Лексикология английского языка. Учебно-методическое пособие

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SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS IN THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

PHRASEOLOGY

Points for Discussion:

1.Lexical syntagmatics (general description).

2.Semantic word relationships. Free word combinations.

3.The problem of the term “phraseological units”, their essential features.

4.Features, enhancing unity and stability of phraseological units.

5.The problem of classification of phraseological units.

Literature:

1.Antrushina G.B., Afanasyeva O.V., Morozova N.N. English Lexicology. –

М.: Дрофа, 2000. – P. 225-241, 242-258.

2.Современный английский язык (слово и предложение) / Отв. ред.

Л.М. Ковалева. – Иркутск, 1997. – C. 226-231.

3.Кульгавова Л.В. Учебно-практические материалы по дисциплине

«Лексикология английского языка. – Иркутск: ИГЛУ, 2005. – 587 с.

4.Амосова Н.Н. Основы английской фразеологии. Л., 1996.

5.Кунин А.В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка. – М.:

Высш. шк.; Дубна: Изд. центр «Феникс», 1996 – 381 с.

Basic terminology:

Distribution is the range of positions in which a linguistic unit can occur.

Free word combinations are completely motivated combinations of words used in their direct, primary, literal meaning so that the meaning of the whole word combination is a sum total of the meanings of all components, e.g. a week ago

(seven days ago). They are not language units; they are built in speech in the process of communication on typical patterns according to the rules of lexical and grammatical valency or combinability.

Phraseological unit is a stable group of words with a completely or partially transferred meaning. Phraseological units cannot be freely made up in speech

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but they are reproduced as ready-made units; they are absolutely nonproductive. The meaning of the whole phraseological unit cannot be deduced from the meanings of its components. Examples: by hook or by crook, to have

green fingers.

Set non-phraseological units stand midway between free word combinations and phraseological units. They are set because they are not made up in speech but are used as ready-made objects. They are non-phraseological because the meaning of the whole can be inferred from the meanings of its components. They are transitional, semi-productive. Examples: soft landing, good luck, to

commit suicide.

Fusions are completely non-motivated, totally idiomatic units; their meaning is not understood from the meanings of the components, e. g. to kick the bucket. Unities are partially motivated phraseological units, the meaning of which can be perceived through the transferred meaning of the whole, e.g. to carry coal to

Newcastle, a lame duck, to wash one’s dirty linen in public.

Collocations are motivated but traditionally stable word combinations; one of its components is usually used in its direct meaning, the other is used in a figurative meaning, e.g. to take a fancy, to shrug one’s shoulders.

Nominative phraseological units correlate with words thus naming an object, an action, etc. They can be substituted by one word, e.g. to kick the bucket = to die.

Communicative phraseological units have the structure of a sentence (proverbs, sayings), e.g. The fat is in the fire; Can the leopard change its spots? Nominative-communicative phraseological units – have the following grammatical structure: a transitive verb + direct object. They are easily transformed into a sentence with a passive construction, e.g. To cross the Rubicon (the Rubicon is crossed).

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Interjectional phraseological units are neither nominative nor communicative; they are signals of emotions, e.g. My Lord! Oh, God!

Phrasemes are binary units with one component having a phraseologically bound meaning and the other serving as determining context, e.g. small (bound meaning) talk (determines context).

2. Examine the contexts and identify the types of the word-combinations: a) a free word-combination; b) a phraseological unit; c) a set non-phraseological unit.

1.Would a small child know that?

2.Only somebody with a small mind would have refused to help.

3.It’s such a small world!

4.Someone else decided that he ought to fall in love.

5.The sea was as flat as a pancake and the sun was heavy and hot…

6.Happy New Year!

7.We tiptoed to the door, turned off the room light, and went downstairs.

8.You know why you’re here, of course, so we needn’t beat about the bush.

9.His attitude towards his prodigal son was that of stern, unrelenting resentment.

10.“This is a pretty kettle of fish,” he said.

11.You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and you hang a leg!

wash one's dirty linen in public

4. Pick out the following phraseological units: a) nominative, b) communicative, c) nominative-communicative, d) interjectional.

red tape, all and sundry, cross the Rubicon, kill two birds with one stone, well and good, You can't have your cake and eat it, Jack of all trades, throw light

a) metaphor, b) metonymy, c) hyperbole, d) simile.

a bull in a china shop, like a fish out of water, for ages, a hard nut to crack, as mad as a hatter; Tom, Dick and Harry; make a mountain out of a molehill, go

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1.Кульгавова Л.В. Учебно-практические материалы по дисциплине

«Лексикология английского языка. – Иркутск: ИГЛУ, 2005. – 587 с.

2.Antrushina G.B., Afanasyeva O.V., Morozova N.N. English Lexicology. –

М.: Дрофа, 2000. – P. 225-241, 242-258.

3.Современный английский язык (слово и предложение) / отв. ред.

Л.М. Ковалева. – Иркутск, 1997. – C. 372-378.

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.256-268.

5.Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. – 489 p.

Basic terminology:

Lexicography is the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries.

Dictionary is a book that gives a list of words in alphabetical order, with their meanings in the same or other language.

