Кунин Classification:

1. Одновершинные (with one peak)

( one peak phraseological units, one form word, one notional )

• Ex.: to leave for good

• By heart

• At bay – быть в отчаянном положении

2. Phrasemes with the structure of subordinate or coordinate word combination.

• Ex.: a bitter pill to swallow

• All the world & his wife

3. Partly predicative

( a word + subordinate clause )

• Ex.: It was the last straw that broke the camels back

4. Verbal with (infinitive, passive)

• Ex.: to eat like a wolf

• The Rubicon is crossed

5. Phrasal units with a simple or complex sentence structure

• Ex.: There is a black sheep in every flock.

• It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back

Koonin: “Structural-semantic classification”.

1. Nominative

• A hard nut to crack

2. Nominative –communicative

• The ice is broken

3. Interjectional & modal

• (Emotions, feelings)

• Oh, my eye! (= Oh, my God!)

• As sure as eggs is eggs (просто, как 2х2)

4. Communicative (proverbs, sayings)

• There is no smoke without fire.

Characteristics of Idioms

Technically, an idiom is a kind of lexical unit in which the whole meaning of the

expression is not apparent from the meanings of its components. Bell (1974:1-2) identifies

certain features which are essential in the recognition of idioms. Some of these features are:

- Alteration of Grammatical Rules

The idiomatic expression is not always grammatical, but it is established, accepted and

used by native speakers of the language with a fixed structure and meaning.

E.g. 1. It‟s ages since we met (singular with a plural noun).

2. He is a friend of mine (possessive instead of personal pronoun).

- Conventional Phrases

Idioms are special expressions which are almost known and agreed by all the members

of a particular community.

E.g. 1. How are you doing? (Expression used to ask someone about his health).

2. Once in a blue moon (rarely, infrequently).

- Alteration of Word Order

Idiomatic expressions in English, usually, do not respect the English word order.

E.g. 1. It may be well ahead of time (normal word order).

2. It may well be ahead of time (probably): idiomatic expression.

- Figurativeness

The main feature that characterizes idiomatic expressions is that the words are used

metaphorically. Therefore, the surface structure has a little role to play in understanding the

meaning of the whole expression. For example, in ‟to bury the hatchet‟, meaning „to become

friendly again after a disagreement‟, the meanings of the words „to bury‟ and‟ the hatchet‟ are

different from the meaning of the whole expression.

- Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are the most common type of idioms in English. Many of them carry

idiomatic meanings that cannot be inferred from the form, unless the phrase is already known.

E.g. 1. After war began, the two countries broke off diplomatic relations (discontinue).

2. Most automobile companies bring out new modals each year (to show or

introduce).

In addition to all these features that are important in the recognition of idioms, Baker

(1992:63) identifies the grammatical and syntactic restrictions of idioms. For her, a speaker or

a writer cannot normally do any of the following with an idiom:

a. Addition: Adding any word to an idiomatic expression would alter its meaning, or remove

its idiomatic sense. Thus, adding the adverb ‟very‟ to the adjective ‟red‟ in „red herring‟

(*very red herring) affects the figurativeness of its meaning completely.

b. Deletion: Deleting the adjective „sweet ‟and the article ‟the‟ from the expressions „have a

sweet tooth‟ and „spill the beans‟ would change totally their meanings. Hence, (*have a tooth)

and (*spill beans) have no idiomatic sense.

c. Substitution: Idioms accept no replacement of words even if those words are synonyms.

For example, „the long and short of it‟ means the basic facts of a situation. The adjective

„long‟ cannot be substituted by another adjective, like tall, despite they have nearly the same

meaning.

d. Modification: Any changing in the grammatical structure of an idiom leads to the

destruction of the idiom‟s meaning. For instance, the expression (*stock and barrel lock) is no

more idiomatic because of the altered order of the items in the expression „lock, stock and

barrel‟ completely.

e. Comparative: Adding the comparative form „er‟ to the adjective „hot‟ in the expression „be

in hot water‟ changes the conventional sense of the idiom which has the meaning of „be in

trouble‟.

f. Passive: The passive form „some beans were spilled‟ has a different meaning from its active

form „they spilled the beans‟ meaning „they reveal a surprise‟.

All these restrictions should be taken into consideration since they affect the degree of

idiomacity of lexical items, and they may remove their main feature of figurativeness.

Classification of Idioms

The main feature that differentiates between the different kinds of idioms as easily

understandable or totally opaque is the degree of idiomacity that an idiom carries. Idioms are

categorized in a continuum from transparent to opaque called „the spectrum of idiomacity‟.

The latter has an important role in the comprehensibility of idioms. Therefore, idioms can be

divided into two broad categories:

Transparent-Opaque Idioms

Two types are included in this category:

- Transparent Idioms

In this category, idiomatic expressions have a very close meaning to that of the literal

one. Hence, transparent idioms are usually not difficult to understand and translate, because

their meanings can be easily inferred from the meanings of their constituents (Fernando,

1996).

E.g. 1. Fight a losing battle

2. Stand firm:

3. Back and forth:

- Semi Transparent Idioms

The idiom usually carries a metaphorical sense that could not be known only through

common use. i.e., the meaning of its parts has a little role to play in understanding the entire

meaning. For example, „break the ice‟ means „relieve the tension‟.

- Semi-Opaque Idioms

This type refers to those idioms in which the figurative meaning is not joined to that of

the constituent words of the idiom. In other words, the expression is separated into two parts;

a part of the phrase has a literal meaning, while the other part has a figurative sense. For

example, „to know the ropes‟ means „to know how a particular job should be done‟.

- Opaque Idioms

Opaque idioms are the most difficult type of idioms, because the meaning of the idiom

is never that of the sum of the literal meanings of its parts. In other words, it would be

impossible to infer the actual meaning of the idiom from the meanings of its components.

This is mainly because of the presence of items having cultural references. These culturespecific

items have a great influence on the comprehensibility of idiomatic expressions.

E.g. 1.To burn one‟s boat (to make retreat impossible).

2. Kick the bucket (die).

3. Spill the beans (reveal a secret) (Kharma, 1997: 41-42).

Culture-Free and Loaded Idioms

The main feature that leads to the difficulty in translating idioms is their culture

specificity. An idiom, as the Oxford Dictionary (1983) defines it, is” a form of expression

peculiar to a language”. The term‟ peculiar‟, in this definition, means that idioms are

meaningful or they have sense in only one language or one culture. Therefore, it is difficult, if

not impossible, to find such an idiom in another different language. Some idioms, however, as

metaphors and proverbs, have direct equivalents and hence, they can be easily translated into

other languages. An example of that is the English expression „shoot a line (to be proud of oneself). The difference is in the degree of transparency. „shoot a line‟ is totally opaque (it is very difficult to understand it, and its meaning cannot be derived from the meanings of the words „shoot‟ and ‟line‟, and so it is a loaded culture idiom). Having a wide knowledge of the cultural references, as well as the context of use is the key for better understanding and interpreting idioms, and mastering their different uses. In this respect, Ponterotto (1994:3) states that “it is necessary to understand metaphoricity and its culture-specific connotations in order to correctly interpret even simple texts.”

