Lecture 1

THE SUBJECT MATTER OF LEXICOLOGY (1)

(Lexicology as a science, its aims, methods;

connections with other linguistic sciences.)

Lexicology is a branch of linguistics – the science of language. The term “lexicology” is composed of two Greek morphemes “lexic” – word, phrase and “logos” which denotes learning a department of knowledge. Thus the literal meaning of the term “lexicology” is “the science of the word”.

Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research. Its basic task is being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and its current use. Lexicology is concerned with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units and morphemes, which make up words.

Distinction is made between general lexicology and special lexicology. General lexicology is a part of general linguistics and is concerned with the study of vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular language. Special lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language.

Lexicology is closely connected with other branches of linguistics:

• phonetics, that investigates the phonetic structure of language and is concerned with the study of the outer sound-form of the word;g

• grammar, the study of the grammatical structure of language. It is concerned with the various means of expressing grammatical relations between words as well as with patterns after which words are combined into word-groups and sentences;

• there is also a close relationship between lexicology and stylistics, which is concerned with a study of a nature, functions and styles of languages.

Lexicology approaches the word synchronically and diachronically. Synchronically it deals with the study of the word at present or in a certain period (pd) of time, it’s special descriptive lexicology that deals with the vocabulary and vocabulary units of a particular language at a certain time. Diachronically it concerns the development of the word and its changes under historic influence, it is special historical lexicology that deals with the evaluation of the vocabulary units of a language as the time goes by.

e.g.: beggar - synchr. a derivative from “to beg”, diachr. a French borrowing, later shortened

freedom - synchr. a derivative, diachr. a compound

Both approaches are interconnected and interrelated because every linguistic structure and system exists in a state of constant development so that the synchronic state of a language system is a result of a long process of linguistic evaluation, of its historical development. Closely connected with the historical lexicology is contrastive and comparative lexicology whose aims are to study the correlation between the vocabularies of two or more languages and find out the correspondences between the vocabulary units of the languages under comparison.

Lexicology studies various lexical units: morphemes, words, variable word-groups and phraseological units. The word is the basic unit of the language system, the largest on morphological and the smallest on syntactic plane of linguistic analyses. It is a structural and semantic entity within the language system. The word as well as any linguistic sign is a two-faced unit possessing both form and content or sound-form and meaning. It directly corresponds to the object of the thought (referent), naming it. Thus, a word has a nominative function, which is to name the object of reality, to reflect the material world. However, the subject of lexicology is not the word itself but a certain aspect of it. These aspects are studied by different branches of lexicology:

1. etymology - the historical development of a word;

2. word- building - ways of building a word;

3. semasiology - the semantics of a word (its meaning, expressions and grammatical forms);

4. phraseology - word groups which are characterised by stability of structure and transferred meaning;

5. lexicography - studies dictionaries.

When used in actual speech the word undergoes certain modification and functions in one of its forms. The system showing a word in all its word-forms is called a paradigm. The lexical meaning of a word is the same throughout the paradigm. The grammatical meaning varies from one form to another. Therefore, when we speak of any word used in actual speech we use the term “word” conventionally because what is manifested in utterances is not a word as a whole but one of its forms which is identified as belonging to the definite paradigm. Words as a whole are to be found in the dictionary (showing the paradigm n – noun, v – verb, etc).

There are two approaches to the paradigm: as a system of forms of one word revealing the differences and the relationships between them.

e. g.: to see – saw - seen – seeing (different forms have different relations)

In abstraction from concrete words the paradigm is treated as a pattern on which every word of one part of speech models its forms, thus serving to distinguish one part of speech from another.

-s -‘s -s’ -ed -ing

nouns, of-phrases verbs

Besides the grammatical forms of words there are lexical varieties, which are called “variants” of words or lexico-semantic variants. Words seldom possess only one meaning, when used in speech each word reveals only that meaning which is required.

e. g. to learn at school to make a dress

to learn about smth. ⁄smbd. to make smbd. do smth.

There are also phonetic and morphological variants.

e. g.: often can be pronounced in two ways, though the sound-form is slightly changed the meaning remains unchangeable

dream – dreamt – dreamt - these are morphological variants, the meaning is the same but the model is different.

