4. Neologisms. Ways of forming neologisms (phonological neologisms, morphological neologisms, borrowings )

A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (“coined”) – often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The term “e-mail”, as used today, is an example of a neologism. If we take some sciences in particular, we may see, all of them reflect the essence of the notion, as there is «always something new». For instance, in linguistics , a neologism is a recently-coined word, or the act of inventing a word or phrase. Additionally it can imply the use of old words in a new sense i.e., giving new meanings to existing words or phrases. As it was mentioned above neologisms are especially useful in identifying new inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The word «neologism» was coined around 1800 and was, at that time, a neologism itself. A neologism (from Greek neos 'new' + logos 'word') is a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event. According to Oxford English Dictionary neologism was first used in print in AD 1483.Although there are general patterns of word-formation, language is not a

fixed, rigid system; according to the current stage of development new words enter the vocabulary continuously, and certain tendencies of forming new words appear and may disappear again. In linguistics, a neologism is understood as a recently invented word. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying new inventions,new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. Neologisms are words that have appeared in the language in connection with new phenomena, new concepts, but which have not yet entered into the active vocabularies of a significant portion of the native speakers of the language . The term ,,neologism” is first attested in English in 1772. But the English variant of this term was not new because French (1734), Italian and German had their respective terms . Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing in the language can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. In such cases we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word «umbrella» developed the meanings: «авиационное прикрытие», »политическое прикрытие».  A new lexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenon which already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases we have transnomination, e.g. the word «slum» was first substituted by the word «ghetto» then by the word-group «inner town».  A new lexical unit can be introduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case we have «a proper neologism», many of them are cases of new terminology.

Formation of neologisms:If we take some sciences in particular, we may see, all of them reflect the essence of the notion, as there is «always something new». For instance, in linguistics , a neologism is a recently-coined word, or the act of inventing a word or phrase. Additionally it can imply the use of old words in a new sense i.e., giving new meanings to existing words or phrases. As it was mentioned above neologisms are especially useful in identifying new inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The word «neologism» was coined around 1800 and was, at that time, a neologism itself. affixation- is the most productive ex.: beatnik, washateria; word over lapping  ex.: swellegant (swell+elegant); abbreviation (blending); compounding ex.: skinhead, greenback; forming new words from word combination and sentences.: boldheadish, 6 o’clockish; forming new words according already existing productive pattern. Ex.: fingersmith tunesmith. As the aim of our work is to investigate the problem of neologisms, and ways of their forming, we will overview the word-building means. At first we will tackle the problem of various classifications of word-formation, linguists used to mention morphological, syntactic and lexico-semantic types of word-formation. At present the classification of the types does not, as a rule, include lexico-semantic word-building. Of interest is the classification of word-formation means based on the number of motivating bases, which many scholars follow. A distinction is made between two large classes of word-building means:

To Class I belong the means of building words having one motivating base. To give an English example, the noun CATCHER is composed of the base CATCH – and the suffix – ER, through the combination of which it is morphologically and semantically motivated.

The basic means in word-derivation are affixation and conversion. Derived words usually consist of a root and an affix, which in their turn fall into prefixes which proceed the root in the structure of the word (re-write, mis-pronounce) and suffixes which follow the root (teach-er, dict-ate). Derived words are extremely popular in the English vocabulary. Successfully competing with this structural type is the so-called root word which has only a root morpheme in its structure. This type widely represented by a great number of words belonging to the original English word stock or to earlier borrowings (house, book, work), and in Modern English, has been greatly enlarged by the type of word building, called conversion (pale, adj. – to pale, v; to find, v- a find, n.) Conversion sometimes is referred to as an affixless way of word-building or even affixless derivation. Conversion is a process of creating a new word from some existing one or by changing the category of a part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged. The new word has a meaning which differs from that of the original one though it can more or less be easily associated with it. It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech (nurse, n. – to nurse, v).

Class II includes the means of building words containing more than one motivating base. Needless to say, they are all based on compounding (country-club, door – hande).

