Билет № 19

1. What does affixation consist in?

Affixation – is a linear type of word-formation, consists in adding derivational non-root m. to the stem.

• Inflections (infl.m. – only grammar meaning)

• Affixes (derive.m)

Meaning of non-root m.:

Girl – girl/s – not w.-formation

Girls – girl/ish - w.-formation

• Gramm meaning – inflections express regular gram categories (a number, tense, comparative degree of the adj.)

Ex: worker/s – work/ed- long/er

• Lexico-gramm meaning – affixes express the part-of-speech relation.

Ex: ston/ly – ston – hungr/y

(-y indicates that the adj are derived from a nominate stem)

• Lexical meaning – affixes express certain semantics.

Ex: storm – storm/y – sand/y (-y express the meaning characterized by noun)

Formal diff.:

• We can build on the basis of the stem words of various lvls of derivation, but, as soon as we add an inflexion – the derivational potential becomes exhausted.

Ex: useful – usefulness, cf. use/s (the boundaries of the word are set)

• The co-occurrence of inflations with stems is not limited (as related to words of a particular gram.class), whereas the productivity affixes is limited.

Ex: hand/s, girl/s

Cf. hand/y, girl/ish

Unlimited combinations

Suffixation – derive. m. that follows the root and changes the lexical meaning of the word and – very often – its part-of-speech relation.

• Lexico-gramm meaning

Ex: to play – play/er

(-er being a lex-gr. marker of a noun derived from a verbal stem)

• Lexical meaning

Ex: to play – play/er

(-er being a lex-gr. marker of an active agent/instrument)

Prefixation - derive. m. that precedes the root and cnahges – ONLY – the lexical meaning of the word.

• Lexical meaning

Ex: to count – to re/count

(-re being a lex. marker of a repeated action)

Искл!! Sometimes the prefix can change the words part-of-speech relation (in borrowed words) – to cover with bronze

2. How would you describe polysemy from the diachronic perspective?

polysemy

it is the ability of a word to posess more then one lexical meaning in language (NOT in speech)

two contrasting views of polysemy:

1) a word has necessary multiple since it always generalizes several features of an object > emphasis is put on nominative function of the word

2) meaning are added to the word in the course of cognition and communication > emphasis is put on cognitive communicative context of the word.

polysemy from the diachronic perspective

From the diachronic perspective, we distinguish original meaning (исходное значение) and derived meaning (производное значение).

Ex. Sad <orig. OE saed 'sated' > der. ' heavy' > der. 'weary, tired of' > der. 'unhappy' (c. 1300)

happy <orog. OE hapig 'lucky, favored by fortune' > de. 'very glad' ( late 14 c. )

Development of polysemy:

1) radiation (радиальная полисемия) the original meaning stands in the centre, and the derived meaning from 'rays' (besed on similarity

ex. Box (container)

1)in theatre

2) tv box

3) a small hut

2) concatenation (цепочная полисемия) the derived meanings relate to origin meaning by different semantic criteria, there is no semantic hierarchy based on a single seme:

ex. Library ( a room where most of the books kept) > library( a building in which collection of books are kept) > library ( a collection of books) > library ( a collection of musical disks or DVDs)...

This type of polyseme often leads to homonymy.