American English, lexical meaning and word structure

N.Amosova - the term being applicable only to what she calls fixed contexts.

According to V.Vinogradov phraseology classification includes:

1. Standardized word-combinations, i.e. phrases characterized by the limited combinative power of their components which retain their semantic independence.

2. Phraseological unities, in which the meaning of the whole is not the sum of the meanings of its components, but is based on them and motivation is apparent.

3. Phraseological fusions, i.e. phrases in which the meaning cannot be derived as a whole from the conjoined meanings of its components.

Phraseological fusions are completely non-motivated word-groups. The meaning of all components is entirely indifferent to the meaning of the expression. We hear some familiar words but the whole expression is not clear.

When the motivation of the expression is lost, a phraseological unity turns into a phraseological fusion e.g. good wine needs no bush (хороший товар сам себя хвалит) is a phraseological fusion, because for an Englishman the motivation is not clear.

Phraseological fusions are specific for every language and do not lend themselves to literal translation into other languages.

- to mind one's p's and q's

- a pretty kettle of fish

- before one can say Jack Robinson (immediately), arose in the 18-th century and it was a meaningless phrase

- to put a spoke in one's wheel (goes back to the 15-th century. Spoke was used by carters to serve as a brake in descending the hill -

- to wash one's dirty linen in public

Phraseological unities are often metaphoric and their metaphoric nature is easily seen.

e.g. to play the first fiddle and “He plays the first fiddle in the orchestra”.

To take the bull by the horn

Phraseological unities may vary in their semantic and grammatical structure. professionalisms, alliteration groups, coupled synonyms, repetition groups, etc.

Phrasal verbs e.g. put down, give in, give up

Standardized Word-Combinations or Phraseological Combinations are made up of words possessing specific lexical valency, which accounts for a certain degree of stability in such word-groups e.g. “bear a grudge” may be changed into “bear malice”, but not into “bear a fancy or liking”. We can say “take a liking” but not “take hatred”.

Phraseological combinations vs phraseological unities one component in them is used in its direct meaning e.g. to break a promise, to strike a blow

Another word may be used figuratively:

e.g. to meet a demand, requirement, need

limited collocability of words “to set free” and “to set at liberty”

e.g. (phraseological combinations) to draw a conclusion, to break silence,

to keep company with, to make money, to pay attention.

Билет 17. Homonyms. Classification. Sources. Polysemy and homonymy

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning.

E. g. bank, n. -- a shore; bank, n. -- an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money; ball, n. -- a sphere; any spherical body; ball, n. -- a large dancing party English vocabulary is rich in such pairs and even groups of words. Their identical forms

are mostly accidental: the majority of homonyms coincided due to phonetic changes which they suffered during their development.

If synonyms and antonyms can be regarded as the treasury of the language's expressive resources, homonyms are of no interest in this respect, and one cannot expect them to be of particular value for communication. Metaphorically speaking, groups of synonyms and pairs of antonyms are created by the vocabulary system with a particular purpose whereas homonyms are accidcntal creations, and therefore purposeless. In the process of communication they are more of an encumbrance, leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding. This makes them one of the most important sources of popular humour. The pun is a joke based on the play upon words of similar form but different meaning (i. e. on homonyms) as in the following:

"A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit."

(The joke is based on the homonyms: I .fit, n. -- perfectly fitting clothes; II.fit, n. -- a nervous spasm.)

Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling (as the examples given above) are traditionally termed homonyms proper.

The second type of homonyms is called homophones. Homophones are the same in sound but different in spelling. Here are some examples of homophones:

night, n. -- knight, п.; piece, n. --peace, п.; scent, n. -- cent, n. -- sent, v. (Past Indef., Past Part, of to send); rite, n. -- to write, v. -- right, a j.; sea, n. -- to see, v. -- С [si:] (the name of a letter).

The third type of homonyms is called homographs. These are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound.

to bow [bau], v. - to incline the head or body in salutation

bow [bou], п. - a flexible strip of wood for propelling arrows to lead [li:d], v - to conduct on the way, to go before to show the way lead [led], n. - a heavy, rather soft metal

The subdivision of homonyms into homonyms proper, homophones and homographs is certainly not precise enough and does not reflect certain important features of these words, and, most important of all, their status as parts of speech. Homonyms may belong both to the same and to different categories of parts of speech. Obviously, a classification of homonyms should reflect this distinctive feature. Also, the paradigm of each word should be considered, because it has been observed that the paradigms of some homonyms coincide completely, and of others only partially.

Professor A. 1. Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes: I. Full homonyms, II. Partial homonyms.

I.Full lexical homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm. E. g. match, n. -- a game, a contest; match, n. -- a short piece of wood used for producing fire.

