American English, lexical meaning and word structure

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Билет 1. Word as a basic unit of language. Definition. Characteristics

word english vocabulary units

Basic units of the language are: morpheme, word, phrase, sentence, text. The borderline between various linguistic units is not always sharp and clear and it is important to indicate the most important features and characteristics of the notion expressed by the term when we try to define it. Structurally words are inseparable lexical units taking shape in a definite system of grammatical forms and syntactic characteristics, which distinguishes them both from morphemes and word-groups.

When we characterize the word we should distinguish it from other linguistic units showing it's main characteristic features. Every definition is a very difficult task. The definition of a word is most difficult because every word has very many different aspects. It is a certain arrangement of phonemes and has its sound form. It has its morphological structure being also an arrangement of morphemes. It can occur in different word-forms and signal different meanings.

The term word denotes the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment. A word is simultaneously a semantic, grammatical and phonological unit. The word is the principle and basic unit of the language system, the largest on the morphologic and the smallest on the syntactic plane of linguistic analysis.

The word is a structural and semantic entity within the language system. So the word is a two-facet unit possessing both form and content. A word is the central element of many linguistic disciplines e.g. phonology, syntax, morphology, but it's also studied by non-linguistic sciences which still deal with language and speech, such as philosophy and psychology. In every domain of science the definition of the word as a basic unit of the language will have its specific features. There are numerous definitions of the word which characterize and define it from different point of view.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher gave materialistic approach - Words are not mere sounds but names of matter. Within linguistics the word has been defined syntactically, semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches.

Syntactically the word is defined as '4he minimum sentence" (H. Sweet and as "a minimum free form" by L. Bloomfield) Syntactic and semantic defines the word as "one of the smallest, completely satisfying bits of isolated meaning" (definition is given by Edward Sapir)

Semantic definition defines the word as a "meaningful unit" (definition is given byStephen Ullman)Features of the word as a basic unit of the languase : indivisibility /uninterruptabilityl(\i can not be cut without changing the meaning, it's an inseparable lexical unit), positional mobility (within a sentence a word is capable of functioning alone).

Билет 2. Morpheme as a basic unit of the language. Types of morphemes. Free and bound forms. Allomorphs

A word is an autonomous unit of language in which a given meaning is associated with a given sound complex which is susceptible of a given grammatical employment and able to form a sentence by itself we'll have the possibility to distinguish it from the other fundamental language unit -- the morpheme. The morpheme occurs in speech only as constituent parts of words, not independently. Morphemes are not divisible into smaller meaningful units. According to the role, morphemes may play in constructing words, they are subdivided into roots and affixes. The morpheme which bears the main lexical meaning of the word is called a root morpheme. e.g. end, ending, endless, unending, endlessness, endlessly or boy, boyhood, boyish, the morphemes which are the lexical nuclei of the words are end and boy. Affixational morphemes or affixes are subdivided into suffixes and prefixes. Affixational morphemes = derivational аnd inflexious. A root vs a stem. A root together with derivational affixes makes up a stem. E.g. -ion/ tion/ sion / ation / are the positional variants of the same affix. Allomorphs may occur among prefixes.

e.g. in - before labials gives im: impossible, immediate

before r gives ir: irregular

before 1 - il: illegal

FREE and BOUND morphemes

FREE morphemes coincide with word-forms of independently functioning word. It is obvious that free morphemes can be found only among roots, so the morpheme boy- in the word boy is a free morpheme.

BOUND morphemes are those which do not coincide with separate word-forms. Consequently all derivational morphemes, such as -ness, able, etc. are bound. Root morphemes can be both free and bound. It is important to note that morphemes can have different phonemic shapes. In the word cluster please, pleasing, pleasure, pleasant the root morpheme is represented by phonemic shapes /pli:z/, /plez/, /plezh/. 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 alternation are called allomorphs of that morpheme or morpheme variants.

Билет 3. Derivational and functional affixes

Affixation is a way of word-building when new words are formed by adding suffixes or prefixes.

e.g. -dom - a state, condition

-ship - to create, to shape

-hood - the state of being

Etymology - affixes are subdivided into 2 groups:

1)Native or Germanic (affixes created in English language itself at different periods of its development - under, out, er, hood, dom, ness)

2)Borrowed from Latin, Greek, French (pre, anti, age, ation)

Function - affixes are subdivided into:

1. Form - building affixes (inflexious)

2. Word - building affixes (derivational)

To the first belong -en (oxen), -s, -es (boys, books, classes), -s, -es (sits, teachers, drivers)

To word - building affixes belong those by means of which new words are formed easi-ly, boy-hood.

