- •Lexicology as a linguistic discipline.
- •Lexicology as a brunch of linguistics. Types of Lexicology.
- •The connection of lexicology with other linguistic disciplines. Methods of lexicological research.
- •General problems of the theory of the Word.
- •1.Lexicology as a brunch of linguistics. Types of Lexicology.
- •The notion of the linguistic sign.
- •2.The connection of lexicology with other linguistic disciplines. Methods of lexicological research.
- •The Transformational Analysis
- •3. General problems of the theory of the word.
- •Lecture 2 Etymological characteristics of Modern English vocabulary
- •1. Native words in English.
- •2. Borrowings in English vocabulary. Classification of borrowings.
- •Classification of borrowings according to the language from which they were borrowed
- •French borrowings
- •Italian borrowings.
- •German borrowings.
- •Holland borrowings.
- •Russian borrowings.
- •3. Etymological doublets
- •Lecture 3 Morphological structure of English words. Wordbuilding
- •1. Morphological structure of English words.
- •2. Different ways of wordbuilding in English.
- •3. Productive ways of word-building in English.
- •Lecture 4 Semantic structure of English words. Semantic processes.
- •1. Semasiology. Word-meaning. Lexical and grammatical meaning.
- •2. Polysemy in Modern English, its role and sources. Homonymy, Synonymy. Antonyms in me.
- •3. Semantic processes. Change of meaning.
- •Lecture 5 homonymy and synonymy in modern english
- •1. Homonymy in English. The sources of homonymy
- •Sources of Homonymy
- •2. Classification of Homonyms
- •4. Classification of synonyms
- •Ideographic (which he defined as words conveying the same notion but differing in shades of meaning),
- •Lecture 6 english phraseology
- •1. Phraseological units in English.
- •2. Ways of forming phraseological units.
- •1. Phraseological units in English.
- •2. Ways of forming phraseological units. Their classification.
- •Lecture 7
- •1. The words of informal stylistic layer.
- •Informal Style
- •Colloquial Words
- •Dialect words
- •2. The formal layer of the English vocabulary.
- •Learned Words
- •3. Professionalisms.
- •4. Stylistically neutral layer of the English vocabulary.
- •5. Neologisms in English.
- •Lecture 8 English as the world language. Varieties of English.
- •1. Historical and economic background of widespreading English.
- •2. Some of the distinctive characteristics of american english
- •3. The language of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
- •4. Some other varieties of English (English of India and Pakistan, African English)
- •2. Historical development of British and American Lexicography.
- •3. Classification of dictionaries
Dialect words
Dialect is a variety of a language which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase.
Dialects are regional forms of English. Standard English is defined as the English language as it is written and spoken by literate people in both formal and informal usage and that is universally current while incorporating regional differences.
Car, trolley, tram began as dialectal words.
In the following extract from The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley, the outstanding English writer ingeniously and humorously reproduces his native Yorkshire dialect. The speakers are discussing a football match they have just watched. The author makes use of a number of dialectal words and grammatical structures and, also, uses spelling to convey certain phonetic features of "broad Yorkshire".
" 'Na Jess! said the acquaintance, taking an imitation calabash pipe out of his mouth and then winking mysteriously.
"Na Jim!' returned Mr. Oakroyd. This 'Na' which must once have been 'Now', is the recognized salutation in Bruddersford, and the fact that it sounds more like a word of caution than a word of greeting is by no means surprising. You have to be careful in Bruddersford.
2. The formal layer of the English vocabulary.
We have already pointed out that formal style is restricted to formal situations. In general, formal words fall into two main groups: words associated with professional communication and a less exclusive group of the so-called learned words.
Learned Words
The term "learned" includes several heterogeneous subdivisions of words. We find here numerous words that are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour (e.g., comprise, compile, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous, conclusive, divergent, etc.).
To this group also belongs the so-called "officialese". These are words of the official, bureaucratic language: assist (for help), endeavour (for try), proceed (for go on), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), attired (for dressed), inquire (for ask).
The words, which may be called "literary", also have a particular flavour of their own, usually described as "refined". They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance languages and, though fully adapted to the English phonetic system, some of them continue to sound singularly foreign. Here are some examples: solitude, sentiment, fascination, fastidiousness, delusion, meditation, felicity, elusive, cordial, illusionary.
Archaic and Obsolete Words
These words stand close to "learned" words, particularly to modes of poetic diction. Learned words and archaisms are both associated with the printed page. Yet, many learned words may also be used in conversational situations. This cannot happen with archaisms, which are invariably restricted to the printed page. These words are moribund, already partly or fully out of circulation, rejected by the living language. Their last refuge is in historical novels (whose authors use them to create a particular period atmosphere) and, of course, in poetry which is rather conservative in its choice of words.
Examples of archaisms are: morn (for morning),eve (for evening), moon (for month), damsel (for girl), errant (for wandering, e.g., errant knights) etc. Sometimes, an archaic word may undergo a sudden revival. So, the formerly archaic kin (for relatives; one's family) is now current in American usage.
The terms "archaic" and "obsolete" are used more or less indiscriminately by some authors. Others make a distinction between them using the term "obsolete" for words which have completely gone out of use. The Random House Dictionary defines an obsolete word as one "no longer in use, esp. out of use for at least a century", whereas an archaism is referred to as "current in an earlier tune but rare in present usage" .
There is a further term for words which are no longer in use: historisms. By this we mean words denoting objects and phenomena which are things of the past and no longer exist.