- •1. The notion of the grammatical category: gr. Form & gr. Meaning. Means of form-building. Gr.Oppositions as the basis of gr. Categories. Types of oppositions. Reduction of gr. Oppositions
- •Typology of the Morphological Systems of r and e: Typology of parts of speech
- •3. Simple sentence as a monopredicative structure. The definitions of the sentence
- •The status of the sentence
- •Classification of sentences
- •Types of simple sentences
- •Primary and secondary sentence parts
- •4. Сomposite sentence as a polypredicative structure
- •Connectors
- •Inter-textual structure. (text units)
- •6. The word and its properties
- •2) Identity of the word (тождество).
- •The word as an arbitrary and motivated sign
- •Types of motivation
- •Phonetical motivation;
- •Morphological motivation;
- •Semantic motivation;
- •7. The problem of linguistic meaning
- •Main approaches to the study of meaning
- •Types of linguistic meaning
- •Differences between lexical and grammatical meanings
- •Types of connotative meaning
- •The structure of a polysemantic word
- •8. The etymological composition
- •9. Stylistic stratification of the english vocabulary. Literary and non-literary strata. The subsystems of the english lexicon: slang, jargon, euphemisms, neologisms, archaisms
- •Vulgarisms
- •10. The main and minor ways of word formation; affixation, conversion, compounding, blending, clipping, abbreviation, back formation
- •2 Types of word formation:
- •11. Lexical and grammatical valency of words. Collocations. Free word combinations vs. Idioms. Idioms: their characteristic features. Classifications of idioms
- •Language as a system of signs and as a structure. De saussure's dichotomies. The theory of sign
- •The relationship between language and thought. Language as a means of structuring and storing knowledge
- •Vygotsky’s view of the issue
- •Language and Thought from the Point of View of Cognitive Linguistics
- •Language as a means of communication. The processes of understanding and verbalizing. Text and discourse as units of communication
- •15. Relationship between language and culture. The specific feature of vocabulary and grammar as manifestations of world view
- •The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- •16. Criteria for revealing the status of a phoneme
- •17. Mechanisms of speech sound production
- •In classifying consonants as different from vowels
- •Power mechanism
- •Vibrator mechanism
- •Resonator mechanism
- •Obstructer mechanism
- •18. Intonation as a component structure
- •Intonation
- •19. Reasons for phonetic modification
- •In regional and social accents of english
- •20. The geographical position and the environment of great britain
- •21. General review of the usa economics
- •Inventions and industrial development
- •Achievements of american economy
- •The American System of Government
- •1) The Legislative Branch of Power
- •2) The Executive Branch of Power
- •3) The Judiciary Branch of Power
- •The System of American Courts
- •Nominations, Campaigns and Elections
- •23. National and social population of great britain
- •Ancestors. Waves of invasion
- •Languages and nationalities
- •Social rates
- •Social class make-up
- •Migration waves
- •The ethnic dimension. Racism
- •24. The culture of great britain. Cultural realia
- •Traditions
- •The state opening of parliament
- •Changing the guard
- •Trooping the colour
- •The ceremony of the keys
- •Customs and traditions of scotland
- •English renaissance
- •The british museum
- •Some more museums of britain
- •The Tower of London
- •St. Paul's Cathedral
- •Some more cultural realia from the dictionary
- •25. The main historic periods of the usa
Languages and nationalities
The UK is inhabited by the English — 49856 million, who constitute about 83 % of the total population, the Scots -5057 million (8,5 %), the Welsh - 2938 million (about 5 %), the. Irish — 1703 million, constituting 2,9 % of the total population. Among other nationalities inhabiting the UK there are Gaels Jews, Poles, Germans, Frenchmen, Italians as well as migrants from India, Pakistan and African countries.
English is the official language of the country. Besides standard literary English there are many regional and social dialects. The Celtic language still exists as Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland some 100000 people, mainly in the Highlands and western coastal regions and in the Hebrides, are able to speak the Scottish form of Gaelic. A few families in Northern Ireland speak the Irish form of Gaelic. French is still the official language of Jersey (the Channel Isls) and on the Isle of Man. It is used for ceremonial and official procedure. Both French and English are used in courts.
DENSITY. DISTRIBUTION With over 59 million people the UK claims the 14th place in the world as to its population. Britain has always been a densely populated country. According to the latest full census taken in 2003 the population density in Britain is 246 per sq. km. Britain is the third in Europe (after Netherlands) — 383 and Belgium — 325). England is the most thickly peopled part, its density is 361. The second is Wales — 142 per sq. km, then Northern Ireland — 125. Scotland is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe.
Britain is a highly urbanized country, 90 % of its population live in cities and towns, and only 10 % are rural inhabitants.
As in many other developed countries the recent trend shows a movement of people away from the main conurbations (particularly their centres) to the surrounding suburbs.
Social rates
In the 60s there was a marked tendency for earlier marriages: young people married in their late teens or early 20. The trend of the 60s towards earlier marriages was reversed at the beginning of the 70s. Since then there has been a slow increase in the average age for the first marriages, which in England and Wales is now just over 26 for men and 24 for women.
Britain has one of the highest divorce rates in Western Europe. The European average is 6,9 per thousand. The divorce rate in Britain has been increasing steadily, about 167 . 700 divorces were granted in the UK in 2002, 2,5 % more than in 2001. Nowadays one in almost every two marriages ends in divorce. The rates for Scotland and Northern Ireland are much lower.
The image of the traditional British household of the 50s with 3—4 children in a family has changed. Nowadays only 7 % of British families consist of 5 or more people. The average British couple today has only 1,8 children. 29 % of the married couples have no children, 28 % — have children, 29 % — one-member families (widows or divorced men), 10 % — lone parent families with children.
Another feature of the present British family, common to many other Western European countries, has been a considerable increase in cohabitation. 18 % of unmarried people aged between 16—59 are leaving with someone without being officially married.
As in many other developed countries, the fertility rate (63 births per 1000 women of childbearing age) is low compared with past rates and it remains below the level required for the long-term replacement of the population. Such factors as later marriages, postponement of childbirth, effective contraception, voluntary sterilisation of men and women has contributed to the relatively low birth rate.
Birth rate tendencies have brought noticeable changes in the age distribution. There is a marked decline in the proportion of young people under 16 and an increase in the proportion of elderly people, especially those aged 85 and over. The British population is already one of the oldest in Europe, and it is slowly getting older.
Sex distribution is also different. There are nearly 106 female to every 100 males in average in Britain. This imbalance increases with age, among elderly over 70 years old there are 18 women to every 10 men.