2. The English vocabulary as an Adaptive system.

The word ‘system’ denotes a set of elements associated and functioning together according to certain laws. The vocabulary of the language is called an adaptive system, because it constantly adjusts itself to the changes and conditions of human communications and cultural surroundings. The actual system of the language is in the state of constant change. Lexicology studies this system by determining the properties of these elements and the different relationships of contrast and similarity existing between the words within the language and also it studies the ways in which the words are influenced by extralinguistic factors. The elements of a lexical system are characterized by their combining and contrastive properties determining the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships. a word enters into syntagmatic relationships with other lexical units which form its context. Lexical units are context dependent. A word enters into contrastive paradigmatic relations with all of the words. for example, words: nice, beautiful, handsome, pretty – may occur at one and the same context but they have their own meanings. Syntagmatic relationships may be studied by means of contextual, distributional, transformational etc. analyses. Paradigmatic relations are based on the interdependence of words within the vocabulary. Such relations are studied by means of componential, semantic etc. analyses. E.g.: the word ‘deer’ in OE vocabulary meant ‘any wild animal’, but then a word ‘animal’ was actually introduced and the meaning of the word ‘deer’ shifted and started to mean only a specific kind of animal. In the language there are constant changes which may be divided into: words are either dropped out of the vocabulary; or they come into it. Obsolescent words are words that become rarely used so they are in the stage of gradually passing out of general use. Obsolete words have already gone out of use but they are still recognized by the English speakers. Archaic proper are words which are no longer recognizable in modern English. Historisms are words used to be replaced by modern synonyms. 2 types of archaisms: lexical; grammatical (old grammatical form of the same word). The number of new words that appear in the language is much greater than obsolete words. The development of the vocabulary is a never-ending process. New notions constantly come into being. As the consequence new words appear to denote these notions. These words are called neologisms. Each new word is considered a neologism as long as the speaking community perceives it as new. Neologisms are coined by the processes: 1) abbreviation: radar = radio detection and ranging; 2) affixation: to deselect = to remove from participation; 3) blending: bionics = bio+electronics; 4) borrowing: perestroika; 5) compounding: auto-happy = obsessed with cars; 6) conversion: service a car (when a noun turns into a verb); 7) semantic change/change of meaning.

3. The problem of classification of the vocabulary.

There are several classifications of the vocabulary. The most widely spread one is division according to the: semantic criteria (depending on the meaning); non-semantic criteria. Non-semantic classification: 1) Alphabetic classification; 2) According to the frequency of words; 3) Morphological classification: a) according to the number and type of morphemes the words are composed of: root-words; derivatives (root+affixes); compounds (root+root); b) according to the common root-morpheme. These are word families: hand; handout; handball etc.; c) according to the common affix. The greater the combining power of the affix the more numerous is the group. These sets as a rule are open. 4) Functional classification. Division of words according to lexiclo-grammatical grouping. Semantic classification: 1) Based on the semantic structure of words: monosemantic (1 meaning); polysemantic; 2) Stylistic grouping of words: bookish; neutral; colloquial etc.; 3) Based on semantic unity of words: free words; phraseological units; proverbs and sayings etc.; 4) Lexico-semantic grouping. The words are grouped according to the same part of speech or semantic sphere; 5) Thematic grouping: regardless of parts of speech; semantic and extralinguistic grouping; 6) Ideographic grouping: regardless of their grammatical meaning. There is a scientist Roget. He has his own classification of English vocabulary. According to his point of view there are 15 classes into which the words are divided. Such as: 1) the body and senses; 2) feelings; 3) place and change of place; 4) measure and time; 5) language; 6) behaviour and will etc. Each class is subdivided into subclasses.