Interpretation of Idioms

Translating idioms is one of the most difficult tasks for translators. It involves far

more than the replacement of lexical and grammatical items between languages, and it may

involve discarding the basic linguistic elements of the SL text. According to Baker (1992:65),

the first difficulty that a translator comes across, while translating idioms, is the ability to

recognize and distinguish idiomatic from non-idiomatic usage. Recognition is difficult, and

sometimes impossible, since many idioms can be slightly modified, while others can be

discontinuously spread over a clause. Those which are easily recognizable include

expressions which violate truth conditions, such as: ‘it’s raining cats and dogs, throw caution

to the winds, storm in a tea cup, jump down someone’s throat, and food for thought.‟

Expressions which seem ill-formed, or which do not follow the grammatical rules of the

language are also included here, like for instance, „trip the light fantastic, blow someone to

kingdom come, put paid to, by and large‟. Expressions which begin with „like‟ (like structuresimile), as ‟like a bat out of hell‟ and „like water off a duck‟s back‟, also suggest that they should not be interpreted literally. As a rule, the more difficult an expression is to understand and the less sense it makes in a given context, the more likely a translator will recognize it as an idiom (Baker, 1992:65-66).

Use of Idioms

Any kind of language is not always appropriate in all occasions. In case where a writer

or a speaker uses idiomatic language, s/he usually focuses attention on his shared cultural

beliefs with the members of his/her community, and the kind of audience his speech is

directed to. In this respect, s/he knows that it is not at ease to deliver a message using

figurative language, and to have the same effect on the target reader as it is in the SL. This is

mainly because unawareness of the connotations of a given expression or phrase may cause

serious problems for those people being addressed. Idioms are also different and each one has

a specific context to occur in. Standard idioms for example, are suitable for formal situations,

while slang and informal ones are used in normal situations. Native speakers of a language

can easily know the different uses of idioms and avoid the pitfalls of inappropriate ones. In

case of non-native speakers, it will be better for them to learn idioms of the language the way

they learn its other vocabularies, and try to master their appropriate contextual uses.

Idioms‟ uses, however, are highly related to the functions they fulfil in discourse.

Therefore, Fernando (1996:1) provides three functional uses of idioms. For him, an idiom can

be ideational, interpersonal or relational.

- Ideational idioms carry specific experiential representation like for example, „bread and butter‟ (a simple bread and butter issue).

- Interpersonal idioms are those ones that represent an exchange between a speaker

and a listener in a particular discourse, as when expressing conviviality in „bless you‟ and

disagreement in „go to hell‟.

- Relational idioms aim at connecting different parts of discourse to achieve cohesion

and coherence like for example, in sum, on the other hand and in addition.

According to Langacher (1968:80), “if well suited to the occasion, metaphorical use of

idioms is more colourful and effective than straightforward prosaic statements.”

Idioms and Metaphors

Language is a system of communication that is used by a particular community of

speakers. Metaphors constitute a large part of this everyday language. They have been

recognized as rhetorical devices that compare two seemingly different objects. King

(2000:216) defines metaphors as „describing something by using an analogy with something

quite different‟. For example, „the words are clear as crystal‟ is an idiom that expresses the

similarity between the words and the crystal in the degree of clarity. According to King

(2000:216), the ability to explain a complex vague expression making it more understandable

and clear is the beauty of metaphors.

Moreover, both idioms and metaphors, as Maalej (2005) states, have a power of

likening .i.e., they cannot be understood if they are taken literally. The difference between the

two, however, can be marked through a separate existence of a basic correlation. The latter is

due to the fact that idioms in the past have an old reference which represents systematic

metaphors.

According to Maalej, idioms and metaphors are culture-specific aspects of a particular

language, i.e., the non-existence of a direct one to one correspondence in the TL of a

particular idiom in the SL is the result of culture-specific metaphors. In this respect, Maalej

states:

Culture-specific metaphors are best represented in phraseology. Native

language idioms and set phrases can blend together ethno-specific

concepts pertaining to the world view of it speakers, to their national

character, as well as their traditional social relations, thus becoming an

embodiment of national dispositions and spiritual values. They are

presented metaphorically indirectly and figuratively, which is why

culture-specific metaphors produce idioms that have no corresponding

counterparts in another language (2005: 215).

Idioms and Clichés

Prefabricated speech has a great extent use in performed language. Idioms, for

example, which are “complex bits of frozen syntax, whose meanings are more than simply the

sum of their individual parts” (Nattinger and De Carrico, 1992: 32), are considered as one

feature of this type of speech. Idioms, however, are not the only kind of prefabricated speech;

there are many other sorts of formulaic fixed phrases like clichés. Clichés are similar to

idioms in that, they include patterns which are relatively frozen, but they are different from

them, in the sense that these patterns are usually made up of extended stretches of language.

Clichés like „there is no doubt about it‟, „a good time was had by all‟ and „have a nice day‟

differs also from idioms in the way that they are easily understandable from the meaning of

their individual constituents. In contrast to idioms which are often learnt as a single unit

without taking into account the meaning of their parts (ibid.).

Idioms and Proverbs

Like idioms, proverbs “are special, fixed, unchanged phrases which have special,

fixed, unchanged meanings” (Ghazala, 1995:142). Proverbs, however, are different from

idioms in the sense that they display shared cultural wisdom. In other words, proverbs are

easily understandable and, in most cases, the speaker may utter only the first part of the

proverb to express the whole meaning. Thus, „do not count your chickens‟ is used instead of

„do not count your chickens before they have hatched‟

Although proverbs are considered as culture-specific because they are very bound to

culture, many proverbs have direct equivalents in different languages. For instance, the

English expression „out of sight, out of mind‟ has a similar proverb in Russian and Kazakh

Other examples may include: Forbidden fruit is sweet; A fox is not taken twice in the same snare; Like a bull in a china shop.

Idioms and proverbs are not always transparent, and their meanings are sometimes

ambiguous. Yet learners are fascinated by them since they are always intrigued with

expressive colorful language. Idioms and proverbs are also a part of figurative language that

produces cultural information, and their use shows that the person is a part of that social group

that uses them (Hatch and Brown, 1995:202-203).

