Professional Documents
Culture Documents
LG also studies all kinds of semantic grouping and semantic relations such as
synonymy, antonymy, homonymy, semantic fields. Meaning relations as a whole are
dealed within semantics the Study of meaning. There are two principal approaches in
linguistic science to the study of language material:
The diachronic. Deals with the changes and the development of the
vocabulary on the course of time.
The two approaches are interconnected and interdependent. The synchronic state of
a language is the result of a long process of linguistic evolution of its historical
development.
Eg: to bag bagger (closely connected with the history, bagger is borrowed from
Old French).
There are two schools of thought in present day linguistics representing
contemporary thinking on the problem:
1)
2)
Words are phonetically motivated when there is a certain similarity between the
sounds that make up the words and the sense they denote. Such words as hiss,
bang, buzz, howl, etc. are phonetically motivated because the sounds that make
them up reflect directly or approximately the natural sounds.
Phonetically motivated are not only echoic, onomatopoeic words, but also sound
symbolic (), that denote different kinds of movement, size,
form, distance, etc.
2) Morphological motivation
One-morpheme words such as e.g. sing, tell, cat, table, etc. are non-motivated
morphologically (may be phonetically?).
Derived
words
as
e.g.
rethink,
leader,
eatable,
etc.
are
motivated
Concept
(concrete object)
The diagram illustrates the correlation between the sound form of a word, the
concrete object it denotes and the underlying concept. The dotted line suggests that
there is no immediate relation between sound form and referent + we can say that
/disappointment/, Oh,my buttons! /surprise/ etc. There are also words which
express both, notions and emotions, e.g. girlie, a pig /when used metaphorically/.
The term notion was introduced into lexicology from logics. A notion denotes
the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their relations. Notions,
as a rule, are international, especially with the nations of the same cultural level.
While meanings can be nationally limited. Grouping of meanings in the semantic
structure of a word is determined by the whole system of every language. E.g. the
English verb go and its Russian equivalent have some meanings which
coincide: to move from place to place, to extend /the road goes to London/, to
work /Is your watch going?/. On the other hand, they have different meanings: in
Russian we say : , in English we use the verb come in this case.
In English we use the verb go in the combinations: to go by bus, to go by
train etc. In Russian in these cases we use the verb .The number of
meanings does not correspond to the number of words, neither does the number of
notions. Their distribution in relation to words is peculiar in every language. The
Russian has two words for the English man: and . In
English, however, man cannot be applied to a female person. We say in Russian:
. In English we use the word person/ She is a good
person/Development of lexical meanings in any language is influenced by the
whole network of ties and relations between words and other aspects of the
language.
Differential meaning is the semantic component that serves to distinguish one
word from others containing identical morphemes (e.g. bookshelf, bookcase,
bookhaunter).
Distributional meaning is the meaning of order and arrangement of morphemes
that make up the word (e.g. heartless X lessheart).
Identical morphemes may have different sound-form (e.g. divide, divisible,
division the root morpheme is represented phonetically in different ways. They
are called allomorphs or morpheme variant of one and the same morpheme.
46. Word-Meaning and Motivation. Change of Meaning. Causes of Semantic
Change. Nature of Semantic Change. Results of Semantic Change.
WORD - MEANING
Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and the inner aspect
(its meaning) . Sound and meaning do not always constitute a constant unit even in
the same language. E.g. the word temple may denote a part of a human head
and a large church In such cases we have homonyms. One and the same word in
different syntactical relations can develop different meanings, e.g. the verb treat
in sentences:
a) He treated my words as a joke.
b) The book treats of poetry.
c) They treated me to sweets.
d) He treats his son cruelly.
In all these sentences the verb treat has different meanings and we can speak
about polysemy.
On the other hand, one and the same meaning can be expressed by different sound
forms, e.g. pilot , and airman, horror and terror. In such cases we have
synonyms.
Both the meaning and the sound can develop in the course of time independently.
E.g. the Old English /luvian/ is pronounced /l^v / in Modern English. On the other
hand, board primariliy means a piece of wood sawn thin
therefore traditional.
M. Breal was probably the first to emphasize the fact that in passing from general
usage into some special sphere of communication a word as a rule undergoes some
sort of specialisation of its meaning. The word case, for instance, alongside its
general meaning of 'circumstances in which a person or a thing is' possesses special
meanings: in law ('a law suit'), in grammar (e.g. the Possessive case), in medicine ('a
patient', 'an illness'). Compare the following:
One of Charles's cases had been a child ill with a form of diphtheria. (C. P.
SNOW) (case = a patient).
The Solicitor whom I met at the Holfords sent me a case which any young man
at my stage would have thought himself lucky to get. (Idem) (case = a question
decided, in a court of law, a law suit)
The general, not specialized meaning is also very frequent in present-day English.
For example: At last we tiptoed up the broad slippery staircase, and went to our
rooms. But in my case not to sleep, immediately at least. (Idem) (case =
circumstances in which one is)
This difference is revealed in the difference of contexts in which these words occur, in
their different valency. Words connected with illnesses and medicine in the first
example, and words connected with law and court procedures in the second, form the
s e m a n t i c p a r a d i g m of the word case.
The word play suggests different notions to a child, a playwright, a footballer,
a musician or a chess-player and has in their speech different semantic paradigms.
