- •1. Lexicology as a linguistic science. Word as the basic unit of the language.
- •2. The English vocabulary as an Adaptive system.
- •5. Loan words. Assimilation of loan words.
- •6. Etymological doublets. International words.
- •7. The influence of borrowings. Hybrids.
- •9. Lexical peculiarities of Formal and Informal styles.
- •10. The notion of the Morpheme. The classification of morphemes.
- •11. Derivational structure of English words.
- •2. Types of word-formation means and their productivity.
- •13. Affixation. Classification of affixes.
- •14. The phenomenon of conversion.
- •15. Compounding. Criteria of compounds. Types of compounds.
- •16. Shortening. Onomatopoeia. Reduplication.
- •17. Back formation. Blending.
- •18. Word meaning. Types of meaning.
- •19. Lexical meaning of the word. Motivation and meaning.
- •20. Polysemy.
- •21. Hyponymy as types of paradigmatic relationships in Lexis. Sources of homonymy, types of homonyms.
- •22. Semantic change: its causes, nature and types.
- •23. The problem of antonymy in modern linguistics.
- •24. Modern theory of synonymy.
- •25. Euphemisms. Paronyms.
- •26. Lexicography as a branch of linguistics. Many types of dictionaries.
- •27. Basic problems of lexicography.
- •28. Proverbs, sayings, familiar quotations and clichés.
- •29. Classification of phraseological units. Phraseological units and free word groups.
- •30. Denotative and connotative component of meaning.
5. Loan words. Assimilation of loan words.
The term loan-word is equivalent to borrowing. By translation-loans we indicate borrowings of a special kind. They are not taken into the vocabulary of another language more or less in the same phonemic shape in which they have been functioning in their own language, but undergo the process of translation. It is quite obvious that it is only compound words (i. e. words of two or more stems) which can be subjected to such an operation, each stem being translated separately: masterpiece (from Germ. Meisterstück), wonder child (from Germ. Wunderkind), first dancer (from Ital. prima-ballerina), collective farm (from R. колхоз), five-year plan (from R. пятилетка). The Russian колхоз was borrowed twice, by way of translation-loan (collective farm) and by way of direct borrowing (kolkhoz). The case is not unique. During the 2nd World War the German word Blitzkrieg was also borrowed into English in two different forms: the translation-loan lightning-war and the direct borrowings blitzkrieg and blitz.
6. Etymological doublets. International words.
Etymological doublets. Sometimes the word is borrowed twice from the same language. As a result we have 2 different words with different spellings and meanings. But historically they come back to one and the same word. They are called etymological doublets. The words shirt and skirt etymologically descend from the same root. Shirt is a native word, and skirt is a Scandinavian borrowing. Their phonemic shape is different, and yet there is a certain resemblance which reflects their common origin. Their meanings are also different but easily associated: they both denote articles of clothing. They may enter the vocabulary by different routes. Some of these pairs, like shirt and skirt, consist of a native word and a borrowed word: shrew, n. (E.) — screw, n. (Sc.). Others are represented by two borrowings from different languages which are historically descended from the same root: senior (Lat.) — sir (Fr.), canal (Lat.) — channel (Fr.), captain (Lat.) — chieftan (Fr.). Still others were borrowed from the same language twice, but in different periods: corpse [ko:ps] (Norm. Fr.) — corps [ko:] (Par. Fr.), travel (Norm. Fr.) — travail (Par. Fr.), cavalry (Norm. Fr.) — chivalry (Par. Fr.), gaol (Norm. Fr.) — jail (Par. Fr.). 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. There also can be etymological triplets – 3 words in the language having the same source: hospital (Lat.) – hostel (Norman) – hotel (Fr.). International words. It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, and not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of communication. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e. g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, linguistics, lexicology. There are also numerous terms of art: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy, artist, primadonna. Political terms frequently occur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism. 20th c. scientific and technological advances brought a great number of new international words: atomic, antibiotic, radio, television, sputnik. The latter is a Russian borrowing, and it became an international word (meaning a man-made satellite) in 1961, immediately after the first space flight by Yury Gagarin. The English language also contributed a considerable number of international words to world languages, such as sports terms: football, volley-ball, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, etc. Fruits and foodstuffs imported from exotic countries often transport their names too and, being simultaneously imported to many countries, become international: coffee, cocoa, chocolate, coca-cola, banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit. International words are mainly borrowings.