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

It is true that English vocabulary contains an immense number of words of foreign origin. Explanations for this should be searched for in the history of the language which is closely connected with the history of the nation speaking the language. The 1^st century В. С. Most of the territory now, known to us as Europe is occupied by the Roman Empire. Among the inhabitants of the continent are Germanic tribes. After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans these two opposing peoples come into peaceful contact. Trade is carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things. The first among them are new things to eat. Only products known to the Germanic tribes were meat and milk. It is from the Romans that they learn how to make butter and cheese and, as there are no words for these foodstuffs in their tribal languages, they are to use the Latin words to name them. It is also to the Romans that the Germanic tribes owe the knowledge of some new fruits and vegetables of which they had no idea before, and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables enter their vocabularies: cherry, pear, plum, pea, beet, pepper). Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: cup, kitchen, mill, port, wine. What is significant is that that all these Latin words were destined to become the earliest group of borrowings in the future English language which was built on the basis of the Germanic tribal languages. The 5^th century A. D. Several of the Germanic tribes migrated to the British Isles. There they were confronted by the Celts, the original inhabitants of the Isles. Through their numerous contacts with the defeated Celts, the conquerors got to know and assimilated a number of Celtic words (Mod. E. bald, down, glen, druid, bard, cradle). Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings were place names, names of rivers, bills, etc. Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic, among them such widely-used words as street and wall. The 7^th century A. D. This century was significant for the christianisation of England. Latin was the official language of the Christian church, and the spread of Christianity was accompanied by a new period of Latin borrowings. They were very different in meaning from the earlier ones. They mostly indicated persons, objects and ideas associated with church and religious rituals. e. g. priest, bishop, monk, nun, candle. From the end of the 8^th c. to the middle of the 11^th c. England underwent several Scandinavian invasions which left their trace on English vocabulary. Here are examples of early Scandinavian borrowings: call, v., take, v., cast, v., die, v., law, n., husband, n., window n., ill, adj., loose, adj., low, adj., weak, adj. The words of this group are easily recognisable by the initial sk- combination. e. g. sky, skill, skin, ski, skirt. 1066. The Battle of Hastings, the English were defeated by the Normans, the epoch of the Norman Conquest. England became a bi-lingual country, and the impact on the English vocabulary is immense. Examples: 1) Administrative words: state, government, parliament, council, power; 2) Legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison; 3) Military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy; 4) Educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil. Numerous terms of everyday life were also borrowed: e. g. table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc. The Renaissance Period was marked by significant developments in science, art and culture. There occurred a considerable number of Latin and Greek borrowings. The Renaissance borrowings were mostly abstract words (e. g. major, minor, filial, moderate, intelligent, permanent, to elect, to create). There were scientific and artistic terms (datum, status, phenomenon, philosophy, method, music). The same is true of Greek Renaissance borrowings (e. g. atom, cycle, ethics, aesthete). The Renaissance was a period of extensive cultural contacts between the major European states. Parisian borrowings. Examples: regime, routine, police, machine, ballet, matinee, scene, technique, bourgeois, etc. Italian also contributed a considerable number of words to English, e. g. piano, violin, opera, alarm, colonel. Native words comprise the ancient Anglo-Saxon core and coined lated words on the basis by means of various processes operative in English. Native words comprise only 30% of the total number of words in the English vocabulary but the native words form the bulk of the most frequent words actually used in speech and writing. 80% of 500 most frequent words are native. Besides the native words have a wider range of lexical and grammatical valency, they are highly polysemantic and productive in forming word-clusters and set-expressions. By the Indo-European element are meant words of roots common to all or most languages of the Indo-European group. English words of this group denote elementary concepts without which no human communication would be possible: 1) Family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter; 2) Parts of the human body: foot, nose, lip, heart; 3) Animals: cow, swine, goose; 4) Plants: tree, birch, corn; 5) Time of day: day, night; 6) Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star; 7) Adjectives: red, new, glad, sad; 8) The numerals from one to a hundred; 9) Pronouns — personal (except they which is a Scandinavian borrowing); demonstrative; 10) Numerous verbs: be, stand, sit, eat, know. The Germanic element represents words of roots common to all or most Germanic languages. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the Indo-European element: 1) Parts of the human body: head, hand, arm, finger, bone; 2) Animals: bear, fox, calf; 3) Plants: oak, fir, grass; 4) Natural phenomena: rain, frost; 5) Seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer; 6) Landscape features: sea, land; 7) Human dwellings and furniture: house, room; 8) Sea-going vessels: boat, ship; 9) Adjectives: green, blue, grey, white, small; 10) Verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer, make, give, drink.