Like words-forms variants of words are identified in the process of communication as making up one and the same word. Thus, within the language system the word exists as a system and unity of all its forms and variants.

Lexicology uses a variety of methods of investigation:

1. Contrastive analysis is applied to reveal the features of sameness and difference in the lexical meaning and the semantic structure of correlated words in different languages. It is commonly assumed by non-linguists that all languages have vocabulary systems in which the words themselves differ in sound-form, but refer to reality in the same way. From this assumption it follows that for every word in the mother tongue there is an exact equivalent in the foreign language. Differences in the lexical meaning of correlated words account for the differences of their collocability in different languages.

2. Statistical analysis is recognized as the one of the major methods of linguistics. Statistical inquiries have considerable importance because of their relevance to certain problems of communication engineering and information theory. Statistical approach proved essential in the selection of vocabulary items of a foreign language for teaching purposes.

3. Immediate constituents analysis was originally elaborated as an attempt to determine the ways in which lexical units are relevantly related to one another. It was discovered that combinations of units are usually structured into hierarchial sets of binary constructions. The fundamental aim of immediate constituents analysis is to segment a set of lexical units into two maximally independent sequences and these maximally independent sequences are called immediate constituents. The further segmentation of immediate constituents results in ultimate constituents, which means that further segmentation is impossible, for no meaning can be found.

4. Distributional analysis in its various forms is commonly used in lexicology. By the term “distribution” we understand the occurrence of a lexical unit relative to other lexical units of the same levels: words to words, morpheme to morphemes. In other words, by this term we understand the position which lexical unit occupies or may occupy in the text or in the flow of speech.

5. Transformational analysis is defined as repatterning (representing, reorganization) of various distributional structures in order to discover difference or sameness of meaning of practically identical distributional patterns. As distributional patterns are in a number of cases polysemantic transformational procedures are of help not only in the analysis of semantic sameness/ difference of the lexical units but also in the analysis of the factors that account for their polysemy. Word-groups of identical distributional structure when repatterned show that the semantic relations between words and the meaning may be different.

6. Componential analysis proceeds from the assumption that the smallest units of meaning are sememes or semes.

7. The method of semantic differential studies the connotational aspect of a word, as a word has not only one meaning and even one word usually implies some additional information, which differentiates one word from another.

Lecture 2

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY(5)

(The ways of replenishment of the English vocabulary: neologisms and archaisms, patterned and non-patterned ways, the role of borrowing, most productive patterns.)

Just as there is formal and informal dress, so there is formal and informal speech. One is not supposed to turn up at a ministerial reception or at a scientific symposium wearing a pair of brightly coloured pajamas. Consequently, the social context, in which the communication is taking place, determines both the mode of dress and the mode of speech. When placed in different situations, people instinctively choose different kinds of words and structures to express their thoughts. The suitability or unsuitability of a word for each particular situation depends on its stylistic characteristics or, in other words, on the functional style it represents.

The term “functional style” is generally accepted in modern linguistics. Pr. I.V. Arnold defines it as “a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication”. By the sphere of communication we mean the circumstances attending the process of speech in each particular case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a formal letter, an intimate letter, a speech in court. All these circumstances or situations can be roughly classified into 2 types: formal and informal. According to it functional styles are classified into 2 groups: informal style and formal style.

In order to get a more or less clear idea of the word stock of any language, it must be presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet independent. Vocabulary is the totality of words in a language. The whole of the word stock of the English language is generally divided into 3 main layers: the literary, the neutral and the colloquial. The literary and colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all other subgroups of the layer. The common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, is called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character, which makes it unstable and fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. It can be employed in all styles of lge and in all spheres of human activity, that makes it the most stable layer of all.

