According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:

-compound words which consist of two stems: job-hunt, train-sick, tip-top;

- compound-affixed words, where besides the stems we have affixes: ear-minded, autotimer;

-compound words consisting of three or more stems: singer-songwriter, eggshell-thin;

-compound-shortened words: V-day, intervision.

4. According to the relations between the components compound words are subdivided into:

   • subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic centre and the structural centre and the second component is subordinate. These subordinative relations can be different. For exemple, they can be comparative : honey-sweet, goldfish; time relations: summer-house, spring-fresh; sex-relations: she-dog, he-goat, Tom-cat etc.

-coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent: no-no, Anglo-Saxon, secretary-stenographer etc.

5. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into compounds with direct order: killjoy and compounds with indirect order: nuclear-free, rope-ripe etc.

6. According to the meaning of the whole compound we can point out idiomatic and non-idiomatic compounds. Compounds may be very different in meaning from the corresponding free phrase. Such compounds are calles idiomatic: a blackboard – a black board, a tall boy – a tallboy, a blue bell – a bluebell. Compounds which are not different in their meaning from corresponding free phrases are called non-idiomatic: swimming-pool, speedometer, airmail etc.

Lecture # 5

Wordbuilding

Plan

7. Main ways of wordbuilding in English:

   1. conversion,

   2. abbreviation.

2. Secondary ways of wordbuilding.

Literature

4. Дубенец Э.М. Современный английский язык. С. 26 – 74.

5. Антрушина Г.Б. Лексикология английского языка. С. 78 – 128.

6. I.V. Arnold. The English word. P. 90 – 165.

Conversion

Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English wordbuilding system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation but it is not quite correct because there are other types of wordbuilding in which new words are also formed without affixes: compounds, contracted words, sound-imitation words etc. The term conversion first appeared in the book by Henry Sweet New English Grammar in 1891. Conversion is very productive way of worldbuilding. Its productivity is encouraged by the analytical structure of Modern Englisg which facilitates processes of making words of one category of part of speech from words of another. A great number of one-syllable words is also a factor in favour of conversion. Such words are more mobile and flexible than polysyllabic words.

Conversion is treated differently by different scientists. A.И. Смирницкий treats conversion as a morphological way of forming words when one part of speech is formed from another part of speech by changing its paradigm. For exemple, to form the verb to dial from the noun dial we change the paradigm of the noun a dial – dials for the paradigm of a regular verb I dial, he dials, dialed, dialing. A. Marchand treats conversion as a morphological-syntactical wordbuilding because we have not only the change of the paradigm, but also the change of the syntactical function. For exemple, in the sentence I need some good paper for my room the noun paper is an object in the sentence. In the sentence I paper my room every year the verb paper is the predicate in the sentence.

A word made by conversion has a different meaning from the meaning of the word from which it was made. Though both meaning can be associated. There are some regularities in these associations:

-the noun is the name of a tool or instrument, the verb denotes an action performed by the tool: to pencil, to nail, to pin;

-the noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of behaviour typical of this animal: to ape, to wolf, to fox;

-the name of a part of the human body – an action performed by it: to nose, to shoulder, to elbow;

-the name of a profession or occupation – an activity typical of it: to nurse, to maid, to groom;

-the name of a place – the process of occupying the place or of putting smth / smb in it: to room, to cage, to table;

-the name of a container – the act of putting smth within the container: to pocket, to bottle, to can;

-the name of a meal – the process of taking it: to lunch, to supper, to dinner.

In cases of conversion we have a question: which word is primary and which is converted from it? There are three approaches to this problem.

1.If the lexical meaning of the root morpheme and the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem coincide the word is primary. For exemple, in cases pen – to pen, father – to father the nouns are names of an object and a living being. In the nouns pen and father the lexical meaning of the root and the lexico-grammatical meanings of the stems coincide. The verbs to pen and to father denote an action, a process. The lexico-grammatical meanings of the stems do not coincide with the lexical meanings of the roots. The verbs have a complex semantic structure and they were converted from nouns.

2. If we compare a converted pair with a synonymic word pair which was formed by means of suffixation we can find out which of the pair is primary. This criterion can be applied only to nouns converted from verbs. For exemple, chat as a noun and chat as a verb can be compared with conversation – converse.

3. We must take a word-cluster of relative words to which the converted pair belongs. If the root stem of the word-cluster has suffixes added to a noun stem, the noun is primary in the converted pair. For exemple, in the word-cluster hand n., hand v., handy, handful the affixed words have suffixes added to a noun stem, that is why the noun is primary and the verb is converted from it. In the word-cluster dance n., dance v., dancer, dancing we see that the primary word is a verb and the noun is converted from it.

What is relationship between conversion and substantivation? Some scientists refer substantivation of adjectives to conversion. But most scientists do not, because in cases of substantivation of adjectives we have quite different changes in the language. Substantivation is the result of syntactical shortening when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its semantically weak noun: a grown-up person is shortened to a grown up. In cases of substantivation the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable noun: a criminal, criminals, a criminal’s, crimiunals’. There are also two types of partly substantivized adjectives:

3. those which have only the plural form and have the meaning of collective nouns: sweets, news, empties, finals, greens;

b) those which have only the singular form and are used with the definite article. They also have the meaning of collective nouns and denote a class, a nationality, a group of people etc.: the rich, the English, the dead.

These words are called partly substantivized because they do not get a new paradigm. Besides, they keep some properties of adjectives, they can be modified by adverbs: the enormously rich, the very unfortunate, the extravagantly jealous.

There is one more problem connected with convertion in English. In English there are a lot of word combinations of the type stone wall. For exemple: time table, homework, price rise, language teacher etc. If he first component of such units is an adjective converted from a noun, combinations of this type are free word-groups of the structure adjective + nouns. This point of view is proved by O. Yespersen by the following facts:

1. The word stone denotes some quality of the object named by the word wall.

2. The word stone stands before the word it modifies as adjectives do.

3. The word stone is used in the singular though its meaning may be plural, and adjectives in English have no plural form.

4. There are some cases when the first component is used in the comparative or the superlative degree, and adjectives can have degrees of comparison: the bottomest end of the scale.

5. The first component can have an adverb which characterizes it, and adjectives are characterized by adverbs: a purely family gathering.

6. The first component can be used in the same syntactical function with a proper adjective to characterize the same noun: lonely bare stone houses.

7. After the first component the pronoun one can be used instead of a noun: I shall not put on a silk dress, I shall put on a cotton one.

But other scientists say that these criteria are not characteristic of the majority of such units. They consider the first conponent of such units to be a noun in the function of an attribute because in Midern English almost all parts of speech and even word-groups and sentences can be used in the function of an attribute. For exemple: the then president (an adverb in the function of an attribute), out-of-the-way villages (a word-group in the function of an attribute), a devil-may-care speed (a sentence in the function of an attribute).