This type of word building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the most productive types in Modern English, the other two are conversion and affixation. Compounds, though certainly fewer in quantity than derived or root words, still represent one of the most typical and specific features of English word-structure.Compounds are not homogeneous in structure. Traditionally three types are distinguished: neutral, morphological, syntactic. In neutral compounds the process of compounding is relized without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems (shop-window, bedroom, tallboy). Morphological compounds are fewer in number. This type is not productive and it is repersented by words in which two componding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant (Anglo – Saxon, statesman, handiwork) (16, p. 105) In syntactic compounds we find a feature of a specifically English word-structure. These words are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs, prepositions, as in lily-of-the-alley, good-for-nothing . Syntactical relations and grammatical patterns current in present-day English can be traced in the structures of such compound nouns as pick-me -up, know-all, whodunit . In this group of compounds, we find a great number of neologisms, and whoduni t is one of them. The structure of most compounds is transparent, and it is clear that the origin of these words is a simple word combination.

Most linguists in special chapters and manuals devoted to English word-formation consider as the chief processes af English word formation affixation, conversion and compounding. Apart from these a number of minor ways of forming words such as back-fomation, sound interchange, distinctive stress, sound imitation, blending, clipping and acronymy are traditionally referred to Word-formation. (26, p. 108)

Some minor types of word-formation can not belong neither to word derivation nor to compounding, as some words while shortening , for example, can have two bases, e.g. V-day , some can have one, e.g. lab . The same reason can be applied to other minor types. We will not be strict and consider them as minor word building means.

Shortenings are produced in two different ways. The first is to make a new word form a syllable (rarer two) of the original word. The latter may lose its beginning (as in phone made from telephone ), its ending (as in hols – holydays , ad – advertisement ) or both the beginning and ending (as in flu-influenza ). The second way of shortening is to make a new word form the initial letters (similar to acronimy) of a word group: U.N.O . from the United Nations Organization . This type is called initial shortenings and found not only among colloquialisms and slang. So, g.f. is a shortened word made from the compound girlfriend.

As a type of word-building shortening of spoken words, also called clipping or curtailment , is recorded in the English language as far back as the 15 century. It has grown more and more productive ever since. This growth becomes especially marked in many European languages in the 20^th century, and it is a matter of common knowledge that this development is particularly intense in English.

Shortenings of spoken words or curtailment consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (whether or not this part has previously been a morpheme), as a result of which the new form acquires some linguistic value of its own.

Newly shortened words appear continuously: this is testified by numerous neologisms, such as demo formdemonstratio n: frog or fridge from refrigerator ; trank from tranquilizer . Many authors are inclined to overemphasize the role of «the strain of modern life» as the mainspring of this development. This is, obviously, only one of reasons, and the purely linguistic factors should not be overlooked. Among the major forces are the demands of rhythm, which are more readily satisfied when the words are monosyllabic.

When dealing with words of long duration, one will also note that a high percentage of English shortenings is involved into the process of loan word assimilation. Monosyllabism goes farther in English than in any other European language, and that is why shortened words sound more like native ones than their long prototypes.

Neologisms can be also classified according to the ways they are formed. They are subdivided into : phonological neologisms, borrowings, semantic neologisms and syntactical neologisms. Syntactical neologisms are divided into morphological /word-building/ and phraseological /forming word-groups/. Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations of sounds, they are called artificial, e.g.  rah-rah /a short skirt which is worn by girls during parades/, «yeck» /»yuck» which are interjections to express repulsion produced the adjective yucky/ yecky. These are strong neologisms. Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as «perestroika» /Russian/, «solidarnosc» /Polish/, Berufsverbot / German /, dolce vita /Italian/ etc. Morphological and syntactical neologisms are usually built on patterns existing in the language, therefore they do not belong  to the group of strong neologisms. Among morphological neologisms there are a lot of compound words of different types, such as «free-fall»-»резкое падение курса акций» appeared in 1987 with the stock market crash in October 1987 /on the analogy with free-fall of parachutists, which is the period between jumping and opening the chute/. Here also belong: call-and-recall - вызов на диспансеризацию, bioastronomy -search for life on other planets, rat-out - betrayal in danger , zero-zero (double zero) - ban of longer and shorter range weapon, x-rated /about films terribly vulgar and cruel/, Ameringlish /American English/, tycoonography - a biography of a business tycoon.  There are also abbreviations of different types, such as resto, teen /teenager/, dinky /dual income no kids yet/, ARC /AIDS-related condition, infection with AIDS/, HIV / human immuno-deficiency virus/. Quite a number of neologisms appear on the analogy with lexical units existing in the language, e.g. snowmobile /automobile/, danceaholic /alcoholic/, airtel /hotel/, cheeseburger /hamburger/, autocade / cavalcade/.  There are many neologisms formed by means of affixation, such as: decompress, to disimprove, overhoused, educationalist, slimster, folknik etc. Phraseological neologisms can be subdivided  into phraseological units with transferred meanings, e.g.   to buy into/ to become involved/, fudge and dudge /avoidance of definite decisions/, and set non-idiomatic expressions, e.g. electronic virus, Rubic’s cube, retail park, acid rain , boot trade etc.