II.Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

1)Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form, as will be seen from the following example, e. g. (to) found, v., found, v. (Past Indefi, Past Part, of to ( find)

2)Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms. E. g. rose, n.

rose, v. (Past Indef. of to rise) maid, n.

made, v. (Past indef., Past Part, of to make)

III.Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms. E. g. to lie (lay, lain), v. to lie (lied, lied), v.

5.2. Sources of Homonyms

One sourcc of homonyms has already been mentioned: phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their historical development. As a result of such changes, two or more words which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms.

Night and knight, for instance, were not homonyms in Old English as the initial к in the second word was pronounced, and not dropped as it is in its modern sound form: O.E. kniht (cf. O.E. niht). A more complicated change of form brought together another pair of homonyms: to knead (O.E. cnedan) and to need (O.E. neodian)

In Old English the verb to write had the form writan, and the adjective right had the forms reht, riht. The noun sea descends from the Old English form sae, and the verb to see from

О. E. seon. The noun work and the verb to work also had different forrrts in Old English: wyrkean and weork respectively.

Borrowing is another source of homonyms. A borrowed word may. in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing. So, in the group of homonyms rite, 11. -- to write, v. -- right, adj. the second and third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing (< Lat. ritus). In the pair piece, n. -- peace, п., the first originates from O.F. pais, and the second from O.F. (< Gaulish) pettia. Bank, n. ("shore") is a native word, and bank, n. ("a financial institution") is an Italian borrowing. Fair, adj. (as in a fair deal, it's not fair) is native, and fair, n. ("a gathering of buyers and sellers") is a French borrowing. Match, n. ("a game; a contest of skill, strength") is native, and match, n. ("a slender short piece of wood used for producing fire") is a French borrowing.

Word-building also contributes significantly to the growth of homonymy, and the most important type in this respect is undoubtedly conversion. Such pairs of words as comb, n. -- to comb, v., pale. adj. -- to pale, v., to make, v. -- make, n. are numerous in the vocabulary.

Homonyms of this type, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

Shortening is a further type of word-building which increases the number of homonyms. E.g. fan, n. in the sense of "an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer, etc." is a shortening produced from fanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing/an, n. which denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air. The noun rep, n. denoting a kind of fabric (cf. with the R. репс) has three homonyms made by shortening: rep, n. (< repertory), rep, n. (< representative), rep, n. (< reputation)', all the three are informal words.

Words made by sound-imitation can also form pairs of homonyms with other words: e. g. bang, n. ("a loud, sudden, explosive noise") -- bang, n. ("a fringe of hair combed over the forehead"). Also: mew, n. ("the sound a cat makes") -- mew, n. ("a sea gull") -- mew, n. ("a pen in which poultry is fattened") -- mews ("small terraced houses in Central London").

These sources of homonyms have one important feature in common. In all the mentioned cases the homonyms developed from two or more different words, and their similarity is purely accidental. (In this respect, conversion certainly presents an exception for in pairs of homonyms formed by conversion one word of the pair is produced from the other: a find < to find.)

The next source of homonyms differs essentially from all other cases. Two or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same word when, for some reason, the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. This type of formation of homonyms is called split polysemy.

The semantic structure of a polysemantic word presents a system within which all its constituent meanings are held together by logical associations. In most cases, the function of the arrangement and the unity is determined by one of the meanings (e. g. the meaning "flame" in the noun fire). If this meaning disappears from the word's semantic structure the semantic structure loses its unity. It falls into two or more parts which then become accepted as independent lexical units.

Let us consider the history of three homonyms: board, n. -- a long and thin piece of timber board, n. -- daily meals, esp. as provided for pay, e. g. room and board board, n. -- an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity, e. g. a board of directors.

It is clear that the meanings of these three words are in no way associated with one another. Yet, most larger dictionaries still enter a meaning of board that once held together all these other meanings "table". It developed from the meaning "a piece of timber" by transference based on contiguity (association of an object and the material from which it is made). The meanings "meals" and "an official group of persons" developed from the meaning "table", also by transference based on contiguity: meals are easily associated with a table on which they are served; an official group of people in authority are also likely to discuss their business round a table.

Nowadays, however, the item of furniture, on which meals are served and round which boards of directors meet, is no longer denoted by the word board but by the French Norman borrowing table, and board in this meaning, though still registered by some dictionaries, can very well be marked as archaic as it is no longer used in common speech. That is why, with the intrusion of the borrowed table, the word board actually lost its corresponding meaning.

But it was just that meaning which served as a link to hold together the rest of the constituent parts of the word's semantic structure. With its diminished role as an element of communication, its role in the semantic structure was also weakened. The speakers almost forgot that board had ever been associated with any item of furniture, nor could they associate the concepts of meals or of a responsible committee with a long thin piece of timber (which is the oldest meaning of board). Consequently, the semantic structure of board was split into three units. The following scheme illustrates the process:

A somewhat different case of split polysemy may be illustrated by the three following homonyms: spring, n. -- the act of springing, a leap spring, n. -- a place where a stream of water comes up out of the earth (R. родник, источи и к) spring, п. -- a season of the year.

