Пирожкова - Лекция 1 от 11.02.13

Lexicology

Science what deals with vocabulary, it’s study a words.

Word “lexicology” (greek lexis – слово, logos – учение)

Divided to 2 general parts:

1. Vocabulary of any language

2. Special studies of given language

Lexicology characterized:

1. Unit of speech which services the unit of communication

2. A word can be perceived as the total of sounds that comprised it

3. A word structurally posses(обладать) some chars. It has an external and internal structures.

• External – morphological structures

• Internal – meaning or semantics

Another structural aspects of the word is it’s unity.

A word posses it’s external (formal) unity and semantic unity.

The formal unity of the word can best be illustrated by comparing a word and a word-group comprising.

The difference between a blackbird and a black bird is best explained by their relationship with the grammatical system of the language. The word blackbird, which is characterized by unity, possesses a single grammatical framing: blackbird/s. The first constituent black is not subject to any grammatical changes. In the word-group a black bird each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own: the blackest birds I've ever seen. Other words can be inserted between the components which is impossible so far as the word is concerned as it would violate its unity: a black night bird.

The same example may be used to illustrate what we mean by semantic unity.

In the word-group a black bird each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept: bird — a kind of living creature; black — a colour.

The word blackbird conveys only one concept: the type of bird. This is one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external structure.

Problems which lexicology solves

Two of these have already been underlined. The problem of word-building is associated with prevailing morphological word-structures and with processes of making new words. Semantics is the study of meaning. Modern approaches to this problem are characterised by two different levels of study: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.

On the syntagmatic level, the semantic structure of the word is analysed in its linear relationships with neighbouring words in connected speech. In other words, the semantic characteristics of the word are observed, described and studied on the basis of its typical contexts.

On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationships with other words in the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in comparison with other words of similar meaning (e. g. work, n. — labour, n.; to refuse, v. — to reject v. — to decline, v.), of opposite meaning (e. g. busy, adj. — idle, adj.; to accept, v, — to reject, v.). Consequently, the main problems of paradigmatic studies are synonymy, antonymy, functional styles.

One further important objective of lexicological studies is the study of the vocabulary of a language as a system. The vocabulary can be studied synchronically, that is, at a given stage of its development, or diachronically, that is, in the context of the processes through which it grew, developed and acquired its modern form

Formal and informal vocabulary

When placed in different situations, people instinctively choose different kinds of words and structures to express their thoughts. The suitability or unsuitability of a word for each particular situation depends on its stylistic characteristics or, in other words, on the functional style it represents.

Professor I. V. Arnold defines functional style as "a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication".

Functional style classified into two types: formal (a lecture, a speech in court, an official letter, professional communication) and informal (an informal talk, an intimate letter).

Informal style is relaxed, free-and-easy, familiar and unpretentious.

Colloquial Words

They are characterized of a only appropriate for casual ordinary familiar conversation. They are used primarily with limited geographical area. An example may be regional term used by people then describing a carbonated soft drinks: in Canada and south US it’s “coke”, in other areas “soda”, in England “tonic” in Scotland “ginger”.

A formal meaning may also have a colloquial meaning: “biweekly” – “once every two weeks” according to common vocabulary or “twice a week” in colloquial meaning in speech of modern people.

In modern fiction informal words are not restricted to conversation only, they may appear in descriptive parts to create an intimate, warm, informal atmosphere.

Here are some more examples of literary colloquial words. Pal and chum are colloquial equivalents of friend; girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age; bite and snack stand for meal; hi, hello are informal greetings, and so long a form of parting; start, go on, finish and be through are also literary colloquialisms; to have a crush on somebody is a colloquial equivalent of to be in love. A bit (of) and a lot (of) also belong to this group.

A considerable number of shortenings are found among words of this type. E. g. pram, exam, fridge, flu, prop, zip, movie.

Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put over, make up, make out, do away, turn up, turn in, etc.

Literary colloquial words are to be distinguished from familiar colloquial and low colloquial.

For example: “to pick up smb.”, “shut up”, “beat it” in meaning “go away”.

Jargon

This terminology is defined in relationship to a specific activity of profession or group.

It expresses ideas that are frequently discussed between the members of are group thought (мысль) it can be deliberately (умышленно) developed using chosen terms.

A standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage amount people of people of some definite fields. Jargon bases at area of communication. The original meaning was a twittering noise of sound

3 definitions:

1. Technical language of a particular profession, group and rate

2. Unintelligible (неразборчивый) writing or talk

3. Specific dialect result in mix of several languages

Those who study jargon may claim that it was invited simply as professional shorthand developed out of convenience (удобство).

According to Webster dictionary jargon is an informal vocabulary composed invented, arbitrarily changed word’s or extravagant figures of speech.

Jargon used (except for professions) by people involved in sports and over casual groups.

Slang

The Oxford English Dictionary defines slang as "language of a highly colloquial style, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense."

It’s represented by extremely informal words not limited to a region. It’s composed mainly of coinages (неологизмы) of words of shortened forms or some verbal novelties (новинки). They are expressive mostly ironical words which served to create fresh names for some things that are frequently used in conversation.

Slang consisted of words from jargon and Argo of a specific groups of society. Most of the slang are homonymous to standard words.

For example: “money” – “beans”, “brass”; “head” – “attic”, “brainpan”; “eyes” – “saucer”; “mouth” – “trap”; “feet” – “dogs”.

Slang contains a lot of offensive words and phrases. It’s highly idiomatic.

The origin of the “slang” is obscure (неизвестно), it first appeared in print in 1900 in speech of criminal classes in London.

Changing in social circumstances may stimulate the speed of developing “slang”. It used to depend synonyms or near synonyms, there is are slang and special slang. Using slang speakers would like to break standards, to refuse conversations, to fresh expressions, to easy social exchange.

Dialect

A dialect as "a variety of a language which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase"

Dialects is a regional forms of languages.

2 usages:

1. A variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers

2. Associated with a particular social class and may called socialect

Distinct:

• Vocabulary

• Grammar

• Pronunciation

3 groups of dialect:

Standard – supported by institutions, government, presented in dictionaries, they may be multiply standard dialects (Australian, USA, UK)

Semi-standard – dialect of micro nation (Forvik – Australian Indian England dialect)

Non-standard – it has complete vocabulary, grammar and syntactic, but doesn’t have institutional and government support.