Productivity - affixes are subdivided into:

a) productive affixes (they form new words in Modern English).

b) non - productive affixes (which don't form new words but are available in many existing).

e.g. disharmony, hostage, continuous

c) dead - affixes (which don't look like affixes at the 1st sight, but are understood as such after diachronical analysis)

e.g. seduce, bishopric, wedlock, hatred, twinkle, clatter, blubber

im- occurs before bilabials (impossible), Ir- before r (irregular), il- before l (illegal).

al (ial), ical, ve, ancy, ency, ant (ent), ive are among the 32 most frequent suffixes of the English vocabulary.

e.g. labial, formal, logical, attentive, frequency, important, independent

Lexicology is primarily concerned with derivational affixes , the other group being the domain of grammarians.

Functional affixes, serve to convey grammatical meaning. Thеy build different forms of one and the same word.

(near, nearer, nearest; son, sons, son's, sons'; plays, played, playing)

Derivational affixes serve to supply the stem with components of lexical and lexico-grammatical meaning, and thus form different words. One and the same lexico-grammatical meaning of the affix is sometimes accompanied by different combinations of various lexical meanings. (gold-golden, child-childish, lion-lioness)



Билет 4. Classification of suffixes

noun-forming : -er (e. g. worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.); -ness (e. g. coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc.); -ing (e. g. feeling, meaning, singing, reading, etc.); - dom (e. g. freedom, wisdom, kingdom, etc.); -hood (childhood, manhood, motherhood, etc.); -ship (e. g. friendship, companionship, mastership, etc.)

adjective-forming : -ful (e. g. careful, joyful, wonderful, sinful, skilful, etc.); -less (e. g. careless, sleepless, cloudless, senseless, etc.); - у (e. g. cozy, tidy, merry, snowy, showy, etc.), -ish (e. g. English, Spanish, reddish, childish, etc.); - ly (e. g. lonely, lovely, ugly, likely, lordly,etc.); -en (e. g. wooden, wollen, silken, golden, etc.); - some (e. g. handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.)

verb-forming : -en (e. g. widen, redden, darken, sadden, etc.)

adverb-forming : -ly (e. g. warmly, hardly, simply, carefully, coldly, etc.)

Borrowed affixes, especially of Roman origin are numerous in the English vocabulary. An affix of a foreign origin can be regarded as borrowed only after it has begun an independent and active life in the recipient language, that is, is taking part in the word making processes of that language, e. g. thinnish, baldish, etc.

Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive 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 suffixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce- words, i.e. words coined and used only for the particular occasions.

Some productive affixes noun-forming suffixes: -ize/-ise, ate refixes :

Some non-productive affixes noun-forming suffixes : -th. -hood adjective-forming suffixes : -ly, -some, -en,-ous verb-forming suffix : -en

The morpheme, and therefore affix, which is a type of morpheme, is generally defined as the smallest indivisible component of the word possessing a meaning of its own. Meanings of affixes are specific and considerably differ from those of root morphemes.

1. Suffixes of nouns:

age - marriage

ance/ence - distance, difence

ancy/ency - constancy, tendency

ant/ent - assistant, student

dom - freedom

er - writer

ess - actrees

hood - motherhood

ing - building

ion/tion/sion/ation - rebellion, creation, tension, explanation

ist - novelist

ism - communism

ment - government

ness - tenderness, greatness

ship - friendship

ty - honesty

2. Adjective-forming suffixes:

able/ible/uble - unbearable, soluble

al - formal, local

ic - public

ical - ethical

ant/ent - dependent, rependant

ary - revolutionary

ate/ete - accurate, complete

ed/d - wooded

ful - delightful

ian - Australian

ish - Irish

ive - active

less - useless

like - lifelike

ly - manly

ous/ious- tremendous, curious

some - tiresome, wholesome

у - cloudy, dressy, handy

3. Numeral suffixes:

fold - twofold

teen - fourteen

th - seventh

ty - sixty

4. Verb - forming suffixes:

ate - facilitate, instigate

er - glimmer, glitter

en - shorten

fy/ify - terrify, beatify

ise - organize

ish- establish

5. Adverb - forming suffixes:

ly - coldly

ward - upward, north-wards

wise - likewise

Билет 5. Stem. Types of stems

The structure of stems must be described in terms of ICs analysis. The Ics method at this level proceeds from the principle of double opposition in contrast to the principles of morphemic analysis. Each 1С of the stem should appear in a set of words with the meaning it has in the stem under discussion e.g. The stem of the adverb untruly should be segmented into the 1С -ly and the 1С untrue and not un + truly, because the prefix un- is regularly added to the adjective stems and not to adverb stems. The suffix -ly is freely used with adjective stems to build adverb stems, e.g. justly, slowly, luckily, etc. So the stem untruly- is built on the adjective stem untrue- with the help of the suffix -ly. The stem untrue- may in turn be segmented into the prefix un- and the stem true-.

There are three structural types of stems: simple, derived and compound.

Simple stems are semantically non-motivated. They do not constitute a pattern on analogy with which new stems may be constructed. Simple stems are generally monomorphic and phonetically identical with the root-morpheme. The derivational structure of stems does not always coincide with the result of morphemic analysis.

