48. Methods of lexicological analysis (contrastive analysis, statistical analysis, immediate constituents analysis, distributional analysis, transformational analysis, componential analysis).

The process of scientific investigation may be subdivided into several stages:

1. observation (the collection of data)

2. classification (orderly arrangement of the data obtained through observation)

Example: English nouns

-er is added to verbal stems (speak + -er), noun stems (village + -er),

the same morpheme in mother, father. But they haven’t a suffix

-er can be found in derived and non-derived words

3. generalisation (the formulation of a hypothesis, rule, or law)

Example: The rule: derived nouns in -er may have either verbal or noun stems.

The suffix -er in combination with adjectival or adverbial stems cannot form nouns (bigger, longer are not nouns).

4. verification (to seek evidence of the correctness of the generalizations that are the result of the inquires)

Various methods of lexicological research are used for classification, generalization and verification:

1. Contrastive analysis. 2. Statistical methods of analysis. 3. Immediate Constituents analysis.

4. Distributional analysis. 5. Transformational analysis. 6. Componential analysis.

The selection of this or that particular method largely depends on the goal set before the investigator.

Contrastive analysis

Comparative linguistics investigates those elements and processes despite their surface diversity that all languages have in common.

Contrastive linguistics attempts to find out similarities and differences in both related and non-related languages.

The aim of the contrastive analysis: a detailed comparison of the structure of a native and a target language

Contrastive analysis can be carried out at three linguistic levels: phonology, grammar (morphology and syntax), lexis (vocabulary)

Contrastive analysis is the basis of teaching foreign languages: it helps to foresee and prevent recurrent mistakes caused by the interference of the learner‘s mother tongue.

новости, деньги, волосы plural

news, money, hair singular

Contrastive analysis is generally applied to reveal the features of sameness and difference in the lexical meaning and the semantic structure of correlated words in different languages.

Watch, clock and часы

Head: the head of a person, bed or match; in Russian different words have to be used: голова человека, изголовье кровати, сторона монеты

Statistical methods of analysis

The aim of the statistical analysis: the quantitative evaluation of the material (different structural types of words, affixes, vocabularies of great writers, etc.); the selection of vocabulary items of a foreign language for teaching purposes

Statistical regularities can be observed only if the phenomena under analysis are sufficiently numerous.

Immediate Constituents analysis

The theory of Immediate Constituents is based on the idea that combinations of units are usually structured into hierarchial sets of binary constructions (Immediate Constituents.

The aim of the Immediate Constituents analysis:

1. to find out the morphemic structure of lexical units Friendliness:

1. is divided into the component friendly-, occurring in such words as friendly, friendly-looking, and the component ness- as in dark-ness, happy-ness.

2. is divided into friend- and -ly which are ultimate constituents (cannot be divided into smaller meaningful units).

The aim of the Immediate Constituents analysis:

2. to determine the ways in which lexical units are relevantly related to one another

a black dress in severe style

a black dress | in severe style

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

Distributional Analysis Distribution: the position which linguistic units may occupy in the flow of speech, or the co-occurrence of units of the same level: words to words, morpheme to morphemes The aim of the distributional analysis:

the investigation of sameness / difference of meaning of words and word-groups the analysis of word-formation. The word has different meanings in different patterns: to treat smb kindly (treat + N + Adv) – to behave towards; to treat smb to ice-cream (treat + N + to + N) – to supply with smth at one’s own expense. The boy__________ home. the missing word is easily identified as a verb (came, went, goes, etc.), but not as an adverb or a noun, or an adjective Transformational Analysis

Transformational analysis: repatterning (reorganization) of identical distributional structures in order to discover difference or sameness of their meaning. Example of transformation:

his work is excellent – his excellent work – the excellence of his work – he works excellently The aim of the transformational analysis: to investigate polysemantic patterns (e.g. compounds which have the same pattern (n + n) may have different lexical meanings: dogfight – a fight between dogs; dogcart – a cart drawn by dogs) Componential Analysis In the componential analysis linguists proceed from the assumption that the denotational component of word meaning can be seen as a complex cluster of smaller units - semantic components, or semes organized in a componential structure.