The same applies to the noun cell as used by a biologist, an electrician, a nun or a
representative of the law; or the word gas as understood by a chemist, a housewife, a
motorist or a miner.
In all the examples considered above a word which formerly represented a notion of
a broader scope has come to render a notion of a narrower scope. When the meaning is
specialized, the word can name fewer objects, i.e. have fewer referents. At the same
time the content of the notion is being enriched, as it includes -a greater number of
relevant features by which the notion is characterized. Or as St. Ullmann puts it: "The
word is now applicable to more things but tells us less about them." The reduction of
scope accounts for the term "narrowing of the meaning" which is even more often used
than the term "specialization". We shall avoid the term "narrowing", since it is
somewhat misleading. Actually it is neither the meaning nor the notion, but the
scope of the notion that .is narrowed.
There is also a third term for the same phenomenon, namely "differentiation",
but it is not so widely used as the first two terms.
H. Paul, as well as many other authors, emphasizes the fact that this type of
semantic change is particularly frequent in vocabulary of professional and trade
groups.H. Paul's examples are from the German language but it is very easy to find
parallel cases in English. So this type of change is fairly universal and fails to disclose
any specifically English properties.The best known examples of specialization in the
general language are as follows: OE dor 'wild beast' > ModE deer 'wild rum,inant
of a particular species' (the original meaning was still alive in Shakespeare's time as
is proved by the following quotation: Rats and mice and such small deer); OE mete
'food' >ModE meat 'edible flesh', i.e. only a particular species of food (the earlier
meaning is still noticeable in the compound sweetmeat). This last example deserves
special attention because the tendency of fixed context to preserve the original
meaning is very marked as is constantly proved by various examples. Other wellworn examples are: OE fuol 'bird' (cf. Germ Vogel) > ModE foal 'domestic birds'.
The old, meaning is still preserved in poetic diction and in set expressions, like
fowls of the air. Among its derivatives, fowler means 'a person who shoots or traps
wild birds for sport or food'; the shooting or trapping itself is called fowling; a fowling
piece is a gun. OE hund 'dog' (cf. . Germ Hund) >hound 'a species of hunting dog'.
Many words connected with literacy also show similar changes: thus, teach<.OE
tcan 'to show', 'to teach'; write <OE wrtan 'to write', 'to scratch', 'to score' (cf.
Germ reien)< writing in Europe had first the form of scratching on the bark of the
trees. Tracing these semantic changes the scholars can, as it were, witness the
development of culture.In the above examples the new meaning superseded the
earlier one. Both meanings can also coexist in the structure of a polysemantic word or
be differentiated locally. The word token < OE tce, Germ Zeichen originally had
the broad meaning of 'sign'. The semantic change that occurred in it illustrates
systematic interdependence within the vocabulary elements. Brought into
competition with the borrowed word sign it became restricted in use to a few cases
of fixed context (a love token, a token of respect, a token vote, a token payment) and
consequently restricted in meaning. In present-day English token means something
small, unimportant or cheap which represents something big, important or valuable.
Other examples of specialization are room, which alongside the new meaning keeps
the old one of 'space'; corn originally meaning 'grain', 'the seed of any cereal plant':
locally the word becomes specialized and is understood to denote the leading crop of
the district; hence in England corn means 'wheat', in Scotland 'oats', whereas in the
USA, as an ellipsis for Indian corn, it came to mean 'maize'.
47. Meaning and Polysemy. Semantic Structure of Polysemantic Words.
Diachronic Approach. Synchronic Approach. Historical Changeability of
Semantic Structure. Polysemy and Homonymy.
All lexical units semantically fall into two types:
1. monosemantic words (the words having only one lexical meaning and
denoting, accordingly, one concept)
2. Polysementic words (words having several meanings, thus denoting a
whole set of related concepts grouped according to the national peculiarities
of a given language)
Most of the lexical units marked by high frequency value arepolysemantic.
Ex. The hand (the meaning of hand is ) of my watch points to
three.
Give me your hand (the meaning of hand is )
The farmer has hired an extra hand (the meaning of handis / )
The different semantic variants of polysemantic word manifest ()
themselves in different word combination, i.e. constructions which remain
constant irrespective of the actual sentences in which they occur.
oppositions
are
primary::secondary;central::peripheric;nar
concrete
row:
::
abstract;
:extended;
main/
general:
:special/particular, and so on. In each case the comparison takes place within the
semantic structure of one word. They are characterized one against the other.Take,
for example, the noun screen. We find it in its direct meaning when it names a
movable piece of furniture used to hide something or protect somebody, as in the
case of fire-screen placed in front of a fireplace. The meaning is figurative when
the word is applied to anything which protects by hiding, as in smoke screen. We
define this meaning as figurative comparing it to the first that we called direct.
Again, when by a screen the speaker means a silver-coloured sheet on which
to
etymological,
i.e. the
important to pay attention to the fact that one and the same meaning can at once
belong, in accordance with different points, to different groups. These features of
meaning may therefore serve as distinctive features describing each meaning in
its relationship to the others.Diachronic and synchronic ties are thus closely
interconnected as the new meanings are understood thanks to their motivation by
the older meanings.
