- •Introduction ... ........ ......... .......N. V
- •Introduction
- •1. What counts as a word? Define the status of the given lexical items and comment on the types of naming. Consult the re -commended dictionaries:
- •Give spelling variants of the same words (morphological variants, regional variants).
- •Read the excerpt and answer the questions.
- •Etymological characteristics of the english lexicon
- •1. Trace the etymology and comment on the etymological
- •2. State the languages from which the following words are borrowed:
- •3. Make sure you know the following abbreviations used in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (cod):
- •4. Match the etymological doublets:
- •5. Give adjectives of Latin origin to the following nouns:
- •1. Group the following words into motivated/non-motivated and define the type of motivation:
- •Define polysemy as a linguistic phenomenon.
- •Give working definitions of the key terms with examples.
- •Comment on the semantic processes that were at work in the following words:
- •6. Comment on the types of meaning (metaphoric/ me-tonymic) in the following items:
- •Of english words
- •3. Compare the inner form of the correlative units and focus on the degree of their semantic equivalence:
- •4. Explain the meanings of the following word-combinations:
- •Stylistic and social stratification of the english lexicon
- •1. Read the excerpt and dwell on the influence the two varieties (British and American) have had on each other. American and british english
- •2. Give the American spelling of the following words and de- scribe the main patterns of spelling differences between the two variants (use dictionaries):
- •International Encyclopedia of Linguistics / Ed. By w. Bright. New York; Oxford, 1992. Vol. 1-4.
- •Ways of enriching and expanding the english lexicon
- •1. Classify the words given below according to the word- formation types:
- •1. Pay attention to some widely used abbreviations:
- •Compare the dictionary entries in synchronic and diachronic dictionaries (sod, cod, oald).
- •Characterize the dictionaries you work with according to the model:
- •Manuals of lexicology
- •Encyclopedias of language
- •Тамара Николаевна Суша лексикология английского языка Практикум Учебно-методическое пособие
1. Read the excerpt and dwell on the influence the two varieties (British and American) have had on each other. American and british english
As we move away from the formal written English of the press in the direction of the informal spoken language, the differences between
regional varieties dramatically increase. In the case of American and British English, the variation is considerable, but there are no accurate estimates for the number of points of contrast, for two chief reasons.
Recent decades have seen a major increase in the amount of influence the two models have had on each other, especially American on British. The influence of US films and television has led to a considerable passive understanding of much American the English vocabulary in Britain, and some of this has turned into active use (as in the case of mail), especially among younger people. The reverse pattern is less obvious, but British films and TV programmes are seen sufficiently often in the USA to mean that a growth in awareness of UK vocabulary should not be discounted. What were originally fairly clear patterns of lexical differentiation have been obscured by borrowing on a world-wide scale.
The regional dialect surveys of both countries, several of which have only recently begun to publish their findings, are bringing to light huge amounts of lexical distinctiveness. Few of these forms have any literary background or enough breadth of use to warrant their inclusion in general dictionaries, but they do form an important part of the regional pattern, and several of them are retained in educated usage at local level as markers of group identity.
Nonetheless, when we take into account local festivals and folklore, abbreviations, localities, institutional differences (e.g. politics, banking, legal systems, armed forces, sports, honours), local fauna and flora, and everyday slang, the stock of regional differences is likely to be extremely large. In a casual collection made by the author in the 1970s, based solely on available dictionaries and literary works, 5,000 differences were found very easily, and it became apparent that the project was too large for such an informal treatment. A recently published dictionary by David Grote has some 6,500 entries, and deals only with British English for American readers. These totals, it must be appreciated, arise because we are dealing not only with different words (lexemes), but also different senses of words. UK chips (= US (French) fries) is not the same as US chips (- UK crisps) — though American influence has brought both (French) fries and (potato) chips to Britain.
(From: D.Crystai The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 1995. P. 306.) 47
2. Give the American spelling of the following words and de- scribe the main patterns of spelling differences between the two variants (use dictionaries):
BrE AmE
aeroplane
aluminium
anaemia
anaesthesia
analyse
calibre
catalogue
centre
chequebook
colour
draughtsman
draughty
favour
homoeopathy
honour
humour
jeweller
mould
odour
offence
paralyse
quarrelled
tyre
vigour
woollen
3. Find words in British and American English with partially different semantic structures (e.g.: administration, bill).
Find words common to both British and American English in which the meaning of American English is entirely different from that in British English (e.g.: pants, public school, vest).
Match the words with the same denotational meaning. State which of the words and word-combinations given below are used in British English /American English:
Big Dipper |
|
checkerboard |
mailbox |
chemist '$ |
motorway |
diaper |
nappy |
dormitory |
pavement |
post-box |
draughtboard |
elevator |
drugstore |
freeway |
the Plough |
garbage |
rubbish |
subway |
underground |
sidewalk |
hall of residence |
Questions
What is the difference between a regional variant and a local dialect of a language?
What are the causes for the existing differences in the vocabulary of British and American English?
How can you differentiate between the two variants (British English, American English)?
Is it possible to draw a pattern of lexical differences between British English and American English?
Into what groups can the existing cases of lexical difference between the two variants be classified?
What tendencies do lexical differences between British and American English show? Is it a converging or diverging development?
How do British and American dictionaries enter and label the regional variants?
What dialects and regional variants are observed in the British Isles? What is their nature? What tendencies do they show?
Does a totally uniform, regionally neutral and unarguably prestigious variety exist worldwide?
What is the role of American English in the replenishment of modern English vocabulary?
Recommended Reading
Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова КН. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие. На англ. яз. М, 1999.
Арнольд И. В. Лексикология современного английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. На англ. яз. М, 1986.
Быховец КН. Лексические особенности английского языка
Канады. Киев, 1988. Гинзбург Р.З., Хидекель С.С., Князева ГЮ. и др. Лексикология английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. На англ. яз. М, 1979. Лещева Л.М. Слова в английском языке: Курс лексикологии современного английского языка: Учебник, На англ. яз. Мн., 2001.
Попова Л.Г Лексика английского языка в Канаде: Учеб. пособие. М., 1978.
Томахин Г.Д. Америка через американизмы. М., 1982.
ТомахинГД. Реалии - американизмы. М, 1988.
Швейцер АД. Литературный язык в США и Англии. М, 1971.
Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Printed in Italy, 1995.
Crystal D. The future of Englishes // English Today 58. No. 2. 1999. Vol. 15.
Estling M. Going out (of) the Window? A corpus-based study of competing prepositional constructions in American and British English// English Today 59. No. 3. 1999. Vol. 15.