- •1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics, its aims and significance. Links with other branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study.
- •2. Words of native origin and their distinctive features.
- •3. The borrowed element in the English vocabulary. The distinction between the terms origin of borrowing and source of borrowing. Translation loans. Semantic loans.
- •4. Types of borrowed elements in the English vocabulary. Etymological doublets, hybrids, international words, and folk etymology.
- •5. Assimilation of borrowings. Types and degrees of assimilation.
- •6. Latin borrowings. Features of Latin borrowings. Periods of borrowings from Latin.
- •7. Celtic elements (5-6 c. Ad) in the English vocabulary.
- •8. Scandinavian loan-words(8-11 c.Ad) in Modern English.
- •9. French elements in the English vocabulary. Features of French borrowings. Periods of borrowings from French.
- •10. Greek borrowings. Features of Greek borrowings.
- •11. The morphemic structure of English words. Typology of morphemes. Structural and semantic classifications of morphemes.
- •Inflections
- •12. The derivative structure of English words. The distinction between morphological stem and derivational base. Morphemic analysis vs derivational analysis.
- •23. The nature and causes of semantic change. Types of semantic change.
- •24. Transference of meaning.
- •25. Traditional lexicological groupings of words: thematic and ideographic groups, lexicosemantic groups, semantic fields.
- •26. Dynamics of the English vocabulary. Neologisms: their sources and formation.
- •Idiomatic Neologisms
- •27. Polysemy. Semantic structure of English words. Diachronic and synchronic approaches to polysemy. Types of polysemy.
- •28. Homonyms. Classifications and sources of homonyms.
- •29. Syntagmatic vs paradigmatic relations among English words.
- •In psycholinguistics these terms are used in a different sense.
- •30. Synonyms. The notion of a synonymic dominant. Types of synonyms. Sources of synonymy.
- •31. Antonyms. Definition. Morphological and semantic classifications of antonyms.
- •32. Grammatical and lexical valency. Grammatical and lexical context.
- •33. Lexical syntagmatics. Free word-groups vs phraseological units.
- •34. Free word-groups. Definition. Classifications.
- •35. Phraseological units: a variety of terms and the problem of definition. Characteristic features of phraseological units.
- •36. Approaches to the classifications of phraseological units in modern linguistics.
- •37. Polysemy, synonymy and stylistic features of phraseological units.
- •38. Origins and sources of phraseological units.
- •39. Dialectology as a branch of linguistics, its aim and basic notions. A dialect vs a variant.
- •40. Standard English: characteristic features and the problem of definition.
- •41. Local dialects in the British Isles. Scottish English. Irish English.
- •Variants
- •42. Characteristic features of the American English lexicon.
- •43. Lexicography as a branch of linguistics, its aim, basic notions and main problems.
- •44. Typology of dictionaries.
- •45. Important milestones in the history of British and American lexicography.
5. Assimilation of borrowings. Types and degrees of assimilation.
The term assimilation of a loan word is used to denote a partial or total conformation to the phonetical, graphical, and morphological standards of the receiving language and its semantic system.
The term type of assimilation refers to the changes an adopted word may undergo:
phonetic assimilation;
graphical assimilation;
grammatical assimilation;
semantic assimilation.
The degree of assimilation depends upon the period of time during which the word has been used in the receiving language, its communicative importance and frequency:
Completely assimilated loan-words are found at all the layers of older borrowings: cheese, street, wall, wine; gate, wing, die, take, happy, ill, low, odd, wrong.
Partially assimilated loan-words:
not assimilated semantically: sheik, sherbet;
not assimilated grammatically: crisis – crises, formula – formulae;
not assimilated phonetically: the final syllable is stressed (machine, cartoon, police); /ʒ/ - beige, prestige, regime; /wα:/ – memoir;
not assimilated graphically: last consonant is not pronounced (ballet, buffet, debut); a diacritic mark (café, cliché); have specific diagraphs (bouquet, brioche).
Non-assimilated (Barbarisms) are words not assimilated in any way and for which there are corresponding English equivalents: It. addio, ciao; Fr. tête-à-tête.
6. Latin borrowings. Features of Latin borrowings. Periods of borrowings from Latin.
Periodisation:
-Early Latin loans, e.g. cup, kettle, dish, plum, butter, wall etc.;
-Later Latin loans (Christianity), e.g. lily, pearl, palm, choir, library, fiddle, peach, marble etc.;
-Latin loans in Middle English (the Norman conquest+the Renaissance), e.g. animal, legal, simile, gesture, spacious, interest etc.;
-The latest Latin influence, e.g. cf., i.e., ib., viz., etc.
Features of Latin loans:
-polysyllabic words with prefixes: commission, induction, accelerate;
-prefixes with final consonants: ad-, ab-, com-, dis-, ex-, in-, ob-: admix, abnormal, compare, disclose, inattention;
-reduplicated consonants: abbreviation, occasion, illumination, immobility, difference, opportunity, resurrection, assimilation;
-suffixes –ate, -ute in verbs: locate, irritate, abbreviate, execute;
-suffixes –ant, -ent, -ior in adjectives: reluctant, evident, superior;
-Latin plural endings are preserved: memorandum – memoranda; datum – data; formula – formulae, formulas; focus – focuses or foci.
7. Celtic elements (5-6 c. Ad) in the English vocabulary.
-place-names: Kent ‘coastal district’ or ‘land of the hosts or armies’, London ‘hill surrounded with water’, Carlisle (caer ‘fortified place’), Dover ‘water’, York ‘Yew-Tree Estate’ (тисове дерево) etc.;
-river-names: Thames ‘the dark one’, Avon ‘river’ etc.;
-elements: -comb ‘deep valley’ as in Batcombe, -torr ‘high rock’ as in Torcross, -llan ‘church’ as in Llandaff;
-hybrids:
Celtic + Latin: Manchester, Glouchester, Lancaster etc.;
Celtic + Germanic: Yorkshire, Canterbury ‘the fortified town of Kentish people’, Salisbury, Cornwall ‘peninsula people’, in O.E. the name Wealhas (Mod.E. Wales, Welsh) was a common noun meaning ‘strangers’ given by the newcomers to the unfamiliar Celtic tribes.
-common nouns survived in regional dialects:
bard (Gael.& Ir.) ‘poet, minstrel’, loch (Gael.& Ir.) ‘lake’, plaid (Gael.) ‘blanket’, corgi (Welsh cor ‘dwarf’ + gi/ci ‘dog’), whiskey ‘water of life’, dunn ‘grey’, cross;
-via Romanic languages:
car < Norm.Fr. carre < L. carrum, carrus, orig. ‘two-wheeled Celtic war chariot’ < Gaulish *karros;