48. Homonymy of Words and Homonymy of Word-Forms. Classification of
Homonyms. Graphic and Sound-Form of Homonyms. Sources of
Homonymy. Polysemy and Homonymy.
Classification of homonyms
Homonyms are words that are identical in their sound-form or spelling but different in
meaning and distribution.
1) Homonyms proper are words similar in their sound-form and graphic but different in
meaning (e.g. "a ball"- a round object for playing; "a ball"- a meeting for dances).
2) Homophones are words similar in their sound-form but different in spelling and
meaning (e.g. "peace" - "piece", "sight"- "site").
3) Homographs are words which have similar spelling but different sound-form and
meaning (e.g. "a row" [rau]- "a quarrel"; "a row" [r u] - "a number of persons or
things in a more or less straight line")
There is another classification by . According to the type of meaning in which
homonyms differ, homonyms proper can be classified into:
I. Lexical homonyms - different in lexical meaning (e.g. "ball");
II. Lexical-grammatical homonyms which differ in lexical-grammatical meanings (e.g. "a
seal" - , "to seal" - ).
III. Grammatical homonyms which differ in grammatical meaning only (e.g. "used" - Past
Indefinite, "used"- Past Participle; "pupils"- the meaning of plurality, "pupil's"- the
meaning of possessive case).
All cases of homonymy may be subdivided into full and partial homonymy. If words are
identical in all their forms, they are full homonyms (e.g. "ball"-"ball"). But: "a seal" - "to
seal" have only two homonymous forms, hence, they are partial homonyms.
Sources of homonyms
On of source of homonyms is a phonetic change, which a word undergoes1 in
the course of it historical development. As a result of such changes, less or more
semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. We may illustrate this
by the 3 following homonyms of the word spring, means:
1) The act of springing, leap;
2) A place, where a steam of water comes up out to the sky;
3) A season of the year.
Historically all three originate from the same verb with meaning to jump, to
leap. This is the Old English word springun4. So that the meaning of the first
homonym is the oldest or the most etymological one. The meanings of the 2nd
and the 3rd examples were originally made in metaphor. As the head of the strim,
the water something lips out of the earth, so that metaphorically such a place
could be described as a leap. On the other hand, the season of the year,
following winter, could be poetically defined as a leap from the darkness and
cold into sunlight and life.
Polysemy and homonymy.
One of the most debatable problems in semasiology is the demarcation line
between homonymy and polysemy, i.e. between different meanings of one word
and the meanings of two homonymous words. Synchronically the differentiation
between homonymy and polysemy is a rule wholly based on the semantic
criterion; it is usually held that, if a connection of the various meanings is
apprehended by the speaker, these are to be considered as making up the semantic
structure of a polysemantic word, otherwise it is a case of homonymy, not
polysemy. Thus the semantic criterion implies that the difference between
polysemy and homonymy is actually reduced to the differentiation between related
and unrelated meanings.The formal criteria: distribution and spelling. The
criterion of distribution suggested by some linguists is undoubtedly helpful, but
mainly in cases of lexico-grammatical and grammatical homonymy. For example,
in the homonymic pair paper (to) paper v the noun may be preceded by the
article and followed by a verb; (to) paper can never be found in identical
distribution. This formal criterion can be used to discriminate not only lexico4
grammatical but also grammatical homonyms, but it often fails in cases of lexical
homonymy, not differentiated by means of spelling.Homonyms differing in
graphic form, e.g. such lexical homonyms as knight night or flower flour,
are easily perceived to be two different lexical units as any formal difference of
words is felt as indicative of the existence of two separate lexical units. Conversely
lexical homonyms identical both in pronunciation and spelling are often
apprehended as different meanings of one word.We have to admit that no formal
means have yet been found to differentiate between several meanings of one word
and the meanings of its homonyms
49. Meaning Relations in Paradigmatics and Semantic Classification of
Words. Semantic Fields. Hyponymic Structures and Lexico-semantic Groups.
Semantic Equivalence and Synonymy. Criteria of Synonymity. Patterns of
Synonymic Sets in Modern English. Semantic Contrasts and Antonymy.
Semantic Similarity of Morphemes and Word-Families.
The grouping out of English word stock based on the principle of proximity, may be
graphically presented by means of concentric circles.
lexico-semantic groups
lexical sets
synonyms
semantic field
The most general term hyperonym, more special hyponym (member of the group).
P
G
The meaning of the word plant includes the idea conveyed by flower, which in its turn
include
the notion of any particular flower. Flower hyperonim to and plant hyponym
l
r
to
Hyponymic relations are always hierarchic. If we imply substitution rules we shall see the
a
hyponyms may be replaced be hyperonims but not vice versa (e.g. I bought roses
yesterday.
n flower the sentence wont change its meaning).
s
Words describing different sides of one and the same general notion are united in a
lexico-semantic
group if: a) the underlying notion is not too generalized and allt
s
embracing, like the notions of time, life, process; b) the reference to the underlying is
not just an implication in the meaning of lexical unit but forms an essential part in its
semantics.
Thus, it is possible to single out the lexico-semantic group of names of colours (e.g.
pink, red, black, green, white); lexico-semantic group of verbs denoting physical
movement (e.g. to go, to turn, to run) or destruction (e.g. to ruin, to destroy, to explode,
to kill).
Criteria of Synonymity.
contextual
approach
also
invites
criticism
as
words
in
various
contexts.
