Reduplication

(26) = doubling a stem:

1) without phonetic changes (bye-bye, coll. = good-bye)

2) with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant (ping-pong, chit-chat) = gradational reduplication.

(27)most words → informal groups: colloquialisms and slang:

walkie-talkie("a portable radio");

riff-raff("the worthless or disreputable element of society"; "the dregs of society");

chi-chi(sl. for chic as in a chi-chi girl);

In a modern novel an angry father accuses his teenager son of doing nothing but dilly-dallying all over the town.

(dilly-dallying— wasting time, doing nothing, loitering)

Another example:

Lady Bracknell. I think it is high time that Mr.Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd.

(shilly-shallying— irresolution, indecision)

(From The Importance of Being Earnest by O. Wilde)

Back-Formation (Reversion)

( 28) The earliest examples:

to beg ← Fr. borrowing beggar, V ← N

to burgle ← burglar, reverse process

to cobble ← cobbler of N ← V (painter ← to paint)

↑ ↑

subtraction affixation

↑

back-formation or reversion

(29) tobutle← butler,

to baby-sit ← baby-sitter,

to force-land ← forced landing,

to blood-transfuse ← blood-transfusion,

to fingerprint ← finger printings,

to straphang ← straphanger.

8. Meaning

(1) The linguistic science at present is not able to put forward a conclusive definition of meaning.

(2) word = unit of communication

↑

it has meaning = the most important characteristic

(3) Meaning – a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word with the ability of denoting real objects, qualities, actions and abstract notions.

(4)Thought or Reference ← concept

no immediate relation between word and referent:

it is established only through the concept

Symbol Referent

↑

the word

(5) a hypothesis: concepts can only find their realisation through words.

=> thought is dormant till the word wakens it up; only when we hear a spoken word or read a printed word the corresponding concept springs into mind.

(6) concepts ↔ words

( mental phenomena) (linguistic phenomena)

↑

mechanism is not yet understood or described

( 7) Semantics - branch of linguistics which specialises in the study of meaning

for for the meaning of one

expressive particular word in all

aspect of its varied aspects and

language nuances (i.e. the semantics

in general of a word =the meaning(s) of a word)

(8) "Semantics is 'language' in its broadest, most inclusive aspect. Sounds, words, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions are the tools oflanguage. Semantics is language's avowed purpose" (Mario Pei, The Study of Language)

(9) The meanings of all the utterances of a speech community ← the total experience of that community; arts, science, practical occupations, amusements, personal and family life.

(10)modern approach - inner form of the word (= meaning) presents semantic structure of the word

Polysemy. Semantic Structure of the Word (SSW)

(11) SSW – not an indissoluble unity, not necessarily stand for one concept;

most words = several concepts = several meanings =>polysemantic words;

polysemy = the ability of words to have >1 meaning

(12) FAQs:

1. Is polysemy an anomaly or a general rule in English vocabulary?

- it is not: most English words are polysemantic.

2. Is polysemy an advantage or a disadvantage so far as the process of communication is concerned?

- well-developed polysemy is a great advantage as it enriches expressive resources of language. The number of sound combinations that human speech organs can produce is limited => at a certain stage of language development the production of new words by morphological means → limited => polysemy → increasingly important in providing the means for enriching the vocabulary

(13) word → polysemantic word

↑ ↑

new meanings → system of meanings ← develops gradually,

↑ ↑ over the centuries

just added to old ones oust some of old ones

general tendency - to increase the total number of meanings & to provide for a quantitative and qualitative growth of the language's expressive resources.

(14)analysis of SSW ← 2 levels:

1 level: SSW = system of meanings: Fire, n.

(only the most frequent meanings are given)

I F lame

(= main meaning; centerof SSW; general; dominance over other meanings)

II III IV V

A n instance Burning material The shooting Strong feeling,

of destructive in a stove, fireplace, of guns, etc.; passion,

burning; etc.; e.g.: There is e.g.: to open enthusiasm;

e.g.: a forest fire a fire in the next (cease) a fire e.g.: a speech

room. A camp fire. lacking fire.

secondary meanings

associated with special circumstances, aspects & instances & with one another, IV & V - exclusively through meaning I

(15)Bar, n

II III

T he profession of barrister, lawyer; → (In a public house or hotel)

e.g.:go to the Bar; read for the Bar. ← A counter or a room where drinks are

s erved; e.g.:

They went to the bar for a drink.

t raditional barrier dividing a court-room

into 2 parts counter = kind of barrier b/w

customers& barman

I

Any kind of barrier to prevent people from passing.

(16)a centre can be found not in every polysemantic word → different principle of SSW arrangement:

Dull, adj.

I. Uninteresting, monotonous, boring;

e. g. a dullbook, a dull film.

II. Slow in understanding, stupid;

implication e. g. a dull student. There is no

of deficiency, III. Not clear or bright; generalised meaning

insufficient e. g. dull weather, a dull day, a dull colour. covering& holding

quality, IV. Not loud or distinct; together the rest

something e. g. a dull sound. of the SSW lacking V. Not sharp; e. g. a dull knife.

VI. Not active; e. g. Trade is dull.

VII. Seeing badly; e. g. dull eyes (arch.).

VIII. Hearing badly; e. g. dull ears (arch.)

▼

Dull, adj.

