Seminar N ILexicology as a Science1 .Object o f Lexicology. Branches o f Lexicology.2. The Connection o f Lexicology with Other Branches o f Linguistics.3. The Main Lexicological Problems. Modern English Lexicology.4. The Theoretical and Practical Value o f English Lexicology.

Literature1. I.V. Zukova. A Practical course in English Lexicology. 2-nd edition. M.:

Akademia, 2007, pp 6-9.2. O.Burea. A Guide to English Lexicology, Chisinau, Continental Group, Sri, 2008,

p p .8-12.3. D. M elenciuc. A Reader in English Lexicology. Chisinau,: CEPUSM , 2005. p.4-

1 0 .

4. I.V. Arnold. The English Word. M,: Vyshaia Skola, 1973.

Seminar N2 The Theory o f the Word. Word Structure

. 1. Ambiguity o f the Term “ W ord”2. Definition o f the Word.3. The Word as the Basic Unit o f Language.4. Types o f Words.5. The M orphological Structure o f the English Words. Types o f M orphemes.

AUomorphs.6. M orphem ic Classification o f Words.7. The M ethod o f Immediate and Ultimate Constituents.8. Derivational Level o f Analysis. Stems. Types o f Stems.

Literature1. O.Burea. A Guide to English Lexicology. Ch.: Continental Group, SRL, 2008

(230 p ) p. 1 3 - 2 82. I.V. Zykova. A Practical Course in English Lexicology. 2-nd edition. M.:

Akadem ia, 2007 (288p) p.p.52-66; p.p. 70-763. I.V. Arnold. The English Word. M.: “Vysshaia Skola,” 1973 p. 30-594. D. M elenciuc. A Reader in English Lexicology. Chisinau, CEPUSM , 2005

p.p. 131-143.Seminar N3

The Sem antic Structure o f the Words

1. Word m eaning as the Subject o f Semasiology.2. Types o f M eaning. The Lexical and Grammatical Meanings3. The Denotative and Connotative Meanings. Types o f Conntations.

^4. Word M eaning and Motivation.5. The Sem antic Structure o f Polysemantic Words.6. Types o f Sem antic Components.7. M eaning and context.Types o f Contexts.

Literature1. I.V. Zykova. A Practical Course in English Lexicology. 2-nd edition. M.

Akadem ia, 2007 (288p.) p.p. 17-20; p 322. O. Burea. A Guide to English Lexicology. Chisinau: “Continental Group “SRL,

2008 (23OP)pp30 - 46.3. D. M elenciuc. A Reader in English Lexicology. Chisinau, CEPUSM , 2005 PP 73-

77; PP 36-564. I.V. Arnold. The English Word. M. “Vysshaia Skola,” 1973 p p l 12-125,

Seminar N4

Word Formation1 .Derivation. Affixation. Classification o f Affixes.2. Com position. Classification and Criteria o f Compounds. N eutral, M orphological, Syntactic Com pounds.3. Exocentric and Endocentric Compounds.4. Conversion. S u b stan tia tio n o f Adjectives.5. Shortening.6 . Types o f Clippings7. Graphical Abbreviations8 . A cronym s, Initialism s, Alphabetisms.9. M inor Types o f Modern W ord-Buildinga) Sound Interchange, Stress Interchangeb) Onom atopoeiac) Blending, Back - Formation.

Literature1. O, Burea. A Guide to English Lexicology. Chisinau: “Continental Group “SRL,

2008 (230P) p.p. 58-76.2. I.V. Zukova A Practical Course in English Lexicology. 2-nd edition. M.

Akademia, 2007 (288p.) p.p. pp 70-78; 87 -96;3. D. M elenciuc. A Reader in English Lexicology. Chisinau, CEPUSM , 2005

p.p. 123-1774. I.V. Arnold. The English Word. M. “Vysshaia Skola,” 1973 pp60-l 11

Seminar N5 Phraseology

1. Phraseological Units versus Free Word - Groups2. Ways o f Forming Phraseological Units.3. Principles o f Classification o f Phraseological Units.

a) Contextual Approachb) Semantic Principlec) Structural Principled) Combination o f the Structural and the Semantic Principle.

4. Proverbs, Sayings, Familiar Quatations and Cliches.Literature

1. O. Burea. A. Guide to English Lexicology Continental Group SRL Ch. 2008, pp.84-108.

2. I.V. Zykova. A Practical Course in English Lexicology, 2-nd edition, Akademia, M., 2007, pp. 128-136.

Seminar N 6Stylistic Classification o f the English Vocabulary

1. The Opposition o f Stylistically Marked and Stylistically Neutral Words.2 . Literary'Vocabulary TermsLearned Words and Official Vocabulary

Archaic WordsBarbarisms and Foreign Words Neologisms

3. Colloquial Vocabulary ColloquialismsSlangYargonisms Profesionaiisms Dialect Words4.Basic Vocabulary

1. O. Burea. A Quide to English Lexicology. Ch.: Continental Group SRL,2008 pp. 126-142.

2. I.V. Arnold. The English Word. M., Vyssaia Skola, 1973, pp 222-235

Seminarul N7 English Variants and Dialects

1. Standard English Variants and Dialects2. Scotlish English3. I rish English4. American English5. Divergencies between BE and AE (in lexics, phonetics, grammar and writing)6. Canadian English

7. A ustralian English8. Indian English1. O. Burea. A G u ide to English Lexicology. Ch.: C ontinenta l G roup SRL, 2008, pp.

171-1892. I.v. Arnold. T h e English Word. M., Vyssaia Skola, 1973, pp. 236-2473. I.V. Zykova. A Practical Course in English Lexicology, 2-nd edition. M.,

A kadem ia , 2007, pp 145-165.

Seminarul N8 English Lexicography

1. M ain Types o f English Dictionaries2. Types o f English Dictionaries E lectronic Dictionaries.3. Some B asic P rob lem s o f Dictionary Compiling.

a) The C ho ice o f Lexical Units for Inclusion.b) T he O rder o f A rrangem ent o f the Entriesc) R ecord ing the W ord-m eanings and arranging T h emd) Definition o f M eaningse) Illustrative E xam ples0 T he Principle o f A dequate Translation o f Vocabulary Items, g) The Entries o f the Synchronic and Diachronic Dictionaries.

3 .T he Problem s o f the L ea rn e r ’s Dictionaries Compilation.Literature

1. O. Burea. A G uide to English Lexicology. Ch.: Continental Group SRL, 2008, pp. 192-209

2.I.V. Arnold. T he English W ord. 2-nd edition. M. Vyssaia Scola, 1973, pp. 257-273 3. I.V. Zykova. A Practical C ourse in English Lexicology. 2-nd edition, M., Akadem ia , 2007, pp. 187-200.

The O bject o f Lexicology

Lexicology is the part o f linguistics which deals with the vocabulary and charachteristic features o f words and word-groups.

The term lexicology first appeared in the 1820s and it is com posed o f tw o Greek m orphem es: lexis - “w ord” and logos - “science” . Thus the literal m eaning o f the term lexicology is “the science o f the w ord” . It’s basic task is the study and systematic description o f vocabulary in respect to its origin, developm ent and its current o f vocabulary in respect to its origin, developm ent and its current use.Lexicology is concerned with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units and m orphem es which m ake up words.

Dinstinction is m ade between general lexicology and special lexicology. G eneral lexicology is a part o f general linguistics. It is concerned with the study o f vocabulary irrespective o f the specific features o f any particular language. Special lexicology is the lexicology o f a particular language (English, German, French, etc.). It devotes its attention to the description o f the characteristic peculiarities in the vocabulary o f a given language.

There are two principal approaches in linguistic science to the study o f language material: the synchronic (Gr.syn - “together, w ith” , chronos - “t im e”) and the diachronic (Gr. D ia - “through”) approach. With regard to special lexicology the synchronic approach is concerned with the vocabulary o f a language as it exists at a given period o f time. D escrip tive lexicology deals with the vocabulary and vocabulary units o f a particular language at a certain time. The diachronic approach in terms o f special lexicology deals with the vocabulary and vocabulary units o f a particular language at a certain time. The diachronic approach in terms o f special lexicology deals with the changes and the developm ent o f vocabulary in the course o f time.

H istorical lexicology deals with the evolution o f the vocabulary units o f a language as the time goes by. C o m p ara tiv e lexicology studies closely relative languages from the point o f view o f their identity and differentiation, while con trastive lexicology attempts to find out similarities and differences in both related and non-related languages.

1.2 T he C onnection o f Lexicology w ith O th e r B ranches o f L inguisticsLexicology is closely connected with other branches o f linguistics: general linguistics,

the history o f the language, phonetics, stylistics, grammar, sociolinguistics, and some others.

The im portance o f the connection between lexicology and phonetics consists in the facts that a word is an association o f a given group o f sounds with a given meaning, so that man is one word and map is another. Phonem es have no m eaning o f their own but they serve to distinguish between meanings. Distinction between the words m ay be based upon stress: the word import is recognized as a noun and distinguished from the verb im ’port due to the position o f stress. Stress also distinguishes com pounds from otherwise hom onym ous word-groups: ‘b lackberry -‘black ‘berry.

There is also a close relationship between lexicology and stylistics which studies many problems created in lexicology. These are the problems o f meaning, connotations, synonymy, functions and styles o f languages and some other issues.

Lexicology is also connected with grammar, which is concerned with the various means o f expressing gram m atical relations between words as well. The gramm atical form and function o f the word affect its lexical meaning. A well-known example is the verb go when

in the continuous tenses, followed by to and an infinitive serves to express an action in the near and im m ediate future, or an intention o f future action.

Lexicology is linked with the history o f a language since the latter investigates the changes and the developm ent o f the vocabulary o f a language. Lexicology is bound up with sociolinguistics which investigates the extra-linguistic or social causes o f the changes in the vocabulary o f a language. The intense developm ent o f science and technology, which is a social, i.e. an extra-linguistic factor, has lately given birth to a great num ber o f new words, e.g.: C D -R O M , e-mail, S M S ,pager, etc.

1.3 T he M ain Lexicological P roblem s

M odern English lexicology aims at giving a systematic description o f the word-stock o f M odern English. Thus, it investigates the problems o f word-structure and word-formation in M odern English, the sem antic structure o f English words. The laws governing the replenishment o f the vocabulary with new vocabulary units.

M odern English Lexicology studies the relations between various layers o f the English vocabulary and the specific laws that govern its developm ent at the present time and also the source and growth o f the English vocabulary, the changes it has undergone in its history.

The branch o f lexicology specializing in word-groups which are characterized by stability o f structure and transferred m eaning is called phraseology.

A section dealing with lexicography - the science and art o f com piling dictionaries - is also traditionally included in the course o f lexicology.

1.4 T he T heoretica l and P ractica l V alue o f English Lexicology

The importance o f English lexicology is based on the fact that at present it is the w o rld ’s m ost w idely used language. Over 309 million people speak English as their first language in the United States o f America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, N ew Zealand, South Africa, etc. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world, especially in Com m onw ealth countries and in many international organizations. I t ’s a “global language” , the lingua franca o f the modern era.

While English is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world. It is, the official language for aerial and maritime com m unications, as well as one o f the official languages o f the European Union, the United Nations, and most international athletic organizations, including the International O lym pic Committee.

Books, m agazines, and newspapers written in English are available in m any countries around the world. English is also the m ost com m only used language in the sciences^ Lexicology applied linguistics, namely o f lexicography, standardization o f terminology, literary criticism and especially o f foreign language teaching. In training a would-be teacher o f languages lexicology helps to stimulate a systematic approach to the facts o f vocabulary and an organized comparison o f the foreign and native language. N ew words are better rem em bered if they are given not at random but organized in them atic groups, word-families, synonym ic series, etc.

John Lyons po in ts out that w ord should be discussed in term s o f tw o criteria: positional m obility and uninterruptability . To illustrate the first he segm ents into m orphem es the follow ing sentence:The - boy- s- w alk- ed- slow -ly — up - th e - hillThe sentence m ay be regarded as a sequence o f ten m orphem es, w hich occur in a particular order relative to one another. There are several possible changes in th is order w hich yield an acceptable English sentence:

S low -ly-the-boy-s-w alk-ed-up-the-hill U p-the-hill-slow -ly-w alk-ed-the-boy-s

There is no possib ility o f the sequence s-the-boy, ly-slow , ed - w alk. “O ne o f the characteristics o f the w ord is that it tends to be internally stable but positionally m pb ilm vrites John Lyons in his book “ Introduction to Theoretical L inguistics” .

S tephen U llm ann analyzed the w ord from the sem antic point o f v iew ,” it will fall into a certain num ber o f m eaningful segm ents which are ultim ately com posed o f m eaningful units. These m eaningful un its are called w ords.”

The sem antic-phonological approach m ay be illustrated by A .H . G ardiner’s definition:’ A word is an articulate sound »-symbol in its aspect o f denoting som ething w hich is spoken about.” A. M eillet com bines the sem antic, phonological and gram m atical criteria and defines the w ord as “the association o f a particu lar m eaning with a particular group o f sounds capable o f a particular gram m atical em ploym ent.”Sum m ing up, we can say that a word is the sm allest significant unit o f a given language capable

..of functioning alone and characterized by positional m obility w ith in a sentence, m orphological uninterruptability and sem antic integrity.

2.2 The W ord as the Basic U nit o f Language W ords are the central elem ents o f language system , they face both w ays: they are the biggest units o f m orphology and the sm allest o f syntax, and w hat is m ore, they em body the m ain structural properties and functions o f the language. W ords can be separated in an utterance by other such units and can be used in isolation.

The m odern approach to w ord studies is based on distinguishing betw een the external and the internal structures o f the word. By external structure o f the w ord w e m ean its m orphological structure. For exam ple, in the w ord post-im pressionists the fo llow ing m orphem es can be distinguished: the prefixes post-, im -, the root press, the noun, the nounform ing suffixes -ion, - ist, and the gram m atical suffix o f plurality .-s . All these m orphem es constitute the external structure o f the w ord postim pressionalists. The internal structure o f the w ord, or its meaning, is nowadays com m only referred to as the w ord”s sem antic structure. The area o f lexicology specializing in the sem antic studies o f the word is called sem antics.

The w ord possesses both external or formal unity and sem antic unity. The form al unity o f the w ord can best be illustrated by com paring a word and a w ord-group com prising identical constituents. The difference betw een a”blackbird” and “a black b ird” is best explained by their ■ relationship w ith the gram m atical system o f the language. The w ord “blackbird”, which is characterized by unity, possesses a single gram m atical fram ing: “blackbird/s” . The first constituent; “black” is no t subject to any gram m atical changes. In the w ord-group “a black bird” each constituent can acquire gram m atical forms o f its own: “the.b lackest birds I’ve ever seen” O ther words can be inserted betw een the com ponents w hich is im possible so far as the word is concerned as it Would violate its unity: “a black night b ird” .

In the w ord-group “a black bird” each o f the m eaningful w ords conveys a separate concept: “bird” - “a kind o f living creature” , “black” - “acolour” . The w ord “blackbird” conveys only one concept - “ the type o f the b ird” . T h is \is one o f the m ain features o f any word: it always conveys one concept, nb m atter how m any com ponent m orphem es it m ay have in its external structure.

A further structural feature o f the w ord is its susceptibility to gram m atical employment. In speech m ost words can be used in different gram m atical form s in w hich their interrelations are realized. The system show ing a word in all its w ord-form s is called its paradigm . Nouns are

declined, verbs - conjugated, qualitative adjectives have degrees, o f com parison. Some adverbs also have degrees o f com parison (e.g. w ell, badly), others are im m utable (e.g.here, there, never). The lexical m e a n in g o f a word is the sam e throughout the paradigm , i.e. all the word-forms o f one and the sam e w ord are lexically identical. The gram m atical m ean ing varies from one form to another (cf. to take, takes, took, taking o r singer, singer’s, singers, s ingers’). Therefore, w hen we speak o f the w ord “singer” or the word “take” as used in actual u tterances w e use the term w ord conventionally , because w hat is m anifested in the speech even t is n o t the w ord as a whole but one o f its form s w hich is identified as belonging to one defin ite paradigm -

2.3.Types o f W ordsW ords can be classified according to their m orphological structure, sem antic type, syntactic

function, sty listic differentiation or according to their origin. f.M orphologically , we distinguish m onom orphic, i.e. roo t-w o jds, and polym orphic words,

i.e. derivatives, com pounds, com pound-derivatives (derivational com pounds).Sem antically , w e distinguish m onosem antic words, i.e. w ords hav ing only one lexical

m eaning, and polysem antic w ords, i.e. words having several m eanings.Syntactically , w e distinguish categorem atic, i.e. notional w ords, and syncategorem atic,

i.e. form -w ords.S tylistically , we distinguish neutral, elevated (bookish), co lloquial, slang words, etc. E tym ologically , we distinguish native, borrow ed, hybrid and international words.

Q uestions and Tasks1.W hat do w e m ean by an orthographic word, a phonological w ord and a lexical item?2.W hat do we m ean by a gram m atical w ord-form ? H ow m any gram m atical form s does

the E nglish lexem e “be” have? G ive som e exam ples o f lexical item s w hich have only one gram m atical form.

3.G ive the defin itions o f the w ord as exem plified by different linguists.4. W hat is the d ifference betw een content w ords and function w ords?.

Illustrate your answ er w ith exam ples.5. W hat does E .Sapir m ean by the indivisibility o f the w ord? G ive exam ples.6. W hat does John Lyons m ean by the positional m obility and m orphological unin-

terruptab ility o f w ords?7. W hat is understood by form al unity o f a w ord? Explain w hy the w ord “ blackboard”

can be considered a unity and w hy the com bination o f w ords “ a b lack board d oesn ’t possess such a unity.

8.W hat is understood by the sem antic unity o f a w ord? W hich o f the follow ing pos­sesses sem antic unity — a blackberry or a black berry?

9..G ive a b rie f account o f the m ain characteristics o f a w ord lO .How can w e classify w ords m orphologically, sem antically , syntactically , stylis­

tically , etym ologically?y 3. W ord Structure3.1. The M orphological Structure o f E nglish W ords.

M orphem es. Types o f M orphem es. A llom orphs There are tw o levels o f ap p ro ac irto the study o f w ord-structure: the level o f m orphem ic

analysis and the level o f derivational analysis .M any w ords are m ade up o f m orphem es, the basic units on the m orphem ic level, w hich are defined as the sm allest indivisib le two-facet language units.The term m orphem e is derived from Greek m orphe “form ” +-em e. T he Greek suffix -em e has been adopted by linguists to denote the sm allest significant or d istinctive unit.

A w ord m ay consist o f a single m orphem e. A ccording to the ro le they play in constructing words, m orphem es are subdivided into: root-m orphem es (roots) and affixational m orphem es (affixes).

The i'oot-m orphem e is the lexical nucleus o f the word; T hus,-heart- is the com m on root o f the follow ing series o f w ords: heart, hearten, dishearten, heartily , heartless, hearty, heartiness, etc.A ffixational m orphem es include inflectional affixes (or inflections) and derivational affixes. Inflections carry only gram m atical m eaning and are thus relevan t on ly fo r the form ation o f w ord- form s (e.g. w orks, w ork ing , worked)- D erivational affixes are relevan t fot build ing various types o f w ords (e.g. w orker, w orkless). They are lexically alw ays dependen t on the root w hich they m odify.Roots and derivational affixes are generally easily d istinguished and the d ifference betw een them is clearly felt as, for instance in the words helpless, handy, b lackness, refill, etc.: the root- m orphem es help-,hand-, black-, -fill, are understood as the lexical centers o f the words, and - less, -y, -ness, re- are felt as m orphem es dependent on these roots. , 1

A ccording to their position , derivational affixes are subdivided in to prefixes, suffixes and infixes. A prefix is a derivational m orphem e standing before the root and m odifying m eaning, cf. dis-, un-, ir-, in dishearten , unhappy, irregular. A suffix is a derivational m orphem e follow ing the stem and form ing a new derivative in a different part o f speech o r a d ifferent w ord class, cf. -e n , -y, -less in hearten. A n infix is an affix placed w ithin the w ord, -s-in sportsm an.

M orphem es can be e ither bound o r free. Free m orphem es co incide w ith w ord-form s o f independently function ing w ords. The m orphem e -h ea rt- in the w ord dishearten is a free m orphem e; the w ord k ind-hearted has two free m orphem es: k ind-and heart-.B ound m orphem es are those tha t do n o t coincide w ith separate w ord-form s, such as - y , -en, -less in the w ords hearty, hearten, heartless. R oot-m orphem es m ay be both free and bound. It should also be noted that m oiphem es m ay have different phonem ic shapes. T hus, for exam ple, -ion / -tion / -sion / - ation are the positional variants o f the same suffix. They are considered as variants o f one and the sam e m orphem e and are called its allom orphs.

D ifferent m orphem es are characterized by contrastive d istribution, i.e. i f they occur in the sam e environm ent they signal different m eanings. The suffixes -a b le and -e d , for in­

s ta n c e , are d ifferent m orphem es, not allom orphs, because adjectives in -a b le m ean ‘capable of, suitable for, o r deserv ing o f ’ (e.g. adaptable, w ashable, respectable), w here- & s - e d as a suffix for ad jectives has a resultant force (e.g. adapted, w ashed, respected). A llom orphs w ill also occur am ong prefixes.A prefix such as im - occurs before bilabials (e.g. im possible), its a llom orph ir- before r (e.g. irregular), il- before 1 (e.g. illegal). It is in -b e fo re all other consonants and vow els (e.g. indirect, inability).

