- •L.M. Takumbetоvа english lexicology preface
- •1. Morphological and Derivational Structure of Words.........................................57
- •Abbreviations and symbols
- •Introduction lexicology as a branch of linguistics.
- •Its subject matter and objectives
- •1. The Subject Matter of Lexicology.
- •2. The Theoretical and Practical Value of Lexicology
- •Questions and Tasks
- •2. The Problem of Word Definition
- •3. Types of Nomination and Motivation of Lexical Units
- •4. The Notion of Lexeme. Variants of Words
- •Questions and Tasks
- •Chapter 2 semasiology. The problem of meaning
- •1. Referential and Functional Approaches to Meaning
- •2. Types of Meaning
- •3. The Semantic Structure of Words. Polysemy
- •4. Сauses, Types and Results of Semantic Change
- •Questions and Tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. Which of the following words are monosemantic (use a dictionary)?
- •II. Group together the following pairs of words according to the lsVs they represent. Use dictionaries if necessary.
- •III. Define the meanings of the italicized words in the following sentences. Say how meanings of the same word are associated one with another.
- •IV. Explain the logical associations in the meanings of the same words in the following word combinations. Define the type of transference which has taken place.
- •V. Comment on the change of meanings in the italicized words.
- •Chapter 3 english vocabulary as a system
- •1. Semantic Classes of Lexemes in the Lexico-semantic
- •System of the English Language
- •2. Synonymy
- •3. Antonymy
- •4. Homonymy
- •The Origin of Homonyms in the English Language
- •Questions and Tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. Classify the following words into logical groups on the principle of hyponymy.
- •II. Arrange the following lexemes into three lexico-semantic groups - feelings, parts of the body, education.
- •III. Prove that the following sets of words are synonyms (use dictionaries).
- •IV. Find the dominant synonym in the following synonymic sets. Explain your choice.
- •V. Find antonyms for the words given below.
- •VI. A) Find the homonyms proper for the following words; give their Russian equivalents.
- •VI. Match the italicized words with the phonetics.
- •Chapter 4 morphological structure of english words and word formation
- •1. Morphological and Derivational Structure of Words
- •2. Аffixation
- •Clаssification of Prefixes
- •Classification of Suffixes
- •3. Conversion
- •Patterns of Semantic Relations by Conversion
- •Basic Criteria of Sеmantic Derivation within Conversion Pairs
- •4. Word-Composition (Compounding)
- •Classifications of Compound Words
- •Meaning and Motivation in Compound Words
- •Historical Changes of Compounds
- •5. Minor Types of Word-Formation
- •Questions and tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. A) Give examples of nouns with the following suffixes; state which of the suffixes are productive.
- •II. Explain the etymology and productivity of the affixes given below. Say what parts of speech they form.
- •III. In the following examples the italicized words are formed from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate these derivatives into Russian and explain the difference in meaning.
- •IV. Find cases of conversion in the following sentences.
- •V. Explain the semantic correlations within the following pair of words.
- •VI. Identify the compounds in the word-groups below. Say as much as you can about their structure and semantics.
- •VII. Match the following onomatopoeic words with the names of referents producing the sounds they denote in brackets.
- •VIII. Define the particular type of world-building process by which the following words were formed and say as much as you can about them.
- •Chapter 5 word-groups and phraseological units
- •1. Lexical Valency and Collocability
- •2. Criteria of phraseological units
- •3. Classifications of phraseological units
- •4. Origin of phraseological units
- •Questions and tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. What is the source and meaning of the following idioms?
- •II. Explain whether the semantic changes in the following units are complete or partial.
- •III. Give Russian equivalents of the following phraseological units from the list below.
- •IV. Give the proverbs from which the following phraseological units have developed.
- •V. Match the beginning of the proverb in the left-hand corner with its ending in the right-hand corner.
- •Chapter 6 etymological background of the english vocabulary
- •1. What Is Etymology?
- •2. Native English Vocabulary
- •3. Loan Words and Their Role in the Formation of the English Vocabulary
- •4. Assimilation of Borrowings
- •5. Degree of Assimilation and Factors Determining It
- •5. Impact of Borrowings on the English Language System
- •Quesions and Tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. Subdivide the following words of native origin into a) Indo-European, b) Germanic, c) English proper.
- •II. Distribute the following Latin borrowings into three groups according to the time of borrowing.
- •III. Find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings in the sentences given below. How can they be identified?
- •IV. Point out whether the italicized words in the sentences given below are Norman or Parisian French borrowings. How can they be identified?
- •V. Explain the etymology of the italicized words (native English and borrowings). Use etymological dictionaries if necessary.
- •VIII. Think of 10-15 examples of Russian borrowings in English and English borrowings in Russian. Literary sources
- •II. Optional
- •Dictionaries
- •Internet sources
4. Homonymy
Words identical in their sound form and/or graphic form (spelling) but different in meaning are traditionally called homonyms, (Gk. homos ‘similar’ and onoma ‘name’). Cf.: bank1 ‘land along each side of a river or canal’ and bank 2 ‘establishment for keeping money and valuables’, write ‘make letters or other symbols on a surface’ and right ‘just, morally good’. Homonymy exists in many languages but Mоdern English is exceptionally rich in homonyms. It is presumed that languages where short words prevail have more homonyms than those with longer words. O.Jespersen calculated that there are approximately four times as many monosyllabic as polysyllabic homonyms. It might be inferred that the abundance of homonyms in Modern English is accounted for by the monosyllabic structure of English words.