Idioms and Fixed Expressions

Fixed expressions like „having said that, as a matter of fact, ladies and gentlemen, as

well as and all the best‟ are similar to idioms in the sense that they allow a little or no

variation in form. Fixed expressions, however, are different from idioms in the way that they have almost transparent meanings. Hence, the meaning of „as a matter of fact‟ for example,

can easily be inferred from the meaning of its constituents, in contrast to idioms like „pull a

fast one‟ or „fill the bill‟, where the meaning of the whole expression is different from the

meaning of its parts. But in spite of its transparency, the meaning of a fixed expression, as that

of an idiom, is sometimes more than the sum meanings of its components. Similar to idioms,

meeting any fixed expression brings up in the mind of the reader all the aspects of experience

associated with the different contexts in which the expression is used. This feature is the

leading cause to the widespread use of fixed and semi-fixed expressions in any language

(Baker, 1992: 63).

Conclusion

Idioms always cause a lot of problems to learners of a foreign language. Students

usually find difficulties in recognizing an expression as idiomatic or not, and then

understanding its exact meaning. This is mainly due to the fact that idiomatic expressions

carry a metaphorical sense that makes the comprehension of an idiom difficult if not

impossible. In other words, the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced from the meaning of

its constituent parts. In addition, the source and the target cultures have a great influence on

the comprehensibility as well as the translatability of idioms. Hence, better understanding and

using idioms needs both knowing their historical background and familiarity with both the S

and the T cultures, and having a clear idea about their different situational context.

Lecture # 11. Semantic derivation and word building. Replenishment of modern English vocabulary

I. Affixation

II. Conversion

III. Compounding

I. The themes to be revised: types of morphemic analysis; procedure of morphemic analysis: the method of immediate and ultimate constituents; derivative relations and derivative affixes.

Word – formation is a system of derivative types of words and the process of creating new words according to certain grammatical and semantic patterns.

1. Means of word formation

Affixes. Degrees of derivation (beauty-beautiful-beautifully). Prefixes are oriented to more than one part of speech: premature, presuppose; unreasonable, unbutton, etc. Suffixes have one part – of –speech meaning: -less, -ful, -ly, etc. So, prefixes are more independent semantically than suffixes.

2. Types of prefixes:

- They cannot be used as independent words: un, dis, re, pre, post (compare with Latin prefixes)

- They can be used as independent words: out, over, up, under (underestimate-to go under…).

They differ from the first group: the have more generalized meaning, the deprived of all grammatical properties peculiar to the independent words. Prefixes modify the lexical and grammatical meaning of the word: understand-misunderstand, bus-debus.

3. Suffixes transfer a word in another part of speech or in other semantic group (child-childhood). There may be compound suffixes, i.e. derived from more than one suffix: Adaptation from ate and ion to the verb adapt. Suffixes may change not only morphological but also phonetic shape and stress of the word: stable-stability, employ-employee.

4. Polysemantic suffixes have more than one shades of grammatical meaning: - er denoting the doer, a device/tool (transmitter)

Homonymous suffixes form different parts of speech: -ly in quickly and lovely. They have different grammatical meanings.

Synonymous suffixes denote the same grammatical meaning: er (writer) -ist (violinist) – agent.

5. Origin of affixes: native and foreign (borrowed). The first ones used to be independent words, then in the course of time they have lost their independence. Most foreign affixes have come into English within borrowed words. Afterwards, they became derivative patterns: derivation from derive. Most derivative affixes are of international currency. (-ist- artist, realist), (-ism- to form abstract nouns, neologism).

Foreign stem + native affix (-ful-, -less-, -ness-) – They were used with French words (colourless)

Native stem + foreign affix (-abl-). Some affixes (-ance-, -al-, -ity) are not productive with native stems.

T asks

1. Different classifications of prefixes and suffixes

2. Productivity of affixes. Criteria of productivity.

Morphological (grammatical) ways

Conversion

The term first appeared in the book by Henry Sweet “New English Grammar” in 1891. A change from one system to another: from the noun to the verb. A way of word – building without any affixation. The derived word takes on the characteristics proper to the new part of speech. They are morphological categories and syntactic functions (round the table, a round table). Conversion is the main way to form the verb

from the noun: 1) without changing the form: email –to email 2) by disaffixation – baby-sitter – to baby-sit, blood- transfusion – to blood – transfuse, funger-printing – to finger-print;

from the adjective: clean – to clean, tame – to tame

from other parts of speech: woe –to woe

Conversion is a way to form the noun:

From the verb: to get up – a get up, to walk – a walk, to pick up – a pick up

From the adjective: criminal – a criminal, grown – up (person) – a grown-up. Other cases: sweets, the rich.

From other parts of speech: ups and downs, ‘isms’ of modern world

Word compounding (composite)

It is linking two or more stems (roots). Main characteristics: 1) fixed order of components; otherwise the meaning can be lost (week-end; *end-week) 2) one main stress; 3) graphic features – single or hyphenated spelling. The semantic unity is very strong (skinhead, brain-drain, brain-storm, to brain-wash, brain-wave). Grammatical features: only one component changes grammatically (These girls are chatter-boxes).

Ways of word-compounding: 1) two or more stems – notional words (honeymoon); 2) two or more stems and secondary words: get-up-and-go means determined desire to get things done; rough-and-tumble means noisy fighting; 3) two or more stems which can be affixed: astronautics, video-player, swimming-pool; 4) compound-shortened words: V-day, T-shirt, Ecoforum, Oxbridge. 5) reduplication: fifty-fifty. All these ways are semantically motivated because they denote different relations: sex relations (she-goat), similarity (space-like), etc. Some compounds change the pronunciation of components: emoticon = emotion + icon, verticon = vertical+icon.

Abbreviation

Abbreviation is a way of word – building aimed at forming a shortened form of a word (Dr for Doctor, PTO for ‘please turn over’). They are used in writing and speech.

Acronym is a word made up from the first letters of the name of something such as FBI, VIP (with alphabetical reading) or first sounds such as NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization, mixed such as UNESCO. Another kind of abbreviation is compound-shortened word: A-bomb, V-day, and X-ray. Grammatical features: the plural is marked in last word (VIPs, NATOs); the verb is in the singular (The USA is a multicultural country); they can form new words by affixation.

Abbreviation of words consist in clipping a part of them:

nouns: laboratory – lab, discotheque – disco, mathematics - maths; verbs: to baby-sit; adjectives: comfortable-comfy, African-Afro Sometimes shortening influences the spelling, e.g. ‘c’ can be substituted by ‘k’ – technical college – tech – tek, coca-cola - coke

Affixation

Affix – from Latin, the smallest meaningful unit. It forms new words. Prefixes, postfixes, and suffixes. When added to the stem affixes interrelate with it. They are auxiliary morphemes dependent or independent on the stem. There are different taxonomies of affixes, e.g.: grammatical proper – to form a new part of speech; lexical & grammatical (boyish, bossy).

