- •Introduction ... ........ ......... .......N. V
- •Introduction
- •1. What counts as a word? Define the status of the given lexical items and comment on the types of naming. Consult the re -commended dictionaries:
- •Give spelling variants of the same words (morphological variants, regional variants).
- •Read the excerpt and answer the questions.
- •Etymological characteristics of the english lexicon
- •1. Trace the etymology and comment on the etymological
- •2. State the languages from which the following words are borrowed:
- •3. Make sure you know the following abbreviations used in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (cod):
- •4. Match the etymological doublets:
- •5. Give adjectives of Latin origin to the following nouns:
- •1. Group the following words into motivated/non-motivated and define the type of motivation:
- •Define polysemy as a linguistic phenomenon.
- •Give working definitions of the key terms with examples.
- •Comment on the semantic processes that were at work in the following words:
- •6. Comment on the types of meaning (metaphoric/ me-tonymic) in the following items:
- •Of english words
- •3. Compare the inner form of the correlative units and focus on the degree of their semantic equivalence:
- •4. Explain the meanings of the following word-combinations:
- •Stylistic and social stratification of the english lexicon
- •1. Read the excerpt and dwell on the influence the two varieties (British and American) have had on each other. American and british english
- •2. Give the American spelling of the following words and de- scribe the main patterns of spelling differences between the two variants (use dictionaries):
- •International Encyclopedia of Linguistics / Ed. By w. Bright. New York; Oxford, 1992. Vol. 1-4.
- •Ways of enriching and expanding the english lexicon
- •1. Classify the words given below according to the word- formation types:
- •1. Pay attention to some widely used abbreviations:
- •Compare the dictionary entries in synchronic and diachronic dictionaries (sod, cod, oald).
- •Characterize the dictionaries you work with according to the model:
- •Manuals of lexicology
- •Encyclopedias of language
- •Тамара Николаевна Суша лексикология английского языка Практикум Учебно-методическое пособие
1. What counts as a word? Define the status of the given lexical items and comment on the types of naming. Consult the re -commended dictionaries:
ad
Adam's apple bike
blue(-)stocking boarding school break-down demo extra-flower pot forget-me-not heart attack hot dog
hot line
lily of the valley mini
mother-in-law
pram
runaway
second-rate
town hall
UNESCO
VIP
Whitehall White House
Give spelling variants of the same words (morphological variants, regional variants).
Read the excerpt and answer the questions.
HOW LARGE IS THE ENGLISH LEXICON?
The two biggest dictionaries suggest around half a million lexemes - a total approached by the unabridged Webster's Third New International (which claimed over 450,000 entries in 1961) and by the integrated edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (which claimed over 500,000 entries in 1992). The true figure is undoubtedly a great deal higher.
A comparison of these two dictionaries - or of any other group of dictionaries of comparable size - shows a remarkable lack of identity between headword lists. Discrepancies are usually caused by differing editorial emphases. The Oxford has far more historical references and British dialect items than does the Webster, which in turn has far more local American items. On the other hand, neither work would claim to be comprehensive in its coverage of the vocabulary of the new Englishes in such parts of the world as India, Singapore, and Nigeria, where thousands of new lexemes are coming into the language. And because the tradition in lexicography is to use the written language as the test for inclusion, much local spoken nonstandard vocabulary will be omitted. There must be thousands of slang expressions currently in common use which have never been recorded, such as all the lexemes which express the concept of 'being drunk' -canned, blotto, squiffy, jagged, paralytic, smashed, etc.
Even if we restrict the issue to standard vocabulary, there are many items which could be included as part of the lexicon, but which are not usually found in a dictionary. There are some half a million abbreviated forms in English, many of which have a clear lexical status (BA, FBI, NA TO> etc.); and fauna and flora also provide a vast lexical resource. For example, there are apparently some million insects already described, with several million more awaiting description. This means that there must be at least a million designations enabling English-speaking entomologists to talk about their subject. Should all of these be allowed into the word-count as well?
It is difficult to see how even a conservative estimate of the English vocabulary could go much below a million lexemes. More radical accounts, allowing in all of scientific nomenclature, could easily double this figure. Only a small fraction of these totals, of course, is learned by any one of us. (From: D. Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 1995. P. 119)
Questions
What is the minimal meaningful unit of language?
What accounts for numerous and different definitions of the term word? Compare various definitions of the word and state on what properties (phonological, morphological, syntactic, etc.) of the word they are based.
What are the main problems connected with the concept of the word in English?
Why is the word considered the basic lexical unit?
How do you define the term lexeme!
How large is the English lexicon?
How many lexical items are registered in The Oxford English Dictionary/Webster fs Third New International Dictionary?
How large is the lexicon of a native speaker? Does it vary within different age groups/professional groups?
How large is your lexicon?
Recommended Reading
Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева O.B., Морозова H.H. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие. На англ. яз. М, 1999.
Арнольд КВ. Лексикология современного английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. На англ. яз. М., 1986.
Гинзбург Р.З., Хидекель С.С, Князева Г.Ю. и др. Лексикология английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. На англ. яз. М, 1979.
Конецкая В. П. Аксиомы, закономерности и гипотезы в лексикологии // Вопросы языкознания, 1998. №2.
Лещева ЛМ. Слова в английском языке: Курс лексикологии современного английского языка: Учебник. На англ. яз. Мн., 2001.
Смирнщкий A.M. Лексикология английского языка. М, 1956. Харитончик ЗА. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие. Мн., 1992.
Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Printed in Italy, 1995. P. 119-123.
McArthur T. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford, 1992.
McArthur T. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Abridged edition. Oxford, 1996.
Recommended Dictionaries
Ахманова O.C. Словарь лингвистических терминов. M., 1969.
Кубрякова Е.С., Демьяжов В.З., Панкрац Ю.Г„ Лузина Л.Г. Краткий словарь когнитивных терминов. М., 1996.
Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н.Ярцева. М., 1990.
Новый Большой англо-русский словарь. В 3 т. / Ю.Д. Апресян, Э.М. Медникова, А.В. Петрова и др. Под общим рук. Ю.Д. Апресяна. М., 1997.
Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary. London, 1995.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Bombay, 1987.
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Harlow, 1992.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Harlow, 1995. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. A.S.Hornby / Ed. J. Crowther. Oxford, 1995.