The study of new vocabulary in the functional aspect involves the analysis of how neologisms appear and this analysis set the stage for the transition to the pragmatic aspect of the new words. According to the way of creation, neologisms are divided into:

1) phonological neologisms which are created from individual sounds [14, p. 78] (e.g. ,,zizz”, ,,to whee”);

2) borrowings are strong neologisms that are different by the phonetic distribution, not characteristic of the English language, as well as the unusual morphological division and lack of motivation (e.g. cinematheque, anti-roman (from French) ; Neologisms can be also borrowed from other languages. Borrowing can be the result of political, economic, trade and cultural contact or commercial, cultural, scientific exchange. Neologisms can come from a variety of places and might be gleaned from scientific or technical language, come from other languages, be derived by putting two words together, or they may be solely invented, as in the case of words like ,,Jabberwocky” from the famous Lewis Carroll poem. Linguistic specialists suggest new words often migrate into a language most with great cultural changes or with the integration of two cultures that speak two different languages

3) morphological neologisms are created by samples that exist in the language system, and by the morphemes are presented in the system (such regular derivational processes such as affixation, conversion, compounding, and less regular, such as cutting, lexicalization)

By Zabotkina

1. Phonological neologisms - new words formed from phonemes

• Ex.; zizz – short nap (onomatopoeic word)

2. Semantic neologisms - they are motivated

• Ex.: greens – dollars

3. Syntactic neologisms - can be:

• phraseological (word combinations)

• morphological (formed by means of affixation, conversion, clipping, lexicalization, compounding)

4. Borrowings

• Ex.: Pizza Hut Sputnik

Formation of neologisms:

1. affixation

• peacenik

• bookateria

2. abbreviation/blending

• smaze

3. word overlapping

• swellegant

4. compounding

• skinhead

• greenback

5. forming new words from combinations & sentences

• bold-headish

• 6 o’clockish

• how-do-you-doers

6. forming new words according to already existing productive patterns

• fingersmith – карманник

• tunesmith – настройщик пианино

7. lexicalization

• ism – as an independent word

• teens

8. word plays

• где находится нофелет?

9. quaze lexims (phonemes)

• zizz

• ёпрст

5. Common and distinctive features of free word groups and set expressions. Principles of classification of phraseological units.

Phraseology is a branch of linguistics which studies different types of set expressions, which like words name various objects and phenomena.

A Phraseological unit (PU) can be defined as a non-motivated word-group that cannot be freely made up in speech, but is reproduced as a ready-made unit. The vocabulary of a language is enriched not only by words but also by phraseological units. Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units. They are compiled in special dictionaries. The same as words phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it. American and British lexicographers call such units «idioms». We can mention such dictionaries as: L.Smith «Words and Idioms», V.Collins «A Book of English Idioms» etc. In these dictionaries we can find words, peculiar in their semantics (idiomatic), side by side with word-groups and sentences. In these dictionaries they are arranged, as a rule, into different semantic groups. Phraseological units can be classified according to the ways they are formed, according to the degree of the motivation of their meaning, according to their structure and according to their part-of-speech meaning.

A dark horse is actually not a horse but a person about whom no one knows anything definite.

A bull in a china shop: the idiom describes a clumsy person.

A white elephant – it is a waste of money because it is completely useless.

The green-eyed monster is jealousy, the image being drawn from Othello.

To let the cat out of the bag : to let some secret become known.

SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS Phraseological units can be classified according to the degree of motivation of their meaning. This classification was suggested by acad. V.V. Vinogradov for Russian phraseological units. He pointed out three types of phraseological units: According to the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units can be classified into three big groups: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства) and phraseological collocations (сочетания). Phraseological fusions are completely non-motivated word-groups, e.g. as mad as a hatter — 'utterly mad'; white elephant — 'an expensive but useless thing'. Phraseological unities are partially non-motivated as their meaning can usually be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit, e.g. to bend the knee — 'to submit to a stronger force, to obey submissively'; to wash one's dirty linen in public — 'to discuss or make public one's quarrels'. Phraseological collocations are not only motivated but contain one component used in its direct meaning, while the other is used metaphorically, e.g. to meet the requirements, to attain success. In this group of phraseological units some substitutions are possible which do not destroy the meaning of the metaphoric element, e.g. to meet the needs, to meet the demand, to meet the necessity; to have success, to lose success. These substitutions are not synonymical and the meaning of the whole changes, while the meaning of the verb meet and the noun success are kept intact. CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS ACCORDING TO THEIR ORIGIN The consideration of the origin of phraseological units contributes to a better understanding of phraseological meaning. According to their origin all phraseological units may be divided into two big groups: native and borrowed. The main sources of native phraseological units are: 1) terminological and professional lexics, e.g. physics: center of gravity (центр тяжести), specific weight (удельный вес); navigation: cut the painter (обрубить канат) — 'to become independent', lower one's colours (спустить свой флаг) — 'to yield, to give in'; military sphere:, fall into line (стать в строй) — 'conform with others'; 2) British literature, e.g. the green-eyed monster — 'jealousy" (W. Shakespeare); like Hamlet without the prince — 'the most important person at event is absent' (W.Shakespeare); fall on evil days— 'live in poverty after having enjoyed better times' (J.Milton); a sight for sore eyes — 'a person or thing that one is extremely pleased or relieved to see' (J.Swift); how goes the enemy? (Ch. Dickens) — 'what is the time?'; never say die — 'do not give up hope in a difficult situation' (Ch.Dickens); 3) British traditions and customs, e.g. baker's dozen — 'a group of thirteen'. In the past British merchants of bread received from bakers thirteen loaves instead of twelve and the thirteenth loaf was merchants' profit. 4) superstitions and legends, e.g. a black sheep — 'a less successful or more immoral person in a family or a group'. People believed that a black sheep was marked by the devil; the halcyon days — 'a very happy or successful period in the past'. According to an ancient legend a halcyon (зимородок) hatches/grows its fledglings in a nest that sails in the sea and during this period (about two weeks) the sea is completely calm; 5) historical facts and events, personalities, e.g. as well be hanged {or hung) for a sheep as a lamb — 'something that you say when you are going to be punished for something so you decide to do something worse because your punishment will not be any more severe'. According to an old law a person who stole a sheep was sentenced to death by hanging, so it was worth stealing something more because there was no worse punishment; to do a Thatcher — 'to stay in power as prime minister for three consecutive terms (from the former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher)'; 6) phenomena and facts of everyday life, e.g. carry coals to Newcastle — 'to take something to a place where there is plenty of it available'. Newcastle is a town in Northern England where a lot of coal was produced; to get out of wood — 'to be saved from danger or difficulty'. The main sources of borrowed phraseological units are: 1) the Holy Script, e. g. the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing — 'communication in an organization is bad so that one part does not know what is happening in another part'; the kiss of Judas — 'any display of affection whose purpose is to conceal any act of treachery' (Matthew XXVI: 49); 2) ancient legends and myths belonging to different religious or cultural traditions, e.g. to cut the Gordian knot — 'to deal with a difficult problem in a strong, simple and effective way' (from the legend saying that Gordius, king of Gordium, tied an intricate knot and prophesied that whoever untied it would become the ruler of Asia. It was cut through with a sword by Alexander the Great); a Procrustean bed — 'a harsh, inhumane system into which the individual is fitted by force, regardless of his own needs and wishes' (from Greek Mythology. Procrustes — a robber who forced travelers to lie on a bed and made them fit by stretching their limbs or cutting off the appropriate length of leg); 3) facts and events of the world history, e.g. to cross the Rubicon — 'to do something which will have very important results which cannot be changed after'. Julius Caesar started a war which resulted in victory for him by crossing the river Rubicon in Italy; to meet one's Waterloo — 'be faced with, esp. after previous success, a final defeat, a difficulty or obstacle one cannot overcome (from the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo 1815)'; 4) variants of the English