Материалы для текущего, рубежного и итогового контроля

1 Рубежный контроль

Вопросы для коллоквиума:

1. Major problems of lexicology. The origin of English words.

1. The object of lexicology. The relations of lexicology and other linguistic sciences.

2. The notion of the lexical system.

3. The etymological diversity of the English vocabulary.

2. The Structure and Formation of English Words. Affixation.

1. General problems of affixation.

2. Peculiarities of English prefixes.

3. Classification of English suffixes.

3.Word-compounding. Conversion.

1. General features of word-compounding.

2. Classification of compounds. Special groups of compounds.

3. General problems of conversion in English.

4. Treatment of conversion in linguistic literature.

2 Рубежный контроль Проектные задания

Темы докладов

1. Borrowings from Romanic languages.

2. English Shortenings.

3. Semantic fields and thematic groups.

4. English euphemisms.

5. Polysemy in English.

6. English and Russian phraseology.

7. Australian and Canadian English.

8. American English.

9. British English.

10. Semantic development of English words.

11. English Neologisms of the 20^th century.

12. The etymology of English affixes.

13. The historical aspect of English borrowings.

14. Word theory in linguistics.

15. Folk etymology in Russian and English.

16. Non-productive ways of word-formation in English.

17. English proverbs and sayings.

18. English lexicography.

19. Words of native origin.

20. General features of borrowings.

21. The assimilation of borrowings.

22. Interrelation between native words and borrowings.

23. International words.

Примерный перечень вопросов для итогового контроля

1.”To electrocute” is an example of…

a)abbreviation. b)shortened word combination.

c)blending. d)conversion.

2.a)Affixational morphemes are always free.

b) Affixational morphemes are always bound.

c) Affixational morphemes can be bound and free.

d) Affixational morphemes carry no meaning.

3.”Glance” is the … of “look”.

a)hyponym b)hyperonym c)antonym d)homonym

4.”To be over the moon” is…

a)an idiom. b)a free phrase.

c)a sentence. d)a compound word.

5.The word “dance” is pronounced like [dæns]

a)in the British variant. b)in the American variant.

c)only by uneducated people. d)only by educated people.

6.”Lounge music“ is…

a)an archaism. b)an antonym. c)a neologism. d)a synonym.

7.”Skin”, “sky”, “skate” are of … origin.

a)Latin b)Celtic c)Scandinavian d)native

8.Military terms were borrowed from …

a)Spanish b)French c)Italian d)Latin

9.”Skin-deep” and “true-blue” are…

a)derived words. b)compound words. c)compound derivatives. d)root words.

10.Sound interchange is…

a)a highly productive type of word-formation.

b)widely-spread in English.

c)a non-productive type of word-formation.

d)never used in word-formation.

11.The interjections “Wow!”, “Gee!” have…

a)only a grammatical meaning. b)only a denotational meaning.

c)no meaning at all. d)only a connotational meaning.

12.The words “circle”, “to encircle”, “circular” represent …

a)synonyms b)hyponyms c)different parts of speech d)compounds

13.”Face to face” is…

a)a free phrase. b)a set phrase.

c)similar to a noun. d)similar to a verb.

14.”All that glitters is not gold” is…

a)an ordinary sentence. b)a word combination.

c)a proverb. d)a free phrase.

15.Odd one out.

a)a synonym b)a homonym c)an historism d)a hyponym

16.The pattern of the expression “by hook or by crook” is…

a)Adv +N +pr+ Adv +N b)pr + N + con + pr + N c)pr +N +pr + pr +N d)Adv +con+ Adv

17.Australian English …

a)is a variant of the language. b)is an independent language.

c)is a dialect. d)doesn’t exist.

18.”Strong-willed” and “warm-hearted” are…

a)root words. b)compound-derivatives.

c)derived words. d)compound words.

19.”The FBI” is an example of …

a)a shortened word combination. b)abbreviation.

c)blending. d)conversion.

20.”Truth” and “lie” are…

a)derivational antonyms b)absolute antonyms

c)relative antonyms d)never used as antonyms

21.”Flower” is the … of “tulip”.

a)hyponym b)hyperonym c)antonym d)homonym

22.Odd one out:

a)to be on cloud nine b)a bull in a china shop

c)to make both ends meet d)wonderful holidays

23.”To cook well” is…

a)an idiom b)a free phrase c)an infinitive d)a set expression

24.The American spelling of the word “цвет” is …

a)colour b)color c)coloure d)coulor

25.The British sound [a:] in the words “dance”, “chance” is changed into … in the American variant.

a)[o:] b)[æ] c)[Λ] d)[əυ]

26.”Train-surfing” is…

a)an historism b)a barbarism c)an archaism d)a neologism

27.The combination of letters … is a sign of foreign origin.

a)ou b)ie c)eau d)or

28.Astalavista, Chao are…

a)barbarisms b)native words c)partially assimilated words d)completely assimilated words

29.The adjective suffixes –ous, -ful are…

a)homonyms b)synonyms c)antonyms d)free

30.”To burgle” is an example of…

a)conversion b)affixation c)shortening d)back-formation

31.”Just” and “unjust” are…

a)derivational antonyms b)absolute antonyms

c)relative antonyms d)never used as antonyms

32.The British variant of the word “конфета” is…

a)a candy b)a cake c)a sweet d)a chocolate

33.In the phrase “I see thee in my dreams” thee is …

a)a neologism b)a barbarism c)an archaism d)a verb

Хрестоматия

№ 1. History of the English language

The Origin English languages: English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the extensive influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, via the British Empire, and of the United States since the mid-20th century, it has been widely dispersed around the world, becoming the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions. It is widely learned as a second language and used as an official language of the European Union and many Commonwealth countries, as well as in many world organisations. It is the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. It is the most widely spoken language across the world.

Historically, English originated from the fusion of languages and dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to the eastern coast of Great Britain by Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) settlers by the 5th century – with the word English being derived from the name of the Angles, and ultimately from their ancestral region of Angeln (in what is now Schleswig-Holstein). A significant number of English words are constructed based on roots from Latin, because Latin in some form was the lingua franca of the Christian Church and of European intellectual life. The language was further influenced by the Old Norse language due to Viking invasions in the 8th and 9th centuries.

The Norman conquest of England in the 11th century gave rise to heavy borrowings from Norman-French, and vocabulary and spelling conventions began to give the superficial appearance of a close relationship with Romance languages to what had now become Middle English. The Great Vowel Shift that began in the south of England in the 15th century is one of the historical events that mark the emergence of Modern English from Middle English.

Owing to the assimilation of words from many other languages throughout history, modern English contains a very large vocabulary. Modern English has not only assimilated words from other European languages but also from all over the world, including words of Hindi and African origin. The Oxford English Dictionary lists over 250,000 distinct words, not including many technical, scientific, or slang terms, or words that belong to multiple word classes.

Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca, is the dominant language or in some instances even the required international language of communications, science, information technology, business, seafaring, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy. Its spread beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire, and by the late 19th century its reach was truly global. Following British colonisation from the 16th to 19th centuries, it became the dominant language in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The growing economic and cultural influence of the US and its status as a global superpower since World War II have significantly accelerated the language's spread across the planet. English replaced German as the dominant language of science Nobel Prize laureates during the second half of the 20th century (compare the Evolution of Nobel Prizes by country). English equalled and may have surpassed French as the dominant language of diplomacy during the last half of the 19th century.

A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and computing; as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.

One impact of the growth of English is the reduction of native linguistic diversity in many parts of the world. Its influence continues to play an important role in language attrition. Conversely, the natural internal variety of English along with creoles and pidgins have the potential to produce new distinct languages from English over time.

English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian and Old Saxon dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what is now northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Up to that point, in Roman Britain the native population is assumed to have spoken the Celtic language Brythonic alongside the acrolectal influence of Latin, from the 400-year Roman occupation.

One of these incoming Germanic tribes was the Angles, whom Bede believed to have relocated entirely to Britain. The names 'England' (from Engla land"Land of the Angles") and English (Old English Englisc[32]) are derived from the name of this tribe—but Saxons, Jutes and a range of Germanic peoples from the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden also moved to Britain in this era.

Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Great Britain but one of these dialects, Late West Saxon, eventually came to dominate, and it is in this that the poem Beowulf is written.

Old English was later transformed by two waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of the North Germanic language branch when Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless started the conquering and colonisation of northern parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries (see Danelaw). The second was by speakers of the Romance language Old Norman in the 11th century with the Norman conquest of England. Norman developed into Anglo-Norman, and then Anglo-French – and introduced a layer of words especially via the courts and government. As well as extending the lexicon with Scandinavian and Norman words these two events also simplified the grammar and transformed English into a borrowing language—more than normally open to accept new words from other languages.

The linguistic shifts in English following the Norman invasion produced what is now referred to as Middle English, with Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales being the best known work.

Throughout all this period Latin in some form was the lingua franca of European intellectual life, first the Medieval Latin of the Christian Church, but later the humanist Renaissance Latin, and those that wrote or copied texts in Latin commonly coined new terms from Latin to refer to things or concepts for which there was no existing native English word.

Modern English, which includes the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, is generally dated from about 1550, and when the United Kingdom became a colonial power, English served as the lingua franca of the colonies of the British Empire. In the post-colonial period, some of the newly created nations which had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the lingua franca to avoid the political difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. As a result of the growth of the British Empire, English was adopted in North America, India, Africa, Australia and many other regions, a trend extended with the emergence of the United States as a superpower in the mid-20th century.

Classification and related languages: The English language belongs to the Anglo-Frisian sub-group of the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family, a member of the Indo-European languages. Modern English is the direct descendant of Middle English, itself a direct descendant of Old English, a descendant of Proto-Germanic. Typical of most Germanic languages, English is characterised by the use of modal verbs, the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, and common sound shifts from Proto-Indo-European known as Grimm's Law. The closest living relatives of English are the Scots language (spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Ireland) and Frisian (spoken on the southern fringes of the North Sea in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany).

After Scots and Frisian come those Germanic languages that are more distantly related: the non-Anglo-Frisian West Germanic languages (Dutch, Afrikaans, Low German, High German), and the North Germanic languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese). With the (partial) exception of Scots, none of the other languages is mutually intelligible with English, owing in part to the divergences in lexis, syntax, semantics, and phonology, and to the isolation afforded to the English language by the British Isles, although some, such as Dutch, do show strong affinities with English, especially to earlier stages of the language. Isolation has allowed English and Scots (as well as Icelandic and Faroese) to develop independently of the Continental Germanic languages and their influences over time.

In addition to isolation, lexical differences between English and other Germanic languages exist due to heavy borrowing in English of words from Latin and French. For example, compare "exit" (Latin), vs. Dutch uitgang, literally "out-going" (though outgang survives dialectally in restricted usage) and "change" (French) vs. German Änderung (literally "alteration, othering"); "movement" (French) vs. German Bewegung ("be-way-ing", i.e. "proceeding along the way"); etc. Preference of one synonym over another also causes differentiation in lexis, even where both words are Germanic, as in English care vs. German Sorge. Both words descend from Proto-Germanic *karō and *surgō respectively, but *karō has become the dominant word in English for "care" while in German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, the *surgō root prevailed. *Surgō still survives in English, however, as sorrow.

Despite lexical borrowing, English remains classified as a Germanic language due to its structure and grammar. Non-native words are incorporated into a Germanic system of conjugation, declension, and syntax (For example, the word reduce is borrowed from Latin redūcere; however, in English we say "I reduce - I reduced - I will reduce" rather than "redūcō - redūxī - redūcam"; likewise, we say: "John's life insurance company" (cf. Dutch "Johns levensverzekeringsmaatschappij" [= leven (life) + verzekering (insurance) + maatschappij (company)]) rather than "the company of insurance life of John", cf. the French: la compagnie d'assurance-vie de John). Furthermore, in English, all basic grammatical particles added to nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are Germanic. For nouns, these include the normal plural marker -s/-es (cf. Frisian -s; Dutch -s), and the possessive markers -'s and -s' . For verbs, these include the third person present ending -s/-es (e.g. he stands/he reaches ), the present participle ending -ing (cf. Dutch -ende; German -end(e)), the simple past tense and past participle ending -ed (Swedish -ade/-ad), and the formation of the English infinitive using to (e.g. "to drive"; cf. Old English tō drīfenne; Dutch te drijven; German zu treiben). Adverbs generally receive an -ly ending (cf. German -lich; Swedish -ligt), and adjectives and adverbs are inflected for the comparative and superlative using -er and -est (e.g. fast/faster/fastest; cf. Dutch snel/sneller/snelste), or through a combination with more and most. These particles append freely to all English words regardless of origin (tsunamis; communicates; to buccaneer; during; calmer; bizarrely) and all derive from Old English. Even the lack or absence of affixes, known as zero or null (-Ø) affixes, derive from endings which previously existed in Old English (usually -e, -a, -u, -o, -an, etc.), that later weakened to -e, and have since ceased to be pronounced and spelt (e.g. Modern English "I sing" = I sing-Ø < I singe < Old English ic singe; "we thought" = we thought-Ø < we thoughte(n) < Old English wē þōhton).

Although the syntax of English is somewhat different from other West Germanic languages with regards to the placement and order of verbs (for example, "I have never seen anything in the square" = German Ich habe nie etwas auf dem Platz gesehen, and the Dutch Ik heb nooit iets op het plein gezien, where the participle is placed at the end), English syntax continues to adhere closely to that of the North Germanic languages, which are believed to have influenced English syntax during the Middle English Period (e.g., Danish Jeg har aldrig set noget på torvet; Icelandic Ég hef aldrei séð neitt á torginu). As in most Germanic languages, English adjectives usually come before the noun they modify, even when the adjective is of Latinate origin (e.g. medical emergency, national treasure). Also, English continues to make extensive use of self-explaining compounds (e.g. streetcar, classroom), and nouns which serve as modifiers (e.g. lamp post, life insurance company), traits inherited from Old English.

