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- •New words
- •Lecture 1 exercise 1
- •Lecture 1 lexicology
- •Lecture 2 new words
- •Lecture 2 exercise 2
- •Lecture 2 formal and informal speech
- •Informal Style
- •Colloquial words
- •Dialect words
- •Lecture 3 new words
- •Lecture 3 exercise 3
- •Lecture 3 the origin of english words native words
- •Borrowings
- •Classification of borrowings according to the language from which they were borrowed. Romanic borrowings. Latin borrowings
- •French borrowings the influence of french on the english spelling
- •Italian borrowings
- •Germanic borrowings
- •Scandinavian borrowings
- •German borrowings
- •Dutch borrowings
- •Slavonic borrowings
- •Etymological doublets
- •International words
- •Lecture 4 new words
- •Lecture 4 exercise 4
- •Lecture 4 abbreviations
- •Graphical abbreviations
- •Initial abbreviations
- •Abbreviation of words
- •Lecture 5 new words
- •Lecture 5 exercise 5
- •Prefixation
- •Topics for discussion
- •Lecture 6 new words
- •Lecture 6 exercise 6
- •Lecture 6 semasiology
- •Word-meaning
- •Lexical meaning – notion
- •Polysemy
- •Types of semantic components
- •Topics for discussion
- •Lecture 7 new words
- •Lecture 7 exercise 7
- •Lecture 7 homonyms
- •Classification of homonyms
- •Synonyms
- •Antonyms
- •Topics for discussion
- •Lecture 8 new words
- •Lecture 8 exercise 8
- •Lecture 8 british and american english
- •Differences in spelling
- •Differences in pronunciation
- •Topics for discussion
- •Lecture 9 new words
- •Lecture 9 exercise 9
- •Lecture 9 classification of language units according to the period of time they live in the language
- •Archaisms and historisms
- •Neologisms
- •Semantic groups of neologisms
- •Ways of forming neologisms
- •Changes in pronunciation
- •Topics for discussion
- •Lecture 10 new words
- •Lecture 10
- •Lecture 10 phraseology
- •Ways of forming phraseological units
- •Semantic classification of phraseological units
- •Structural classification of phraseological units
- •Exercise 2
- •Borrowed words exercise 1
- •Exercise 2
- •Abbreviations exercise 1
- •Exercise 2
- •Affixation. Prefixation and suffixation exercise 1
- •Exercise 2
- •Exercise 3
- •Exercise 4
- •Polisemy exercise 1
- •Exercise 2
- •Exercise 3
- •Homonyms. Synonyms. Antonyms exercise 1
- •Exercise 2
- •Exercise 3
- •Exercise 4
- •Exercise 5
- •Exercise 6 Fill in the blanks with the right words and explain your choice:
- •1.There were a lot of skaters on the … ice of the bank. 2. The lightning … and
- •Exercise 8
- •Neologisms exercise 1
- •Phraseology exercise 1
- •Exercise 2
- •Exercise 3
- •Exercise 4
- •Sources
- •Dictionaries
- •Contents
- •Borrowed words
- •Spanish words
Polysemy
The word polysemy means plurality of meanings.It exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic.
Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions which they express. E.g. the word blanket has the following meanings: a woolen covering used on beds, a covering for keeping a horse warm, a covering of any kind (a blanket of snow), covering all or most cases (used attributively), e.g. we can say: a blanket insurance policy.
There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, e.g. most terms, such as synonym, molecule, bronchitis, some pronouns, such as this, my, both, numerals.
There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and conactenation. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meaning proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primary meaning. E.g. in the word face the primary meaning denotes the front part of a human head. Connected with the front position the meanings the front part of a building, the front part of a watch, the front part of a playing card were formed. Connected with the primary meaning of the word face the meanings expression of the face, outward appearance are formed.
In cases of conactenation secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. E.g. in the word crust the primary meaning hard outer part of bread developed a secondary meaning hard part of anything (a pie, a cake), then the meaning harder layer over soft snow was developed, then a sullen gloomy person, then impudence were developed. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. This phenomenon is called the split of polysemy.
In most cases in the semantic development of a word both ways of semantic development are combined.
Types of semantic components
The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of a word is usually termed denotative component (also, the term referential component may be used). The denotative component expresses the conceptual content of a word.
The following list represents denotative components of some English adjectives and verbs:
lonely, adj. |
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alone, without company |
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notorious, adj. |
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widely known |
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celebrated, adj. |
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widely known |
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to glare, v. |
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to look |
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to glance, v. |
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to look |
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to shiver, v. |
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to tremble |
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to shudder, v. |
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to tremble |
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It is quite obvious that the definitions given in the right column only partially and incompletely describe the meanings of their corresponding words. To give a more or less full picture of the meaning of a word, it is necessary to include in the scheme of analysis additional semantic components which are termed connotations or connotative components.
Let us complete the semantic structures of the words given above introducing connotative components into the schemes of their semantic structures.
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Denotative components |
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Connotative components |
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lonely, adj. |
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alone, without company |
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melancholy, sad |
Emotive connotation |
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notorious, adj. |
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widely known |
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for criminal acts or bad traits of character |
Evaluative connotation, negative |
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celebrated, adj. |
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widely known |
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for special achievement in science, art, etc. |
Evaluative connotation, positive |
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to glare, v. |
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steadily, lastingly |
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1. Connotation of duration |
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in anger, rage, etc. |
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2. Emotive connotation |
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to glance, v. |
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briefly, passingly |
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Connotation of duration |
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to shiver, v. |
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1. Connotation of duration |
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(usu) with the cold |
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2. Connotation of cause |
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to shudder, v. |
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1. Connotation of duration |
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2. Connotation of cause 3. Emotive connotation |
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with horror, disgust, etc. |
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The above examples show how by singling out denotative and connotative components one can get a sufficiently clear picture of what the word really means. The schemes presenting the semantic structures of glare, shiver, shudder also show that a meaning can have two or more connotative components.
The given examples do not exhaust all the types of connotations but present only a few: emotive, evaluative connotations, and also connotations of duration and of cause.