Derived stems are built on stems of various structure through which they are motivated. Derived stems are understood on the basis of the derivative relations between their Ics and the correlated stems. Eg. The derived stem girlish- is understood through the comparison with the simple stem girl it is built on and on the basis of derivative relations between it and the suffix -ish. The derived stems are mostly polymorphic in which case the segmentation results only in one 1С that is itself a stem. The other 1С being necessarily a derivational affix, e.g. girlishness.

The Ics here are the suffix -ness and the stem girlish-. Derived stems are not necessarily polymorphic. E.g. the stem of the verb (to) parrot is one-morpheme stem, but it should be considered as derived as it is felt by the native speaker as more complex and semantically dependent on the simple stem of the noun parrot. The verbial stem parrot- is understood through the derivative relations with this simple noun-stem which makes it motivated.

Compound stems are made up of two ICs, both of which are themselves sterus, e.g. matchbox, driving-suit, etc.

The comparison of the two levels of analysis proves that their results coincide only in elementary cases and even then they are given a different interpretation. Ex. the stem penholder is at both levels compound, but a morphemic analysis finds it to consist of two root morphemes and a suffix, whereas in terms of the derivational analysis it is built by joining two stems, one of which (pen-) is simple, the other (holder-) derived.

Билет 6. Word composition. Compound words. The criteria of compounds

3 types of relations: 1) the relations of the members to each other, 2) the relations of the whole to its members and 3) correlation with equivalent free phrases.

Determined part, =the determinant and the determinatum. e.g. sunbeam the second part is determinatum. The determinant “sun” serves to differentiate it from other beams.

A compound is very often different in meaning from a corresponding syntactic group. Thus a "blackboard" is very different from a black board.

A "chatterbox" is a person who talks a lot without saying anything important.

A "slowcoutch" is also idiomatic and is not a vehicle but a person who moves slowly.

a fuss-pot - суетливый человек

a blackleg (strice-breaker)

blackmail (to get money by threats )

bluestoking - синий чулок

“Sunday” is the day named in honour of God of the sun and literally sun day, but for M.E. combination "a rainy Sunday" will not seem contradictory.

man-of-war - военный корабль (not a military man)

merchantman - торговое судно

Classification of the Compounds

The following groups are established according to the type of composition:

1. A mere juxtaposition without connecting elements

heartache, heatbreake, heartbreaking (a)

2. Composition with a vowel or a consonant as a linking element

speedometr, Afro-Asian, handicraft

3. Compounds with linking elements represented by preposition or junction stems

matter of fact, son-in-law, up-to-date

4. Compound-derivatives in which the structural integrity of the two free stems is ensured by a suffix referring to the combination as a whole, not to one of its elements

kind-hearted, schoolboyishness

5. Compounds where at least one of the constituents is a clipped stem

H-bag, H-bomb, A- bomb, V-Day

Historical Changes in the Structure of Compound Words

Sometimes the compound is altered beyond all recognition. Thus in the name of the flower "daizy" or in the word "woman" composition can be discovered by etymological analysis only:

daizy - OE days eye

woman - OE wifman husband - OE master of the house

Demotivation is etymological isolation, when the word loses its ties with other word or words with which it was formerly associated, ceases to be understood as belonging to its original word - family.

e.g. kidnap - literally means to seize a young goat (now to steal a child and recently - a public figure).

The process of demotivation starts from semantic change. The change of the sound form comes later.

e.g. lady - OE hlafdige (hlaf - loaf), dig (месить) - хлеб месящая

lord- OE hlaford - breadkeeper

The Problem of Distinguishing Compounds from Word-combinations in English

Criteria for separating compounds from phrases:

1. The graphic criterion of solid or hyphenated spelling.

headmaser, loudspeaker ( both are possible)

head master, loud speaker

2. The phonic creation of stress.

blackboard but black board, bluebottle but blue bottle

Compound adjectives are double-stressed (grey-green, new-born, easy-going).

3. Jespersen, Kruisinga - The semantic criterion: a compound is a combination forming a unit, expressing a single idea, which is not identical in meaning to the sum of the meanings of its components in a free.

Билет 7. Minor ways of word-building. Shortening. Blending. Acronyms. Back-formation

Shortening of Words

Shortening =clipping or curtailment.

e.g.: to dub (double), mike (microphone), vac (vacuum cleaner), TV (television).

fan - fanatic

fancy - fantasy

miss - mistrees

In both types the clipped forms (doc, exam, fan) exist in the language alongside with their respective prototypes.

Blending

Blending is the way of creating new words which consists in blending separate parts of two words into one, while the primary meaning of both words is partially preserved:

e.g. hurry smoke

hustle smog

bustle

fog

Abbreviations

2 ways of reading such abbreviations:

1. As a succession of the alphabetical readings of the constituent letters

e.g. Y.C.L. (Young Communist League), CPSU, BBC (British Broad?casting Corporation), p.m. (prime minister), SOS

2. As a succession of sounds denoted by the constituent letters, i.e. as if the abbreviations were ordinary words: UNESCO, NАТО.