-International affixes – with a formal flavor: to form scientific words or terms (polymer, polyglot, polygraph, microphone, stereophonic, monograph, megaphone, megamania, multiplex, mini-, maxi-, eco). These affixes were appeared from Latin and Greek together with the borrowed words. Some of them have taken on notional meaning and have been used separately since then, Euro – clipping from European, comp. eurocard, eurotunnel, euromarket. The others: in, un, dis, pre, pro, post, inter, tion, ment, able, eer, ant/ent, age, ance/ence,ate, ist, ism, ize.

-Native affixes: less formal - on, off, over, out, dom, ful, en, less, ly, hood, ish, ness, ship, teen, ty, ward.

Suffixes:

Noun-forming: er, dom, ism,

Adjective-forming: able, less, ous

Verb-forming: ize, ify, en

Adver-forming: ly, ward, wise

Numeral-forming: teen, ty, fold

Semantic features: the agent of the action (-er, -ist), nationality (- ese), collectivity (-dom, -ship), diminutiveness (-ling-duckling, -ie – Susie, -let – booklet, -y-hanky, -ock- hillock), quality (-ness, -ty), gender (-ess, -ine, ette), abstract notion (-hooh, -ness, -ence/ance), derogatory meaning (-ard – drunkard, -ling-underling).

Prefixes:

They change the lexical meaning of the word, sometimes the part of speech (head –behead). Meanings:

-en/em to form verbs from nouns – to put sth into or on: to embed; to form verbs from adjectives – to bring into some condition or state: to enslave, to enable.

-In, -non, -un to denote a negative meaning.

- de, -re, -dis to show a contrary meaning

Not all the affixes are in the high derivative capacity, e.g. ard, dom, th.

Secondary ways of word-building

1) Stress interchange, nouns have the stress on the first syllable; verbs have it on the last on (export). Mostly the words of Roman origin.

2) Sound imitation: giggle, mumble, sneeze, whisper, hiss, buzz, bark, splash.

3) Blending: we clip the end of the first component and the beginning of the second component: website newseum (museum of news), Oxbridge, smog (smoke+fog), slanguage (slang+language), to hustle (hurry+bustle), or at the same hand (on the other hand+at the same time). As a result we have a compound - shortened word or contracted stems.

Task: define the way of word-formation: Laundromat, automat, seascape, motel, pre-election campaign, post-war, ungentlemanly, rustle, clatter, tinkle, cinemaddict, dramedy, brunch, A-Day, AIDS, bar-B-Q, ROM, E-Day, expo.

Practical lesson 1

Prefixes with a single meaning

Prefixes meanings Examples

Bene- beneficial

Circum - circumnavigate

Equi - equivalent

Extra - extracurricular

Inter - interstate

Intra - intramural

Intro - introduction

Mal- malphormation

Mis - misinformed

Non - nonconformist

Pre- premature

Prefixes with multiple meanings

Prefixes meanings Examples

In - inept, inject

Ir -

Il -

Im -

Un - unnoticed, untie

Dis - disqualify, dislodge

Sub - submerge, substandard

Super - superstructure, superfine

Re- recall, restart

A. Give the meaning of the prefixes of each word below

1. irreligious 5. discover

2. noncommittal 6. extraordinary

3. reupholster 7. imperfect

4. unseat 8. subhuman

B. Decide which prefix can be used with each of the base words below and write the new word

1. delicate 7. able 13. reasonable

2. opportune 8. payment 14. combatant

3. existent 9. dependent 15. interested

4. complete 10. mature 16. adequate

5. lucky 11. resident 17. broken

6. direct 12. secure 18. visible

С. Decide which prefix to add to each of the following base words.

1. spell 4. deed 7. adventure 10. conduct

2. guided 5. content 8. function 11. adjusted

3. practice 6. took 9. managed 12. demeanor

D. Determine the meaning of the prefix and the whole word

1. The lawyer assured her client that there would be a speedy disposition of her case, that the trial date was set.

2. The subtotal of her bill did not include the tax.

3. At the climax of the piece, the hall reverberated with the clash of cymbals, and the music paused until the last echo had died away.

4. There were no local taxes to pay or officials to elect. The settlement had so few residents that it was still unincorporated.

5. We did not practice because of the inclement weather.

Practical LESSON 2

Suffixes

Noun suffixes with single meanings

Suffix Suffix meaning Examples

-Ana a collection of material on a Americana

certain subject

-archy form of government monarchy

-ard one who does something to braggart

-art excess

-cide killer, killing germicide

-ee receiver of an action or benefit employee

-fication state or action of creating or ratification

causing

-ics science or skill athletics

-itis inflammation appendicitis

Nouns suffixes indicating an agent

-eer auctioneer

-ess waitress

-ician technician

-ist pianist

-ster gangster

Exercises: Noun suffixes

A. Give the meaning of the suffix in each of the following words. Then give the meaning of the whole words:

1. genocide 5. appointee 9. laryngitis

2. patriarchy 6. arthritis 10. Victoriana

3. divorcee 7. anarchy 11. drunkard

4. justification 8. politics 12. unification

B. What is the person called who is involved in each of the following fields? Use a suffix indicating an agent to make the new word.

1. politics 5. statistics 8. photography

2. psychiatry 6. conducting 9. pamphlet writing

3. biology 7. editing 10. magic

4. geology

C. From the context and the suffix, determine the meaning of each word in italics.

1. A half – dozen mean-looking buccaneers boarded the ship and proceeded to rob the crew of the possessions.

2. This new herbicide will kill all the weeds in the field without the fish in the pond.

3. General Washington showed himself a super tactician in the battle of Valley Forge.

4. As a student of aesthetics, Frank was concerned less with whether a piece of art was genuine than with why it was considered beautiful.

5. The fact that the remains of Egyptian pharaohs are Stillwell preserved atteste to the advanced state of the art of mummification at that time.

Adjective suffixes

Adjective suffixes with specific meanings.

Suffix Suffix meaning Examples

-fic causing or producing honorific

-fold specified number of times as much twofold

-ward in the direction of homeword

-less without worthless

-able capable of being, or having qualities of comfortable

-ible

-ble

Adjectives suffixes meaning “full of” or “having”

Suffix Example

-acious audacious

-ful wonderful

-ose verbose

-ous dangerous

Adjective suffixes meaning “pertaining”

Suffix Exemple

-ive protective

-ative talkative

-ish impish

-aceous herbaceous

-ic caloric

-al original

Exercises: Adjective suffixes

A. Give the meaning of the suffix in each of the following words. Then give the meaning of the whole word. Use a dictionary for help as needed.