The kinship with other Germanic languages can also be seen in the tensing of English verbs (e.g. English fall/fell/fallen/will or shall fall, West Frisian fal/foel/fallen/sil falle, Dutch vallen/viel/gevallen/zullen vallen, German fallen/fiell/gefallen/werden fallen, Norwegian faller/falt/falt/vil or skal falle), the comparatives of adjectives and adverbs (e.g. English good/better/best, West Frisian goed/better/best, Dutch goed/beter/best, German gut/besser/best), the treatment of nouns (English shoemaker, shoemaker's, shoemakers, shoemakers'; Dutch schoenmaker, schoenmakers, schoenmakers, schoenmakeren; Swedish skomakare, skomakares, skomakare, skomakares), and the large amount of cognates (e.g. English wet, Scots weet, West Frisian wiet, Swedish våt; English send, Dutch zenden, German senden; English meaning, Swedish mening, Icelandic meining, etc.). It also gives rise to false friends (e.g. English time vs Norwegian time, meaning "hour"; English gift vs German Gift, meaning "poison"), while differences in phonology can obscure words that really are related (tooth vs. German Zahn; compare also Danish tand). Sometimes both semantics and phonology are different (German Zeit ("time") is related to English "tide", but the English word, through a transitional phase of meaning "period"/"interval", has come primarily to mean gravitational effects on the ocean by the moon, though the original meaning is preserved in forms like tidings and betide, and phrases such as to tide over).

Many North Germanic words entered English due to the settlement of Viking raiders and Danish invasions which began around the 9th century. Many of these words are common words, often mistaken for being native, which shows how close-knit the relations between the English and the Scandinavian settlers were. Dutch and Low German also had a considerable influence on English vocabulary, contributing common everyday terms and many nautical and trading terms.

Finally, English has been forming compound words and affixing existing words separately from the other Germanic languages for over 1500 years and has different habits in that regard. For instance, abstract nouns in English may be formed from native words by the suffixes "‑hood", "-ship", "-dom" and "-ness". All of these have cognate suffixes in most or all other Germanic languages, but their usage patterns have diverged, as German "Freiheit" vs. English "freedom" (the suffix "-heit" being cognate of English "-hood", while English "-dom" is cognate with German "-tum"). The Germanic languages Icelandic and Faroese also follow English in this respect, since, like English, they developed independent of German influences.

Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker, especially when they are seen in writing (as pronunciations are often quite different), because English absorbed a large vocabulary from Norman and French, via Anglo-Norman after the Norman Conquest, and directly from French in subsequent centuries. As a result, a large portion of English vocabulary is derived from French, with some minor spelling differences (e.g. inflectional endings, use of old French spellings, lack of diacritics, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning of so-called false friends: for example, compare "library" with the French librairie, which means bookstore; in French, the word for "library" is bibliothèque. The pronunciation of most French loanwords in English (with the exception of a handful of more recently borrowed words such as mirage, genre, café; or phrases like coup d’état, rendez-vous, etc.) has become largely anglicised and follows a typically English phonology and pattern of stress (compare English "nature" vs. French nature, "button" vs. bouton, "table" vs. table, "hour" vs. heure, "reside" vs. résider, etc.).

Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the Chinese languages (depending on whether or not distinctions in the latter are classified as "languages" or "dialects").

Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on how literacy or mastery is defined and measured. Linguistics professor David Crystal calculates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.

The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order: United States (215 million), United Kingdom (61 million), Canada (18.2 million), Australia (15.5 million), Nigeria (4 million), Ireland (3.8 million), South Africa (3.7 million), and New Zealand (3.6 million) 2006 Census.

Countries such as the Philippines, Jamaica and Nigeria also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to a more standard version of English. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers ('Indian English'). Crystal claims that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world.

№ 2. English Lexicology. The English Word.

Lexicology is a branch of linguistics which studies words and their usage. Lexicology studies the meaning of a word, its structure, combinability, its formation: their nature and meaning, words' elements, relations between words (semantical relations), word groups and the whole lexicon.

The word "lexicology" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" (lexicon), neut. of "λεξικός" (lexikos), "of or for words",[1] from "λέξις" (lexis), "speech", "word",[2] (in turn from "λέγω" lego "to say", "to speak"[3]) + "-λογία", (-logia), "the study of", a suffix derived from "λόγος" (logos), amongst others meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, study, calculation, reason",[4] it turn also from "λέγω". So? It’s a branch of linguistics dealing with the study of the meaning, usage, derivation, and history of words and word elements.

It investigates different types of word groups. General lexicology studies linguistic laws, rules, processes in general, characteristic of various languages. Special lexicology either deals with a certain language. Or it studies the language from other aspects (historical, applied, descriptive, etc.).

Lexicology is connected with Grammar, Phonetics, Stylistics, History of this or that language and other linguistic disciplines.

Any language is also a system. For example, the significance of the word hand depends on its relationship with the word arm. Secondly, it’s a lexical system because it’s a system of words.

Within the system of the English language lexical units form some principal types of relationships: syntagmatic and paradigmatic (e.g. within such groups as synonyms, antonyms).

The basic unit of the lexicology is the word. To give definition to the word is a very difficult task as the word has many different aspects: it has its own sound form and some grammar forms. Also words are units of speech, they serve the purposes of human communication.

The modern approach to word studies distinguishes the external and the internal structures of the word. By the external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure: prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc. The internal structure of the word is its meaning or its semantic structure. The area of lexicology specializing in the semantic studies of the word is called semantics.

Another structural aspect of the word is its unity (единство). There are about 500 thousand words in the English language.

The question of motivation is connected with the meaning of a word. The majority of words do not show any motivation. However if it exists, it is of three types: 1) phonetic; 2) morphological (structural); 3) semantic. Very often we meet words with mixed motivation.

Since lexicology studies the meaning of words and their semantic relations, it often explores the origin and history of a word, i.e. its etymology. Etymologists analyse related languages using a technique known as the comparative method. In this way, word roots have been found that can be traced all the way back to the origin of, for instance, the Proto Indo-European language.

Etymology can be helpful in clarifying some questionable meanings, spellings, etc., and is also used in lexicography. For example, etymological dictionaries provide words with their historical origins, change and development.

A good example of lexicology at work, that everyone is familiar with, is that of dictionaries and thesaurus. Dictionaries are books or computer programs (or databases) that actually represent lexicographical work, they are opened and purposed for the use of public.

Computational lexicology as a related field (in the same way that computational linguistics is related to linguistics) deals with the computational study of dictionaries and their contents. An allied science to lexicology is lexicography, which also studies words in relation with dictionaries – it is actually concerned with the inclusion of words in dictionaries and from that perspective with the whole lexicon. Therefore lexicography is the theory and practice of composing dictionaries. Sometimes lexicography is considered to be a part or a branch of lexicology, but the two disciplines should not be mistaken: only lexicologists who do write dictionaries are lexicographers. It is said that lexicography is the practical lexicology, it is practically oriented though it has its own theory, while the pure lexicology is mainly theoretical.

As there are many different types of dictionaries, there are many different types of lexicographers.

Questions that lexicographers are concerned with are for example the difficulties in defining what simple words such as 'the' mean, and how compound or complex words, or words with many meanings can be clearly explained. Also which words to keep in and which not to include in a dictionary.

Lexicology is the study of the lexis, the library of words which make up a language. A lexis may also be referred to as a vocabulary; in both cases, the term is meant to encompass all of the words used in a language, including variants and archaic forms. People who work in the field of lexicology are known as lexicologists, and are often found working in academia. Several colleges and universities offer opportunities to study lexicology, including the lexicology of foreign languages.

A number of different areas of interest are combined in lexicology. People who study words are interested in the relationships between various words, the labeling of types of words, the exploration of word groups and their relationships, and the evolutions in word and language use which occur over time. A lexicologist can study regional differences in word use, and also look at the history of words studied, exploring their origins and seeing how their usage has deviated from their original meaning in situations where this is the case.

Linguistics figures heavily in lexicology, and many researchers in this field are also interested in semantics, the examination of meaning. A lexicologist may opt to study the lexis of any language, and can work with a wide variety of materials including original source texts which demonstrate historical word use, dictionaries, and other references. Commonly, knowledge of multiple languages is required to fully delve into word use and origins, especially since many modern languages freely borrow words from each other.

Specialists known as lexicographers work on texts such as dictionaries. These lexicology professionals write out words and their variants, research roots, and define meanings, developing texts which provide resources for people interested in word meanings and origins. Lexicologists are not necessarily involved with the production of dictionaries, though, and their work can be applied in all sorts of ways and from many perspectives.

People who are interested in careers in lexicology should plan on spending rather a lot of time in school, as many people in this field have doctorate degrees and have completed postgraduate work. It helps to have an interest in words and language and to be grounded in one or more foreign languages before entering this field of study. An eye for detail and an interest in history is also recommended for would-be lexicologists. This type of work requires precision and patience, paired with a passion for language.

№ 3. The development of the English vocabulary: Neutral, common literary and common colloquial vocabulary

The word-stock of any given language can be roughly divided into three uneven groups, differing from each other by the sphere of its possible use.

The biggest division is made up of neutral words, possessing no stylistic connotation and suitable for any communicative situation, two smaller ones are literary and colloquial strata respectively.

In order to get a more or less clear idea of the word-stock of nay language, it must be presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet independent. Some linguists, who clearly see the systematic character of language as a whole, deny, however, the possibility of systematically classifying the vocabulary. They say that he word-stock of any language is so large and so heterogeneous that it is impossible to formalize it and therefore present it in any system. The words of a language are thought of as a chaotic body whether viewed from their origin and development or from their present state.

Indeed, coinage of new lexical units, the development of meaning, the differentiation of words according to their stylistic evaluation and their spheres of usage, the correlation between meaning and concept and other problems connected with vocabulary are so multifarious and varied that it is difficult to grasp the systematic character of the word-stock of a language, though it coexist with the systems of other level-phonetics, morphology and syntax.

To deny the systematic character of the word-stock of a language amounts to denying the systematic character of language as a whole, words being elements in the general system of language.

The word-stock of a language may be represented as a definite system in which different aspects of words may be singled out as interdependent. A special branch of linguistic science lexicology has done much to classify vocabulary. A glance at the contents of any book on lexicology coil suffices to ascertain the outline of the system of the word-stock of the given language.

For our purpose, i.e. for linguistic stylistics, a special type of classification, stylistic classification, is most important.

In accordance with the already mentioned division of language into literary and colloquial, we may represent the whole of the word-stock of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers contain number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting.

The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. It is this that makes the layer the most stable of all.

The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary they have no local or dialectal character.

The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confined to a special locality where it circulates.

The literary vocabulary consist of the following groups of words: 1. common literary: 2. terms and learned words: 3. poetic words: 4. archaic words; 5. barbarisms and foreign words: 6. literary coinages including nonce-words.

The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1. common colloquial words: 2. slang: 3. jargons: 4. professional words: 5. dialectal words: 6. vulgar words: 7. colloquial coinages.

Neutral, common literary and common colloquial vocabulary: The word-stock of any language may be represented as a definite system in which different aspects of words may be singled out as interdependent. Aspect- the most typical characteristic of a word. The word-stock of any given language can be roughly divided into three uneven groups, differing from each other by the sphere of its possible use. The biggest layer of the English word-stock is made up of neutral words, possessing no stylistic connotation and suitable for any communicative situation, two smaller ones are and colloquial strata respectively. Literary words serve to satisfy communicative demands of official, scientific, poetic messages, while the colloquial ones are employed in non-official everyday communication. Though there is no immediate correlation between the written and the oral forms of speech on the one hand, and the literary and colloquial words, on the other, yet, for the most part, the first ones are mainly observed in the written form, as most literary messages appear in writing. And vice versa: though there are many examples of colloquialisms in writing (informal letters, diaries), their usage is associated with the oral form of communication. Consequently, taking for analysis printed materials we shall find literary words in authorial speech, descriptions, considerations, while colloquialisms will be observed in the types of discourse, simulating (copying) everyday oral communication-i.e., in the dialogue (or interior monologue) of a prose work.

When we classify some speech (text) fragment as literary or colloquial it does not mean that all the words constituting it have a corresponding stylistic meaning. More than that: words with a pronounced stylistic connotation are few in any type of discourse, the overwhelming majority of its lexis being neutral. As our famous philologist L.V. Shcherba once said- a stylistically coloured word is like a drop of paint added to a glass of pure water and colouring the whole of it.

The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively-spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. It is this that makes the layer the most stable of all. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character.

The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confined to a special locality where it circulates.

Each of the two named groups of words, possessing a stylistic meaning (literary and colloquial), is not homogeneous as to the quality of the meaning, frequency of use, sphere of application, or the number and character of potential users. This is why each one is further divided into the common (general), i.e. known to and used by native speakers in generalized literary (formal) or colloquial (informal) communication, and special bulks. The latter ones, in their turn, are subdivided into subgroups, each one serving a rather narrow, specified communicative purpose. 

The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words:

1.common literary; 2. terms and learned words; 3. poetic words; 4. archaic words; 5. barbarisms and foreign words; 6. literary coinages including nonce-words.

2.The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1. common colloquial words; 2. slang; 3. jargonisms; 4. professional words; 5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages.

The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary. Other groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literary vocabulary and those in the colloquial layer are regarded as special colloquial (non-literary) vocabulary. 

Neutral words, which form the bulk of the English vocabulary, are used in both literary and colloquial language. Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. It is the neutral stock of words that is so prolific in the production of new meanings new words by means of conversion, word compounding, word derivation. Unlike all other groups, the neutral group of words cannot be considered as having a special stylistic colouring, whereas both literary and colloquial words have a definite stylistic colouring.

Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech.  The following synonyms illustrate the relations that exist between the neutral, literary and colloquial words in the English language: kid-child-infant, daddy-father-parent, chap-fellow-associate, go on, continue, proceed. 

These synonyms are not only stylistic but ideographic as well, i.e. there is a definite, though slight, semantic difference between the words. But this is almost always the case with synonyms. There are very few absolute synonyms in English just as there are in any language. The main distinction between synonyms remains stylistic. But stylistic difference may be of various kinds: it may lie in the emotional colouring of a word, or in the sphere of application, or in the degree of the quality denoted. Colloquial words are always more emotionally coloured than literary ones. The neutral stratum of words, as the term itself implies, has no degree of emotiveness, nor have they any distinctions in the sphere of usage. Both literary and colloquial words have their upper and lower ranges. The lower range of literary words approaches the neutral layer and has a markedly obvious tendency to pass into that layer. The same may be said of the upper range of the colloquial layer: it can very easily pass into the neutral layer. The borderlines between common colloquial and neutral, on the one hand, and common literary and neutral, on the other, are blurred.  Common colloquial vocabulary overlaps into the standard English vocabulary and is therefore to be considered part of it. It borders both on the neutral vocabulary and on the special colloquial vocabulary. Both common literary and common colloquial words are not homogenious. Some of them are closer to the non-standard groups while other words approach the neutral bulk of the vocabulary. 

