- •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
2. Аffixation
Аffixation is the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of derivational bases. Affixal derivatives in the English language are coined by derivational prefixes and suffixes, that is why affixation is subdivided into prefixation and suffixation. Prefixes are the derivational morphemes preceding the root of the word, suffixes follow the root. Both prefixes and suffixes change the lexical meaning of the word and in many cases they change the part-of-speech meaning, e.g. case – encase, truth – truthful, etc.
There are distinguished different degrees of derivation depending on the number of applications of a word-formation rule. Simple words have a zero degree of derivation: atom, haste, devote. Derived words formed by application of one derivational affix have the first degree of derivation: atomic, hasty, devotion. Derived words formed by two consecutive stages of word-formation possess the second degree of derivation: atomical, hastily, devotional [Ginzburg 1979: 114].
In many cases subdivision of a word into a prefixal or suffixal derivative presents no difficulty. It is evident that untrue, discount, decode are prefixal derivatives; friendly, booklet, childhood are suffixal derivatives. But in case of three-morpheme words as unreasonable, discouragement and the like one should determine the arrangement and the nature of the ICs constituting these words, i.e. its derivative structure. Morphemically the words unreasonable, discouragement are identical, they are prefixal-radical-suffixal (consisting of a prefix, a root and a suffix), but according to their derivative structure the word unreasonable is a prefixal derivative: its ICs are un- and -reasonable (‘not reasonable’), and discouragement is a suffixal derivative, its ICs being discourage- and -ment (‘sth. that discourages’).
Suffixes may be affixed straight to the root morpheme (read - reader), or make up chains of suffixes occurring in the derived words having two and more suffixal morphemes: faith – faith|ful – faith|ful|ness). Suffixes of these kind are often referred to as compound suffixes. However, compound suffixes do not always present a mere succession of two or more suffixes arising out of consecutive stages of derivation. Some of them acquire a new quality operating as a whole unit [Ginzburg 1979: 119]. If we compare, on the one hand, such words as fascination (fascinate- + -ion), translation (translate- + -ion) with information (inform- + -ation), adaptation (adapt- + -ation), we see that they have different derivative structures. The words fascination and translation are the first-degree derivatives built with the suffix -ion, the words information and adaptation are the first-degree derivatives formed from the bases inform- and adapt- as there are no such bases as *informate-, *adaptate-. Thus the suffix -ation is a specific suffix of composite nature consisting of two suffixes -ate and -ion, but in many cases it functions as a single unit in first-degree derivatives. It is referred to in linguistic literature as a coalescent or a group suffix.
Suffixes might be added both to derivational bases made up of free roots (post- + -age) and bound roots (dam- + -age).
A prefix may be confined to one part of speech as in decode, encircle, etc. or may function in more than one part of speech: overcautious adj., overdo v., overpayment n. Suffixes as a rule function in any one part of speech: beautiful adj., darken v., connection n. The part-of-speech meaning is more prominent in suffixes. It was revealed that suffixation is mostly characteristic of noun (kindness, friendship, childhood, etc.) and adjective formation (beautiful, capable etc.) while prefixation is mostly typical of verb formation (to overcome, to disregard, to mispronounce, etc.) [Ginzburg 1979: 115]. Of course there are many cases of suffixal verbs: to darken, to realize, prefixal nouns income, underwear, etc. and adjectives uneasy, disloyal, etc. Suffixes to a greater extent than prefixes are used for converting words from one part of speech to another: care n. > careful a., good a. > goodness n., suit v. > suitable a., swim v. - swimmer n., etc. More often than not the part-of-speech meaning is determined by the suffix e.g. -ness, -ship, -ess, -hood etc. are noun suffixes; -able, -al, -less, etc. are adjective suffixes; -en, -ize –verb suffixes.
It is also noteworthy that suffixes are more closely knit with the bases than prefixes which are semantically less dependent on the base. As it was pointed above, some of the prefixes coincide in form and partially in meaning with the form words like out-, over-, up-, under-.