1. legible 6. treacherous 11. envious

2. guileless 7. authoritative 12. leeward

3. fallacious 8. tenacious 13. comatose

4. prolific 9. boorish 14. arboreal

5. manifold 10. cherubic 15. formative

B. From the context and the suffix, determine the meaning of each italicized word.

1. As the debate on censorship proceeded, it appeared that the main argument between the opponents was semantic; they could not agree on the meaning of the words “free speech”.

2. On the day students were to elect a new student body president, Sarah, who was favoured to win, felt magnanimous toward her hardrunning opponent and treated him to a hamburger.

3. When the guards filled the moat and pulled up the draw-bridge, the castle was all but impenetrable.

4. As the finishing touch to her model of the Santa Maria, Amy added a diminutive Christopher Columbus.

5. Senator McNally had a soporific way with words that put half his audience to sleep beforehe had finished his remarks.

Practical Lesson 3

Latin roots and English derivatives

Root meaning English words

Allius other alienate

Amicus friend amicable

Animus mind, spirit animate

Bellum war rebellious

Bonus good bonny

Credere, creditus believe incredible

Cor, cordis heart concord

Corpus, corporis body corporation

Crux, crucis cross crucifixion

Dicere, dictus say, tell diction

Dormire sleep dormitory

Errare, eratus wander erratic

Facere, feci, factus make, do factory

Latin roots and English derivatives

Root meaning English words

Fluere flow fluid

Gratia kindness, favour gratitude

Grex, gregis flock gregarious

Jungere, junctus join junction

Jus, juris law, right justice

Juvenis youth juvenile

Lumen, luminis light illuminate

Mandare command commandment

Manus hand manual

Opus, operis work operate

Pendere, pensus hang pendant

Exercises

A. Find the root in each of the following words. Give the meaning of the root and the meaning of the word.

1. corpulent 7. erroneous 13. dictation

2. cordial 8. unanimous 14. incorporate

3. corpuscle 9. amity 15. bellicose

4. crux 10. credence 16. amiable

5. coronary 11. dormant 17. malefaction

6. belligerent 12. inalienable 18. corporal

B. A. Find the root in each of the following words. Give the meaning of the root and the meaning of the word.

1. ingratiate 7. luminary 13. congratulate

2. fluent 8. operant 14. adjunct

3. jury 9. pendulous 15. cooperate

4. congregation 10. rejuvenate 16. pendulum

5. mandatory 11. conjugal 17. affluent

6. manipulate 12. multimedia 18. manufacture

Latin roots and English derivatives

Roots Meaning English words

Rapere, raptus seize rapacity

Rumpere, ruptus break rupture

Sequor, secutus follow sequence

Solus alone solitary

Somnus sleep somnolent

Stringere, strictus bind stringent

Tempus time temporal

Tenere, tentus hold tenure

Terminus end, boundary terminal

Unus one unity

Videre, visus see visible

Vincere, victus conquer invincible

Exercises

Identify the root in each of the following words. Give the meaning of the root and the meaning of the word.

1. restrict 5. consecutive 9. solitude

2. insomnia 6. retention 10. terminate

3. rapture 7. temporary 11. disrupt

4. victorious 8. video 12. unifying

Greek roots and English derivatives

Root Meaning English words

Anthropos human anthropology

Autos self automatic

Biblos book Bible

Bios life biology

Chronos time chronological

Cosmos world, order cosmic

Cryptos secret, hidden cryptic

Demos people democracy

Dynamis power dynamic

Ethnos race, nation ethnic

Ge, geos earth geology

Graphein write graphic

Gramma something written grammatical

Exercises

Identify the meaning of the Greek root or roots in each of the following words. (Some words have more than one root.) Give the meaning of the root or roots and the meaning of the word.

1. autobiography 5. chronic 9. bibliography

2. autonomous 6. ethnology 10. biosphere

3. cosmopolitan 7. dynamic 11. cryptogram

4. demagogue 8. philanthropy 12. geography

Greek roots and English derivatives

Root Meaning English words

Homos same homogenized

Iatre heal psychiatry

Logos word, thought logical

Metron measure metric

Monos alone, single monotonous

Neos new neoclassical

Neuron nerve neurotic

Onyma name anonymous

Orthos right orthopedic

Osteon bone osteopath

Pathos suffering pathetic

Phobos fear phobia

Phone sound phonics

Pneuma air, breath pneumatic

Polis city police

Polys many polygamy

Psyche breath, soul, mind psychology

Scope seeing, watch telescopic

Syn, sym with synchronize

Tele far, distant television

Therme heat thermal

Techne art technology

Exercises

A. Identify the Greek roots in the following words. Give their meanings and the meanings of the words.

1. neurology 7. neologism

2. monogram 8. podiatrist

3. pathological 9. microcosm

4. pseudonym 10. logistics

5. orthodox 11. monometer

6. homonym 12. neuroscience

B. Give a definition for each of the following words

1. phobic 7. macroscopic

2. pneumonia 8. sympathy

3. polyphony 9. thermometer

4. cosmopolitan 10. telegraph

5. phonetic 11. technical

6. psychopath 12. symbiosis

Prefixes with a single meaning

Bene- good beneficial

Circum - around circumnavigate

Equi - equal equivalent

Extra - outside extracurricular

Inter - between interstate

Intra - within intramural

Intro - into introduction

Mal- bad malphormation

Mis - wrong misinformed

Non - not nonconformist

Pre- before premature

Prefixes with multiple meanings

In - not, in inept, inject

Ir - not, in

Il - not, il

Im - not, il

Un - not, the opposite of unnoticed, untie

Dis - the opposite, away disqualify, dislodge

Sub - under, less than submerge, substandard

Super - above, more superstructure, superfine

Re- back, again recall, restart

A. Give the meaning of the prefixes of each word below

1. irreligious 5. discover

2. noncommittal 6. extraordinary

3. reupholster 7. imperfect

4. unseat 8. subhuman

B. Decide which prefix can be used with each of the base words below and write the new word

1. delicate 7. able 13. reasonable

2. opportune 8. payment 14. combatant

3. existent 9. dependent 15. interested

4. complete 10. mature 16. adequate

5. lucky 11. resident 17. broken

6. direct 12. secure 18. visible

С. Decide which prefix to add to each of the following base words.