It
is
argued
those
two
beam,
bucks,
the
chips,
do-re-mi,
the
needful
This
form
of
analogy
active
in
the
semantic
radiation of
Impossible:
To book in advance
To buy in advance
To book somebody
To buy somebody
To book seats
To buy seats
To buy cheaply
To book cheaply
To buy a house
To book a house
2.
11 .. . ., 1989
word family belong to the different parts of speech and joined together
only by the identity of root morphemes. In some cases however root
morpheme may be different: sun sunny- solar. Oral-orally mouth.
Brother brotherly fraternal. This is lexical supplision. Formation of
related words of a word family from phonetically different roots. In this
case we are likely to encounter etimologically different words: brother,
mouth German origin. Fraternal, oral latin origin.
50. Word groups and phraseological units. Lexical Valency. Grammatical
Valency. Structure of Word-Groups. Distribution as a Criterion of
Classification. Meaning of Word-Groups.
The main sources of phraseological units.
what
is
the
time?
3. British traditions and customs, e.g. baker's dozen a group of
thirteen. In the past British merchants of bread received from
bakers thirteen loaves instead of twelve and the thirteenth loaf
was
merchants'
profit.
4. Superstitions and legends, e.g. a black sheep a less
successful or more immoral person in a family or a group'.
5.historical facts and events, personalities, e.g. as well be hanged
(or hung) for a sheep as a lamb something that you say when
you are going to be punished for something so you decide to do
something worse because your punishment will not be any more
severe.
6. Phenomena and facts of everyday life, e.g. carry coals to
Newcastle to take something to a place where there is plenty
of
it
available'.
The main sources of borrowed phraseological units are:
1. The Holy Script, e.g. the left hand does not know what the right
hand is doing communication in an organization is bad so that
one part does not know what is happening in another pan.
2. Ancient legends and myths belonging to different religious or
cultural traditions, e.g. to cut the Gordian knot to deal with a
mere sum total of all these meanings! Polysemantic words are used in word groups
only in 1 of their meanings. These meanings of the component words in such word
groups are mutually interdependent and inseparable (blind man a human being
unable to see, blind type the copy isnt readable).Word groups possess not only
the lexical meaning, but also the meaning conveyed mainly by the pattern of
arrangement of their constituents. The structural pattern of word groups is the
carrier of a certain semantic component not necessarily dependent on the actual
lexical meaning of its members (school grammar grammar which is taught in
school, grammar school a type of school). We have to distinguish between
the structural meaning of a given type of word groups as such and the lexical
meaning of its constituents.It is often argued that the meaning of word groups is
also dependent on some extra-linguistic factors on the situation in which word
groups are habitually used by native speakers.Words put together to form lexical
units make phrases or word-groups. One must recall that lexicology deals with
words, word-forming morphemes and word-groups.
The degree of structural and semantic cohesion of word-groups may vary. Some
word-groups, e.g. at least, point of view, by means, to take place, etc. seem to be
functionally and semantically inseparable. They are usually described as set
phrases, word-equivalents or phraseological units and are studied by the branch of
lexicology which is known as phraseology. In other word-groups such as to take
lessons, kind to people, a week ago, the component-members seem to possess
greater semantic and structural independence. Word-groups of this type are defined
as free word-groups or phrases and are studied in syntax.Before discussing
phraseology it is necessary to outline the features common to various word-groups
irrespective of the degree of structural and semantic cohesion of the componentwords.There are two factors which are important in uniting words into wordgroups:
the lexical valency of words;
the grammatical valency of words.
() , () ()
() in Russian.
4. Expressivity and emotiveness means that idioms are also characterized by stylistic
colouring. In other words, they evoke emotions or add expressiveness.
On the whole phraseological units, even if they present a certain pattern, do
not generate new phrases. They are unique. Interlanguage comparison, the aim of
which is the exposure of phraseological conformities, forms the basis of a number
of theoretical and applied trends of modern linguistic research, including the theory
and practice of phraseography. But the question of determining the factors of
interlanguage phraseological conformities as the main concept and the criterion of
choosing phraseological equivalents and analogues as the aspect concepts is still at
issue.The analysis of special literature during the last decades shows that the
majority of linguists consider the coincidence of semantic structure, grammatical
(or syntactical) organization and componential (lexeme) structure the main criteria
in defining the types of interlanguage phraseological conformities/disparities with
the undoubted primacy of semantic structure.Comparing the three approaches
discussed above (semantic, functional, and contextual) we have ample ground to
conclude that have very much in common as, the main criteria of phraseological
units appear to be essentially the same, i.e. stability and idiomaticity or lack of
motivation. It should be noted however that these criteria as elaborated in the three
approaches are sufficient mainly to single out extreme cases: highly idiomatic nonvariable and free (or variable) word- groups.
52. Word-Structure. Segmentation of Words into Morphemes. Types of
Word Segmentability. Classification of Morphemes. Morphemic Types of
Words.
driller fall into the morphemes boil-, drill- and -er by virtue of the recurrence of the
morpheme -er in these and other similar words and of the morphemes boil- and
drill- in to boil, a boil, boiling and to drill, a drill, drilling, a drill-press, etc.
