11. Etymological Doublets

ETYMOLOGICAL DOUBLETS

Sometimes a word is borrowed twice from the same language. As the result, we have two different words with different spellings and meanings but historically they come back to one and the same word. Such words are called etymological doublets. In English there are some groups of them:

Latino-French doublets.

Latin English from Latin English from French

uncia inch ounce

moneta mint money

camera camera chamber

Franco-French doublets

doublets borrowed from different dialects of French.

Norman Paris

canal channel

captain chieftain

catch chaise

Scandinavian-English doublets

Scandinavian English

skirt shirt

scabby shabby

There are also etymological doublets which were borrowed from the same language during different historical periods, such as French doublets: gentil - любезный, благородный, etymological doublets are: gentle - мягкий, вежливый and genteel - благородный. From the French word gallant etymological doublets are : ‘gallant - храбрый and ga’llant - галантный, внимательный.

Sometimes etymological doublets are the result of borrowing different grammatical forms of the same word, e.g. the Comparative degree of Latin «super» was «superior» which was borrowed into English with the meaning «high in some quality or rank». The Superlative degree (Latin «supremus»)in English «supreme» with the meaning «outstanding», «prominent». So «superior» and «supreme» are etymological doublets.

ey may enter the vocabulary b Etymological triplets (i. e. groups of three words of common root) occur rarer, but here are at least two examples: hospital (Lat.) — hostel (Norm. Fr.) — hotel (Par. Fr.), to capture (Lat.) — to catch (Norm. Fr.) — to chase (Par. Fr.).A doublet may also consist of a shortened word and the one from which it was derived (see Ch. 6 for a description of shortening as a type of word-building): history — story, fantasy — fancy, fanatic — fan, defence — fence, courtesy — curtsy, shadow — shade.

12. Word meaning and motivation. There are 3 types of motivation: 1. Morphological motivation – it means the relationship between morphemic structure and meaning: to sing – tell – eat = nonmoticated, consists only of rude morphemes. If we add suffixes or prefix: singer- retell – eatable, the word has become motivated. The degree of this motivation can be different. It can complete lack of motivation or fully motivated: friendship, endless, beautiful. Both the lexical meaning of the component morphemes and the pattern are perfectly transparent: friend, help, end; -ship, -less, -less. Partial motivation can be seen in the words: cranberry and hamlet (village). The words cran, ham – have nothing to do with a word meaning. 2. Phonetical motivation. It’s a direct connection between the phonetical structure of the word and its meaning. F.e. experiments – were carried out the result and which showed that back-open vowels are suggested of big size, heavy weight, dark color. The pair of words: ching-chang which don’t exist in the language for foreigners meant light or small – ching and chang meant heavy, large. Another type of phonetic motivation is represented by such words as: swish, boom, splash are direct imitation of the sounds these words denote. These words can be onomatopoeic words (подражание). Initial [f ]and [p] are felt as expressing scorn, contempt, disapproval of disgust: foof! Flim! Flam! Fie! The sond claster [in] is imitative of a sound of swift movement: sing-swing-pling. 3. Semantic motivation denotes the relationship between the central and the coexisting moving of meanings of word which are understood as a metaphorical extension of the central meaning. F.e. mother – a woman who has given birth. By extension of the word meaning it may mean any act that gives birth: necessity is a mother of invention, she became a mother to her often nephew.

13. Semasiology (semantics) (Gr. “Sema” = “sign”, “Semantikos” = “significant”, “Logos” = “learning”) is a brunch of linguistics which deals with the meaning of words and word equivalents.5 впр Word is made up of many components and they are usually described as types of meaning. Among the word’s various characteristics, meaning is certainly the most important.

Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system. This type of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word. The lexical meaning of every word depends upon the part of speech to which the word belongs. (ex: drive – drives – drove – driven possess different grammatical meaning of tense, person, etc. but each form has the same semantical component denoting the process of movement).

Grammatical meaning is an expression in speech of relationships between words based on contrasting features of arrangement in which they occur. The grammatical meaning is more abstract and more generalized than the lexical one. It unites words into big groups such as parts of speech or lexico-grammatical classes. Such word form as ‘girls’, ‘tables’ denote completely different objects but have the common element, the grammatical meaning of plurality.