Historically all three nouns originate from the same verb with the meaning of "to jump, to leap" (О. E. sprin-gan), so that the meaning of the first homonym is the oldest. The meanings of the second and third homonyms were originally based on metaphor. At the head of a stream the water sometimes leaps up but of the earth, so that metaphorically such a place could well 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. Such metaphors arc typical enough of Old English and Middle English semantic transferences but not so characteristic of modern mental and linguistic processes.

It should be stressed, however, that split polysemy as a source of homonyms is not accepted by some scholars. It is really difficult sometimes to decide whether a certain word has or has not been subjected to the split of the semantic structure and whether we are dealing with different meanings of the same word or with homonyms, for the criteria are subjective and imprecise.

Билет 18. Synonyms. Sources of synonymy

A synonym is a word of similar or identical meaning to one or more words in the same language. All languages contain synonyms but in English they exist in superabundance.

They're no two absolutely identical words because connotations, ways of usage, frequency of an occurrence are different.

Senses of synonyms are identical in respect of central semantic trades but differ in respect of minor semantic trades.

Classification:

1. Total synonyms

an extremely rare occurence

Ulman: “a luxury that language can hardly afford.”

M. Breal spoke about a law of distribution in the language (words should be synonyms, were synonyms in the past usually acquire different meanings and are no longer interchangeable).

E.g.: бегемот - гиппопотам

2. Ideographic synonyms

They bear the same idea but not identical in their referential content.

E.g.:

to ascent - to mount - to climb

To happen - to occur - to befall - to chance

Look - appearance - complexion - countenance

3. Dialectical synonyms

E.g.:

lift - elevator

Queue - line

Autumn - fall

4. Contextual synonyms

Context can emphasize some certain semantic trades & suppress other semantic trades; words with different meaning can become synonyms in a certain context.

E.g.:

tasteless - dull

Active - curious

Curious - responsive

Synonyms can reflect social conventions.

E.g.:

Synonymic condensation is typical of the English language It refers to situations when writers or speakers bring together several words with one & the same meaning to add more conviction, to description more vivid.

E.g.: Safe & sound

Lord & master

First & foremost

Safe & secure

Stress & strain

By force & violence

It was customary to use French borrowings together with their native synonyms. They are very often characterized by alliteration, rhymes, idioms, etc.

Synonymy is the coincidence in the essential meanings of linguistic elements which (at the same time) usually preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics.

Synonyms are two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts. Their distinctive features can be connotations, stylistic features, distributional or depending on valency. The difference between some synonyms can be marked for register subject-field, mode, and style (tenor) or their combinations.

Билет 19. Synonyms. Types of synonyms

Synonyms are two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts. Their distinctive features can be connotations, stylistic features, distributional or depending on valency. The difference between some synonyms can be marked for register subject-field, mode, and style (tenor) or their combinations.

Typology of synonyms:

- cognitive synonyms - s. which differ in respect of the varieties of discourse in which they appear; the distinction between such items lies not so much in their inner lexical meaning, but in the sphere of their actual application or usage, as besides the referential basis (referential meaning) the actual meanings of the words as found in utterances reflect relations which hold between lexical items within the communicative space, i.e. the functional differentiation of discourse.

- contextual/context-dependent synonyms - similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions, when the difference between the meanings of two words is contextually neutralized: e.g. buy and get;

- dialectal synonyms - pertaining to different variant of language from dialectal stratification point of view;

- functional synonyms - the term is not lexicological proper as it refers to different syntactic units capable of performing one and the same syntactic function (e.g. Subordinate Object Clause and Complex Object constructions are functional synonyms;

- ideographic synonyms - differ in shades of meaning, i.e. between which a semantic difference is stable;

- stylistic synonyms- are distinguished stylistically, i.e. in all kinds of emotional, expressive and evaluative overtones without explicitly displaying semantic difference;

- referential synonyms - a vague term, concerns coreferential expressions, when one denotatum can be defined differently from different points of view and in different aspects: e.g. names Walter Scott and the author of 'Ivanhoe' are coreferential because they refer to one and the same denotatum - Sir Walter Scott;

- terminological synonyms - two existing terms for one denotatum: e.g. borrowing and loan-word; concept and notion (the difference between them is not discriminated by some linguists);

- total synonyms - can replace each other in any given context, without the slightest alteration in denotative or emotional meaning and connotations (e.g. noun and substantive, functional affix, flection and inflection); is a rare occasion.

20. Lexical variants and paronyms

There are many cases of similarity between words easily confused with synonymy but in fact essentially different from it.

