) But such examples are not numerous; b) connective elements (e.g. Anglo-Saxon, craftsman). But there are very few words like that.
No criterion is sufficient by itself.
Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish a compound from a derivative either. Such elements as man, berry, land, etc. have acquired valency similar to that of affixes. They are now unstressed, their lexical meaning is somewhat weakened, e.g. like, proof, worthy. The elements like this may be called semi-affixes. E.g. fire-proof, damp-proof, kiss-proof; mini-bus, mini-crisis, mini-dress. The factors conducing to transition of free forms into semi affixes are high semantic productivity, adaptability, high valency and brevity.
Y. Shortening.
Shortening is a way of coining new words by clipping a part of their prototypes. The remaining part does not usually change phonetically so it is sometimes necessary to change the spelling: mike (from microphone), trank (from tranquilizer), dub (from double).
The change of meaning may also take place:
a) shortened words are usually colloquial while their prototypes may be neutral (e.g. bike, mike, doc);
b) shortened words are as a rule monosemantic while their prototypes may be polysemantic (e. g. to double has several meanings:1) to increase twofold; 2) to multiply by two; 3) to add the same note in the lower or higher octave; 4) to make another soundtrack of a film in a different language. The shortened word to dub retains only the fourth meaning).
The correlation of a shortened word and its prototype may be as follows:
a) the curtailed form is a lexical variant or a synonym differing from the prototype stylistically or emotionally (e.g. exam: examination, doc: doctor);
b) the connection can be established only etymologically, e.g. fan: fanatic, fancy: fantasy.
Unlike conversion shortening produces new words belonging to the same part of speech as their prototypes. The bulk of shortened words is constituted by nouns. Verbs are hardly ever shortened (e.g. to rev from revolve). Shortened adjectives are few and mostly reveal a combined effect of shortening and affixation, e.g. comfy from comfortable, mizzy from miserable.
Shortened words are often homonymous with other shortened words, e.g. van (the short for caravan and for vanguard), gym (gymnastics and gymnasium), vet (veterinary and veteran).
Classification of shortened words is based on the position of the clipped part. We distinguish:
1) final clipping (the end is cut off, the beginning of the prototype is retained), e.g. ad (advertisement), ed (editor), coke(coca-cola);
Shortened words are opposed to shortened phrases, which result from a combined effect of clipping, ellipsis and substantivation, e.g. weekly (weekly paper), finals (final exams), pub (public house).
A special case of shortened words are fusions, or blends, or telescopic words. They result from shortening and compounding of clipped stems. The patterns may be:
a) initial element of the first stem + the second stem, e.g. paratroops (parachute troops),
automaniac (automobile maniac);
popcert (popular concert), videot (video + idiot);
(smoke + fog), weddiversary (wedding anniversary), bit (binary digit).
YI. Abbreviations.
Abbreviations are words formed by initial letters of some other words. Depending on the way they are read abbreviations are divided into:
a) those preserving alphabetical reading, e.g. BBC, SOS, TV;
b) acronyms read as though they were ordinary English words, e.g. UNO, NATO, NOW.
A specific group is represented by Latin abbreviations which may be read:
a) alphabetically, e.g. a.m., p.m.
b) as corresponding Latin words, e.g.- exampli gratia, p.m. – post meridium, a.m.- ante
meridium.
c) as corresponding English words, e.g.- for example, a.m. – in the morning, p.m.- in the
afternoon.
YII. Minor types of word-building.
1.Sound interchange.
It is a way of forming new words by changing some sound(s) in the root, e.g. food: feed, life: live, speak: speech. It can be combined with affixation, e.g. strong: strength or with affixation and shift of stress, e.g. democrat: democracy.
2.Distinctive stress.
It is a way of coining new words by changing the place of stress, e.g. import (n, v), conduct (n, v), research (n, v in AmE).
3.Sound imitation.
It is a way of forming new words by imitating sounds associated with the objects or actions the words denote, e.g. to splash, to giggle, to buzz, whisper, cuckoo, etc.
4.Back formation.
It is a way of coining new words by cutting a supposed or real suffix from existing words, e.g. to butle (from butler), to beg (from beggar), to housekeep (from house-keeper), etc.
LECTURE 6.
LEXICAL SYSTEMS. HOMONYMS. SYNONYMS. ANTONYMS.
OUTLINE.
I. Definition of homonyms. Classification of homonyms.
Homonyms are words identical in sound and spelling or at least in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning and distribution. The term is derived from Greek (homos – the same, onoma – name, i.e. the same name combined with the difference of meaning.
E.g. bank: 1) a shore, a river bank; 2) a financial institution;
Ball: 1) any spherical body; 2) a large dancing party.
