- •1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics, its aims and significance. Links with other branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study.
- •2. Synchronic and diachronic approaches to the study of language
- •3. Etymological survey of the English language. Native and borrowed words. Some basic notions
- •4. Words of native origin in Modern English. Semantic and stylistic characteristics of native words. Word-forming ability of native words.
- •5. Borrowings. Translation loans. Semantic loans
- •6. Source of borrowing and the origin of borrowing
- •7. Types and sources of borrowings. Etymological doublets
- •8.. Assimilation of borrowings. Its types and degrees.
- •9. Greek borrowings in English. Criteria of Greek borrowings
- •10. Latin borrowings in English. Periods of borrowings from Latin
- •11. Norman-French element in the English vocabulary system. Periods of borrowings from French.
- •Ic and uc analysis
- •14. 14.Types of morphemes
- •17. Derivational and morphemic levels of analysis
- •19.Word formation in Modern English
- •21.Productive ways of word-formation in Modern English. Principal ways of word-derivation
- •25. Clipping as a way of word formation. Types of clippings
- •26. Conversion. Typical semantic relations within a conversion pair
- •27. Derivation as a word-formative process in English
- •Productivity
- •28. Shortening. Types of shortening
- •29. Word composition. Types of compound words. Different criteria for classification
- •30. Semasiology. Types of meaning. Meaning of a morpheme
- •32. Connotative and denotative meaning. Types of connotative meaning
- •34.Synchronic and diachronic approaches to polysemy
- •35. Semantic structure of a word. Word paradigm.
- •38. Change of word meaning. Figures of speech. Metaphor and metonymy.
- •5. Stylistic synonyms.
- •§ 1. Lexical Valency (Collocability)
- •§ 2. Grammatical Valency
- •65. Problems of lexicography
11. Norman-French element in the English vocabulary system. Periods of borrowings from French.
A great number of words of French origin have entered the English language to the extent that many Latin words have come to the English language.
According to different sources, nearly 30% of all English words have a French origin.[1] This fact suggests that 80,000 words should appear in this list. However, this list does not include derivatives formed in English, but only the ones imported as such directly from French (for instance joy and joyous, but not joyful, joyfulness, nor partisanship, parenthood, …).
Although French is mainly from Latin (which accounts for about 60% of English vocabulary either directly or via a Romance language), it also includes words from Gaulish and Germanic languages (especially Old Frankish). Since English is of Germanic origin, words that have entered English from the Germanic elements in French might not strike the eye as distinctively from French. Conversely, as Latin gave many derivatives to both the English and the French languages, ascertaining that a given Latinate derivative did not come to the English language via French can be difficult in a few cases.
Most of the French vocabulary now appearing in English was imported over the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066, when England came under the administration of Norman-speaking peoples. The majority of the population of England continued to use their Anglo-Saxon language but it was influenced by the language of the ruling elite, resulting in doublets. Consider for example the words for the meats eaten by the Anglo-Norman nobility and the corresponding animals grown by the Anglo-Saxon peasants: beef / ox, mutton / sheep, veal / calf, pork / pig, or pairs of words pertaining to different registers of language: commence / start, continue / go on, disengage / withdraw, encounter / meet, vend / sell, purchase / buy. Words of French origin often refer to more abstract or elaborate notions than their Anglo-Saxon equivalents (e.g. liberty / freedom, justice / fairness), and are therefore of less frequent use in everyday language. It may not be the case of all English words of French origin though. Consider for instance: able, car, chair, city, country, fine, fruit, journey, juice, just, part, people, real, stay, table, travel, use, very, wait.
The political lexicon include many words of French origin like liberalism, capitalism, materialism, nationalism, plebiscite, coup d'état, regime, sovereignty. The judicial lexicon has also been heavily influenced by French (justice, judge, jury, attorney, court, case). (See also Law French). It is also the case in the domain of diplomacy (attaché, chargé d'affaires, envoy, embassy, chancery, diplomacy, démarche, communiqué, aide-mémoire, détente, entente, rapprochement, accord, treaty, alliance, passport, protocol).
Other examples include color names (ecru, mauve, beige, carmine, maroon, blue, orange, violet, vermilion, turquoise, lilac, perse, scarlet) ; vegetables or fruits (courgette, aubergine, cabbage, carrot, nutmeg, quince, lemon, orange, apricot); months of the year (January, March, May, July, November, December).
12. Morpheme. Meaning in morphemesIf we describe a wоrd as an autonomous unit of language in which a particular meaning is associated with a particular sound complex and which is capable of a particular grammatical employment and able to form a sentence by itself (see p. 9), we have the possibility to distinguish it from the other fundamental language unit, namely, the morpheme.
A morpheme is also an association of a given meaning with a given sound pattern. But unlike a word it is not autonomous. Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of words, not independently, although a word may consist of a single morpheme. Nor are they divisible into smaller meaningful units. That is why the morpheme may be defined as the minimum meaningful language unit.
The term morpheme is derived from Gr morphe ‘form’ + -eme. The Greek suffix -erne has been adopted by linguists to denote the smallest significant or distinctive unit. (Cf. phoneme, sememe.) The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of form. A form in these cases is a recurring discrete unit of speech.
13. Morpheme, IC and UC analysis, derivation, stem
The morpheme may be defined as the smallest meaningful unit which has a sound form and meaning and which occurs in speech only as a part of a word. Morphemes are subdivided into root - morphemes and affixational morphemes.The root morpheme is the lexical center of the word. It is the semantic nucleus of a word with which no grammatical properties of the word are connected, Affixational morphemes include inflections and derivational affixes.Inflection is an affixal morpheme which carries only grammatical meaning thus relevant only for the formation of word-forms (books, opened, strong-er).Derivational morpheme is an affixal morpheme which modifies the lexical meaning of the root and forms a new word.