Words belonging to this group are often isolated from the prototypes.

As to their way of shortening abbreviations are subdivided into 2 groups:

1. Initial abbreviations: SOS

2. Combined shortened compound words (they consist of initial letters of the first word or words and a certain form of the second words): A-terror, H-bang; U - stands for upper classes in such combinations: U-pronunciation, U-language, non-U is its opposite, so non-U speakers are those whose speech habits show that they do not belong to the upper classes.

e.g. No increase for MP's.

The manager okeyed the decision.

Back formation

Derived words are formed out of root words.

e.g. worker < work

jobless < job

bookish < book

The words beggar, butler, cobbler, typewriter look very much like agent nouns with the suffix er (like speaker).

The most productive type of back formation in present English is derivation from compounds: baby-sit, to house-clean, to housekeep, to tape-record, etc.

Билет 8. Conversion. Conversion in different parts of speech. Productivity of conversion

Conversion

Conversion is a morphological syntactic type of word-formation. Смирницкий: Conversion is such a way of word-building when the word-building means is only the paradigm of the word. e.g. work - to work, paper - to paper

The main reason for the wide-spread development of conversion in present day English is the absence of formatives making the part of speech to which the word belongs. e.g. black - may be noun, verb, adj., adv., etc., home - noun, v, adj., adv., silence - n., v., round - n, v, adj., adv. Many affixes are homonymous and therefore the general sound pattern does not contain any information as to the possible part of speech. e.g. n v adj adv, maiden whiten woodem often Recent research - conversion regularly involves monosyllabic words. e.g. dust (n), to dust - (v) to remove dust, to powder (to dust the cake with sugar), stone, v - to throw stone at, to put to death by throwing stones at. Verbs formed from nouns denoting some parts of human body will show instrumental meaning, even though the polysemantic ones among them will render any meanings as well. e.g. to finger - to touch with finger, to elbow - to push one's way with elbows, to head - to strike with one's head ( in football). With nouns denoting places, buildings, containers and the like the meaning of the converted verbs will be locative:, e.g. to bag - to put into bag, to bottle - to store in bottles, to can - to put into cans

Verbs with adj. stems like to blind, to calm, to clean, to empty, to idle - denote change of state. Nouns formed by conversion from verbs follow the regular semantic correlations observed in nouns formed with verbal stems by means of derivation. e.g. go, hiss, hunt, nock - name the process, the act of a specific instance of what the verbal stem expresses. The result is expressed by such nouns:burn, catch, cut, find, lift, offer, tear. Hans Marchand: deverbal personal nouns formed by means of conversion and denoting the doer are mostly derogatory: bore, cheat, flirt, tease (a person who teases)

Traditional conversion refers to the accepted use of words which are recorded in dictionaries: to cook, to love, to look, to wag, etc. Occasional conversion serves in the given occasion only and does not enter the word stock of the English language: to hotel the people, to girl the boat.

Билет 9. Word meaning. Types of meaning. Grammatical meaning.

The word is a 2 faceted unit. The area of lexicology which studies the meaning of the word is called semantics. Meaning is the inner facet of the word, inseparable from its outer facet (sound form) which is indispensable to the existence of meaning and to intercommunication. The outer facet of the word, its sign, is studied by semiotics.

Types of the meaning

Grammatical meaning

Part of speech meaning

Lexical meaning, which may be denotational (making the communication possible - uttered meaning) and connotational (the emotive charge and the stylistic value).

Reference

Motivation is the relationship existing between the phonemes or morphemic composition and structural pattern of a word on the one hand and its meaning on the other hand.

3 types of M.: 1.phonetical 2.morphological 3.semantic

2 types of context: linguistic (verbal); extralinguistic

Linguistic context is the environment in which the word occurs as for the extralinguistic. It consists of the entire cultural background against which we said this or that event.

The meaning of a word can change depending on the environment.

Instead of the term “word” some linguists prefer the terms “lexical unit”, “lexical item” or “lexeme”

“Word” causes much confusion because it's used orthographically, grammatically and lexically.

Monosemantic words, i.e. words having only one meaning are comparatively few in number, these are mainly scientific terms, such -as hydrogen, molecule and the like.

Polysemy viewed diachronically is a historical change in the semantic structure of the word resulting in disappearance of some meanings (or) and in new meanings being added to the ones already existing and also in the rearrangement of these meanings in its semantic structure.

Polysemy viewed synchronically is understood as coexistence of the various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period and the arrangement of these meanings in the semantic structure of the word.

The term motivation is also used by a number of linguists to denote the relationship between the central and the coexisting meaning or meanings of a word which are understood as a metaphorical extension of the central meaning.

Metaphorical extension may be viewed as generalisation of the denotational meaning of a word permitting it to include new referents which are in some way like the original class of referents.