1. spell 4. deed 7. adventure 10. conduct

2. guided 5. content 8. function 11. adjusted

3. practice 6. took 9. managed 12. demeanor

D. Determine the meaning of the prefix and the whole word

1. The lawyer assured her client that there would be a speedy disposition of her case, that the trial date was set.

2. The subtotal of her bill did not include the tax.

3. At the climax of the piece, the hall reverberated with the clash of cymbals, and the music paused until the last echo had died away.

4. There were no local taxes to pay or officials to elect. The settlement had so few residents that it was still unincorporated.

5. We did not practice because of the inclement weather.

References

G. Fauconnier and M. Terner presented metaphor as blending of two mental spaces. They are scenario of situation.

G. Fauconnier Mental spaces: aspects of meaning construction in natural language. Cambridge (Mass.): MIT< 1985

Lecture # 12. Etymological survey of the English word-stock

Diachronic approach makes it possible to study the origin of the lexicon in a certain language. The native words, by most scholars, are considered to be of the Anglo-Saxon origin. However, the term ‘native’ needs the definite interpretation. Some scholars include into the native word-stock the words coined later than that period. The native words denote essential notions, such as natural phenomena (moon, star), parts of body (hand, leg), members of family (mother, brother), animals (cow, sheep), quality (young, cold), everyday actions (make, do, see, hear), etc. They denote the folk culture and experience of the nation.

Difference between the terms ‘origin’ (table – Latin origin) and ‘source of borrowing’(table – French is a source of borrowing). There is semantic borrowing: a meaning can be borrowed from another language.

Loanwords are of different origin, they mainly come from French, Latin and Scandinavian languages. They refer to various fields of social, political, scientific and cultural life. Most borrowings can be explained by direct influence of certain historical conditions, but not all of them.

Causes of borrowings:

1. extralinguistic factors: historical conditions (Roman civilization, Norman invasion, etc)

2. linguistic factors: semantic changes and stylistic peculiarities (belles – letters, chic, freedom-liberty)

Loanwords are the ones borrowed from other languages. Not only words but also word-building affixes and sounds were borrowed. So, there are phonetically, grammatically and lexically assimilated words.

Loanwords can be identified by their spelling, pronunciation. However, there are some unrecognizable borrowings assimilated in English which look like the native words (master, city, river, pupil). Some loanwords developed according to the norms of the English language (phonetic-pneumonia), the others kept their original features (vase, garage). The assimilation of borrowings can provoke changes in sound – form (café /kafei/), morphological structure (honneur – honour owing to the change of stress), grammatical characteristics (honour – to honour) and lexical meaning (large – large).

Some borrowings that were composite in structure in their native languages appear in English as indivisible simple words (portfolio from Italian porta+fogli; diminishing suffixes etto, otta, cello in the words umbrella, stiletto, ballot). A lot of words are formed by conversion (portfolio, bistro). Some borrowed affixes replaced the native ones with same meaning (‘pre’ replaced ‘fore’ in the meaning of priority of an action: predict but foresee).

Lexical assimilation: when a word is borrowed in another language its semantic structure undergoes some semantic changes. Polysemantic words are usually borrowed in one or two of their meanings (‘cargo’ highly polysemantic in Spanish means only ‘the goods on board of a ship’). Some words show the narrowing of the meaning because of its use in a definite situation (hangar meant ‘shed’ in French, crayon – ‘a stick of coloured wax or chalk used for writing or drawing, esp. on paper’ means in French a ‘pencil’) or widening (umbrella). In the course of time the loanwords develop new meaning which were not proper for them in their original languages. Sometimes the etymology of a word is hard to be defined, it needs a thorough study.

The degree of assimilation can be various: some words are phonetically or grammatically assimilated or in spelling (beauty), the others are not (communiqué, café, éclat). There appears a question whether non – assimilated words can called English.

Usage: different borrowed words are marked by different frequency value and stylistic characteristics (offer – propose, feed - nourish). The synonymous words enriched the lexicon; on the other hand, they overfilled it creating rarely used words.

1. Replenishment of the Modern English word-stock

1. Borrowings are one of the sources of language enrichment. In the Middle English period there was an influx of loans what weakened the productivity of native word formation.

2. Word – formation (conversion and compounding). The higher the frequency of usage is, the more polysemantic the word is, and the simpler it is in its morphological structure. Derived and compound words rarely have high frequency of occurrence and are rarely polysemantic (care-careful-careless, knock - knock down – knock – about - knock back). Stylistically neutral words have the most frequency value compared with the stylistically marked ones (make-manufacture-fabricate, get down to-start-begin-commence). ‘Small-petite-tiny-microscopic-minute-wee’ etc show different frequency of usage and different etymological sources.

3. Semantic derivation: new meanings of the same word.

4. Dialectal words: Scottish and Irish ones.

Lecture # 13. Fundamentals of English Lexicography

Lexicography is the science of compiling dictionaries, closely connected with Lexicology, both dealing with form, meaning, usage, origin of the vocabulary. Lexicography deals with selection and arrangement of the material. A dictionary is a book that consists of an alphabetical list of words with their meanings, (ways of) formation, pronunciations, etymologies, etc.

Main types of dictionaries:

- Encyclopaedia giving information about the extralinguistic world or concepts ones.

- A reference book listing words or terms and giving information about a particular subject or activity, The Oxford Companion to the English Literature.

- Bilingual or monolingual ones giving equivalent words or expressions in two or more languages.

- A collection of information or examples with the entries alphabetically arranged: e.g. a dictionary of quotations. An entry is an item recorded in the dictionary: an item of a meaning or an item of a word.

Proper Linguistic dictionaries can be terminological, phraseological, dialectal, etymological, illustrated, dictionaries of new words, of foreign words, of acronyms, of the English culture, etc. As to the information they provide there can be data with regard to the semantic aspect of the vocabulary. They are called explanatory dictionaries. And there are translation dictionaries.

For practical purpose some dictionaries include as much information as it is possible, very specialized and stylistically determined items.

Every linguist should study dictionaries from the following points. Each dictionary is designed for a particular set of users, so to meet their needs compliers insert the necessary quality and quantity of information. More over, the way of giving information is also of paramount importance (formal or informal way of presentation).

Some basic problems of dictionary compiling

Stages of work: 1) the selection of lexical units for inclusion; 2) arrangement of lexical units; 3) setting the entries; 4) grouping of word – meanings; 5) definition of meanings; 6) illustrative material; 7) supplementary material.

Problems: 1. I There is no possibility to record all the technical terms which increase in number every day, e.g. chemistry, biology, medicine terms.

2.What form ( formal / informal) or meaning (basic / connotative) to be selected or left out is also very disputable.

