ГОС_1 / Lexicology / Lecture9 / Types of word

Types of word-groups.

Words in English may be classified according to different principles:

1) Word-groups may be described according to the order & arrangement of the component members, e.g. to see a house, a cloud – is adverbial nominal group.

2) according to the criterion of distribution, word-groups are: endocentric & exocentric. The word-group which has the same linguistic distribution as one of its members is called endocentric, e.g. i saw a red flower = I saw a flower. The word-group is called exocentric if the distribution of the word-group is different from either of its members, e.g. side-by-side.

3) according to their head-word, word-group may be: nominal, adjectival, verbal, adverbial & so on, e.g. a pretty girl – nominal word-group; to work hard – verbal group.

4) according to their syntactic pattern, word-groups are: predicative & non-predicative. Predicative word-groups have Subject-predicative relations between the component members, e.g. John works.

Non-predicative word-groups are subdivided into, according to the type of semantic relations between its components:

• Subordinative (a redflower);

• Coordinative (day & night - сутки).

5) word-groups may be described according to the degree of motivation & the degree of semantic & structural cohesion of members. The degree of structural & semantic cohesion of word-groups may vary. The component members of some word-group possess great semantic & structural independence, e.g. the leg of a chair. Their cooccurence is governed by their vallency & collocability & the rules of logic. Such word-groups are clearly motivated. Word-groups of this type are defined as free or variable word-groups (переменные), e.g. a smart girl, a tall boy, etc. They are habitually studied in Syntax. Other word-groups are less variable & they are _____ semi-motivated, e.g. to take a look, to give a smile, a point of view, old chap.

Some others are functionally & semantically inseparable & actually non-motivated, e.g. red tape – бюрократия; to take the bull by the horus.

Such words are called stable word-groups or set-phrases (expressions), phraseological units. They are studied in Phraseology.