
- •2.1 The object of lexicology and lexicography. Connections with other branches of linguistics.
- •2.2 The main types of word formation in English: affixation, compounding, conversion, abbreviation.
- •Classifications of english compounds.
- •Verbs can be also converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the change of the state, e.G. To tame (to become or make tame) , to clean, to slim etc.
- •2.3 Semantic structure of a word. Lexical meaning. Two approaches to meaning.
- •The elements of the semantic structure.
- •2.4 Phraseology. Types of phraseological units. The main principles of classification.
2.3 Semantic structure of a word. Lexical meaning. Two approaches to meaning.
The branch of linguistics stuying the meaning of words and word equivalents is called semasiology. The modern approach to semasiology is based on the assumption that the inner form (or facet) of the word (i.e. its meaning) presents a structure, which is called the semantic structure of the word.
We know that most words convey several concepts and thus possess the corresponding number of meanings. A word having several meanings is called polysemantic, and the ability of words to have more than one meaning is described by the term polysemy( a plurality of meanings).
The system of meanings of any polysemantic word develops gradually, mostly over the, centuries. These complicated processes of polysemy development involve both the appearance of the new meanings and the loss of old ones. Yet, the general tendency with English vocabulary at the modern stage of its history is to increase the total number of its meanings and to provide for a quantitieve and qualitative growth of the expressive resources of the language.
The elements of the semantic structure.
There arу no universally acsepfed criteria for differentiating these variants within one polysemantic word.The following terms may be found with different authors:
the meaning is direct or nominative when it nominates the object without the help of context,in insolation, i.e., in one,word sentences for example the "Rain" etc.
The meaning is figurative when the object is named and at the same time characterized. through its similarity, with - another object, while naming the object the word simultaneously describes it.
Other oppositions are: main or primary - secondary central - peripheric narrow - extended general - particular : concrete -abstract etc.
The definition of lexical meaning has been attempted more than once in accordance with the main principles of different linguistic schools. The disciples of F. de Saussure consider meaning to be the relation between the object or notion named, and the name itself. Descriptive linguistics of the Bloomfieldian trend defines the meaning as the situation in which the word is uttered. But these two approaches give no insight into the mechanism of meaning. In our country the definitions of meaning given by various authors, though different in detail, agree in the basic principle: they all point out that lexical meaning is the realisation of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system.
The complexity of a word is manifold: it comprises lexical, gram, denotative and connotative meanings.
2.4 Phraseology. Types of phraseological units. The main principles of classification.
Lexicology – is that branch of linguistics which is concerned with the study of words. Lexicology studies meaning and making words, their ways and manners, where they come from, their appearance in the language. As a branch of linguistics, lexicology has four subbranches: 1. semantics or semasiology; 2. etymology; 3. phraseology; 4. lexicography. Phraseology – subbranch, which studies sat expressions and stock phrases. Phraseology is a new linguistics science. Its basic principles were given by academician Vinogradov in the Russian language, which may be also taken in English language. Phraseological expressions may be divided into: 1. ph. combinations; 2. ph. unities; 3. ph. phusions and idioms. Ph. combination (to make a report, to deliver a speech, to take a look) is rather free and not strictly, stable. We may change it a little bit. It does not present a semantic unit. Elements of such expressions are, to a certain degree, independent. We may substitute one part of ph. combination by synonyms. For ex: to deliver a speech, to make a speech, to have a look, to take a look. But these expressions are limited in their combinative power.. Ph. unities (to play the first fiddle, to take the bull by his horns, to skate on thin ice = to risk. In ph. unities, the meaning of the words whole expression differs from the meaning of the words of the group, because it has the figurative meaning. In ph. unities, we may have a homonym. Here we cannot substitute the elements and we cannot change them. Thought it is very difficult, but we can get the meaning of the whole expression. . Ph. phusions and idioms present the most stable and very complicated relations between the elements. For ex: to show the white feather = струсить, to pull one’s leg = насмехаться, to get a bird = уволить. Ph. phusions form a semantic unit and usually they are equivalents to a word. The meaning of an idiom doesn’t grow out of the meanings of the words it consists of. Not a single element may be replaced. Idioms can’t be separated fromthe point of the syntax. Idioms have no homonyms. It’s necessary to look up the meaning of idioms in the dictionary, otherwise it is impossible to understand them or we must know the history of phusions. Idioms may be taken from different spheres of human activity –history, literature, mythology. We also distinguished international idioms, when one and the same notion is expressed by one word in different languages (to burn boat – жечь лодки); when one and the same notion is expressed differently in different languages (to wash dirty linen in public – выносить сор из