There are different semantic relations between the components of such combinations:

-time relation: evening paper,

-space relation: top floor,

-qualitative relations: winter apples,

-cause relations: war orphan etc.

Abbreviation

In the process of communication words and word-groups can be shortened. The causes of shortening can be linguistic and extra-linguistic. By extra-linguistic causes changes in the life of people are meant. In Modern English many new abbreviations are formed because the tempo of life is increasing and it becomes necessary to give more and more information in the shortest possible time. There are also linguistic causes of abbreviating words and word-groups. Among them are: demand of rhythm, which is satisfied by monosyllabic words and shortening of borrowings from other languages.

There are two main types of shortenings: graphical and lexical.

Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening of words and word-groups only in written speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They are used for the economy of space and effort in writing.

The oldest group of graphical abbreviations in English is of Latin origin. In these abbreviations in the spelling Latin words are shortened while orally the corresponding English equivalents are pronounced in the full form. For exemple: a.m. – in the morning (ante meridiem), No – number (numero), i.e. – that is (id est), p.a. – a year (per annum), lb – pound (libra) etc.

In some cases initial letters are pronounced: a.m., p.m.

Some graphical abbreviations of Latin origin have different English equivalents in different contexts: p. m. can be pronounced in the afternoon (post meridiem) and after death (post mortem).

Graphical abbreviations of native origin represent several semantic groups:

- days of the week: Mon – Monday, Tue – Tuesday,

- names of months: Apr – April, Aug – August,

- names of address: Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr,

- military ranks: capt – captain, col – colonel, sgt – sergeant,

- scientific degrees: BA – Bachelor of Arts, DM – Doctor of Medicine,

- units of time, length, weight: f / ft – foot / feet, in. – inch, mg. – milligram etc.

The reading of some graphical abbreviations depends on the context. For exemple: m can be read as male, married, masculine, metre, mile, million, minute.

Lexical abbreviations

Lexical abbreviaion consists in clipping a part of a word. As a result we get a new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or the style is different from the full form of the word. For exemple: in such cases as fantasy and fancy, fence and defence we have different lexical meanings. In such cases as laboratory and lab, we have different styles.

Lexical abbreviaion does not change the part-of-speech meaning, it produces words belonging to the same part of speech as the primary words. For exemple: professor is a noun, prof is also a noun.

Abbreviated are usually nouns, verbs and adjectives. Pronouns, numerals, interjections, conjunctions are, as a rule, not abbreviated.

Lexical abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word which is clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the beginning of the word in most cases is the root and expresses the lexical meaning of the word. This type of abbreviation is called apocope: disco, expo, intro etc.

If the beginning of the word is clipped we have apheresis: chute – parachute, versity – university, copter – helicopter etc.

Sometimes the middle of the word is clipped, such abbreviations are called syncope: mart – market, fanzine – fan magazine etc.

We may also have a combination of apocope with apheresis, when the beginning and the end of the word are clipped: tec – detective, van – avanguard etc.

2. There are also secondary ways of wordbuilding in English: sound interchange, stress interchange, sound imitation, blending, back formation. These ways of wordbuilding are not productive in Modern English.

Sound interchange is the way of wordbuilding when some sounds are changed to form a new word. For exemple: strike – stroke, sing – song, blood – to bleed, hot – to heat etc. It was productive in Old English and can be met in other Indo-European languages.

Stress interchange can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of Romanic origin. Nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs – on the last syllable. For exemple: to conflict – conflict, to export – export, to accent – accent etc. However, this is not regular. There are borrowed nouns and verbs with the stress on the first syllable. For exemple: focus, exile, preface, program, triumph etc. There are also a large group of loan words that retain the stress on the second syllable both in verbs and nouns. For exemple: advance, escape, attack, defeat, concern, amount, research etc.

Sound imitation is the way of wordbuilding when a word is formed by imitating different sounds. There are some semantic groups of words formed by means of sound imitation:

-sounds produced by human beings: to whisper, to giggle, to sneeze etc,

-sounds produced by animals: to hiss, to bark, to moo, to buzz etc,

-sounds produced by nature: to tinkle, to ding-dong, to buble, to splash etc.

Blends are words formed from a word-group or two synonyms. In blends two ways of wordbuilding are combined: abbreviation and composition. To form a blend we clip the end of the first component and the beginning of the second component. For exemple: smog is formed from smoke + fog, slanguage is formed from slang + language, gasohol is formed from gasoline + alcohol.

Mostly blends are formed from a word-group. For exemple: cinemaddict (cinema addict), dramedy (drama comedy), magalog (magazine catalogue), slimnastics (slimming gymnastics) etc.

Back formation is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new word. It is opposite to suffixation, that is why it is called back formation. At first it appeared in the language as a result of misunderstanding the structure of a borrowed word. It is typical of English to form nouns denoting the agent of the action by adding the suffix –er to a verb stem: speak – speaker, teach – teacher. So when the French word beggar was borrowed into English the final syllable ar was pronounced in the same way as the English -er. Soon Englishmen formed the verb beg by dropping the end of the noun. Other exemples are: to accreditate (accreditation), to bach (bachelor), to collocate (collocation), to compute (computer), to televise (television) etc.

Значение и контекст. Взаимосвязь между значением слова и его сочетаемостью. Значение и употребление.

Lecture # 6

Plan

1. Meaning of a word.

2. Semantic structure of the word.

3. Polysemy.

4. Main types of lexical meanings of the word.

1. The linguistic science at ptesent is not able to put forward a definition of meaning which is conclusive. But the fact is that the very function of the word as a unit of communication is made possible by its possessing a meaning. So, among the various characteristics of the word the meaning is the most important.

Generally speaking meaning can be more or less described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated. Concepts are mental phenomena.

To explain what the meaning is scientists use a triangle.

By referent we understand objects, qualities, actions, abstract notions denoted by the word. By symbol is meant the word. Thought or reference is concept. The dotted line suggests that there is no immediate relation between word and referent. It is established only through the concept.

The mechanism by which concepts, that is mental phenomena, are converted into words, that is linguistic phenomena, and the reverse process by which a heard or a printed word is converted into a mental picture are not yet understood.

The branch of linguistics which specialises in the study of meaning is called semantics. This term is ambiguous. It can stand for the espressive aspect of language in general and for the meaning of particular words. That is why very often the study of meaning of words is called semasiology.

2. The modern approach to semantics or semasiology is based on the assumption that the meaning of the word presents a structure which is called the semantic structure of the word. When analysing the semantic structure of a word, it is necessary to distinguish between two levels of analysis.

