Minor word-building process in Modern English
Back-formation. There are words in English that appeared due to the fact that part of the word was mistaken for an affix (sculptor -> to sculpt, babysitter -> to babysit, sightseeing -> to sightsee)
Shortening it is the formation of the word by cutting of the part of the word. Shortening are produced in two different ways:
By clipping part of the word.
Initial shortening. The initial part of the word is clipped – “caravan” -> “van”.
Middle shortening. The middle of the word is clipped – “fantasy” -> “fancy”, “madam” -> “mam”.
Final shortenings – “doctor” -> “doc”, “preparation” -> “prep”, “as soon as possible” -> “asap”
Both i/f shortenings – “refrigerator” -> “fridge”
By making a new word from the initial letters of word-group-abbreviations.
Acronyms. They are pronounced as independent words, e.g. “UNO”.
Initial abbreviations with alphabetical reading, e.g. “MP”.
Word combinations with one element initially abbreviated, e.g. “TV-set”
Latin abbreviations – “e.g.” – “for example”, “etc” – “and so on”, “i.e.” – “that is”
Blog – web + log
GP – General purpose vehicle -> jeep
Google
– googol (
)
The year 3k(ilo)
Noughties – нулевые годы
ICQ – I Seek You
Wiki – What I Know Is
CU2DAY – see you today
CUL8TR – see you later
c%l – cool
Blending. Especial type of word-formation with the help of merging parts of different words. The words are called blends. E.g. “slimnastics”, “funemployed” (безработный. збсь), “edutainment”.
Sound imitation
It’s the process of making new words by imitating different kinds of sounds produced by animals, birds, insects and inanimate objects (e.g. “cuckoo” - куку, “splash” - всплеск, “cock-a-doodle-doo”).
Sound interchange
It’s the formation of the word by changing some sounds. There may be:
Vowel interchange, e.g. “food” – “feed” (кормить). Vowel interchange may be combined with affixation, e.g. “strong” – “strength”.
Consonant interchange, e.g. “advice” – “to advise”.
Consonant and vowel interchange, e.g. “life” – “live”.
Stress interchange
It’s the formation of words by shifting the stress. E.g. “import” – “import”, “export” – “export”.
Reduplication
New words are formed by doubling the stem. There are two kinds of reduplication:
Without any phonetic changes, e.g. “bye-bye”.
With a variation of the root vowel or consonant, e.g. “ping-pong”.
The Semantic Structure of the English Word
The Branch of Linguistics which studies the lexical meaning of the word is called Semasiology by Soviet and Russians scholars and Semantics by British and American scholars.
Word meaning is the most difficult problem in modern linguistics. Lexical meaning can be seen in all forms of the word. Lexical meaning includes denotative and connotative components.
The denotative component or denotation is the leading semantic component. It makes communication possible. Every denotative component is a combination several more components. They are called “semes”.
“mother” – “father” – nouns.
Parent – parent – common sem. comp. (lexical meaning)
Female – male (only denotative comp.)
The connotative component or connotation is the additional component, it shows the attitude of the speaker. It may express:
Emotion, e.g. “father” – “daddy”
Evaluation (positive or negative), “group” – “clique”
Intensity, e.g. “to love” – “to adore”
Duration, e.g. “to look” – “to glans”
Thus, the semantic structure of the word is not just a system of meanings because each lexical meaning has its own inner structure. Therefore, the semantic structure of the word should be studied at both levels: of different meanings and of sematic components within each separate meaning.
Polysemy (многозначность)
A word may have only one or several meanings. Monosemantic words are words which have only one meaning, they are few in number and they are mainly scientific terms. Most English words are polysemantic, they have several meanings. Polysemy is the ability of words to have more than one meaning. The process of polysemy includes both the appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones. But sometimes there is a chance of misunderstanding of a polysemantic word. In this case context may help.
It is important to differentiate the meaning from usage. Meanings are fixed in dictionaries. The usage (that is context) is only a possible application of one of the meanings of a polysemantic word.
Semantic Change
Word meaning can change or develop in the course of the historical development of the language. The term “development of meaning” is used when a new meaning and the old one coexist in the language and in the semantic structure of the word, e.g. “snail” – 1. animal, 2. slow person. The term “change of meaning” is used when the old meaning is replaced by the new one, e.g. “meat” – 1. food, 2. flesh of animals used as a food product.
Causes of semantic change:
Historical or extra-linguistic causes. They are changes in social, economic and scientific life. We can use some old word for a new object or notion, e.g. “carriage” – 1. a vehicle drawn by horses, 2. (later) a railway car.
Linguistic causes. The development of new meanings or the change of meaning may be due to the influence of other words mainly synonyms, e.g. in Old English the noun “deer” meant any beast, but when the noun “animal” was borrowed these words became synonyms. So the noun “deer” changed its meaning to a certain kind of beast.
Nature of semantic change
A necessary condition of any semantic change is some connection or association between the old meaning and the new one. There are two kinds of associations:
Metaphor. It is based on similarity of meanings. A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects or phenomena due to their outward similarity. E.g. “eye of a needle”, “tooth of a comb”, “coat of a dog”, “neck of a bottle”.
