Лексикология английского языка. Учебно-методическое пособие

2

УДК 373.167.1

ББК 81.432.1 – 923.3 Т 66

Рецензенты:

Красноперова Ю.В., к.ф.н., доцент кафедры первого иностранного языка и переводоведения АмГПГУ;

Французова Н.Н., к.и.н., зав.кафедрой второго иностранного языка и китаеведения

Третьякова, М.Ф.

Т66 Лексикология английского языка: учебно -методическое пособие / М.Ф. Третьякова. – Изд-во Комсомольск-на-Амуре: АмГПГУ, 2012. – 59 с.

Пособие содержит необходимые для изучения курса лексикологии английского языка материалы: планы семинаров, определения основных понятий и терминов, практические задания по темам.

УДК 373.167.1 ББК 881.432.1 – 923.3

©Третьякова М.Ф., 2012

©Издательство АмГПГУ, 2012

3

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Настоящее учебно-методическое пособие предназначено для студен-

тов лингвистических университетов и факультетов иностранных языков,

обучающихся по направлению 620100 «Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация» по специальностям 031202 «Перевод и переводоведение»,

050303 «Иностранный язык» (первый) с дополнительной специальностью

«Иностранный язык» (второй), 050708 «Педагогика и методика начального образования» с дополнительной специальностью «Иностранный язык».

Пособие содержит необходимые для изучения курса лексикологии англий-

ского языка материалы: планы семинаров, определения основных понятий и терминов, практические задания по темам. Пособие может быть исполь-

зовано для аудиторной, самостоятельной и факультативной работы.

4

CONTENTS

Lexicology and its Object of Investigation…………………………………… 5

Etymological Analysis of the English Vocabulary…………………………….10

Nomination and Morphological Structure of English Words. Word-Formation………………………………………………………………..15 Other Ways of Word-Formation in the English Language…………………….20

Semasiology as the Study of Meaning…………………………………………25 Paradigmatic Relations in the English Vocabulary…………………………….33

Syntagmatic relations in the English Vocabulary.

Phraseology…………………………………………………………………….41

Lexicography…………………………………………………………………..45

Lexical Peculiarities of American English……………………………………..52

Test Yourself…………………………………………………………………...54

Examination Questions…………………………………………………………57

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………58

5

LEXICOLOGY AND ITS OBJECT OF INVESTIGATION

Points for Discussion:

1.Lexicology as a science, its aims, significance. Branches of lexicology.

2.Approaches of lexicology.

3.Connection of lexicology with other branches of linguistics.

4.Language as a dynamic system (neologisms, occasional words, archaisms, historicism, politically corrected vocabulary).

5.Word-stock, its essence and structure.

6.A word as a basic language unit, its features and properties.

7.Asymmetrical duality of the linguistic sign.

8.Linguistic sign arbitrariness vs. motivation, iconicity. Types of motivation.

9.The word and other language units: the phoneme, the morpheme, the sentence.

Literature:

1.Современный английский язык (слово и предложение) / отв. ред. Л.М.

Ковалева. – Иркутск, 1997. – C. 6-21.

2.Кульгавова Л.В. Учебно-практические материалы по дисциплине «Лек-

сикология английского языка. – Иркутск: ИГЛУ, 2005. – 587 с.

3.Arnold I.V. The English Word. – M.: Высш. шк., 1986 – P. 33-36, 216-221.

4.Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modem English Lexicology. M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.38-41, 238-248.

5.The Oxford Dictionary of New Words /Ed. by E. Knowles and J. Elliott. – Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. – 357 p.

Basic terminology:

Lexicology (“Lexis” – “word”, “logos” – learning) is a branch of linguistics

which studies the vocabulary of the language.

6

Vocabulary is – 1. the stock of words used by or known to a particular person

or group of persons, e.g. His French vocabulary is rather limited.

2.a list or collection of words and phrases, usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined, e.g. Study the vocabulary in the fourth chapter.

3.the total number of words that make up a language, e.g. The English vocabulary.

Neologisms are new lexical units which are introduced into a language to denote new objects or phenomena, e.g.:

ecotourism, n – tourism to places having unspoiled natural resources; home shopping, n – the purchase of goods from home, especially goods offered on cable television;

Occasional word is a lexical unit which is created by the speaker on the spur of the moment, for a given occasion only, and may be considered as “potentially” existing in the English vocabulary, e.g.:

A codel is arriving in the hours. A codel? That is diplomatese for a con- gressional delegation (S. Sheldon).