Lexical variants, for instance, are examples of free variation in language, in so far as they are not conditioned by contextual environment but are optional with the individual speaker. E. g. northward / norward; whoever / whosoever. The variation can concern morphological or phonological features or it may be limited to spelling. Compare weazen/weazened `shrivelled and dried in appearance', an adjective used about a person's face and looks; directly which may be pronounced [di'rektli] or [dai'rektli] and whisky with its spelling variant whiskey. Lexical variants are different from synonyms, because they are characterised by similarity in phonetical or spelling form and identity of both meaning and distribution.

The cases of identity of stems, a similarity of form, and meaning combined with a difference in distribution should be classed as synonyms and not as lexical variants. They are discussed in many books dedicated to correct English usage. These are words belonging to the same part of speech, containing identical stems and synonymical affixes, and yet not permitting free variation, not optional. They seem to provoke mistakes even with native speakers. A few examples will suffice to illustrate the point. The adjectives luxurious and luxuriant are synonymous when meaning `characterised by luxury'. Otherwise, luxuriant is restricted to the expression of abundance (used about hair, leaves, flowers). Luxurious is the adjective expressing human luxury and indulgence (used about tastes, habits, food, mansions). Economic and economical are interchangeable under certain conditions, more often, however, economic is a technical term associated with economics (an economic agreement). The second word, i.e. economical, is an everyday word associated with economy; e. g. economical stove, economical method, be economical of one's money.

Synonyms of this type should not be confused with paronyms, i.e. words that are kindred in origin, sound form and meaning and therefore liable to be mixed but in fact different in meaning and usage and therefore only mistakenly interchanged.

The term paronym comes from the Greek para `beside' and onoma `name', it enters the lexicological terminology very conveniently alongside such terms as synonyms, antonyms, homonyms and allonyms.1

Different authors suggest various definitions. Some define paronyms as words of the same root, others as words having the same sound form, thus equalising them with word-families or homonyms. Any definition, however, is valuable only insofar as it serves to reflect the particular conception or theory of the subject one studies and proves useful for the practical aims of its study. As the present book is intended for the future teachers of English, it is vital to pay attention to grouping of words according to the difficulties they might present to the student. That is why we take the definition given above stressing not only the phonetic and semantic similarity but also the possible mistakes in the use

of these “hard words”. This is the case with the adjectives ingenious and ingenuous. The first of these means `clever' and may be used both of man and of his inventions and doings, e. g. an ingenious craftsman, an ingenious device. Ingenuous means `frank', `artless', as an ingenuous smile.

The likeness may be accidental as in the verbs affect and effect. The first means `influence', the second -- `to produce'. These come from different Latin verbs. The similarity may be also due to a common source. It is etymologically justified in alternate `succeeding each other' and alternative `providing a choice', or consequent `resulting' and consequential `important', or continuance `an uninterrupted succession' and continuation which has two distinct meanings `beginning again' and `sequel' as the continuation of a novel.



Билет 21. Antonyms and conversives

Antonyms are the words which differ in sound-form characterized by different types of semantic contrast of the denotational meaning and interchangeable at least in some contexts.

Antonyms are words of opposite meaning and are based on the opposition of features (признаки).

In an antonym pair only one member is marked (the use of marked member is more restricted)

E.g.: big - small

Three conditions should be observed in order to make two features opposite:

1. incompatible

E.g.: малолетние - неженатые

underage - unmarried ? they are not antonyms

2. similar, homogeneous features

E.g.: красный - зеленый red - green ? not antonyms

Белый < = antonyms => Черный

3. 2 features must cover associative area

E.g.:

живой = мертвый - antonyms

Живой ? полумертвый - not antonyms

alive - half dead - dead

Холодный - горячий

Холодный - прохладный - теплый - горячий

cold - chilly - cool - warm - hot

qualitative & quantitative (качественные - количественные)

трусливый - храбрый

легкий - тяжелый

apprehensive - brave

light - heavy

Quantitative antonyms E.g.: легкий => тяжелый feature increase (нарастание признака)

Qualitative antonyms E.g.: хороший <=> плохой no feature increase

- one-root & different roots (according to their morphological structure)

хороший - нехороший хороший - плохой

- logical classification

- Intentional & extensional

E.g.: “mother”

- stable, invariable features - intension (parent, feminine sex) a female parent - intension

Intension is some notion formed by class distinctions, always stable & invariable.

Extensions in this case are:

biological mother

step-mother

mother-in-law

motherland

surrogate mother

godmother

- intension: a vehicle used for moving on water

- extension: passenger ship/sailing ship/ battle ship (man-of-war)/cargo ship

Antonyms are words which have in their meaning a qualitative feature & can, therefore, be regarded as semantically opposite.

Conversives (or conversive pairs), which are not antonyms but are semantically opposed.