The stylistic function of the different strata of the English vocabulary depends mostly on their interaction when they are opposed to one another. 

№ 4. The development of the English vocabulary: Special literary vocabulary

Literary words, both general (also called learned, bookish, high-flown) and special, contribute to the message the tone of solemnity, sophistication, seriousness, gravity, learnedness. They are used in official papers and documents, in scientific communication, in high poetry, in authorial speech of creative prose.

a) Terms i.e. words denoting objects, processes, phenomena of science, humanities, technique.

The most essential characteristics of a term are  1) its highly conventional character. A term is generally very easily coined and easily accepted; and new coinages as easily replace out-dated ones. 2) its direct relevance to the system or set of terms used in a particular science, discipline or art, i. e. to its nomenclature. When a term is used our mind immediately associates it with a certain nomenclature. A term is directly connected with the concept it denotes. A term, unlike other words, directs the mind to the essential quality of the thing, phenomenon or action. Terms are mostly and predominantly used in special works dealing with the notions of some branch of science. Therefore it may be said that they belong to the style of language of science. But their use is not confined to this style. They may as well appear in other styles—in newspaper style, in publicistic and practically in all other existing styles of language. But their function in this case changes. They do not always fulfill their basic function, that of bearing exact reference to a given concept. When used in the belles-lettres style, for instance a term may acquire a stylistic function and consequently become a (sporadical – единичный)

This happens when a term is used in such a way that two meanings are materialized simultaneously.

The function of terms, if encountered in other styles, is either to indicate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt with, or to make some reference to the occupation of a character whose language would naturally contain special words and expressions, to create the environment of a special atmosphere.

Moreover, such an accumulation of special terminology often suggests that the author is displaying his erudition. Maxim Gorki said that terms must not be overused. It has been pointed out that those who are learning use far more complicated terms than those who have already learned. But when terms are used in their normal function as terms in a work of belles-lettres, they are or ought to be easily understood from the context so that the desired effect in depicting the situation will be secured. Whenever the terms used in the belles-lettres style set the reader at odds with the text, we can register a stylistic effect caused either by a specific use of terms in their proper meanings or by a simultaneous realization of two meanings.

With the increase of general education and the expansion of technique many words that were once terms have gradually lost their quality as terms and have passed into the common literary or even neutral vocabulary. This process may be called "de-terminization". Such words as 'radio', 'television' and the like have long been in common use and their terminological character is no longer evident.

b) Poetic and Highly Literary Words: Poetic words are mostly archaic or very rarely used highly literary words which aim at producing an elevated effect. Poetic words and expressions are called upon to sustain the special elevated atmosphere of poetry. This may be said to be the main function of poetic words.

V. V. Vinogradov gives the following properties of poetic words: poetic words and images veil the reality, stylizing it according to the established literary norms and canons. A word is torn away from its referent. 

Poetical tradition has kept alive such archaic words and forms as yclept (p. p. of the old verb clipian—to call, name); quoth (p. t. of cweð-an — to speak); eftsoons (eftsona,— again, soon after), thee (you) which are used even by modern ballad-mongers. 

Poetical words in an ordinary environment may also have a satirical function, showing them as conventional metaphors and stereotyped poetical expressions.

Poetical words and word-combinations can be likened to terms in that they do not easily yield to polysemy. They evoke emotive meanings. They colour the utterance with a certain air of loftiness, but generally fail to produce a genuine feeling of delight: through constant repetition they gradually become hackneyed for the purpose, too stale. And that is the reason that the excessive use of poeticisms at present calls forth protest and derision towards those who favour this conventional device. The use of poetic words does not as a rule create the atmosphere of poetry in the true sense; it is a substitute for real art.

c) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words: The word-stock of a language is in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning and sometimes drop out of the language altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones. Some words stay in the language a very long time and do not lose their faculty of gaining new meanings and becoming richer and richer polysemantically. Other words live but a short time and are like bubbles on the surface of water — they disappear leaving no trace of their existence.

We shall distinguish three stages in the aging process of words: The beginning of the aging process when the word becomes rarely used. Such words are called obsolescent, i.e. they are in the stage of gradually passing out of general use. To this category first of all belong morphological forms belonging to the earlier stages in the development of the language. In the English language these are the pronouns thou and its forms thee, thy – ‘your’ and thine - 'yours'; the corresponding verbal ending -est and the verb-forms art, wilt (thou makest, thou wilt); the ending -(e)th instead of -(e)s (he maketh) and the pronoun ye - 'you', used especially when you are speaking to more than one person The second group of archaic words are those that have already gone completely out of use but are still recognized by the English-speaking community: e. g. methinks (=it seems to me); nay (—no). These words are called obsolete.

The third group, which may be called archaic proper, are words which are no longer recognizable in modern English, words that were in use in Old English and which have either dropped out of the language entirely or have changed in their appearance so much that they have become unrecognizable, e. g. troth (=faith); a losel (=a worthless, lazy fellow). Both archaic and poetic words overlap and extend beyond the large circle "special literary vocabulary". This indicates that some of the words in these layers do not belong to the present-day English vocabulary.

The border lines between the groups are not distinct. In fact they interpenetrate. It is specially difficult to distinguish between obsolete and obsolescent words.  Another class of words here is historical words, denoting historical phenomena which are no more in use (such as "yeoman", "vassal", falconet"). They never disappear from the language. They have no synonyms, whereas archaic words have been replaced by modern synonyms. Archaic words are used to create a realistic background to historical novels. They carry a special volume of information adding to the logical aspect of communication. They also appear in the poetic style as special terms and in the style of official documents to maintain the exactness of expression: hereby, aforesaid, therewith. The low predictability of an archaism when it appears in ordinary speech produces the necessary satirical effect. Archaic words, word-forms and word-combinations are also used to create an elevated effect.

Language is specially moulded to suit a solemn occasion: all kinds of stylistic devices are used, and among them is the use of archaisms.

Stylistic functions of archaic words are based on the temporal perception of events described. Even when used in the terminological aspect, as for instance in law, archaic words will mark the utterance as being connected with something remote and the reader gets the impression that . he is faced with a time-honoured tradition.

(d) Barbarisms and Foreignisms: Barbarisms are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English language. They bear the appearance of a borrowing and are felt as something alien to the native tongue. Nevertheless most of what were formerly foreign borrowings are now, from a purely stylistic position, not regarded as foreign. But still there are some words which retain their foreign appearance to a greater or lesser degree. These words, which are called barbarisms, are, like archaisms, also considered to be on the outskirts of the literary language.

Most of them have corresponding English synonyms; e. g. chic (=stylish); Weltanschauung (=world-view); en passant (= in passing); ad infinitum (= to infinity) and many other words and phrases.

It is very important for purely stylistic purposes to distinguish between barbarisms and foreign words proper. Barbarisms are words which have already become facts of the English language. They are, part and parcel of the English word-stock, though they remain on the outskirts of the literary vocabulary. Foreign words though used for certain stylistic purposes, do not belong to the EV. They are not registered in dictionaries, whereas barbarisms are.  Foreign words are often italicized , barbarisms on the contrary, are not made conspicuous in the text.

There are foreign words in the EV which fulfil a terminological function (kolkhoz, ukase, udarnik) and reflect an objective reality of some country. Terminological borrowings have no synonyms; barbarisms- have. 

Their functions: to express a concept non-existant in English reality, to supply local colour as a background to the narrative, reproduce actual manner of speech and environment of the hero, to elevate the language (words which we don’t quite understand have a peculiar charm), “exactifying” function – to express some exact meaning (au revoir vs. good-bye). 

e) Literary Coinages (Including Nonce-Words): Neologism - 'a new word or a new meaning for an established word.' 

Every period in the development of a language produces an enormous number of new words or new meanings of established words. Most of them do not live long. They are not meant to live long. They are coined for use at the moment of speech, and therefore possess a peculiar property —that of temporariness. The given word or meaning holds only in the given context and is meant only to "serve the occasion."

However, such is the power of the written language that a word or a meaning used only to serve the occasion, when once fixed in writing, may become part and parcel of the general vocabulary. 

The coining of new words generally arises first of all with the need to designate new concepts resulting from the development of science and also with the need to express nuances of meaning called forth by a deeper understanding of the nature of the phenomenon in question. It may also be the result of a search for a more economical, brief and compact form of utterance which proves to be a more expressive means of communicating the idea. The first type of newly coined words, i.e. those which designate newborn concepts, may be named terminological coinages. The second type, i.e. words coined because their creators seek expressive utterance may be named stylistic coinages.

Among new coinages of a literary-bookish type must be mentioned a considerable layer of words appearing in the publicistic style, mainly in newspaper articles and magazines and also in the newspaper style— mostly in newspaper headlines. Another type of neologism is the nonce-word – a word coined to suit one particular occasion. They rarely pass into the standard language and remind us of the writers who coined them.

№ 5. The development of the English vocabulary: Special colloquial vocabulary.

Colloquial words mark the message as informal, non-official, conversational. Apart from general colloquial words, widely used by all speakers of the language in their everyday communication (e. g. "dad", "kid", "crony", "fan", "to pop", "folks").

a) Slang: There is hardly any other term that is as ambiguous and obscure as the term slang. Slang seems to mean everything that is below the standard of, usage of present-day English.

Slang [origin unknown] - language peculiar to a particular group: as a: the special and often secret vocabulary used by a class (as thieves, beggars) and usu. felt to be vulgar or inferior: argot; b: the jargon used by or associated with a particular trade, profession, or field of activity; 2: a non-standard vocabulary composed of words and senses characterized primarily by connotations of extreme informality and usu. a currency not limited to a particular region and composed typically of coinages or arbitrarily changed words, clipped or shortened forms, extravagant, forced or facetious figures of speech, or verbal novelties usu. experiencing quick popularity and relatively rapid decline into disuse. - words or expressions that are very informal and are not considered suitable for more formal situations. Some slang is used only by a particular group of people (Macmillan).  Slang words, used by most speakers in very informal communication, are highly emotive and expressive and as such, lose their originality rather fast and are replaced by newer formations. This tendency to synonymic expansion results in long chains of synonyms of various degrees of expressiveness, denoting one and the same concept. So, the idea of a "pretty girl" is worded by more than one hundred ways in slang.

In only one novel by S. Lewis there are close to a dozen synonyms used by Babbitt, the central character, in reference to a girl: "cookie", "tomato", "Jane", "sugar", "bird", "cutie", etc.

b) Jargonisms: Jargonism is a recognized term for a group of words that exists in almost every language and whose aim is to preserve secrecy within one or another social group. Jargonisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them. Most of the jargonisms of any language, and of the English language too, are absolutely incomprehensible to those outside the social group which has invented them. They may be defined as a code within a code, that is special meanings of words that are imposed on the recognized code—the dictionary meaning of the words.

Thus the word grease means 'money'; loaf means 'head'; a tiger hunter is 'a gambler'; a lexer is 'a student preparing for a law course'.

Jargonisms are social in character. They are not regional. In Britain and in the US almost any social group of people has its own jargon. The following jargons are well known in the English language: the jargon of thieves and vagabonds, generally known as cant; the jargon of jazz people; the jargon of the army, known as military slang; the jargon of sportsmen, and many others.

Jargonisms, like slang and other groups of the non-literary layer, do not always remain on the outskirts of the literary language. Many words have overcome the resistance of the language lawgivers and purists and entered the standard vocabulary. Thus the words kid, fun, queer, bluff, fib, humbug, formerly slang words or jargonisms, are now considered common colloquial. They may be said to be dejargonized.

c) Professionalisms: Professionalisms are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. Professionalisms are correlated to terms. Terms, as has already been indicated, are coined to nominate new concepts that appear in the process of, and as a result of, technical progress and the development of science. In distinction from slang, jargonisms and professionalisms cover a narrow semantic field, for example connected with the technical side of some profession. Professional words name anew already-existing concepts, tools or instruments, and have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of a professionalism is its technicality. Professionalisms are special words in the non-literary layer of the English vocabulary, whereas terms are a specialized group belonging to the literary layer of words. Professionalisms are not known to simple people.

d) Dialectal words: Dialectal words are those which in the process of integration of the English national language remained beyond its literary boundaries, and their use is generally confined to a definite locality. We exclude here what are called social dialects or even the still looser application of the term as in expressions like poetical dialect or styles as dialects. Dialectal words are normative and devoid of any stylistic meaning in regional dialects, but used outside of them, carry a strong flavour of the locality where they belong. DW has application limited to a certain group of people or to certain communicative situations.

e) Vulgar words or vulgarisms: Vulgarisms are:

1) expletives and swear words which are of an abusive character, like 'damn', 'bloody', 'to hell', 'goddam' and, as some dictionaries state, used now, as general exclamations;

2) obscene words. These are known as four-letter words the use of which is banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent. 

The function of expletives is almost the same as that of interjections, that is to express strong emotions, mainly annoyance, anger, vexation and the like. They are not to be found in any functional style of language except emotive prose, and here only in the direct speech of the characters. 

f) Colloquial coinages (words and meanings): Colloquial coinages (nonce-words), unlike those of a literary-bookish character, are spontaneous and elusive. Not all of the colloquial nonce-words are fixed in dictionaries or even in writing and therefore most of them disappear from the language leaving no trace in it.

Unlike literary-bookish coinages, nonce-words of a colloquial nature are not usually built by means of affixes but are based on certain semantic changes in words that are almost imperceptible to the linguistic observer until the word finds its way into print.

№ 6. Ways of enriching the vocabulary: Affixation. Word-compounding

Affixation is a productive way of word-formation. It is creating new words by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme.

The analysis of such words can be done on two levels:

1)morphemic (we analyze morphemes which build words);

2)derivational (words are analyzed from the point of view of their structure – complex or not).

Simple words contain only the primary stem (man, girl, take, go). Derived or compound words also contain derivational affixes.

Prefixes mostly modify the lexical meaning of the word:

Suffixes do change the meaning of the word, but also they can change the lexico-grammatical class of the word (the part of speech).