The similarity of form in majority of cases is occasional. Homonyms may hinder understanding the sense of the utterance. It is the lexical context that discloses meanings of homonymous words. In the following example several homonyms are used: I could not bear the sight of the poor bear in the bare forest near the construction site ‘Я не мог вынести вида бедного медведя в оголенном лесу возле строительной площадки’ (the еxample is borrowed from [Харитончик, p.72]). Homоnyms are: bear 1 ‘endure, tolerate’, bear 2 ‘large, heavy animal with thick fur’, bare ‘without clothing, covering, protection, decoration’, sight 1 ‘sth. seen’, site 2 ‘place where a building is or going to be’. However, the cоntеxt does not always help determine the word meaning. Тhe example light blue summer dress can be translated either as ‘легкое голубое летнее платье’ or ‘светло-голубое летнее платье’ because of homonyms light 1 ‘not heavy’ and light 2 ‘opposite of darkness’.
Homonyms are often used in jokes and puns which are based on play on words. In the example: “Mine is a long and a sad tale!” said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. “It is a long tail, certainly,” said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse’s tail; but why do you call it sad?”(L.Carrol. Alice in Wonderland) the play on words is based on homonymous nouns: tale ‘story’ and tail ‘movable part of an animal at the rear of its body’. Also: “What do you do with the fruit? - “We eat what we can, and what we can’t we can”, the pun is based on homonymous verbs can1 ‘be able to’ and can 2 ‘preserve food by putting in a tin-plated airtight container’.
Clаssificаtion of Homonyms
The traditional classification of homonyms is based on the formal criterion of the sound/graphic form. Accordingly homonyms are classified into:
1. Homophones – words identical in sound form but different in spelling (graphic form) and meaning. Examples: son :: sun, see :: sea, piece :: peace, knight :: night, write :: right, I :: eye, two :: too :: to.
2. Homographs – words identical in spelling but different in sound form and meaning. Examples: bow, v., n. [bau] ‘bending of head or body’, bow, n. [bou] ‘a weapon for shooting arrows’, lead, v. [li:d] ‘guide’, lead, n. [led] ‘soft, heavy, easily melted metal, Rus. свинец, tear, v. [teə] ‘pull apart by force’, tear, n. [tiə] ‘drop of salty water coming from the eye’, row, n. [rou] ‘line of benches, people, etc., row, n. [rau] ‘noisy quarrel’.
3. Proper homonyms (full, absolute) - words identical in sound and graphic form but different meaning. Besides the above examples bank 1, bank 2 there are a lot of others: ball 1 ‘dancing party’, ball 2 ‘round sphere used in games, pupil 1 ‘child at a school’, pupil 2 ‘hole in the central part of the eye, through which the light passes, seal 1 ‘sea animal’, seal 2, n. ‘design printed on paper by means of a stamp’ seal 3, v. ‘close tightly’, case 1 ‘box, container’, case 2 ‘something that happens’, etc.
By the type of meaning homonyms are classified into lexical, lexico-grammatical and grammatical:
1. Lexical homonyms are words of the same part of speech, differing in their lexical meanings: bank 1:: bank 2, ball 1:: ball 2; piece :: peace, knight :: night, air :: heir and many others.
2. Lexico-grammatical homonyms differ in lexical and part-of-speech meanings, i.e. they belong to different parts of speech: sea, n. :: see, v., red, a. :: read, v., mean, a. :: mean, v., paw, n. :: pour, v. etc.
3. Grammatical homonyms are word-forms belonging to the same paradigm, differing in their grammatical meanings. For example, in the paradigm of the noun: brothers, pl. - brother's, sing. possessive case - brothers', pl. possess. or in the verb paradigm: to cut, infinitive - cut, past indefinite - cut, past participle.
А.I.Smirnitsky singled out two big classes of homonyms: I. full and II. partial homonyms [1956]. To full homonyms refer words coinciding in all grammar forms, i.e. having identical paradigms. It implies that full homonyms either belong to the same part of speech as, for instance, pupil1 and pupil 2: pupil - pupil’s - pupils - pupils’, or have no paradigms: too :: too :: to.
Partial homonyms fall into three subgroups:
А. Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of the same part of speech. Their paradigms have words with identical sound and/or graphic forms (differing in meanings). Examples:
(to) found, v. (Infinitive) :: found , v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to find);
(to) lay, v. (Infinitive) :: lay, v. (Past Indef. of to lie);
(to) bound, v. (Infinitive) :: bound, v. (Past Indef., Past Part.of to bind).
Б. Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different parts of speech, having identical sound and/or graphic forms, differing in meanings:
rose, n. :: rose, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to rise);
maid, n. :: made, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to make);
left, adj. :: left, v. (Past Indef., Past Part.of to leave);
one, num. :: won, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to leave).
В. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same part of speech, identical in sound and/or graphic form used in the same grammar form, differing in lexical meanings:
to lie (lay, lain), v. ‘лежать’ :: to lie (lied, lied), v., ‘лгать, обманывать’;
to hang (hung, hung), v., ‘висеть’ :: to hang (hanged, hanged), v., ‘вешать’;
to can (canned, canned), v., ‘консервировать’ :: (I) can (could), v., ‘мочь, быть в состоянии’.
One should not confuse homonymy and polysemy. In homonyms unlike polysemantic words there are no sematic links between various lexemes.