Conversives denote one & the same situation, but viewed from different points of view.

In most cases, conversives are verbs.

Завещать - наследовать

Давать - брать

Жениться - выходить замуж

Продавать - покупать

E.g.: Long - short - antonyms

sell - purchase - conversives

Conversive nature deffers from the nature of antonyms

Exciting - excited - conversives

Amusing - amused - conversives

Елена Самуиловна Курбякова и Соломон Давидович Кацнельсон:

4 criteria:

1) Substantivizied - Predicative

E.g.:

darkness - light dark - light

hatred - love often - seldom

cry - laughter to cry - to laugh

male - female

2) Static - Dynamic

E.g.: man - woman arrival - departure

evil - good increase - decrease

3) Privacy - Equipollency

Привативная оппозиция характеризуется наличием признака одного члена и отсутствием у другого.

E.g.: poverty - wealth (количественные у Никитина)

lie - truth

Эквиполентная оппозиция один член характеризуется одним признаком, другой член - другим признаком, соотносящемуся с первым.

E.g.: man - woman

cry - laughter

hatred - love

4) Binary - Gradual

2 members

2 members

E.g.: Binary

lie - truth

arrive - depart

male - female

hate - not to hate - to be indifferent - to love

Privative is based on the idea of markedness, the unmarked member - more widely used.

Ex.: old - young How old are you?

marked unmarked Not: How young are you?

Not all antonyms show this marked/unmarked distinction. Equipollent (equal) - both members are logically equal, each of them has a feature opposite to the feature of the other member of the opposition.

one-root - derivational antonyms

different roots - absolute antonyms

Билет 22. The English vocabulary as an adaptive system. Neologisms

It has been claimed by different authors that, in contrast to grammar, the vocabulary of a language, is not systematic but chaotic. But vocabulary is not that "chaotic" and some order can be brought to this chaos. We call vocabulary systematic because it may be considered as a structured set of interdependent and interrelated elements.

Each of the tens of thousands of lexical units constituting the vocabulary possesses a certain number of characteristic features variously combined. We deal with lexical distinctive features and lexical oppositions. Lexical distinctive feature is a feature capable of distinguishing a word in morphological form or meaning from an otherwise similar words or variant. A lexical opposition is defined as the relationship of partial difference between two partially similar words. The features which the two contrasted words posses in common form a basis of a lexical opposition.

The presence of the same basis or combination of features in several words permits their grouping into a subset of the lexical system. We shall use term lexical group to denote a subset of the vocabulary, all the elements of which possess a given distinctive feature.

Neologism is any word or word-equivalent, formed according to the productive structural patterns, or borrowed from another language and felt by the speakers as something new. e.g. computer, nuclear fission, tape-recorder, supermarket, etc. back room boys (men engaged in secret research) red brick - universities-неформальный термин, обозначающий группу из шести престижных университетов Англии, расположенных в крупных промышленных городах paperback books.

Билет 23. Learned words and official vocabulary

These words are mainly associated with the printed page. It is in this vocabulary stratum that poetry and fiction find their main resources.The term "learned" is not precise and does not adequately describe the exact characteristics of these words. A somewhat out-of-date term for the same category of words is "bookish", but, as E. Partridge notes, "'book-learned' and 'bookish' are now uncomplimentary. The corresponding complimentaries are 'erudite', 'learned', 'scholarly'. 'Book-learned' and 'bookish' connote 'ignorant of life', however much book-learning one may possess". The term "learned" includes several heterogeneous subdivisions of words. We find here numerous words that are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour (e. g. comprise, compile, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous, conclusive, divergent, etc.).To this group also belongs so-called "officialese" (cf. with the R. канцеляризмы). These are the words of the official, bureaucratic language. E. Partridge in his dictionary Usage and Abusage gives a list of officialese which he thinks should be avoided in speech and in print. Here are some words from Partridge's list: assist (for help), endeavour (for try), proceed (for go), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), attired (for dressed), inquire (for ask).

In the same dictionary an official letter from a Government Department is quoted which may very well serve as a typical example of officialese. It goes: "You are authorized to acquire the work in question by purchase through the ordinary trade channels." Which, translated into plain English, would simply mean: "We advise you to buy the book in a shop." [38]

Probably the most interesting subdivision of learned words is represented by the words found in descriptive passages of fiction. These words, which may be called "literary", also have a particular flavour of their own, usually described as "refined". They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance languages and, though fully adapted to the English phonetic system, some of them continue to sound singularly foreign. They also seem to retain an aloofness associated with the lofty contexts in which they have been used for centuries. Their very sound seems to create complex and solemn associations. Here are some examples: solitude, sentiment, fascination, fastidiousness, facetiousness, delusion, meditation, felicity, elusive, cordial, illusionary.

What role do learned words play in the language-learning and language-teaching process? Should they be taught? Should they be included in the students' functional and recognition vocabularies?

