Лекция № 3. Определение слова

The definition of the word

The word is a fundamental unit of a language used for the purposes of human communication, resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning, capable of grammatical employment. It is the smallest language unit that can stand alone as a complete utterance.

The word is a two-facet unit: it has form and content. Its content or meaning reflects human notions. Concepts fixed in the meaning of words are formed as generalized reflections of reality. Therefore in signifying those words reflect reality in their content. The acoustic aspect of the word serves to name objects of reality. When a word first comes into existence, it is built according to the existing patterns of the elements available in the language.

A borrowing

The English vocabulary has been enriched throughout its history by borrowings from foreign languages. A borrowing (or a loan word) is a word taken over from another language or modified in phonemic shape, spelling or meaning according to the standards of the English language.

Here we face 2 main problems with the vocabulary of a language:

1) the origin of the words;

2) their development in the language.

There are many words that have changed their meaning in English:

‘mind’ used to mean ‘memory’ (to keep in mind, to bear in mind)

‘nice’ used to have the meaning of ‘silly’.

Native Words

A native word is a word that belongs to the Old English word-stock. The native words are the basic element though they constitute only up to 20-25 % of the English vocabulary. For example, ‘home’, ‘stone’, ‘meat’ which belong the Old English.

Etymological Doublets

Sometimes a word is borrowed twice into English. It has different forms and meanings in English. We have 2 separate words with different spellings and meanings but which historically belong to one and the same word. For example, ‘catch’ and ‘chase’, ‘goal’ and ‘jail’, ‘quiet’ and ‘quite’. Etymological doublets are typical of English.

International Words

“These are words of identical origin that occurs in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from one ultimate source.” (I.V.Arnold, p. 260)

International words reflect the history of word culture, they convey notions which are signified in communication: ‘sputnik’, ‘bionics’, ‘gene’, ‘cybernetics’, ‘coffee’, ‘football’, ‘baseball’, ‘grapefruit’, ‘chocolate’.

WORD STRUCTURE AND WORD FORMATION

Word-formation is the branch of lexicology that studies the derivative structure of existing words and the patterns on which a language builds new words. It’s a certain principle of classification of lexicon and one of the main ways of enriching the vocabulary. Word-formation can be studied from 2 angles: synchronically (when we investigate the existing system of the type of word-formation) and diachronically (when we acre concerned with the history of word-formation).

These are cases when a structurally more complex word serves as the origin from which a simpler word was derived: beggar – to beg; editor – to edit, burglar – to burgle.