On the first level the semantic structure of a word is treated as a system of meanings. For exemple, the semantic structure of the noun fire can be presented in the following way:

As we see, meaning 1 dominates over meanings 2, 3, 4, 5. Meaning 1 is called the main meaning, meanings 2, 3, 4, 5 are called secondary meanings. All the meanings, main and secondary ones, may be associated with each other very differently. They may be associated through the main meaning or through one of the secondary meanings or else through all meanings. But some semantic structures are arranged on a different principle. For exemple, in the semantic structure of the word dull it is not possible to find the main meaning which organizes secondary meanings. The centre holding together the semantic structure of this word is not one of the meanings but a certain component that can be easily singled out within each separate meaning. And this brings us to the second level of analysis of the semantic structure of a word.

At the second level of analysis each separate meaning may be represented as sets of semantic components. These components are not part of the vocabulary but rather theoretical elements. The study of semantic components of each separate meaning is the aim of componential analysis. Componential analysis is one of the modern methods of semantic research.

Thus, the semantic structure of the word is not just a system of meanings, for each separate meaning is subject to further subdivision and possesses an inner structure of its own. The semantic structure of a word should be investigated at both levels: the level of different meanings and at the level of semantic components within each separated meaning. For the words with one meaning the first level is excluded.

Semantic components may be of different types. The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of a word is called denotative or referential component. The denotative component expresses the conceptual content of a word. For exemple, the denotative component of the English verbs to glare, to glance, to look is to look. But in such a way the meanings of these verbs will be described only partially and incompletely. To have a full picture of the meaning of each verb, it is necessary to add some other semantic components. They are called connotative components or just connotations.

Then the verb to glare may be described as the denotative component to look + a connotative component steadily, lastingly + a connotative component in anger, rage, etc. The connotative component steadily, lastingly introduces connotation of duration. The connotative component in anger, rage, etc. introduces emotive connotation.

The verb to glance consists of the denotative component to look and a connotative component briefly, passingly. The connotative component introduces connotation of duration.

The verb to look has only the denotative component look.

So, the word may have no connotation, one connotation or several connotations. Connotations may be of different types: emotive, evoluative, stylistic, of duration, of cause, of manner. We shall discuss them while speaking about synonymy.

3. It is generally known that most words have several meanings. A word possessing several meanings is called polysemantic. The ability of words to have more than one meaning is described by the term polysemy. Polysemy is not an anomaly. Most English words are polysemantic. The expressive resources of a language depend on the degree to which polysemy has developed in the language. One may think that if there is a need to apply to one word several meanings, it means that the language lacks in words. But it is exactly the opposite. If each word is capable to convey more than one concept, for exemple, two concepts, then the expressive potential of the whole vocabulary of any language increases twofold. A well-developed polysemy is not a drawback but an advantage in a language.

On the other hand, the number of sound combinations that human speech organs can produce is limited. At a certain stage of language development the production of new words by morphological means becomes limited. Polysemy becomes important in providing the means for enriching the vocabulary.

The system of meanings of a polysemantic word develops gradually, mostly over the centuries. The complicated process of polysemy development involve both the appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones. The general tendency with English vocabulary at the modern stage of its history is to increase the total number of its meanings.

4.

5. Linguistic literature abounds in classifications of types of lexical meaning. The following classification reflects relationships existing between different meanings of a word at the same period of time. For example, the word screen is in its direct meaning when it names a piece of furniture used to hide something or protect somebody. The meaning is figurative when the word is applied to anything which protects by hiding, as in smoke screen. We define this meaning as figurative comparing it to the first that we call direct. The meaning a piece of furniture of the word screen is at the same time the main meaning of this word. The main meaning is that which possesses the highest frequency at the present stage of vocabulary development. All the other meanings of the word screen are secondary meanings. The meaning a piece of furniture is concrete in comparison with the abstract meaning the word screen has in the following combinations: screen actor, screen star, screen version etc.

The meanings can be classified not only by comparing them inside the semantic structure of the word but according to the style and sphere of language in which they may occur. All the meanings are classified into stylistically neutral and stylistically coloured. Stylistically coloured meanings may be subdivided into bookish and colloquial. Bookish ones may be general, poetical, scientific. Colloquial ones may be literary colloquial, familiar colloquial, slang.

From a historical point of view the meaning may be:

-etymological, that is the earliest known meaning,

-archaic, that is the meaning superseded at present by a newer one but still remaining in certain collocations;

-obsolete, that is gone out of use;

-present-day meaning, that is the most frequent in the present-day language;

-original meaning serving as basis for the derived ones.

Certain meanings can be realized only in a given phraseological unit, they are called phraseologically bound meanings and they are opposed to free meanings.

Prototypical meaning is believed to be readily translatable into other languages. Peripheral meanings are least translatable.

It is very important to underline that one and the same meaning can at once belong, in accordance with different points, to different groups of meanings.

Lecture # 7

Semantic changes

Plan

1. Causes of semantic changes.

2. Main ways of semantic changes: specialization, generalization, metaphor, metonymy.

3. Secondary ways of semantic changes: elevation, degradation, hyperbole, litotes.

Literature

9. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие для студентов. – М.: Дрофа, 1999. – 288 с.

10. Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка: Учеб. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – М.: ВШ, 1986. – 295 с.

11. Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык: Лексикология (новый курс для филологических факультетов университетов). – М.: МГУ, 2000. – 221 с.

12. Дубенец Э.М. Современный английский язык. Лексикология: Пособие для студентов гуманитарных вузов. – М. / СПб.: ГЛОССА / КАРО, 2004. – 192 с.

Causes of semantic changes

The meaning of a word can change in the course of time. Changes of lexical meanings can be proved by comparing contextx of different times. Transfer of the meaning is called lexico-semantic wordbuilding. In such cases the outer aspect of a word does not change.

The causes of semantic changes can be extra-linguistic and linguistic. For exemple: the change of the lexical meaning of the noun pen was due to extra-linguistic causes. Primarily pen comes back to the Latin word penna (a feather of the bird). As people wrote with goose pens the name was transferred to steel pens which were later on used for writing. Still later any instrument for writing was called a pen.

Causes of semantic changes can be linguistic. For exemple: the noun tide in Old English denoted time, season, hour. When the French words time, season, hour (temps, saison, heur) were borrowed into English they ousted the word tide in these meanings. It was specialized and now means regular rise and fall of the sea caused by attraction of the moon.

The meaning of a word can also change due to the ellipsis. For exemple: the word-group a train of carriages had the meaning of a row of carriages. Later on the component of carriages was dropped and the noun train changed its meaning. It is used now in the function and with the meaning of the whole word-group.

Semantic changes have been classified by different scientists. The most complete classification was suggested by a German scientist Herman Paul in his book ‘Принципы истории языка’. This classification is based on the logical principle. He distinguishes:

a) two main ways where the semantic change is gradual (specialization and generalization),

b) two main ways where the semantic change is momentary (metaphor and metonymy),

c) two secondary ways where the semantic change is gradual (elevation and degradation),

d) two secondary ways where the semantic change is momentary (hyperbole and litotes).