As far as passive recognition is concerned, the answer is clear: without knowing some learned words, it is even impossible to read fiction (not to mention scientific articles) or to listen to lectures delivered in the foreign language.

It is also true that some of these words should be carefully selected and "activised" to become part of the students' functional vocabulary.

However, for teaching purposes, they should be chosen with care and introduced into the students' speech in moderation, for, as we have seen, the excessive use of learned words may lead to absurdities.

Билет 24. Colloquial words and expressions.

Among other informal words, colloquialisms are the least exclusive: they are used by everybody, and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide, at least of literary colloquial words. These are informal words that are used in everyday conversational speech both by cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. The sphere of communication of literary colloquial words also includes the printed page, which shows that the term "colloquial" is somewhat inaccurate.

Vast use of informal words is one of the prominent features of 20th century English and American literature:

"You're at some sort of technical college?" she said to Leo, not looking at him.

Here are some examples of literary colloquial words. Pal and chum are colloquial equivalents of friend; girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age; bite andsnack stand for meal; hi, hello are informal greetings, and so long a form of parting; start, go on, finish and be through are also literary colloquialisms; to have a crush on somebody is a colloquial equivalent of to be in love. A bit (of) and a lot (of) also belong to this group.

A considerable number of shortenings are found among words of this type. E. g. pram, exam, fridge, flu, prop, zip, movie.

Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put over, make up, make out, do away, turn up, turn in, etc.

Literary colloquial words are to be distinguished from familiar colloquial and low colloquial.

The borderline between the literary and familiar colloquial is not always clearly marked. Yet the circle of speakers using familiar colloquial is more limited: these words are used mostly by the young and the semi-educated. This vocabulary group closely verges on slang and has something of its coarse flavour.

E. g. doc (for doctor), hi (for how do you do), ta-ta (for good-bye), goings-on (for behaviour, usually with a negative connotation), to kid smb. (for tease, banter), to pick up smb. (for make a quick and easy acquaintance), go on with you (for let me alone), shut up (for keep silent), beat it (for go away).

Colloquial words:

1)literary

2)non-literary (slang, jargonisms), professionalisms, vulgarisms

Latin borrowings and words of Greek origin borrowed through Latin:

e.g. capirule, copper, wall, church, street early French borrowings:

e.g. pleasure, army, judge, mutton the bulk of early Scandinavian borrowings

e.g. husband, sky

Colloquial Words are marked by their special emotional colouring.

-ie - auntie, birdie

-y - baby, granny, kitty

-ette - kitchenette

-ish - piggish

Hyperbolic expressions are also common here: awfully nice, terribly sweet, unutterably exotic, etc.

Билет 25. Slang

Slang words are identified and distinguished by contrasting them to standard literary vocabulary.

The most vital historical slang words are accepted into literary vocabulary.

e.g. chap, donkey, fun, odd, shabby, snob, trip.

Slang , consists of a lexicon of non-standard words and phrases in a given language. Use of these words and phrases is typically associated with the subversion of a standard variety (such as Standard English) and is likely to be interpreted by listeners as implying particular attitudes on the part of the speaker. In some contexts a speaker's selection of slang words or phrases may convey prestige, indicating group membership or distinguishing group members from those who are not a part of the group.

Etymology of the word slang.

In its earliest attested use (1756) the word slang referred to the vocabulary of "low or disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to language use below the level of standard educated speech.[9] The origin of the word is uncertain, although it appears to be connected with Thieves' cant. A Scandinavian origin has been proposed (compare, for example, Norwegian slengenavn, which means "nickname"), but is discounted by the Oxford English Dictionary based on "date and early associations"

Билет 26. The origin of the English words. Words of native origin. Common Indo-European and Germanic word-stock. Characteristic features of native words

Etymologically the vocabulary of the English language is far from being homogeneous. It consists of two layers - the native stock of words and the borrowed stock of words. Numerically the borrowed stock of words is considerably larger than the native stock of words. In fact native words comprise only 30 % of the total number of words in the English vocabulary but the native words form the bulk of the most frequent words actually used in speech and writing. Besides the native words have a wider range of lexical and grammatical valency, they are highly polysemantic and productive in forming word clusters and set expressions.

The Native element:

I. Indo-European element

II. Germanic element

III. English proper element (brought by Angles, Saxons and Jutes not earlier than 5^th c. AD

According to the origin the word stock of the English language can be divided into two main sets: the elements of one are native and the elements of the other are borrowed.

A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period. A loan, borrowed word о borrowing is a word taken over from another language and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the English language.