Grammatical meaning is defined as the expression in Speech of relationships between words. The grammatical meaning is more abstract and more generalised than the lexical meaning. It is recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words as the meaning of plurality in the following words students, boob, windows, compositions.

Билет 10. Structure of Lexical Meaning. Denotational and connotational components

Lexical meaning. The definitions of lexical meaning given by various authors, though different in detail, agree in the basic principle: they all point out that lexical meaning is the realisation of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system.

The component of meaning proper to the word as a linguistic unit, i.e. recurrent in all the forms of this word and in all possible distributions of these forms. / Ginzburg

R.S., Rayevskaya N.N. and others. Denotation. The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to serve as a linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object. It is the denotational meaning that makes communication possible.

Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it may be used. There are four main types of connotations stylistic, emotional, evaluative and expressive or intensifying.

Stylistic connotations is what the word conveys about the speaker's attitude to the social circumstances and the appropriate functional style (slay vs kill), evaluative connotation may show his approval or disapproval of the object spoken of (clique vs group), emotional connotation conveys the speaker's emotions (mummy vs mother), the degree of intensity (adore vs love) is conveyed by expressive or intensifying connotation. The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of a word is usually termed denotative component (also, the term referential component may be used). The denotative component expresses the conceptual content of a word.

It is obvious that the definitions given in the right column only partially and incompletely describe the meanings of their corresponding words. To give a more or less full picture of the meaning of a word, it is necessary to include in the scheme of analysis additional semantic components which are termed connotations or connotative components.

	Denotation components	Connotative component	Connotation
Lonely	Along, without company	sad	Emotive connotation
Celebrated	Widely known	for special achievement in science, art, etc.	Evaluative connotation, positive
Notorious	Widely known	for criminal acts or bad traits of character	Evaluative connotation, negative
To glare	To look	steadily, lastingly in anger, rage, etc.	1.Connotation of duration 2.Emotive connotation
To glance	To look	briefly, passingly	Connotation of duration
To shudder	To tremble	briefly with horror, disgust, etc	I Connotation of duration2. Connotation of cause 3. Emotive connotation
To shiver	To tremble	Lastingly (usu) with the cold	I Connotation of duration 2. Connotation of causc 3. Emotive connotation

The above examples show how by singling out denotative and connotative components one can get a sufficiently clear picture of what the word really means. The schemes presenting the semantic structures of glare, shiver, shudder also show that a meaning can have two or more connotative components.

The given examples do not exhaust all the types of connotations but present only a few: emotive, evaluative connotations, and also connotations of duration and of cause

Билет 11. Lexical meaning and the notion

Meaning and concept (notion). When examining a word one can see that its

meaning though closely connected with the underlying concept is not identical with it. To begin with, concept is a category of human cognition. Concept is the thought of the object that singles out the most typical, the most essential features of the object. So all concepts are almost the same for the whole of humanity in one and the same period of its historical development. The meanings of words, however, are different in different languages. That is to say, words expressing identical concept may have different semantic structures in different languages. E.g. the concept of "a building for human habitation" is expressed in English by the word "house", in Russian - "дом", but their meanings are not identical as house does not possess the meaning of "fixed residence of family or household", which is part of the meaning of the Russian word дом; it is expressed by another English word home.

The difference between meaning and concept can also be observed by comparing synonymous words and word-groups expressing the same concept but possessing linguistic meaning which is felt as different in each of the units, e.g. big, large; to die to pass away, to join the majority, to kick the bucket; child, baby, babe, infant.

Concepts are always emotionally neutral as they are a category of thought.

Language, however, expresses all possible aspects of human consciousness. Therefore the meaning of many words not only conveys some reflection of objective reality but also the speaker's attitude to what he is speaking about, his state of mind. Thus, though the synonyms big, large, tremendous denote the same concept of size, the emotive charge of the word tremendous is much heavier than that of the other word. Meaning is a certain reflection in our mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign - its so-called inner facet, whereas the sound-form functions as its outer facet.

Lexical meaning is the realisation of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system.

1) The component of meaning proper to the word as a linguistic unit, i.e. recurrent in all the forms of this word and in all possible distributions of these forms. / Ginzburg R.S., Rayevskaya N.N. and others.

2) The semantic invariant of the grammatical variation of a word / Nikitin M.V./.

3) The material meaning of a word, i.e. the meaning of the main material part of the word which reflects the concept the given word expresses and the basic properties of the thing (phenomenon, quality, state, etc.) the word denotes. /Mednikova E.M./.

Denotation. The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to serve as a linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object. It is the denotational meaning that makes communication possible. Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts t may be used. There are four main types of connotations stylistic, emotional, evaluative and expressive or intensifying.

Stylistic connotations is what the word conveys about the speaker's attitude to the social circumstances and the appropriate functional style (slay vs kill), evaluative connotation may show his approval or disapproval of the object spoken of (clique vs group), emotional connotation conveys the speaker's emotions (mummy vs mother), the degree of intensity (adore vs love) is conveyed by expressive or intensifying connotation.

