Лекція 1. Lexicology as a science.

1. Lexicology (from Gr. Lexis “word” and logos “learning”) is the part of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of a language and the properties of words as the main units of language.

“Vocabulary” is used to denote the system formed by the sum total of all the words and word equivalents that the language possesses.

“Word” denotes the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a given meaning with a given group of sounds capable of a given grammatical employment. A word is simultaneously a semantic, grammatical and phonological unit.

The general study of words and vocabulary, irrespective of the specific features of any particular language, is known as general lexicology.

Linguistic phenomena and properties common to all languages are generally referred to as language universals.

Special lexicology devotes its attention to the description of the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language.

Contrastive lexicology provides a theoretical basis on which the vocabularies of different languages can be compared and described.

Historical lexicology or etymology discuses the origin of various words, their change and development and investigates the linguistic and extralinguistic forces modifying their structure, meaning and usage.

Descriptive lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage of its development. The descriptive lexicology of the English language deals with the English word in its morphological and semantical structures, investigating the interdependence between these two aspects.

Lexicology also studies all kinds of semantic grouping and semantic relations: synonymy, antonymy, semantic fields, etc.

Semantics – the study of meaning; it is relevant both for lexicology and grammar.

2. Lexicology studies vocabulary of language as a structure and as a system.

In this system words have certain linguistic relations, which are classified into syntogmatic and paradigmatic.

Syntagmatic relations are based on the linear character of speech, i.e. on the influence of context.

The term context is defined as the minimum stretch of speech necessary and sufficient to determine which of the possible meanings of a polysemantic word is used blue eyes; to feel blue.

In some cases the microcontext, i.e. that of a sentence or a syntagm, is not sufficient, and a broader context, or macrocontext, is necessary.

There were Blue shops and Buff shops, Blue inns and Buff inss. (the Blues, the Buffs – 2 rival leading parties of the town).

Paradigmatic linguistic relationships determining the vocabulary system may be subdivided as follows: (1) the interdependence of elements within words; (2) the interdependence of words within the vocabulary; (3) the influence of other aspects of the same language.

(1) The interdependence of elements within words is revealed when the components of the lexical system are viewed as complex morphological and semantic structures.

Morphology considers the English word as a structure described in terms of morphemes and of the patterns in which morphemes are arranged.

Semasiology studies the semantic structure of words described in terms of lexico-semantic variants and conditions of distribution relevant for judging whether these variants are identical or different.

Лекція 2. Etymological analysis of the English vocabulary.

1. Words of native origin and their characteristics.

2. Borrowings.

2.1. Classification of borrowings according to the borrowed aspect.

2.2. Classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation.

2.3. Classification of borrowings according to the language from which they were borrowed.

3. Etymological doublets.

4. International words.

1. Words of native origin and their characteristics.

Etymologically the vocabulary of the English language consists of two layers the native stock of words and borrowed stock of words. Native words comprise only 30% of the total number of words in the English vocabulary.

A native word is a word which belongs to the origin English stock, as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period.

The native words are subdivided into those of the Indo-European stock and those of Common Germanic origin i.e. of words having parallels in German, Norwegian and Dutch.

The words having the cognates (words of the same etymological root, of common origin) in the vocabularies of different Indo-European languages from the oldest layer which readily falls into definite semantic groups:

1. Family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter (cf. Ukr. Мати, брат, син).

2. Parts of the human body: foot ( cf. Rus. пядь), nose (cf. Ukr. ніс), lip, heart.

3. Animals: cow, swine, goose.

4. Plants: tree, birch (cf. Rus. береза), corn ( cf. Rus. зерно).

5. Time of day: day, night.

6. Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star.

7. Numerous adjectives: red, ( cf. Ukr. Рудий, Rus. рыжий), new, glad ( cf. Rus. гладкий), sad (cf. Rus. сыт).

8. The numerals from one to a hundred.

9. Pronouns: personal (except they which is a Scandinavian borrowing); demonstrative.

10. Numerous verbs: be ( cf. Rus. стоять), sit (cf. Rus. Сидеть), eat (cf. Rus.есть), know (cf.Rus.знать, знаю).

Some of the most frequent verbs are also of Indo-Europuean common stock: bear, come, sit, stand and others. The adjectives of this group denote concrete physical properties: hard, quick, slow, red, white. Most numerals also belong here.

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, 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.

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.

2. Borrowings.

Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English throughout its history More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French, Italian, Spanish). Borrowed words are different from native ones by their phonetic structure, by their morphological structure and also by their grammatical forms. It is also characterisitic of borrowings to be non-motivated semantically.

English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other countries, that is why it is very rich in borrowings. The Roman invasion, the adoption of Cristianity, Scandinavian and Norman conquests of the British Isles, the development of British colonialism and trade and cultural relations served to increase immensely the English vocabulary. The majority of these borrowings are fully assimilated in English in their pronunciation, grammar, spelling and can be hardly distinguished from native words.

English continues to take in foreign words , but now the quantity of borrowings is not so abundunt as it was before. All the more so, English now has become a «giving» language, it has become Lingva franca of the twentieth century.

Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria:

a) according to the aspect which is borrowed,

b) according to the degree of assimilation,

c) according to the language from which the word was borrowed.

(In this classification only the main languages from which words were borrowed into English are described, such as Latin, French, Italian. Spanish, German and Russian.)