Metonymy. It is based on contiguity of meanings. A new meaning appears due to psychological links between different objects and phenomena. Types of metonymic relations (associations of objects).
Common position, e.g. “foot of the mountain” – the lowest part.
Common function, e.g. “hand of a clock” – point.
Material and object made from it, e.g. “glass”, “a glass”.
Geographical or proper names become common nouns, e.g. “tweed” was a name of a river and then it’s become a name of fabric, “hamburger”, “hooligan”, “boycott”, etc.
Names of invertors and the inventions, e.g. “macintosh”.
The name of the painter or the artist and his pictures, e.g. “Shishkin” – a painter, “a Shishkin” – a picture.
Results of semantic change
The result of semantic change can be seen in:
The change of the denotational compound.
Narrowing of meaning. E.g. “deer” - any beast (used to) -> a certain kind of beast (now), “meat” – any food -> a certain kind of food.
Broadening of meaning. E.g. “to arrive” – to come to shore -> to come.
“girl” – a small child of either sex -> a small child of a female sex -> a young unmarried woman -> any young woman -> (colloquium English) any woman
The change of the connotational compound.
Degradation of meaning. E.g. “villain” – a farm servant -> a vile person, “gossip” – god-parent -> person who talks scandal
Amelioration of meaning. E.g. “marshal” – a manservant attending horses -> officer of the highest rank
Наглядности для…
Results of semantic change
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The change of the denotational compound
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The change of the connotational compound |
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Narrowing of meaning |
Broadening of meaning |
Degradation of meaning |
Amelioration of meaning |
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Homonyms
The term homonym comes from Greek “homos” which means “similar” and “onoma” which means “name”. Homonyms are classified into:
Homonyms proper. They are words identical in their sound form and spelling but different in meaning. E.g. “back” (спина), “back” (назад)
Homophones. They are words identical in their sound form but different in spelling and meaning. E.g. “piece” (кусок) – “peace” (мир), “night” – “knight”
Homographs. They are words identical in their spelling but different in their sound form and meaning. E.g. “to bow” (кланяться) – “bow” (лук), “to lead” (вести за собой, лидировать) – “lead” (свинец).
In the process of communication homonyms lead to misunderstanding, they are the most important sources of popular humor. The pun is a joke based on the play of words.
Euphemisms
Euphemisms are words used instead of rood, impolite or too direct word. This device is dictated by social conventions.
Social taboos. E.g. “lavatory” -> “water closet”, “rest room”, “ladies/gentlemen room”, “powder room”; “pregnancy” -> “in a delicate/interesting position”, “expecting”, “with a baby coming”; “drunkenness” -> (official) - “intoxicated”, “under the influence”, (not off.) “fresh”, “high”, “merry”, “full”.
Superstitious taboos. Religious taboos: “devil” -> “the Prince of Darkness”, “the black one”; “god” -> “good lord”, “goodness”; “die” – “to pass a way”, “to close one’s eyes”, “to go West”, “to kick of”, “to kick the bucket”, “to join the majority”.
Most euphemisms have stylistic connotations in their semantic structure.
Synonyms
Synonyms are words which belong to one part of speech, similar but not identical in meaning and combinability and interchangeable in some contexts. If two or more words are identical in meaning the natural tendency in the language is for one of them to change the meaning or disappear. Some scholars define synonyms as the words with the same denotative component but differing in connotations.
“to stare” – “to glare” – “to glance” = “to look + …”
Denotation |
Connotation |
To stare: to look + To glare: to look + To glance: to look + |
lastingly + in surprise, curiosity lastingly + in anger briefly |
Each synonym group has a dominant element. It is called the synonymic dominant or the dominant synonym. It is characterized by:
Broad general meaning
Broad combinability
High frequency of usage
Lack of connotations
Antonyms
Antonyms are words which belong to one part of speech and have contrasting meanings. Structural classification:
Antonyms of the same roots, e.g. “understand” – “misunderstand”, “legal” – “illegal”.
Antonyms of the different roots, e.g. “day” – “night”, “reach” – “pour”.
A polysemantic word can have an antonym for each of its meanings.
Phraseology
Phraseology is a branch of linguistics which deals with functionally, semantically and structurally inseparable word groups. As a branch of linguistics phraseology appeared in Russia. Phraseological units may be divided into:
Phraseological fusions. They are completely non-motivated word groups. E.g. “a white elephant” – an expensive, but useless thing.
Phraseological unities. They are partially non-motivated because their meaning can be understood through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit. E.g. “to band the knee” – to obey.
Phraseological collocations. They are motivated and have one component used in its direct meaning while the other is used metaphorically. E.g. “to meet the demands”, “to have success”.
Proverbs
Proverb is a statement which sums up the collective experience of the community. Proverb is a short epigamic saying that expresses popular wisdom, a moral lesson in an imaginative way. E.g. “the drowning man catches as a straw”, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.