Pavlk2017EnglishLexicologyI-1

Radoslav Pavlík

A Textbook of English Lexicology I.

Word Structure, Word-Formation, Word Meaning

Bratislava 2017

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© PhDr. Radoslav Pavlík, PhD., 2017

Recenzenti: prof. PhDr. Richard Repka, CSc. doc. PhDr. Daniel Lančarič, PhD.

Vydal: Z-F Lingua, Bratislava

Náklad: 200 ks

Forma: brož.

Rok: 2017

ISBN: 978-80-8177-038-8

EAN: 9788081770388

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Abbreviations

OALD – Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary CALD – Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

LDCE – Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English OC – Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students BNC – British National Corpus

BrE – British English AmE – American English sb – somebody

sth – something

(n) – noun

(v) – verb

(adj) – adjective (adv) – adverb (prep) – preposition (num) – number (con) – conjunction

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Introduction

This textbook will provide the student with a survey of the fundamentals of English lexicology. In this first volume, the focus is placed on word structure, word-formation, and word meaning. The book is intended to be used as a study text for a course on English lexicology for English undergraduate students.

The first three chapters of the textbook deal with the definition of the word and its internal structure. Chapters four, five, and six are concerned with the basic description of the various word-formation processes in English, and the last chapter focuses on the semantic aspects of lexical units.

As far as the internal organization of the individual chapters is concerned, every subchapter of the book starts with a brief theoretical description of the topic and it is subsequently followed by a series of exercises and tasks. Most of the exercises are supplemented with a key which can be found at the end of the book.

Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues, students, and friends who were kind enough to help me with the preparation of this book. I would also like to acknowledge my debt to Paul McCullough for his detailed reading of the manuscript. Special thanks go to both reviewers for their useful comments and criticism.

Radoslav Pavlík

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1 The definition of lexicology

Lexicology is a linguistic discipline concerned with the nature, structure, origin, relations, and use of words of language. It usually includes the following areas of study:

Onomasiology / n me s l d /

It is the study of naming the units of extra-lingual reality. It starts from a concept (an object, idea, state, quality, etc.) and tries to name it – i.e. How do you say this?, What do you call this?

Semasiology /s me s l d /

It is the study of meaning (lexical semantics). It represents an approach opposite to onomasiology. It begins with a word and asks about its meaning(s) – i.e. What does this word mean?

Word-formation / wɜ:dfɔ: meɪʃn/

This is the study of the synchronic processes involved in the creation of words. It is concerned with the ways new lexical words are built (usually on the basis of other words), e.g. heart, heart-y, heart-i-ly, etc.

Etymology / etɪ mɒləd ɪ/

It is the study of the history of words. It deals with the origin and change of the form and meaning of words. For example, words like mother and commit cannot be analysed synchronically in terms of word-formation, but they can be analysed diachronically from the point of view of their etymology: mother: from Proto- Indo-European mā (baby-talk form) + ter (kinship suffix); commit: from Latin com (together) + mittere (to put, send).

Phraseology / freɪzɪ ɒləd ɪ/

It is the study of lexical phrases. It is a discipline focused on the investigation of formal and semantic aspects of various types of word combinations, such as collocations (relatively literal word combinations) and idioms (metaphorical phrases), e.g. heavy rain, at a disadvantage, pull sb’s leg, turn on the waterworks, etc.

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Lexicography / leksɪ kɒɡrəfɪ/

It is the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries. Lexicographers are concerned with the systematic selection, compilation, and description of words in dictionaries. Word description and characterization usually include pronunciation, meanings, grammatical structure, stylistic characteristics, word usage, etc.

EXERCISES:

1Explain the difference between onomasiology and semasiology.

2Look at these expressions. Which approach do they reflect – onomasiological or semasiological?

(a)It’s on the tip of my tongue.

(b)How do you say this in English?

(c)Run that by me again.

(d)Where is that what’s-his-name?

(e)It’s one of those thingamajigs for keeping papers together.

(f)I need a sphygmomanometer. A what?

(g)It’s all Greek to me.

(h)What’s your point?

(i)Where’s the doodah to turn off the TV?

(j)See what I mean?

3What is the difference between the synchronic and diachronic analysis of words?

4Analyse these words into smaller parts.

teacher, unable, disadvantage, similarly, relationship, arrangement, unhappiness, station, hippopotamus, orthographically, antinationalistic

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5 Can you guess the etymology and original meaning of these Slovak words? Consult the Stručný etymologický slovník slovenčiny (Králik 2015).

6 Match these parts to create acceptable conventional phrases.

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Now work in pairs and form a short dialogue using the above phrases.

Example:

A:How’s it going?

B:Great. How are YOU doing? I haven’t seen you for ages.

A:Yeah, I’ve been busy. Listen, you wanna grab a bite?

B:Sure.

A:

B:

A:

B:

 Chapter 1 – Further reading:

Ginzburg, et al. 1979: chapter 1

Jackson and Zé Amvela 2007: chapter 1

Kvetko 2009: chapter 1.1

Lančarič 2016: chapter 1