The most characteristic feature of English is its mixed character. Modern scholars estimate the percentage of borrowed words in the English vocabulary at 65-70 per cent which is an exceptionally high figure. This is explained by the country's eventful history and by its international contacts. Many linguists consider foreign influence, especially that of French, to be the most important factor in the history of English. Explanations for this should be looked for in the history of the language which is closely connected with the history of the nation speaking the language. On a vocabulary count, considering the high percentage of borrowed words, we would have to classify English as a language of international origin. But we also have to consider frequency of occurrence of words and it's clear that the native Anglo-Saxon element comprises a large number of high-frequency words like the articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliaries and also the words denoting everyday objects and ideas, ex.: house, child, water, go, come, eat, good, bad, etc. Furthermore, the grammatical structure is essentially

Germanic.

In the first century ВС . most of the territory now known to us as Europe was occupied by the Roman Empire. Among the inhabitants of the continent are Germanic tribes. Their tribal languages contain only Indo-European and Germanic elements. After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans these opposing peoples came into peaceful contact. Trade was carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things.

The first among them were new things to eat. Thanks to the Romans the Germanic tribes learned how о make butter and cheese and as there were no words for these products in their tribal languages they were to use Latin words to name them. Also thanks to the Romans the Germanic tribes got an idea of some fruits and vegetables and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables entered their vocabularies: cherry, pepper, plum, beet, etc. Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: cup, plant, kitchen, mill, port, wine. These Latin words were destined to become the earliest group of borrowings in the future English language.

In the fifth century AD several of the Germanic tribes (the most numerous among them were the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes) migrated across the sea to the British Isles. There they were confronted by the Celts, the origi5n7al inhabitants of the Isles. The Celts desperately defended their land against the invaders, but in the end they retreated to the North and South-West (modern Scotland, Wales and Cornwall). Through their numerous contacts with the Celts the conquerors got to know and assimilated a number of Celtic words. Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings were place name, names of rivers, hills, etc. The Germanic tribes occupied the land but the names of many parts and features of their territory remained Celtic.

Ex. Names of the rivers Avon, Exe, etc.

Билет 27. History of loan words in English. Sources of loans

Etymology is the origin of words.

A borrowed word is a word taken from another language and modified in phonetic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the English language.

A native word is one that belongs to the original English stock, as known from the earliest available manuscript of the OE period.

Native words:

1)Indo-European stock

2)Common Germanic origin

terms of kinship: father, mother, daughter, brother, son

words naming the most important objects and phenomena of nature: sun, moon, star, wind, hill, water, wood, tree, stone

names of animals and birds: bull, cat, crow, goose, wolf

parts of the human body: arm, ear, eye, foot, heart

some frequent verbs: bear, come, sit, stand

the adjectives of this group denote concrete physical properties: hard, quick, slow, red, white

most numerals

Words of the native word-stock are for the most part characterized by:

A wide range of lexical and grammatical valency

High frequency value

Developed polysemy

They are often monosyllabic

They show great word-building power

They enter a number of set-expressions

e.g. swan song from Germ. swanen gesung

masterpiece - meisterstuck

surplus value - mehrwehrt

a populist - народник

a collective farm - колхоз

a state farm - совхоз

Semantic loan is used to denote the development in an English word of a new meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language.

“Dwell” - “to wander about” (under the influence of Scandinavian - “to live”).

difficult to tell an old borrowing from a native word.

e.g. cheese, street, wall, wine belong to the earliest Latin borrowings.

The initial position of the sounds [v], [G], [Z] is a sign that the word is not of native stock.

e.g. vacuum (Lat.), valley (Fr.)

The initial [Z] occurs in comparatively late borrowings.

e.g. genre (Fr.)

The letters j, x, z in initial position and in combinations as ph, kh, eau in the root indicate the foreign origin of the word.

e.g. philosophy (Gr.), physics (Gr.), khaki (Ind.), beau (Fr.)

x is pronounced [ks] in words of native origin and [gz] in words of Latin origin.

e.g. six, exist

ch is pronounced [C] in native words and early borrowings; [S] - in late French borrowings; [k] - in words of Greek origin.

e.g. child, chair; machine, parachute; echo, epoch, chemist.

There are some suffixes and prefixes that show that the word is borrowed.

e.g. concentrate, disagree

Билет 28. Early borrowings in the English language. Celtic element. Latin borrowings. Norman-French. Borrowings. Borrowings from Spanish and Italian

In the first century ВС. most of the territory now known to us as Europe was occupied by the Roman Empire. Among the inhabitants of the continent are Germanic tribes. Their tribal languages contain only Indo-European and Germanic elements. After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans these opposing peoples came into peaceful contact. Trade was carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things.

The first among them were new things to eat. Thanks to the Romans the Germanic tribes learned how о make butter and cheese and as there were no words for these products in their tribal languages they were to use Latin words to name them. Also thanks to the Romans the Germanic tribes got an idea of some fruits and vegetables and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables entered their vocabularies: cherry, pepper, plum, beet, etc. Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: cup, plant, kitchen, mill, port, wine. These Latin words were destined to become the earliest group of borrowings in the future English language.