Specialization

It is a gradual process when a word passes from a general sphere to some special sphere of communicaton. For exemple: the word case has a general meaning circumstances in which a person or a thing is. It is specialized in its meaning when used in law (a lawsuit), in grammar (a form in the paradigm of a noun), in medecine (a patient, an illness). The difference between these meanings is revealed in the context.

The meaning of a word can specialize when it remains in the general usage. It happens in the case of the conflict between two synonyms when one of them must specialize in its meaning to remain in the language. For exemple: the word meat had the meaning food and this meaning is preserved in the compound sweetmeats. The meaning edible flesh was formed when the word food, the synonym of the word meat won in the conflict of absolute synonyms.

Another exemple: the English verb to starve was specialized in its meaning after the Scandinavian word to die was borrowed into English. The word to die became the general verb with this meaning because in English there were the noun death and the adjective dead beginning with the same consonant d. The verb to starve got the meaning to die of hunger.

One more way of specialization is the formation of proper names from common nouns. For exemple: Oxford – a university town in England which was built near the place where oxen could ford the river. The Tower originally meant a fortress and palace, later – a prison, now – a museum.

Generalization

It is a process contrary to specialization when the meaning of a word becomes more general in the course of time. For exemple: the word ready meant prepared for a ride. Now its meaning is prepared for anything. The word journey was borrowed from French with the meaning one day trip as jour means a day in French. Now it means a trip of any duration.

Metaphor

It is transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison. Metaphor can be based on different types of similaruty:

• similarity of shape: head (of a cabbage), bottleneck, teeth (of a saw, a comb);

• similarity of position: foot (of a page, of a mountain), head (of a procession);

• similarity of function, behaviour: a whip (an official in the British Parliament whose duty is to see that members were present at the voting), a bookworm (a person who is fond of books);

• similarity of colour: orange, hazel, chestnut.

In some cases we have a complex similarity. For example: the leg of a table has a similarity to a human leg in its shape, position and function.

Many metaphors are based on parts of a human body: an eye of a needle, arms and mouth of a river, head of an army.

A special type of metaphor is when proper nameы become common nouns: vandals – destructive people, a Don Juan – a lover of many women etc.

Metonymy

It is a transfer of the meaning on the basis of contiguity. There are different types of metonymy:

• the material of which an object is made may become the name of an object: a glass, an iron etc;

• the name of the place may become the name of the people or of an object placed there: the House (members of Parliament), the White House (the Administration of the USA) etc;

• names of musical instruments may become names of musicians when they are united in an orchestra: the violin, the piano etc;

• the name of some person may become a common noun: boycott was originally the name of an Irish family who were so much disliked by their neighbours that they did not mix with them;

• names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they invented: watt, om, kalashnikov etc;

• geographical names can become common nouns: china (porcelain), astrakhan (a sheep fur), holland (linen fabrics) etc.

Secondary ways of semantic changes

Elevation

It is a transfer of the meaning when it becomes better in the course of time. Of course, the meaning itself can not become better or worse. The object onto which the meaning is transferred may become better or worse in the mind of the people. For exemple: the word knight originally meant a boy, then a young servant, then a military servant, then a noble man. Now it is a title of nobility given to outstanding people. The word marshal originally meant a servant looking after horses. Now it is the highest military rank. The word queen originally meant a woman, now it is a royal title.

Degradation

It is a transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the course of time. It is usually connected with nouns denoting common people. For example: the word villain originally meant working on a villa. Now it means a scoundrel.

Hyperbole

It is a transfer of the meaning when the speaker uses exaggeration. For example: to hate (doing something), not to see somebody for ages, thousand pardons etc.

Hyperbole is often used to form phraseological units: to make a mountain out of a molehill, to split hairs etc.

Litotes

It is a transfer of the meaning when the speaker expresses the affirmative with the negative or vice versa. For example: the expression it is not bad is used instead of it is good, or the expression not half as important is used instead of it is unimportant etc.

Lecture # 8

Homonymy

Plan

1. Sources of homonyms.

2. Classification of homonyms.

1. Sources of homonyms.

Homonyms are words of different meaning but identical in sound or spelling, or both in sound and spelling.

Linguists believe that synonyms and antonyms can be regarded as the treasury of the language expressive resources. Homonyms are of no interest in this respect. Synonyms and antonyms are created by the language with a particular purpose, homonyms are mostly accidental, purposeless creations. In the process of communication they often lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Yet this very characteristic makes them one of the most important sources of popular humour: A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit (fit – a perfectly fitting clothes, a nervous spasm).

Homonymy exists in many languages, but in English it is particularly frequent, especially among the monosyllabic words. Homonyms are mostly one-morpheme words.

Traditionally homonyms are subdivided into homonyms proper, homophones, homographs. Homonyms proper are homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling: fit – a perfectly fitting clothes, a nervous spasm. Homophones are homonyms which are the same in sound, but differebt in spelling: sea – see, rite – write. Homographs are homonyms which are the same in spelling but different in sound: tear – слезы и рвать, lead – свинец и вести. Sometimes it is said that homographs should be kept apart from homonymy as the object of linguistics, it should be the subject of graphics.. But it is not correct. An average speaker does not separate the written and the oral forms of the language. On the contrary, he is more likely to analyse the words in terms of letters than in terms of phonemes with which he is less familiar. That is why a linguist must take into consideration both the spelling and the pronunciation of words.

Homonyms can appear in the language due to the following factors:

- split polysemy. It is known that in a polysemantic word interrelations of the primary and secondary meanings may be of three types. The first type is when the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. The second type is when secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain and it is difficult to trace secondary meanings to the primary one. The third type is a combination of the first and of the second types.

The second type of polysemy is called the split of polysemy. For exemple: in the word crust the primary meaning is hard outer part of bread. This meaning developed a secondary meaning hard part of anything. Then the same meaning developed the meaning harder layer over soft snow. Later the meaning sullen gloomy person developed. The last developped meaning is impudence. This last meaning has nothing to do with the primary meaning and previous secondary meanings. We may say that homonyms appeared in the language. However, split polysemy as a source of homonyms is not accepted by all linguists. It is really difficult sometimes to decide wheather a certain word has or has not been subjected to the split of the semantic structure and whether we deal with different meanings of the same word or with homonyms. Criteria are subjective and imprecise. This imprecision is recorded in different dictionaries which often contradict each other on this very issue. For exemple: the word board is represented as two homonyms in Muller’s dictionary, as three homonyms in Arakin’ dictionary and as one and the same word in Hornby’s dictionary.

- levelling of grammar inflexions. It occurs when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect. For exemple: the word care came from caru and the word care – from carian.

• conversion. For exemple: to slim from slim, to water from water.

• homonyms can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem. For exemple: reader means a person who reads and it also means a book for reading.

• result of shortening of different words. For exemple: cab from cabriolet, cabbage, cabin.

