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5. The problem of classification of the vocabulary.

Non-semantic criteria:

1. Alphabetic:

a) rhyming/verse classification (the words are organized in the alphabetic order but starting from the end of the word).

2. Frequency (for language learner’s purpose).

3. Morphological:

- acc. to the № and type of morphemes the words are composed of (root words; derivatives (root + affix); compounds; compound derivatives);

- acc. to the common root morpheme/word families (e.g. “hand” – “handy”);

- acc. to the common affix.

4. Functional (acc. to lex.-gramm. grouping, i.e. into notional and form words: NV can stand alone in speech, separate meanings; FW express gramm. relations b/w words.)

Semantic criteria:

1. Structural: mono-& polysemantic words.

2. Stylistic: formal, neutral, informal.

3. Semantic unity of words – free words, phraseological units & proverbs and sayings.

4. Lexical-semantic – w. of the same part of speech belong. to same sem. sphere (V of motion).

5. Thematic – group of w. associated together, i.e. the things the word denotes are connected in reality – semantic and extralinguistic criteria (collective names for people – the youth, etc.)

6. Ideographic – groups of w. regardless of their grammatical meanings, like in Thesaurus by Roget – all lexical units are divided into 15 classes, further subdivided into subclasses (body & senses; feelings; place & change of place; measure & time; living things; natural phenomena; behavior & will; language; human society & institutions; values & ideas; arts; occupations; sports & amusements; mind & ideas; science & technology).

6. The vocabulary as a complex adaptive system. Obsolete words. Neologisms.

A system is a set of elements associated & functioning together acc. to certain laws.

An adaptive system is one capable of self-adapting in response to changing environment.

Ways to influence the language:

  • each individual influences the language;

  • intrinsic diversity (synonymy, polysemy, various means of word-formation);

  • non-linearity and phase transition (grammaticalization: OE cunnan ‘know’ → ModE ‘can’);

  • dependence on social structure;

  • adaptation to human brain;

  • adaptation to cultural, political, social changes (political correctness, new inventions).

Obsolete words: archaisms (a new way to call the denotat appeared; >100 years): -th in 2nd person singular - grammatical; thee, morn - morning, niman - take - lexical; OE deer ‘animal’ - ModE deer ‘a kind of animal’ historisms (denotat disappeared): carriage, sword.

Neologisms (<20 years). Reasons to appear: advanced technologies (wifi), fashion, clothing, footwear (rollneck), political reasons (Brexit). Source: intralinguistic coinage (morphological derivation) - childfree, change in meaning - mouse (a device), borrowing (sushi).

7. The English word-stock from the point of view of its origin. The role of native words.

The English vocabulary contains the native element and the borrowed elements.

The native element: Indo-European, Germanic and English proper (boy, girl, lord, lady) - words which were not borrowed from other languages. The number of native words is rather small, ~25%-30%. ~70% of words - borrowed.

PIE:

  • kinship terms: father, daughter;

  • most important objects and phenomena of nature: sun, moon, stone;

  • animals and plants: goose, tree;

  • parts of the human body: ear, foot;

  • concrete physical properties and qualities: hard, quick, red, white;

  • numerals from one to hundred;

  • pronouns: I, you, he, that; most frequent verbs: bear, do, be, sit.

Germanic:

  • parts of human body: head, arm;

  • periods of time: summer, week;

  • natural phenomena: storm, ice, earth;

  • garment: hat, shirt;

  • abstract notions: care, evil, life, need;

  • notional verbs: bake, burn, learn, see;

  • colour, size, other properties: dead; deaf, grey;

  • adverbs: down, out, before.

Native words for the most part are characterized by:

1. a wide range of lexical and grammatical valency and high frequency value (e.g. the verb 'watch' - OE waeccan = can be used in diff. sentence patterns, with or without object and adv. modifiers and can be combined w/diff. classes of words);

2. a developed polysemy (watch (n) 'a small clock to be worn', 'the act of watching', 'a person or ordered to watch a place or a person', etc.);

3. a great word-building power (watch-dog, watcher, watchful, watchfulness, watch-out, watchable);

4. the capacity of forming PU (to be on the watch, to keep watch, to watch one's back).

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