It must be said that there are two types of prefixes:

1. those that can be used as independent words (free morphemes) (like in the words to undercook – to go under);

2. those that can’t function independently (bound morphemes) (mis- - to misunderstand).

As a rule prefixes do not change the part of speech, but there are several of them which do so. That’s why they are called convertive (changing the form/ the part of speech).

Prefixes can be classified according to their origin. Here they can be divided into native and borrowed.

Prefixes can also be classified into productive (which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development) and non-productive. Prefixes can belong to different styles.

According to their meaning English prefixes are grouped the following way (the major groups):

2. those of negative meaning (dis- - disloyal);

3. those denoting words with the opposite meaning or with the meaning of repetition of some action (un- - undress);

4. those denoting space, time and other relations (pre- - prewar).

The main classification of suffixes is based on the parts of speech. There can be:

1. noun suffixes (-dom – freedom);

2. adjectival (adjective forming) suffixes (-ful –wonderful);

3. verb-forming suffixes (-en – to shorten);

4. adverb suffixes (-ly).

From the point of view of meaning noun suffixes indicate a doer of an action; the relation of possession, belonging to some group; collectivity and other similar notions; diminutiveness; feminine gender.

As for other peculiarities of English suffixes, there are those that change the part of speech and those that don’t do it (grey - greyish).

The semantic type of the word can be changed with the help of some suffixes. For example, some words denoting objects become abstract (leader – leadership).

As well as prefixes, English suffixes can be stylistically coloured or neutral.

Since any living language can develop, there are some changes in the meaning of its affixes. That’s why we have such phenomena as polysemy, homonymy and synonymy of affixes. It’s only natural that affixes have several meanings. Even the most famous ones.

-er – 1) a doer of some action (a living being);

2) an object (boiler);

3) a person who is in some state (watcher);

4) distinguishes a feature of a man (chatter).

1) adverb-forming (quietly, readily);

By productive affixes we mean those that take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms (new words and occasional words).

From the etymological point of view affixes are divided into the same two large groups as words: native and borrowed. For the affix to be called borrowed the total number of words with this affix must be considerable in the new language.

Word-compounding: Word-compounding is a way of forming new words combining two or more stems. It’s important to distinguish between compound words and word-combinations, because sometimes they look or sound alike. It happens because compounds originate directly from word-combinations.

The major feature of compounds is their inseparability of various kinds: graphic, semantic, phonetic, morphological.

There is also a syntactic criterion which helps us to distinguish between words and word combinations. For example, between the constituent parts of the word-group other words can be inserted (a tall handsome boy).

In most cases the structural and semantic centre of the compound word lies on the second component. It shows what part of speech the word is. The function of the first element is to modify, to determine the second element. Such compounds (with the structural and semantic centre “in” the word) are called endocentric.

There are also exocentric compounds where the centre lies outside (pickpocket).

Another type of compound words is called bahuvrihi – compound nouns or adjectives consisting of two parts: the first being an adjective, the second – a noun.

There are several ways to classify compounds. Firstly, they can be grouped according to their part of speech. Secondly, compounds are grouped according to the way the stems are linked together: morphological compounds (few in number); syntactic compounds (from segments of speech, preserving articles, prepositions, adverbs).

The third classification is according to the combinability of compounding with other ways of word-formation:

1) compounds proper (formed by a mere juxtaposition of two stems);

2) derived or derivational compounds (have affixes in their structure);

3) converted compounds;

4) contractive compounds (based on shortening);

5) compounds based on back formation;

Beside lexical meanings the components of a compound word have distributional and differential meanings. By distributional meaning we understand the order, the arrangement of the stems in the word. The differential meaning helps to distinguish two compounds possessing the same element.

The structural meaning of a compound may be described through the interrelation of its components. e.g. N + Adj (heart-sick – the relation of cpmparison).

In most cases compounds are motivated. They can be completely motivated, partially motivated, unmotivated. In partially motivated compounds one of the components (or both) has changed its original meaning. The meaning of unmotivated compounds has nothing to do with the meanings of their individual parts.

As for special groups of compounds, here we distinguish:

a) reduplicative compounds;

b) ablaut combinations;

c) rhyme combinations.

There’s a certain group of words that stand between compounds and derived. These are words with so called semi-affixes: kiss proof (about lipstick), fireproof, foolproof.

№ 7. Ways of enriching the vocabulary: Сonversion.

Еnglish is a very productive language. Due to its versatile nature, it can undergo many different word formation processes to create new lexicon. Some of them are much lexicalised—such as derivation or compounding. However, new trends are pointing up in the productive field. This is the case of the minor methods of word-formation—i.e. clipping, blending—and conversion. As they are recent phenomena, they have not been much studied yet. Even scholars differ in their opinions about the way they should be treated. There is only one point they all agree with: these new methods are becoming more frequently used. For example, conversion will be more active in the future, and so, it will create a great part of the new words appearing in the English language.

In linguistics conversion is a type of word-formation; it is a process of creating a new word in a different part of speech without adding any derivational element. The morphemic shape of the original word remains unchanged. There are changes in the syntactical function of the original word, its part of speech and meaning.

The question of conversion has been a controversial one in several aspects. The term conversion was first used by Henry Sweet at the end of the 19^th century. The nature of conversion has been analyzed by several linguists. A number of terms have been offered to describe the process in question.

The most objective treatment of conversion belongs to Victoria Nikolaevna Yartseva. According to her, it is a combined morphological, syntactical and semantic way of word-formation.

The process was called “non-affixal derivation” (Galperin) or “zero derivation”. These terms have drawbacks, because there can be other examples of non-affixal or zero derivation which are not connected with the process described at the beginning of the lecture.

The term “functional change” (by Arthur Kennedy) also has short-comings. The term implies that the first word merely changes its function and no new word appears. It isn’t possible.

The word conversion we use talking about this way of word-formation is not perfect as well. It means the transformation of something into another thing, the disappearance of the first word. But the old and the new words exist together.

The largest group related through conversion consists of verbs converted from nouns. The relations of the conversion pair in this case can be of the following kind:

1) instrumental relations;

2) relations reflecting some characteristic of the object;

3) locative relations;

4) relations of the reverse process, the deprivation of the object.

The second major division of converted words is deverbial nouns (nouns converted from verbs).

They denote:

1) an instance of some process;

2) the object or the result of some action;

3) the place where the action occurs;

4) the agent or the instrument of the action.

Conversion is not only a highly productive but also a particularly English way of word-building. There are a lot of words in the English language that are short and morphologically unmarked (don’t indicate any part of speech). By short words we mean monosyllables, such words are naturally more mobile and flexible than polysyllables.

In English verbs and nouns are specially affected by conversion. Conversion has restrictions. It’s impossible to use conversion if verbs cannot represent some process as a succession of isolated actions. Besides, the structure of the first word shouldn’t be complicated.

Conversion is typical not only of nouns, verbs and adjectives, but other parts of speech as well, even such minor elements as interjections and prepositions or shortened words.

Conversion is particularly common in English because the basic form of nouns and verbs is identical in many cases. It is usually impossible in languages with grammatical genders, declensions or conjugations.

The status of conversion is a bit unclear. It must be undoubtedly placed within the phenomena of word-formation; nevertheless, there are some doubts about whether it must be considered a branch of derivation or a separate process by itself (with the same status as derivation or compounding).

Despite this undetermined position in grammar, some scholars assert that conversion will become even more active in the future because it is a very easy way to create new words in English. There is no way to know the number of conversions appearing every day in the spoken language, although we know this number must be high. As it is a quite recent phenomenon, the written evidence is not a fully reliable source. We will have to wait a little longer to understand its whole impact, which will surely increase in importance in the next decades.

Conversion is extremely productive to increase the English lexicon because it provides an easy way to create new words from existing ones. Thus, the meaning is perfectly comprehensible and the speaker can rapidly fill a meaningful gap in his language or use fewer words. "Conversion is a totally free process and any lexeme can undergo conversion into any of the open form classes as the need arises" . This means that any word form can be shifted to any word class, especially to open classes—nouns, verbs, etc.—and that there are not morphological restrictions. Up to date, there has only been found one restriction: derived nouns rarely undergo conversion (particularly not to verbs). This exception is easily understood: if there already exists one word in the language, the creation of a new term for this same concept will be blocked for the economy of language. For example, the noun 'denial' (7) will never shift into a verb because this word already derives from the verb 'deny' (8). In that case, the conversion is blocked because 'to deny' (8) and '*to denial' would mean exactly the same. However, there are some special cases in which this process seems to happen without blocking. This can be exemplified in the noun 'sign' (1), converted into the verb 'to sign' (2), changed by derivation (suffixation) into the noun 'signal' (9) and converted into a new verb, 'to signal' (10). In this case there is no blocking because these words have slight semantic differences.

It must be pointed out that the process of conversion has some semantic limitations: a converted word only assumes one of the range of meanings of the original word. For example, the noun 'paper' has various meanings, such as "newspaper" (11), "material to wrap things" (12)... The denominal verb, though, only contains the sense of putting that material on places like walls. This shows the converted item has only converted part of the semantic field of the source item.

The aim of conversion varies with the user. Adults convey it to use fewer words, whereas children perform it in order to be understood, although they frequently produce ungrammatical utterances (Aitchison, 1989: 161). Anyway, it always helps to make communication easier. Thus, trying to gather this double functional raison d'être we have compiled our corpus of examples from international newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times or Newsweek, and popular literature, such as the teenagers' magazines Smash Hits and Teens. The complete list of extracts can be found in the appendix.

There are many cases in which the process of conversion is evident. Nevertheless, conversion is not as simple as it may seem: the process is easily recognisable because both words are graphically identical; the direction of this process, though, is sometimes nearly impossible to determine. This is not very important for the speaker: he just needs a simple way to cover a gap in the language. As this paper tries to give a comprehensive vision on conversion, it will attempt to establish the direction of the process. Therefore, both the original category and the derived one will be mentioned.

The criterion to establish the original and derived item has been taken from Marchand. It focuses on several aspects:

• the semantic dependence (the word that reports to the meaning of the other is the derivative)

• the range of usage (the item with the smaller range of use is the converted word),

• the semantic range (the one with less semantic fields is the shifted item)

• and the phonetic shape (some suffixes express the word-class the item belongs to and, if it does not fit, this is the derivative).

After this analysis, intuition is still important. Verbs tend to be abstract because they represent actions and nouns are frequently concrete because they name material entities. Conversion is quickly related to shift of word-class. With this respect, it mainly produces nouns, verbs and adjectives. The major cases of conversion are from noun to verb and from verb to noun. Conversion from adjective to verb is also common, but it has a lower ratio. Other grammatical categories, including closed-class ones, can only shift to open-class categories, but not to closed-class ones (prepositions, conjunctions). In addition, it is not rare that a simple word shifts into more than one category.

Conversion from verb to noun

We shall first study the shift from verb to noun. It can be regarded from seven different points of view. These subclassifications are not well defined in many cases. The same pair of converted words can be placed into two different categories depending on the subjectivity of their meaning. Nouns coming from verbs can express state of mind or state of sensation, like in the nouns 'experience' , 'fear' , 'feel' or 'hope' . Nouns can also name events or activities, such is the case of 'attack' , 'alert(s)' and 'laugh(s)' . The object of the verb from which the noun is derived can be observed in 'visit' (with the sense of that which visits), 'increase' (that which increases), 'call' and 'command'. In the fourth division the noun refers to the subject of the original verb. Examples of this kind are 'clone' (the living being that is cloned), 'contacts' or 'judge'. Other nouns show the instrument of the primitive verb, like in 'cover' (something to cover with) and 'start'. Finally, a place of the verb can also be nominalised, like in 'turn' (where to turn) or 'rise'.

Conversion from noun to verb

Verbs converted from nouns have also many subclassifications. They can express the action of putting in or on the noun, such as in pocket(ed) (to put into the pocket), 'film(ing)' (to put into a film) and 'practice' . These verbs can also have the meaning of "to provide with (the noun)" or "to give (the noun)", like 'name' (to give a name to somebody), 'shape' ( (to give shape to something) or 'fuel(s)'. The verbs belonging to the third division will express the action done with the noun as instrument. It can be exemplified with 'hammer' (to hit a nail by means of a hammer), 'yo-yo' (to play with a yo-yo) 'dot' or 'brake' (braking). Another group of verbs has the meaning of to act as the noun with respect to something, as exemplified in 'host(ed)' (to act as the host of a house). Other subclassification has the sense of making something into the original noun, like in 'schedule(d)' (to arrange into a schedule) and 'rule'. The last group means to send by means of the noun, that is the case of 'ship(ped)' or 'telephone(d)' (in an abstract sense).

Conversion from adjective to verb

Adjectives can also go through the process of conversion, especially to verbs. De-adjectival verbs get the meaning of "to make (adjective)". It can be easily seen by means of examples like 'black(ed)' (to make black), 'open' , 'slow(ing)'... In some cases, when these transitive verbs are used intransitively, a secondary conversion may happen, as it will be explained later on.

Conversion from a closed category to any other category

Closed-class categories can also undergo conversion. Although their frequency is much less common, the process is not ungrammatical. All morphologic categories have examples of this kind. Prepositions are probably the most productive ones. They can easily become adverbs, nouns and verbs. This is the case of 'up' and 'out'. Conversion to noun may as well occur in adverbs like in 'outside' and 'inside'; conjunctions, as regarded in 'ifs' and 'buts'; interjections and non-lexical items, like 'ho ho ho's' and 'ha ha ha' ; affixes such as 'mini-' can appear as noun and proper noun .... Conversion to verb is frequent in onomatopoeic expressions like 'buzz', 'beep' or 'woo(ing)'. Finally, phrase compounds can appear as adjectives, such as in 'borrow-the-mower', 'down-to-earth' or 'now-it-can-be-told' .

Partial conversion

Conversion from noun to adjective and adjective to noun is rather a controversial one. It is called 'partial conversion" by Quirk and Cannon and 'syntactic process' by Bauer юThis peculiar process occurs when "a word of one class appears in a function which is characteristic of another word class". Most of these cases should not be treated as conversion but as nouns functioning as adjectives and vice versa.

