Seminar 6. Syntagmatic relations o words.

Lexical valency – the first factor limiting the possible combinability of words, a possibility of connecting words in the language.

Lexical collocability – the realization of these potential connections in speech.

Grammatical valency – the minimal grammatical context in which the words are used when brought together to form word-groups is usually described as the pattern of a word-group.

Phraseological units (Prof.Kunin) – stable word-combinations with a completely or partially transferred meaning.

Collocations– traditional combinations in which one of the components has a phraseological bound meaning, possesses a specific lexical valency while the other member is used in its direct meaning.

Proverb - a short pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept.

Saying- a usually pithy and familiar statement expressing an observation or principle generally accepted as wise or true

Appendix D

Examination Questions

1. Lexicology as a science. The object of Lexicology and its connection with other branches of linguistics.

2. The word as a main language unit. The relation between a word and a notion.

3. The problem of definition of a word and its principal characteristics.

4. The elements of the semantic structure of a word. Polysemy in English.

5. Polysemy and Homonymy. The problem of differentiation of polysemy and homonymy.

6. Antonymic relations between vocabulary units. Some common and distinctive features of antonyms and synonyms.

7. Types of meaning. Meaning in syntagmatics and paradigmatics.

8. Meaning in compounds.

9. Semantic change as a source of quantitative and qualitative growth of vocabulary. Widening and narrowing of meaning. Degradation and elevation of meaning. Other types of semantic change.

10. Types of synonyms. Synonymic sets and their patterns. Euphemisms as a special type of synonyms. Differentiation of synonyms.

11. Homonyms in English. Classifications of homonyms.

12. Synonymy in English. Criteria of synonymity.

13. The origin of homonyms.

14. The morpheme. Types of morphemes and allomorphs.

15. The development of the English vocabulary. Causes of vocabulary development.

16. Systematic groupings of words. Thematic groupings.

17. Synchronic treatment of homonyms. Differentiation of polysemy and homonymy.

18. The problem of motivation of words.

19. Types and causes of semantic transference.

20. Semantic fields.

21. Meaning in derivatives. Synonymy, polysemy and homonymy of affixes.

22. Morphemic and derivational analysis. Analysis into IC.

23. Word-formation. Synchronic and diachronic approaches. Different types and ways of word-building in English

24. Suffixation in English. The etymology and productivity of English suffixes.

25. Prefixation in English.

26. Conversion as one of the most productive ways of word-building in English. Different conceptions of the problem of conversion. Diachronic and synchronic approaches to the study of conversion.

27. Typical semantic relations between members of converted pairs in synchronic approach.

28. The problem of substantivation.

29. Word-compounding in English. Classification of compounds.

30. The criteria of distinguishing compounds from word-combinations.

31. Shortening as a productive way of word-building in Modern English. Various types of abbreviated words.

32. Minor types of word-building (back derivation, sound imitation, reduplication, sound and stress interchange, lexicalization of grammatical forms).

33. Graphical abbreviations, acronyms, blendings.

34. Historical changebility of word-structure.

35. Combinability and valency.

36. Phraseological units. Their stability, divisibility and semantic unity.

37. Classification of phraseological units.

38. The etymological background of the English vocabulary. Native and borrowed elements.

39. Ways and causes of borrowing. Different types of loan words. Criteria of borrowings.

40. Sources of borrowing in English. French loans. The role of French borrowings in English.

41. The role of Latin borrowings in English.

42. Borrowings from other languages.

43. Different types of loan words. The process of assimilation.

44. The problem of international words.

45. Hybrids.

46. Translation loans, semantic loans, etymological doublets.

47. Neologisms. Ways of their formation.

48. Variants and dialects of the English language. AE and BE.

49. Lexicography and the main principles of compiling dictionaries.

Appendix E

Упражнения по лексикологии

Seminar 1. Lexicology as a science. The object of lexicology.

1. Write down the words with syntagmatic relations in the left column and with paradigmatic relations in the right one.

• Work – labor

• To take the bull by the horns

• Busy – idle

• To see red

• To accept - to reject

• Birds of a feather

• Man – chap – guy

• Leaf of a book

• Hands of a clock

2. Where do we observe the synchronical approach and where the diachronical one?

• Husband – simple word (1 morpheme)

• Husband – compound word (2 morphemes – house + bonda)

• Beggar – ar – suffix (to beg – derivative)

• Beggar – Fr. Beggar – to beg (обратное словообразование)

3. Where do we observe indivisibility and where - intereptibility?

• To stay a()lone

• The boy(s) slow(ly) walk(ed) up the hill

• A black () bird

• A blackbird

Seminar 2. Semasiology.