Likewise, words like flower-pot and shoe-lace are segmented into the morphemes
flower-, pot-, shoe- and lace- (cf. flower-show, flowerful, etc., shoe-brush,
shoeless, etc., on the one hand; and pot-lid, pottery, etc., lace-boots, lacing, etc., on
the other).Like a word a morpheme is a two-facet language unit, an association of a
certain meaning with a certain sound-pattern. Unlike a word a morpheme is not an
autonomous unit and can occur in speech only as a constituent part of the word.
Morphemes cannot be segmented into smaller units without losing their
constitutive essence, i.e. two-facetedness, association of a certain meaning with a
given sound-pattern, cf. the morpheme lace- denoting 'a string or cord put through
small holes in shoes', etc.; 'to draw edges together' and the constituent phonemes
[l], [ei], [s] entirely without meaning.Identification of morphemes in various texts
shows that morphemes may have different phonemic shapes.In the word-cluster
please, pleasing, pleasure, pleasant the root-morpheme is represented by phonemic
shapes: [pli:z] in please, pleasing, [plez] in pleasure and [plez] in pleasant. In such
cases we say that the phonemic shapes of the word stand in complementary
distribution or in alternation with each other. All the representations of the given
morpheme that manifest alteration are called allomorphs of that morpheme or
morpheme variants. Thus [pli:z, plez] and [l] are allomorphs of and the
same morpheme. The root-morphemes in the word-cluster duke, ducal, duchess,
duchy or poor, poverty may also serve as examples of the allomorphs of one
morpheme.
TYPES OF WORD-SEGMENTABILITY
Word-segmentability is the division of words into morphemes. Three types
of morphemic segmentability of words are distinguished: complete, conditional,
defective.
5.1. COMPLETE SEGMENTABILITY
root-morpheme, e.g. small, dog, make, give, etc. All plmrphi words according
to the number of root-morphemes are classified into two subgroups: monoradical
(or one-root words) and polyradical words, i.e. words which consist of two or more
roots. Monoradical words fall into two subtypes: 1) radical-suffixal words, i.e.
words that consist of one root-morpheme and one or more suffixal morphemes, e.g.
acceptable, acceptability, blackish, etc.; 2)radical-prefixal words, i.e. words that
consist of one root-morpheme and a prefixal morpheme, e.g. outdo, rearrange,
unbutton, etc. and 3) prefixo-radical-suffixal, i.e. words which consist of one root,
a prefixal and suffixal morphemes, e.g. disagreeable, misinterpretation, etc.
Polyradical words fall into two types: 1) polyradical words which consist of
two or more roots with no affixational morphemes, e.g. book-stand, eye-ball, lampshade, etc. and 2) words which contain at least two roots and one or more
affixational morphemes, e.g. safety-pin, wedding-pie, class-consciousness, lightmindedness, pen-holder, etc.
formation out of native material. Old prefixes (some of them) disappeared forever
(too weak phonetically)
tEdNowadays English has no prefixed equivalents for some German prefixes
ErVerZerA lot of borrowed prefixes in English:
AutoDemiMonoMultiSemiPostSUFFIXATION
A suffix is a derivative final element, which is or was productive in forming new
words.It has semantic value, but doesnt occur as an independent speech use.
The contact of English with foreign languages has led to the adoption of countless
foreign words, which started to be used in word building. we have many hybrid
types of derivatives.A hybrid is a word different element of which are of
etymologically different origin.
2 groups:
1) A foreign word is combined with a native affix
- full
- less
- ness
clearness, faithless, faithful
2) Foreign affixes are added to native words
- ance
- al
- ity
- able
As for the first 3 they have never become productive in English; - able was
assimilated in English very early and has became productive in many words.
Eatable
Loveable
Semi suffixes are elements, which stand midway between full words & suffixes
- like
- worthy
- way
- wise
a Godlike creature
trustworthy
clockwise
midway
6 ways of suffixing in English:
1) Derivation by native suffixes without changes in stress, vowels, consonants
Godlike
2) Derivation by borrowed suffix without changes in stress, vowels, consonants
loveable
types. By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving
new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to
identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called
nonce-words, i. e. words coined and used only for this particular occasion. The
latter are usually formed on the level of living speech and reflect the most
productive and progressive patterns in word-building. When a literary critic
writes about a certain book that it is an unputdownable thriller, we will seek in
vain this strange and impressive adjective in dictionaries, for it is a nonce-word
coined on the current pattern of Modern English and is evidence of the high
productivity of the adjective-forming borrowed suffix -able and the native
prefix un-.
Consider, for example, the following:
Professor Pringle was a thinnish, baldish, dispeptic-lookingish cove with an eye
like a haddock.
The adjectives thinnish and baldish bring to mind dozens of other adjectives made
with the same suffix: oldish, youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish, longish,
yellowish, etc. But dispeptic-lookingish is the author's creation aimed at a
humorous effect, and, at the same time, proving beyond doubt that the suffix
-ish is a live and active one.
The same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: "/ don't like
Sunday evenings: I feel so Mondayish". (Mondayish is certainly a nonce-word.)
One should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency of
occurrence. There are quite a number of high-frequency affixes which,
nevertheless, are no longer used in word-derivation (e. g. the adjective-forming
native suffixes -ful, -ly; the adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin -ant,
-ent, -al which are quite frequent).