Lexico - grammatical meaning is the common denominator of all the meanings of words belonging to a lexico – grammatical class of words, it is the feature according to which they are grouped together.

Words in which abstraction and generalization are so great that they can be lexical representatives of lexico - grammatical meaning and substitute any word of their class are called generic terms.

The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to serve as linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object. The denotative meaning may be significative, if the referent is a concept, or demonstrative, if it is an individual object. The term referent or denotatum (pl. denotata) is used in both cases. Language users can’t have any knowledge of the real word unless this knowledge is expressed by words which have the same meaning for all speakers of a given language. This type of meaning is a component of lexical meaning and makes communication possible.

Connotative meaning is the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. Word possesses an element of emotive evaluation. When analyzing synonyms “love” and “like” we observe the difference in the emotive charge of the items of the set. This doesn’t depend on the feeling of the single speaker, but is true for all speakers of the language. Unlike the denotative meaning, connotations are optional.

15Meaning and polisemy. Words as a rule – are units of a signal meaning. Monoscentic words are few in number. They are mainly scientific terms. The bulk of English words are polisemantic. In polisemantic words we aren’t faces with the problem of analyzing individual meanings but with the problem of interrelation and interdependence of various meanings in the semantic structure of one and the same word. F.e. table – 1. A piece of furniture 2. A person sitting at the table 3. The food servant 4. A thin flat piece of stone, metal or wood.

Diachronically we view the growth and development of the change in the semantic structure of the word. The primary meaning is O.E. was 4, from Latin – tabula. All other meanings were secondary, they were derived from the primary meaning : slabs of stone, words cut into them or written on them, an orderly arrangement of facts or figures. The secondary meaning is always subordinate to the primary meaning.

Semantic changes result as a rule in new meanings being added to the ones, already existing in the semantic structure of the word. Some of these meanings can become obsolete or disappear. But most English words tend to increase of the number of meanings.

Synchronically, policemy is viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language. Synchronically the basic – the certain meaning is a piece of furniture. It occurs in various and widely different contexts. The minor meanings are only observed in certain contexts. F.e. – to keep the table amused (гости). Table of contents (содержание). The semantic structure of the words is never static. The relationships between the diacronic and syncronic development of individual meaning may be different at different periods of the historical development of the language. F.e. revolution (in the 14^th century – 15^th) denoted the revolting motion of celestial bodies. In modern English it means a complete overthrow of the established government or regime. Polysemy.

Synchronically, policemy is viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language. Synchronically the basic – the certain meaning is a piece of furniture. It occurs in various and widely different contexts. The minor meanings are only observed in certain contexts. F.e. – to keep the table amused (гости). Table of contents (содержание). The semantic structure of the words is never static. The relationships between the diacronic and syncronic development of individual meaning may be different at different periods of the historical development of the language. F.e. revolution (in the 14^th century – 15^th) denoted the revolting motion of celestial bodies. In modern English it means a complete overthrow of the established government or regime

Polisemy and context. Contest is the minimal stretch of speech determing each individual meaning of the word. The meaning of polisemantic words may be viewed as determined either by linguistic or verbal context or estra-linguistic or non-verbal context. There are 2 types of linguistic context: 1. In lexical context groups of lexical items are combined with polisemantic word under consideration. F.e. heavy – 1. Great weight, heavy-load 2. Striking with force – heavy snow, rain, wind. These meanings determined by lexical context are referred to as bound meanings. Some linguists assert that word meaning can be realized through collocability (lexical vallency): heavy father – важная персона в театре, red tape – бюрократ, а не красная лента. – idioms, set phrases. 2. Grammatical context means grammatical structure that serves into determine various individual meanings of the polisemantic words: to make smb – do sth, but to force smb – to do sth. To make a good wife (husband, teacher).

Such meanings are structurally bound. In modern linguistic we use the term “pattern” to denote grammatical context and a number of symbols used in these patterns (grammatical valiancy).