language, e.g. a heavy hitter— 'someone who is powerful and has achieved a lot' {American); a hole card — 'a secret advantage that is ready to use when you need it' (American); be home and hosed — 'to have completed something successfully' (Australian); 5) other languages (classical and modern), e.g. second to none — 'equal with any other and better than most' (from Latin: nulli secundus); for smb's fair eyes — 'because of personal sympathy, not be worth one's deserts, services, for nothing' (from French: pour les beaux yeux de qn.); the fair sex — 'women' (from French: le beau sex); let the cat out of the bag — 'reveal a secret carelessly or by mistake' (from German: die Katze aus dem Sack lassen); tilt at windmills — 'to waste time trying to deal with enemies or problems that do no exist' (from Spanish: acometer molinos de viento); every dog is a lion at home — 'to feel significant in the familiar surrounding' (from Italian: ogni сапе e leone a casa sua). STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classification of phraseological units, comparing them with words. He points out one-top units which he compares with derived words because derived words have only one root morpheme. He points out two-top units which he compares with compound words because in compound words we usually have two root morphemes. Among one-top units he points out three structural types; a) units of the type «to give up» (verb + postposition type), e.g. to art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to sandwich in etc.; b) units of the type «to be tired» . Some of these units remind the Passive Voice in their structure but they have different prepositons with them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions «by» or «with», e.g. to be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at etc. There are also units in this type which remind free word-groups of the type «to be young», e.g. to be akin to, to be aware of etc. The difference between them is that the adjective «young» can be used as an attribute and as a predicative in a sentence, while the nominal component in such units can act only as a predicative. In these units the verb is the grammar centre and the second component is the semantic centre; c) prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are equivalents of unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs , that is why they have no grammar centre, their semantic centre is the nominal part, e.g. on the doorstep (quite near), on the nose (exactly), in the course of, on the stroke of, in time, on the point of etc. In the course of time such units can become words, e.g. tomorrow, instead etc.  Among two-top units A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structural types: a) attributive-nominal such as: a month of Sundays, grey matter, a millstone round one’s neck and many others. Units of this type are noun equivalents and can be partly or perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic units (phrasisms) sometimes the first component is idiomatic, e.g. high road, in other cases the second component is idiomatic, e.g. first night. In many cases both components are idiomatic, e.g. red tape, blind alley, bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others. b) verb-nominal phraseological units, e.g. to read between the lines , to speak BBC, to sweep under the carpet etc. The grammar centre of such units is the verb, the semantic centre in many cases is the nominal component, e.g. to fall in love. In some units the verb is both the grammar and the semantic centre, e.g. not to know the ropes. These units can be perfectly idiomatic as well, e.g. to burn one’s boats, to vote with one’s feet, to take to the cleaners’ etc. Very close to such units are word-groups of the type to have a glance, to have a smoke. These units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a special syntactical combination, a kind of aspect. c) phraseological repetitions, such as : now or never, part and parcel , country and western etc. Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g. ups and downs , back and forth; often they are formed by means of alliteration, e.g cakes and ale, as busy as a bee. Components in repetitions are joined by means of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives and have no grammar centre. They can also be partly or perfectly idiomatic, e.g. cool as a cucumber (partly), bread and butter (perfectly). Phraseological units the same as compound words can have more than two tops (stems in compound words), e.g. to take a back seat, a peg to hang a thing on, lock, stock and barrel, to be a shadow of one’s own self, at one’s own sweet will. SYNTACTICAL CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS Phraseological units can be classified as parts of speech. This classification was suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following groups: a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet train, latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets, b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to break the log-jam, to get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to nose out , to make headlines, c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead, d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like a dream , like a dog with two tails, e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke of , f) interjection phraseological units, e.g. «Catch me!», «Well, I never!» etc. In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings and quotations, e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes him tick», » I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. «Too many cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g. «Where there is a will there is a way»