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In
English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent
than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in
which they are used : prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in
functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are
bound morphemes, e.g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are
semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e.g.
over- (overhead) ( cf over the table ).
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the
same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five
prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton,
interfamily, postcollege etc).Prefixes can be classified according to different
principles :
1. Semantic classification :
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals), un(unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re(revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter- (interplanetary) ,
hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over(overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.
Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In
English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than
suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they
are used : prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words.
Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes,
e.g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes
because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead) ( cf over the
table ).The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of
the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five
prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton,
interfamily, postcollege etc). Prefixes can be classified according to different
principles :
1. Semantic classification :
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals),
un- (unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re(revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter(interplanetary) , hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over(overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.
When we analyze such words as : adverb, accompany where we can find the
root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac- as prefixes though they
were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from
Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can treat them as
derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of
words with a disputable structure are such as : contain, retain, detain and conceive,
receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-, con- act as prefixes and -tain,
-ceive can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations of sounds
have no lexical meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat
such words as simple words, others as derived ones.
There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some
scientists, e.g. after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on
Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British lexicographers
treat such words as derived ones.
can be formed from nouns of different semantic groups and have different
meanings because of that, e.g.
a) verbs have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting
parts of a human body e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder etc. They have
instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting tools, machines,
instruments, weapons, e.g. to hammer, to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail,
b) verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the
noun from which they have been converted, e.g. to crowd, to wolf, to ape,
c) verbs can denote acquisition, addition or deprivation if they are formed from
nouns denoting an object, e.g. to fish, to dust, to peel, to paper,
d) verbs can denote an action performed at the place denoted by the noun from
which they have been converted, e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to
pocket,
e) verbs can denote an action performed at the time denoted by the noun from
which they have been converted e.g. to winter, to week-end .
Verbs can be also converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the
change of the state, e.g. to tame (to become or make tame) , to clean, to slim etc.
Nouns can also be formed by means of conversion from verbs. Converted nouns
can denote:
a) instant of an action e.g. a jump, a move,
b) process or state e.g. sleep, walk,
c) agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been
converted, e.g. a help, a flirt, a scold ,
d) object or result of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has
been converted, e.g. a burn, a find, a purchase,
e) place of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been
converted, e.g. a drive, a stop, a walk.
Many nouns converted from verbs can be used only in the Singular form and
denote momentaneous actions. In such cases we have partial conversion. Such
deverbal nouns are often used with such verbs as : to have, to get, to take etc., e.g.
to have a try, to give a push, to take a swim .
CRITERIA OF SEMANTIC DERIVATION
In cases of conversion the problem of criteria of semantic derivation arises :
which of the converted pair is primary and which is converted from it. The
problem was first analized by prof. A.I. Smirnitsky. Later on P.A. Soboleva
developed his idea and worked out the following criteria:
1. If the lexical meaning of the root morpheme and the lexico-grammatical
meaning of the stem coincide the word is primary, e.g. in cases pen - to pen, father
- to father the nouns are names of an object and a living being. Therefore in the
nouns pen and father the lexical meaning of the root and the lexicogrammatical meaning of the stem coincide. The verbs to pen and to father
denote an action, a process therefore the lexico-grammatical meanings of the stems
do not coincide with the lexical meanings of the roots. The verbs have a complex
semantic structure and they were converted from nouns.
2. If we compare a converted pair with a synonymic word pair which was
formed by means of suffixation we can find out which of the pair is primary. This
criterion can be applied only to nouns converted from verbs, e.g. chat n. and
chat v. can be compared with conversation - converse.
3. The criterion based on derivational relations is of more universal character. In
this case we must take a word-cluster of relative words to which the converted pair
belongs. If the root stem of the word-cluster has suffixes added to a noun stem the
noun is primary in the converted pair and vica versa, e.g. in the word-cluster : hand
n., hand v., handy, handful the derived words have suffixes added to a noun stem,
that is why the noun is primary and the verb is converted from it. In the wordcluster: dance n., dance v., dancer, dancing we see that the primary word is a verb
and the noun is converted from it.
56. Word-Composition. Compounding. Structure. Meaning. Structural
Meaning of the Pattern. The Meaning of Compounds. Motivation.
Classification. Relations between the ICs of Compounds. Different Parts of
Speech. Means of Composition. Types of Bases. Correlation between
distributional pattern.
The distributional pattern shows the order and arrangement of
the bases. Two compounds that have the same bases but different
distributional patterns will have different meanings (a finger-ring,
a ring-finger). As a rule a second base determines the part of
speech meaning of the compound.
The lexical meaning of a compound doesn't coincide with the
combined meanings of its bases. There is always some additional
semantic element that reflects among objects and phenomena in
the outer world. Semantic relations between the compounds can
be described as certain types:
- spacial () a garden-party, a finger-ring, a
nose-ring
- functional a key-hole, a dollhouse / a babysitter, a bodyguard
- resemblance () - snow-white
- producing a similar effect or acting in a typical way a rattlesnake ( )
If the meaning of the compound and the semantic relations
between the bases are clear then the compound is motivated
(red-current ).
If the meaning of the compound and the semantic relations
between the bases are not clear then the compound is nonmotivated (redneck ).