Archaism is a word that was once common but is now replaced by a synonym or synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but they mostly belong to the poetic style, e.g.: betwixt, prep (between), damsel, n (noble girl), steed, n

(horse), morn, n (morning), woe, n (sorrow).

Historicism is a word which denotes a thing that is no longer used. Historicisms are very numerous as names for social relations, institutions, objects of material culture of the past (for example such transport means as brougham, berlin, gig, hansom, phaeton).

Politically corrected vocabulary is the vocabulary reflecting the social tendency to advocating the equality of all regardless of their race, gender, age, physical and mental condition. For example, concern about eliminating discriminatory attitudes towards women in various professions led to many attempts to degend-

7

er, i.e. to remove reference to gender in the names of professions. Thus, cameraman is substituted by camera operator, fireman by firefighter, policeman by police officer or policeperson.

Arbitrariness of the linguistic sign is the fundamental property of the linguistic sign. It is the absence of a natural connection between the signifier (form) and the signified (meaning).

Asymmetric duality of the linguistic sign is the ability of the signifier to be associated with more than one signified, and the ability of the signified to be associated with more than one signifier. For instance, the meaning “доллар” may be expressed by several names such as dollar, buck, fish, dough, etc. On the other hand, one of these names – for example, fish – can be associated with different meanings: “an animal which lives in water, is covered in scales, and uses its fins and tail to swim”; “the flesh of a fish when used as food”; “a person of the stated kind (used especially in the phrases a cold/ odd/ queer fish)”.

Motivation (iconicity) of the linguistic sign is the connection between the signifier and the signified.

Phonetic motivation is a direct connection between the phonetic structure of the word and its meaning, e.g. bang, cuckoo, giggle, hiss, whistle, etc.

Morphological motivation is a direct connection between the morphological structure of the word and its meaning. For example, in the pair friend – unfriendly, the morphologically motivated word is unfriendly. Its morphological structure suggests the following: the prefix un- gives a negative meaning to the stem; the suffix -ly shows the part of speech (adjective).

Semantic motivation is a connection between the direct meaning and the figurative meaning of the word. For instance, neck denotes “the part of the body by which the head is joined to the shoulders”. At the same time it can metaphorically apply to a narrow part that sticks out from a broader part, as in the neck of a

9

5. Pick out from the following words a) completely morphologically motivated, b) partially morphologically motivated, c) non-motivated words.

Go, rewrite, mermaid, eatable, repeat, endless, to orbit, boyishness, snowfall, duck, nonsense, matter, rebuild, driver, ex-president, to radio, disappoint, cranberry, Sunday, overgrow, red, story-teller, a run, disagree, snowball, strawberry, underestimate.

6. Pick out the words both morphologically and semantically motivated.

To purr, to read, heart-breaking, blackboard, time-server, three-decker, eyewash, precondition, mouth (of a cave), root (of a word), nightingale, to side-track.

7. Find in the given contexts the following phenomena: a) neologism; b) occasional words; c) politically corrected vocabulary; d) borrowing; e) changes or fluctuations in spelling.

1.There were three devotchkas sitting at the counter all together, but there were four of us malchicks and it was usually like one for all and all for one (A. Burgess).

2.Don’t call him short, he’s vertically-challenged (Internet).

3.The idea of the karaoke bar is very simple. You get roaring drunk, chat up the bar girls and sing maudlin popular songs, dreadfully out of tune (Daily Telegraph).

4.Chat forums are where people meet up “on-line” (Cosmopolitan).

5.There once lived a young wommon named Cinderella, whose natural birthmother died when Cinderella was but a child (J.F. Gardner).

6.And I started to itty out this mesto of bezoomny old men (A. Burgess).

7.Vote 4 John Smith (Advertisement).

8.On the shoulders of his rubashka could be seen the marks left by epaulettes (P.P. Read).

9.Helen gave Jack one of her look-learn-and-take-note looks (E. James).

10

10. Metz is a practitioner of feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of designing

homes and workplaces in harmony with the forces of nature (New Age).

8. Match the traditionally used words and their politically correct equivalents:

ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Points for Discussion:

1.Language as a historical phenomenon. The diachronic and synchronic approaches to the study of the vocabulary.

2.The native word-stock and its role in Modern English. Words of general In- do-European, Common Germanic and unknown origin.

3.Borrowing as one of the main sources of replenishing the English vocabulary. Causes and ways of borrowing.