• accidentally. For exemple: two native words can coincide in their outer aspect, as to bear from beran (to carry) and bear from bera (animal). A native word and a borrowing can also coincide in their outer aspect. For exemple: fair from Latin feria and fair from native fager (blond). Two borrowings can coincide. For exemple: base from French base and base from Latin bas.

2. Classifications of homonyms. The subdivision of homonyms into homonyms proper, homophones and homographs is not precise and it does not reflect some important features of these words, for exemple, their grammatical categories, their paradigms and their meanings.

There are several classifications of homonyms.

Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling and sound forms. He pointed out three groups: 1) perfect homonyms, that is words identical in sound and spelling: school – косяк рыбы и школа; 2) homographs, that is words with the same spelling but pronounced differently: bow – поклон и лук; 3) homophones, that is words pronounced identically but spelled differently: nightl – ночь, knight –рыцарь.

Александр Иванович Смирницкий classified homonyms into two large classes:

1. full homonyms,

2. partial homonyms.

Full homonyms are words which belong to the same part of speech and have the same paradigm. For exemple: match – матч и спичка. Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

1. simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms. These are words which belong to the same part of speech, their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form. For exemple: to found – основывать and found прошедшее время от find;

2. complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms. These are words of different parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms. For exemple: rose – роза , rose – прошедшее время от to rise;

3. partial lexical homonyms. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same part of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms. For exemple: can (to can, canned, canned) – (I) can (could).

Ирина Владимировна Арнольд classified only homonyms which Skeat called perfect homonyms. She suggested four criteria of their classification: lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms and paradigms. According to these criteria I.V. Arnold pointed out the following groups:

1. homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms and different in their lexical meanings: board in the meanings a council and a piece of wood sawn thin;

2. homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms, but different in their lexical meanings and paradigms: to lie – lied – lied and to lie – lay – lain;

3. homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms: light (lights) and light (lighter, lightest);

4. homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, in their basic forms and paradigms, but coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms: a bit and bit (from to bite).

I.V. Arnold also speaks about patterned homonyms. Patterned homonyms, differing from other homonyms, have a common component in their lexical meanings. These are homonyms formed either by means of conversion, or by levelling of grammar inflexions. These homonyms are different in their grammatical meanings, in their paradigms, but identical in their basic forms: warm – to warm.

Summing up the discussion of the problem of homonymy we shoul say that this problem is relevant for lexicography but it is not so important for translation. The reason for this is that homonyms may be understood from the context.

Lecture # 9

Synonyms. Antonyms

Plan

1. Criteria of synonymy.

2. Sources of synonymy

3. Types of synonyms.

4. Synonymic dominant.

5. Characteristic patterns of synonymy.

6. Antonyms. Classifications.

1.Criteria of synonymy.

Synonymy is one of the most controversial problems in linguistics. The very existence of words called synonyms is disputed by some linguists. The point is we are still not certain which words should be considered as synonyms and we are not agreed as to characteristic features which qualify two or more words as synonyms.

Traditional linguistics solves this problem with the conceptual criterion and

defines synonyms as words of the same part of speech conveying the same concept but differing in shades of meaning or in stylistic characteristics. But this criterion have been criticized. It has been pointed out that linguistic phenomena should be defined in linguistic terms and that the use of the term concept makes this an extralinguistic definition. The term shades of meaning is indefinite.

In contemporary research on synonymy semantic criterion is frequently used. In terms of componential analysis synonyms may be defined as words with the same denotative component, but differeing in connotations. This approach is not beyond criticism, but it has its advantages. A group of synonyms may be studied with the help of their dictionary definitions. In this work the data from various dictionaries are analysed comparatively. That is we make definitional analysis. After that the definitions are subjected to transformational operations. That is we make transformational analysis. In thia way, the semantic components of each analysed word are singled out. Here are the results of the definitional and transformational analysis of some of the numerous synonyms for the verb to look.

ВСТАВКА-КСЕРОКОПИЯ (АНТРУШИНА, 189).

The common denotation shows that, according to the semantic criterion, the words in the table are synonyms. The connotative components underline their differentiations.

In modern research on synonyms the criterion of interchangeability is sometimes applied. According to this, synonyms are defined as words which are interchangeable at least in some contexts without considerable alteration in denotational meaning.

The criterion of interchangeability is much criticized. Firstly, almost every attempt to apply it to different groups of synonyms seems to lead to the conclusion that either there are very few synonyms or that the synonyms are not interchangeable. Each of the synonyms creates an entirely new situation or demonstrates that the substitution of one word for another is impossible. For exemple, take the synonyms from the table. He glared at her means that He looked at her angrily. He gazed at her means that He looked at her steadily and attentively, perhaps with admiration. He glanced at her means that He looked at her briefly and turned away. He peered at her means that He tried to see her better but something prevented. Or else, analyze the sentence I like you but I cannot love you.

Secondly, it is difficult to accept interchangeability as a criterion of synonymy because the specific characteristic of synonyms is that they are not, can not and should not be interchangeable. Otherwise they become useless ballast in the vocabulary.

2. Sources of synonyms:

- borrowing. In English there are a lot of synonyms because there are many borrowings. After the word is borrowed it undergoes desynonymization because absolute synonyms are not necessary for the language. In this case one of the absolute synonyms, a native word or a borrowed word specializes in its meaning and we get non-absolute synonyms. For example: city – borrowed – town – native;

- abbreviation. In most cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style and the full form – to the neutral style. For example: examination – exam.

- formation of phrasal verbs. For example: to give up – to abandon, to cut down – to diminish.

3. Types of synonyms. The only existing classification of synonyms was established by V.V. Vinogradov. In his classification there are three types of synonyms: ideographic, stylistic, absolute. Ideographic synonyms are words conveying the same concept but differing in shades of meaning. Stylistic synonyms are synonyms differing in stylistic characteristics. Absolute synonyms are synonyms coinciding in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics.

Some aspects of this classification are open to question.

Firstly, absolute synonyms are rare in the vocabulary. The phenomenon of absolute synonymy is temporary because the vocabulary tends to abolish it by rejecting one of the absolute synonyms or by developing different characteristics in one or all of them. So, it is not necessary to include absolute synonyms in the classification because they are temporary exceptions.

Secondly, it was already said that the term shades of meaning is indefinite. Even more, there is no demarcation line between synonyms differing in their shades of meaning and in stylistic characteristics. There are a lot of synonyms which are distinguished by both shades of meaning and stylistic colouring. Thus, the subdivision of synonyms into ideographic and stylistic is questionable.

A more effective approach to the classification of synonyms may be based on the definition describing synonyms as words differing in connotations. Speaking about connotations we must remember that among connotations stylistic connotations stand apart. Firstly, some linguists do not regard stylistic characteristics as a connotative component of the semantic structure of the word. Secondly, stylistic connotations are subject to further classification: colloquial, slang, dialect, learned, poetic, terminological, archaic. Here we are dealing with stylistically marked words, but this time we approach stylistic characteristics from a different angle: from the point of view of differential features of synonyms. Some examples of stylistic synonyms: girl – girlie (coll.), lass, lassie (dial.), bird, birdie, jane, fluff, skirt (sl.), maiden (poet.), damsel (arch.).