Conversion from noun to adjective

There are some clues, though, to make sure conversion has taken place. In the case of adjectives coming from nouns, the hints are quite easy: they can be considered as cases of conversion only when they can appear in predicative as well as in attributive form. If the denominal adjective can be used attributively, we can affirm conversion has happened. If it can only appear predicatively, it is merely a case of partial conversion. 'Mahogany music box' can be used in an attributive way, "the music box is mahogany". This implies 'mahogany' is a denominal adjective. However, in the predicative phrase 'antiques dealers' we cannot treat 'antiques' as an adjective because the attributive form of this expression is ungrammatical (*dealers are antique). Another way to make sure we are in front of a case of conversion is to change a word for another similar one. For example, in 'Dutch Auction' we are sure the word 'Dutch' is an adjective because it has the specific form of adjective. Therefore, in 'South Jersey Auction' or 'Texas Auction' we can affirm these are cases of denominal adjectives.

Conversion from adjective to noun

Adjectives can also shift into nouns, though it is not very frequent. It mainly happens in well-established patterns of adjective plus noun phrase. Nominalisation occurs when the noun is elided and the adjective is widely used as a synonym of an existing set pattern. This could be the case of 'a Chinese favorite'

The adjective nature in cases of partial conversion is evident, though. They are nouns from the point of view that they appear in the same syntactic position. Their grammatical nature, though, is a different one. These adjectives can still be changed to the comparative and superlative form (adjective nature). This can be exemplified in 'worst' and 'merrier'. However, these adjectives cannot behave as nouns: if their number or case is changed, they will produce ungrammatical sentences. This can be seen in the case of 'more' in cases like "*the mores we get". If the '-s' for the plural is added to any of these items, we would get ungrammatical sentences. The case of 'cutie' (70), though, could be argued. It seems to be much used and established within certain groups. This could have converted it into a lexicalised example of adjective to noun.

Conversion within noun categories

The noun category can undergo four different kinds of secondary conversion. First, an uncountable noun can shift to a countable noun, like in the case of 'supplies' . It can also happen the other way round, a countable noun can become an uncountable one by becoming abstract, such as in 'cabaret' , 'chief' and 'touch' . A third case occurs when a proper noun is converted into a common noun, as can be seen in 'diesel(s)' (person's name), 'Bordeaux' (usually related to high-quality French wines but not necessarily made in that particular city), 'yo-yo' (trademark) or 'Stradivarius' (famous maker of violins). Thus, this category can be rephrased as "a product of the (proper noun)". The fourth and final type happens when nouns shift from their static nature to a dynamic meaning when they follow the progressive of the verb 'to be'. Examples of this kind are 'student' (78), 'president' (79) and 'trouper' (80). These cases assume the meaning of "temporary role or activity". This fourth type is a product of the dynamic nature of the tense of the verb; it is not a characteristic of the noun by itself. This means that these nouns would return to their static nature by eliding the progressive form.

Conversion within verb categories

Verbs may undergo four different types of conversion. The first one happens when an intransitive verb is used transitively. This type has the meaning of "to cause to (verb)". Examples of this kind are 'worked a computer' (81), 'stop the manual recount' (82) and 'run the day-to-day operations' (83). Transitive verbs can also be used intransitively, that is the case of 'closed' (84). This category has been previously converted from adjective to verb, and, afterwards, it has experienced a secondary conversion from transitive to intransitive verb. In this sense, the verb would change the meaning from "to make close" (85) (transitive use) to "to become closed" (intransitive use) (84). A third type involves intransitive nouns converted into copulas. Examples like 'sat frozen' (86), 'grew silent' (87), 'were nailed shut' (88) or 'go global' (89) are quite current in daily conversations for the economy of language. In the case of 'sat frozen' (86) the strongest meaning remains with the verb, while, in the other two examples, the resulting meaning of the adjective prevails over the verbal one. Finally, verbs also shift form a monotransitive nature to a complex transitive one. Verbs commonly used with a unique object—direct or indirect—shift their behaviour and take more than one complement, as it can be seen in examples (90), (91) and (92). In 'won him the award' (90), the verb 'win' takes an indirect object and a direct one, although it usually takes only one direct one. The verb 'make' in 'make it a cabaret' (91) takes two different direct objects as well as the verb 'find' in 'find it very satisfying' (92).

Conversion within adjective categories

The adjective category can only be converted in two different ways. Like in the case of nouns, the static nature of adjectives can shift to a dynamic one because of the influence of the progressive form of the verb 'to be', such as in 'accused' (93). The other case happens when non-gradable adjectives turn into gradable ones. This category, though, is rather difficult to find. This gradation happens in 'incredulous' (94).

Conversion within adverb categories

Adverbs may also undergo secondary conversions within themselves. For example, the adverb 'still' can have a temporal sense (37) or be a manner adverb (9

Marginal cases of conversion

There are some few cases of conversion in which there are slight non-affixal changes. These can be considered marginal cases of conversion (Bauer, 1983: 228-229). Although the shift takes place, they are called "marginal" because of the alterations produced in the word. Words belonging to this category are a close and long-established set. This marginal group can be divided regarding two different aspects: the pronunciation and the word-stress.

Most new words are not as new as we tend to think. They are just readjustments within the same language, like additions to existing items or recombination of elements. This is where the field of action of conversion may be placed, and that is why this type of morphological studies reveals interesting aspects in the diachronic evolution of the English language. There are evident cases of conversion from one part of speech to another, unclear cases in which the grammatical category is not definitely shifted, secondary changes within the same word and marginal cases where the change has produced slight modifications. The real examples provided indicate the high frequency of this process. It is quite a common phenomenon is everyday English. In addition, it is not a great source of problems for nonnative speakers and translators because the meaning of converted items is easily recognisable. However, nonnatives and translators are strongly advised to be taught conversion so that their passive knowledge of it can be turned into an active skill, with the subsequent lexical enlargement for their everyday communication.

№ 8. Ways of enriching the vocabulary: Shortening. Abbreviation

Shortening stands apart from other ways of word-formation because it doesn’t produce new words. It produces variants of the same word. The differences between the new and the original word are in style, sometimes in their meaning.

There are two major groups of shortenings (colloquial and written abbreviations). Among shortenings there can be polysemantic units as well.

Shortenings are classified a) according to the position of the shortened part of the word (clipped words), b) into shortened word combinations, c) into abbreviations, d) into blendings.

Among clipped words there are cases of apocope, aphaeresis, and syncope. Abbreviations can be read as in the alphabet, as one word.

An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv. or abbrev.

In strict analysis, abbreviations should not be confused with contractions or acronyms (including initialisms), with which they share some semantic and phonetic functions, though all three are connoted by the term "abbreviation" in loose parlance. An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction of a word is made by omitting certain letters or syllables and bringing together the first and last letters or elements; an abbreviation may be made either by omitting certain portions from the interior or by cutting off a part. A contraction is an abbreviation, but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction. However, normally acronyms are regarded as a subgroup of abbreviations (e.g. by the Council of Science Editors).

Abbreviations can also be used to give a different context to the word itself, such as "PIN Number" (wherein if the abbreviation were removed the context would be invalid).

Abbreviation has been used as long as phonetic script has existed, in some senses actually being more common in early literacy, where spelling out a whole word was often avoided, initial letters commonly being used to represent words in specific application. By classical Greece and Rome, the reduction of words to single letters was still normal, but can default.

An increase in literacy has, historically, sometimes spawned a trend toward abbreviation. The standardisation of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included such a growth in the use of abbreviation. At first, abbreviations were sometimes represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. For example, sequences like ‹er› were replaced with ‹ɔ›, as in ‹mastɔ› for master and ‹exacɔbate› for exacerbate. While this may seem trivial, it was symptomatic of an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce the copy time. An example from the Oxford University Register, 1503: Mastɔ subwardenɔ y ɔmēde me to you. And wherɔ y wrot to you the last wyke that y trouyde itt good to differrɔ thelectionɔ ovɔ to quīdenaɔ tinitatis y have be thougħt me synɔ that itt woll be thenɔ a bowte mydsomɔ.

During the growth of philological linguistic theory in academic Britain, abbreviating became very fashionable. The use of abbreviation for the names of "Father of modern etymology" J. R. R. Tolkien and his friend C. S. Lewis, and other members of the Oxford literary group known as the Inklings, are sometimes cited as symptomatic of this. Likewise, a century earlier in Boston, a fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with the globally popular term OK generally credited as a remnant of its influence.

After World War II, the British greatly reduced their use of the full stop and other punctuation points after abbreviations in at least semi-formal writing, while the Americans more readily kept such use until more recently, and still maintain it more than Britons. The classic example, considered by their American counterparts quite curious, was the maintenance of the internal comma in a British organisation of secret agents called the "Special Operations, Executive" — "S.O.,E" — which is not found in histories written after about 1960.

But before that, many Britons were more scrupulous at maintaining the French form. In French, the period only follows an abbreviation if the last letter in the abbreviation is not the last letter of its antecedent: "M." is the abbreviation for "monsieur" while "Mme" is that for "madame". Like many other cross-channel linguistic acquisitions, many Britons readily took this up and followed this rule themselves, while the Americans took a simpler rule and applied it rigorously.

Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with periods and which should not. The U.S. media tend to use periods in two-word abbreviations like United States (U.S.), but not personal computer (PC) or television (TV). Many British publications have gradually done away with the use of periods in abbreviations.

Minimization of punctuation in typewritten material became economically desirable in the 1960s and 1970s for the many users of carbon-film ribbons, since a period or comma consumed the same length of non-reusable expensive ribbon as did a capital letter.

Widespread use of electronic communication through mobile phones and the Internet during the 1990s allowed for a marked rise in colloquial abbreviation. This was due largely to increasing popularity of textual communication services such as instant- and text messaging. SMS, for instance, supports message lengths of 160 characters at most (using the GSM 03.38 character set). This brevity gave rise to an informal abbreviation scheme sometimes called Textese, with which 10% or more of the words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated. More recently Twitter, a popular social network service, began driving abbreviation use with 140 character message limits.

In modern English there are several conventions for abbreviations, and the choice may be confusing. The only rule universally accepted is that one should be consistent, and to make this easier, publishers express their preferences in a style guide. Questions which arise include those in the following subsections.

If the original word was capitalised, then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Lev. for Leviticus. When abbreviating words that are originally spelled with lower case letters, there is no need for capitalisation.

A period (full stop) is sometimes written after an abbreviated word, but there are exceptions and a general lack of consensus about when this should happen.

In British English, according to Hart's Rules, the general rule is that abbreviations (in the narrow sense that includes only words with the ending, and not the middle, dropped) terminate with a full stop (period), whereas contractions (in the sense of words missing a middle part) do not.

Example Category Short form Source

Doctor Contraction Dr D–r

Professor Abbreviation Prof. Prof...

The Reverend Contraction (or Abbreviation) Revd (or Rev.) Rev–d

The Right Honourable Contraction and Abbreviation Rt Hon. R–t Hon...

In American English, the period is usually included. In some cases periods are optional, as in either US or U.S. for United States, EU or E.U. for European Union, and UN or U.N. for United Nations.

A third standard removes the full stops from all abbreviations. The U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices advises that periods should not be used with abbreviations on road signs, except for cardinal directions as part of a destination name. (For example, "Northwest Blvd", "W. Jefferson", and "PED XING" all follow this recommendation.)

Acronyms that were originally capitalised (with or without periods) but have since entered the vocabulary as generic words are no longer written with capital letters nor with any periods. Examples are sonar, radar, lidar, laser, snafu, and scuba.

Spaces are generally not used between single letter abbreviations of words in the same phrase, so one almost never encounters "U. S.".

When an abbreviation appears at the end of a sentence, only one period is used: The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C.

To form the plural of an abbreviation, a number, or a capital letter used as a noun, simply add a lowercase s to the end.

A group of MPs

The roaring 20s

Mind your Ps and Qs

To indicate the plural of the abbreviation of a unit of measure, the same form is used as in the singular.

1 lb or 20 lb.

1 ft or 16 ft.

1 min or 45 min.

When an abbreviation contains more than one full point, Hart's Rules recommends to put the s after the final one.

Ph.D.s

M.Phil.s

the d.t.s

However, subject to any house style or consistency requirement, the same plurals may be rendered less formally as:

PhDs

MPhils

the DTs. (This is the recommended form in the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors.)

According to Hart's Rules, an apostrophe may be used in rare cases where clarity calls for it, for example when letters or symbols are referred to as objects.

The x's of the equation

Dot the i's and cross the t's

However, the apostrophe can be dispensed with if the items are set in italics or quotes:

The xs of the equation

Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's

In Latin, and continuing to the derivative forms in European languages as well as English, single-letter abbreviations had the plural being a doubling of the letter for note-taking. Most of these deal with writing and publishing. A few longer abbreviations use this as well. Singular abbreviation Singular Word Plural abbreviation Plural Word Discipline

d. didot dd. didots typography

f. following line or page ff. following lines or pages notes

F. folio Ff. folios literature

h. hand hh. hands horse height

l. line ll. lines notes

MS manuscript MSS manuscripts notes

op. opus opp. opera notes

p. page pp. pages notes

P. pope PP. popes

Q. quarto Qq. quartos literature

s. (or §) section ss. (or §§) sections notes

v. volume vv. volumes notes

An abbreviation is a short way of writing a word or a phrase that could a lso be written out in full. So, for example, you might write Dr Kinsey inste ad of Doctor Kinsey. Here Dr is an abbreviation for the word Doctor. Likewise, the phrase for example can sometimes be abbreviated to e.g.

Abbreviations must be clearly distinguished from contractions. The key difference is that an abbreviation does not normally have a distinctive pronunciation of its own. So, for example, the abbreviation Dr is pronounced just like Doctor, the abbreviation oz is pronounced just like ounce(s) and the abbreviation e.g. is pronounced just like for example. (True, there are a few people who actually say "ee-jee" for the last one, but this practice is decidedly unusual.) A contraction, in contrast, does have its own distinctive pronunciation: for example, the contraction can't is pronounced differently from cannot, and the contraction she's is pronounced differently from she is or she has.