Encyclopaedia (encyclopedia) is a book or set of books giving information about every branch of knowledge, or about one particular subject, with articles in alphabetical order, e.g. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Reference book is a book (an encyclopedia or a dictionary), which is consulted for information, not read right through.

Glossary is a) a list at the back of a book of difficult and unusual words and expressions (with explanations of their meanings) used in the text, e.g. glossary to the book “The Lay of Igor’s Warfare” (“Слово о полку Игореве”); b) a list or dictionary of special terms found in a particular field of study or area of usage, with accompanying definitions, e.g. Glossary of Business Terms.

Thesaurus is a) a book of words (synonyms, antonyms, associated and related words) that are put in groups together according to connections between their meanings and common topic (rather than in alphabetical order), i.e. an ideo-

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graphic dictionary. A thesaurus is different from an ordinary dictionary: whereas a dictionary aims at explaining the meaning of words and expressions, a thesaurus suggests a range of words and phrases associated with an idea. For example, an excerpt from Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases shows under “Amusement” words such as: fun, frolic, merriment, whoopee, jollity, joviality, laughter; b) a comprehensive dictionary containing all the words of a language, e.g. The Oxford English Dictionary; a comprehensive encyclopaedia, e.g. The Encyclopaedia Americana.

Concordance is an alphabetical index of the words in a book or in the works of an author with their contexts, e.g. The Concordance of the Bible.

Explanatory dictionary is a dictionary in which the entry usually presents the following data: spelling and pronunciation, grammatical characteristics, meaning, illustrative examples, derivatives, phraseology, etymology, synonyms and antonyms, e.g. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

Translation (bilingual) dictionary is a word-book containing vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in another language, e.g. English-Russian Dictionary of Synonyms (ed. by A.I. Rosenman, Yu.D. Apresyan).

Monolingual (unilingual) dictionary is a dictionary in which information is given in the same language, e.g. Webster’s New Encyclopedic Dictionary.

Polyglot (multilingual) dictionary is a dictionary in which information is given in several languages (more than two), e.g. ABBYY Lingvo 10 многоязычный электронный словарь: Allsoft.ru.

Pronouncing dictionary is a dictionary recording contemporary pronunciation, e.g. Jones D. Everyman’s English Pronouncing Dictionary.

Dictionary of (perfect) spelling is a word-book recording contemporary spelling, e.g. Maxwell C. The Pergamon Oxford Dictionary of Perfect Spelling.

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Dictionary of new words is a dictionary of new words, phrases, meanings and abbreviations which come into the vocabulary of a language, e.g. Ayto J. The Longman Register of New Words.

Phraseological dictionary is a dictionary describing idioms and colloquial phrases, sayings and proverbs, e.g. Simpson J. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs.

Etymological dictionary is a dictionary which traces present-day words to the oldest forms of these words and in case of borrowings points out the source of borrowing, e.g. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins(ed. by T.F. Hoad

Reverse (rhyming, back-to-front) dictionary is a list of words in which headwords are arranged in alphabetical order starting with their final letters, e.g.

Walker’s Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language.

Practical Assignment

1. This task is devoted to the historical development of British and American lexicography. Circle the right answer.

1.The father of British lexicography was: a) Samuel Johnson

b) Charles Dickens c) Nathaniel Bailey

2.The father of American lexicography was: a) Samuel Johnson

b) Noah Webster

c) Ernest Hemingway

3.Regular bilingual (e.g. English – Latin) dictionaries began to appear in: a) the 15th century

b) the 16th century c) the 17th century

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4.The first English monolingual dictionary explaining difficult words was compiled for schoolchildren by:

a) Robert Cawdrey b) George Canon c) John Walker

5.The author of the first English dictionary that included pronunciation and etymology was:

a) Benjamin Franklin b) Nathaniel Bailey c) John Bullokar

6.The famous explanatory dictionary of the English language compiled by Samuel Johnson was published in:

a) the 16th century b) the 17th century c) the 18th century

7.The famous American English dictionary by Noah Webster was published in: a) 1808

b) 1818 c) 1828

2.This task is dedicated to the fundamental dictionary of the English language –

“The Oxford English Dictionary”. Brush up your knowledge of it.

Set I. Which answer is correct?

1. The question of compiling this dictionary including all the words existing in the English language was raised by one of the members of the English Philological Society:

a)Richard Trench

b)William Makepeace Thackeray

c)Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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2.The question of making this dictionary was raised in: a) 1827

b) 1857 c) 1875

3.The first volume of the dictionary was published in: a) 1848

b) 1868 c) 1884

4.The last volume of the dictionary was published in: a) 1898

b) 1928 c) 1941

5.OED includes:

a)about 150,000 entries

b)about 250,000 entries

c)about 450,000 entries

6. The meanings in the entries of OED are arranged:

a)historically (chronologically)

b)logically

c)according to their frequency Set II. True or false?

1. Besides the official name – “The Oxford English Dictionary”, it has some other names.

2.OED is a synchronic dictionary.

3.The purpose of OED is to trace the development of English words from their forms in Old English.

4.The entries of OED fix the date of the appearance of every word and even meaning.