Criteria of distinguishing between compounds and free-word
combinations.
Compounds are inseparable lexical units that are presented in
dictionaries in special entries and sub-entries. Compounds are
reproduced and used in speech as lexical units, they are not
formed in speech like free-word combinations. They are only
pronounced as lexical units (a red rose, a redskin).
Inseparability of compounds has graphical (one word or a
hyphen), phonetic (stress), morphological (only 2 base shows
grammatical category) and semantic (grammatical formes differ
from the forms of the motivating words (richer more oil-richer)
criteria.
Means of composition
From the point of view of the means by which the components are joined
together compound words may be classified into:
1) Words formed by merely placing one constituent after another (e.g. housedog, pot-pie) can be: asyntactic (the order of bases runs counter to the order in
which the words can be brought together under the rules of syntax of the language,
e.g. red-hot, pale-blue, oil-rich) and syntactic (the order of words arranged
according to the rules of syntax, e.g. mad-doctor, blacklist).
2) Compound words whose ICs are joined together with a special linkingelement - linking vowels (o) and consonants (s), e.g. speedometer, tragicomic,
statesman. The additive compound adjectives linked with the help of the vowel
[ou] are limited to the names of nationalities and represent a specific group with a
bound root for the first component, e.g. Sino-Japanese, Afro-Asian, Anglo-Saxon
57. Minor types of word formation. Clipping. Blending. Abbreviation.
Sound interchange. Sound imitation. Back formation. Distinct stress.
Minor types of word-formation.
Word-formation is the system of derivative types of words and the process of
creating new words from the material available in the language after certain
structural and semantic formulas and patterns. A distinction is made between
two principal types of word-formation: word-derivation and word-composition.
The basic ways of forming words in word-derivation are affixation and
conversion. Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes,
e.g. heartless (from heart), to overdo (from to do). Conversion is the
formation of a new word b> bringing a stem of this word into a different
formal paradigm, e.g. a fall (from to fall), to slave (from a slave). The basic
form of the original and the basic form of the derived words in case of
conversion are homonymous.
Word-composition is the formation of a new word by combining two or more
stems which occur in the language as free forms, e.g. doorhandle. housekeeper.
rt from principal there are some minor types of modern word- formation. i.e.
shortening, blending, acronymy. sound interchange, sound imitation,
distinctive stress, and back-formation.
Shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word. According
to the part of the word that is cut off (initial, middle or final) there are the
following types of shortenings: 1) initial.fend (v) < defend, phone < telephone;
2) medial, specs < spectacles, fancy < fantasy, 3) final, ad. advert <
advertisement, veg < vegetables.3)both initial and final, flu < influenza, fridge
< refrigerator.
Blending is the formation of a new word by combining pans of two words. Blends
may be of two types: 1) additive type that may be transformed into a phrase
Specialization (restriction) of meaning, e.g. hound the dog of any breed > the
dog able to chase; Foul any bird> domestic bird.
Generalization of meaning: camp the place where troops are lodged in tents; >
any temporary quarters.
Changes in the connotational component (accompanying the changes in
denotation):
Pejorative development: boor a villager > a clumsy or ill-bred fellow
Ameliorative development: minister a servant > acivil servant of higher rank.
Semantic extension and numerical growth of the vocabulary.
Semantic extension and homonymy,cf.:
Shave 1. to cut hair from ones face, very close to the skin, using a razor or shaver.
When he had shaved, he dressed and went down to the kitchen. n.to reduce smth
by a small amount. We could shave prices a bit.
(slang) to defeat, esp. by a small margin; to take advantage of.
Horse 1. An animal N. (slang) heroine.
Words historically related can be apprehended as homonyms, e.g.:
Flower 1. The part of the plant which is often brightly colored, grows on a
stem
Flour 1. A white or brown powder that is made by grinding wheat used for
making bread. Etymologically they go back to OF flur, flour > ME flour flower,
the best part of anything. Words unrelated can be apprehended as meanings of the
same word:
Ear 1.the ears of a person or an animal are two matching parts of their body, one
on each side of their head (OE are,Lat auris) 4. The ears of a cereal plant such
as wheat or barley are the parts at the top of the stem, which contain the see ds or
grains. (OE ar, cf Lat acus, aceris). weed wild useless plant (OE wod)
weeds mourning garments worn by a widow (OE woed garment)
Polysemy, frequency and word structure, e.g. Heart (6), hearty (3), heartily (2),
heartless, heartiness, heartsick.
Polysemy and stylistic reference, e.g. break (35), demolish (2); face (10),
countenance (1) Polysemy, frequency and etymology. Late borrowings (regime,
bourgeoisie, genre) vs early borrowings. The difference between words in
synonymic groups: small, little, diminutive, petite, wee, tiny, minute, miniature,
microscopic. Polysemy of affixes: non- a)'negative' non-human; non-existence.
b)'pretended','pseudo',e.g. non-book;
non-event. Monosemantic words are usually terms, e.g.: hydrogen, molecule.
A polysemous word can have from five to one hundred meanings. Highly
polysemous words: go (40 meanings), get, put, take 30 meanings.