In the fifth century AD several of the Germanic tribes (the most numerous among them were the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes) migrated across the sea to the British Isles. There they were confronted by the Celts, the original inhabitants of the Isles. The Celts desperately defended their land against the invaders, but in the end they retreated to the North and South West (modern Scotland, Wales and Cornwall).Through their numerous contacts with the Celts the conquerors got to know and assimilated a number of Celtic words. Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings were place name, names of rivers, hills, etc. The Germanic tribes occupied the land but the names of many parts and features of their territory remained Celtic.

Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic, among them such widely-used words as street and wall. The Celtic Elements in the English Vocabulary

Old Celtic borrowings which entered the English stock: bannock (пресный коржик), bin (корзина), brat (мальчик, проказник), down (дюна), dun (тёмно-коричневый).

In geographical names: Britain, the Thames etc.

In other periods from living Celtic languages (Scottish, Irish, Gaelic)there were borrowed such words: clan (клан), whisky, slogan, tory (meant ирландский работник).

career, cloak, carpenter, ear, to carry, clock.

Latin borrowings

Among Latin borrowings we must distinguish those borrowed:

1. Through immediate contact, that is orally at the early stages of language development.

2. Later borrowings which came through writing.

e.g. pear, pea, pepper, cheese, plum, butter, wine, kettle, cup, dish, line.

Words that pertain to trade: cheap, pound, inch.

Words had a military flavour, for the Romans built fortifications, military camps and roads: port, street, wall, mill.

These words became head-words of whole groups of derivatives, compounds and set expressions.

e.g. wine bag, wine bowl, wine cellar, winecoloured;

cheap, cheaply, cheapness, cheaper.

Christianity as a source of borrowings.

e.g. altar, angel, anthem, bishop, candle, disciple, devil, martyr, priest, temple the Norman Conquest (1066).

Revival of Learning (the Renaissance):

terms of philosophy, mathematics, physics: diameter, fundamental, momentum, radius, vacuum;

words pertaining to law and government: alibi, affidavit, coroner, veto, judicial;

medicine: anesthetics, diagnosis;

geography: equator, continental, peninsula.

Some of these words can be traced to Greek roots.

Here are some abbreviations met in writing:

e.g. - exempli gratia=for example

i.e. - id est=that is

a.m. - before noon

p.m. - after noon

etc. - and so on

The Norman - French Elements

1. From the Norman dialect (during the 1-st century after the Norman Conquest of 1066).

2. From the French national literary language beginning with the 15-th century.

The Anglo-Norman dialect

e.g. happiness - felicity

help - aid

weak - feeble

French borrowings of the 12-16-th centuries show both the social status of the Norman invaders and their supremacy in economic, cultural and political development:

terms of law: accuse, acquit, judge, amend, jury, prison

military terms: army, peace, armour, assault, battle, powder, siege, officer, sergeant, soldier etc.

religious terms: saint, miracle, charity, mercy, clergy, pray, religion

trade and everyday affairs: barber, butcher, grocer, chamber, tailor, beef, veal, mutton, pleasure, leisure, comfort, delight

terms of rank: duke, duchess, prince, peer

terms of art: beauty, colour, image, design, figure, costume, garment

terms of architecture: arch, tower, pillar, column, palace, castle, mansion

In XIX-XX centuries a considerable number of German, Spanish, Russian words as well as words from Indian languages, such as Urdu, were borrowed by the English language.(potato, tomato)

Билет 29. Borrowed words (or loan words or borrowings) are words taken over from another language and modified according to the patterns of the receiving language

In many cases a borrowed word especially one borrowed long ago is practically indistinguishable from a native word without a thorough etymological analysis (street, school, face). The number of borrowings in the vocabulary of a language and the role played by them is determined by the historical development of the nation speaking the language. The most effective way of borrowing is direct borrowing from another language as the result of contacts with the people of another country or with their literature. But a word may also be borrowed indirectly not from the source language but through another language. When analysing borrowed words one must distinguish between the two terms - "source of borrowing" and "origin of borrowing". The first term is applied to the language from which the word was immediately borrowed, the second - to the language to which the word may be ultimately traced e.g. table - source of borrowing - French, origin of borrowing - Latin elephant - source of borrowing - French, origin-Egypt convene - source of borrowing - French, origin-Latin. The closer the two interacting languages are in structure the easier it is for words of one language to penetrate into the other.

There are different ways of classifying the borrowed stock of words. First of all the borrowed stock of words may be classified according to the nature of the borrowing itself as borrowings proper, translation loans and semantic loans.

Translation loans are words or expressions formed from the elements existing in the English language according to the patterns of the source language (the moment of truth - sp. el momento de la verdad).

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