I. Uninteresting → deficient in interest or excitement. II. ...Stupid → deficient in intellect.

3. Not bright → deficient in light or colour.

4. Not loud →deficient in sound.

V. Not sharp → deficient in sharpness.

VI. Not active → deficient in activity.

VII. Seeing badly →deficient in eyesight.

VIII. Hearing badly →deficient in hearing.

=>centre holding together the complex SSW - not 1 of the meanings but a certain componentsingled out within each separate meaning

(17)

2 level: SSW=“divisible” at the level of different meanings & at a deeper level

↑

Each = subject to structural analysis,

represented as sets of semantic components.

=>componential analysis -one of the modern methods of semantic research, meaning = a set of elements of meaning which are not part of the vocabulary of the language itself, but rather theoretical elements, postulated in order to describe the semantic relations b/w the lexical elements of a language.

(18) The scheme of SSW dull → SSW ≠ a mere system of meanings; each separate meaning = subject to further subdivision & possesses an inner structure of its own => SSW should be investigated:

a) at the level of different meanings,

b) at the level of semantic components within each separate meaning.

For a monosemantic word (= with one meaning) – only b).

Types of Semantic Components

(19) SSW

denotative component connotative component

(=referential component) (= connotations)

expresses the conceptual additional semantic components

content of a word

Denotative Connotative

component component

l onely, adj. → alone, melancholy, Emotive

without + sad connotation

company

notorious, adj. → widely + for criminal Evaluative

known acts or bad connotation,

traits of negative

character

celebrated, adj. → widely + for special Evaluative

known achievement connotation,

in science, positive

art, etc.

steadily, 1. Connotation

lastingly of duration

to glare, v. → to look +

in anger, 2. Emotive

rage, etc. connotation

to glance, v. → to look + briefly, Connotation

passingly of duration

lastingly 1. Connotation

t o shiver, v. → to tremble + of duration

(usu) with cold 2. Connotation

of cause

briefly 1. Connotation

to shudder, v. → to tremble + of duration

with 2. Connotation

horror, of cause

disgust, etc., 3. Emotive

connotation

describe the meanings partially &

incompletely sufficiently clear picture of what

the word really means

Meaning and Context

(20) A disadvantage of polysemantic words – misunderstanding:

used in 1 meaning, accepted in another => basis for making jokes:

1 ) Customer: I would like a book, please. =“not heavy”( literal sense)

Bookseller: Something light? = “not serious; entertaining”

Customer: That doesn't matter. I have my car with me.

2) The critic started to leave in the middle of the second act of the play.

" Don't go," said the manager. "I promise there's a terrific kick in the next act."

"Fine," was the retort, "give it to the author".

thrill, pleasurable excitement (inform.) a blow with the foot

(21)context - prevents misunderstanding of meanings.

e.g.:dull - would mean different things to different people or nothing at all

a dull pupil,

a dull play, reveals its actual meaning:

a dull razor-blade,

dull weather, etc.

↑

word-combination = minimum context,

Sometimes fails to reveal the meaning of the word,

and it may be correctly interpreted only through

second-degree context:

e.g.:The man was large, but his wife was even fatter.

fatter=>large = a stout man, ≠a big man

(22) Current research in semantics → methods of investigating SSW by studying the word's linear relationships with other words in typical contexts = combinability or collocability

(23) Semantics of words characterised by common occurrences (= words which regularly appear in common contexts) are correlated => one of the words within such a pair can be studied through the other => to investigate the SS of an adjective → consider the adjective in its most typical syntactical patterns:

A + N &N +l+ A → make a thorough study of the meanings of nouns with which the adjective is frequently used:

e.g.:bright, adj. A + N

a) bright colour (flower, dress, silk, etc.). → intensive in colour

b) bright metal (gold, jewels, armour, etc.), → shining

c) bright student (pupil, boy, fellow, etc.), → capable

d) bright face (smile, eyes, etc.) → gay, etc.

(24) a hypothesis - the semantics of words regularly used in common contexts (e. g. bright colours, to build a house, to create a work of art, etc.) are so intimately correlated that each of them casts a kind of permanent reflection on the meaning of its neighbour.

to compose + music =>to compose ← musical associations?

notorious ← negative evaluative connotation =>a notorious criminal, thief, gangster, gambler, gossip, liar, miser, etc. ← negative evaluative connotation.

(25)Context is a good and reliable key to the meaning of the word, but implies 2 dangers:

1. Misunderstanding in communication (the speaker means one thing and the listener takes the word in its other meaning)

2. With research work in the field of semantics (inexperienced research worker is to see a different meaning in every new set of combinations):

Cf.: expresses anger directly → an angry man → person

expresses anger indirectly→ an angry letter → object

expresses high spirits directly → merry children

expresses high spirits indirectly → merry laughter, merry faces, merry songs

Main point - a word can realise the same meaning in different sets of combinability.

(26) to distinguish b/w different meanings of a word & different variations of combinability (= different usages of the word) = to single out different denotations within SSW:

C f.: 1) a sad woman,

2. a sad voice, (common denotation of sorrow)

3. a sad story,

4. a sad scoundrel (= an incorrigible scoundrel)

5) a sad night (= a dark, black night, arch, poet.)

=>there are 3 denotations of sad in 5 contexts =>Context is not the ultimate criterion for meaning & should be used in combination with other criteria.

(27) Methods of componential analysis:

1) contextual analysis - the main investigative methods for determining SSW

2) definitional analysis,

3) transformational analysis,

4) distributional analysis.