Pavlk2017EnglishLexicologyI-1

69

 Now form 4 meaningful sentences using some of the above words. Pay attention to correct placement of stress, e.g. She holds the world ˈrecord for the 100 metres. Use a dictionary, if necessary.

1._______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

2._______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

3._______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

4._______________________________________________________________

6.4 Sound symbolism

Some lexemes are created as a result of the imitation of real sounds, such as animal sounds, various non-linguistic human sounds, natural sounds, etc. Such lexemes are phonetically motivated (see also 2.2), which means that the relation between the linguistic form and the concept is not arbitrary, e.g. cuckoo, woofwoof, bang, etc.

We can distinguish between two main types of sound symbolism – onomatopoeia and iconism. Whereas onomatopoeia / ɒnəmætə pi:ə/ is the direct imitation of the sounds in nature, iconism / aɪkɒnɪzm/ refers to the fact that certain sounds or sound sequences seem to represent some physical aspect(s) of the extra-lingual reality, such as shape, size, movement, etc.

EXERCISES

70

1 Translate these words into Slovak. Compare their sound structure and determine the possible symbolism.

2 Translate these phonetically motivated words into English.

6.5 Word manufacture

This process refers to the invention of new lexemes on the basis of real (native or loan) morphemes or pseudo-morphemes. Such coinages are therefore often not traceable to their original underlying forms. Nevertheless, these invented words are always based on the phonemes present in a given language and normally follow the specific phonotactic rules of that language, e.g. nylon (generic syllable nyl + pseudo-suffix -on), Polaroid (clipped polarization + suffix -oid), etc.

71

EXERCISES

1 Find manufactured words in the following sentences. Match them with their meaning and an explanation of the logic behind their coinage.

(a)He said Nicole Simpson did not own the gold Spandex leotard described by the clinic employee.

(b)I always take a couple of aspirins when I feel a cold starting.

(c)Eagerly she tugged the card off the Cellophane wrapping – then stared at it in confusion.

(d)Her plate held a curious mixture of Spam, jelly, iced buns and lettuce leaves.

(e)I googled her name and found out she runs her own company.

(f)It was a memorable return for the man who seemed to have ended his career a convicted cocaine user in Naples.

(g)I must look like the typical tourist with my shorts and my Kodak camera.

(OALD, CALD, LDCE, BNC)

1.A drug to reduce pain – based on French Acetylene and Latin speiraia (the German version was Acetylierte spirsäure)

2.A hand-held camera – arbitrary coinage

3.Canned meat – based on spiced ham

4.A very large number – originally spelled googol

5.Thin transparent plastic material for wrapping – based on French cellulose and Greek phainein

6.An addictive drug – based on Spanish coca (a plant) and French suffix -ine

7.A material that stretches and is used for making sports clothes – based on expand and the commercial suffix -ex.

2 What is the meaning of the following word coinages? Use them in the sentences below.

a typographical error typed with a typewriter.

(b)Atoms are made up of smaller particles – protons, neutrons and electrons

– some of which are made up of even smaller ones, called _______s.

(c)Delight your cat with the delicious meaty taste of ________ wet and dry food.

(d)He wore a tight-fitting _________ wetsuit.

(e)Despite the competition, __________ and its generic equivalents remain popular and have become the third most-prescribed antidepressant in the United States.

(f)Helga stuck her posters up with ________.

(g)She had put her shoes back on and they made a hard noise against the

_________.

(h)Anything handed to him had to be wrapped in __________ tissues.

(OALD, CALD, LDCE)

 Chapter 6 – Further reading:

Bauer 1983: chapter 7.8.4 Cruttenden 2014: chapter 10.5 Crystal 2009

Huddleton and Pullum 2002: chapter 19.2.6 Kvetko 2009: chapter 4.4

Lančarič 2016: chapters 5.2.2.5 – 5.2.2.10 Ohala 1997

Singleton 2000: chapter 8.8 Yule 2010: chapter 5

73

7 Word meaning

7.1 Grammatical and lexical meaning

The meaning of lexemes can be classified into two main types: lexical and grammatical. The grammatical component of meaning is usually expressed by grammatical morphemes, which can be free (e.g. of, the, in, and, etc.) or bound (e.g. -ing, -ed, -s, etc.). The lexical component of meaning, on the other hand, is typically carried by free or bound lexical morphemes (e.g. desk, book, run, -ist, - ness, dis-, etc.).

It is important to remember that lexical and grammatical meanings are often inseparable and in most words occur simultaneously, e.g. boys, cheating, mice, etc.). Even when lexical words bear no morphological markers of the grammatical meaning, the grammatical component of meaning is still present. Sometimes, one type of meaning dominates over the other. For instance, in the function words such as of, in, but, etc. the grammatical meaning is dominant.