3.2. M orphem ic C lassification o f W ords A ccording to the num ber o f m orphem es words can be classified into m onom orphic and

polym orphic. M onom orphic or root-w ords consist o f only one root-m orphem e, e.g. heart, sm all, m ake, etc. All po lym orph ic w ords fall into two subgroups: derived w ords and com pound w ords - according to the num ber o f root-m orphem es they have. D erived w ords are com posed o f one root-m orphem e and one or m ore derivational "morphemes, e.g. hearty , dishearten, heartless, etc. C om pound w ords are those w hich contain at least two root-m orphem es. There can be both root and derivationalYorphem.es in com pounds as in kind-hearted (derivational com pounds), or only root-m orphem es as in sw eet-heart (com pound w o rd | proper).

D erived w ords num erically constitute the largest class o f w ords in the existing wordstock; derived nouns com prise approxim ately 67 % o f the total num ber, adjectives about 86 %, w hereas com pound nouns m ake about 15 % and Adjectives about 4 %. R oot words come to 18% in nouns, adjective^ root w ords come to approxim ately 12 %.

R oot- w ords occupy a predom inant place. In English, accord ing to the recent frequency counts, about 60 % o f the to tajnum ber o f nouns and 62 % o f the to tal num ber o f adjectives in current use are root-w ords. D erived words com prise about 38 % and 37 % respectively while com pound w ords com prise an insignificant 2 % in nouns and 0 .2 % in adjectives. It is the root- w ords that constitu te the foundation and the backbone o f the vocabulary and that are o f param ount im portance in speech. Root-wordS are characterized by a high degree o f collocability

and a com plex variety o f m eanings in contrast w ith w ords o f o ther structural types. Root-words also serve as parent form s for all tvpes o f derived and com pound w ords.

3.3. T he M eth o d o f Im m ediate and U ltim ate C onstituents The segm entation o f w ords is generally carried out accord ing to the m ethod o f Im m ediate

and U ltim ate C onstituents. This m ethod is based on the b inary princip le, i.e. each stage o f the procedure involves tw o com ponents the w ord im m ediately b reaks into. A t each stage these two com ponents are referred to as the Im m ediate Constituents. Each Im m ediate Constituent at the next stage o f analysis is in turn broken into sm aller m eaningfu l elem ents. The analysis is com pleted w hen we arrive at constituents incapable o f further d iv ision , i.e. m orphem es. These are referred to U ltim ate Constituents. ^ 1

A sam ple analysis w hich has becom e alm ost classical, being' fepeated m any tim es by m any authors, is L. B loom field ’s analysis o f the word ungentlem anly. A t the first sight we obtain the folio*vi.v£ iiu '.ucdiatc constituen ts:!) un gentlem anly, 2} gentlem an- + ly, 3} gentle 4) gent- +le. A s a pa tte rn show ing the interdependence o f all the constituents segregated at various stages we ob ta in the follow ing formula:

Un- + { [ ( gent- + -le) + -man] + -ly}The ICs un-, -le, -m an, -ly cannot be broken into any sm alle r elem ents possessing both

sound-form and m eaning. Un-, gent-, le-, -m an and - ly are u ltim ate constituents o f the word.

M oiphem ic analysis under the m ethod o f ultim ate constituents m ay be carried out on the basis o f tw o princip les: the so-called root principle and affix p rincip le . A ccording to the affix principle we have the identification o f the suffix - e r in the w ords teacher, singer, leader into the derivational m orphem e - e r and the roots teach-, sing-, lead-. A ccord ing to the root-principle, the segm entation o f the w ord is based on the identification ofd the roo t-m orphem e in a word-clusler, e.g. the identification o f the root-m orphem e agree- in the w ords agreeable , agreem ent, disagree.

■ .'»•imuiiuicj not o a iy iiic soeiiteiitaiiuu ui woids into m orphem es, but tiie recognition oi certain sound -c lu ste rs‘as m orphem es becomes doubtful w hich natu ra lly affects the classification o f words. In w ords like retain, detain, contain or receive, deceive, con ­ceive, perceive the sound-clusters [ri-], [di-] seem to be singled quite easily, on the other hand, they undoubtedly have nothing in com m on with the phonetically identical prefixes re-, de- as found in w ords re-w rite , re-organize, de-organize, de-code.M oreover, ne ither the sound-cluster [ri-] or [di-], nor [-tein] o r [-si:v] possess any lexical or functional m eaning o f their own.Yet, these sound-clusters are felt as having a certain m eaning because [ri-] distinguishes retain from detain and [-tein] distinguishes retain from receive. They are ne ither affixes nor roots. They are set apart from, all o ther types o f m orphem es and are know n in lingu istic literature as pseudo­m orphem es.

3.4* D erivational Level o f Analysis. Stems. Types o f S tem s The m orphem ic analysis o f words only defines the constituent m orphem es, determ ining their

jynes ni>d the'!- but not reve»J the h ierarchv o f ih? m orphem es c o tn n ^ b .c th<rword. M orphem es are arranged according to certain rules, the arrang ing differing in various types o f w ords and particu lar groups w ithin the sam e types. T he rela tions w ithin the word and the in terrelations betw een different types and classes o f w ords are know n as derivative or word- form atiorl relations. T he basic unit at the derivational level is the stem .

The stem is defined as the part o f the word which rem ains unchanged throughout the paradigm . Thus, the stem w hich appears in the paradigm To ask, asks, asked, asking is ask.

Stem s can be sim ple and derived. Simple stem s are sem antically non-m otivated and do not Constitute a pattern on analogy w ith which new stem s m ay be m odeled. Sim ple stems are generally m onom orphic and phonetically identical w ith the roo t-m orphem e For example, for the word hearty andfor the paradigm heart - hearts the stem m ay be represented as heart-. It is a

D erived stem s are m otivated, i.e. they are understood on the basis o f the derivative relations betw een their ICs and the correlated stem s The d e lv e d stem s are m ostly polymorphic, i.e. they

. consist o f a roo t m orphem e and an affix. The stem o f the paradigm hearty - heartier —(the) heartiest, for exam ple, is a derived stem : hearty-.

Q uestions and Tasks1. G ive the definition o f the sm allest language unit.2. Po in t ou t different types o f m orphem es.3. W hat is a root m orphem e and w hat is its function?4. W hat is a-w ord-fam ily? M ake up word-fam ilies for the fo llow ing roots: dog, hand,

system , resist, trust.5. W hat is the d ifference between inflectional and derivational affixed? Give examples.6. H ow are derivational affixes classified according to their position?7. W hat is the m ain function Q fprefixes/'suffixes in ? word?8. W hat is the d ifference betw een free and bound m orphem es? Speak about free

and bound m orphem es from the words: alliteration, incredible, ladybird, disrespectable, light-hearted.

9. W hat are allom orphs?10. H ow do we call the m ethod used in carrying oul the m orphem ic segmentation o f woi'ds?

W hat does it consist in?11. M ake the m orphem ic analysis o f the word unlaw fully, applying the m ethod o f

Im m ediate and U ltim ate Constituents.12. W hat is a stem ? W hat is the difference betw een sim ple and derived stem s? a

4. W ord M eaning * \4 .1. W ord M eaning as the Subject o f Sem asiology

S em asio logy (or sem antics) is the branch o f linguistics concerned w ith the meaning o f w ords and word equivalents. The nam e comes from the Greek sem asia - “siguifica- ,tion”{ from “sem a” - sign, “sem antikos”— “significant” and “ logos” - “ learning”). Se­

m asiology is singled out as an independent branch o f lexicology alongside etym ology, phraseology, lexicography and wordform ation. A t the sam e tim e it is often referred to as the central branch o f lexicology. The im portance o f lexicology m ay be accounted for by three m ain considerations:

1. L anguage is the basic human com m unication system , the sem antic side forms the backbone o f com m unication.

2. By definition lexicology deals with words, m orphem es and word-groups. All these linguistic units have both form and meaning.

3. Sem asiology underlines all other branches o f lexicology. M eaning is the object o f sem asiological study.

The linguistic science at present cannot put forward a defin ition o f meaning which is conclusive. The very function o f the word as a unit o f com m unication is made possible by its possessing a m eaning. Therefore, am ong the w ord’s various characteristics, meaning is certainly the m ost im portant.

The com plex relationships between referent (object denoted by the word), concept and word are/traditionally represented by a triangle:

Concept

Word ............................ , ReferentThey are connected directly that means that if we hear a sound-form a certain idea arises in

our mind and the idea brings out a certain referent that exists in the reality.But thegound-form and the referent are connected indirectly because there are no objects or phenom ena in the reality

8

that predict a certain so'und-forni. that need/to be nam ed by a certain sequence o f sounds. The doted line suggests that there is no im m ediate relation betw een “w ord” arid “referent” : it is established only through the concept.

This triangular schem e was suggested by the G erm an m athem atician and philosopher Gotlieb F rege (1848 -1925). W ell-known E nglish scholars C .K .O gden and I.A .R ichards adopted dais three-cornered pattern with considerable m odifications. It is

•Known under several nam es: the sem antic triangle, triangle o f signification, Frege semi- otic triangle, O gden and R ichards’ basic triangle or sim ply basic triangle.

The m odern approach to sem antics is based on the assum ption that the inner form o f the word (id est its m eaning) presents a structure w hich is called the s e m a n t ic structure o f the word. M odern approaches to this problem are characterized by two different levels o f study: syntagm atic and paradigm atic.

On the syntagm atic level, the sem antic structure o f the w ord is analysed in its linear relationships w ith its neighbouring words in connected speech. O n the paradigm atic level, the word is studied in its relationships with o ther w ords in the vocabulary system . So, a word m ay be studied in com parison w ith other w ords o f sim ilar m eaning (e.g. work, n. - labour, n .; to refuse, v. - to reject, v. - to decline, v.), o f opposite m eaning (e.g. busy, adj. - idle, adj. ; tc^iccept, v. - to reject, v.), o f different stylistic characteristics (e.g. m an, n. *- chap, n. - bloke, n. - guy, n.). C onsequently , the m ain problem s o f paradigm atic studies are synonym y, antonym y, functional styles.

4.2. Types o f M eaning.T he tw o m ain types o f m eaning that are really observed are the gram m atical and the lexical

m eanings to be found in w ords and w ord-form s.G ram m atical m eaning. W e can notice that w ord-form s, such as boys, parents, books, days,

etc. though denoting w idely different objects o f reality have som ething in com m on. This com m on elem ent is the gram m atical m eaning o f plurality w hich can be found in all o f them.

The elem ents o f the gram m atical m eaning can be identified by the position o f the E inguistic unit in relation to other linguistic units, i.e. by its d istribu tion .T he w ord-form s“reads,'' speaks, w rites have one and the sam e gram m atical m eaning as they can all be found in identical d istribu tion , e.g. only after the pronouns he, she, it and before adverbs like w ell, badly, today, etc.

It fo llow s that a certain com ponent o f the m eaning o f the w ord is described when you identify it as a part o f speech, since d ifferen t parts o f speech are d istributionally different (cf. my work and I w ork).

L exical m eaning. C om paring w ord-form s o f one and the sam e w ord w e observe that besides the g ram m atical m ean ing , there is another com ponent o f m eaning to be found in them .The word- form s go, goes, w ent, going, gone possess d ifferen t gram m atical m ean ings o f tense, person and so on, bu t in each o f these form s we find one and the sam e sem antic com ponent denoting the process o f m ovem ent. This is the lexical m eaning o f the word.

T he d ifference betw een the gram m atical and lexical com ponents o f the m eaning is the w ay they are conveyed. The concept o f plurality, e.g. m ay be expressed by the lexical m eaning o f the w ord p lu rality ; it m ay also be expressed in the form s o f various w ords irrespective o f the lexical m eaning, e.g. parents, countries, books,etc.

It fo llow s that by the lexical m eaning w e designate the m eaning p roper to the g iven linguistic unit in all its form s and distributions, w hile by the gram m atical m eaning w e designate the m eaning p roper to sets o f w ord-form s com m on to all words o f a certain class. B oth the lexical and the gram m atical m eaning m ake up the w ord-m eaning, as neither can ex ist w ithout the other.

Part-o f-S peech M eaning. We classify lexical items into m ajor w ord-classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) and m inor w o rd ;d asses (articles, p repositions, conjunctions, etc.) All m em bers o f a m ajor w ord-class share a d istinguish ing sem antic com ponent o f a part-of-speech m eaning. F o r exam ple, the m eaning o f substan tia lity m ay be found in all the nouns, e.g. books, boy, sugar, though they possess different gram m a-

tical m eanings o i num ber, case, etc. ^The gram m atical aspect o f the part-oi-speech m eanings is conveyed as ajrule by a s e t o f

forms. I f we describe the word as a noun we mean to say that it is bound to possess a set o f fo rm s expressing the g ram m atical m eaning o f num ber (cf. book - books), case(cf,. boy - b o y 's \ and so on. A verb is understood to possess sets o f form s ex p re ss in g ^ .g . ten se m eaning (w orked, w orks), m ood-m eaning (work! - 1 w ork), etc. The part-of- speech m eaning o f the w ords that possess only one form ,e.g. prepositions, som e adverbs, e tc . is observed only in their d istribu tion (cf. to come in / here / there and in / on / under the table).

The lexical m ean ing o f words is not hom ogenious and m ay be analysed as includ ing denotative and conno ta tive com ponents.

D enotative M eaning . It is its literal m eaning - the defin ition from a dictionary. For exam ple, the deno tation o f the word “cat” i s “a sm all anim al w ith so ft fur that people often keep as a pet” , W hen you talk about a cat, m ost people will understand w hat you are referring to.

C onnotative M eaning . Connotation is the range o f fu rther associations that a word or p h rase suggests in addition to its straightforw ard dictionary m eaning. W ord ’s connotations can usua lly be form ulated as a se rie s o f qualities, contexts, and em otional responses com m only associa ted with its referent. W hich o f these will be activated by the w ord w ill depend on the con tex t in which it is used, and to som e degree on the reader or hearer.

L et’s take the exam ple o f the word “cat” . Two people m ay understand what the word “c a t” denotes. O ne person m ay have grow n up around cats and learned to enjoy their com pany. T he other, how ever, m ay have been attacked by a cat w hen young, and so s/he associates the w ord

^“cat” w ith very unp leasan t em otions and judgem ents. So, the m eaning o f the word “cat” (in terms o f its associations) is different for each o f those people. The em otions and feelings that a word creates are called its connotative meaning.

Personal connota tion is w hat was described above w ith the w ord “cat” . It is the em otions or feelings crea ted by a word in any individual. G eneral connotation is different — it is what a w ord m eans to a large group o f people; a m ind p ictu re that is shared.Take a m an’s beard , for exam ple. In V ic to rian tim es, the im age o f a bearded m an w as that o f a proper o ld er gentlem an - a g randfa ther, perhaps. But in the 1960’s a bearded m an cam e to m ean “unshaven hippie” . G eneral conno ta tion doesn’t m ean that everybody in the w orld thinks the sam e- w ay about som ething, ju s t th a t large groups o f people do.

4.3. Word Meaning and M otivation.The term “m o tiv a tio n ” is used to denote the rela tionsh ip ex isting betw een the phonem ic o r

m orphem ic com position and structural pattern o f the w ord on the one hand, and its m eaning on the other. T here are th ree m ain types o f m otivation; phonetic , m orphological and sem antic m otivation.

W hen there is a d irec t connection between the phonetic structure o f the w ord and its m eaning, the m otivation is phonetic, for exam ple, bang, boom , splash, sw ish, w histle, etc. Phonetically m otivated w ords are denoting noises produced by birds and anim als as m ost o f them are sound im ita tive: cuckoo, quack, buzz, m eow, m oo, etc.

The sound-c luster [in] is im itative o f sound or sw ift m ovem ent, as can be seen in words ring , sw ing, sing, fling, e tc . T he initial [gl] is associated w ith ligh t and fire: glare, glitter, glow , glim m er, etc. T hus, phonetically such words may be considered m otivated .

The re la tionsh ip be tw een m orphem ic structure and m ean ing is term ed m orphological m otivation. The prefix ex- m eans “form er” when added to hum an nouns: ex-w ife, ex-president. A longside w ith these cases there is a more general use o f ex-: in borrow ed words it is un stressed and m otivation is faded: expect, export, etc. The derived w ord “ reth ink” is m otivated as its m orphological struc tu re suggests the idea o f thinking again. R e- is one o f the m ost prefixes o f the E nglish language, it m eans ‘‘again” and back” and is added to verbal stem s, as in rebuild, resell, resettlem ent, etc.

The th ird type o f m o tivation is called semantic m otivation . It is based on the coexistence o f direct and figurative m ean ings o f the sam e word w ithin the sam e synchronous system . “M outh”

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continues to denote a part o f the hum an face, and at the sam e tim e it can m etaphorically ap p ly to any opening or outlet: the m outh o f a river, o f aCave, etc. Jacket is a short coat and also a protective cover for a book. In their direct m ean ing neither “ m outh” nor “jack e t” is m otivated.

W hen the connection betw een the m eaning o f the word and its form is conventional i.e. there is no reason for the w ord hav ing this particular phonem ic and m orphem ic com position, the w ord is said to be non-m otivated.

Som etim es the speakers change the form o f a word so as to g ive it a connection w ith som e w ell-know n word to find a m otivation for a borrowed word. T h is is fo lk ety- M ology. This phenom enon is not very frequent, for exam ple, a “n igh tm are” is not a she-horse that appears at n ight” but “ a terrify ing dream personified in fo lk lo re as a fem ale m onster” (O E m a r a - “ an evil sp irit”). The international radiotelephone signal “m ay -d ay ”

Corresponding to the telegraphic SOS used by aiq^lanes and sh ips in distress has nothing to do with the First o f M ay but is a phonetic rendering o f French m ’aides - “help m e”.

Q uestion T asks1. W hat is sem asiology and w hat does it study?2. W hat are the m ain differences between studying words syn tagm atica lly and

paradigm atically?3. W hat is m eant by the lexical and the gram m atical m ean ings in a w ord? How is a w ord ’s

gram m atical m ean ing expressed? H ow is a w ord’s lex ical m ean ing expressed?4. W hat is the d ifference betw een the m eaning o f a w ord as a part-of-speech and its own

. individual m w aning?5. W hat are the deno ta tive m eanings o f the words: mother, home, heart? W hat are the

connotative m eanings o f these w ords?6. The words strong-willed and pig-headed have the sam e literal m eaning: “stubborn” .

'W hat about their connota tive m eanings?7. C om m ent on the m ean ings o f the w ord fox in the fo llow ing sentences: A fox was seen

prowling around the chicken coop. Mary doesn 't trust John, because h e ’s such a fox.8. W hat is m eant by the m otivation o f the word? W hat are the m ain types o f m otivation o f

w ords?9. W hen do we say a w ord is phonetically? W hich o f the fo llow ing w ords are phonetically

m otivated: babble, fine, flimflam, giggle, hiss, king, murmur, purr, swing, thing?10. H ow can you describe the sem antic m otivation o f w ords?

5. Sem antic ChangeW ord-m eaning is liable to change in the course o f the h isto rica l developm ent o f the

language. The w ord “ fond” used to m ean “ foolish” , “ foo lish ly c redu lous” ; “glad” had the m eaning o f “bright” “sh in ing” and so on.

The study o f sem antic change only dates back to the 1900s. T he pioneering work w as carried out by the F rench linguist M ichel B reak who pub lished his book “Essai de sem antique” in 1899. Breal w as soon fo llow ed by m ost linguists, w ho defined m echanism s o f sem antic change in harm ony w ith h is findings. Accordingly, in 1921 the G erm an linguist-Herm ann H irt classified sem antic changes under six categories: narrow ing, pe io ra tion , am elioration, extension, m etaphor and m etonym y. A few years later, Jost T rier, a G erm an linguist, who presented his findings in 1934, w as the first one to point out the im portance o f lexical/sem antic fields. In his studies he show ed how the structure o f the Germ an language had changed between 1200 and 1300.

5.1. Types o f Sem antic C hangeSem antic changes have, been classified by different sc ien tis ts . B ut the most com plete

classification w as suggested by the G erm an scientist H erm an Paul in his work “Prinzipien des Sprachgeschih te” . It is the sem antic change on the logical p rinc ip le . H e distinguishes two m ain ways where the sem antic change is gradual (specialization and generalization), two momentary

The above schem e suggests that m eaning {1 ) holds a kind o f dom inance over the other m eanings conveying the concept in the m ost general way w hereas m eanings (2)-(5) are associated w ith special circum stances, aspects and instances o f the same phenom enon.

M eaning (1), generally referred to as the m ain m eaning, presents the centre o f the semantic structure o f the word holding it together. It is m ainly through m eaning ( I ) that m eanings (2)-(5) (they are called secondary m eanings) can be associated with one another, som e o f them exclusively through m eaning (1), as, for instance, m eanings (4) and (5).N ot every polysem antic word can have such a center. Some sem antic structures are arranged on a d ifferent principle.In the follow ing list o f meanings o f the adjective dull one can hardly hope to find a generalized m eaning covering and holding together the rest o f the sem antic structure:

f.e. Dull, adj.1) N ot in teresting, boring; e.g. a dull book2) Slow in understanding, stupid; e.g. a dull pupil3) N ot bright o r shiny; e.g. a dull colour4) N ot clear o r loud; e.g. a dull sound5) N ot sharp , b lunt; e.g. a dull knife6) N ot active, slow ; e.g. a dull market

Yet, one d istinctly feels that there is som ething that all these seem ingly m iscellaneous m eanings have in com m on, and that is the im plication o f deficiency, be it o f colour (3), w it (2), in terest (1), sharpness (5), etc. The im plication o f insufficient quality, o f som ething lacking , can be clearly distinguished in each separate m eaning.