Another type of context is extra linguistic. It is a situational context. If I say: will you give me a ring tonight. Oh, I’ve got it. Idiomatical expressions manifest their meanings only in their situation of context.

16 Causes, nature, results of semantic change. The modern approach to semantics is based on an assumption that the ino-form of the words presents a structure which is termed denotative(обозначающий) structure (denotational component) – to glare – to look – to glance. Causes: 1. Linguistic (different rules, regulations - system of a language itself), 2. Extralinguistic (economical, social, historical changes). Words develop new meanings synchronically (as a certain stage) and diachronically (during a process of its development). Speaking about the results of semantic change, there are 2 types: 1.Refers to the changes in the denotational components. А. The restriction of the types of range of reference denoted by the types of range of reference denoted by the word. F.E. hound. The word in old English “hund” – a dog of any breed. Now it denotes – a dog, used in the chase. In the word comes to be used in the specialized voc of some limited group within the speech community, we speak about specialization of meaning or narrowing. F.e. in old English the word to glide – to move gently and smoothly. Now it means to fly with an engine. Б. Extantional meaning. It means that the word may be applied to a wider variety of reference (target – originally meant a small round shield, now it means anything that is aimed at; figuratively – any result aimed at). In the word with extended meaning passes from specialized voc into common use we speak about generalization of meaning (от частного к общему) (camp – originally was used only as a military term and meant the place where troops and lodged intents; now it means city, temporary quarters of travelers, students, college). 2. Changes in the connotational component can also be subdivides into 2 groups: А. Degradation of meaning. Boor – originally used to denote a village, peasant due, now it means a clumsy, ill-bread person. Б. Elevation of meaning. Minister – originally – a servant attendant, now it means a civil servant of high rank, a person administrating a department of state.

Connotational (смысловой) component of the word is a motive or evaluative (оценочный) (emotive it can also be a cause) . The denotational component makes communication possible, the connotational component comprises (вкл) the stylistic reference and emotive charge.

17 Word structure. Words are made up of smaller units each possessing sound from and meaning – morphemes. Identification of morphemes is different in different words: please, pleasure, pleasant – the root morpheme - please, but they sound differently. Allomorphs or morpheme variance. As far as a morpheme structure of the word is concerned, all words fall into 2 classes: 1. Sygmantable (allowing segmentation into morphemes) agreement, information, fearless, quickly, doorhandle. 2. Nonsygmntable – house, girlsm woman, husband. There are 3 types of morphemic sygmantability: 1. Complete is characterized by a typical, great many words. The morphemic structure of each is transparent enough and the individual morphemes clearly stand out within the words: agreement, information, kindness. 2. Conditional is characteristic of words whose sygmantation into the constituent morphemes is doubtful for semantic reasons: retain, detain – the sound clusters - -re, -de are singled out easily due to the recurrence in a number of words. They have nothing in common with a phonetically identifically morphemes: reorganize, rewrite, dearrange. Conditional morpheme. 3. Defective – the property of words whose component members seldom or never recur in other words: streamlet, ringlet, tingled. The denotational meaning of let – diminutiveness. But the same morpheme hamlet – ham – has nothing to do with – is defective morpheme. F.e. strawberry, cranberry, gooseberry, goose, straw – unique morphemes.

Classification of morphemes from the semantic and structural point of view. From the semantic point of view the fall into 2 large classes: 1. rout morphemes is the lexical nucleus of the word. It has an individual meaning shared by the other morpheme of the language. It is isolated as the morpheme common to a set of words, naking up a word claster. F.e. teach-teacher-teaching. 2. non-route (affixational – include inflexional (окончания) and affixational morphemes.Inflexions carry only grammatical meaning and are thus revelant only for the formation of word forms. Affixes or affixational morphemes are relevant for building various types of stems (основы). The part of a word that remains unchanged throughout its paradigm. Affixes are classified into prefixes which proceed the route morpheme and suffixes that follow it. Affixes besides the meaning proper of route morpheme possess the part of speech meaning and a generalized lexical meaning. F.e. friendship (besides the meaning proper of “friend”, “ship” – the noun forming suffix has its own meaning. Structurally morphemes fall into 3 types: 1. Free morphemes – coincide with a stem. These are route morphemes 2. Bound morphemes – occur only as constitute parts of a word. F.e. affixes, suffixes (ship, ness, less, ful), prefixes (un, dis, re) 3. Semi-bound morphemes can function (semi-free) both as affixes and free morphemes. F.e. well and half – well-known. Semi-bound can function as a separate unit – well done. Half-done – half eaten (semi-bound).

