Chapter 6:

Composition is the type of word-building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the most productive types in Modern English (e.g. blackbird, shop-window, absent-mindedness, blue-eyed).

In neutral compounds the process of compounding is realized without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems, as in blackbird, shop-window, sunflower, bedroom, tallboy, etc.

Compounds which have affixes in their structure are called derived or derivational compounds. E. g. absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, lady-killer, film-goer, music-lover, honey-mooner, first-nighter, late-comer, newcomer, early-riser, evildoer.

The third subtype of neutral compounds is called contracted compounds. These words have a shortened (contracted) stem in their structure: TV-set (-program, -show, -canal, etc.), V-day (Victory day), G-man (Government man "FBI agent"), H-bag (handbag), T-shirt, etc.

In syntactic compounds we once more find a feature of specifically English word-structure. These words are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs, as in the nouns lily-of-the-valley, Jack-of-all-trades, good-for-nothing, mother-in-law, sit-at-home, dunit (meaning "a detective story").

Words coined by Sound-Imitation are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimate objects. For instance, English dogs bark (cf. the R. лаять) or howl (cf. the R. выть). The English cock cries cock-adoodle-doo (cf. the R. ку-ка-ре-ку). Some names of animals and especially of birds and insects are also produced by sound-imitation: crow, cuckoo, humming-bird, whip-poor-will, cricket.

In reduplication new words are made by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as in bye-bye (coll, for good-bye) or with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chitchat (this second type is called gradational reduplication). Stylistically speaking, most words made by reduplication represent informal groups: colloquialisms and slang. E. g. walkie-talkie ("a portable radio"), riff-raff ("the worthless or disreputable element of society"; "the dregs of society"), chi-chi (sl. for chic as in a chi-chi girl).

Chapter 7:

Semantic is the branch of linguistics which specialises in the study of meaning

Polysemy is the ability of words to have more than one meaning

denotative component The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of a word. The denotative component expresses the conceptual content of a word.

Combinability or collocability The quality or state of being combinable (СОЧЕТАЕМОСТЬ) the word's linear relationships with other words in typical contexts

Chapter 8:

The first group of causes is traditionally termed historical or extra-linguistic. Different kinds of changes in a nation's social life, in its culture, knowledge, technology, arts lead togaps appearing in the vocabulary which beg to be filled. Newly created objects, new concepts and phenomena must be named. We already know of two ways for providing new names for newly created concepts: making new words (word-building) and borrowing foreign ones. One more way of filling such vocabulary gaps is by applying some old word to a new object or notion.

New meanings can also be developed due to linguistic factors. Linguistically speaking, the development of new meanings, and also a complete change of meaning, may be caused through the influence of other words, mostly of synonyms. In Old English (О. Е. deor) it had a general meaning denoting any beast. In that meaning it collided with the borrowed word animal and changed its meaning to the modern one ("a certain kind of beast", R. олень).

The process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is traditionally termed transference.

Linguistic metaphor.A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects (phenomena,qualities, etc.) due to their outward similarity. The noun eye, for instancehas for one of its meanings "hole in the end of a needle" (cf. with the R. ушко иголки), which also developed through transference based on resemblance.

Linguistic metonymy. The association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty. The two objects may be associated together

because they often appear in common situations, and so the image of one is easily accompanied by the image of the other; or they may be associated on the principle of cause and effect, of common function, of some material and an object which is made of it, etc.

E.g. The meaning of the adjective sad in Old English was "satisfied with food" (cf. with the R. сыт(ый) which is a word of the same Indo-European root). Later this meaning developed a connotation of a greater intensity of quality and came to mean "oversatisfied with food; having eaten too much". Thus, the meaning of the adjective sad

developed a negative evaluative connotation and now described not a happy state of satisfaction but, on the contrary, the physical unease and discomfort of a person who has had too much to eat. The next shift of meaning was to transform the description of physical discomfort into one of spiritual discontent because these two states often go

together.

Broadening (or Generalisation) of Meaning is a type of semantic change when a word represents a notion of a broader scope. Sometimes, the process of transference may result in a considerable change in range of meaning. For instance, the verb to arrive (French borrowing) began its life in English in the narrow meaning "to come to shore, to land". In Modern English it has greatly widened its combinability and developed the general meaning "to come" (e. g. to arrive in a village, town, city, country, at a hotel, hostel, college,theatre, place, etc.). The second meaning is broader and more

general.

Narrowing (or Specialisation) of Meaning It is interesting to trace the history of the word girl as an example of the changes in the range of meaning in the course of the semantic development of a word. In Middle English it had the meaning of "a small child of either sex". Then the word underwent the process of transference based on contiguity and developed the meaning of "a small child of the female sex", so that the range of meaning was somewhat narrowed.

DEGRADATION OF MEANING is a type of semantic change when a word reflects a negative attitude to the phenomena named.

ELEVATION OF MEANING is a type of semantic change when a word demonstrates a better social attitude to the phenomena named