Polysemy from a diachronic point of view (Which meaning came first?)
table 1. A flat slab of stone or wood. (OE tabule) Polysemy from a synchronic
point of view (which meaning is the basic one?) Hornby: table 1. a piece of
furniture; 2. people seated at a table: a ~ of card-players; 3. food provided at a
~ : He keeps a good ~; 4. Plateau, level land; 5. List, orderly arrangement of facts:
~ of contents; 6. (in the Bible) Flat slab of stone Collins Cobuild: table 1. A piece
of furniture; 2. A chart of facts and figures which are shown in rows 3. A
list of multiplication of numbers betwee one and and twelve: She knows her tables
already. Criteria of the comparative value of individual meanings.
a) frequency of their occurrence in speech: table 1 - 55% .
b) stylistic neutrality hand 1. The part of the body which is at the end of your
arm -72% 7. Someone, usu. A man who does hard physical work: farm hands
- 2,8% c) ability to explain other meanings c)psychological salience
Order 1. n. Arrangement in sequence - 77%; 2. v. to request smth to be made for
payment - 76%. Cf Cobuild 1. In order to; 2.3 Smth that you are told to do; 3.1
arrangement in sequence Systematic relationships between semantics and syntax
(Works of Beth Levin, Sue Atkins, Malka Rappaport): bake
1. Every morning they baked their own baguettes and croissants; as we baked we
talked a great deal (The indefinite object alternation; cf other creation verbs: Mrs
Babcock is embroidering a sampler). 2. Jennifer has baked a special cake for
Alexander (the benefactive alternation; cf She boiled some tea for me)
In the study of the borrowed element in English the main emphasis is as a rule placed on
the Middle English period. Borrowings of later periods became the object of investigation
only in recent years. These investigations have shown that the flow of borrowings has been
steady and uninterrupted. The greatest number has come from French. They refer to
various fields of social-political, scientific and cultural life. A large portion of borrowings is
scientific and technical terms.
The number and character of borrowed words tell us of the relations between the peoples,
the level of their culture, etc.
Some borrowings, however, cannot be explained by the direct influence of certain
historical conditions, they do not come along with any new objects or ideas. Such were for
instance the words air, place, brave, gay borrowed from French.
Also we can say that the closer the languages, the deeper is the influence. Thus under
the influence of the Scandinavian languages, which were closely related to Old English,
some classes of words were borrowed that could not have been adopted from non-related
or distantly related languages (the pronouns they, their, them); a number of
Scandinavian borrowings were felt as derived from native words (they were of the same
root and the connection between them was easily seen), e.g. drop (AS.) drip (Scand.),
true (AS.)-tryst (Scand.); the Scandinavian influence even accelerated to a certain
degree the development of the grammatical structure of English.
Borrowings enter the language in two ways: through oral speech (early periods of
history, usually short and they undergo changes ) and through written speech
(recent times, preserve spelling and peculiarities of the sound form ).
Borrowings may be direct or indirect
before /r/ as the same letters with two dots above them, e.g. / a/, /o/ and by the
letter e with two dots above it for the combinations er, ir, ur because
they are pronounced identically. The same tendency is preserved for other
sounds : /u:/ is denoted by /oo/, /y/ is used for the sound /j/ etc.
Classification of dictionaries. Dictionaries may be classified under different
heads. According to the choice of items included and the sort of information given
about these items dictionaries may be divided into two big groups: linguistic and
encyclopaedic dictionaries. Encyclopaedic dictionaries describe different objects,
phenomena, people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionaries
describe vocabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, their usage. Words
are usually given in the alphabetical order. Linguistic dictionaries can be further
divided into different categories by different criteria.
1. According to the scope of their word-list linguistic dictionaries are divided into
general and restricted.
General dictionaries represent the vocabulary as a whole with a degree of
completeness depending upon the scope and the bulk of the book in question.
Some general dictionaries may have very specific aims and still be considered
general due to their coverage. They include frequency dictionary, a rhyming g
dictionary, a Thesaurus, explanatory, translation dictionaries, etc.
Restricted dictionaries cover only a certain specific part of the vocabulary.
Restricting dictionaries can be subdivided depending on whether the words are
chosen according to the sphere of human activity in which they are used, the type
of the units themselves or the relations existing between them. The first sub-group
registers and explains technical terms for various branches of knowledge (medical,
linguistic, economical terms, etc.), e.g. the Merriam-Websters Dictionary of Law.
The second sub-group deals with specific language units, i.e. with phraseological
units, abbreviations, neologisms, borrowings, toponyms, dialectal words, proverbs
and sayings, e.g. the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Proverbs. The third sub-group
contains a formidable array of synonymic dictionaries, e.g. Merriam-Websters
Pocket Guide to Synonyms.
2. According to the information they provide all linguistic dictionaries fall into two
groups: explanatory and specialized.
Explanatory dictionaries present a wide range of data, especially with regard
to the semantic aspect of the vocabulary items entered, e.g. the New Oxford
Dictionary of English.
Specialized dictionaries deal with lexical units only in relation to some of their
characteristics, i.e. only in relation to their etymology, frequency, pronunciation,
usage, e.g. the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary.
3. According to the language of explanations, i.e. whether the information about the
item entered given in the same language or in another language, all dictionaries are
divided into: monolingual and bilingual.In monolingual dictionaries the words
and the information about them are given in the same language, e.g. New Shorter
Oxford English Dictionary.Bilingual dictionaries are those that explain words by