The interdependence of connotations with denotative meaning is also different for different types of connotations. Thus, for instance, emotional connotation comes into being on the basis of denotative meaning but in the course of time may substitute it by other types of connotation with general emphasis, evaluation and colloquial stylistic overtone. E.g. terrific which originally meant 'frightening' is now a colloquialism meaning 'very, very good' or 'very great': terrific beauty, terrific pleasure. The orientation toward the subject-matter, characteristic of the denotative meaning, is substituted here by pragmatic orientation toward speaker and listener; it is not so much what is spoken about as the attitude to it that matters.

Билет 12. Polysemy. Semantic structure of polysemantic words

The word polysemy means plurality of meanings. It exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic.

There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and concatenation. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primary meaning, e.g. face (the front part of the human head - the primary meaning; the front part of a building, the front part of a watch, the front part of a playing card; expression of the face, outward appearance - secondary meanings).

In cases of concatenation secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain, e.g. crust - 1. hard outer part of bread, 2. hard part of anything (a pie, a cake), 3. harder layer over soft snow, 4. sullen gloomy person, 5. impudence. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with primary ones. In such cases homonyms appeare in the language. This phenomenon is called the split of polysemy.

The word in one of its meanings is termed as lexico-semantic variant of this word. For example the word table has at least 9 lexico-semantic variants: 1. a piece of furniture; 2. the persons seated at a table; 3. sing. the food put on a table, meals; 4.a thin flat piece of stone, metal, wood, etc.; 5. pl. slabs of stone; 6. words cut into them or written on them (the ten tables); 7. an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.; 8. part of a machine-tool on which the work is put to be operated on; 9. a level area, a plateau.

In polysemy we are faced with the problem of interrelation and interdependence of various meanings in the semantic structure of one and the same word.

Meaning is direct when it nominates the referent without the help of a context, in isolation; meaning is figurative when the referent is named and at the same time characterised through its similarity with other objects, e.g. tough meat - direct meaning, tough politician - figurative meaning.

Semantic Structure of Polysemantic Words

Synchronically, the problem of polysemy ie the problem of interrelation and interdependence of different meanings of the same word. The semantic structure of a polysemantic word is the sum total of relations between its lexico-semantic variants.

The analysis of the semantic structure of a polysemantic word is based onthe following set of oppositions:

1. Direct-derived meaning: rat - animal like, but larger than a mouse; rat -cowardly person; strike-breaker.

2. Extended-restricted meaning: to knock - strike, hit; to knock - of a petrol engine - make a tapping or thumping noise.

3. Free-bound meaning: hat - cover for the head; hat - nonsense (to speak through one's hat).

4. General-specialized meaning: case - instance or example of the occurence of smth; case - (med.) person suffering from a disease.

5. Neutral-emotional meaning: nut - fruit consisting of a hard shell enclosing a kernel that can be eaten; nut - (slang) head of a human being.

Билет 13. Semantic change. Linguistic and extra-linguistic causes of semantic change. Nature of semantic change. Types of semantic change

The process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is traditionally termed transference.

Some scholars mistakenly use the term "transference of meaning" which is a serious mistake. It is very important to note that in any case of semantic change it is not the meaning but the word that is being transferred from one referent onto another (e. g. from a horse-drawn vehicle onto a railway car). The result of such a transference is the appearance of a new meaning.

Two types of transference are distinguishable depending on the two types of logical associations underlying the semantic process.

Transference Based on Resemblance (Similarity) This type of transference is also referred to as linguistic metaphor. A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects (phenomena, qualities, etc.) due to their outward similarity. Box and stall, as should be clear from the explanations above, are examples of this type of transference.

Other examples can be given in which transference is also based on the association of two physical objects. The noun eye, for instance, has for one of its meanings "hole in the end of a needle" (cf. with the R. ушко иголки), which also developed through transference based on resemblance. A similar case is represented by the neck of a bottle.

The noun drop (mostly in the plural form) has, in addition to its main meaning "a small particle of water or other liquid", the meanings: "ear-rings shaped as drops of water" (e. g. diamond drops) and "candy of the same shape" (e. g. mint drops). It is quite obvious that both these meanings are also based on resemblance. In the compound word snowdrop the meaning of the second constituent underwent the same shift of meaning (also, in bluebell). In general, metaphorical change of meaning is often observed in idiomatic compounds.

The main meaning of the noun branch is "limb or subdivision of a tree or bush". On the basis of this meaning it developed several more. One of them is "a special field of science or art" (as in a branch of linguistics) This meaning brings us into the sphere of the abstract, and shows that in transference based on resemblance an association may be built not only between two physical objects, but also between a concrete object and an abstract concept.

The noun bar from the original meaning barrier developed a figurative meaning realised in such contexts as social bars, colour bar, racial bar. Here, again, as in the abstract meaning of branch, a concrete object is associated with an abstract concept. Transference Based on Contiguity

Another term for this type of transference is linguistic metonymy. The association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty. The two objects may be associated together because they often appear in common situations, and so the image of one is easily accompanied by the image of the other; or they may be associated on the principle of cause and effect, of common function, of some material and an object which is made of it, etc.

