4. The function of lexical units. Naming processes: causes, ways, types and results.

Theory that discusses problems of the constituents of the lexicon-theory of naming, or nomination, or verbalization-giving a name to a class of objects, properties, processes, events, etc. The ever changing world, whose economic, social, political, scientific, etc. aspects are in state of permanent change-necessity, a permanent cause for processes of naming.

Not only world changes, knowledge of world, nature of things, of their interrelations changes, and this change in cognitive, conceptual, world predetermines need of names to register new ideas of environment and its properties.

4 types of causes that predetermine the fact that naming-present and regular process of a language:1)social(objective);2)cognitive;3)psychological(emotional);4)linguistic.

Ways:1)Imitation, known also as Onomatopoeia-in order to give a name to an object or event, or property-the speaker who feels need for a name imitates some property, which is connected with sound, thus creating units like: to whisper, roar, murmur. The results-serious linguistic problem-arbitrariness, or conventionality of a name, or the form of a lexical unit: the animal world-examples:

Crows caw - карр - карр- кают

People sneeze and чихают producing atishoo in English, апчхи in Russian.

2)Semantic derivation, or Transfer of things which seem to have no likeness are given the same name. E.g. eye is a name for an organ of sight, and eyes of a potato, eye of a needle. Though first it appeared as the name of a human organ later on the name was transferred to other objects and other spheres.

3)Word derivation, i.e. creation of novel names on the basis of names already existent in the word stock, a most vivid example being word composition. E.g. a room – a living room, a bedroom, a sitting-room, a bathroom, a guest-room to express various functions of rooms.

Milk-milkman, milkmaid, milk-shake, to milk and many more.

Here we face the same problem of arbitrariness:

a living-room-гостиная,

a bed-room-спальня.

Creation of various types of derived names and even terminological expressions is the result of combining names in order to give rent to a new name, complex in nature.

4)Borrowing. No lang. is free of borrowings which might come in different ways, directly or indirectly and in different shapes: in the form of lexical items, shaped according to the phonetic, grammatic norms of the language (assimilation of borrowings), or in the form of translation (vodka in E. Vodkas, malchiks, etc.), loans (no-good-nicks).

Semantic derivation and word composition are the most productive in established languages.

Analyzing units used for naming, 3 types of verbalization:

1. lexical - naming is fulfilled with the help of lexical items, words in particular.

2. propositional - when speakers try to name a situation they might use a word-combination or a sentence to name it. «Don’t trouble trouble until trouble troubles you.»

3. discourse - when a text serves as a name for some usual complex situation, or a series of situations.

Lexical verbalization-the major source for the lexicon thought to discard names created in the form of propositions or discourse units.

The range of primary and secondary naming in the naming process leads to differentiation between primary and secondary types of verbalization or naming processes, direct or indirect types of verbalization.