Abbreviations are very rarely used in formal writing. Almost the only ones which are frequently used are the abbreviations for certain common titles, when these are used with someone's name: Mr Willis, Dr Livingstone, Mrs Thatcher, Ms Harmon, St Joan. (Note that the two items Mrs and Ms are conventionally treated as abbreviations, even though they can be written in no other way.) When writing about a French or Spanish person, you may use the abbreviations for the French and Spanish equivalents of the English titles: M. Mitterrand, Sr. González. (These are the usual French and Spanish abbreviations for Monsieur and Señor, equivalent to English Mister.) Observe that each of these abbreviations begins with a capital letter.

Other titles are sometimes abbreviated in the same way: Prof. Chomsky, Sgt. Yorke, Mgr. Lindemann. However, it is usually much better to write these titles out in full when you are using them in a sentence: Professor Chomsky, Sergeant Yorke, Monsignor Lindemann. The abbreviated forms are best confined to places like footnotes and captions of pictures.

Note carefully the use of full stops in these abbreviations. British usage favours omitting the full stop in abbreviations which include the first and last letters of a single word, such as Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr and St; American usage prefers (A) Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. and St., with full stops. Most other abbreviated titles, however, require a full stop, as shown above.

A person's initials are a kind of abbreviation, and these are usually followed by full stops: John D. Rockefeller, C. Aubrey Smith, O. J. Simpson. Increasingly, however, there is a tendency to write such initials without full stops: John D Rockefeller, C Aubrey Smith, O J Simpson. And note the rare special case illustrated by Harry S Truman: the S in this name never takes a full stop, because it's not an abbreviation for anything; President Truman's parents actually gave him the middle name S.

Two other common abbreviations are a.m. (`before noon') and p.m. (`after noon'): 10.00 a.m., six p.m. These are always acceptable. Note that these are not capitalized in British usage (though American usage prefers (A) 10.00 am and six pm, with small capitals and no full stops).

Also usual are the abbreviations b.c. and a.d., usually written in small capitals, for marking dates as before or after the birth of Christ:

According to tradition, Rome was founded in 753 b.c.

The emperor Vespasian died in a.d. 79. or

The emperor Vespasian died in 79 a.d.

It is traditional, and recommended, to write a.d. before the date, but nowadays it is often written after.

Non-Christians who do not use the Christian calendar may prefer to use b.c.e. (`before the common era') and c.e. (`of the common era') instead. This is always acceptable:

According to tradition, Rome was founded in 753 b.c.e.

The emperor Vespasian died in 79 c.e.

All four of these abbreviations are commonly written in small capitals, and you should follow this practice if you can; if you can't produce small capitals, use full-sized capitals instead. All four of them are also now very frequently written without full stops: 753 bc, ad 79, 753 bce, 79 ce. This reflects the increasing tendency to omit the full stops in abbreviations, and I myself prefer to write 753 bc, and so on.

Note also that, when an abbreviation comes at the end of a sentence, only one full stop is written. You should never write two full stops in a row.

Many large and well-known organizations and companies have very long names which are commonly abbreviated to a set of initials written in capital letters, usually with no full stops. Here are a few familiar examples:

BBC

British Broadcasting Corporation

ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

RSPCA

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

MIT

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TUC

Trades Union Congress

These and some others are so famous that you can safely use the abbreviated forms without explanation. But don't overdo it ‹ not every reader will recognize IRO as the International Refugee Organization, or IOOF as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (an American social and charitable organization). And, if you're writing for a non-British readership, you'd better not use the abbreviated forms of specifically British institutions, such as the TUC, without explaining them. If you are in doubt, explain the abbreviation the first time you use it. (Note that a few of these were formerly written with full stops, such as R.S.P.C.A., but this tiresome and unnecessary practice is now obsolete.)

A few other abbreviations are so well known that you can use them safely in your writing. Every reader will understand what you mean by GCSE examinations (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education), or by DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), or by IQ (intelligence quotient), or by FM radio (FM = frequency modulation). Indeed, in some of these cases, the abbreviated form of the name is far more familiar than the full name.

Otherwise, however, you should try to avoid the use of abbreviations in your formal writing. The frequent use of unnecessary abbreviations will make your text irritating and hard to read. So, you should write four ounces (not 4 oz.), 80 miles per hour (not 80 mph), the Church of England (not the C of E), the seventeenth century (not C17 or the 17th cent.) and the second volume (not the 2nd vol.) It is far more important to make your writing easy to read than to save a few seconds in writing it.

There is one exception to this policy. In scientific writing, the names of units are always abbreviated and always written without full stops or a plural s. If you are doing scientific writing, then, you should conform by writing 5 kg (not 5 kilogrammes, and certainly not *5 kg. or *5 kgs.), 800 Hz (not 800 Hertz) and 17.3 cm3 (not 17.3 cubic centimetres).

There are a number of Latin abbreviations which are sometimes used in English texts. Here are the commonest ones with their English equivalents:

e.g. for example

cf. compare

i.e. in other words

v. consult

viz. namely

etc. and so forth

sc. which means

et al. and other people

ca. approximately

The rule about using these Latin abbreviations is very simple: don't use them. Their use is only appropriate in special circumstances in which brevity is at a premium, such as in footnotes. It is very poor style to spatter your page with these things, and it could be disastrous to use them without being quite sure what they mean. If you do use one, make sure you punctuate it correctly. Here is an example. The recommended form is this:

Several British universities were founded in the Victorian era; for example, the University of Manchester was established in 1851.

The following version is not wrong, but it is poor style:

Several British universities were founded in the Victorian era; e.g., the University of Manchester was established in 1851.

But this next version is disastrously wrong, because the punctuation has been omitted:

*Several British universities were founded in the Victorian era e.g. the University of Manchester was established in 1851.

Using a Latin abbreviation does not relieve you of the obligation of punctuating your sentence. Again, if you avoid Latin abbreviations, you won't get into this sort of trouble.

The abbreviation ca. `approximately' is properly used only in citing a date which is not known exactly, and then usually only if the date is given in parentheses:

The famous Basque cemetery of Argiñeta in Elorrio (ca. ad 883) shows tombs with sun-discs but no crosses.

Roger Bacon (ca. 12141294) was known as "the Admirable Doctor".

Here the use of ca. shows that the date of the cemetery and the date of Bacon's birth are not known exactly. If neither birth date nor death date is known for sure, then each is preceded by ca.

Outside of parentheses, you should usually avoid the use of ca. and prefer an English word like about or approximately:

The city of Bilbao was founded in about 1210.

Do not write "...in ca. 1210".

The abbreviation etc. calls for special comment. It should never be used in careful writing: it is vague and sloppy and, when applied to people, rather offensive. Do not write something like this:

*Central Africa was explored by Livingstone, Stanley, Brazza, etc. Instead, rewrite the sentence in a more explicit way:

Central Africa was explored by Livingstone, Stanley and Brazza, among others. or

Central Africa was explored by several Europeans, including Livingstone, Stanley and Brazza.

If you do find yourself using etc., for heaven's sake spell it and punctuate it correctly. This is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase et cetera `and other things', and it is pronounced ET SETRA, and not *EK SETRA. Do not write ghastly things like *ect. or *e.t.c. Such monstrosities make your writing look hopelessly illiterate. Again, if you avoid Latin abbreviations, you won't fall into such traps.

Finally, there are two further (and highly objectionable) Latin abbreviations ibid. and op. cit

Observe that it is usual to write Latin abbreviations in italics, but this is not strictly essential, and many people don't bother.

There has recently been a fashion in some circles for writing Latin abbreviations without full stops, and you may come across things like ie and eg in your reading. I consider this a ghastly practice, and I urge you strongly not to imitate it. (Note, however, that et al. has only one full stop, since et `and' is a complete word in Latin.)

One final point: very many people who should know better use the Latin abbreviation cf., which properly means `compare', merely to refer to published work. It is now very common to see something like this:

*The Australian language Dyirbal has a remarkable gender system; cf. Dixon (1972).

This is quite wrong, since the writer is not inviting the reader to compare Dixon's work with anything, but only to consult that work for more information. Hence the correct form is this:

The Australian language Dyirbal has a remarkable gender system; see Dixon (1972).

This widespread blunder is a signal reminder of the danger of using Latin abbreviations when you don't know what they mean. Far too many writers fall into this trap, and write i.e. when they mean e.g., or something equally awful. If you must use a Latin abbreviation, make sure you're using the right one. In most circumstances, though, you are best advised to avoid these abbreviations: almost every one of them has a simple English equivalent which should usually be preferred.

Publications based in the U.S. tend to follow the style guides of The Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press.[verification needed] The U.S. Government follows a style guide published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The National Institute of Standards and Technology sets the style for abbreviations of units.

United Kingdom

Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation:

For the sake of convenience, many British publications, including the BBC and The Guardian, have completely done away with the use of full stops or periods in all abbreviations. These include:

Social titles, like Ms or Mr (though these would usually not have had full stops — see above) Capt, Prof, etc.;

Two-letter abbreviations for countries ("US", not "U.S.");

Abbreviations beyond three letters (full caps for all except initialisms);

Words seldom abbreviated with lower case letters ("PR", instead of "p.r.", or "pr")

Names ("FW de Klerk", "GB Whiteley", "Park JS"). A notable exception is The Economist which writes "Mr F. W. de Klerk".

Scientific units (see Measurement below).

Acronyms are often referred to with only the first letter of the abbreviation capitalised. For instance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation can be abbreviated as "Nato" or "NATO", and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as "Sars" or "SARS" (compare with "laser" which has made the full transition to an English word and is rarely capitalised at all).

Initialisms are always written in capitals; for example the "British Broadcasting Corporation" is abbreviated to "BBC", never "Bbc". An initialism is similar to acronym but is not pronounced as a word.

When abbreviating scientific units, no space is added between the number and unit (100mph, 100m, 10cm, 10°C). (This is contrary to the SI standard; see below.)

Miscellaneous and general rules

A doubled letter appears in abbreviations of some Welsh names, as in Welsh the double "l" is a separate sound: "Ll. George" for (British prime minister) David Lloyd George.

Some titles, such as "Reverend" and "Honourable", are spelt out when preceded by "the", rather than as "Rev." or "Hon." respectively. This is true for most British publications, and some in the United States.

A repeatedly used abbreviation should be spelt out for identification on its first occurrence in a written or spoken passage. Abbreviations likely to be unfamiliar to many readers should be avoided.

Measurement shorthand – symbol or abbreviation

Road sign in China – "km" is a symbol, not an abbreviation, as it is not a contraction of a Chinese word

Writers often use shorthand to denote units of measure. Such shorthand can be an abbreviation, such as "in" for "inch" or can be a symbol such as "km" for "kilometre".

The shorthand "in" applies to English only – in Afrikaans for example, the shorthand "dm" is used for the equivalent Afrikaans word "duim".[6] Since both "in" and "dm" are contractions of the same word, but in different languages, they are abbreviations. A symbol on the other hand, defined as "Mark or character taken as the conventional sign of some object or idea or process"[7] applies the appropriate shorthand by substitution rather than by contraction. Since the shorthand for kilometre (Quilômetro in Portuguese or Χιλιόμετρο in Greek) is "km" in both languages and the letter "k" does not appear in the longhand of either translation, "km" is a symbol as it is a substitution rather than a contraction.

In the International System of Units (SI) manual the word "symbol" is used consistently to define the shorthand used to represent the various SI units of measure. The manual also defines the way in which units should be written, the principal rules being:

The conventions for upper and lower case letters must be observed – for example 1 MW (megawatts) is equal to 1,000,000,000 mW (milliwatts).

No periods should be inserted between letters – for example "m.s" (which is an approximation of "m·s", which correctly uses middle dot) is the symbol for "metres multiplied by seconds", but "ms" is the symbol for milliseconds.

No periods should follow the symbol unless the syntax of the sentence demands otherwise (for example a full stop at the end of a sentence).

The singular and plural versions of the symbol are identical – not all languages use the letter "s" to denote a plural.

№ 9. The etymological diversity of the English vocabulary

Etimology – branch of lexicology, which deals with the different possesses of assimilation or adaptation of the English words

It is true that English vocabulary, which is one of the most extensive among the world's languages con­tains an immense number of words of foreign origin. Explanations for this should be sought in the history of the language which is closely connected with the histo­ry of the nation speaking the language.

The first century B. C. Most of the territory now known to us as Europe was occupied by the Roman Em­pire. Among the inhabitants of the Europe are Ger­manic tribes.  Theirs stage of devel­opment was rather primitive, especially if compared with the high civiliza­tion of Rome. They are primitive cattle-breeders and know almost nothing about land cultiva­tion. Their tribal languages contain only Indo-European and Germanic elements.

Due to Roman invasion Germanic tribes had to come into contact with Romans[1]. Romans built roads, bridges, military camps. Trade is carried on, and the Ger­manic people gain knowledge of new and useful things. The first among them are new things to eat. It has been mentioned that Germanic cattle-breeding was on a primitive scale. Its only products known to the Ger­manic tribes were meat and milk. It is from the Romans that they learn how to make butter and cheese and, as there are naturally no words for these foodstuffs in their tribal languages, they had to use the Latin words to name them (Lat. “butyrum”, “caseus”). It is also to the Romans that the Germanic tribes owe the knowledge of some new fruits and vegetables of which they had no idea before, and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables entered their vocabularies: “cherry” (Lat. “cerasum”), “pear” (Lat. “pirum”), “plum” (Lat. “prunus”), “pea” (Lat. “pisum”), “beet” (Lat. “beta”), “pepper” (Lat. “piper”).

Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: “cup” (Lat. “cuppa”), “kitchen” (Lat. “coquina”), “mill” (Lat. “molina”), “port” (Lat. “portus”), “wine” (Lat. “vinum”).

The Germanic tribal languages gained a considerable num­ber of new words and were thus enriched.

Latin words became the earliest group of borrow­ings[2] in the future English languagewhich was - much later - built on the basis of the Germanic tribal languages

The fifth century A.D. Several of the Germanic tribes (the most numerous among them were the An­gles, the Saxons and the Jutes) migrated across the sea to the British Isles. There they were confronted by the Celts, the original inhabitants of the Isles. The Celts desperately defend­ed their lands against the invaders, but nevertheless gradually yielded most of their territory. They retreated to the North and South-West (modern Scotland, Wales and Cornwall). Through numerous contacts with the defeated Celts, the conquerors borrowed a number of Celtic words (bald, down, glen, bard, cradle). Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings were place names, names of riv­ers, hills, etc. The Germanic tribes occupied the land, but the names of many parts of their ter­ritory remained Celtic. For instance, the names of the rivers Avon, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux originate from Celtic words meaning "river" and "water".