In fact, each m eaning definition in the given schem e can be subjected to a transform ational operation to prove the point:

Dull, adj.1) N o t in teresting > deficient in interest2) S tupid > deficient in intellect3) N o t bright > deficient in brightness or brilliance4) N o t loud > deficient in sound5) N o t sharp > deficient in sharpness6) N o t active > deficient in activity

T he tran sfo rm ed schem e o f the sem antic structure o f dull clearly show s tha t thecentre ho ld in g together the com plex sem antic structure o f th is w ord is no t one o f the m ean ings bu t a certain com ponent that can be easily singled out w ith in each separate m eaning. T h is brings us to the second level o f analysis o f the sem an tic structure o f a w ord. T he transform ational operation w ith the m eaning defin itions o f dull reveals som eth ing v e ry significant: the sem antic structure o f the w ord is “d iv isib le” n o t only at the level o f d ifferen t m eanings but, also, a t a deeper level. In term s o f com ponential analysis, o n e o f the m odem m ethods o f sem antic research, the m ean ing o f a w ord is defined as a se t o f elem ents o f m eaning w hich are n o t p a rt o f the vocabu lary o f the

language itself, but rather theoretical elem ents, postulated in order to describe the semantic rela tions between the lexical elem ents o f a given language.

The schem e o f the semantic structure o f dull show s that the semantic structure o f a word is not a m ere system o f meanings, for each separate m eaning is subject to further subdivision and possesses an inner structure o f its own.

Therefore, the sem antic structure o f a word should be investigated at both these levels: (a) o f d ifferen t m eanings and (b) o f sem antic com ponents w ithin each separate meaning. For a m onosem antic word (i.e. a word w ith one m eaning) the first level isnaturally excluded^___5.2 Types o f Sem antic Com ponentsThe leading sem antic com ponent in the sem antic structure o f a w ord is usually term ed denotative com ponent. The denotative com ponent expresses the conceptual content o f a word.

The fo llow ing list presents denotative com ponents o f som e English adjectives and verbs:

D e n o ta tiv e co m p o n en ts Lonely > alone To glare > to look To glance > to look To shiver > to trem ble To shudder > to trem ble

T ie defin itions given in the right colum n only partially and incom pletely describe the m eanings o f their corresponding words. It is necessary to include in the schem e o f analysis add itional sem antic com ponents w hich are term ed connotations or connotative com ponents.

D enotative ConnotativeC om ponents components

lonely > a lone > sad, unhappyto glare > to look > steadily, angrilyto g lance > to look > hastily or brieflyto sh iver > to trem ble > slightly, as form cold o f fearto shudder > to trem ble > suddenly and v io len tly , as from horror, aversion, etc

T he above exam ples show how by singling o u t denotative and connotative com ponents one can get a sufficiently clear p ic tu re o f w hat the w ord realty m eans.

O ne o f th e m o st im portant “draw backs” o f po lysem antic w ords is that there is, som etim es a ch an ce o f m isunderstanding w hen a w ord is used in a certain m eaning but accepted by a listener or reader in another, f.e. C ustom er: v o id d like a book, please.

Bookseller: Som ething light?Custom er: That doesn 'tmatter. I have m y car w ith me.

In this conversation the custom er is honestly misled by the polysem y o f the adjective light taking it in the literal sense w hereas the bookseller uses the word in its figurative m eaning “not serious; entertaining” .

G enerally speaking, it is com m on knowledge that context is a powerful preventative against any m isunderstanding o f m eanings. For instance, the adjective dull, i f used out o f context, would mean different things to different people or nothing at all. It is only in com bination with other words that it reveals its actual meaning: a dull pupil, a dull book, a dull razor, dull weather, etc. Som etim es, however, such a m inim um context fails to reveal the m eaning o f the word, and it m ay be correctly interpreted only through what Professor N. A m osova term ed a second-degree context, as in the fo llow ing exam ple: The man was large, but his wife w as even fatter. The word fatter here serves as a kind o f indicator pointing that large describes a stout man and not a big one.

Scholars have estabilished that the sem antics o f words characterized by common occurrences (i.e. words which regularly appear in com m on contexts) are correlated and, therefore, one o f the words w ithin such a pair can be studied through the other. For instance, a study o f typical contexts o f the adjective bright in the first pattern will

give us the fo llow ing sets: a) bright colour (flower, dress, silk, etc.). b) bright metal (gold, jew els , arm our, etc.), c) bright student (pupil, boy, fellow, etc.), d) bright face (sm ile, eyes, etc.) and som e others. These sets w ill lead us to singling out the m eanings o f the adjective related to each set o f com binations: a) intensive in colour, b) shining, c) capable, d) gay, etc. The negative evaluative connotation o f the adjective notorious is linked w ith the negative connotation o f the nouns w ith which it is regularly associated: a notorious crim inal, thief, gangster, gam bler, gossip, liar, etc.

A ll th is leads us to the conclusion that context is a good and reliable key to the m eaning o f the word.

Q u e s tio n s a n d T a sk s

1. W hat is a po lysem antic w ord? Is polysem y an advantage or a disadvantage in a language? E xplain your answ er.

2. D escribe the tw o levels o f analysis the sem antic structure o f a w ord should be investigated at.

3. W hat k inds o f m eanings can w e discern in the sem antic structure o f a po lysem an tic w ord?

4. W hat are the,tw o types o f sem antic com ponents in the sem antic structure o f a w ord and w h a t do they express?

5. H ow are lex ical m eanings o f polysem antic w ords estabilished?6. W hat is m ean t by com binability?7. E stab ilish the m eaning o f the w ord “black” in the fo llow ing sets o f com binations:

b lack gloves; b lack thoughts; b lack people; b lack period; b lack night; black m arket; b lack hum our; b lack look; black coffee; b lack hands.

a)days o f the week, e.g. Mon. - M onday, Sun. -Sunday;b) names o f months, e.g. Apr. - April, Nov. - November;c) nam es o f counties in the Uk, e.g. Yorks. - Yorkshire. Berks. - Berkshire;d) names o f states in the USA, e.g. Aia. - Alabama, Minn. - M innesota;e) nam es o f address, e.g. Mr., M rs., Dr.;0 m ilitary ranks, e.g. Capt. - captain, Sgt. - sergeant;g)scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. - Bachelor o f Arts, D.Sc. - Doctor o f Science;h) units o f time, length, weight, e.g. sec. - second, kg - kilogram.The reading o f some graphical abbreviations depends on the context, for example the abbreviation m. can be read as: m ale, married, masculine, minute; av. Can be read as H£»Pxav.erage. .. ------ r -.... ~ ......... |/Acronyms, initialisms, and alphabetisms are abbreviations, such as NA TO, laser, ABC and N.A.S.A written as tlieTmTTaTlerter or letters o f words, and pronounced on the basis o f this abbreviated written form. Note that all acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms.Initialism s originally referred to abbreviations formed from initials, without reference to pronunciation, but during the m iddle portion o f the twentieth century, when they saw more use than ever before, the word acronym was coined for abbreviations that are pronounced as words, like Nato or ATDS.O f the words, acronyms is the much more frequently used and known; and many use it to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters. This is a contentious point, however, and other sources differentiate between the two terms, restricting acronym to pronounceable words formed from the letters o f each o f the constituent words, and using initialism or aiphabetism for abbreviations pronounced as the names o f the individual letters. Examples o f proper acronym s would be Nato [‘neiiau], and radar [‘reida:], while examples o f mere initialisms would include FBI [efbh’ai] and DNA [di:en’ei].There is no agreement as to what to call abbreviations that contain both separately pronounced letters and sequences o f letters pronounced as a word, such as CD-ROM [si:di:’rom] or M S-DOS [EM ’ES’DOS], These abbreviations are som etim es referred to as acronym -initialism hybrids, although they are grouped by most under the broad m eaning o f acronym.

O ne should not confuse the productivity o f affixes with they- frequency o f occurrence. There are quite a number o f high- frequency affixes. They are no longer used inw ord-derivation (e.g. the adjective-forming native suffixes -fu l, -ly; the adjective- form ing suffixes o f Latin origin-ant, -ent, -al which are quite frequent).

^Shortening. Graphical Abbreviations. AcronymsIn the process o f comm unication words and word-groups can be shortened. The causes

o f shortening can be linguistic and extraiinguistic. By extralinguistic causes we mean changes in the life o f people. In M odern English many new abbreviations, acronyms, initialism s, blends are formed because the tempo o f life is increasing and it becomes necessary to give more and more information in the shortest possible time.

T here are also linguistic causes o f abbreviating words and word-groups, such as the dem and o f rhythm, which is satisfied in English by m onosyllabic words. When borrow ings from other languages are assimilated in English they are shortened. Here we have m odification o f form on the basis o f analogy, e.g. the Latin borrowing “fanaticus” is shortened to “ fan” on the analogy with native words man, pan, tan, etc.

Shortenings are produced in two different ways. The first is to m ake a new' word from a sy llab le (rarely, two) o f the original word. ThePhone m ade from “telephone”; fence from “defence” )~’its ending^(as in vac Trom “vacation” ; ad from “adverticem ent”) or both the beginning and ending (as in flftfrom “ influenza; fridge from refrigerator). This type o f shortening is called clipping or curtailm ent.

The second way o f shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters o f a word- group: e.g. U.N.O. from the United N ations Organisation, B.B.C. from the British Broad­casting Corporation, M.P. from M em ber o f Parliament or Medical Practitioner. This type is called initial abbreviation.

N ew ly shortened w ords appear continuously; this is testified by num erous neologisms, such as dub from “double”; frig or fridge from “refrigerator” ; m ike from “m icrophone”; telly o r T V from “television”; trank from “tranquilizer” ; vac from vacuum cleaner, etc.

Shortening m ay be regarded as a type o f root creation because the resulting new m orphem es are capable o f being used as free forms and combine with bound forms. They can take functional suffixes: e.g. bike -b ikes; to vac -vacking - vacked. M ost o f these by conversion produce verbs: to phone, to vac, to vet, etc. They also serve as basis for further w ord-form ation by derivation or composition: e.g. fancy (from “ fantasy”): fancier, fanciful, fancifully, fancifulness, fancy-ball, fancy-dress, fancy-work, etc.

T he correlation o f a curtailed word with its prototype is o f great interest. Two possible developm ents should be noted:

a)T he curtailed form may be regarded as a variant o r a synonym differing from the full form quantitatively, stylistically and sometim es emotionally, the prototype being sty listically and em otionally neutral, e.g. doc - doctor, exam - exam ination, Becky - Re­becca, Japs - the Japanese, etc.

b) In the opposite extrem e case the connection can be established only etimologically. T he denotative or^exico-gram m atical m eaning or both may be changed so much that the c lipp ing become^a separate word. Consequently a pair o f etym ological doublets comes into being: chap (“a man or boy”) - chapman (“a pediar”); fan (“an enthusiastic devotee”)

arian, -ee, -er, -ician , -ist, -or, and a few others. Feminine suffixes may be classed as a subgroup o f personal noun suffixes. They are few and not frequent: -ess, -ine, -ette. Collectivity, for instance, may be signaled by such suffixes as -dom , -ery, -hood, -ship.

Certain suffixes m ay be derogatory: -ard, -ling, -ster, -ton. Emotionally coloured diminutive suffixes differ from the derogatory suffixes in that they are used to name not only presons but th ings as well. This point may be illustrated by the suffixes: -ette, -kin, * let, -ock, -y/-ie/-ey.

Another essential feature o f affixes that should not be overlooked is their combining power or valence: not every affix is capable o f com bining with any given stem. Noun stems can be followed by the noun-forming suffixes: -age, -dom, -ess, -hood, -ian, -ics, - let, - s h ip ,; by the adjective-form ing suffixes: -al, -an, -ary, -ed, -ful, -ic (al), -ish, -like, - ly, -ous, -som e, -y; verb-form ing suffixes: -ate, -en, -(i)fy, -ize. Verbal stems combine with the following noun-form ing suffixes: -age, -al, -ance/-ence, -ant/-ent,-ee, -er/-or,- ing, -ion/-tion/-ation,-m ent. The adjective-forming suffixes used with verbal stems are: - abe/-ible,-ive/-sive/-tive, -some. Adjective stems furnish a shorter list:-dom, -ism, -(i)ty, - ness, -ish, -ly, -ate, -en, -(i)fy.

The sem antic effect o f a prefix may be termed adverbial because it modifies the idea suggested by the stem for manner, time, place, degree and so on. A few examples will prove the point: the prefix mis-modifies the corresponding verbs for manner; the prefixes pre- and post - refer to tim e and order (e.g. historic- prehistoric, view - preview); the prefixes in-,a-,ab-,super-,sub-,trans-m odify the stem for place (e.g. subway, transatlantic); out-, over- and under- serve to m odify the meaning o f the stem for degree and size (e.g. underfeed, overestim ate). Negative prefixes are very num erous in English: de-, dis-, in- /il-/im -/ir-, non-, un-. A very frequent prefix with a great com bining power is re-denoting repetition o f the action expressed by the stem. It may be prefixed to alm ost any verb or verbal noun: rearrange, remarriage, etc.

From the point o f view o f etymology affixes are subdivided into two main classes: native affixes and borrow ed affixes. By native affixes we mean those that existed in English in the Old English period or were formed from O ld English words. The most important native affixes are the suffixes: -dom, -ed, -en, -er, -fold, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ish, - less, -let, -like, -lock, -ly, -ness, -red, -ship, -some, -teen, -th, -ward, -wise, -y, and the prefixes: be-, fore-, mis-, out-, over-, step-, un-, under-, etc.Borro\ved affixes are num erous in the E nglish vocabulary. They are classified according to their source into Latin (-able, -al, -ant, -ar, -ary, -ate, -ct, -ent, -fy, -ial, -ible, -ine, -ive, -ion, -ise, -ize, -ive, -or, -ory, -tion, -ty , -ty; ante-, bi-> com-, dis-, ex-, extra-, uni-), French (-age, -ance, -ancy, -ard, -ence, -ery, -ess, -esque, -ette, -ment, -ous,; en-), G reek (-cracy, -ics, -ism, -ist, -ite, - phobe, -phone; hyper-, m ega-, neo-, poly-, pro-, syn-), etc.A ffixes can also be classified according to their productivity into productive and non­productive. By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particu lar period o f language developm ent. Some productive affixes are: the noun-form ing suffixes -e r , -ing, -ness, -ism, -ist, -ance, the adjective- forming su ffixes- y, -ish, -ed, -able, -less, the verb-forming suffixes - ize /-ise , -ate, the adverb-form ing suffix-ly and the prefixes anti-, dis-, non-, pre-, post-, re-, un-, etc. The suffixes - th - hood, -som e, -en, -ous are classified as non-productive.

- fanatic (“a person whose enthusiasm for something is extrem e or beyond normal lim its”), etc.

In both types the clipped forms exist in the language alongside their respective prototypes. The difference, however, is that whereas words belonging to the first group can be replaced by their prototypes being interchangeable, the doublets are never equivalent lexically as there are no contexts where the prototype can replace the shortened word without a change o f meaning.

Unlike conversion, shortening produces new words in the sam e part o f speech. The bulk o f curtailed words is constituted by nouns. Verbs are hardly ever shortened in present-day English. Rev from “revolve” and tab from “tabulate” m ay be considered exceptions. Such clipped verbs as to phone, to taxi, to vac: to vet and many others are form ed by means o f conversion from abbreviated nouns.

Shortened adjectives are very few and mostly reveal a combined effect o f shortening and suffixation, e.g. comfy (from “com fortable”), dilly (from delightful), imposs ( from im possible), m izzy (from miserable).

The generally accepted classification o f shortened words is based on the position o f the clipped part. A ccording to the clipped part we distinguish:

1) B ack clipping (or apocope), in which the beginning o f the prototype is retained, e.g. gym (from gym nastics), lab (from laboratory), mac (from m ackintosh). Here w e can mention a group o f words ending in “o”, such as disco (from discotheque),

expo (from exposition), intro (from introduction), etc. On the analogy with these words there developed in Modern English a num ber o f words where “o ” is^dded as a kind o f a suffix to the shortened form o f the word, e.g. combo (from com bination), Afro (from A frican), etc.

2) Fore-clipping (or aphaeresis),^n which the final type o f the prototype is retained, e.g. chute (from parachute), vjirsity (from university), copter (from helicopter), cello (from violoncello), etc.

3) M iddle clipping (or syncope), in which the middle part o f the word is left out, e.g. m art (from m arket), maths (from m athematics), spechs (from spectacles),etc.

Som etim es we have a com bination o f apocope with aphaeresis, when the beginning and the end o f the word are clipped, e.g. tec (from detective), van (from avanguard), flu (from influenza), fridge (from refrigerator), etc.G ra p h ic a l ab b rev ia tio n s are the result o f shortening o f words and w ord-groups only in w ritten speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They are used for the econom y o f space and effort in writing.

The oldest group o f graphical abbreviations in English is represented by Latin abbreviations which som etim es are not read as Latin words but substituted by their E nglish equivalents. A few o f the m ost important cases are listed below: a.m. (Lat. Ante m erid iem ) - “ in the m orning”; cf, (Lat. Conferre) - “ compare”; e.g. (Lat. Exempli g ratia) — “ for exam ple”; ibid. (Lat. Ibidem) - “ in the same place”; i.e. (Lat. Id est) —“ that is” ; loc.cit. (Lat. Locus citato) - “ in the passage cited”; p.m. (Lat. Post meridiem) - “ in the afternoon”; q.v. (Lat. Quod vide) - “which see viz. (Lat. Videlicet) - “namely” . A ctual letters are also read in the following cases: a.m. [‘e i’em], e.g.,q.v.,p.m.T here are also graphical abbreviations o f native origin, where in the spelling we have abbreviations o f words and w ord-groups o f the corresponding English equivalents in the full form . We have several sem antic groups o f them:

Word FormationThere are som e w ays o f word building (word formation). They are: affixation,

composition, conversion, shortening and minor typers o f word building.If viewed structurally , words appear to be divisible into sm aller units called

m orphem es. All m orphem es are subdivided into two large classes; roots and affixes. The latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the structure o f the word and suffixes which follow the root.

W ords which consist o f a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called derived words o r derivatives and are produced by the process o f w ord-building known as a ff ix a tio n (or derivation).

Derived words are extrem ely numerous in the English vocabulary. Successfully com peting with th is structural type is the so-catled root word which has only a root m orphem e in its structure. This type is widely represented by a great number o f words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier borrow ings (e.g. house, book, table, e tc .) , and, in m odern English, has been gratly enlarged by the type o f word-building called conversion (e.g. to hand, to pale, a find, etc.).

A nother w ide-spread word-structure is a compound word consisting o f two or more stems (e.g. bedroom , sunflower, mother-in-law, etc.). W ords o f this structural type are produced by the w ord-building process called composition.

The som ew hat odd-looking words like “ flu”, “ lab” , “ BBC” , etc. are called shortenings, contractions, abbreviations or curtailed words and are produced by the way o f w ord-building called shortening (contraction, abbreviation or curtailment).

The four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings) represent the main structural types o f Modern English words, and conversion, derivation and compo­sition the m ost productive ways o f word-building.

1. A ffixation. Classification o f Affixes

The process o f affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to som e root m orphem e. The role o f the affix in this procedure is very important and therefore it is necessary to consider certain facts about the main types o f affixation. Affixes are classified into prefixes and suffixes. Suffixes have been classified according to their origin, parts o f speech they served to form, their frequency, productivity and other characteristics.

W ithin the parts o f speech suffixes have been classified sem antically according to lexico-gram m atical groups and semantic fields, and according to the types o f stems they are added to.

A ccording to the part o f speech they form, suffixes are classified into: noun-forming suffixes (-age, -ance, -dom , -ee, -er, -ess, -hood, -ing, -ion, -ism , -ist, -ment, -ness, -ship, - ty), adjective-form ing suffixes (-able, -al, - ic ,-c a l ,-a ry ,-a te ,-e d ,- fu ll , -ian ,-ish , - iv e ,- less, -like, -ous, -som e, -y), verb-form ing suffixes (-ate, -er, -en, -fy, -ify„ ize), adverb- form ing suffixes (-ly, -wards, -wise)). Num eral-form ing suffixes (-teen, -th, -ty).

Taking up nouns w e can subdivide them into proper and com m on nouns. Among - com m on nouns w e distinguish personal names, names o f other anim ate beings, collective nouns,t m aterial nouns, abstract nouns, etc. Abstract nouns are signaled by the following suffixes: -age, -ance/-ence, -ancy/-ency, -dom, -hood, -ion/-tion/-ation, -ing, -ism, -ment, -ness, -ship, -th, -ty. Personal nouns occur with the following suffixes: -an, -ant/-ent, -

/«

o f lexical/semantic f i e ld ^ ln his studies he showed how the structure o f the German language had changed betwee'ir l? 0 0 and 1300.

5.1. Types o f Semantic ChangeSemantic changes have been classified by different scientists. But the most complete

classification was suggested by the German scientist Herman Paul in his w ork “Prinzipien des Sprachgeschihte” . It is the sem antic change on the logical principle. He distinguishes two main ways where the sem antic change is gradual (specialization and generalization), two m omentary conscious sem antic changes(metaphor and m etonym y) and also secondary ways: gradual (elevation and degradation), momentary (hyperbole and litotes). Passing from general usage into som e special sphere o f com m unication a word as a rule undergoes some sort o f specialization or narrowing o f its m eaning. The word “case” for instance alongside its general m eaning o f “circumstances in which a person or a thing is” possesses special m eanings: in law (“a law suit”), in gram m ar (“a form in the paradigm o f a noun”), in medicine (“a patient” , “an illness”). The word “cell” is used with different m eanings by a biologist, an electrician , a nun or a representative o f the law; or the word “gas” as understood by a chem ist,a soldier, a housewife, a m otorist o r a miner.