Among stylistic synonyms it is possible to point out a special group of words which are called euphemisms. Euphemisms are words used to substitute some unpleasant, undelicate, impolite, rude or offensive words. For exemple: the word lavatory has such euphemisms as powder room, washroom, restroom, retiring room, cpmfort station, ladies’ room, water-closet, public conveniences. The word to die has the following substitutes: to pass away, to be taken, to depart this life, to close one’s eyes, to go the way of all flesh, to go West, to kick off, to check out, to kick the bucket, to take a ride, to hop the twig, to join the majority.

Some linguists speak about phraseological synonyms. These words are identical in their meanings and styles but different in their combinability with other words in the sentence. For example: to be late for a lecture but to miss the train, to visit museums but to attend lectures, teachers question their pupils but judges interrogate witnesses.

Some scientists point out to context-dependent synonyms. They are similar in meaning only under specific circumstances. For exemple: buy and get are not synonyms out of the context, but they are synonyms in the following example: I’ll go to the shop and buy some bread and I’ll go to the shop and get some bread.

4. Synonymic dominant.

In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning which can substitute any word in the group. Such words are called synonymic dominants. For example: the word red is the synonymic dominant in the group purple, scarlet, crimson.

5. Synonymy has its characteristic patterns in each language. The specific feature of English is the contrast between simple native words which are stylistically neutral, on the one hand, and literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Greko-Latin origin, on the other hand. For example^

Ask – question – interrogate

Gather – assemble – collect

End – finish – complete

Teaching – guidance – instruction.

Thus, synonymy in English is closely connected with borrowing words from other languages.

6. Antonyms. We use the term antonyms to indicate words of the same part of speech, identical in style which express contrary or contradictory notions. For example: hot – cold, up – down, happiness – sorrow.

Not so many years ago antonymy was not universally accepted as a linguistic problem. The opposition within antonymic pairs was regarded as purely logical and finding no reflection in the semantic structures of these words. Nowadays most linguists agree that in the semantic structures of all words which regularly occur in antonymic pairs, a special antonymic connotation can be singled out.

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the words of different parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted. For example: strong – weak, old – young. Verbs take the second place. For example: to open – to close, to live – to die. Nouns are not rich in antonyms. For example: friend – enemy, love – hatred. There are also antonimic adverbs. For example: here – there, loudly – softly.

From the semantic point of view antonyms may be met in qualitative adjectives and their derivatives: beautiful – ugly, to beautify – to uglify, beauty – ugliness. They can also be met in words denoting feelings and states: respect – scorn, alive – dead, life – death. Antonyms can be met among words denoting direction in space and time: now – never, day – night. If a word is polysemantic, it can have several antonyms. For example: the word bright has the antonyms dim, dull, sad.

Together with synonyms, antonyms represent important expressive means of the language. Authors use antonyms as a stylistic device of contrast.

V.N. Comissarov in his dictionary of antonyms classified them into two groups: 1) absolute or root antonyms. For exemple: late or early; 2) derivational antonyms. For example: to please – to displease, professional – non-professional.

Absolute antonyms have different roots, derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes.

In most cases derivational antonyms are formed with the help of negative prefixes un-, dis-, non-. Sometimes they are formed by means of antonymous suffixes –ful and –less: painful, painless.

The difference between derivational and root antonyms is not only in their morphemic structure but in their semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other. For example: active – inactive. Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant members of the group will be absolute antonyms. For example: in the chain ugly – plain – good-looking – pretty – beautiful, the absolute antonyms are ugly and beautiful.

Leonard Lipka in the book Outline of English Lexicology described different types of oppositeness, and subdivided them into three types: a) complementarity, b) antonyms, c) conversness.

He understands complementarity in the following way: the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, and vice versa. For example: John is not married implies that John is single. Complementarity is based on yes / no decision. Complementarity concerns pairs of words.

Antonymy is distinguished from complementarity by being based on different logical relationship. The negation of one does not implies the assertion of the other. For example: John is good implies that John is not bad. But John is not good does not imply that John is bad. Antonyms are not pairs of words. They are fully gradable. For example: hot – warm – tepid – cold.

Conversness is mirror-image relations of words. For example: husband / wife, before / after, pupil / teacher.

Besides, L. Lipka speaks about some types of oppositions. He gives directional opposions (up / down), consequence opposition (learn / know), antipodal opposition (North / South).

L. Lipka also points out many-member lexical sets such as temperature scales (hot, warm, cool, cold), colour words (black, grey, white), military ranks (marshal, general, colonel, major, captain). In these sets of words we can have outer and inner pairs of antonyms.

The problem of antonymy is not solved yet.

Lecture # 10

Varieties of the english language

Plan

1. Local dialects.

a) Cockney.

b) Accent spoken by University teachers.

2. British and American English

1. On the British Isles there are some local varieties of English which developed from Old English local dialects. There are six groups of them: Lowland /Scottish/, Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, Southern. These varieties are used in oral speech by the local population. Only the Scottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/.

One of the best known dialects of British English is the dialect of London - Cockney. Some peculiarities of this dialect can be seen in the first act of «Pigmalion» by B. Shaw, such as : interchange of /v/ and /w/ e.g. wery vell; interchange of /f/ and /0/ , /v/ and / /, e. g/ fing /thing/ and fa:ve / father/; interchange of /h/ and /-/ , e.g. «’eart» for «heart» and «hart» for «art; substituting the diphthong /ai/ by /ei/ e.g. «day» is pronounced /dai/; substituting /au/ by /a:/ , e.g. «house» is pronounced /ha:s/,«now« /na:/ ; substituting /ou/ by /o:/ e.g. «don’t» is pronounced /do:nt/ or substituting it by / / in unstressed positions, e.g. «window» is pronounced /wind /.

Another feature of Cockney is rhyming slang: «hat» is «tit for tat», «wife» is «trouble and strife», «head» is «loaf of bread» etc. There are also such words as «tanner» /sixpence/, «peckish»/hungry/.

Peter Wain in the «Education Guardian» writes about accents spoken by University teachers: «It is a variety of Southern English RP which is different from Daniel Jones’s description. The English, public school leavers speak, is called «marked RP», it has some characteristic features : the vowels are more central than in English taught abroad, e.g. «bleck het»/for «black hat»/, some diphthongs are also different, e.g. «house» is pronounced /hais/. There is less aspiration in /p/, /b/, /t/ /d/.