Ironically, even the name of the English capital originates from Celtic “Llyn+dun” in which “llyn” is an­other Celtic word for "river" and “dun” stands for "a for­tified hill" -  the meaning of the whole is "fortress on the hill over the river".

Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon lan­guages through Celtic, among them such widely-used words as “street” (Lat. strata via) and “wall” (Lat. vallum).

The seventh century A.D. This century was signifi­cant for the christianization of England. Latin was the official language of the Christian church, and con­sequently the spread of Christianity was accompanied by a new period of Latin borrowings. These borrowings no longer came from spoken Latin as they did eight centuries ear­lier, but from church Latin. Also, these new Latin bor­rowings were very different in meaning from the earli­er ones. They mostly indicated persons, objects and ideas associated with church and religious rituals: e. g. priest (Lat. presbyter), bishop (Lat. episcopus), monk (Lat. monachus), nun (Lat. nonna), candle (Lat. candela).

It was quite natural that education­al terms were also Latin borrowings, for the first schools in England were church schools, and the first teachers priests and monks. So, the very word “school” is a Latin borrowing (Lat. schola, of Greek origin) and so are such words as “scholar” (Lat. Scholar(-is) and “magister” (Lat. magister).

From the end of the 8^th century to the middle of the 11^th century England underwent several Scandinavian inva­sions. Here are some examples of early Scandinavian borrowings: call (v.), take (v.), cast (v.), die (v.), law (n.), husband[3] (n.), window[4] (n.), ill (adj.), loose, (adj.), low (adj.), weak (adj.). Some of Scandinavian borrowings are easily recogniz­able by the initial (sk-) combination. E. g. sky, skill, skin, ski, skirt.

Certain English words changed their meanings under the influence of Scandinavian words of the same root. So, the old English “bread”  which meant "piece" acquired its modern meaning by association with the Scandinavian “braud”. The old English “dream”  which meant "joy" assimi­lated the meaning of the Scandinavian “draumr’’

1066. With the famous Battle of Hastings, when the English were defeated by the Normans under William the Conqueror, began the eventful epoch of the Norman Conquest. The Norman culture of the 11^th century was certainly superior to that of the Saxons. The result was that English vocabulary acquired a great number of French words. But instead of being smashed and broken by the powerful intrusion of the foreign element, the English language managed to preserve its essential structure and vastly enriched its expressive resources with the new borrowings. England became a bilingual country, and the impact on the English vo­cabulary made over this two-hundred-years period is immense: French words from the Norman dialect pene­trated every aspect of social life. Here is a very brief list of examples of Norman French borrowings.

Administrative words: state, government, parlia­ment, council, power.

Legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison.

Military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy.        

Educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil.

Terms of everyday life: table, plate, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc.

The Renaissance Period. In England, as in all Euro­pean countries, this period was marked by significant developments in science, art and culture and, also, by a revival of interest in the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome and their languages. Hence, there occurred a considerable number of Latin and Greek borrowings. In contrast to the earliest Latin borrowings (1^st century B.C.), the Renaissance ones were rarely concrete names. They were mostly abstract words (e. g. major, minor, moderate, intelligent, permanent, to elect, to create). There were numerous scientific and artistic terms (e.g. datum, status, phenomenon, philosophy, meth­od, music). Quite a number of words were bor­rowed into English from Latin and had earlier come into Latin from Greek.

The Renaissance was a period of extensive cultural contacts between the major European states. There­fore, it was only natural that new words also entered the English vocabulary from other European languag­es. The most significant were French borrow­ings. This time they came from the Parisian dialect of French and are known as Parisian borrowings. Exam­ples: routine, police, machine, ballet, matinee, scene, technique, bourgeois, etc. Italian also contributed a considerable number of words to English, e. g. piano, violin, opera, alarm, colo­nel.

The historical survey above shows the ways in which English vocabulary developed and of the major events through which it acquired its vast modern re­sources.

The second column of the table contains more groups, but it also implies a great quantity of words. Modern scholars estimate the per­centage of borrowed words in the English vocabulary at 65—70 per cent which is an exceptionally high figure. It means that the native element[5] doesn’t pre­vail. This anomaly is explained by the country's event­ful history and by its many international contacts.

Considering the high percentage of borrowed words, one would have to clas­sify English as a language of international origin or, at least, a Romance one (as French and Latin words obvi­ously prevail). But here another factor comes into play: the native element in English comprises a large number of high-frequency words like the articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliaries and, also, words denoting everyday objects and ideas (e. g. house, child, water, go, come, eat, good, bad, etc.).

Furthermore, the grammatical structure is essen­tially Germanic and it remains unaffected by foreign influence.

The Etymological Structure of English Vocabulary

The native element	The borrowed element
1.Indo-European element	I. Celtic (5th – 6th c.A.D.).
2.Germanic element	II. Latin
	1st group: 1st c.B.C.
	2st group: 7th  c.A.C.
	3st group: the Renaissance period
3.English Proper element (no earlier than 5th c.A.D.)	III. Scandinavian (8th – 11th c.A.D.)
	IV. French
	1. Norman borrowings: 11th–13th c.A.D.
	2. Parisian borrowings (Renaissance)
	V. Greek (Renaissance)
	VI. Italian (Renaissance and later)
	VII. Spanish (Renaissance and later)
	VIII. German
	IX. Indian
	X. Russian and some other groups

The first column of the table consists of three groups, only the third being dated: the words of this group appeared in the English vocabulary in the 5^th century or later, that is, after the Germanic tribes migrated to the British Isles. The tribal languages of the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, by the time of their migration, con­tained only words of Indo-European and Germanic roots plus a certain number of the earliest Latin bor­rowings.

By the Indo-European element are meant words of roots common to all (or most) languages of the Indo-Eu­ropean group. The words of this group denote ele­mentary concepts without which no human communi­cation would be possible. The following groups can be identified.

1.    Family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter.

2.    Parts of the human body: foot, nose, lip, heart.

3.    Animals: cow, swine, goose.

4.    Plants: tree, birch, corn.

5.    Time of day: day, night.

6.    Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star.

7.    Numerous adjectives: red, new, glad, sad.

8.    The numerals from one to a hundred.

9.    Pronouns - personal (except “they” which is a Scandinavian borrowing) and demonstrative.

10. Numerous verbs: be, stand, sit, eat, know.

The Germanic element represents words of roots common to all or most Germanic languages. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the Indo-European element.

1.    Parts of the human body: head, hand, arm, finger, bone.

2.    Animals: bear, fox, calf.

3.    Plants: oak, fir, grass.

4.    Natural phenomena: rain, frost.

5.    Seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer[7].

6.    Landscape features: sea, land.

7.    Human dwellings and furniture: house, room, bench.

8.    Sea-going vessels: boat, ship.

9.    Adjectives: green, blue, grey, white, small, thick, high, old, good.

10. Verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer, make, give, drink.

The English proper ele­ment  is opposed to the first two groups. For not only it can be approximately dated, but these words have another distinctive feature: they are specifically English have no cognates[8] in other lan­guages whereas for Indo-European and Germanic words such cognates can always be found, as, for in­stance, for the following words of the Indo-European group.

Star: Germ. - Stern, Lat. - Stella, Gr. - aster.

Stand: Germ. – stehen, Lat. - stare, R. – стоять.

Here are some examples of English proper words: bird, boy, girl, lord, lady, woman, daisy, always.

Etymologically the vocabulary of the English language is far from being homogenous. It consists of two layers - the native stock of words and the borrowed stock of words.

Numerically the borrowed stock of words is considerably larger than the native stock of words.

In fact native words comprise only 30% of the total number of words in the English vocabulary but the native words form the bulk of the most frequent words actually used in speech and writing. Besides, the native words have a wider range of lexical and grammatical valency, they are highly polysemantic and productive in forming word clusters and set expressions.

Borrowed words or loanwords are words taken from another language and modified according to the patterns of the receiving language.

In many cases a borrowed word especially one borrowed long ago is practically indistinguishable from a native word without a thorough etymological analysis. The number of the borrowings in the vocabulary of the language and the role played by them is determined by the historical development of the nation speaking the language.

The most effective way of borrowing is direct borrowing from another language as the result of the contacts with other nations. Though, a word may be also borrowed indirectly not from the source language but through another language.

When analyzing borrowed words one should distinguish between two terms - source of borrowing and origin of borrowing. The first term is applied to the language from which the word was immediately borrowed and the second - to the language to which the word may be ultimately traced. The closer the two interacting languages are in structure the easier it is for words of one language to penetrate into the other.

There are different approaches to classifying the borrowed stock of words

The borrowed stock of words may be classified according to the nature of the borrowing itself as borrowing proper, loans translation and semantic loans.

Loan translation or calque is a phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word translation.

Semantic loan is the borrowing of the meaning for a word already existing in the English language.

Latin loans are classified into the subgroups.

1. Early Latin loans. Those are the words which came into English language through the languages of the Anglo-Saxon tribes. The tribes had been in contact with Roman civilization and had adopted many Latin words denoting objects belonging to that civilization long before the invasion of the Angles, Saxons and Judes into Britain (e.g., cup, kitchen, mill, wine, port).

2. Later Latin borrowings. To this group belong the words which penetrated into English language in the sixth and seventh centuries, when the English people were converted to Christianity (e.g., priest, bishop, nun, and candle).

3. The third period of the Latin borrowings includes words which came into English due to two historical events: the Norman Conquest and the Renaissance. Some came to English language through French but some were borrowed directly from Latin (e.g., major, minor, intelligent, permanent).

4. The latest layer of Latin words. The words of this period are mainly abstract and scientific words (e.g., nylon, molecular, vaccine, phenomenon, and vacuum).

The tendency of the English language to borrow extensively can be traced during the centuries. Thus, one can confidently claim that borrowing is one of the most productive sources of enrichment of the English vocabulary.

№ 10. International words. Interlingua.

Sometimes it is done to fill a gap in vocabulary. When the Saxons borrowed Latin words for "butter", "plum", "beet", they did it because their own vocabu­laries lacked words for these new objects. For the same reason the words “potato” and “tomato” were borrowed by English from Spanish when these vegetables were first brought to England by the Spaniards.

But there is also a great number of words which are borrowed for other reasons. There may be a word (or even several words) which expresses some particular concept, so that there is no gap in the vocabulary and there does not seem to be any need for borrowing. However a word is borrowed because it supplies a new shade of meaning or a different emotional colouring though it represents the same concept. This type of borrow­ing enlarges groups of synonyms and provides to enrich the expressive resources of the vocabulary. That is how the Latin “cordial” was added to the native “friendly”, the French “desire” to “wish”, the Latin “admire” and the French “adore” to “like” and “love”.

The historical circumstances stimulate the borrowing process. Each time two nations come into close contact. The nature of the contact may be different. It may be wars, invasions or conquests when foreign words are imposed upon the conquered nation. There are also periods of peace  when the process of borrowing is due to trade and international cultural relations.

When words migrate from one language into another they ad­just themselves to their new environment and get adapted to the norms of the recipient language. They undergo certain changes which gradually erase their foreign features, and, finally, they are assimilated. Sometimes the process of assimilation develops to the point when the foreign origin of a word is quite unrec­ognizable. It is difficult to believe now that such words as “dinner”, “cat”, “take”, “cup” are not English by origin. Others, though well assimilated, still bear traces of their foreign background. “Distance” and “development”, for instance, are identified as borrowings by their French suffixes, “skin” and “sky” by the Scandinavian ini­tial (-sk), “police” and “regime” by the French stress on the last syllable.

Borrowed words are adjusted in the three main areas of the new language system: the phonetic, the grammatical and the semantic.

The lasting nature of phonetic adaptation is best shown by comparing Norman French borrowings to later (Parisian) ones. The Norman borrowings have for a long time been fully adapted to the phonetic system of the English language: such words as “table”, “plate”, “courage”, “chivalry” bear no phonetic traces of their French origin. Some of the later (Parisian) borrowings, even the ones borrowed as early as the 15^th century, still sound surpris­ingly French: “regime”, “valise”, “matinee”, “cafe”, “ballet”. In these cases phonetic adaptation is not completed.

Grammatical adaptation consists in a complete change of the former paradigm of the borrowed word.  If it is a noun, it is certain to adopt, sooner or later, a new system of declension; if it is a verb, it will be conjugated according to the rules of the recipient language. Yet, this is also a lasting process. The Russian noun “пальто” was borrowed from French early in the 19^th century and has not yet acquired the Rus­sian system of declension. The same can be said about such English Renaissance borrowings as “datum” (pl. da­ta), “phenomenon” (pl. phenomena), “criterion” (pl. crite­ria) whereas earlier Latin borrowings such as “cup”, “plum”, “street”, “wall” were fully adapted to the grammati­cal system of the language long ago.

By semantic adaptation is meant adjustment to the system of meanings of the vocabulary. Sometimes a word may be borrowed "blindly" for no obvious reason: they are not want­ed because there is no gap in the vocabulary nor in the group of synonyms which it could fill. Quite a number of such "accidental" borrowings are very soon rejected by the vocabulary and forgotten. But some “blindly” borrowed words managed to estab­lish itself due to the pro­cess of semantic adaptation. The adjective “large”, for in­stance, was borrowed from French in the meaning of "wide". It was not actually wanted, because it fully co­incided with the English adjective “wide” without adding any new shades or aspects to its meaning. This could have led to its rejection. Yet, “large” managed to establish itself very firmly in the English vocabulary by se­mantic adjustment. Itentered another synonymic group with .the general meaning of “big in size”. Still bearing some features of its former meaning it is successfully competing with “big” having approached it very closely, both in fre­quency and meaning.

International Words: It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of com­munication. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin.

Most names of sciences are international (e. g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, linguistics, and lexicology). There are also numerous terms of art in this group: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy, artist, primadonna, etc.; and the sports terms: football, volley-ball, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, etc. It is quite natural that political terms frequently oc­cur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism. 20^th century scientific and technological advances brought a great number of new international words: atomic, antibiotic, radio, television, sputnik (a Russian borrowing). Fruits and foodstuffs imported from exotic coun­tries often transport their names too and become inter­national: coffee, cocoa, chocolate, banana, mango, avocado, and grapefruit.