4. Where do we observe the relationships between meaning and a) sound form; b) concept; c) referent?

• Seal – sill

• Boat – лодка, пароход)

• Dove – голубка – tauber, pigeon

• Water – H2O

• Духи – вонявки (чеш.) – perfume (Fr.)

• Нога – foot, leg

• Невеста – булка (болгар.)

• Coat – пальто, пиджак

• Остановка – дурак (тур.)

5. Which type of the connotative component do we observe in the following rows of words?

   • To glare – to gaze – to glance

   • To shiver – to shudder

   • To astonish – to surprise – to amuse

   • Celebrated – outstanding – notorious – popular – famous

   • To love – to be fond of – to like – to adore – to admire – to worship – to dote

6. Which motivation do we observe here?

   • Boom

   • Rewrite

   • Mouth

   • Blackboard

   • His-s-s

   • Crumble

   • Cranberry

   • Wallflower

   • Wow-wow

   • Tut-tut

Seminar 3. Polysemy and Homonymy.

5. Where do we observe a) shifts in application; b) specialization: c) metaphorical extension&

   • Red ink, red deer, red cabbage, red Indian

   • Leaf of a tree – leaf of a book

   • Business partner – marriage partner – partner in crime

   • Hands of a person – hands of a clock

   • Legs of a table

6. Name the type of a homonym here

• School (школа) – school (косяк рыб)

• Bow (поклон) – bow (лук)

• Night – knight

• Rose (роза) - rose (прош. от rise)

• Lie (лежать)– lie (лгать)

7. What phenomena do we face in the following words?

Polish (польский) – polish (полировать)

8. What methods do we face in the following words?

• Voice – голос, залог

• Man – (…more than 10 definitions in Modern English)

• Fair - a person with light hair; just honest

Seminar 4. Change of Meaning.

5. Where do we observe a) the conflict of synonyms b) the linguistic analogy c) linguistic ellipsis?

   • Sky – heavens

   • Finals (последние экзамены)

   • To catch, to get, to grasp = to understand

   • The Kremlin

6. What type of the similarity of the metaphor do we observe here?

• Head of cabbage

• The key of the mystery

• A book-worm

• The foots of mountains

• Orange violet

• The eye of a needle

7. 3. What type of the metonymies do we observe here?

• Glass, china, silver

• The Board

• The first violin

• Sandwich, Disney

• To eat a whole plate

• China

8. Where do we observe hyperbole and where - litotes?

• I have not seen you for ages!

• Not bad

• T hate doing it

• We are dead

• No coward

• To make a mountain out of a molehill

• No fool

Seminar 5. Lexical Paradigmatics.

7. Find out where do we observe a) root-words b) derivatives c) compounds d) compound – derivatives?

   • Day

   • Undone

   • Daybook

   • Blue-eyed

   • Do

   • Bookish

   • Notebook

   • Blackbird

   • Daily

   • Left-handed

   • Table

8. Refer the words to following groupings a) thematic b) semantic c) lexico-semantic d) homonymic e) synonyms f) antonyms

• Election, to nominate, nominee, polling station, voters, ballot

• Eye, leg, foot, ear, mouth

• To get, to understand, to realize

• Car, bus, rickshaw, scooter, bicycle

• Big – fat, big – great

• War – peace

• Up – down

9. Name the type of the following synonyms

• Idle. Lazy, indolent

• Father – daddy

• Motherland – fatherland

• To get – to buy

• To surprise – to astonish

• To say – to speak

• Alone –lonely – single

• Famous – well-known - notorious

• Refreshment – feast

• Money - cabbage - bax -beans – brass

• To visit (the museum) – to attend (a lecture)

10. Continue the following synonymic set

• Fear - ?

• To love - ?

11. Write down euphoniums for the following words:

• To die - ?

• Burial - ?

• To kill -?

• Grave digger - ?

• Pregnancy -?

• To be poor - ?

12. What type of antonyms do we observe here?

• Round – square

• Friend – enemy

• Left – right

• Like – dislike

• Good – bad

• In the dry tree – in the green tree

• To swim like a fish – to swim like a stone

Seminar 6. Syntagmatic relations o words.

1. What type of word-groups do we observe here?

• A blue () sky

• A magnifying glass

• To guess – to give a guess

• Artesian well

• How do you do?

• To make up

2. What type of phraseological unit according to the functional classification do we observe here?

• Show the hills, take the bull by the horns

• Odds and adds, a bull in a China shop

• Side by side, in the long run

• My eye!

1 As terminological confusion has caused much misunderstanding and often makes it difficult to grasp the semantic concept of different linguists we find it necessary to mention the most widespread terms used in modern linguistics to denote the three com­ponents described above:

sound-form — concept — referent

symbol — thought or reference — referent

sign — meaning — thing meant

sign — designatum — denotatum

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