The foot of a bed is the place where the feet rest when one lies in the bed, but the foot of a mountain got its name by another association: the foot of a mountain is its lowest part, so that the association here is founded on common position.

By the arms of an arm-chair we mean the place where the arms lie when one is setting in the chair, so that the type of association here is the same as in the foot of a bed. The leg of a bed (table, chair, etc.), though, is the part which serves as a support, the original meaning being "the leg of a man or animal". The association that lies behind this development of meaning is the common function: a piece of furniture is supported by its legs just as living beings are supported by theirs.

The meaning of the noun hand realised in the context hand of a clock (watch) originates from the main meaning of this noun "part of human body". It also developed due to the association of the common function: the hand of a clock points to the figures on the face of the clock, and one of the functions of human hand is also that of pointing to things.

Meanings produced through transference based on contiguity sometimes originate from geographical or proper names. China in the sense of "dishes made of porcelain" originated from the name of the country which was believed to be the birthplace of porcelain.

Broadening (or Generalisation) of Meaning

Sometimes, the process of transference may result in a considerable change in range of meaning. For instance, the verb to arrive (French borrowing) began its life in English in the narrow meaning "to come to shore, to land". In Modern English it has greatly widened its combinability and developed the general meaning "to come" (e. g. to arrive in a village, town, city, country, at a hotel, hostel, college, theatre, place, etc.). The meaning developed through transference based on contiguity (the concept of coming somewhere is the same for both meanings), but the range of the second meaning is much broader.

Another example of the broadening of meaning is pipe. Its earliest recorded meaning was "a musical wind instrument". Nowadays it can denote any hollow oblong cylindrical body (e. g. water pipes). This meaning developed through transference based on the similarity of shape (pipe as a musical instrument is also a hollow oblong cylindrical object) which finally led to a considerable broadening of the range of meaning.

Narrowing (or Specialisation) of Meaning

Narrowing of Meaning happens when a word with a general meaning is by degrees applied to something much more specific. The word litter, for example, meant originally (before 1300) 'a bed,' then gradually narrowed down to 'bedding,' then to 'animals on a bedding of straw,' and finally to things scattered about, odds and ends. . . . Other examples of specialization are deer, which originally had the general meaning 'animal,' girl, which meant originally 'a young person,' and meat, whose original meaning was 'food.'"

Билет 14. Different types of semantic transfer. Metaphor. Metonymy. Shifts of meaning through hyperbole, litotes, irony and euphemisms

The process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is traditionally termed transference.

Some scholars mistakenly use the term "transference of meaning" which is a serious mistake. It is very important to note that in any case of semantic change it is not the meaning but the word that is being transferred from one referent onto another (e. g. from a horse-drawn vehicle onto a railway car). The result of such a transference is the appearance of a new meaning.

Two types of transference are distinguishable depending on the two types of logical associations underlying the semantic process.

6.1. Transference Based on Resemblance (Similarity)

This type of transference is also referred to as linguistic metaphor. A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects (phenomena, qualities, etc.) due to their outward similarity . Box and stall, as should be clear from the explanations above, are examples of this type of transference.

Other examples can be given in which transference is also based on the association of two physical objects. The noun eye, for instance, has for one of its meanings "hole in the end of a needle" (cf. with the R. ушко иголки), which also developed through transference based on resemblance. A similar case is represented by the neck of a bottle.

The noun drop (mostly in the plural form) has, in addition to its main meaning "a small particle of water or other liquid", the meanings: "ear-rings shaped as drops of water" (e. g. diamond drops) and "candy of the same shape" (e. g. mint drops). It is quite obvious that both these meanings are also based on resemblance. In the compound word snowdrop the meaning of the second constituent underwent the same shift of meaning (also, in bluebell). In general, metaphorical change of meaning is often observed in idiomatic compounds.

The main meaning of the noun branch is "limb or subdivision of a tree or bush". On the basis of this meaning it developed several more. One of them is "a special field of science or art" (as in a branch of linguistics) This meaning brings us into the sphere of the abstract, and shows that in transference based on resemblance an association may be built not only between two physical objects, but also between a concrete object and an abstract concept.

The noun bar from the original meaning barrier developed a figurative meaning realised in such contexts as social bars, colour bar, racial bar. Here, again, as in the abstract meaning of branch, a concrete object is associated with an abstract concept.

6.2. Transference Based on Contiguity

Another term for this type of transference is linguistic metonymy. The association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty. The two objects may be associated together because they often appear in common situations, and so the image of one is easily accompanied by the image of the other; or they may be associated on the principle of cause and effect, of common function, of some material and an object which is made of it, etc.

The foot of a bed is the place where the feet rest when one lies in the bed, but the foot of a mountain got its name by another association: the foot of a mountain is its lowest part, so that the association here is founded on common position.