EXERCISES

1 Divide these words, phrases, and sentences into morphemes. Determine whether lexical or grammatical component of meaning prevails.

2 Read this text. Divide the morphemes/words into lexical and grammatical.

Britain’s plan to tame Trump

Tim Shipman, The Sunday Times, November 2016

74

A secret memo from the British ambassador to the United States has laid bare how the UK plans to shape Donald Trump’s presidency so he helps to boost Britain’s national interests.

In a leaked telegram, written just as Trump was surging to victory last week, Sir Kim Darroch boasted that the UK is the best placed of any nation to steer the new president’s foreign policy and encourage his more extreme ideas to

“evolve”.

7.2 Types of lexical meaning

Lexical meaning subsumes several distinct components of meaning. We will discuss the following: denotative, connotative, social, emotional, and collocational.

Denotative meaning

Denotative (denotational, referential, conceptual, basic) meaning can be defined as the basic, core meaning of the word, expressing the relationship between language, on the one hand, and the entities, events, things, etc. of the extralingual reality on the other. The denotative meaning of a word can normally be characterized as the sum of its basic components of meaning. For example, the lexeme mother can be characterized by the criterial components female, adult, and parent. In fact, by using such components of meaning, we can differentiate between similar entities within particular semantic fields. Such analysis is called componential analysis of meaning (semantic feature analysis). These components of meaning are normally treated as binary choices and they are

75

expressed by means of the signs + or –. Here is an example the componential analysis of the denotative meaning of the words father, mother, and gosling.

Connotative meaning

The term connotative (associative, supplementary) meaning will be used here to refer to the associations that a particular word has or implies. It refers to the additional, non-criterial properties that a particular referent may possess. Connotation names those facets of meaning which do not affect the lexeme’s basic components of meaning. For example, the word needle denotes an object of the extra-lingual reality which can be characterized as sharp, thin, made of steel, etc. However, the associations (the non-criterial components of meaning) often attached to it are pain, fear, illness, hospital, nurse, etc. Such associations may differ from person to person, and may also depend on context.

EXERCISES

1 Determine the criterial components of meaning needed to differentiate these five words.

ADULT

pig

wild boar hog

sow piglet

2 What connotations do the following words have?

3 Determine the meaning of the following synonymic words and phrases. Identify the counterpart with a negative connotation.

4 Use the words in the box to complete the sentences below. Determine whether they have a neutral, positive, or a negative connotation in a given context.

(a)They are ________ ing for their freedom.

(b)________ wine gives me a headache.

(c)Factory chimneys belched dense ________ smoke into the sky.

(d)She’ll _________ like a tiger to protect her children.

(e)I might have a _________ bit of cake.

(f)It was nothing but a ________ trick.

(g)Here’s a ________ something for your birthday.

(h)I wish our ________ at the next table would shut up.

(i)There’s so ________ choice.

(j)I’m no ________ of socialism, as you know.

77

(k)She went ________ as a sheet when she heard the news.

(l)The air was filled with the ________ of flowers.

(m)Two men were arrested for _________ ing outside a bar.

(n)We did very ________ on Sunday.

(o)What’s that funny ________?

(p)She has a set of perfect __________ teeth.

(q)He’s a nasty ________ man.

(r)I think the ________’s getting worse.

(s)She’s an old ________.

(t)The equipment is relatively ________ and simple to use.

(OALD, CALD, LDCE)

Social meaning

Social meaning (also referred to as interpersonal meaning) is the meaning that a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. There are two main areas covered by this type of meaning – the expression of social relations and the indication of social status.

When people interact, they often use expressions with very vague denotative meaning, such as How do you do; My, my; I hear you; Lovely day, isn’t it; You said it!, etc. Such words and expressions are primarily used to express social attitudes, e.g. friendship, agreement, conflict, rejection, etc. At the same time, when we speak, we necessarily reveal our social status by nature of the selection of particular vocabulary and pronunciation. For example, the words and expressions He don’t know me, / bʌʔə/ (butter), / evɪ/ (heavy), I says to him, etc. reveal the speaker’s social status.

Expressive meaning /ɪk spresɪv/

Expressive meaning (affective, emotive, attitudinal meaning) reflects the personal feelings and attitudes of the speaker. For example, in words and phrases like idiot, dumbo, bimbo, darling, sweetie, Good Lord!, Shove it, You bloody bastard, etc. the expressive component prevails over the denotative component of meaning.