Semantic classification.

V.V.Vinogradov classified phraseological units according to the degree of motivation of their meaning.

1) Fusions. The degree of motivation  is very low, they are highly idiomatic, we cannot guess the meaning of the whole from the meaning of its components, cannot  be translated word for word into other languages (at sixes and sevens, red tape; бить баклуши). is based on the motivation of the unit Phraseological fusions are units whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of their component parts. The meaning of PFs is unmotivated at the present stage of language development, e.g.

red tape (бюрократизм, волокита),

a mare’s nest (иллюзия, нечто несуществующее),

My aunt! (вот те на!, вот так штука!, ну и ну!). The meaning of the components is completely absorbed by the meaning of the whole;

2) Unities. The meaning of the whole can be guessed from the meanings of its components, but it is transferred (metaphorically or metonymically) → to play the first fiddle. Phrasological unities are expressions the meaning of which can be deduced from the meanings of their components; the meaning of the whole is based on the transferred meanings of the components, e.g.

to show one’s teeth (to be unfriendly),

to stand to one’s guns (to refuse to change one’s opinion), etc.

They are motivated expressions.

3) Collocations. Words are combined in their original meaning, but their combinations are different in different languages. (bear a grudge- bear malice). Phraseological collocations are not only motivated but contain one component used in its direct meaning, while the other is used metaphorically, e.g. to meet requirements, to attain success.

In this group of PUs some substitutions are possible which do not destroy the meaning of the metaphoric element, e.g. to meet the needs, to meet the demand, to meet the necessity; to have success, to lose success.

These substitutions are not synonymical and the meaning of the whole changes, while the meaning of the verb meet and the noun success are kept intact.

 

Structural classification.

(  A.I. Smirnitsky)

One-top units (are like affixed words)

a)      units of the type to give up (to art up, to nose out).

b)      Units of the type to be tired (to be interested in).

c)      Prepositional-nominal  phraseological units. They are equivalents of unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs(on the doorstep, on the nose).

Two-top units (are like compound words).

a) attributive-nominal (a month of Sundays –целая вечность)

b) verb-nominal phraseological units ( to read between the lines – понимать скрытый смысл)

c) phraseological repetitions (now or never – теперь или никогда).

Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky classified PUs as highly idiomatic set expressions functioning as word equivalents, and characterized by their semantic and grammatical unity. He suggested three classes of stereotyped phrases:

1. traditional phrases (nice distinction, rough sketch;

2. phraseological combinations (to fall in love, to get up);

3. idioms (to wash one’s dirty linen in public);

The second group (phraseological combinations) fall into two subgroups:

1. one-top phraseological units, which were compared with derived words;

   1. verb-adverb PUs of the type to give up, e.g. to bring up, to try out, to look up, to drop in, etc.

   2. PUs of the type to be tired, e.g. to be surprised, to be up to, etc.

Prepositional substantative units, e.g. by heart.

two-top phraseological units, which were compared with compound words.

1. attributive-nominal, e.g. brains trust, white elephant, blind alley. Units of this type function as noun equivalents;

2. verb-nominal phrases, e.g. to know the ropes, to take place, etc.

3. phraseological repetitions, e.g. ups and downs , rough and ready, flat as a pancake. They function as adverbs or adjectives equivalents;

4. adverbial multi-top units, e.g. every other day.

 

Syntactical classification.

I.V. Arnold classified phraseological units as parts of speech.

a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being (latchkey kids – ребенок работающих родителей)

b) verb phraseological units, denoting an action, a state (to be on  the beam- быть в курсе дела)

с) adjective phraseologisms  denoting a quality.(loose and goose – нескладный)

d) adverb phraseologisms (tooth and nail – изо всех сил)

e) preposition phraseologisms  (in the course of, on the stroke of)

f) interjection phraseologisms (Catch me! – ни за что!)

In I.V. Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents: proverbs (are usually metaphorical – Too many cooks spoil the broth) and sayings (are, as a rule, non-metaphorical - Where there is a will, there is a way).

STRUCTURAL-SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS (A.V. Koonin)

Prof. Kunin distinguishes: phraseological units, phraseomatic units and borderline (mixed)cases. phraseological units have fully or partly transferred meaning, while phraseomatic units are used in their literal meaning. Phraseological and phraseomatic units are characterized by phraseological stability that distinguishes them from free phrases and compound words.

Prof. A.V. Koonin’ definition: ‘a phraseplogical unit is a stable word-group with wholly or partially transferred meaning.’

Phraseological units are subdivided into 4 classes according to the function in communication determined by structural-semantic characteristics.

Functional classification

1. nominative phraseplogical units, standing for certain notions: a bull in a china shop;

2. nominative-communicative phraseplogical units, standing for certain notions in the Active voice, and may be used in Passive constructions: to cross the Rubicon – the Rubicon is crossed!

3. interjectional phraseplogical units, standing for certain notions interjections: a pretty (nice) kettle of fish! For crying out loud!

4. Communicative phraseological units standing for sentences (proverbs and sayings): Still waters run deep. The world is a nice place.