Homonyms exist in many languages but in English this language phenomenon is especially frequent, mostly in monosyllabic words (nearly 90 % of homonyms).
Homonyms are divided into homonyms proper (identical in both sound and spelling), e.g. ball, bank; homophones (identical in sound but different in spelling), e.g. piece-peace, knight-night, scent-sent-cent; homographs (the same in spelling but different in sound), e.g. to bow – bow, lead – to lead.
Another classification is based on the part of speech homonyms belong to. If both homonyms belong to the same part of speech, they are lexical, e.g. to read – read, knight –night, to lie – to lie. Homonyms belonging to different parts of speech are called lexico-grammatical, e.g. left – left, eye –I, knows – nose.
The third classification is based on the similarity of the paradigms (grammatical forms each homonym possesses). E.g. match-matches: match – matches, such homonyms are called full. Homonyms that coincide in one or two members (not in all members) of their paradigms are called partial. E.g. to lie- lying-lied – lied : to lie-lying- lay-lain ; left : to leave-leaving-left-left.
II. Sources of homonymy.
There are several sources of homonymy.
disintegration of polysemy could be detected. The knowledge of etymology and other
languages will help to supply the missing links. The imprecision of the criteria is recorded in the data of different dictionaries which often contradict each other. E.g. board is represented as two homonyms in Muller’s dictionary, as three homonyms in Arakin’s dictionary and as one polysemantic word in Hornby’s dictionary.
III. Definition of synonyms. Classification of synonyms.
Synonymy is one of the most controversial points in linguistics. Roughly we may say that when two or more different words are associated with the same or nearly the same denotative meaning, the words are synonyms.
Sometimes criterion of interchangeability has been applied to definition of synonyms. Accordingly, synonyms have been defined as words, which are interchangeable in at least some contexts without any considerable changes in denotative meaning. This criterion, however, has been much criticized. If all synonyms were interchangeable, they would become useless ballast in the language. Even those synonyms that seem to be interchangeable and are called total by Academician Vinogradov, still differ in their distribution, use, etc. e.g. cosmonaut is used in reference to European spacemen and astronaut – to American ones. Or offer is followed by a noun while suggest – by a gerund. So the prevailing majority of synonyms are partial.
Synonyms are united into synonymous rows. In each row there is one word, which presents a kind of centre of the group of synonyms. Its semantic structure is usually simple. This is the dominant synonym characterized by:
E.g. in the row: to look-to stare-to glare-to gaze-to peer-to peep-to glance-to glimpse-etc. the dominant synonym is the word to look.
Synonyms can be classified as stylistic and ideographic. Stylistic synonyms differ in their stylistic connotations, e.g. father-parent-daddy; stomach-belly. Ideographic synonyms may differ in the following connotations:
We can also single out contextual synonyms that are similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions, e.g Go and buy some bread – Go and get some bread.
I cannot stand it any longer – I cannot bear it any longer. These words are not synonyms outside the specified contexts.
IY. Sources of synonymy.
1) Borrowings from other languages or from dialects and regional variants
e.g. to ask (native) – to question (French) – to interrogate (Latin)
girl – lass (Scottish), lake-loch (Scottish), wireless – radio (AmE);
2) Wordbuilding:
3) Euphemisms, e.g. drunk – merry – elevated, lavatory – restroom, etc.;
4) Phraseology, e.g. naked – in one’s birthday suit; to die – to join the silent majority, to kick the bucket, etc.
Y. Antonyms and their classification.
Antonyms may be defined as two or more words of the same language belonging to the same part of speech and to the same semantic field, identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, associated and often used together so that their denotative meanings render contradictory or contrary notions.
Contradictory notions are mutually opposed and deny each other, e.g. alive – not dead, illiterate – not literate. Contrary notions are also mutually opposed but they are gradable, e.g. old and young are the most distant poles on the scale: young – middle-aged- elderly-old or hot-warm-cool-cold.
Classification of antonyms is based on the way they are built. Root words form absolute antonyms (having different roots), e.g. right-wrong, derivational antonyms are created by negative affixes added to the same root, e.g. happy-unhappy, helpful-helpless.
In derivational antonyms morphological motivation is clear, there is no necessity in contexts containing both members to prove the existence of derivational antonyms. The word unsuccessful presupposes the existence of the word successful. But the patterns, though typical are not universal. Morphologically similar formations may show different semantic relationships.
E.g. disappoint is not the antonym to appoint, to unman (to deprive of human qualities) is not the antonym of man (to furnish with personnel).
Another type of antonyms is contextual antonyms, i.e. words, which are contrasted in actual speech and are not opposed outside certain contexts, e.g. Some people have much to live on but little to live for. On and for are antonyms in this context.
Almost every word can have one or more synonyms. Comparatively few have antonyms.