The meaning o f a word can specialize when it remains in the general usage. It happens in the case o f a conflict betw een tw o absolute synonyms when one o f them m ust specialize in its m eaning to rem ain in the l a n g u a g e ,^ . the native w ord “m eat” had the meaning “ food”(the earlier m eaning is still noticeable in the compound “sw eetm eat” . The meaning “edible flesh” was form ed w hen the word “food”, its absolute synonym , w on in the conflict o f absolute synonym s (both w ords are native).

As a special group belonging to the sam e type one can m ention the formation o f proper nouns chiefly in toponym y, e.g .: the City - the business part o f L ondon; the Highlands - the m ountainous part o f Scotland; the Oxford - University tow n in England: the Tower (o f London) - originally a fortress and palace, later a state prison, now a m useum .

The process reverse to specialization is termed generalization o r w idening o f meaning. In this case the scope o f the new notion is w ider than that o f the original one, whereas the content o f the notion is poorer. T hus,'ready (a derivative o f the verb ridan-“ to ride”) meant “ prepared for a ride” ; now its m eaning is “prepared for anything” . Journey was borrowed from French with the m eaning “ one day trip”, now it m eans “ a trip o f any duration” . The verbrfto arrive,f(French borrow ing) began its life in English in the narrow m eaning “to come to shore, to land” . In M odern English it has greatly w idened its com binability and developed the general m eaning “to com e” .

All auxiliary verbs are cases o f generalization o f their lex ical m eaning because they developed a gram m atical m eaning: have, be, do, shall, w ill w hen used as auxiliary verbs are devoid o f their lexical m ean ing which they have when used as notional verbs or mo^idal verbs, e.g. I have several books by this w riter and I have read som e books by this author.

A m etaphor (G .r. m eta-“ch ange” and phero-“bear”) is a tran sfer o f nam e based on the association, o f sim ilarity and thus is actually a hidden com parison. It p resen ts a m ethod o f descrip tion, w hich links one th ing to another by referring to it as i f it w ere som e other one. A cunning person, for instance, is referred to as a fox; a w om an m ay b e called a “peach”, a “lem on” , a “cat” , a “ lioness” , etc.M etaphors m ay be based upon very different types o f sim ilarity , fo r instance, sim ilarity o f shape (head o f a cabbage, teeth o f a saw), sim ilarity o f function (head o f a com pany, the key to a m ystery),, sim ilarity o f position (foot o f a page, o f a m ountain ). M any metaphors are based on parts o f a hum an body (anthropom orphic m etaphors), e .g . eye o f a needle, arm s and m outh o f a river, head o f an arm y, foot o f a hill, tongue o f a bell, e tc .

A m etonymy (Gr. Meta-“change” and onom a - “name”) is a transfer o f the meaning on the basis o f contiguity. The two objects m ay be associated together because they often appear in common situations, and so the image o f one is easily accom panied by the image o f the other; or they may be associated on the principle o f cause and effect, o f common function, o f som e material and an object which is made o f it, etc. The “chair” m ay mean “ the chairm an", the bar-“the lawyers”, the word townl'may denote “ the inhabitants o f a tow n” . There are also well-known instances o f symbol for thing sym bolized:;,the crownwfor “m onarchy”; thefinstrument’ for the'product^ 'hand1 for “hand-writing” .

Com m on names m ay be m etonym ically derived from proper names as in% iacadam -a type o f pavem ent named after its inventor John Me Adam. Many international physical and technical units are named after great scientists, as for instance‘am pere’ - the unit o f electrical current named after A ndre M arie Ampere. Compare also: roentgen, ohm , volt, watt, etc. Examples o f geographical nam es, turning into common nouns to nam e the goods exported o r originating there, are also num erous: astrakhan (fur), china (porcelain), Holland (linen), m orocco (leather).A m elioration o r elevation is a semantic shift undergone by words due to their referents com ing up the social scale, i.e. words lose their negative connotations o r gain positive ones. For exam ple, the w ord 'knight*originally m eant “a boy”, then “a young servant” , then “ a m ilitary servant”, then “ a noble man” . Now it is a title o f nobility given to outstanding people; to a rs h a f’orig inally meant “a horse man” , now it is the highest m ilitary rank, etc.The reverse process is called pejoration o r degradation.

- Pejoration occurs as a word develops negative connotations or loses positive ones. For exam ple,’’notorious1 initially m eant “w idely known” . Yet it has gone through the process o f extension V ^ o w meank “widely and unfavorably know/t? The French borrow ing "villain" from “ farm servant” g ra d u a lly passed to its present meaning “scoundrel”

H yperbole (G .r hyperbole - “excess”) is an exaggerated statem ent not m eant to be understood literally but expressing an intensely emotional attitude o f the speaker to what he is speaking about. E.g.: It’s absolutely m addening; Y ou’ll be the dea th o f me; |ia te troub ling you; Ife-abs^krteiy-^iiadJcifin 'gr 'Yu u’ll bo4 hc death o f m c ;-ijhat tr lr a t tb ling youj I t’s m onstrous; It’s a nightm are; A thousand pardons; Litotes (Gr. L itos - “sm all”) is a transfer o f the m eaning when the speaker expresses the affirm ative by the negation o f its contrary , e .g /n o t bad1 o r “not h a lf bacf for “good”,''not small^for “great” / n o t cow ard '3for “brave” . Som e understatem ents do not contain negations, e.g. rather decent.

Irony is the expression o f one’s m eaning by words o f opposite sense, especially a s im ulated adoption o f the opposite po in t o f view for the purpose o f ridicule or d isparagem ent. O ne o f the m eanings o f the adjective,'nicev is “bad” , “unsatisfactory” ; it is m arked o f f as ironical and illustrated by the exam ple: Y ou’ve got us into a nice mess! A pretty m ess you ’ve m ade o f it!

A’feuphem ism (Gr. Euphem ism os, from eu - “good, pleasant” and phem e - “speech”) is the use o f a substitute w ord in an attem pt to replace or m ask the negative connotations o f the norm al w ord for a certain object o r action. The adjective1*drunk? for instance, has a great num ber o f euphem ism s: intoxicated, under the influence, m erry, p ickled, etc. T he verb’to diesis substituted by: to pass away, to be taken, to breathe one’s last, to c lose o n e ’s eyes, e tc . M ental diseases also cause the frequen t use o f euphem ism s. A m ad person m ay be described as insane, m entally unstable, unbalanced, etc.

5 .2C auses o fS em an tic Change T he causes o f sem an tic changes m ay be grouped under tw o m ain headings; linguistic

and ex tra-linguistic ones.

Linguistic causes influencing the process o f vocabulary adaptation may be o f paradigmatic and syntagmatic character; in dealing with them we have to do with the constant interaction and interdependence o f vocabulary units in language and speech, such as differentiation between synonym s, changes taking place in connection with ellipsis and with fixed contexts, changes resulting from ambiguity in certain contexts, and some other causes. Differentiation o f synonym s is a gradual change observed in the course o f language history, sometimes, but not necessarily^ involving the semantic assim ilation o f loan words.

The w ord 'beast 'was borrowed from French into M iddle English. Before it appeared the general word for anim al was ,deer',which after the word 'b e a s t 'w a s introduced becam e narrowed to its p resen t meaning “a hoofed animal o f w hich the males have antler” . Somewhat later the Latin w ord 'an im al'w as also borrow ed, then the word beast was restricted, and its m eaning served to separate the four-footed kind from all the o ther members o f the an im al kingdom. Thus,"beast" d isp laced 'deer and was in its turn itself displaced by the generic Aanimall' Fixed context has influence not only in phrases but in compound w ords as w ell. O E :m ete!imeant “ food”, its descendant meat 'refers only to flesh food except in the set expression"m eat and drink’and the com pound "sweetmeats:

Due to ellipsis. T he qualifying words o f a frequent phrase m ay be om itted: sale 'comes to be used for cu t-p rice sale, ’propose" for”to propose m arriage '/\o be expecting for to be expecting a baby'/m edia'for'V nass m ediaf Or vice versa, the kernel word o f the phrase may seem redundant: 'm inerals* forV iineral waters* summit* for^summit m eeting. Due to ellipsis

11 starve”which orig inally m eant “to die” came to substitute the whole phrase"die o f hunger,’“ and also began to m ean “ suffer from lack o f food” and even in colloquial use “to feel hungry”.

The ex tra-linguistic causes are determined by the social nature o f the language: Extra- linguistic causes o f sem antic change are connected w ith the developm ent o f the human mind as it m oulds rea lity to conform with its needs.

Languages are pow erfu lly affected by social, political, econom ic, cultural and technical change. The in fluence o f those factors upon linguistic phenom ena is studied by sociolinguisticiVThe h isto ry o f the social, econom ic and political life o f people, the progress o f culture and sc ience bring about changes in notions and things influiencing the semantic aspect o f language. F o r instance, OE eorde m eant “the ground under people’s feet”, “the soil” and “the w orld o f m an” as opposed to heaven that w as supposed to be inhabited first by Gods and later on, with the spread o f Christianity, by G od, his saints and the souls o f the dead. W ith the p rog ress o f science^earth cam e to mean “the third planet from the sun” . The word f/space"from the m eanings o f “extent o f tim e or d istance” or “ intervening distance” cam e to m ean “the lim itless expanse in w hich everything ex ists” and m ore recently cam e to be used especially in th e m eaning o f “outer space” .

E uphem ism s m ay be dictated by social usage, etiquette , advertising, tact, diplomatic considerations and po litical propaganda. It is decidedly less em otional to call countries with a low standard o f liv ing ''underdeveloped,9 bu t it seem ed m ore tactful to call them developing? O ther euphem ism s are dictated by a wish to give m ore dignity to a profession. Some barbers ca lled them selves hair stylists, airline stew ards and stew ardesses become flight attendants, m aids becom e house w orkers, forem en becom e supervisors, etc.

The constan t deve lopm en t o f industry, agriculture, trade and transport bring into being new objects and n e w notions. It often happens that new m eanings are thus acquired by old Words.

Q uestions and T asks

4 0 5 r ' " A Guide to English Lexicology

SEMANTIC STRUCTURi OF WORDS

S.l The Semantic Structure of Polysemantic Words

llThe semantic structure of the word does not present an indisso iuble unity (that is, actually, why it is referred to as “structure”), nor does it necessarily stand for one concept Jit is generally known that most words convey several concepts and thus possess the corresponding number of meanings. Aword having several meanings is called polysemantic,/' and the ability of words to have more than one meaning is described! by the term polysemy^]

/Polysemy is characteristic of most words in many languages] however differentthey may be.jBut it is more characteristic of the English vocabulary as compared with other ianguages, due to the monosyllabic character of English and the predominance of root words^The greater the relative frequency of word, the greater the number of variants that constitute its semantic structure, i.e. the more polysemantic it is. This regularity is of course a statistical, not a rigid one.

fit should be noted that the wealth of expressive resources of a language largely depends on the degree to which polysemy has developed in the language) Sometimes people who are not very well informed in linguistic matters claim that a language is lacking in words if the need arises for the same word to be applied to several different phenomena. In actual fact, it is exactly the opposite: if each word is found to be capable of conveying, let us say, at least two concepts instead of one, the expressive potential of the whole vocabulary increases twofold. Hence, a well-developed polysemy is not a drawback but a great advantage in a language}

O lga B U R E A

On the other hand, it should be pointed out th a t lb £ o {sound com binations that hum an speech organs can produce is Therefore at a certain stage o f language developm en t the p roduction Or new w ords by m orphological m eans becom es lim ited , ana pojysftynw becom es increasingly im portant in p rovid ing the m eans for emich>n# the vocabulary. From this, it shou ld be clear that the p rocess o 4 enriching the vocabulary does no t consist m erely in adding new \x/ord$ to it, but, also, in the constan t developm ent o f polysem y.

T he system o f m eanings o f any polysem antic w ord dtVt& O S gradually, m ostly over the centuries, as m ore and m ore new are either added to old ones, o r oust som e o f them . So processes o f polysem y developm ent involve both the appgoJgXWX 0'\ new m eanings and the loss o f old ones. Yet, the general tendency vuHi English vocabulary at the m odern stage o f its h isto ry is to in c re a se -m t total num ber o f its m eanings and in th is w ay to p rov ide for a q u a r r^ 'fe tf I and qualitative growth o f the language’s expressive resources.

W hen analysing the sem antic s tructu re o f a polysem antic it is necessary to d istinguish betw een tw o levels o f analysis.

O n the first level, the sem antic structure o f a w ord is t& U tk d : ix\ U system o f m eanings. For exam ple, the sem antic s tructu re yiQlli 1fire could be roughly presented by this schem e:

The above schem e suggests that m eaning ( ! ) holds a kind o f dom inance over the o ther m eanings conveying the concept in the m ost general w ay w hereas m eanings (2) - (5) are associated w ith special circum stances, aspects and instances o f the sam e phenom enon.

M eaning ( 1 ), generally referred to as the main meaning , presents the centre o f the sem antic structure o f the w ord holding it together. It is m ainly through m eaning (1) that m eanings (2) - (5) (they are called secondary meanings) can be associated with one another, som e o f them exclusively through m eaning (1), as, for instance, m eanings (4) and (5). ; . . . . . . .

Yet, it is no t in every polysem antic word that such a centre can be found. Som e sem antic structures are arranged on a different principle. In the fo llow ing list o f m eanings o f the adjective dull one can hardly hope to find a generalised m eaning covering and holding together the rest o f the sem antic structure:

Dull, adj.1 ) N ot interesting, boring; e.g. a dull book2) Slow in understanding, stupid; e.g. a dull pupil3) N o t bright or shiny; e.g. a dull colour4) N o t clear or loud; e.g. a dull sound5) N o t sharp, blunt ; e.g. a dull knife6) N ot active, slow ; e.g. a dull market

Yet, one distinctly feels that there is som ething that all these seem ingly m iscellaneous m eanings have in com m on, and that, is the im plication o f deficiency, be it o f colour (3), w it (2), interest ( I) , sharpness (5), etc. The im plication o f insufficient quality, o f som ething lacking, can be clearly distinguished in each separate m eaning,

In fact, each m eaning definition in the given schem e can be subjected to a transform ational operation to prove the point:

Dull, adj.1) N ot interesting > deficient in interest2) Stupid > deficient in intellect

3) Mot bright > deficient, in brightness or brilliance4) N ot loud > deficient in sound5) N ot sharp > deficient in sharpness6) N ot active > deficient in activ ity

The transform ed schem e o f the sem antic struc tu re o f dull c learly show s that the centre holding together the com plex sem antic s tructu re o f this w ord is not one o f the m eanings but a certa in com ponen t tha t can be easily singled out w ith in each separate m eaning . T his b rings us to the second level o f analysis o f the sem antic structure o f a w ord . The transform ational operation w ith the m eaning defin itions o f dull reveals som ething very significant: the sem antic struc tu re o f the w ord is “divisible” not only at the level o f d ifferen t m ean ings but, also , at a deeper level.

Each separate m eaning seem s to be sub ject to struc tu ra l analysis in w hich it m ay be represented as sets o f sem antic com ponents. In term s o f com ponential analysis, one o f the m odern m ethods o f sem antic research, the m eaning o f a w ord is defined as a se t o f elem ents o f m eaning w hich are not part o f the vocabulary o f the language itself, but rather theoretical elem ents, postu lated in o rder to describe the sem antic relations betw een the lexical elem ents o f a g iven language.

The schem e o f the sem antic structure o f dull show s th a t the sem antic structure o f a w ord is no t a m ere system o f m eanings, for each separate m eaning is subject to further subd iv ision and possesses an inner structure o f its own.

Therefore, the sem antic structure o f a w ord should be investigated at both these levels: (a) o f d ifferent m ean ings and (b) o f sem antic com ponents w ithin each separate m eaning. F o r a m onosem antic w ord (i.e. a w ord w ith one m eaning) the first level is na tu ra lly e x c lu d e d /

5.2 T ypes o f S em an tic C o m p o n e n ts

J’he leading sem antic com ponent in the sem antic structure o f a word is usually term ed d e n o ta tiv e component. The denotative com ponent expresses the conceptual con ten t o f a w ord ,.'

PHRASEOLOGY

I. Free-W ord G roups versus Phraseological Units versus W ords1.1. Structural Criterion1.2. Sem antic C riterion1.3. Syntactic C riterion

2 Ways o f Form ing Phraseological Units. Semantic S tructure o f Phraseological Units Types o f T ransference o f Phraseological Units. 3 Classification o f Phraseological Units. 4. Proverbs, Sayings, Fam iliar Q uotations and Cliches.

I. Free-W ord G roups versus Phraseological Units versus W ords A phraseological un it can be defined as a reproduced and non-m otivated or partially

motivated unit built up according to the model o f free w ord-groups (or sentences) and semantically and syntactically brought into correlation with w ords. There is a need for criteria exposing the degree o f sim ilarity/difference between phraseological units and free word-groups, phraseological units and words.

M ost Russian scholars toda^ iccep t the semantic criterion o f distinguishing phraseological units from free word-groups as the m ajor one and base their research

„ work in the field o f phraseo logy on the definition o f a phraseological unit offered by Professor A .V .K oonin: ‘A phraseological unit is a stable w ord-group characterized by a com pletely o r partially transferred m eaning’. Actually the sem antic change may affect either the whole w ord-group or only one o f its components.

The follow ing phraseological units represent the first case: ‘to skate on thin ice’ (‘tojjut oneself in a dangerous position; to take risks’); ‘to have o n e ’s heart in one’s boots (‘toB e deeply depressed, anxious about som ething’); a w o lf in a sh ip ’s clothing (‘a dangerous enem y w ho p lausib ly poses as a friend’).

The second type is represented by phraseological units in w hich one o f the com ponents preserves its current m eaning and the other is used in a transferred meaning: to fall in love; to keep o n e ’s prom ise; to draw a conclusion.

The structural criterion also brings forth pronounced d istinctive features characterizing phraseological units and contrasting them to free w ord-groups. Structural . invariability o f phraseological units finds expression in a num ber o f restrictions.

The first is the restric tion in substitution, for exam ple, w e canno t say ‘to carry coals to M anchester’ instead o f ‘ to carry coals to N ew castle’.

The second type o f restriction is the restriction in in troducing any additional compo- Nents into the structure o f a phraseological unit. In a free w ord-group such changes can be m ade w ithout affecting the general m eaning o f the utterance: th is b ig ship is carrying a large cargo to the port o f L iverpool. In the phraseological un it ‘to carry coals to N ew castle’ no additional com ponents can be introduced.

The third type o f structural restrictions in phraseological un its is gram m atical invariability, for exam ple, a sm allest or dangerous fam ily secret is described as ‘a skeleton in the cupboard ’, the first substantive com ponent being frequently used in the plural form, as in: I ’m sure they have skeletons in every cupboard ’. Y ou can’t cl\ange The num ber o f the noun or the tense o f the verb although there are cases when w3ie can do some changes as in the last exam ple we did.

1.1. Structural CriterionThe structural criterion underlines the pronounced features which on the one hand

state a certain structural sim ilarity betw een phraseological units and free w ord- com binations at the sam e tim e opposing them to single words a), And on the other hand specify their structural distinctions b).

a) A feature proper both to free phrases and phraseological units is the divisibility o f their structure, i.e. they consist o f separate structural elements. This fact puts them in opposition to words as structurally integral units.The structural integrity o f a word is defined by the presence o f a com m on grammatical form for all the constituent elements o f this word. For exam ple, the gram m atical change in the word shipw reck im plies that inflections are added to both elem ents o f the word sim ultaneously - shipw recks, while in the wordgroup * the wreck o f a sh ip ’ each elem ent can change its gram m atical form independently from the other - ‘ (the) wreck o f the ships, (the) w recks o f the ships’.Like in w ord-groups, in phraseological units potentially any com ponent may be changed gram m atically, but these changes are rather few, limited and occasional and usually serve for a stylistic effect, e.g. A Black M aria ‘ a van used by police for bringing suspected crim inals to the police station: * the Blackest M aria’, ‘B lack M arias’.

b)The principal difference betw een phraseological units and free w ord-groups m anifests itself in the structural invariability o f the form er which suggests no (or rather •limited) substitutions o f com ponents. For example, ‘to give som ebody the cold shoulder’ m eans ‘to treat som ebody coldly, to ignore or cut him /her’ but ‘a warm shou lder’ or ‘ a cold elbow ’ makes no sense. There are also strict restrictions on the com ponental extension and gram m atical changes o f com ponents o f phraseological units. The use o f the w ords ‘b ig’ ‘great’ in ‘a w hite e le fan t’ m eaning ‘an expensive but useless th ing ’ can change or even destroy the m eaning o f the phraseological unit. The sam e is true if the plural form ‘feet’ in the phraseological unit 'from head to foot’ is used instead o f the singular form. In a free w ord-group all these changes are possible.