Free word groups present combinations of  words which display structural, semantic and syntactic relation between the units/ There may be differentstructural types of word combinations subordinate  (silent people) and coordinate ( children and grown-ups) word combinations, Subordinate  word combinations are nominal(a red cap), verbal  (went slowly)? adverbal (very much)

In modern linguistics, there is considerable confusion about the terminology associated with these word-groups

Most Russian scholars use the term “phraseological units” introduced by academician V.V. Vinogradov. The term “idiom” used by western scholars has comparatively recently found its way into Russian phraseology but is applied mostly to only a certain type of phraseological unit as it will be clear from further explanations.

There are some other terms: set-expressions, set-phrases, phrases, fixed word-groups, collocations.

Free word-groups are so called not because of any absolute freedom in using them but simply because they are each time built up anew in the speech process whereas idioms are used as ready-made units with fixed and constant structures.

The border-line between free or variable word-groups and phraseological units is not clearly defined.

The free word-groups are only relatively free as collocability of their member-words is fundamentally delimited by their lexical and syntactic valency.

Phraseological units are comparatively stable and semantically inseparable.

Between the extremes of complete motivation and variability of member-words and lack of motivation combined with complete stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure there are innumerable border-line cases.

There are differences between word-groups and phraseological units

The difference often is in the interrelation of lexical components, e.g.:Blue ribbon (or red, brown, etc.), but blue ribbon – an honour given to the winner of the first prize in a competition – no substitution is possible in a phraseological unit;

Stretch one’s legs – размять ноги, прогуляться (а не «протянуть ноги»),

See eye to eye – быть полностью согласным (а не «видеться с глазу на глаз»),

Under one’s hand – за собственной подписью (а не «под рукой»),

Stew in one’s own juice – страдать по своей собственной глупости (а не «вариться в собственном соку»).

In free word-groups each of its constituents preserves its denotational meaning.

In the case of phraseological units however the denotational meaning belongs to the word-group as a single semantically inseparable unit. For example, compare a free word-group a white elephant (белый слон) and a phraseological unit white elephant (обуза, подарок, от которого не знаешь как избавиться).

Distinctive features of free-word groups and phraseological units

Free word-groups	Phraseological units
are formed in the process of speech according to the standards of the language;	exist in the language side-by-side with separate words;
are constructed in the process of communication by joining together words into a phrase;	are reproduced in speech as ready-made units;
substitution is possible;	no substitution is possible;
each of its components preserves its denotational meaning;	the denotational meaning belongs to the word group as a single semantically inseparable unit;
substitution is possible;	no substitution is possible;
each of its components preserves its denotational meaning;	the denotational meaning belongs to the word group as a single semantically inseparable unit;

Free word-groups are but relatively free: they may possess some of the features characteristic of phraseological units. On the other hand, phraseological units are heterogeneous. Alongside absolutely unchangeable phraseological units, there are expressions that allow some degree of substitution. Phraseology is concerned with all types of set expressions including those that stand for certain sentences.

The characteristic features of phraseological units are:

1. ready-made reproduction,

2. structural divisibility,

3. morphological stability,

4. permanence of lexical composition,

5. semantic unity,

6. syntactic fixity.

6.Homonymy: two or more words with the same shape, unrelated meanings and different etymologies. Classification and sources of homonymy.

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning.

bank, n.-a shore  bank, n.-an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money

ball, n. – a sphere; any spherical body   ball, n.-a large dancing party

In the process of communication they are more of an encumbrance, leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding. Yet it is this very characteristic which makes them one of the most important sources of popular humour. The pun is a joke based upon the play upon words of similar form but different meaning

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning. Traditional classification includes 3 types of homonyms:  1. homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling are traditionally termed homonyms proper (bank – a shore; bank-an institute for receiving, lending, exchanging and safeguarding money; school-косяк рыбы; school - школа).  2. homophones – they are the same in sound but different in spelling (night-knight; piece –peace).  3. homographs – these are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound (bow [bau]-поклон; bow [bэu]-лук; to lead [ li:d] – to conduct on the way, go before to show the way; lead [led] – a heavy, rather soft metal)  Homonyms should be distinguished from polycemantic words, because homonyms – we discuss 2 different forms with their own lexical and semantic structure, polycemantic – only one word (homonyms – 2 different words, polycemantic – 2 different meanings). 