This type of opposition is characteristic of:
Polysemantic words may have different antonyms when used in different meanings, e.g.
short –long (a long story, a short story), short- tall (a short man, a tall man), short- civil (to be short with somebody, to be civil with somebody).
Polysemantic words may have antonyms in some of their meanings and no antonyms in the others, e.g. criticism (blame) – praise, criticism (literary critical essay) – (no antonym).
One more type of semantic opposition is conversives. They denote one and the same referent or situation as viewed from different sides, with a reversed order of participants and their roles, e.g. buy-sell, give-receive, parent-child. Conversive relations are possible within one word, e.g. to sell: He sells books. This book sells well. The same pair of words may function as antonyms or as conversives, e.g. fathers and sons.
LECTURE 7
LEXICAL SYSTEMS (continued).
OUTLINE.
I. Stylistically marked and stylistically neutral vocabulary.
All words are divided into stylistically neutral (basic vocabulary having no stylistic connotations) and stylistically marked.
Stylistically neutral words can be used in any styles and situations, everyday, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, education, age group or geographical location. Their meanings are broad, general and direct. A lot of these words have synonyms, which are stylistically marked, e.g. child-infant-kid, continue – go on – proceed, begin – start- commence.
Stylistically marked words are limited in their use and include formal and informal vocabulary.
Formal vocabulary comprises:
Informal words are traditionally divided into:
Colloquial words serve for a comparatively wide sphere of communication. They are
further subdivided into:
Slang is controversial as to its definition, characteristics and classifications. It is usually
divided into general slang and special slang (e.g. teenager slang, university slang, football
slang, etc.)
2. Slang and its characteristics
Slang consists either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Most of slang words are current words whose meanings have been metaphorically shifted and it is often accompanied with a course, jocular, cynical colouring, e.g. saucers (eyes), trap (mouth).
Slang synonyms for ‘head’: attic, brain-pan, nut, hat-peg, upper storey.
Money: beans, brass, dough, etc.
People use slang for a number of reasons:
After a slang word has been used in speech for a certain period of time, people get accustomed to it and the most vital words are then accepted into literary vocabulary. This happened to such words as snob, bet, bore, chap, donkey, fun, mob, pinch, teenager, hitch-hiker, etc. But the bulk of slang is formed by short-lived words.
Slang should be differentiated from argot (criminal jargon). Slang words are clearly motivated, e.g. window-shopping, cradle-snatcher. Argot words do not show their motivation, their purpose is to hide the real meaning, to be comprehensible by a limited number of people.
A neologism is a newly created word or a phrase or a new meaning developed for an existing word, or a word borrowed from another language.
New notions constantly come into being and require new words to name them or new meanings of old words, e.g. computer, isotope, tape-recorder, supermarket, black hole, feedback. It does not matter how important a new thing is, compare: nuclear war and roll-neck.
There may be different ways of coining new words:
As a general rule, neologisms are at first clearly motivated. Sometimes newly borrowed or newly created words very soon begin to function as indivisible signs.
In the course of time the new word is either accepted into the general vocabulary and is no longer considered new or may not be accepted and disappears from the language. So some neologisms are short-lived, others become durable.
Neologisms are contrasted to words that dropped from the language (obsolete words) or survive only in special contexts (archaisms and historisms).
Archaisms are words that were once common but are now replaced by synonyms. Old words become rarely used and are mostly associated with poetic diction and historic novels.
e.g. betwixt – between, damsel – ‘a noble girl’, hark –listen, morn- morning, woe – sorrow.
Thou and thy, aye, nay are certainly archaic and long since rejected by common usage. Dialects are usually more conservative and preserve some archaic words and structures.
Sometimes an archaic word may undergo a sudden revival, e.g. kin is now widely used in American English.
Historisms are words denoting objects and phenomena which are things of the past and no longer exist.
e.g. types of boats : caravel, galleon ; carriages : berlin, calash, gig, phaeton, diligence, landeau ; clothes : doublets, tabard, bloomers.
A great many historisms occur in historical novels.
LECTURE 8
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH WORDS. BORROWINGS.
According to their origin all the units of the English vocabulary can be divided into two big groups: native and borrowed. The native lexical units were not borrowed from other languages but represent the original stock of the language. The native words include the following classes:
1) family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter;
2) parts of human body: foot, nose, heart;
3) animals: swine, goose, cow;
Native words constitute no more than 35% of the English vocabulary but they are extremely important for everyday communication and are used very often. Out of 5oo most frequently used words there are about 4oo native lexical units.
The borrowed words could be divided into groups depending on the source of borrowing, i.e. the language they were taken from by the English. The source of borrowing may not coincide with the origin of borrowing, i.e. the language to which a word may be traced. A classical example is the word paper, which was taken from French (Fr. papier). But its origin is Latin or Greek (Lat. papyrus , Gr. papyros).