1.2. Sem antic CriterionThe sem antic criterion is o f great help in stating the sem antic d ifference/ similarity

betw een free w ord-groups and phraseological units, (a), and between phraseological units and words (b).

a) The m eaning in phraseological units is created by mutual interaction o f elements and conveys a single concept. The actual m eaning o f a phraseological unit is figurative (transferred) and is opposed to the literal m eaning o f a word-com bi nation from which it is derived,. The transference o f the initial word-group can be based on sim ile, m etaphor, m etonym y and synecdoche. The degree o f transference varies and m ay affect either the w hole unit or only one o f its constituents, f. e.: ‘to skate on thin ice’ - ‘to take risks’; ‘the small hours’ - ‘the early hours o f the m orning’. Besides, in the form ation o f the semantic structure o f phraseological units a cultural com ponent plays a special and very important role show ing the unique experience o f the nation. For exam ple, the phraseological unit ‘red tape’ originates in the old custom o f Governm ent officials and law yers tying up their papers with ‘red tape’, ‘H eads or ta ils’ com es from the old custom o f deciding a dispute o r settling w hich o f tw o possib le alternatives shall be followed by tossing a coin ( ‘heads ‘ refers to the sovereign’s head on one side o f the coin, and ‘ta ils ’ m eans the reverse side).

In a free phrase each elem ent has a much greater semantic independence and stands for a separate concept, e.g. ‘to cut bread’, ‘to cut cheese’, ‘to eat bread’. Every word in ajfree phrase can form additional ¡^sy n tac tic ties with other words outside the expression retaining its individual meaning.

b) The sem antic unity, however, makes phraseological units sim ilar to words., f.e. ‘kick the bucket’ w hose m eaning is understood as a whole and not related to the m eaning o f individual w ords can be replaced w ithin context by the word ‘to d ie ’, the phraseological unit ‘ in a brown study’ - by the w ord ‘g loom y’.

1.3. Syntactic Criterion The syntactic criterion reveals the close ties between single words and

phraseological units as well as free w ord-groups. Like words, phraseological units m ay have different syntactic functions in the sentence, e.g. the subject ( ‘narrow escape’, ‘first night’, b aker’s dozen’), the p red ica te ( ‘to have a good m ind’ ‘to play Russian roulette’, ‘to m ake a v irtue o f necessity ), an attribute (‘ high and m ighty’, ‘quick on the trigger’, ‘as ugly as s in ’), an adverbial ( ‘in ful sw ing’, ‘on second thoughts’, ‘o f f the record’)dn accordance w ith the function they perform in the sentence phraseological units can be classified into: substantive (or nom inal), verbal, adjectival, adverbial, prepositional, interjectional.

Like free w ord-groups phraseological units can be divided into coordinative (i.e. the life and soul o f som ething, free and easy, neck and crop) and subordinative (e.g. long in the tooth, a big fish in a little pond, the villain o f the pfefce).

Thus, the characteristic features o f phraseological units are: ready-m ade reproduction, structural divisibility, m orphological stability, perm anence o f lexical com position, sem antic unity, syntactic fixity.

2. W ays o f Form ing Phraseological Units. Sem antic Structure o f Phraseological Units A .V .K oonin classified phraseological units according to the w ay they are formed.

He p o in te d out prim ary and secondary ways o f form ing phraseological units.P rim ary w ays o f form ing phraseological units are those when a unit is form ed on

the basis o f a free w ord-group by:a) T ransferring the m eaning o f term inological w ord-groups, for exam ple, in cosm ic

technique w e can point ou t the phrase ‘launching p ad ’ which in its term inological m eaning is ‘ p latform from which a spacecraft is launched’, but in its transferred m ean­ing - ‘an effective starting point for a career, enterprise or cam paign’ The verb ‘to link u p ’( ‘to jo in /connec t tw o spacecrafts’) in its transferred m eaning m eans ‘to get/becom e acquainted w ith som ebody '.

T he sem antic structure o f phraseological units is formed by sem antic ultim ate constituents called m acrocom ponents o f m eaning. There are the following principal m acrocom ponents in the sem antic structure o f phraseological units:

1 .D enotational (descriptive) m acrocom ponent that contains the inform ation about the objective reality ,

b)From free w ord groups by transform ing their m eaning, e.g. granny farm (“hording house for aged peop le”), Troyan horse (“a kind o f com puter virus”).

c) By m eans o f alliteration, e.g. a sad sack (“a clum sy person w ho makes mistakes despite good in ten tions), culture vulture (“a person considered to be excessively interested in the a rts”).

d) By m eans o f expressiveness; it is m ost characteristic for form ing interjections, e.g. My aunt! (an exclam ation o f surprise or am azem ent); Hear, hear! (an exclam ation used to show approval o f som eth ing said).

e) By m eans o f d istorting a word group, e.g. odds and ends (“sm all items that are not valuable”) w as form ed from “odd ends” .

f) By using archaism s, e.g. in brown study m eans “ in glom y m editation” where both com ponents preserve their archaic meanings. f

g) By using a sen tence in a different sphere o f life. For exam ple, that cock w on’t fight can be a free w ord - group when used in sports (cock fighting), but it becom es a phraseological un it w hen used m etaphorically in everyday life (an expression o f refusal or rejection). ■ f

h) By using som e unreal image, e.g.*to have butterflies in the stomach*(“to have a nervous feeling”) / t o have green finghers^“considerable talent or ability to grow plants”).

i) By using expression o f writers or politicians in everyday life, e .g /corridors o f pow er' (Snow), the w inds o f change^M c Millan).Secondary w ays o f form ing phraseological units are those when a phraseological unit is formed on the basis o f another phraseological unit. They are:

a) C onve^ iion , e .g /to vote with one’s feet'w as converted into vote with one’s feet;b) C hanging the gram m ar f|om , e.g.*Make hay w hile the sun s h in e /is transferred

into a verbal phrase - 't o m ake hay while the sun shines1; fc) A nalogy, e .g /C u rio sity killed the c a tW s transferred into t a r e killed the cat;d) C ontrast, e .g /th in cat1- “a poor person” w as form ed by contrasting it w ith fat cat;e) Shortening o f proverbs or sayings, e.g. from the proverb You can’t make a silk

purse out o f a sow ’s ear! by means o f clipping the m iddle o f it, was formed the phraseological unit*to make a sow ’s'ear;

f) B orrow ing phraseological units from other languages, e.g. livind space (G erm an); to take the bull by the horns (Latin).

3.Principles o f C lassification o f Phraseological Units A phraseological un it is a complex phenom enon w ith a num ber o f im portant features, which can b e approached from different points o f view . There ex ist a considerable num ber o f d ifferen t classification system s devised by different scholars and based on different p rincip les.

The trad itional and oldest principle for classify ing phraseological units is based on their o rig inal content (them atic principle). On th is principle, idiom s are classified according to th e ir sources o f origin, “source” referring to the particu lar sphere o f hum an ac tiv ity , o f life, o f nature, o f natural phenom ena, etc. L .P. Sm ith gives in his classification groups o f idioms used by sailors, fisherm an, soldiers, hunters and associated w ith the realia. phenomena and conditions o f their occupations. In Sm ith’s classifications we also find groups o f idioms associated with domestic and wild animals and birds, agriculture and cooking. There are also numerous idioms drawn from sports, arts. etc.Smith points out that idioms associated with the sea and the life o f seamen are especially num erous in English vocabulary. Here are some examples: to be all at sea

(“to be unable to understand”), to sink or swim (“to fail or succeed”), in deep water (‘ in trouble o r danger” ), to be in the sam e boat w ith som ebody (“to be in a situation in which p eo p le share the same difficulties and dangers”), to sail under false colours ( to pretend to be w hat one is not”), to w eather the storm (“to overcom e difficulties”),e tc .

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* Compound wordsCompound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the

language as free forms. They function in a sentence as a separate lexical nnit.The structural cohesion and integrity of a compound may depend upon unity of

stress, solid or hyphenated spelling, semantic unity, unity of morphological and syntactic functioning or, more often, upon the combined effectpf several of these, or similar phonetic, graphic, semantic, morphological or syntactic factors.

The integrity of a compound is manifested in its indivisibility, the impossibility of including another word or word-group between its elements. If, i.e., speaking about a smthemn we can insert some other word between the article “a" and the noun. f. e. a bright sunbeam, a bright and unexpected sunbeam, because the article “a” is a separate word, so such insertion is possible between the stems “sisiT and “beam”, for they are not words but morphemes.

In describing the structure of a compound one should examine three types of relations:1) the relations of the members to each other.2) the relation of the whole to its members,3) correlation with equivalent free phrases.

Some compounds are made up of a detenuining and a determined part, which jnay be called “determinant” and the “determinatum”. (H. Marehand, The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation, Wiesbaden, 1960, p.II), The second stemx is our case “beam”, is the basic part, the detenninatum. The determinant “sun” serves to differentiate it from other beams. The determinatum is the grammatically most important pari which undergoes inflection; c.f. sunbeams, b ro tkers-in 4a w, p a sse rs-by.

There are non-idiomatic compounds with a perfectly clear motivation: the meanings of the constituents add in creating the meaning of the whole and name the referent either directly of-figuratively, i.e., the word "seaman” was not difficult to understand at first, it meant “a man professionally connected with the sea”. The word differentiated in this way a sailor from the rest of mankind. When aviation came into being the same formula with the same kind of motivation was used to coin the compound “airman” and also “aircraft’ and “airship” to name the machines designed for air-travel, differentiating them from seagoing craft. “Spaceman”, “spacecraft and “spaceship” built on the model of “airman”, “aircraft' and “airship” are well understood even when heard for the first time. The semantic integrity of the compounds seaman, airman, spaceman, aircraft, spacecraft, airship and spaceship is based on the fact that, as the conquest of sea, air mid outer space advanced, new notions were created, notions possessing enough relevant distinctive features to ensure their separate existence. The logical integrity of the combinations is supported by solid spelling and by the unity of stress. Such transparent compounds can be transformed into free phrases: air-mail = mail conveyed by air.

The semantic integrity of a pom pound is on the other hand very often idiomatic in its character, so that the meaning of the whole is not a-mere sum of its elements. A compound is very different in meaning from a corresponding syntactic group. Thus, a “blackboard” is very different from lia black board” Its essential feature is being a teaching aid: not every board of a black colour is a blackboard. A blackboard may be not a board at all but a piece of linoleum or some other material, its colour is not

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necessarily black ¡jit may be brown or somewhat else. Thus, | lack board = a board which is biac|. A; “chatterbox'1 is not a box, it is a person ^ho talks a great deal without sayinjg anything important: the combination is u p ^ ^ n ly figuratively. The same metaphfric|| character is observed in the compound!: “Ijowcoack” - a person who acts and (thinks slowly (not a vehicle); a “fiiss-pot” 4 a p|rson easily - excited and nervous aboi$ trifles; blackleg” - a “strike breaker*’; hlaclmaiF - “getting money or soile other profit from a person by threats” ; “Ifitieitocking” - “a woman affecting literary tastes and {earning”. t \

The analysis of the semantic relationship existing between the constituents of a compound presents many difficulties.

Many compounds may be explained in different ways: tiius “spacecraft may be analysed as “a craft travelling in space” (place) or “a craft designed for traveliing in space” (purpose). , j

Often different relations are expressed by the same determinant: ear-ache (place) - “an ache in the ear”; “earmark’ (comparison) - “a mark like an ear”, “ear­lobe” (part) - “a lobe of the ear”; “eardrop” (purpose) - ?a drop for the ear” (medicine); uear-ring” (place or purpose). Compare alp : “lip-reading* - “interpretation of-the motion of the lips” (instrumental relations); “lip-service” - “superficial service from the lips only” (comparison);r“lipstick - “a stick of cosmetics for rouging lips” (purpose). J

S pecific F eatu res of English Compounds There are two important peculiarities distinguishing compounding in English

from compounding in other languages. Firstly, both immediate constituents of an English compound are free forms, i.e. they can be used as ^independent words with a distinct meaning of their own. This point may be illustrated by a brief list of the most frequently used compounds studied in every elementary course o f English: afternoon, anyway, anybody, anything, birthday, day-off, downstairs! everybody, fountain-pen, grown-up, inkstand, large-scale, looking-glass, mankind, moth#-in-law, motherland, note-book, n¿where, post-card, rail-way, schoolboy, skating-rink, somebody, stair­case, Sunday. The combining elements in Russian are bound |orras (pysosoflCTBo), but in English combinations like Anglo-Saxon, Indo-European are rarely. /

The second feature is that the regular pattern for the English language is a two- stem compound. An exception to this rule is observed when theicombining element is represented by a form-word stem, as is mother-in-law, bread-and-butter, whisky-and- soda, deaf-and-dumb, good-for-nothing, man-of-war, mo|her%f-pearl, stick-in-the-mud. i i I

; ' :

But ther® are compound words consisting of m ore than t\yo words, f.e. aircraft- carrier, wastepaperbascket, etc. i )

The predominance of two-stem structures in Eiglish compounding distinguishes tit from the German language which can coin Monstrosities like the anecdotal Vjerwaldstatterse eschrau b en d am pfsch iffg ese If s ch aft or Feuer-und- Unfallversicherungsgesellschaft. f

It often happens that elements of a phrase united by their attributive syntactic function can play, an important role in forming a compound,! f.e. we've done last minute changes before..., common sense advice; old age and djd-age pensioner; the records are out of date and out-of-date records; the let-sleep in g-d ogs-lie approach;

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> • ' t i*

As English compounds consist of free forms, it is difficult to distinguish them from phrase^ f,e. “top-dog” - “a person occupying^ a |oremost place”, the combination “mccerdog” - “a person who has the worst o f an encounter”, the first expression is a phrase, the second is a word (a derivative). j

The criteria for the compounds are: 1) the graphic criterion as a logical consequence (if the definition of a written word is the part of the text from blank to blank). But this criterion may be argued, because different dictionaries give different spelling; headmaster, head master and head-master; loudspeaker, loud speaker and loud-speaker. But compounds that appear to be constructed on. the same pattern and have similar semantic relations between the constituents may. be spelt differently: textbook, phrase-book, reference book. Yet if we take into consideration the comparative frequency of solid or hyphenated spelling of the combinations in question, the criterion is fairly reliable. This lack of uniformity in spelling is the chief reason why many authors consider this criterion insufficient. All the compound nouns are stressed on the first syllable. This rule does not hold; with the adjectives. Compound adjectives are double stressed like 'gray-'greea; 'easy-'going; 'new-’bom. According to E.Nida the criteria to determine the word-units injtfae English language are: 2) phonological, 3) morphological, 4) syntactic. \

Stress may be phonological and help to differentiate the meaning of com pounds. i

'overwork - "extra work”? ............... .......... s'over 'work - ‘‘hard work injuring one’s health; ?*'bookcase - “apiece of furniture with shelves for books”;'1>ook ’case - “a paper cover for books”; !maii'kind - “thehuman race”; •'mankind - “men” (contrasted with women).Morphological criteria are many: the plural number, f-i still-life - still-lifes

and not still lives; the connecting letters - s (craftsman), - 'o (Anglo-Saxon), - i (handiwork); - s as a distinction from -s in the plural (salesman goods-train / savings - bank). i

The syntactical criterion is the- more promising. L. Bloom field points out that '"the word black in the phrase “black birds” can be modified by “very" (very black birds) but not so the com pound-member “black” in blackbirds, "the same situation we have in “black market” or “black l is t (of persons under suspicion),**.blackbirds’’ is a compound word but “black market” is a phrase. ;

i. Classification o f CompoundsCompound words may be classified according I) to the type of-composition

and the linking elementa) by juxtaposition without connecting elements: heart-beat, heart-break\ heart­

breaking, heart-broken., heart-felt, etc. I >b) composition with a- vowel or a consonant as a linking element: electromotive,

speedometer, Afro-Asian', handicraft, statesman.

c) compounds with linking elements represented by preposition or conjunction: dom-and-outy matter-of-fact, son-in-law, up-to-date, . )

I) according to th§ structure of immediate constituents: va) compounds consisting o f simple stems: film-star; jb) compounds wifli one derived stem: chain-smoker, 1 xc) compounds with a clipped stem: maths-mistress (BE) and math-mistress (AE); H-

bag (handfbdjt), X-mas {Christmasj, whodunit {.mystery nm&s);d) compounds with one of the constituents as a compound stemi mstepaper-bascket.

Almost all nftional parts of speech may be formed by composition:A. Compound nouns, f.e. searchlight greengrocer.B. Compound Adjectives, f.e. heartfree, penny wise, stone-deaf, blood-red, knee-

deep, etc.C. Compound verbs, f.e. blackmail, honeymoon, nickname, house-keep, proof­

read, stage-manage.

Bibliography .

64 A Guide to English Lexicology

(into, within), compound num erals (fifty-five, eighty-nine).Within the class of compound nouns we distinguish endocentric

and exocentric. compounds. An endoceotric compound consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning o f the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example, the English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog.is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Obviously, an endocentric compound lends to be of the same part o f speech (word class) as its head.

Exocentric compounds do not have a head, and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example, the compound white-collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound,, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents, e.g. a must-have is not a verb but a noun.

In the Sanskrit tradition, the type of exocentric compound exemplified by white-collar is called a bahuvrihi compound. The meaning of this type of compound can be glossed as “(one) whose B is A”, where B is the second element o f the compound and A the firsts Thus a white-collar person is one whose collar is white (as a metaphor for socioeconomic status). Other English examples include bigwig (“an important person”), black-shirt (“a fascist”), lazy-bones (“a lazy person”), etc.

Semantically, compounds are subdivided into idiomatic and non- idiomatic (or motivated). Noil-idiomatic compounds are compounds whose meanings can really be described as the sum of their constituent meanings (the meaning of the constituents can be either direct or figurative). The compounds classroom, working-man, dancing-hall, seaman, air mail are readily understood even when heard for the first time.

The compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the separate meanings of their constituent parts are called idiomatic compounds. Thus, a blackboard is very different from a black board. Its essential feature is being a teaching aid: not eveiy board of a black

Olga BUREA 65%

colour is a blackboard. Other examples o f idiomatic compounds are: lady-killer, chatterbox, bluebottle, ladybird, bluestocking, etc.

A further theoretical aspect o f composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination. This question has a direct bearing on the specific feature o f the structure of most English compounds which has already been mentioned: with the exception of the rare morphological type, they originate directly from word-combinations and are often homonymous to them: cf. a tall boy - a tallboy.

In this case the graphic criterion of distinguishing between a word and a word-group seems to be sufficiently convincing, yet in many cases it cannot wholly be relied on. The spelling of many compounds, tallboy among them, can be varied even within the same book.

In the case o f tallboy the semantic criterion seems more reliable, for the striking difference in the meanings o f the word and the word- group certainly points to the highest degree o f semantic cohesion in the word: tallboy does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture, a chest o f drawers supported by a low stand. Moreover, the word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts (1. a young male person; 2. big in size), whereas the word tallboy expresses one concept. Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept and some of them are characterised by a high degree of semantic cohesion.

'Hie phonetic criterion for compounds may be treated as that of a single stress. The criterion is convincingly applicable to many compound nouns, yet does not work with compound adjectives: cf. 'blackbird, 'tallboy, but: 'blue-'eyed, 'absent-'minded, 'ill-'mannered.

Still, it is true that the morphological structure o f these adjectives and their hyphenated spelling leave no doubt about their status as words and not word-groups.

Morphological and syntactic criteria can also be applied to compound words in order to distinguish them from word-groups. In the word-group a tall hoy each o f the constituents is independently

- 4 8 -

Conversion.Introductory Remarks. The Historical Development of

Conversion.

The process of coming a new word in a different part of speech and with a different distribution characteristic without any adding^ofVa derivative element, so that the basic form of the original and the basic i^dfn^xhe derived words are homonymous, is called variously: conversion, zero derivation, root formation, transposition or functional change.

The essence of this phenomenon may be illustrated by the following examples:

His voice silenced everyone else. (Snow'). „ ,.t? t,LA ,There wa^cideep silence.The difference between silence (n) and semantic.Diachronic Approach of Conversion. Origin» ME vocabulary is rich in

conversion pairs. As a Way of forming words conversion is extremely productive and new conversion pairs make their appearance in fiction, newspaper articles and in the process of oral communication in all spheres of human activity gradually forcing their way jbito the..existing vocabulary and into the dictionary as well. New conversion^j^are* created on the analogy of those already in the word - stock. Conversion is highly productive in the formation of verbs, especially from compound nouns: to motor travel by car”; to phone - "use the telephone"; to wire = “send a telegram”; to microfilm — “produce a microfilm ”; to teargas = “to use teargas ”; to fire-bomb = '‘drop firebombs ”; to spear-head = “act as a spearheadfor"; to blueprint — "workout, outline ”, etc.

Some of the pairs arose as a result of the disappearance of inflections in the course of the historical development of the English language due to which two words of different parts of speech, f. e. a verb and a noun: love (n) - love (v); work (n) - work (v); answer (n) - answer (v); doctor (n) - doctor (v), which are regarded as cases of homonymy.

Other linguists share Prof. Smimitsky’s views concerning discrimination between conversion as a derivational means and as a type of word-building relations between words in Modern English. It should be emphatically stressed that the present-day derivative correlations within conversion pairs do not necessarily coincide with the etymological relationship. F. e., in the word-pair awe (n) - awe (v) the noun is the source of derivation both diachronically and synchronically, but it is quite different with the pair mould (n) - mould (v), historically the verb is the derived member, whereas it is the other way round from the angle of Modem English (f. e. the derivatives mouldable, moulding, moulder which have suffixes added to verb-base).

A diachronic semantic analysis of a conversion pair reveals that in the course of time the semantic structure of the base may acquire a new meaning or several meanings under the influence of the meanings of the converted word.This semantic process has been termed reconversion in linguistic literature.