Procedure of morphemic analysis. It is employed for the purposes of degmantic words into the consulting morphemes. Word break into: 1. Inmediate constituents (непосредственные) 2. Ultimate constituents (основные) Binary principles: each stage of the procedure involves 2 components the word inmediatelly breaks into. They are referred to as UCs (the immediate constituent). When the word is incapable of the further division we speak about the UCS. According to the derivance structure all words fall into 2 big classes: 1. Simplixes (non-derived words) don’t fall into inmediate constituance – friend, hand, blut 2. Complexes (derivatives) depend on some other simpler lexical units that motivate them structurally and semantically. Friendness: the basic elements of the derivative structure are derivational bases which structurally fall into 3 classes. 1. Bases that coincide with morphological stems of different degrees of complexity. F.e. dutiful- dutifully 2. Bases that coincide with word forms. f.e. unknown (словоформа).3. bases that coincide with word groups of different degrees of stability. Second rateness. Derivational affixes – functions, stem building, word building. Semantically derivational affixes are characterized by a unity of part of speech meaning, lexical meaning and other types of morphemic meanings. F.e. spiderich – spiderlike – spidery. Their denotational meaning is that of resemblance. But their individual or connotational meaning is different. Suffix –ish conveys likeness to the inner qualities. –like conveys likeness to an ever all resemblance, -y – conveys likeness to shape, form, size.

Derivational patterns. It’s a regular meaningful arrangement of a structure that imposes strict rules on the order and nature of the derivational bases and affixes that may be brought together. These patterns are represented by conventional symbols. N – noun. Adj-adjective.

Word formation. Here are different types of word formation. 1. Affixation 2. Word composition 3. сonvertion. Minor types of word formation are: acronyms, blending, shortening, abbreviations, stress shift, found interchange. The notion of productivity of these means is relevant. These are no absolutely productive or non-productive means. Productively changes with the development of the language system. By productivity we mean the ability to form an unlimited number of word. Affixation. Affixes fall into: 1. Dead – are no longer felt in modern English as component parts of words. They have su fused with the base of the word that lose their independence completely. 2. Living are lacily singled out from a word differ from highly – productive to non-productive refers only to the affixes which are unlikely to be used for the formation of the words: famous, foresee. Prefixation – the word formation with the help of prefixes (51 шт). They may be classified: 1. Diachronically (natice or foreign origin), 2. Synchronically. 1. According to the part of speech- verb,noun,adj 2. According to the type of lexico-semantical character (зависимые от основы): diverbal (rewrite), denominal (added to the noun – ex-president, ex-wife), deadjective (uneasy) 3. Semantically –monosemantic, -polisemantic 4. Denotationsl meaning: -negative, reversative (противоположные), -pejorative (уничижительные) –time and order (foresee, premature, prehistoric) –repetition (rewrite, redo) –locative (submarine, subterranean) 5. According to the stylistic reference: -neutral, -stylistically colored. Suffixation – word formation with the help of suffixes. They usually modify the lexical meaning of the base and transfer words to different parts of speech. Classified: diachronically, synchronically. 1. According to the type of speech: verb, noun, adj, adv 2. According to the lexico-grammatical character: -diverbal (speak-speaker), -denominable (suit-suitable), -deadjective (happiness) 3. Semantically: monosemantic, polisemantic. 4. Denotational meaning: -suffixes with the meaning of the agent of an action (flature, doctor, attendant), -appurtenance (Victorian, Elizabethan), -collectivity (peasantry, officialdom), -diminuliveness (auntie, girlie, finagled, wolfing) 5. Based on the stylistic reference: neutral, stylistically colored.