The American English is practically uniform all over the country, because of the constant transfer of people from one part of the country to the other. However, some peculiarities in New York dialect can be pointed out, such as: there is no distinction between / / and /a: / in words: «ask», «dance» «sand» «bad», both phonemes are possible. The combination «ir» in the words: «bird», «girl» «ear» in the word «learn» is pronoinced as /oi/ e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/.In the words «duty’, «tune» /j/ is not pronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.

2. British and American English are two main variants of English. Besides them there are: Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people living in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned, some scientists /H.N. Menken, for example/ tried to prove that there is a separate American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book called «The American Language». But most scientists, American ones including, criticized his point of view because differences between the two variants are not systematic.

American English begins its history in the 17-th century when first English-speaking settlers began to appear on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. The language which they brought from England was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First.

In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names for places, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the American continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local population - Indians, such as: «chipmuck» /an American squirrel/, «igloo» /Escimo dome-shaped hut/, «skunk» / a black and white striped animal with a bushy tail/, «squaw» / an Indian woman/, «wigwam» /an American Indian tent made of skins and bark/ etc.

Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, and English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words from their languages: from French the words «bureau»/a writing desk/, «cache» /a hiding place for treasure, provision/, «depot» / a store-house/, «pumpkin» / a plant bearing large edible fruit/. From Spanish were borrowed such words as: «adobe» / unburnt sun-dried brick/, «bananza» /prosperity/, «cockroach» /a beetle-like insect/, «lasso» / a noosed rope for catching cattle/.

Present-day «New York» stems from the Dutch colony «New Amsterdam», and Dutch also influenced English. Such words as: «boss», «dope», «sleigh» were borrowed .

The second period of American English history begins in the 19-th century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When large groups of immigrants from the same country came to America, some of their words were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style of cooking which became widely spread and such words as «pizza», «spaghetti» came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers the following words were borrowed into English: «delicatessen», «lager», «hamburger», «noodle», «schnitzel» and many others.

During the second period of American English history there appeared quite a number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due to the new poitical system, liberation of America from the British colonies, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due to these events: the United States of America, assembly, congress, Senate, congressman, President, senator, Vice-President and many others. Besides these political terms, many other words were coined in American English in the 19-th century: to antagonize, to demoralize, influential, department store, telegram, telephone and many others.

There are some differences between British and American English in the usage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week: BE requres «on» / I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there is no preposition / I start my vacation Friday/. In BE we use «by day», «by night»/ «at night», in AE the corresponding forms are «days» and «nights». In BE we say «at home», in AE - «home» is used. In BE we say «a quarter to five», in AE «a quarter of five». In BE we say «in the street», in AE - «on the street». In BE we say «to chat to somebody», in AE «to chat with somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE - «different from someting».

There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the same notions: BE - «trousers», AE - «pants». In BE «pants» are «трусы» which in AE is «shorts», while in BE «shorts» are «outwear». This can lead to misunderstanding.

There are some differences in names of places:

BE AE BE AE

passage hall cross-roads intersection

pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies

studio, bed-sitter one-room apartment

flyover overpass zebra crossing Pxing

pavement sidewalk underground subway

tram streetcar flat apartment

surgery doctor’s office lift elevator

Some names of useful objects:

BE AE BE AE

biro ballpoint rubber eraser

tap faucet torch flashlight

parcel package elastic rubber band

carrier bag shopping bag reel of cotton spool of thread

Some words connected with food:

BE AE BE AE

tin can sweets candy

sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuit crackers

sweet dessert chips french fries

minced meat ground beef

Some words denoting personal items:

BE AE BE AE

fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- ups cuffs

tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat

ladder run /in a stocking/ braces suspenders

poloneck turtleneck waistcoat vest

Some words denoting people:

BE AE BE AE

barrister, lawyer, staff /university/ faculty

post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy

caretaker janitor constable patrolman

shopassistant shopperson bobby cop

If we speak about cars there are also some differences:

BE AE BE AE

boot trunk bumpers fenders

a car, an auto, to hire a car to rent a car

Differences in the organization of education lead to different terms. BE «public school» is in fact a private school. It is a fee-paying school not controlled by the local education authorities. AE «public school» is a free local authority school. BE «elementary school» is AE «grade school» BE «secondary school» is AE «high school». In BE « a pupil leaves a secondary school», in AE «a student graduates from a high school» In BE you can graduate from a university or college of education, graduating entails getting a degree.

A British university student takes three years known as the first, the second and the third years. An American student takes four years, known as freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying, a British student takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors in a subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in one main subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An American student earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses in studies, and has to reach the total of 36 credits to receive a degree.

Differences of spelling

The reform in the English spelling for American English was introduced by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the English spelling are as follows:

a) the delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor, favor;

b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants, e.g. traveler, wagon,

c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g. theater, center,

d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g.

catalog, program,

e) the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g. defense, offense,

d) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.

Differences in pronunciation

In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / / corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is pronounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.

There are some differences in the position of the stress:

BE AE BE AE

add`ress adress la`boratory `laboratory

re`cess `recess re`search `research

in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess `excess

Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation

BE AE BE AE

/`fju:tail/ /`fju:t l/ /`dousail / /dos l/

/kla:k/ /kl rk/ /`fig / /figyer/

/ `le3 / / li:3 r/ /lef`ten nt/ /lu:tenant/

/ nai / /ni: r/ /shedju:l/ /skedyu:l/

But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a proof that British and American are different languages.

Influence of American English

In Modern British English there is a tendency to change pronunciation of some sounds and combinations of sounds due to the influence of American English and some other factors. These changes are most noticeable in the speech of teachers and students of the universities in the Southern part of England /Oxford, Cambridge, London/.

There are the following changes in pronouncing vowels:

a) shortening of long vowels, especially at the end of the word and before voiceless consonants, e.g. see, keep;

b) lengthening of short vowels before voiced consonants, e.g. big, good, come, jam etc. In such adjectives which end in /d/ lengthening of the vowel is observed all over England, e.g. bad, sad, glad, mad etc.

c) drawling of stressed syllables and clipping of unstressed syllables.

d) In unstressed syllables / / is pronounced instead of / i /, e.g. /b `ko:z/, /`evid ns/ etc.

e) In the words consisting of three or more syllables there is a tendency to have two main stresses,e.g. /`nes `s ri/, /`int `restin/.

f) The diphthong /ou/ is pronounced / u/,e.g. home /h um/, go /g u/.

g) the diphthong / u / is pronounced /o:/, e.g. sure /sho:/.

Vowels can also change under the influence of consonants:

a) after fricatives and consonants /n/ and /m/ /ju:/ is pronounced as /u:/, e.g. resume, music, news, enthusiasm.

b) before fricatives and combinations of fricatives with consonants «a« is pronounced as / /, e.g. dance, answer, class, fast.