Sources of Homonyms:

Phonetic changes which words- undergo in the course of their historical development. Night and knight,

Borrowing. A borrowed word may, in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing. rite, n. – to write, v.-right, adj. the second and third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing (< Lat. ritus).

Conversion – comb, n.- to comb, v., pale, adj.- to pale, v., to make, v,- make, n. Homonyms of this type, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

Shortening. E.g.  fan, n.   in the  sense  of “an  enthusiastic  admirer  of some  kind   of sport or of an actor, singer, etc.” is a shortening produced from  fanatic.

Words made by sound-imitation) can also form pairs of homonyms with other words: e, g. bang, n. (“a loud, sudden, explosive noise”) – bang, n. (“a fringe of hair combed over   . the forehead”).

(Two or more homonyms can “originate from different meanings of the same word when, for some reason, the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. This type of formation of homonyms is called split polysemy.

Board – a long and thin piece of timber

Board – daily meals especially provided for pay.

Board – an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity. A board of directors

All the meanings developed from the meaning ” a table”.

Sources of Homonyms  - phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their historical development. As a result of such changes, two or more words which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms - Night and knight, to knead (О.Е. cnēdan) and to need (О.Е. nēodian).  - Borrowing is another source of homonyms. Match, n. ("a game; a contest of skill, strength") is native, and match, n. ("a slender short piece of wood used for producing fire") is a French borrowing.  - Word-building  conversion - comb, n. — to comb, v., pale, adj. — to pale, v., to make, v. — make, n. they are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms  Shortening fan, n. in the sense of "an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer, etc." is a shortening produced from fanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan, n. which denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air. The noun rep, n. denoting a kind of fabric (cf. with the R. репс) has three homonyms made by shortening: rep, n. (< repertory), rep, n. (< representative), rep, n. (< reputation)'', all the three are informal words.  - sound-imitation - bang, n. ("a loud, sudden, explosive noise") — bang, n. ("a fringe of hair combed over the forehead"). Also: mew, n. ("the sound a cat makes") — mew, n. ("a sea gull") — mew, n. ("a pen in which poultry is fattened") — mews ("small terraced houses in Central London").  - Two or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same word when, for some reason, the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. This type of formation of homonyms is called split polysemy.  board, n. — a long and thin piece of timber  board, n. — daily meals, esp. as provided for pay,  e. g. room and board board, n. — an official group of persons who direct  or supervise some activity, e. g. a board  of directors 

Classification of Homonyms

The subdivision of homonyms into:

homonyms proper – words same in sound and in spelling.  1.fit – perfectly fitting clothes. 2. fit – nervous spasm.

homophones -the same in sound, different in spelling.1. been 2.bean

homographs -the sane in spelling, different in sound 1.to lead – go before, show the way 2. lead – a heavy rather soft metal.

1. lexical homonyms – differ in lexical meaning only, grammatical meaning is the same (one and the same part of speech) 

2. lexico-grammatical homonyms – differ both lexical and grammatical meanings (different parts of speech) Ex: pale, adj – to pale , verb; reading- {Present Participle, gerund, Verbal noun. 

3. grammatical homonyms – differ in grammatical meaning only, the lexical meaning is the same (brothers – plural; brother’s – possessive case)  Partial Homonyms –are those one which are the same only in one form of their grammatical paradigm (mine – шахта; mine – possessive noun (first form is my)). 

Walter Skeat classified homonyms into: 1) perfect homonyms (they have different meaning, but the same sound form & spelling: school - school); 2) homographs (Homographs are words identical in spelling, but different both in their sound-form and meaning, e.g. tearn [tia] — ‘a drop of water that comes from the eye’ and tearv [tea] — ‘to pull apart by force’.3)homophones are words identical in sound-form but different both in spelling and in meaning, e.g. sean and seev; son n andsunn.

Smirnitsky classified perfect homonyms into: 1) full homonyms (identical in spelling, sound form, grammatical meaning but different in lexical meaning: spring); 2) homoforms (the same sound form & spelling but different lexical and grammatical meaning: “reading” – gerund, particle 1, verbal noun).

Arnold classified perfect homonyms by 4 criteria (lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms, paradigms) into 4 groups: 1) different only in lexical meaning (board - board); 2)different in lexical meaning & paradigms (to lie/lied/lied – lie/lay/lain); 3) identical only in basic forms (light /adj./- light /noun/); 4) identical only in one of their paradigms (a bit – bit /to bite/).