The following classification is based on the source of borrowing and is closely connected with the history of the English people.
All the borrowed words got mixed with the native stock in the process of historic development, so sometimes it is difficult to tell borrowed words from native, e.g. table, wall, sister, painter. But a lot of words have preserved some peculiarities in pronunciation, spelling, morphology, which help to determine the origin of these words.
According to the degree of assimilation borrowed words are divided into:
Completely assimilated borrowings are usually old: street, husband, table. They follow all morphological, phonetic and spelling standards of English. They are frequently used and stylistically neutral and usually active in word formation.
Partially assimilated borrowings are further subdivided into groups depending on the aspect which the words are not assimilated in:
Some words may have incomplete assimilation in more than one aspect.
Barbarisms are not assimilated in any way foreign words which are used by Englishmen in communication though they have native equivalents, e.g. ciao, Anno Domini, etc.
Borrowing is seldom limited to one language. Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from the same source are called international. They play an important role in scientific terminology, industry, art. E.g., Italian borrowings in music, Latin borrowings in science, etc. There exist false translator’s friends, e.g. magazine, champion, general, capital, etc.
Translation loans are formed from the material already existing in the English language but according to the pattern taken from another language by literal translation, e.g. wall newspaper (from Russian), chain-smoker (from German), swan song (German), etc.
Etymological doublets are two or more words of the same language which were derived from the same basic word but by different routes. They now differ in form, meaning and usage. Doublets appear when:
LECTURE 9
REGIONAL VARIETIES AND DIALECTS
The norm is abstract. It is realized through national, generally received variants: Br E, Can E, Am E, Au E, etc.
The national literary language in Britain was formed on the basis of the South-Eastern dialect (London dialect) which developed from a territorial dialect into socio-regional. Modern English orphoepic norm – Received Pronunciation developed from that dialect. BRP embraces only a small portion of population of Britain – about 3-5%. It enjoys a high social status, being characteristic of public school graduates. All the rest of the population uses one of the regional standards.
Regional varieties possessing a literary form are called variants ( the Scottish Tongue, Irish English).Varieties of the language peculiar to some districts and having no normalized literary form are called dialects. There are 5 main groups of dialects in Britain.: Northern, Midland, Eastern, Western, and Southern. They differ in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
e.g. Northerners pronounce ‘come, love, bus’ as ‘coom, loov, boos’; they pronounce ‘ dance, chance, France’ like Americans but the word can’t is pronounced with a long a. Sometimes Northerners leave out the article ‘the’ and possessive pronouns ’my, his, your’, etc.
One of the best known and most picturesque is the dialect of Cockney whose home is East End of London. Cockneys pronounce ‘wait, late, tray’ like ‘white, light, try’, etc. ‘h’s’at the beginning of the words are often dropped; ‘ouse, ‘ere, ‘ave. Intradental sounds are replaced with labio-dental: farver (father), fing (thing).
A characteristic feature of Cockney is the so-called rhyming slang. A phrase is used instead of a word with which it is rhymed: frog and toad – road, apples and pears – stairs, pot of honey – money, strike me dead – bread, loaf of bread – head, trouble and strife – wife.
Due to people’s migration and to teaching Standard English at schools all over the country dialect differences have been slowly dying. Nowadays in Britain there are two opposite tendencies: 1) prejudices against substandard forms are still strong, British are most particular as to pronunciation norms; 2) a growing number of people, especially the young, reject BRP as associated with the Establishment and are proud of their roots. Mass culture, folk songs sung by popular singers have also contributed to lowering of standards, more regional deviations have become accepted.
There are certain factors, which predetermined common features and differences in the national variants of the English Language. Common features are connected with the following:
Factors which caused differences are as follows:
Vocabulary differences between British English and American English fall under four major categories.
homely down to earth, domestic ugly (of people)
nervy nervous bold, full of nerve
pants underpants trousers
pavement footpath, sidewalk road surface
to tick off to scold to make angry
Common meaning Additional in Am E
sink
dumb mute stupid
good fine, nice valid (as of tickets, offers)
school educational institution all institutions of any level
(primary, secondary)
to ship to transport by ship to transport by train,
plane, or trunk
Common meaning Additional in Br E
smart intelligent well-groomed
surgery a medical operation, an office of any doctor
or an operating room
Br E usage Am E usage
clever common, positive less common, negative
fortnight common, all styles uncommon, archaic
quite negative or neutral positive
Am E Br E
muffler (on a car) silencer
sophomore second-year student
washcloth face flannel
zero nought
line queue
can tin
gas petrol
couch sofa