The arrangement of the entries may be different in different types of dictionaries. The usual way is grouping the entries in families of words of the same root. Basic units are given as main entries that appear in alphabetical order while the derivatives and the phrases which the word enters are listed as subentries, e.g. Collins Shorter English Dictionary gives this entry to the word flash n. 1.a sudden burst of fire or light; 2 …; 3…, 13 brief and rapid: flash freezing; vb. to burst … ; - re flasher. A polysemantic word may have more than one item of the entry. The basic meaning is listed in number 1 item of the entry. There follow closer meanings to the more colloquial items. The last is slang. So, the core modern meaning is the one given first, with older, rare, or specialized senses following. Meanings which are regional, technical, or otherwise restricted in their area of use are clearly labelled. Special attention is given to the English of Commonwealth countries and the United States, so that the dictionaries cover the languages not just of the United Kingdom of all the main English-speaking regions of the world. Help is given on disputed or problematic points of usage, which are discussed in the many usage notes at the end of the relevant entries. The semantic information can be given mainly in four ways: definition and explanation (description), with the help of synonymous words and cross-reference.

The dictionaries contain not only semantic information (all possible meanings, senses of compounding with other words and collocations, archaic meanings) but also the grammatical (part of speech and derivative points, prepositions) and phonetic (variants of pronunciation, stress) peculiarities. The style, etymology and the usage are also marked. The Dictionaries of Synonyms form a cluster with the main word in the first item.

The importance, amount and style of information are determined by the aim of the dictionary: the user it is dedicated to, its size. Most dictionaries have illustrations. The structure of the dictionary is described in the Foreword and explained in the Guide to the use of the dictionary. There can be a list of acronyms, geographical names, and tables of grammatical forms, weights and measures.

Dictionaries: Dictionary of Modern English, Dictionary of Present – Day English, Dictionary of Synonyms, etc. Editions: Longman, Cambridge, Oxford, McMillan, etc.

Task: Complete the list of dictionaries and make analyses of them.

Vocabulary styles

Literary language (style) is a variety of national language, formal not colloquial which imposes definite phonetic, morphological, syntactical, lexical, and stylistic norms. There can be modifications but within the frame work of the established norms. The norm of usage is established by the language community at every period in the development of a language.

The established norm is synonymous to the term Received Standard English characterized, in different historical ages, by ‘ceremoniousness’, formality, correctness, elegance, and well-mannered way of speaking. It is used by a more cultivated, educated and intellectual layer of a society. The language norm is changeable category which reflects a certain political, social and other established norms of a culture. Violations of the norm in one period are regarded as perfectly normal in other period. What was unliterary became literary. On the other hand, it is a stable core of the whole language which has been a cognitive and integral part of human activity since its origin (particularly, GRAMMAR). The literary language selects new coming linguistic phenomena and casts away irregular forms. The literary language is universal for all users (native and foreign people). It is a kind of invariant.

Colloquial – of or relating to conversation, denoting conversational or informal way of speaking.

Formal language (style) is official, following established forms and conventions. / Informal language (style) is not of formal, official or stiffly conventional nature. Appropriate to conversational language.

Written / spoken language

Spoken language differs from the written one phonetically (pronunciation, intonation), for it is uttered in speech.

The use of language (literary and colloquial) is determined by extralinguistic (out – linguistic) factors of communication (oral and written form): political, social (age, status, occupation, gender), psychological and others. They determine the style (formal and informal).

2. Stylistic classification of the English vocabulary

The English vocabulary (lexicon, lexis) is presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected and interrelated. There are a lot of classifications of it. They can be, in general, divided into three or four groups.

1. Literary or bookish words and word combinations used in a kind of elated or very formal way. Their use in inappropriate situation may be explained by the intention of the speaker to express some irony or sarcasm. E.g., to part

2. Literary common words and word combinations are stylistically neutral words which have a usual run among people speaking this language. They are main sources of polysemy and synonymy. They do not have any emotional connotation in the meaning. E.g., die

3. Literary specialized words and word combinations are terms (jargons concerned with a particular subject, culture or profession). They tend to be monosemantic. They belong to scientific style being used in special texts on a specific subject matter. However, they may appear in other styles. Their use in other styles can be interpreted as creation of special atmosphere (business, medicine) or other communicative purposes. Their denotative meaning is more closely connected with the referent. Comp. Jargon derog. – difficult or strange language which uses words known to the members of a certain group (computer jargon, jargon of advertising business): Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. A certain group is students: maths, philos.

Stephen Ullman “Words and their Use”: “All scientists are linguists to some extent…Philologists and philosophers of speech are in the peculiar position of having to evolve a special language to talk about language itself”

4. Colloquial (non-literary) words and word combinations have a stylistically “low” flavour of non – standard use, out of norm. They have different specific connotations.

Dialect is a variety of a language, spoken in one part of a country, which is different in some words or grammar from other forms of the same language: the Yorkshire and Lancashire dialects.

Specialized colloquial words are

Barbarisms are substandard words and expressions which show solecism, i.e., non-standard use. ”I tell him all my story; he is so sympatisch.” (Galsworthy).

Slang is a word or idiom that is not appropriate to the standard form of a language to formal contexts and may be restricted as to social status or distribution. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: very informal language that includes new and sometimes not polite words and meanings, is often used among particular groups of people and is usu. not used in serious speech or writing (p.987). Slang is considered to be very “low” and rude language behaviour. Some slang words can acquire more “respectful” flavour in the course of time (“kid” in the 19^th. century and now). Another feature of slang is its short-lived use when it loses its stylistic originality. Slang can also be common and professional, social (community, age), dialectal, regional (British, American, Canadian, Australian), etc. Compare: cant, argot.

By I.R.Galperin both literary and colloquial words have their upper and lower ranges. The lower range of literary words is close to the neutral layer, and the upper range of the colloquial layer can very easily pass into the neutral layer. In modern English there cannot be the definite distinction between the groups mentioned above, for any linguistic unit may have a stylistic meaning in a real communication. It is the speaker’s or writer’s intention which determines the stylistic function of a word (combination). The message expressed by the word is of paramount importance.

The compilers of Modern English dictionaries are forced to acknowledge non-standard variants along with the literary ones, words and pronunciations as well.

Subclasses of lexis

Archaic words and word combinations are out of use units. Some of them lost reference to the real object: the referent does not exist in the objective world. E.g., archaeopteryx. The others are used in special historical style. They carry authentic atmosphere to the communication. E.g., archangel. They can be used in different styles for different communicative purposes: elevated effect, irony, etc.

Neologisms are newly created words or meanings used mostly once at the very moment of speech. The need to designate new concepts or new stylistic meanings leads to creating neologisms. Men – of – letters may create new words but not all of them can be recognized by people, e.g., “weatherology” by Byron.