There is an essential difference between conversion and reconversion: being a way of forming words conversion leads to a numerical enlargement of the English vocabulary, whereas reconversion only brings about a new meaning correlated with one of the meanings of the converted word. Research has shown that reconversion only operates with denominal verbs and deverbal nouns. As an illustration the conversion pair “smoke (n) - smoke (v)” may be cited. .

Conversion is not an absolutely productive way of forming words because it is restricted both semantically and morphologically.

These 5 terms given above for the type of the word - formation process itself Mve their drawbacks, the best term is conversion according to the opinion of the S^fvlerimguists.

As a type of word - formation conversion exists in many languages, English especially because of the absence of morphological elements, serving as classifying signals.

words parts of speech in which theyoccur

noun verb adj adv other parts of speech

back + + + + +home + + + 4* -

silence + + - - +round + + + +

Many affixes are homonymous and therefore the general sound pattern does not contain any information as to the possible part of speech, f. e.:

noun verb adjective adverb

maiden whiten wooden oftenfinger linger longer longer

Compare also such homophones as Finnish (a) - finish (v); principle (n) - principal (a; n).

The problem of conversion may prove a pitfall because of possible confusion of the synchronic and diachronic approaches «

The causes that made conversion so widely spread are to be approached diachronically, nouns and verbs have become identical in form firstly as a result of the loss of endings. M0re rarely it is the prefix that is dropped: mind < OE zemynd; carian (v) OE = care (n; v); ME drincan (v) OE = drink (v; n) ME.

Conversion is a type of word -building, being of paramount importance and interest. Synchronically both types sleep (n) - sleep (v) must be treated together as cases of patterned homonymy.

I IRecent research suggests that this regular or patterned or modelled

homonymy has some characteristic features: it regularly involves monosyllabic words of a simple morphological structure.

Conversion is considered to be the predominant method of English verb- formation.

Prof. Smimitsky and his school consider the paradigm to be the only word- forming means of conversion. He sees conversion as a case where a word is transferred from one paradigm to another, the paradigm being the only means at work: to down, to encore, to pooh-pooh. This is the way of forming neologisms: to chair = ”to preside over a meeting to c§mpaisn = “to organise a ct&ipaign”; to microfilm = “to make a photographic film of a document or a book, which can be enlarged in projection”; to stars to appear, or to present as an actorf to wireless = “to send a message by wirefe^”; to orbit - “to travel in orbit, to put into orbit”.

Substantiation.

The question now arises whether such cases when words with an adjective stem having the paradigm of a noun should also be classified as conversion, f. e. a private, the private’s uniform, a group of priv^f; captive, conservative, criminal, female, fugitive, grown-up, intellectual, male, mild, native, neutral, radical, red, relative.

The process of conversion is impossible outside the context. Isolated words can’t be formed by conversjon^The degree of substantivation may be different: com pleted d partial »j£e. the privates]} the blind\ the dead, the English, the poor, the accused, the condemned, the living, the unemployed, the wounded, the lower- paid.

These words are partially substantivized because they undergo no morphological changes, do not acquire a new paradigm and are used with a collective meaning and the definite article: the good, the evil, the Plural, the Singular, the Present, the Past.

Less frequent but also quite possible is conversion fromXwords to nouns, f.e. He liked to know the ins and outs. / Shan’t go into the whys and tf&herefores.He was familiar witfrups and downs o f life. Even affixes may bevfcrmed by

. " ' . " T . .... , „ , , •conversion/!, e.freudism, existentialism and all the other isms.Phrases or even sentences are sometimes turned into nouns and adjectives

by a combination of conversion and composition: Old man what-do-you-call- him’s book is on sale.

djuuu-u -12-

ETYM OLOGY OF THE ENGLISH W ORD-STOCK Origin o f the English Words

According totheir origin English words may be subdivided into two main sets. The elem ents o f one are native words, the elem ents o f the other are borrowed words.A native word is a word which belongs to the original English word stock. A borrowed word or a borrow ing is a word taken over from another language and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards o f the English language.1.1. W ords o f N ative OriginDiacronically native words are subdivided into three main layers.1. W ords o f the Indo-European origin. These words have cognates in the vocabularies o f different Indo- European languages and from the oldest layer. Words belonging to this layer fall into definite semantic groups and express the most vitai, important and frequently used concepts:- kinship term s, e.g. father, mother, son, daughter, brother;- words naming the most important objects and phenomena o f nature, e.g. sun, moon, star, wind, water, wood, hill, stone;- names o f anim als and plants, e.g. goose, wolf, cow, tree, corn;-words denoting parts o f the human body, e.g. ear, tooth, eye, foot, heart, lip;- words nam ing concrete physical properties and qualities (including some adjectives denoting colour), e.g. hard, quick, slow, red, white, new;- numerals from one to a hundred, e.g. one, two, twenty, eighty;- pronouns (personal, dem onstrative, interrogative), e.g. I, you, he, my, that, who; except ‘they’which is Scandinavian.- some o f the most frequent verbs, e.g. bear, do, be, sit, stand and others.2. Words o f Com m on Germanic origin. The Common Germanic stock includes words having parallels in German, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic. It contains a great num ber o f semantic groups som e o f which are the same as in the Indo-European group o f native words:- nouns denoting parts o f the human body, e.g. head, arm, finger;- nouns denoting periods o f tim e, e.g. summer, winter, time, week;- words nam ing natural phenomena, e.g. storm, rain, flood, ice, ground, sea, earth;- words denoting artefacts and m aterials, e.g. bridge, house, shop, room, coal, iron, lead, cloth;- words naming different kinds o f garment, e.g. hat, shirt, shoe;- words denoting abstract notions, e.g. care, evil, hope, life, need;- - names o f anim als, birds and plants, e,g. sheep, fox, horse, crow, oak, grass;- various notional verbs, e.g. bake, bum , buy, drive, hear, keep, learn, m ake, m eet, rise, see, send, shoot;- adjectives denoting colours, size and other properties, e.g. broad, dead, deaf, deep, grey, blue;- adverbs, e.g. down, out, before.

3. English words proper. They do not have cognat for the most part are characterized by:

'in other languages. Native words

1) a wide range o f lexical and grammatical valency and high frequency, e.g. the verb “watch” can be used in different sentence patterns, can be combined with different classes o f words. Do you mind if I watch? ...1 feel like I am being watched.

2)a developed polysem y, e.g. the noun “watch” has the following m eanings:’a small clock to be worn on the wrist, or carried’; ‘the act o f watching’; ‘ a person or people ordered to watch a place or a person’; a fixed period o f duty on a ship, usually lasting four hours’; ‘ a film or program m e considered in terms o f its appeal to the public’, etc.

3) a great w ord-building power, “watch” is the centre o f a num erous word-fam ily, e.g. watch-dog, watcher, watchful, watchfulness,^ watch-out, watchword, watchable, watchfire, etc.

4) the capacity o f form ing phraseological units: to be on the watch, to keep watch, to watch one’s back, t^Watch one’s step.

Borrowed WordsBorrowings enter the language in two ways: through oral speech and through written

speech.W ords borrowed orally are usually short and they undergo considerable changes during the act o f adoption. W ritten borrowings preserve their spelling and some peculiarities o f their sound form, their assimilation is a long process.

Borrowings m ay be direct or indirect, i.e. through another language. Such languages- intermediaries were, f.e., Latin through which many Greek words cam e into the English language and French by m eans o f which many Latin words were borrow ed. Distinction should be made between the term ‘source o f borrow ing’ and the term ‘origin o f borrow ing’.

The fact that different languages served as sources o f borrowing at different periods o f the developm ent o f the English language is accounted for by purely historical causes: the Roman invasion, the introduction o f Christianity, the Danish and Norm an conquests and, in modern tim es, direct linguistic contacts and political, economical and cultural re­lationships with other nations. So English during its historical developm ent borrowed words from:

1)Celtic: 5-th - 6-th c. A.D.;2) Latin : 1-st group: 1 - s t c. B.C.; 2-nd group: 7-th c. A.D.;3-rd group: the

Renaissance period (14-th - 16-th c.) f.e. introvert, radioactive, relativity, cup, candle, plant, wall, interior, sociology,;

3) Scandinavian: 8-th - 11-th c. A.D.; to cast, fellow, anger, to take, law;4) French: N orm an borrowings: 11-th - 13-th c. A.D.; Parisian borrowings: the Re­

naissance period:governm ent, promenade, power, lieutenant, restaurant, ball, cortege, café, coquette, hotel, picnic, ballet, menu, soup;

5) Greek: the Renaissance period: philanthropy, agronomy, oligarchy, comedy, scene, anemia, criterion, hormone, eponym, anamnesis;

6) Italian: the Renaissance period and later: violin, umbrella, motto, bandit, gondo­la;

7) Spanish: the Renaissance period and later: banana, armada, m osquito, guerilla, tornado;

8) Russian: the Renaissance period and later. Balalaika, Bolshevik, cosmonaut, sputnik, vodka, troika, steppe, intelligentia, samovar, verst, kvass, tundra;

10) Arab, f.e. arsenal, alcohol, almanac, etc.9) German, f.e. kindergarten, halt, waltz, nickel, poodle;

We can distinguish translation borrowings and semantic borrowings. The former are words and expressions formed from the material already existing in the English language but according to patterns taken from another language, by way o f morpheme-to- morpheme translation, f.e. wall newspaper from Russian. The semantic borrowing is understood as the developm ent in an English word o f a new m eaning under the influence o f the related word in. another language, f.e. the English word ‘p ioneer’ m eant ‘explorer’ and ‘one who is am ong the first in new fields o f activity’. Under the influence o f the Russian word it has come to mean ‘a member o f the Young Pioneers’ Organization’.

The English w ord-stock was replenished by international words, i.e. words o f identical origin that occur in several languages as a result o f sim ultaneous or successive borrowing from one ultim ate source, e.g. antenna, music, radio. International words are often confused with other words which ultimately come from the same source but have diverged in meaning. Such words are called ‘false friends’ or ‘false cognates’, i.e. accurate and аккуратны й’, conserves and консервы.

Assimilation o f BorrowingsThe term 'assim ilation o f borrow ings’ is used to denote a partial or total

conformation to the phonetical, graphical and morphological standards o f the English language and its sem antic system.

1. Com pletely assim ilated borrowed words follow all morphological, phonetical and orthographic standards. They take an active part in word- form ation.Com pletely assim ilated words are: cheese (Latin), husband (Scandinavian), face (French), animal (Latin). It is important to mention that a loan word never brings into the receiving language the whole o f its semantic structure if it is polysem antic in the original language,f.e. the word ‘sport’ had a much wider scope in Old French denoting pleasures, m aking m erry and entertainments in general. Being borrowed into Middle English in this character it gradually acquired the meaning o f outdoor games and exercise.

2. Partially assim ilated borrowed words may be subdivided depending on the aspect that rem ains unaltered into: a) borrowings not com pletely assimilated graphically, balet, buffet. Some may keep a diacritic mark: café, cliché. Specifically French diagraphs (ch, qu, ou, etc.) may be retained in spelling: bouquet, brioche.b) borrowings not com pletely assimilated phonetically. For example, some o f French borrow ings keep the accent on the final syllable: machine, cartoon, police. Others, alongside the peculiarities in stress, contain sounds or combinations o f sounds that are not standard for the English language and do not occur in the native words, e.g. [3] - bourgeois, prestige, regime;c) borrowings not assim ilated grammatically, for example, nouns borrowed from Latin or Greek have kept their original plural forms: crisis:: crises, phenomenon :: phenom ena , index : : indices (‘ an alphabetical list o f names, subjects, etc. at the back o f a book, with the numbers o f the pages where they can be found’) index : : indexes (‘ a standard by which the level o f something can be judged or m easured’);d) borrow ings not assimilated semantically because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they come. They may denote foreign clothing ( e.g. sari, sombrero); foreign titles and professions (e.g. shah, rajah, toreador); foreign vehicles (e.g. rickshaw (Chinese)); foreign food and drinks (e.g. pilau (Persian), sherbet (Arabian)); etc.

¿

3. U nassim ilated borrowings or barbarisms.There are corresponding English equivalents, for such words, e.g. the Italian addio, ciao - * good-bye’.

The changes a borrowed word has had to undergo depending on the date o f its pentration are the main cause for the existence o f the so-called etymological doublets. For example, the words whole (originally m eant ‘healthy’, ‘free from disease’) and hale both come from OE hal: one by the normal developm ent o f OE a into o, the other from a northern dialect in which this modification did not take place. Only the latter has survived in its original meaning.

3. Influence o f borrowingsThe role o f borrow ings was so great that they exerted much influence on the developm ent o f English and brought about different changes or innovations practically on all the levels o f the language system.1. The influence o f borrowings on the phonetic structure o f English words and the

sound system resulted in:1) the appearance o f a num ber o f words o f new phonetic structure with strange

sounds or fam iliar sounds in unusual positions, e.g. waltz, psychology, soufflé.2) The influence o f borrowings on the word-structure and the system o f word-

building resulted in:1 ) the appearance o f a number o f new structural types in which some highly-

productive borrowed affixes (e.g. re-, inter-, -er, -ism) can combine with native and borrowed bases. Other borrowed affixes, not so productive (e.g. co-, de-, -ant, -ic), combine only with Latinate bases, i.e. bases o f Latin, Greek or French origin, e.g. inform-ant (inform -< Old French < Latin).

3.The influence o f borrowings on the semantic structure o f English words resulted in:

1)the differentiation o f borrowed words and synonym ous native words in meaning and use, cf.: feed (native) - nourish (L);2) the narrowing o f meaning o f native words due to the differentiation o f synonyms. For instance, the word stool o f native origin in Old English denoted ‘any article o f furniture designed for sitting on’. Under the influence o f the French borrowing chair the word stool came to be used as the name for only one kind o f furniture, i.e. ‘a seat that has three or four legs, but no back or arm s’;

3. the extension o f m eaning o f native English words or the acquisition o f additional or new meanings, e.g. the political m eanings o f shock and deviation have come from the Russian ‘ugarnii’ and ‘uklon’.

4. The influence or borrowings on the lexical territorial divergence resulted in.1) the enlargem ent o f the word-stock o f different dialects and national variants o f

English in the UK. For example, Irish English has the following words o f Celtic origin: shamrock- trilistnik, dun-holm , colleen - devushka, etc. In the Northern and Eastern dialects there are m any Scandinavian borrowings, e.g. busk - ‘get ready’; m un-‘m outh’;

Questions1 .W hat sets o f English words can be singled out according to their origin?2. W hat word is called ‘native’?3. What does the term ‘a borrowed word/a borrow ing’ mean?4. W hat semantic groups are words belonging to the Indo-European stock divided into?5. W hat semantic groups does the Common Germanic stock contain?6. W hat words refer to the English words proper?

STYLISTIC CLASSIFICA TION OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

1. T he opposition o f Stylistically M arked and Stylistically N eutral WordiS

I

In a highly developed language like English the same idea may be differently expressed in different situations. On various occasions a speaker makes use o f different combinations open to him in the vocabulary. Part o f the words he uses will be independent o f the sphere of communication. There are words equally fit to be used in a lecture, a poem, or when speaking to a child. These are said to be stylistically neutral and constitute the common core o f the vocabulary. They are characterized by high frequency and cover the great portion of every utterance. The rest may consist o f stylistically coloured words. Not only does the speaker’s entire experience determine the words he knows and uses but also his knowledge o f his audience and the relationship in which he stands to them governs hifchotce of words. He says: perhaps, jolly good and I've half a mind to... when speaking to people he knows well, but probably, very well and I intend to... in conversation with a stranger.

The English nouns horse, steed, gee-gee have the same denotative meaning in the sense that they all refer to the same animal, but the stylistic colouring is different in each case. Hone is stylistically neutral and may be used in any situation. Steed is dignified and lofty and belongs to poetic diction, while gee-gee is a nursery word neutral in a child’s speech, and out of place in aduit conversation.

Stylistically coloured, therefore, are words suitable only on certain definite occasions in specific spheres and suggestive of specific conditions of communications.

The word-stock o f the English language may be divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number o f subgroups each o f which has a property, which unites the different groups o f words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect o f the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. The aspect o f the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. The aspect o f the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be empi^ed in all styles o f language and in all spheres of human activity.

The literary vocabulary consists o f the following groups o f words: common literary, terms and learned words, archaic words, barbarisms and foreign words, literary coinages including nonce- words.

The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: common colloquial words, slang, jargonisms, professionalisms and dialect words.

2, L ite ra ry vocabulary

2.1 T erm s

Terminology constitutes the greatest part of every language vocabulary.Every field o f modern activity has its specialized vocabulary. There is a special medical

vocabulary, and similarly special terminologies for psychology, botany, music, linguistics, teaching methods and many others. So, bilingual, labialization, palatalization, glottal stop, descending scale are terms o f theoretical phonetics.

A term is, in many respects, a very peculiar type of word. An ideal term should be monosemantic and, when used within its own sphere, does not depend upon the micro-context

provided it is not expressed by a figurative variant of a polysemantic word. Its meaning remains constant until some new discovery or invention changes the referent or the notion.

The only meaning possible is a denotative free meaning. No emotional colouring or evaluation is possible when the term is used within its proper sphere. A term can obtain a figurative or emotionally coloured meaning only when taken out o f its sphere and used in literary or colloquial speech. But in that case it ceases to be a term and its denotative meaning may also become very vague. It turns into an ordinary word.

The origin of terms shows several main channels, three of which are specific for terminology.-Formation o f tenninological phrases with subsequent clipping, ellipsis, blending,

abbreviations: transistor, receiver transistor —*. trannie; television text — ► teletext; ecological architecture —► ecotecture; extremely low frequency * ELF.

-The use o f combining forms from Latin and Greek like aerodrome, aerodynamics, cyclotron, microfilm, telegraph, thermonuclear, supersonic.

-Borrowing from another terminological system within the same language whenever there is any affinity between the respective fields. In linguistics, for instance, we can come across many terms borrowed from rhetoric: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and others.

The remaining two methods are common with other layers o f the vocabulary. These are word- formation in which composition, semantic shift and derivation take the leading part, and borrowing from other languages.

Many words that were once terms have gradually lost their qualities as terms and have passed into the common literary vocabulary. With radio and television sets in every home maoy radio terms - antenna, teletype, transistor, short waves - are well known to everybody ancRmen used in everyday conversation.

2.2 Learned W ords and Official Vocabulary

In addition to terms, a text on some special problems usually contains a considerable proportion o f so-called learned words, such as approximate, commence, compute, exclude, indicate, initial, respectively, etc.

The learned layer of vocabulary is characterized by a phenomenon which may be appropriately- called lexical suppletion. This term is used for pairs like: father - paternal home - domestic, lip - labial, mind-mental, son-filial, etc. in all these cases a stylistically neutral noun of native origin is correlated with a borrowed relative adjective. The semantic relation between them is quite regular.

The learned vocabulary comprises some archaic connectives not used elsewhere: hereby, thereafter, hereupon, herein, herewith, etc. |t also contains double conjunctions like moreover, furthermore, however, such as, and group conjunctions: in consequence of, inasmuch as, etc.

The term “ learned” includes several subdivisions of words. We find here numerous words that are used in scientific prose, e.g. comprise, compile, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous, conclusive, divergent, etc.

To this group also belongs the so-called “officialese”. These are the words o f the official, bureaucratic language, e.g. assist (for help), endeavour (for try), proceed (for go), inquire (for ask), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough).

Probably the most interesting subdivision of learned words is represented by the words found in descriptive passages o f fiction. They sound foreign. Here are some examples: solitude, sentiment, fascination, delusion, meditation, felicity, elusive, cardial, illusionary.

There is one further subdivision o f learned words: inodes of poetic diction. Yet, poetic words have a further characteristic - a lofty, high-flown, sometimes archaic* colouring: alas!, realm, wroth, whilom, wight, etc.

2.3 Archaic Words

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The word-stock o f a language is in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning and sometimes drop out o f the language altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones.

It is possible to distinguish three stages in the aging process o f words:- The beginning o f the aging process when the word becomes rarely used. Such words are

called obsolescent, i.e., they are in the stage of gradually passing out of general use. In the English language these are the pronouns thou and its forms thee, thy and thine; the corresponding verbal ending -est and the verb forms: art, wilt (thou makest, thou wilt); the ending ~(e)th instead o f -(e)s (he maketh) and the pronoun ye.

To the category o f obsolescent words belong\many French borrowings, e.g. pallet (a straw mattress), palfrey (a light saddle horse, esp. ridden by women), garniture (furniture), etc.

- The second group o f archaic words are those that have already gone completely out of use but are still recognized by the English speaking community, e.g. rneihinfa (it seems to me), nay (no). These words arc called obsolete.

- The third group, which may be called archaic proper, are words which are no longer recognizable in modem English, words that were in use in Old English and which have either dropped out o f the language entirely or have changed in their appearance so much that they become unrecognizable, e.g. troth (faith), lose! (a worthless person), etc.

There is still another class o f words which is erroneously classed as archaic, viz. historical w ords, for example: thane, yeoman, goblet, baldric, mace. Words o f this type never disappear from the language. They are historical terms and remain as terms referring to definite stages in the development o f society and cannot therefore be dispensed with, though the things and phenomena to which they refer have long passed into oblivion.* Historical words have no synonyms, whereas archaic words have been replaced by modern

synonyms.Some examples will illustrate this statement: aught (anything whatever), behold (see), billow

(wave), damsel (a young unmarried woman; maiden), ere (before), hapless (unlucky), hark (listen), perchance (perhaps), steed (horse), woe (sorrow), etc. most o f these words are lexical archaism s and they are stylistic synonyms of words which ousted them from the neutral style.

Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting a new meaning, then the old meaning becomes a sem antic archaism , e.g. fair in the meaning “beautiful” is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning ‘ blond” it belongs to neutral style.

Sometimes the root'of the word remains and the affix is changed, then (he old affix is considered to be a m orphem ic archaism , e.g. beauteous (-ous was substituted by -fut), bepainl (- be was dropped), darksome {-some was dropped), oft (-en was added), lone (-ly was added), morn (-ing was added), etc.

2.4 U arbarisn^and Foreign W ords

There are words o f foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English language. They bear the appearance o f a borrowing and are felt as something alien to the native tongue. These words, which are called barbarism s, are, like archaisms, also considered to be on the outskirts o f the literary language.

Most o f them have corresponding English synonyms, e.g. chic (= stylish); bon mot (= a clever witty saying); en passant (~ in passing); ad infinitum (- to infinity) and many others words and phrases.

However, there are foreign words in the English vocabulary which should not be regarded as barbarisms, though they still retain their foreign appearance. Such words as ukase, soviet, kolkhoz and the like denote certain concepts which reflect an objective reality not familiar to English- speaking communities. There are no names for them in English and so they have to be explained. New concepts o f this type are generally given the names they have in the language of the people whose reality they reflect.

3

Further, such words as solo, tenor, concerto, blitzkrieg and the like should also be distinguished from barbarisms. They are terms. Terminological borrowings have no synonyms; barbarisms, on the contrary, may have almost exact synonyms.

It is evident that barbarisms are a historical category. Many foreign words and phrases which were once just foreign words used in literary English reality, have little by little entered the class o f words named barbarisms and many o f these barbarisms have gradually lost their foreign peculiarities, become more or less naturalized and have merged with the native English stock o f words. Conscious, retrograde, penetrate, figurative, obscure, and many others, are words which were once barbarisms, but which are now lawful members of the common literary word slock o f the language.

2.5 Neologisms

Every period in the development of a language produces an enormous number o f new words and expressions or neologisms. A neologism (GR. neos - new, logos - word) is a word term, o r phrase which has been recently created (or “coined'’).

The first type o f newly coined words, i.e. those which designate new bom concepts, may be named terminological coinages or terminological neologisms. The second type, i.e. words coined because their creators seek expressive utterance may be named stylistic coinages or stylistic neologisms.

Another type o f neologism is the nonce-word, i.e. a word coined to suit one particular occasion. Nonce-words are created to designate some insignificant subjective idea or evaluation o f

- a thing or phenomenon and generally become moribund. They rarely pass into the language as legitimate units o f the vocabulary.

The development o f science gives rise to a lot o f neologisms. New words and phrases are created to describe new scientific discoveries or inventions, e.g.: black hole, laser, prion, ctc.

A large number o f new words appear due to the development o f computerization, e.g.: PC, multi-user, hardw are, software, monitor, screen, computerization, to telework, telebanking, telemarketing, etc.

New words appear in the sphere o f commerce and advertising: aspirin, laundromat, linoleum,etc.

In the sphere o f linguistics we have such neologisms as: machine translation, Interlingua, backronym, protologism, etc.

Here are some examples o f neologisms with the suffix -ize: moisturize, accessorize, deglamorize, etc.

The prefix anti- has given us the following new words: anti/lash, antihero, antivirus, antitheft, antiradar, and the like.

The fate o f neologisms is hardly predictable: some of them are short-lived, others, on the contrary, become durable as they are liked and accepted.

3. Colloquial Vocabulary

Colloquial vocabulary is traditionally subdivided into several subgroups:

3.1 Colloquialisms

These are words that are used both by cultivated and uneducated people o f all age groups in the course o f ordinary conversation or when writing letters to intimate friends.

The sphere o f communication of literary colloquial words also includes the printed page. The author creates an intimate, wann, informal atmosphere, meeting his reader, as it were, on the level o f a friendly talk, especially when the narrative verges upon non-personal direct speech.

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Some examples are: pram, exam, fridge, flu, zip, etc.Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: pul up, put over,

make up, do away, turn up, turn in, etc.The borderline between the literary and familiar colloquial is not always clearly marked. Yet

the circle o f speakers using familiar colloquial is more limited: these words are used mostly by the young and the semi-educated. Familiar colloquial is more emotional and much more free and careless than literary colloquial. The examples are: doc (for doctor), hi (for how do you do), ia-ta (for good-bye), go on with you (for let me alone), shut up (for keep silent), beat it (for go away), etc.

Low colloquial is a term used for illiterate popular speech. The chief peculiarities of low colloquial concern grammar and pronunciation; as to the vocabulary, it is different from familiar colloquial in that it contains more vulgar words, and sometimes also elements o f dialect.

All the groups o f colloquialism contain a large number o f intensifiers (absolutely, fabulous, lovely, superb, terrific) and lexical expressions of modality (definitely, up to a point, in a way, exactly, by all means, rather).

3.2 Slang

The Oxford English Dictionary defines slang as “very informal words and expressions that are more common in spoken language, especially used by a particular group o f people”. People use slang in order to sound “modem” and “up-to-date”.

The circle o f users o f slang is narrower than that of colloquialisms. It is mainly used by young and uneducated. A ^ a result many words formerly labeled as slang have become legitimate units of Standard English. Kid (child), is now a legitimate colloquial unit o f the English literary language. Other slang words that were accepted into literary vocabulary are: chap, donkey, fun, odd, snob, trip, etc.

3.3 Jargonism s

Jarg o n is a recognized term for a group of words that exists in almost every language and whose aim is to preserve secrecy within one or another social group. Jargosnisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them. Most o f the jargonisms of nay language are absolutely incomprehensible to those outside the social group which has invented them.

Jargonisms are social in character. They are not regional. In England and in the USA almost any social group o f people has its own jargon. The following jargons are well known in the English language: the jargon o f thieves, and vagabonds, generally known as cant; the jargon o f jazz people; the jargon o f the army, known as military slang; the jargon o f sportsmen and many other varieties.

It is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between slang and jargon. Thus the words queer, bluff humbug, formerly slang words or jargonisms, are now considered common colloquial.

3.4 Professionalisms

Professionalism s are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. They commonly designate some working process or implement o f labour. Professionalisms are correlated to terms.

Professional words name anew already existing concepts, tools or instruments, and have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of a professionalism is its technicality. Professionalisms are special words in the non-literary layer o f the English vocabulary, whereas terms are specialized group belonging to the literary layer of words. Professionalisms generally remain in circulation within a definite community, as they are linked to a common occupation and

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common social interests. Like terms, professionalisms do not allow any polysemy, they are monosemantic.

4. Basic V ocabulary

These words are stylistically neutral, and, in this respect, opposed to formal and informal words described above. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to use them in all kind^of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written communication.

Professional terminology is used mostly by representatives o f the profession; dialects are regional; slang i f favoured mostly by the young and the uneducated. These words are used every day, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, educational level, age group or geographical location. These are words without which no human communication would be possible as they denote objects and phenomena of everyday importance (e.g. house, summer, winter, child, mother, difficult, to go, to stand, etc.).

The basic vocabulary is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and living core. That is why w ord 'bf this stratum show a considerably greater stability in comparison with words o f the other strata, especially informal.

For instance, the verb to walk means merely “to move from place to place on foot” whereas ?■; the meaning o f its synonyms to stride, to stroll, to trot, to stagger and others, some additional information is encoded as they each describe a different manner o f walking. Thus, to walk, with its direct broad meaning, is a typical basic vocabulary word, and its synonyms, with their additional information encoded in their meanings, belong to the periphery o f the vocabulary.

- The basic vocabulary and the stylistically marked strata of the vocabulary do not exist independently but are closely interrelated. Most stylistically marked words have their neutral counterparts in the basic vocabulary.

The following synonyms illustrate the relations that exist between the neutral, literary and colloquial words in the English language:

C o l lo q u ia l N e u tra l 'L i te r a r y

kid child infantdaddy father parentflapper young girl maidencomfy comfortable commodious

go ahead continue proceedend finish terminate

HOMONYMS

Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and origin are called homonyms.The term is derived from Greek “ homonymous” ( homos = the same, onym a = name) and thus expresses very well the sameness o f name combined w ith the difference in meaning.Homonymy exists in many languages, but in English it is particularly frequent, especially in monosyllabic words. In the list o f 2540 homonyms given in the “ Oxford English Dictionary” 89% are monosyllabic words and only 9,1% are words o f two syllables.

C L A SSIFIC A TIO N O F HQ M ON YM S

Homonyms are classified into 3 groups : homonyms proper, homophones and homographs.

Homonyms proper are words identically pronounced and spelled, e.g. fast - quick; fast = firm; liver + that who lives and liver = the organ that secrets bile; back, n = part o f the body; back, adv = away from the front;back, v = go back, return; ball, n = a round object; ball, n = gathering o f people for dancing; bark, v = to utter sharp explosive cries” , bark,n = the skin o f the trees, bark,n = a sailing ship; base, n = bottom, base, v = build or place upon, base, a = mean and so on.

Homophones are words o f the same sound but o f different spelling and meaning : e.g., air / heir; arms / alms; buy / by; him / hymn; knight / night; not /knot; or / oar; piece / peace; rain /reign; scent /cent; steel /steal; storey /story; write /right and so on.

Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but identical in spe lling ; bow [bou]= bow= [bauj; lead [li:d] = lead [led]; row [rou] = row [rau]; sewer [soue] =sewer [sjue]; tear [tie] - tear [tea]; wind [wind]-wind [waind].

Difference and Identity in Words

Different Lexical meaning Nearly same lexical meaning

SYNONYM S

Synonyms are words only similar but not identical in meaning. Synonyms can be defined as two or more words o f the same language, belonging to the same part o f speech and possessing one or more identical meanings, e.g., to experience, undergo^ sustain, suffer. Sometimes synonyms are interchangeable , e.g., The French language has undergone considerable and more recent changes since the date when the

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Normans brought it into England ( here “undergo” may be substituted by “ suffer” or “ experience” ).Some words are called generic, e.g., hope (anticipate, expect, look forward to), animal ( wolf, dog,mouse).Hyponyms - specific words included into a group o f w o rd s, i.e., pup ( for a small dog), (hypo’ - under).The synonyms are classified into 3 groups : total, relative and contextual or context- dependent synonyms.Total synonyms are very rare, for example : noun and substantive, functional affix, flection and inflection.Relative synonyms : ask, beg, implore; love, like,adore,be fond of; gift, talent, genius. Contextual synonyms are words similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions (buy and get; “ I’ll go to the shop and buy some bread” or ‘T i l go to the shop and get some bread “; For example, bear, suffer and stand , they are semantically different and are not interchangeable except when used in the negative form. I ’ve swallowed too much o f the beastly stuff. I can’t stand it any longer.A great part o f English synonyms are borrowed from other languages ( freedom, liberty; heaven, sky),O.Espersen and other linguists used to say that the English language is particularly rich in synonyms because B ritons, Romans, Saxons, Danes and Norm ans fighting and se ttin g upon the soil o f the British Isles could not but influence each other’s speech. British scholars studied Greeek and Latin and for centfnes used Greeek and Latin as a medium for communication on scholarly topics.Its peculiar feature in English is the contrast between simple native words stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and learned words o f Greco- Latinorigin.

English French Latin

To ask to question to interroger""

Belly stomach abdomen

To gather to assemble to collect

Empty ■ devoid vacuous

To end to finish to complete

To rise to mount to ascend

Teaching guidance instruction

English also uses many pairs o f synonymous derivatives, the one Hellenic and the other Romance, e.g., periphery, circumference; hypothesisf'supposition; sympathy, compassion; synthesis, composition.In poems we have stylistical synonyms (e.g., dale- valley; deed, act; fair, beautiful).

Language as well as other adaptable systems, better studied in other branches o f science, is capable o f obtaining information from the extra-linguistic world and with the help o f feedback makes use o f it for its optimization. I f the variation proves useful, it remains in the vocabulary. The process may be observed by its results that is by studying new words or neologisms.A neologism is a newly coined word or phrase a new meaning for an existing word,

or a word borrowed from another language.The intense development o f science and industry has called forth the invention and introduction o f an immense number o f new words and changed the meanings o f old ones, for example, aerobic, black hole, computer,isotope, feedback, penicillin, pulsar, quasar, tape-recorder, supermarket, mini-market.When radio location was invented it was defined as radio detection and ranging which is long and so a convenient abbreviation out o f the first letter or letters o f each word: Radar.The lexical system may adapt itself to new functions by combining several word-

building processes , for example, fall- o u t-th e radioactive dust descending through the air after an atomic explosion( composition and conversion), ad-lib (means "to improvise” from Latin ad libitum), admass, in J.B. Priestley’s w o rk - mass advertising in its harmful effect on society, for example, teach-in^ a student’s conference or a series o f seminars on some burning questions, meaning some demonstration or protest. There are many such words: lie-in. sleep-in, pray-in, laugh-in.The intense development o f shortening aimed at economy o f tim e and effort but keeping the sense complete is manifested not only by acronyms or abbreviations but also in blends,for example, bionics (bio-ff electronics), slimnastics (slim+ gymnastics), semiaffixes evolve into a separate set: - man (now "person" is used), for example, chairperson; policeperson;workaholic= “a person with a compulsive desire to work “was patterned on ballaholic, bookaholic, which can be easily explained; for example, washeteria= a self-service laundry.W hen some words become a frequent element in compounds, for example, mad, happy: power-mad, money-mad, speed-mad, movie -m ad , auto-happy,trigger-happy, footlight-happy..These new additions are collected in explanatory dictionaries, “ The Dictionary o f New English” referred to as Barnhart Dictionaries(Clarence Barnhart, a distinguished American lexicographer).New words can be formed with the prefix re- the most productivel^m ix, for example, rebuild, reread, rewrite; others are: anti-, de-, un- the semi-affixes self-, super-, mini-, for example, anti-flash, anti-matter, anti-pollution; anti-novel.Neologisms are: brain-drain, brains-trust-“ a group o f experts”, to brain-drain, brain- drainer, quiz-master- chairman in competitions, designed to test the knowledge o f the participants” ; backroom boys-“men engaged in secret research”, redbrick(universities), paperback(books), ban-the-bomb( demonstration), net-work- a number o f broadcasting stations, connected for a simultaneous broadcast o f the same programme”, cybernetics- “study o f systems o f control and communication in living beings and man-made devices coined by N.Wiener”, boffin- “a scientist engaged in research work”; gimmick-“ a trick)' device” (American slang used in BE).Some o f the neologisms are short-lived , others, on the contrary, become durable as they are liked and accepted,zip ( a certain type o f fastener) is hardly felt as new, its derivatives are new ( to zip- zip from one place to another; zipper, zippy).

There are synonyms that came from the USA, e.g., gimmick= trick; dues=subscription; longdistance call^trunk call; radio= wireless; Irish: clover= shamrock; liquor= whiskey; Scottish: g irH ass, lassie; charm=glamour.There are pairs o f synonyms: to rest=to have a rest, to smoke= to have a smoke; to look= to have a look; to laugh=to give a laugh; to sigh=to give a sigh; to walk-to take a walk...Quite frequently synonyms , mostly stylistical are due to shortening, e.g., memorandum- memo; vegetables- vegs; margarine-marge; microphone-mike; popular (song)- pop (song).Conversion also may be a source o f synonymy, e.g., commamdment- command, laughter-laugh. They are considered lexical variants. Synonyms may be formed due to different ways o f affixation: anxiety- anxiousness; effectivity-effectiveness; amongs- among; await-wait.A source o f synonymy are the so-called euphemisms, a word or more or less “pleasant” or at least inoffensive connotation becomes synonymous to one that is harsh,indelicate, unpleasant ( to be merry= to be drunken; naked=in one’s birthday suit; pregnant=in the family way; drunkenness=intoxication; sweat=perspiration. Interjections or swearings addressed to God are also synonymic (for goodness sake! Goodness gracious; goodness knows! By ^sove? Good Lord! By gum.Paronyms- hard words, difficult to distinguish, e.g., ingenious(clever)/ ingenious (frank, artless); affect (influence) / effect (produce).

ANTONYMS

They are two or more words o f the same language belonging to the same part o f speech and to the same semantic field, identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, rendering contradictory or contrary notions.I a) Contradictory notions are mutually opposed and denying one ano ther, e.g., alive / not dead

Irrpitient / not patient b) Contrary notions are also mutually opposed but they are gradable, e.g., old /

young; hot / cold; cool / warm.II Another classification o f antonyms is based on a morphological approach:Root words formLabsolute antonyms ( right / wrong), love / hate2) derivational antonyms ( happy / unhappy), known / unknownThe opposition o f such words is obvious and they may be called antonymic pairs.Antonyms have traditionally been defined as words o f opposite meaning.The difference between absolute and derivational antonyms is not only morphological but semantic as well. Absolute antonyms are polar members o f a gradual opposition which may have intermediary elem ents, for example, beau tifu l:: pretty "good- looking ::plain :: ugly.Many antonyms may be explained by means o f the negative particle : clean - not

dirty; shallow - not deep. This is a syntactic negation, it is weaker than the lexical antonymy , for example, not happy- unhappy, not polite :: impolite; not regular- irregular; not to believe- to disbelieve.

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O lga BU REA 171

4

12.'ENGLISH VARIANTS M m DIALECTS 1

12|l Standard English Variants and Dialects

I Standard English - the official language o f Great Britain taught at schools and universities, used by the press, the radio and the television and spoken by educated people m ay be defined as that form o f English which is current and literary, substantially uniform and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood. Its vocabulary is contrasted to dialect words or dialectisms. L ocal dialects are varieties o f the English language peculiar to some districts and having no normalized literary form. Regional varieties possessing a literary form are called variants. In Great Britain there are tw o variants, Scottish and Irish English, and five m ain groups o f dialects: Northern, Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern. Every group contains several dialects.

[Southern English, for instance, engages in r-dropping, that is, r is not pronounced after vowels, unless followed by another vowel. Instead, vowels are lengthened or have an off-glide, so fire becomes'{fai’] ,y a r becomes [fa:],/and so on.

rOne o f the best known Southern dialects is Cockney, the regional dialect o f London. According to E. Partridge and H. C. W ylde, this dialect exists on two levels. As spoken by the educated lower middle classes it is a regional dialect m arked by some deviations in pronunciation but few in vocabulary and syntax. As spoken by the uneducated, Cockney differs from Standard English not only in pronunciation but also in vocabulary, m orphology and syntax/}

TCockney is phonetically characterized by the replacement o f the

172 A Guide to English Lexicology

dental fricatives [0] and [6] by labiodentals [fj and [v] respectively: fing for thing and farver for father (inserting the letter r indicates vowel length). (This variation is not exclusively characteristic o f Cockney and may be'found in several dialects.fAnother trait not limited to Cockney is the interchange o f the aspirated and non-aspirated initial vowels: hart for art and ‘eart for heart. The most marked feature in vowel sounds is the substitution o f the diphthong [ai] for standard [ei] in such words as day, face, rain, way pronounced: [dai], [fais], [rain], [wai].

There are some specifically Cockney words and set expressions such as leave it out (“stop it”), up the pole (“drunk”), to grass up (“to inform .on”), to suss out (“to find out”), guv (“boss”), e t c . '!

( Cockney is also characterized by]\ts own special vocabulary and usage in the form of| “cockney rhyming slang”,) in which some words are substituted by other words rhyming w ith 'them .(Boots, for instance, are called “daisy roots", stairs are "apples and pears”, feet are called ‘‘plates o f meat ”, ears - “jugs o f beers " and mouth - "north and south ”, /

Features which can be found in East Anglian English (especially in Norfolk) include: yod-dropping after all consonants so that [}u:] becomes [u:], e.g. beautiful, new and tune are pronounced ['bu:tiful], [mi:] and [tu:n]; the diphthong [ai] in words such as right, buy, pie and sky sounds more like the diphthong [oi] giving [roit], [boi], [poi] and [skoi]; the spelling thr becomes like “tr” so three sounds the same as tree; any word beginning with [v] has the first letter changed to and pronounced like a [w], so you have “winegar” instead o f vinegar and “willage” instead o f village.7

[The specific features o f W est C oun try dialects are: the f in a ls is pronounced [ei], e.g. party - ['pa.tei], silly - ['silei]; initial fricative consonants can be voiced, so that [s] is pronounced as [z], e.g. singer - ['zigajjjand [f] as [v]: finger - ['firjgafrilong a vowels in words such as grass, ask and bath are represented by the sound [as] and not [a:]. Western dialects are also characterized by their own specific vocabulary: chump (“ log for the fire”), daps (“sport shoes”), to mang (“to mix”), somewhen (“at some tim e”), zat (“soft”), etc.\

O lga BU R EA 173

I Brummie, the version o f West Midlands spoken in B irm ingham , is characterized by: diphthong [ai] can be pronounced [oi], e.g. Jive m ay sound like [foiv]; the vowel o f face {ei] can be [ai] or sim ilar; [su] is replaced by [au], so that goat sounds like gout, etc. Traditional expressions include: A bit black over Bill's mother’s (“Likely to rain soon”), bab (used by older generation to refer to a spouse or fem ale), bostin (“excellent, brilliant”), etc. I

/T he Northern dialect clo'sely resem bles the southern-m ost Scottish dialects. It retains many old Scandinavian words, such as bairn (“child”), bonny (“pretty”), cuddy (“horse”) or gan (“go”). The m ost outstanding version is Geordie, the dialect o f the N ew castle area!/Unlike m any English dialects, initial h is not dropped from the beginning words, but word-final -ing is usually pronounced as [in]. Like other northern dialects, the u vowels tend to be short, so that the vowel sounds in the words foot and bus are the same. Probably the m ost noticeable feature o f Geordie grammar is a confusing difference in pronoun forms. The term us is used to indicate a singular “m e”, while the plural form for “us” is wu or even wuz. So give us it m eans “give m e it” and give wu it m eans “give us it” . Some typical Geordie words are: aye (“yes”), gob (“m outh”), chuffed (“happy”), nowt (“nothing”), marra (“ friend, m ate”), bait (“ food”), etc J

[ Dialects are now chiefly preserved in rural communities, in the speech o f elderly peop le .T heir boundaries have become less stable than they used to be; the distinctive features are tending to disappear w ith the shifting o f population due to the m igration-of working-class fam ilies in search o f em ployment and the growing influence o f urban life over the countryside. Dialects are said to undergo rapid changes under the pressure o f Standard English taught at schools and the speech habits cultivated by radio, television and cinem aj

After this brief review o f dialects we shall now proceed to the discussion o f variants. Scottish and Irish English have a special linguistic status as compared w ith dialects because o f the literature composed in them. The name o f Robert Burns, the great national poet o f Scotland, is known all over the world. The poetic features o f Anglo-

174 A Guide to English Lexicology

Irish may be seen in the plays by J. M. Synge and Sean O ’Casey.¡Scottish English is the spoken English variety o f Scotland, also

called Scottish Standard English. The standard spelling, grammar, and punctuation o f Scottish English tend to follow the style o f the Oxford English Dictionary. However, there are some unique characteristics, mainly in the phonological and phonetic systems.