The similarity of such words as the English “son”, the German “Sohn” and the Russian “сын” should not lead one to the quite false conclusion that they are international words. They represent the Indo-European group of the native element in each respec­tive language and are cognates, i. e. words of the same etymological root, and not borrowings.

In linguistics, an internаtionalism or internationаl word is a loanword that occurs in several lаnguages with the same or at least similar meaning and etymology. These words exist in "severаl different lаnguages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from the ultimate source". Pronunciаtion and orthogrаphy are similar so that the word is understandable between the different languages.

It is debаted how many languages are required so that a word is an internatiоnalism. The term is uncоmmon in English linguistics, although English has contributed a considerable number of words to world languages, e.g. the sport terms: football, baseball, cricket, and golf.

Europeаn internationalisms originate primarily from Lаtin or Greek, but from other lаnguages as well.Many non-Europeаn words have also become international, often by wаy of one or more Europeаn languages.

Internаtionalisms often spreаd together with the innovations they designate. Аccordingly, there are semantic fields of internаtionalisms that are dominated by specific languаges, e.g. the computing vocabulаry which is mainly English with internationаlisms such as computer, disk, and spam. New invеntions, political institutions, foodstuffs, leisure activities, science, and technologicаl advances have all generated new lexemes and continue to do so: bionics, cybernetics, gene, coffee, chocolate, etc..

Some internationаlisms are spread by speakers of one lаnguage living in geographical regions where other languages are spoken. For exаmple, some internаtionalisms coming from the English in India are bungalow, jute, khaki, mango, pyjamas, and sari.

Examples:

Airport

Chocolate

Coffee

Computer

Doctor

Hospital

Hotel

International

Internet

Microscope

OK

Police

Politics

Radio

Sport

Stress

Studio

Taxi

Telephone

Telescope

Television

Tennis

А lot of international words are included in Interlingua. Interlinguа is an intеrnational auxiliary languagе, developеd between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association. Its vocabulary, grammar and other characteristics are largely derived from natural languages.

Interlinguа is claimed to be understаndable to hundreds of millions of people who speak a Romance lаnguage. The nаme Interlinguа comes from the Lаtin words inter, meaning between, and lingua, meaning tongue or language. These morphеmеs are identical in Interlinguа. Thus, Interlinguа would be "between language", or intermediary languagе. Spеakers of other languagеs can also learn to speak and write Interlinguа in a short time, thanks to its simple grammar and regular word formation using a small number of roots and affixes. Wоrds in Interlinguа may be taken from any language: Spаnish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and English, with German and Russian acting as secondary controls. These are the most widеly spoken Rоmance, Gеrmanic, and Slavic languages, respectively. Bеcause of their close relationship, Spаnish and Portuguеse are treated as one unit. The lаrgest number of Interlinguа words is of Lаtin origin, with the Greek and Germаnic languages providing the second and third largest number. The remainder of the vocаbulary originates in Slavic and non-Western languages. Todаy, interest in Interlinguа has expanded from the scientific community to the general public. Individuаls, governments, and private companies use Interlinguа for learning and instruction, travel, online publishing, and communication across language bаrriers.

Etymological Doublets

The words originating from the same etymological source, but differing in phonemic shape and in meaning are called etymological doublets.

They may enter the vocabulary by different routes. Some of these pairs consist of anative word and a borrowed word: “shrew”, n. (E.) – “screw”, n. (Sc.). Others are represented by two borrowings from dif­ferent languages: “canal” (Lat.) - “channel” (Fr.), “captain” (Lat.) — “chieftain” (Fr.). Still others were borrowed from the same language twice, but in different periods: “travel” (Norm. Fr.) - “tra­vail" (Par. Fr.), “cavalry” (Norm. Fr.) - “chivalry” (Par. Fr.), “gaol” (Norm. Fr.) - “jail” (Par. Fr.).

A doublet may also consist of a shortened word and the one from which it was derived: “history” - “story”, “fantasy” - “fancy”, “defence” - “fence”, “shadow” - “shade”.

Etymological triplets (i. e. groups of three words of common root) occur rarer, but here are at least two ex­amples: “hospital” (Lat.) — “hostel” (Norm. Fr.) — “hotel” (Par. Fr.), “to capture” (Lat.) — “to catch” (Norm. Fr.) — “to chase” (Par. Fr.).

Translation-Loans[10]

By translation-loans we indicate borrowings of a special kind. They are not taken into the vocabulary of another language more or less in the same phonemic shape in which they have been functioning in their own lan­guage, but undergo the process of translation. It is quite obvious that it is only compound words (i. e. words of two or more stems). Each stem was translated separate­ly: “masterpiece” (from Germ. “Meisterstuck”), “wonder child” (from Germ. “Wunderkind”), ”first dancer” (from Ital. “prima-ballerina”).

The answer must be affirma­tive. Among learned words and terminology the for­eign element dominates the native.

It also seems that the whole opposition of "formal versus informal" is based on the deeper underlying opposition of "bor­rowed versus native", as the informal style, especial­ly slang and dialect, abounds in native words even though it is possible to quote numerous exceptions.

In point of comparing the expressive and stylistic value of the French and the English words the French ones are usually more formal, more refined, and less emotional. “to begin” – “to commence”, “to wish” — “to desire”, “hap­piness" — “felicity”.

English words are much warmer than their Latin synonyms, they don’t sound cold and dry: “motherly” — “maternal”, “fatherly” — “paternal”, “childish” — “infan­tile", “daughterly” — “filial”, etc.

№ 11. Influences in English vocabulary. Word origins

One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words that are Germanic (mostly West Germanic, with a smaller influence from the North Germanic branch) and those that are "Latinate" (derived directly from Latin, or through Norman French or other Romance languages). The situation is further compounded, as French, particularly Old French and Anglo-French, were also contributors in English of significant numbers of Germanic words, mostly from the Frankish element in French.

The majority (estimates range from roughly 50% to more than 80%) of the thousand most common English words are Germanic. However, the majority of more advanced words in subjects such as the sciences, philosophy and mathematics come from Latin or Greek, with Arabic also providing many words in astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry.

Source of the most frequent 7,476 English words 1st 100 1st 1,000 2nd 1,000 Subsequent

Germanic 97% 57% 39% 36%

Italic 3% 36% 51% 51%

Hellenic 0 4% 4% 7%

Others 0 3% 6% 6%

Source: Nation 2001, p. 265

Numerous sets of statistics have been proposed to demonstrate the proportionate origins of English vocabulary. None, as of yet, is considered definitive by most linguists.

A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) that estimated the origin of English words as follows:

Influences in English vocabulary

Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%

Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%

Germanic languages (including words directly inherited from Old English; does not include Germanic words coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages): 25%

Greek: 5.32%

No etymology given: 4.03%

Derived from proper names: 3.28%

All other languages: less than 1%

A survey by Joseph M. Williams in Origins of the English Language of 10,000 words taken from several thousand business letters gave this set of statistics:

French (langue d'oïl): 41%

"Native" English: 33%

Latin: 15%

Old Norse: 2%

Dutch: 1%

Other: 10%

French origins: A large portion of English vocabulary is of French or Langues d'oïl origin, and was transmitted to English via the Anglo-Norman language spoken by the upper classes in England in the centuries following the Norman Conquest. Words of Norman-French origin include competition, mountain, art, table, publicity, police, role, routine, machine and force. As a result of the length of time they have been in use in English, these words have been anglicised to fit English rules of phonology, pronunciation and spelling.

Some French words were adopted during the 17th to 19th centuries, when French was the dominant language of Western international politics and trade. These words can normally be distinguished because they retain French rules for pronunciation and spelling, including diacritics, are often phrases rather than single words, and are sometimes written in italics. Examples include façade, table d'hôte and affaire de cœur. These words and phrases retain their French spelling and pronunciation because historically their French origin was emphasised to denote the speaker as educated or well-travelled at a time when education and travelling was still restricted to the middle and upper classes, and so their use implied a higher social status in the user. (See also: French phrases used by English speakers).

Old Norse origins: Many words of Old Norse origin have entered the English language, primarily from the Viking colonisation of eastern and northern England between 800–1000 CE during the Danelaw. These include common words such as anger, awe, bag, big, birth, blunder, both, cake, call, cast, cosy, cross, cut, die, dirt, drag, drown, egg, fellow, flat, flounder, gain, get, gift, give, guess, guest, gust, hug, husband, ill, kid, law, leg, lift, likely, link, loan, loose, low, mistake, odd, race (running), raise, root, rotten, same, scale, scare, score, seat, seem, sister, skill, skin, skirt, skull, sky, stain, steak, sway, take, though, thrive, Thursday, tight, till (until), trust, ugly, want, weak, window, wing, wrong, the pronoun they (and its forms), and even the verb are (the present plural form of to be) through a merger of Old English and Old Norse cognates. More recent Scandinavian imports include angstrom, fjord, geyser, kraken, litmus, nickel, ombudsman, saga, ski, slalom, smorgasbord, and tungsten.

Dutch and Low German origins: Many words describing the navy, types of ships, and other objects or activities on the water are of Dutch origin. Yacht, skipper, cruiser, flag, freight, furlough, breeze, hoist, iceberg, boom, duck ("fabric, cloth"), and maelstrom are examples. Other words pertain to art and daily life: easel, etch, slim, staple (Middle Dutch stapel "market"), slip (Middle Dutch slippen), landscape, cookie, curl, shock, aloof, boss, brawl (brallen "to boast"), smack (smakken "to hurl down"), shudder, scum, peg, coleslaw, waffle, dope (doop "dipping sauce"), slender (Old Dutch slinder), slight, gas, pump. Dutch has also contributed to English slang, e.g. spook, and the now obsolete snyder (tailor) and stiver (small coin).

Words from Low German include bluster, cower, dollar, drum, geek, grab, lazy, mate, monkey, mud, ogle, orlop, paltry, poll, poodle, prong, scurvy, smug, smuggle, trade.

The English vocabulary is very rich. From the point of view of etymology, English vocabulary can be divided into 2 parts: 70% of borrowings in English language, 30% of native words. Borrowings usually take place under 2 circumstances: 1) when people have a direct contact with another people; 2) when there is a cultural need to borrow a word from another languages.

ROMANIC BORROWINGS. Latin borrowings: they are divided into 3 periods: 1) 5 century, words are connected with trade (pound, inch, kitchen, wall, port); 2) the time of Christianity, words are connected with religion (Latin words: alter, cross, dean; Greek words: church, angel, devil, anthem); 3) time of renaissance, words were borrowed after great vowel shift (17 century) (item, superior, zoology, memorandum, vice versa, AM, PM). French: the largest group of borrowings is French borrowings. Most of them came into English during the Norman Conquest. Normans belong to the race of scand. origin but during their residence in Normandy they had given up the native language and adopted the French dialect. During 3 centuries after the Norman Conquest French was the language of the court, of the nobility. There are following semantic groups of French borrowings: 1) words relating to government (administer, empire, state); 2) ~military affairs (army, war, battle); 3) ~jurisprudence (advocate, petition, sentence); 4) ~fashion (luxury, coat, collar); 5)~jewelry (topaz, pearl); 6)~ food and cooking (lunch, cuisine, menu); 7)~literature and music (pirouette, ballet). Italian: cultural and trade relations between England and Italy in the epoch of renaissance brought in many Italian words: 1) musical terms: concert, solo, opera, piano, trio; 2) political terms: manifesto; 3) geological terms: volcano, lava. Among the 20th century Italian borrowings, we can mention: incognito, fiasco, and graffiti. Spanish: a large number of such words was penetrated in English vocabulary in 1588 when Phillip 2 sent a fleet of armed ships against England (armada, ambuscade); trade terms: cargo, embargo; names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, guitar; names of vegetables and fruits: tomato, tobacco, banana, ananas.

GERMANIC BORROWINGS: Scandinavian: By the end of the Old English period English underwent a strong influence of Scandinavian due to the Scandinavian conquest of the British Isles. As a result of this conquest there are about 700 borrowings from Scandinavian into English (pronouns: they, them, their; verbs: to call, to want, to die; adj: flat, ill, happy; noun: cake, egg, knife, window. German: in the period of Second World War such words were borrowed as: luftwaffe (возд. авиация); bundeswehr (вооруженные силы ФРГ). After the Second World War the following words were borrowed: Volkswagen, berufsverbot ( запрет на профессию ( в ФРГ )), and some other words(cobalt, wolfram, iceberg, rucksack). Dutch: Holland and England have had constant interrelations for many centuries and more then 2000 Dutch words were borrowed into English. Many of them are nautical terms and were mainly borrowed in the 14th century, such as: skipper, pump, keel, dock; and some words from everyday life: luck, brandy, boss. Russian: Among early Russian borrowings there are mainly words connected with trade relations, such as: rubble, kopeck, sterlet, vodka, and words relating to nature: taiga, tundra, steppe. After the October revolution many new words appeared in Russia, connected with the new political system, new culture, and many of them were borrowed into English: collectivization, udarnik, Komsomol and also translation loans: five-year plan, collective farm. One more group of Russian borrowings is connected with perestroika, suck as: glasnost, nomenclature, and apparatchik. Native words are divided into 3 basic groups: 1) the words which have cognates (words of the same etymological root, of common origin) in many Indo-European languages. For ex: family relations: father (Vater), mother, daughter, son; parts of human body: foot, heart, nose; wolf, cow, cat; numerous verbs: stand, sit; the numerals from 1 to 100; heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star. 2) the words, which have cognates with words of the language of the Germanic group. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the I-E group/ For ex: parts of human body: head, hand, arm, finger; animals: bear, fox; natural phenomena: rain, frost; human dwellings and furniture: house, bench; adj: green, blue, old, good, small, high; verbs: see, hear, tell, say, drink, give. 3) the English element proper. Ex.: bird, boy, girl, woman, lord, always. Assimilation – the process of adaptation phonetic, gram. and semantic features of language. 3 basic types: phonetical – sounds are adopted; grammatical – when a borrowed word occurs (спутник); semantic – connected with the meaning of the word.  International words. It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages and not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts, which are significant in the field of communication. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e.g. philosophy, chemistry, biology; sports terms: football, baseball, tennis; foodstuffs and fruits imported from exotic countries: coffee, chocolate, banana, grapefruit; clothing: pullover, shorts.