The pronunciation of some consonants is also changed :

a) after a vowel /r/ is pronounced ,e.g. /ka:r/ , /ha:rt/.

b)There appears an intrusive /r/ in the combinations where after the final vowel / / there is a vowel at the beginning of the next word, e.g. the idea of, Asia and Europe/ on the analogy with word combinations there is, there are/.

c) /p/ and /t/ are glotalized in the middle of the word,e.g. matter is pronounced as /`m ? /, happy as /`h ? i/.

d) /s/ is used instead of /sh/ before /i/ in the structure of suffixes, e.g. social /`sousi l/, negotiate / ni`gousi,eit/;

e) /l/ is vocalized at the end of the word, e.g. full/ ful/( close to /v/ in sound).

f) /sh/ is voiced in the intervocal position in some geographical names, e.g . «Asia», «Persia»;

g) combinations of sounds /dj/, /tj/ , /sj/ in such words as duke, tube, issue have two variants of pronunciation: /d3u:k/ and /dju:k/, /chu:b/ and /tju:b/, /`ishu:/ and /`isju:/;

g) pronunciation approaching spelling is being developed, e.g. often /`oftn/, forehead / fo:`hed/ etc;

h) /t/ and/d/ at the end of words are not pronounced, e.g. «half past five’ /`ha:f `pa:s`faiv/, «old man» /`oul `m n/.

LEXICOGRAPHY

The theory and practice of compiling dictionaries is called lexicography. The history of compiling dictionaries for English comes as far back as the Old English period, where we can find glosses of religious books / interlinear translations from Latin into English/. Regular bilingual dictionaries began to appear in

the 15-th century /Anglo-Latin, Anglo-French , Anglo-German/.

The first unilingual dictionary explaining difficult words appeared in 1604, the author was Robert Cawdry, a schoolmaster. He compiled his dictionary for schoolchildren. In 1721 an English scientist and writer Nathan Bailey published the first etymological dictionary which explained the origin of English words. It was the first scientific dictionary, it was compiled for philologists.

In 1775 an English scientist compiled a famous explanatory dictionary. Its author was Samuel Johnson. Every word in his dictionary was illustrated by examples from English literature, the meanings of words were clear from the contexts in which they were used.. The dictionary was a great success and it influenced the development of lexicography in all countries. The dictionary influenced normalization of the English vocabulary. But at the same time it helped to preserve the English spelling in its conservative form.

In 1858 one of the members of the English philological society Dr. Trench raised the question of compiling a dictionary including all the words existing in the language. The

philological society adopted the decision to compile the dictionary and the work started. More than a thousand people took part in collecting examples, and 26 years later in 1884 the first volume was published. It contained words beginning with «A» and «B». The last volume was published in 1928 that is 70 years after the decision to compile it was adopted. The dictionary was called NED and contained 12 volumes.

In 1933 the dictionary was republished under the title «The Oxford English Dictionary», because the work on the dictionary was conducted in Oxford. This dictionary contained 13 volumes. As the dictionary was very large and terribly expensive scientists continued their work and compiled shorter editions of the dictionary: «A Shorter Oxford Dictionary» consisting of two volumes. It had the same number of entries, but far less examples from literature. They also compiled «A Concise Oxford Dictionary» consisting of one volume and including only modern words and no examples from literature.

The American lexicography began to develop much later, at the end of the 18-th century. The most famous American English dictionary was compiled by Noah Webster. He was an active stateman and public man and he published his first dictionary in 1806. He went on with his work on the dictionary and in 1828 he published a two-volume dictionary. He tried to simplify the English spelling and transcription. He introduced the alphabetical system of transcription where he used letters and combinations of letters instead of transcription signs. He denoted vowels in closed syllables by the corresponding vowels, e.g. / a/, /e/, / i/, / o/, /u/. He denoted vowels in the open syllable by the same letters, but with a dash above them,e.g. / a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. He denoted vowels in the position before /r/ as the same letters with two dots above them, e.g. / a/, /o/ and by the l etter «e» with two dots above it for the combinations «er», «ir», «ur» because they are pronounced identically. The same tendency is preserved for other sounds : /u:/ is denoted by /oo/, /y/ is used for the sound /j/ etc.

Classification of dictionaries

All dictionaries are divided into linguistic and encyclopedic dictionaries. Encyclopedic dictionaries describe different objects, phenomena, people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionaries describe vocabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, their usage. Words are usually given in the alphabetical order.

Linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and specialized . To general dictionries two most widely used dictionaries belong: explanatory and translation dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include dictionaries of synonyms, antonyms, collocations, word-frequency, neologisms, slang, pronouncing, etymological, phraseological and others.

All types of dictionaries can be unilingual ( excepting translation ones) if the explanation is given in the same language, bilingual if the explanation is given in another language and also they can be polilingual.

There are a lot of explanatory dictionaries (NED, SOD, COD, NID, N.G. Wyld’s «Universal Dictionary» and others). In explanatory dictionaries the entry consists of the spelling, transcription, grammatical forms, meanings, examples, phraseology. Pronunciation is given either by means of the International Transcription System or in British Phonetic Notation which is different in each large dictionary, e.g. /o:/ can be indicated as / aw/, /or/, /oh/, /o/. etc.

Translation dictionaries give words and their equivalents in the other language. There are English-Russian dictionaries by I.R. Galperin, by Y.Apresyan and others. Among general dictionaries we can also mention Learner’s dictionaries. They began to appear in the second half of the 20-th century. The most famous is «The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary» by A.S. Hornby. It is a unilingual dictionary based on COD, for advanced foreign learners and language teachers. It gives data about grammatical and lexical valency of words. Specialized dictionaries of synonyms are also widely used, one of them is «A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Synonymous Expressions» by R.Soule. Another famous one is «Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms». These are unilingual dictionaries. The best known bilingual dictionary of synonyms is «English Synonyms» compiled by Y. Apresyan.

In 1981 «The Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English» was compiled, where words are given in 14 semantic groups of everyday nature. Each word is defined in detail, its usage is explained and illustrated, synonyms, antonyms are presented also. It describes 15000 items, and can be referred to dictionaries of synonyms and to explanatory dictionaries.

Phraseological dictionaries describe idioms and colloquial phrases, proverbs. Some of them have examples from literature. Some lexicographers include not only word-groups but also anomalies among words. In «The Oxford Dicionary of English Proverbs» each proverb is illustrated by a lot of examples, there are stylistic references as well. The dictionary by Vizetelli gives definitions and illustrations, but different meanings of polisemantic units are not given. The most famous bilingual dictionary of phraseology was compiled by A.V. Koonin. It is one of the best phraseological dictionaries.

Etymological dictionaries trace present-day words to the oldest forms of these words and forms of these words in other languages. One of the best etymological dictionaries was compiled by W. Skeat.

Pronouncing dictionaries record only pronunciation. The most famous is D. Jones’ s «Pronouncing Dictionary».

Dictionaries of neologisms are : a four-volume «Supplement to NED» by Burchfield, «The Longman Register of New Words»/1990/, «Bloomsury Dictionary of New Words» /1996/.