The literary layer/ vocabulary consists of groups, which are accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They are:

1. common literary - they are chiefly used in writing and polished speech. Literary units stand in opposition to colloquial units and are especially apparent when pairs of synonyms are formed:

e.g.: kid- child- infant (coll.- neutr.- lit.)

daddy- father- parent

get along- start- commence

2. terms and learned words:

• terms are words or word groups which are specifically employed by a particular branch of science, trade or the arts to convey a notion peculiar to this particular activity:

e.g.: bilingual, interdental, labialisation, palatalization, glottal stop

• learned words are mainly associated with the printed page. It is in this stratum that poetry and fiction find their main resources. It includes several heterogeneous subdivisions:

1. words used in scientific prose - usually with dry, matter-of-fact flavour:

e.g.: comprise, comply, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous

2. “officialese” – words of official, bureaucratic lge:

e.g.: assist = help, endeavour = try, proceed = go, approxim = about

3. “refined” words – polysyllabic words usually drawn from the Romance languages, they seem to retain an aloofness associated with the lofty contexts. Their very sound seems to create complex and solemn associations:

e.g.: solitude, sentiment, fascination, fastidiousness, delusion, felicity, elusive.

4. modes of poetic diction - words of a lofty, high flown, sometimes archaic colouring:

e.g.: Alas! They had been friends in youth;

But whispering tongues can poison truth:

And constancy lives in realms above;

And life is thorny, and youth is vain;

And to be wroth with one we love,

Doth work like madness in the brain.

3. archaic and obsolete words stand close to learned:

• archaisms are words which are partially or fully out of circulation rejoiced by the living language. Their last refuge is in historical novels or in poetry:

e.g.: thou, thy, aye, nay

morn (= morning), eve (= evening), moon (= month)

• obsolete words are words which have completely gone out of the use, but the borderline between them is rather vague and uncertain and sometimes it’s difficult to decide to what group the words belong.

4. barbarisms (foreign words) are words borrowed from another languages without any changes of sound and spelling:

e.g.: tete – a - tete, deja - vu, kaput, karaoke

5. nonce-words (neologisms) are words created for special communicative situations only, and are not used beyond these occasions and are characterized by freshness, originality, lucidity:

e.g.: I’m not just talented. I’m genuised.

The colloquial vocabulary is used in one’s immediate circle: family, relatives or friends. One uses these words when at home or when feeling at home. They are characterized as relaxed, free – and easy, familiar and unpretentious. They fall into following groups:

1. common colloquial words (colloquialisms) are used by everybody and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide. These are informal words used both by cultivated and uneducated people:

e.g.: I’m not good enough at math. There’s a chap there just down from Cambridge who puts us through it. I can’t keep up.

2. slang is the lge of a higher colloquial style considered to be below the level of standard educated speech and consisting of new words or of current words employed in some special sense:

e.g.: mug=face; saucer, blinker=eyes; trap=mouth, dogs=feet, to leg=to walk.

3. jargonisms stand close to slang, but they are used by limited groups of people, united either professionally (= professionalisms) or socially (= jargonisms proper):

e.g.: pipeliner = swabber, bender, cat, old cat

geologist = smaller, pebble pup, rock hound

4. dialectal words are defined as “a variety of a lge, which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase”. England is a small country, but yet it has many dialects, which have their peculiar distinctive features. Dialects are regional forms of English. Dialectal peculiarities are constantly being incorporated into everyday colloquial speech and slang:

e.g.: lass, lassie, baccy (tobacco), summat (smth)

The neutral vocabulary includes words, which are stylistically neutral, and in this respect opposed to formal and informal words. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to use them in all kinds of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written communication. These words are used every day, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, education, age group or geographical location. They are words without which no human communication is possible as they denote objects and phenomena of everyday importance. This group of words is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and living core. They are also characterized by entire lack of other connotations, as their meanings are broad, general and directly convey the concept, without supplying any additional information.

ARCHAISMS

Archaisms are words which are no longer used in everyday speech, which have been ousted by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but they are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity.

Most of these words are lexical archaisms and they are stylistic synonyms of words which ousted them from the neutral style:

e.g.: steed /horse/, slay /kill/, behold /see/, perchance /perhaps/, woe /sorrow/

Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting a new meaning, then the old meaning becomes a semantic archaism:

e.g.: «fair» in the meaning «beautiful» is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning «blond» it belongs to the neutral style.

Sometimes the root of the word remains and the affix is changed, then the old affix is considered to be a morphemic archaism:

e.g.: beautious – «ous» was substituted by «ful», bepaint «be» was dropped, darksome – «some» was dropped, oft - «en» was added