By the arms of an arm-chair we mean the place where the arms lie when one is setting in the chair, so that the type of association here is the same as in the foot of a bed. The leg of a bed (table, chair, etc.), though, is the part which serves as a support, the original meaning being "the leg of a man or animal". The association that lies behind this development of meaning is the common function: a piece of furniture is supported by its legs just as living beings are supported by theirs.

The meaning of the noun hand realised in the context hand of a clock (watch) originates from the main meaning of this noun "part of human body". It also developed due to the association of the common function: the hand of a clock points to the figures on the face of the clock, and one of the functions of human hand is also that of pointing to things.

Meanings produced through transference based on contiguity sometimes originate from geographical or proper names. China in the sense of "dishes made of porcelain" originated from the name of the country which was believed to be the birthplace of porcelain.

63.Broadening (or Generalisation) of Meaning

Sometimes, the process of transference may result in a considerable change in range of meaning. For instance, the verb to arrive (French borrowing) began its life in English in the narrow meaning "to come to shore, to land". In Modern English it has greatly widened its combinability and developed the general meaning "to come" (e. g. to arrive in a village, town, city, country, at a hotel, hostel, college, theatre, place, etc.). The meaning developed through transference based on contiguity (the concept of coming somewhere is the same for both meanings), but the range of the second meaning is much broader.

Another example of the broadening of meaning is pipe. Its earliest recorded meaning was "a musical wind instrument". Nowadays it can denote any hollow oblong cylindrical body (e. g. water pipes). This meaning developed through transference based on the similarity of shape (pipe as a musical instrument is also a hollow oblong cylindrical object) which finally led to a considerable broadening of the range of meaning.

64.Narrowing (or Specialisation) of Meaning

Narrowing of Meaning happens when a word with a general meaning is by degrees applied to something much more specific. The word litter, for example, meant originally (before 1300) 'a bed,' then gradually narrowed down to 'bedding,' then to 'animals on a bedding of straw,' and finally to things scattered about, odds and ends. . . . Other examples of specialization are deer, which originally had the general meaning 'animal,' girl, which meant originally 'a young person,' and meat, whose original meaning was 'food.'"

Билет 15. Set expressions. Classification

Set expressions are word groups consisting of two or more words whose combination is integrated so that they are introduced in speech, so to say, ready-made as units with a specialised meaning of the whole that is not understood as a mere sum total of the meanings of the elements.

1)Set expressions functioning like nouns present the following models:

N + N maiden name

brains trust - a committee of experts

N's + N barber's cat - трепач

Hobston's choice - when there is no choice at all

(Th. Hobston, 17-th c., London owner of stables, made every person hire a horse, take the next in order)

Ns' + N ladies' man - дамский угодник

N + prp + N the limb of justice - рука правосудия

N + and + N lord and master (husband)

rank and file

A + N green room (general reception room of a theatre)

high tea

2)Set expressions functioning like verbs:

V + N o take an advantage

V + postpreposition to give up

V + and + V to pick and choose

V + (one's) + N + prep. to snap one's fingers at

V + one + N to give one the bird

3)Set expressions functioning like adverbs:

N + N tooth and nail

Prep. + N by heart, of course

Adv. + Prep. + N once in a blue moon

Prep. + N + or + N by book or by crook

Conj. + clause before one can say Jack Robinson

4)Set expressions functioning like prepositions:

Prep. + N + Prep. in consequence of

by reason of

on account of

5)Set expressions functioning like interjections:

Bless my soul! God bless me! Hang it all!

Билет 16. Phraseological Units and idioms proper

Word-Combinations and Phraseological Units

Functionally and semantically inseparable word-groups are usually described as set phrases and they are studied by the branch of lexicology which is called phraseology e.g. a week ago, men of wisdom, take lessons, kind of people

Word-groups of this type are defined as free word-groups or phrases.

The lexical valency of correlated words in different languages is not identical.

e.g. English Russian

garden flowers садовые цветы

pot-flowers комнатные цветы

Word-groups are lexically motivated if the combined lexical meaning of the group is clear from the meaning of their components e.g. heavy weight, to take lessons - are motivated while structurally identical word-groups red-tape (бюрократизм), to take place - are lexically non-motivated.

It follows that word-groups may also be classified into motivated and non-motivated units. Non-motivated word-groups are habitually described as phraseological units or idioms.

Phraseological units are contrasted to free phrases.

e.g. phraseological units:

the man in the street

red tape - бюрократизм

busy as a bee

tit for tat

to and fro

free phrases:

to cut a poor figure

Classification of Phraseological Units

V.Vinogradov In the Russian linguistic literature the term is used for the whole ensemble of expressions where the meaning of one element is dependent on the other irrespective of the structure and properties of the unit. The classification of phraseological units suggested by acad. V.V.Vinogradov is based on inner structure of word-combinations, the degree of motivation, the degree of cohesion of their elements.

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