- •1.The subject-matter of lexicology and its main problems
- •2.English vocabulary as a system
- •3. The classification of the English vocabulary
- •Idiographic groups
- •4.Moderrn methods of lexicological research
- •5.Etymological composition of the English Word- Stock
- •6.Causes and ways of borrowing into English. Etymological doublets.
- •7. Mechanism of borrowing
- •1)True loan words
- •3) Semantic loans
- •8. Criteria and assimilation of borrowings
- •9. International Words. Translator’s false friends. Culturally oriented words. Popular (false) etymology
- •10. The morpheme. Its types of meaning. The allomorph
- •11. Ic method. Morphemic and word-formation analysis
- •Ic method
- •12. Affixation. The classification of affixes. Semi-affixes. Hybrids.
- •13. Productivity of word-formation means. Conversion. Main types oа semantic relations between the members of a conversion pair.
- •14. Composition. Structural and semantic types of compounds. Compound words and word combinations.
- •15. Shortening(clipping, abbreviation, blending)
- •16. Minor Types of Modern Word-Building.
- •17.Word-meaning as a controversial linguistic problem
- •18. Types of word meaning
- •19. Polysemy. Meaning and context. Types of context.
- •20. The fundamentals of the componential analysis
- •21. Semantic change. Linguistic & extra-linguistic causes
- •22. Linguistic metaphor and metonymy. Types of semantic change
- •23. Definitions and criteria of synonyms. Main sources of synonymy. Synonymic dominant versus generic term.
- •24. The classification of synonyms.
- •25.Euphemisms as a specific type of synonyms
- •26. Antonyms: definition and criteria. The classification of antonyms.
- •27. Definition and sources of homonymy
- •28.The classification of homonyms
- •29. Phraseological units versus free word-groups.
- •30. Classification of phraseological units
- •31. Proverbs, familiar quotation and clichés
- •32. Standard English and local varieties of the English Language on the British Isles.
- •34. Functional varieties of the English vocabulary
- •35. Lexicography. Main lexicographical problems.
- •36. Types of dictionaries. The arrangement of entries in a dictionary.
20. The fundamentals of the componential analysis
The componential analysis is a very important method of linguistic investigation.
In this analysis linguists proceed from the assumption that the smallest units of meaning are sememes or semes . e. g. In the lexical item “woman” several sememes may be singled out , such as human , not an animal , female , adult . The analysis of the word “girl” will show the following sememes : human , female , young . The last component of the two words differentiates them & makes impossible to mix up the words in the process of communication .
Componental analysis is practically always combined with transformational procedures or statistical analysis .The combination makes it possible to find out which of the meanings should be represented first of all in the dictionaries of different types & how the words should be combined in order to make your speech sensible .
A form of componential analysis describing semantic components in terms of categories represented as a hierarchic structure so that each subsequent category is a sub-category of the previous one is described by R. S. Ginzburg, i.e. spinster. It runs as follows: spinster — noun, count noun, human, adult, female, who has never married.
21. Semantic change. Linguistic & extra-linguistic causes
Semantic change – the development and change of the semantic structure of a linguisticunit in the course of time.
The factors accounting for semantic changes may be roughly subdivided into two groups: a) extra-linguistic and b) linguistic causes.
By extra-linguistic causes we mean various changes in the life of the speech community, changes in economic and social structure, changes in ideas, scientific concepts, way of life and other spheres of human activities as reflected in word meanings. Although objects, institutions, concepts, etc. change in the course of time in many cases the soundform of the words which denote them is retained but the meaning of the words is changed. The word car, e.g., ultimately goes back to Latin carrus which meant ‘a four-wheeled wagon’ (ME. carre) but now that other means of transport are used it denotes ‘a motor-car’, ‘a railway carriage’ (in the USA), ‘that portion of an airship, or balloon which is intended to carry personnel, cargo or equipment’.
Some changes of meaning are due to what may be described as purely linguistic causes, i.e. factors acting within the language system. The commonest form which this influence takes is the so-called ellipsis. In a phrase made up of two words one of these is omitted and its meaning is transferred to its partner. The verb to starve, e.g., in Old English (OE. steorfan) had the meaning ‘to die’ and was habitually used in collocation with the word hunger (ME. sterven of hunger). Already in the 16th century the verb itself acquired the meaning ‘to die of hunger’. Similar semantic changes may be observed in Modern English when the meaning of one word is transferred to another because they habitually occur together in speech.
Another linguistic cause is discrimination of synonyms which can be illustrated by the semantic development of a number of words. The word land, e.g., in Old English (OE. land) meant both ’solid part of earth’s surface’ and ‘the territory of a nation’. When in the Middle English period the word country (OFr. contree) was borrowed as its synonym, the meaning of the word land was somewhat altered and ‘the territory of a nation’ came to be denoted mainly by the borrowed word country.
Some semantic changes may be accounted for by the influence of a peculiar factor usually referred to as linguistic analogy. It was found out, e.g., that if one of the members of a synonymic set acquires a new meaning other members of this set change their meanings too. It was observed, e.g., that all English adverbs which acquired the meaning ‘rapidly’ (in a certain period of time — before 1300) always develop the meaning ‘immediately’, similarly verbs synonymous with catch, e.g. grasp, get, etc., by semantic extension acquired another meaning — ‘to understand’.