Foreign lexis which came into the English vocabulary and dictionary: music terms from Italian, French words, etc. Some foreign words have English equivalents but they connote a particular meaning (chic-stylish). “She had said ‘Au revoir!’ Not good-bye!” (Galsworthy). They are used to create local flavour as a background to the narration. They are used mostly in belles-letters and publicist’s style.

Task

1. Find definitions of cant, argot, jargon.

2. While studying for the topiсs in question refer to the following literature:

Galperin I.R. Stylistics. Moscow, 1971

Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English Stylistics. Moscow, 1994

Maltzev V.A. Essays on English stylistics. Minsk, 1984

Crystal D. The English language. London: Penguin books,1990

Leech G.A. A linguistic guide to poetry. London, 1973

Znamenskaya T.A. Stylistics of the English language: Fundamentals of the course. Moscow, 2006

Арнольд И.В. Стилистика современного английского языка: стилистика декодирования. М., 1981

Долинин К.А. Стилистика французского языка. Л., 1987

Брандес М.П. Стилистика немецкого языка. М., 1983

Тураева З.Я. Лингвистика текста. М., 1986

Lecture # 14. Methods of lexicological analysis

Methods and Procedures of Lexicological Analysis

I. Stages of Scientific Research

The process of scientific research consists of the following stages:

observation, classification, generalization and verification. Observation is the

collection of data. Classification is the orderly arrangement of these data.

Generalization is the formulation of a hypothesis, rule or law. Verification seeks

the proof for the generalization.

Various methods of lexicological research are used for classification,

generalization and verification.: contrastive analysis, statistical methods of

analysis, Immediate Constituents analysis, distributional analysis, transformational

analysis, componental analysis.

II. Contrastive Analysis

Contrastive analysis is a detailed comparison of the structure of a native and

a target language. It is the basis of teaching foreign languages: it helps to forsee

and prevent recurrent mistakes caused by the interference of the learner‘s mother

tongue.

Contrastive analysis reveals sameness and difference in the lexical meaning

and semantic structure of correlated words. Thus, English kinship terms do not

always differentiate between male and female: cousin – двоюродный брат,

двоюродная сестра. The semantic structures of correlated polysemantic words do

not coincide, e.g. in English zhe word head is used to denote the head of a person,

bed or match, whereas in Russian different words have to be used: голова

человека, изголовье кровати, сторона монеты. The number and meaning in the

correlated sets differ: pitiful – жалкий, жалостливый – pitiful. Correlated words

also differ in their valency: new and новый are correlated only in some

collocations: новое платье – a new dress; others have to be specially learnt by

Russian students: new potatoes - молодая картошка, new bread - свежий хлеб.

III. Statistical Methods of Analysis

Statistical linguistics deals with the quantitative study of language

phenomena. Its results can be used for verification.

Statistical methods are applied in the analysis of different structural types of

words, affixes and the vocabularies of great writers. They also help to select the

most frequent items for teaching purposes. Statistical regularities can be observed

only if the phenomena are numerous and their occurrence frequent, e.g. it was

found that about 1,300 – 1,500 most frequent words make up 85% of the text.

Statistical methods of analysis have been also applied to various theoretical

problems of meaning, e.g. G.K. Zipf discovered that the number of the word‘s

meanings is equal to the square root of its relative frequency.

Statistical approach is quantitative, while most linguistic problems are

qualitative. We should Know what to count. Even if we just want to count the

number of lexical units, we have to define what a lexical unit is – whether we must

count the following as one or more units: work n – work v; by chance; at large,

etc.

IV. Immediate Constituent Analysis

Immediate Constituents analysis (IC) is used to study the structure and

lexical syntagmas. Sentences or word-groups are segmented into hierarchally

arranged sets of binary constructions (ICs): a black dress in severe style – a black

dress/in severe style. Successive segmentation results in Ultimate Constituents

(UCs) – two-facet units that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful units:

a/black/dress/in/severe/ style. Immediate Constituents analysis depends on the

meaning of the whole complex: fat major‘s wife – fat major‘s/wife – fat/major‘s

wife.

Ics also represent the word‘s derivational structure: denationalize v – de- +

nationalize, snow-covered – snow + covered; blue-eyed – blue + eye + -ed. Ucs

show the word‘s morphemic structure: de/nat/ion/al/ize; snow/cover/ed;

blue/eye/ed.

Lecture # 15. Methods of lexicological analysis

V. Distributional Analysis

Distribution is the position which linguistic units may occupy in the flow of

speech, or the co-occurrence of units of the same level.

Distributional anlysis helps to describe the word’s meaning. the word has

different meanings in different patterns: to treat smb well (treat + N + Adv) – to

behave towards; to treat smb to ice-cream (treat + N + to + N) – to supply with

sth at one’s own expence.

The interdependence of distribution and meaning is also observed at the

level of word-groups: water tap – tap water. A distributional pattern as such has its

own meaning: to coax smb into accepting the suggestion – make smb do smth by

means of smth. The pattern retains this meaning no matter what verb is used in the

structure V + N + into + V-ing: to coax/talk/kiss/flatter/ beat smb into doing smth.

Productivity depends on the word’s distributional meaning. We can make up

and understand any nonce-word whose pattern is familiar to the speaker and the

hearer: smiler, kissable.

VI. Transformational Analysis

Transformational analysis consists in repatterning identical distributional

patterns in order to discover difference or sameness of their meaning. It is used to

investigate polysemantic patterns, e.g. compounds which have the same pattern (n

+ n) may have different lexical meanings. This is shown by transformational

procedure: dogfight – a fight between dogs; dogcart – a cart drawn by dogs.

Transformational analysis is a kind of intraligual translation, a kind of

paraphrasing: his work is excellent – his excellent work – the excellence of his work

– he works excellently.

VII. Componental Analysis

In Componental analysis linguists proceed from the assumption that the

smallest units of meaning are sememes (or semes) and that sememes and lexemes

(or lexical items) are usually not in one-to-one but in one-to-many correspondence.

For example, in the lexical item woman several components of meaning or

sememes may be singled out and namely: human, female, adult.

The analysis of the word girl would also yield the sememes human and

female, but instead of the sememe adult we shall find the sememe young

distinguishing the meaning of the word woman from that of girl.

Literature

1. Antrushina G.B. English Lexicology. M., 2006.

2. Arnold I.V. The English Word. M., 1986.

3. Ginzburg R.S. et al. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. M., 1979.

4. Dubenets E.M. Modern English Lexicology. M. – S.-P., 2004.

Ф ЕНУ 703-01-12 Силлабус. Издание второе