- •Contents
- •От авторов
- •Section II etymological survey of the english word-stock
- •Section III morphological structure of the english word. Word-formation
- •Section IV lexical meaning as a linguistic category. Semantic analysis of words. Polysemy and homonymy
- •Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
- •Section V semantic classification of words. Synonymy
- •Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
- •Section VI lexical-phraseological combinability of words. Phraseological units
- •Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
- •Section VII stylistic layers of the english vocabulary. Terminology
- •Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
- •Section VIII regional varieties of the vocabulary.
- •Vocabulary of american english
- •Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
- •Section IX lexicography
- •Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
- •Part II. Word analysis Section II
- •1. Group the following words according to their origin and state the degree of their assimilation.
- •2. Study the following doublets and explain how they differ in origin and meaning.
- •3. Study examples of borrowings to explain how adopting words from other languages depends on socio-cultural factors.
- •2. Discuss these words in terms of item and arrangement. How do these words demonstrate productive patterns of affixation in Modern English?
- •6. Write the words from which the following shortenings were formed.
- •7. Comment on the formation of these words.
- •8. Study the underlined words and identify the type of word-building.
- •9. Explain how the following units were formed.
- •1. Which of the underlined words is realized in a) nominative meaning, b) nominative-derivative meaning?
- •2. Analyze the word “rich” in terms of different types of meaning.
- •3. Read the text aloud. Provide lexicological explanation of the humorous effect produced by the poem. Spell checker
- •Section V
- •“Daddy, can I have a chocolate?” said the girl to her father.
- •2. These synonymic series are adduced in the English-Russian Dictionary of Synonyms (Moscow, 1979). Do these words satisfy the definition of synonyms?
- •1) Cold, cool, chilly, chil, frosty, frigid, freezing, icy, arctic;
- •2) Impatient, nervous, nervy, unquiet, uneasy, restless, restive, fidgety, feverish, jumpy, jittery.
- •1. Study the following examples of phraseological units and use them to describe V.V.Vinogradov’s classification. Phraseological combinations:
- •Phraseological unities:
- •Phraseological fusions:
- •2. Identify free and idiomatic word-combinations and give their Russian equivalents.
- •3. Match the following adjectives and nouns to give English equivalents of the following Russian word-combinations. Can the English phrases be described as free word-combinations? Why (why not)?
- •Section VII
- •1. Study the following words and their definitions. Say what peculiarities of these words make it possible to describe them as slang words.
- •2. Read the following sentences paying attention to the words and word combinations in italics. Say whether these words are literary colloquial or low colloquial.
- •4. Study the advertisement below; find 1) colloquial words, 2) neutral words, 3) terms, 4) learned words.
- •1. Use the material below to discuss the vocabulary of American English.
- •Americanisms Proper
- •Lexical analogues
- •4. Give lexicological analysis of the following humorous poem.
- •1. Choose one of the dictionaries from the given list.
- •3. The following text contains numerous vocabulary errors. Correct them and explain how (and what kind of) dictionaries can help students of English to avoid such mistakes. Expensive Mary
- •Topics for discussion
- •References
Section VIII regional varieties of the vocabulary.
Vocabulary of american english
Regional varieties of English. The literary variety of the language (norm) as the main criterion for distinguishing between a regional variety and a local dialect. The language spoken in the USA as viewed linguistically. Grammatical peculiarities of the American variety of English. Peculiarities of the vocabulary of English spoken in the USA. Historical Americanisms vs Americanisms proper. The influence of extra-linguistic factors upon the vocabulary of American English. Americanisms which have no equivalents in BE. Different words used to express the same notions in BE and AE.
Words differing in semantic structure, lexical combinability, frequency: lexical divergents and lexical analogues. Americanisms belonging to the literary norm vs those existing in low colloquial and slang. Groups of specifically American borrowings. Toponyms in the vocabulary of American English. Productivity of word-building patterns (shortening, productive affixes).
Working Definitions of Principal Concepts
American English (AE) |
|
British English (BE) |
a regional variety of the English language spoken in Great Britain and having a literary norm of its own (Standard English) |
Local dialects |
varieties of a language used as a means of oral communication and having no literary norm of their own |
Americanism |
a word or set-expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in the USA |
Briticism |
a word or set-expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in England |
Toponyms |
names of places, rivers, lakes, states, etc. |
Lexical divergents |
words identical in sound form but different in meaning |
Lexical analogues |
words identical in meaning but differing in sound form |
Vocabulary of the “Common Core” |
words belonging to both British and American English |
1. Read the text. Explain why American English is considered a regional variety of English.
QUIRK: One thing that we should get on to is the fourth class of words that you brought in first of all. What was the fourth class?
MARCKWARDT: New inventions. Let’s just glance for a moment at the situation when a new invention strikes each of our countries at the same time. Suppose I call off the American form of a number of automotive terms and you respond with the English equivalent. OK?
Q: OK The parts of a car, is it?
M: Yes. Sedan?
Q: Saloon.
M: Windshield?
Q: Oh, that’s windscreen.
M: Gear shift?
Q: Gear lever. But I thought you didn’t have such things any more.
M: Well, we haven’t all changed to push-buttons. What do you call the trunk, the place for luggage?
Q: The boot. Well, now, just a minute. Let’s get this thing the other way around. You translate for a spell. What do you call the bonnet?
M: The hood. But your hood is our top.
Q: Dynamo?
M: Generator.
Q: The wing or mudguard?
M: Ah, that’s a fender. Only bicycles have mudguards with us.
Q: What do you call the sparking plug?
M: Spark plug.
Q: What do you call the sump or crankcase, the thing that contains the lubricating oil?
M: We use only crankcase. We do have the word sump in the United States but it is used in wholly different connections.
Q: I suppose Americans aren’t always able to pay for a car outright, are they?
M: No, by no means. At least two thirds of the time they pay for it in installments or on the installment plan, as we do for a good many things.
Q: As we do too, I’m afraid. Installments seems to be a common term between us but we also have the term hire purchase that we apply to this rather slow and agonizing way of buying things. I take it that we agree in making a down payment, do we, and in trading in our old car?
M: Yes, and here just as elsewhere we are constantly finding points of sameness even in areas of what seemed to be the greatest difference. And it’s these very points of identity which give us enough common ground so that the differences really don’t bother us a great deal. After all we are both broadcasting, we’re both using microphone and I suppose you are doing it on wireless and I’m doing it on radio [17].