Scottish English has a number o f lexical items which are rare in Southern British English. General items are outwith, meaning “outside o f ’; wee, the Scots word for “small” ; pinkie for “little finger” and jan itor for “caretaker” . Examples o f culturally specific items are caber, haggis and ingle.

There is a wide range o f legal and administrative vocabulary inherited from Scots, e.g., depute for “deputy”, proven for “proved” , interdict for “ injunction” and sh eriff substitute for “acting sheriff’.

Often, lexical differences between Scottish English and Southern Standard English are simply differences in the distribution o f shared lexis, such as stay for “ live” (as in: Where do you stay?)] doubt for “think the worst” {Idoubt it w ill rain meaning “I fear that it will rain”); correct is often preferred to right, etc/;

W hile pronunciation features vary among speakers (depending on region and social status), there are a number o f phonological aspects characteristic o f Scottish English.fScottish Englisn\*s a rhotic accent, i.e. postvocalic r is pronounced. In most varieties, there is no [ae] and [a:] distinction; therefore, bath , trap, and palm have the same vowel; cat and cart are distinguished only by m eans o f the r; and marry rhymes with starry. [0s] is often used in plural nouns where southern English has [5z] (baths, youths, etc); with is pronounced with [8].

Syntactical differences are few though the progressive verb forms are used rather more frequently than in other varieties o f Standard English, for example with some stative verbs ( I ’m wanting a drink). The negative o f many auxiliary verbs is formed with -na: am > amna, hae (have) > hinna, dae (do) > dinna, can > canna, etc. Prepositions are often used differently. The compound preposition o ff o f is often used parallel to English into (Take that o f f o f the table).

Olga BUREA

N um erals differ, too: ane, twa, three, fower, five, sax, seeven, aucht, nine, ten, etc.J

Hiberno-English - known m ore commonly as Irish English — is spoken in Ireland and is the result o f the interaction o f the E nglish and Irish languages. |The standard spelling and grammar o f Irish - English are largely the same as UK English. However, some unique characteristics exist, especially in the spoken language.

Hiberno-English retains many phonemic differentiations^ w ith som e local exceptions, Irish English is a rhotic dialect./Tn som e varieties, the dental fricatives [0] and [5] become dentaj stops, m aking thin and tin, and then and den, near-homophones. The vowels in w ords like boat and cane are monophthongs: [bo:t], and [ke:n] respectively . }

The syntax o f the Irish language is quite different from that o f E n g lish .‘Hiberno-English uses “yes” and “no” less frequently than other English dialects as speakers can repeat the verb, positively or negatively, instead o f using “yes” or “no”. E.g. “Are you coming home soon?" "lam. ”

It is common for Hiberno-English speakers to use the w ord aye as a w eak form o f “yes” : e.g. “Is that okay with you? ” “Aye. ”

IAmn’t is used as an abbreviation o f “am not”, by analogy w ith “ isn ’t” and “aren’t” . This can be used as a tag question (" I ’m making a mistake, amn't I? ”), or as an alternative to “ I’m not” ( "Iam n’tjok ing”), and the double negative is also used ( "I ’m not late, amn’t I not? ”).

To is often om itted from sentences where it would exist in B ritish English. For example, “lam not allowed go out tonight”, instead o f "7 am not allowed to go out tonight

In English one takes “ from here to there”, and brings it “to here from there” . But, in Irish, a person takes only when accepting a transfer o f possession o f the object from someone else - and a person brings at all other times, irrespective o f direction (to or from), e.g. "D on’t forget to bring your umbrella with you when you go. ”

I Come here to me now or Come here and I ’ll tellya something is used to mean “Listen to this” or “ I have something to tell you”.

Hiberno-English vocabulary is largely the same as British

176 A Guide to English Lexicology( 'f ir .

English, though there are variances.'exam ples that would come into everyday conversation include\[ghiseler (“child”), craic (“ fun" ) ,fe e n (“man”), footpath (“pavement”), dingen (“very good”), etoj5>

/W ords from dialects and variants may penetrate into Standard English. The Irish English gave, for instance, blarney (“flattery”), bog (“a spongy, usually peaty ground o f marsh”), shamrock (a trifoliate plant, the national emblem o f Ireland), whiskey, etc.

The contribution o f the Scottish dialect is very considerable. / Some o f the most Scotticisms are; bairn (“chifd”), bonny (“handsom e”), bmgue (“a stout shoe”), lassie (“a little girl”), etc .j

\ y f '"

12,i2 American English

American English (AE), also known as United States English or U.S. English, is a set o f dialects o f the English language used mostly in the United States.

The use o f English in the United States was inherited from British colonization. The first wave o f English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17,h century. During that time, there were also speakers in North America o f Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Finnish, as well as numerous Native American languages,]

[The process o f coining new lexical items started as soon as the colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from the Native American languages. Examples names are; chipmunk, raccoon, skunk, squash, and moose. Other Native American loanwords, such as wigwam or moccasin, describe artificial objects in common use among Native Americans. The languages o f the other colonizing nations also added to the American vocabulary; for instance, cookie, cruller, and sleigh from Dutch; depot, portage, pumpkin from French; barbecue, bonanza, cockroach from Spanish j

; The second period o f Am erican English history begins in the i9 th century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to AmericaT)When

O lga BU REA 177

large groups o f immigrants from the sam e country carqe to A m erica some o f their words were borrowed into English./Italians b rought with them a style o f cooking which becam e widely spread and such words as: pizza, spaghetti came into English. From the great num ber o f German-speaking settlers the following words were borrow ed into English: delicatessen, lager, hamburger, noodle, schnitzel and many others. I

During the second period o f Am erican English history there appeared a number o f words and w ord-groups which were form ed in the language due to the new political system, liberation o f A m erica from the British colonialism, its independence. /The following lexical units appeared due to these events: assembly, caucus, congress, Senate, congressman, President, senator, Vice-President and m any-others:/’

With the new continent developed new forms o f dw elling, and hence a large number o f words designating real estate concepts (lot, outlands, waterfront) and types o f property (log cabin, apartment, shanty, townhouse, mobile home). /

The rise o f capitalism, the developm ent o f industry, and m aterial innovations throughout the 19Ul and 20* centuries were the source o f a m assive stock o f new words and phrases./Typical examples are from the vocabulary o f transportation: expressways, parkways, parking lot, overpass, rest area, double-decker, etc.

Trades o f various kinds have provided Am erican English with household words describing jobs and occupations (bartender, patrolman, bellhop, white collar, blue collar, employee, boss, busboy), businesses and workplaces (department store, supermarket, gift shop, drugstore, motel, main street, gas station), as well as general concepts and innovations (smart card, cash register, dishwasher, reservation, movie, blood bank). 1

The investigation presented above o f some o f the basic facts o f early Am erican history and the various factors that influenced the form o f the English language spoken in A m erica throws some light upon the sources o f the presently existing differences between the British and Am erican varieties o f English.

178 A Guide to English Lexicology

/ A considerable number o f divergences betw een B E and AE can be detected in the area o f p ronuncia tion . In British English sound [r] is pronounced only if a vowel sound follows directly at the beginning o f the next word, as in fa r away, otherwise the [r] is omitted. For Am erican English, all the [r] sounds should be pronounced.

The sound [o] does not occur in AE, and words which have this vowel in British pronunciation will instead have [a:] or [3:] in AE. For instance, got is [got] in BE, but [ga:t] in AE, while dog is British [dug], American [d3:g].

Another characteristic American feature is that o f using the m onophthong [u] instead o f the diphthong jju]. This is true most often after the sounds o f [d, t, n, s], for example: due, news, suit, duty, su it­able, Tuesday, student, numerous, etc.7

The three diphthongs [ea, ia, us] are found only in British English. In corresponding places/A m erican English has a simple vowel followed by [r], so near is [nir], hair is [her], and pure is [pjur].

There is a considerable num ber o f words which differ in their phonetic shape, e.g.:

following:

AE BEadvertisement [ædva'taizmant] [ad'vatismant]clerk [klark] [kla:k]either f'i:ôa] ['aids]lieutenant [lu:'tenant] [leftenant]neither [’nWto] ['naiôa]schedule [ 'sked |pu:l] rÇ ed ju :!]tomato [ta'meftou] [ta'ma:tou]vase [veis] [va:z]

which differ in stress in BE and AE are like

AE BEdictate ['dikteitl [dik'teitlresearch {'ri:s3:tM] [ri'S9:tOTaristocrat [a’ri:st3Kræt] f'æristakræt]

O lga BU REA 179

cafe [kæ'fei] ['kæfei]fron tier [frS ln 'tia] {'ftontia]laboratory ['læbf3D :ri] [b 'bara tri]

The most significant spelling differences which can be detec tedin present-day Am erican and British English can be classified u nderthe following headings:

1) American -or versus British -our, e.g.:

AE BE

honor honourcolor colourflavor flavourlabor labourbehavior behaviourhumor humourneighbor neighbour

2) Am erican z versus British s. This divergence is conspicuous inprim arily two word groups:

a) M any AE verbs ending in -ize correspond to BEverbs ending in -ise, e.g.:

AE BE

emphasize emphasiseorganize organiseanalyze analysecriticize criticise

b) Similarly, AE nouns ending in -ization correspondto BE nouns ending in -isation. Examples:

AE BE

organization organisationcharacterization characterisation generalization generalisation

180 A Guide to English Lexicology

3) American -er versus British -re. Examples:

AE BEtheater theatrecenter centremeter metreliter litre

4) American single consonant versus British double consonants before a suffix in unstressed syllables, e.g.:

AE BEtraveler travellerwoolen woollenmarvelous marvellousdialed dialledfocused focussed

5) American -se versus British -ce. Examples:

AE BEdefense defencelicense licenceoffense offencepractise practice

6) American / versus British y. Examples:

AE BEtire tyresiphon syphon

7) In AE the spelling o f words o f foreign origin is very often simplified, e.g.: dialogue, catalogue, monologue are sometimes rendered in AE as dialog, catalog, monolog. Also, AE gram and program versus BE gramme and programme serve as good examples o f simplification.

In words o f Greek and Latin origin other ways o f simplification can be perceived. American e is used where British has oe or ae, for example:

Olga B U R EA 181

AE BE

anesthesia anaesthesiaencyclopedia encyclopaediapaleontology palaeontology

8) Am erican in- versus British en-. Examples:

AE BEinquiry enquiryinclose encloseincase encase

9) A m erican^ versus British i, e.g.:

AE BEgypsy gipsygayety gaiety

In addition to the above-m entioned more or less regu lar differences, there are some words w hich do not fall within any o f the groups already discussed. Some o f these isolated differences are:

AE BEi ax axe

cozy> cosybank check bank chequedraft draughtja il gao ljudgm ent judgem en tpajam as pyjam asp low plough

The vast corpus o f vocabulary differences between BE and AE are conveniently classified into:

1) Cases, where there are no equivalents in British English: e.g.: drive-in (“a cinem a where you can see the film without getting out o f

182 A Guide to English Lexicology

your c a r ’ or “a shop where motorists buy things staying in the car”); dude ranch (“a sham ranch used as a summer residence for holiday­makers from the cities'”).

2) Cases where different words are used for the same denotatum, such as:

AE BEapartment flatbaggage luggagecan tincandy sweetscookie biscuitelevator lifteraser rubberfall autumnflashlight torchFrench fries chipsintersection crossroadsladvbug ladybirdlawyer barristerline queuemailman postmanmovie cinemapackage parcelraincoat mackintoshrooster cockshop storesoccer footballtruck lorryvacation holidayyard garden

3) Cases where the semantic structure o f a partially equivalent word is different. A bill in the USA is “money owed for goods or services supplied” , while in Great Britain it is “an account for food and drink in a restaurant, hotel, etc.” In AE a billion is “one thousand million” , while

Olga BUREA 183

in BE it is “one million m illion”. Homely means in the first place “ plain or ugly”, while in the second - “warm and dom esticated in m anner or appearance” . A purse in America is “a w om an’s handbag”, w h ile in England it is “a small bag or pouch, often made o f soft leather, for carrying m oney” . Pavement in Britain is w hat m ost Americans re fe r to as the sidewalk, for many Americans pavement is the surface o f a road.

4) Cases where otherwise equivalent words are d ifferent in distribution. The verb ride in Standard English is mostly com bined with such nouns as a horse, a bicycle, more seldom they say ride on a bus. In American English combinations like a ride on the train, ride in a boat are quite usual. '

¡Differences in grammar are relatively minor. Some exam ples show that AE uses the infinitive with or w ithout to whereas B E only with to. For instance, AE: Let's go see him versus BE: Let s go to see him or Let’s go and see him. The American variety sounds to Englishm en archaic.

In AE the subjunctive is formed merely by means ofthe uninflected form o f the verb. In BE, however, a combination o f should and the infinitive is the most natural E.g., AE; I suggest that you go back to America', BE: I suggest that you should go back to America.

In AE the Past Simple is often used instead o f Present Perfect, e.g., He just came instead o f He has just come.

The verbs burn, learn, smell, spoil, etc. are normally regular in AE: burned, learned, smelled, spoiled, etc.

A definite difference is that o f gotten which as an independent verb form is exclusively AE] AE gotten is used instead o f BE got as a past participle o f get in sentences like:/AE: She has already gotten up\ BE: She has already got up.

In some cases AE takes i/ze-article whereas BE takes zero- article. A classical example is that o f AE: in the hospital, versus BE: in hospital. Also, in names o f diseases AE may take the definite article the, whereas BE has no article. E.g., AE: He has the pneumonia-, BE: He has pneumonia.

184 A Guide to English Lexicology

here are various constructions which show that the distribution o f prepositions in AE and BE is different. For instance, in some constructions in AE by may be used instead o f to. E.g.: We went by the station to get a reservation instead o f We went to the station to get a reservation. In BE only the latter sentence is correct.

in AE in is often used where into in BE. In AE more often Tom ran in the kitchen, in BE more often Tom ran into the kitchen.)

American on may be replaced in BE by at, e.g., AE: knock on the door; BE: knock at the door.

In AE through occurs in sentences like: Monday through Friday, meaning, from Monday until Friday. Through is never used in BE in that sense.

In AE as opposed to BE some prepositions in certain word combinations may be dropped: A classical example is that aflsimday, Monday, etc., versus BE on Sunday, on Monday, etc. E.g., AE: I met him Tuesday will be BE: / met him on Tuesday. !

AE may use any place, some place, every place and no place instead of anywhere, somewhere, everywhere and nowhere, respectively. For instance, AE: Let’s meet some place tomorrow evening.

Finally, it should be pointed out that British backwards, forwards, westwards, etc., are often realized in AE as backward, forward, westward, etc., the s element being dropped/

12.3 Canadian, Australian and Indian EnglishJ

It should o f course be noted that American English is not the only existing variant. There are several other variants where difference from the British standard is normalized. Besides the Irish and Scottish variants, there are Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English. Each o f these has developed a l iterature o f its own, and is characterized by peculiarities in phonetics, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.

Canadian English is the variety o f North American English used in Canada. Canadian English shares a number o f phonological

Olga BUREA

"properties with Standard American English. Among these are syllable- final rhoticity and alveolar flapping. Canadian English can be ca lled rhotic because, like in Standard American and Irish English, syllable- final r is pronounced in words like car and farm./'

[ Flapping is the process o f replacing an intervocalic t or d w ith a quick voiced tap o f the tongue against the alveolar ridge. In both Canadian and American English, it can only occur if the t or d is betw een two vowels, and as long as the second vowel is not stressed. As a result, the alveolar stops in waiting, wading, seated, seeded, and capital a re all flapped. Flapping can also occur if there is an r between.,the first vow el and the alveolar stop, as in words like barter and party J

jperhaps the most recognizable feature o f Canadian English is “Canadian raising”, in which diphthongs [ai] and [au] are raised before voiceless consonants and become [oei] and [oeu], respectively. Thus, the Canadian pronunciation o f about may sound like “a boat”, J

Canadian spelling o f the English language combines British and American rules. M ost notably, French-derived words that in A m erican English end with -or and -er, such as color ox center, usually retain B ritish spellings (colour, honour and centre), although American spellings are not uncommon. Also, .while the U.S. uses the Anglo-French spelling defense (noun), Canada uses the British spelling defence. In other cases, Canadians and Americans stand at odds with British spelling, such as in the case o f nouns like tire and curb, which in British English are spelled tyre and kerb. Words such as realize and recognize are usually spelled with -fze rather than -ise. j

¡Among the lexical units o f the Canadian English can be distinguished a group o f words and word combinations, specific only for the Canadian users. These words are called Canadianisms. Uniquely Canadian English words include: click (Canadian slang for “kilom eter”), humidex (a term referring to “the combined effect o f heat and humidity on temperature”), utilidor (short for “utility corridor”), beer parlour (“a room in a tavern, hotel, etc. in which beer is served”), fire hall (“a fire station”), parkade (“a building used as a car park”), double-double (“a cup o f coffee served with two helpings o f cream and

186 A Guide to English Lexicology

sugar”), mickey (“a liquor bottle o f 0.375 litre capacity”), two-four (“a box containing 24 bottles o f beer”), etc. /

Like other dialects o f English that exist in proximity to francophones, French loanwords have entered Canadian English, such as: poutine (“a kind o f a dish”), dépanneur (“a convenience store”), toque (“a knitted woollen cap”), serviette (“napkin”), etc.

"When writing, Canadians will start a sentence w ith e s well, in the sense o f “ in addition”; this construction is a Canadianism, too.

One o f the most distinctive Canadian phrases is the spoken interjection eh, used for ascertaining the comprehension, continued interest, agreement, etc., o f the person or persons addressed, as in: It's

four kilometres away, eh, so I have to go by bike. In that case, eh is used to confirm the attention o f the listener and to invite a supportive noise such as mm or oh or okay. !I Australian English/is the form of the English language used in Australia./Australian English is predominantly British English, and especially from the London area. Æ’s are dropped after vowels, but are often inserted between two words ending and beginning with vowels.

The vowels reflect a strong “Cockney” influence: the long a ([ei]) tends towards a long i ([ai]), so pay sounds like pie. The long i ([ai]), in turn, tends towards [oi], so cry sounds like [kroi].

Even some rhyming slang has survived into Australian English: Butcher's means “look” {butcher s hook); loaf means “head” {loaf o f bread)] Noah’s ark means “shark” , and so on.

Australian English has many words that some consider unique to the language. One o f the best known is outback, meaning “a remote, sparsely populated area” . Other peculiarly Australian words and expressions are: g'day (“good day”), no worries (“no problem”), Oz (“Australia”), pavlova (“a cake topped with whipped cream and fruit”) and Vegemite (“a vegetable extract used as a spread, flavouring, etc.”)?)

Like American English has absorbed numerous American Indian words, ) Australian English has absorbed many Aboriginal words: coolabah (“a type o f tree”), corroboree (“a ceremony”), nulla-nulla (“a wooden club”), wallaby (“small kangaroo”), wombat (“a small

Olga BUREA 187

marsupial”), dingo (“native dog”), etc.Another characteristic o f Australian English is abbreviated w ords,

often ending in -y, -ie, or -o : arvo (“afternoon”), Aussie (“Australian”), barbie (“barbecue”), chalky (“teacher”), chewie (“chewing gum ”), chockie (“chocolate”), coldie (“a cold beer”), footy (“ football”), lippie (“ lipstick”), mossie (“m osquito”), mushies (“mushrooms”), oldies (“one’s parents”), sunnies (“sunglasses”), etc.

They also use litotes such as you 're not wrong (= “you’re righ t”).Colourful expressions also abound: like a dog’s breakfast (“a

mess”), up a gum tree (.“ in trouble”), happy as a bastard on Fathers ’ Day (“very happy”), e tc . ,

[ Indian English is a distinct variety o f the English language. It has a lot o f distinguishing pronunciations, some distinctive syntax, and quite a bit o f lexical variation.

In terms o f pronunciation, many speakers do not differentiate between the sounds [v] and [w] (e.g. [wain] for both wine and vine). They m ight also replace th in words like think and this with a [t] and [d] sound, as no Indian languages contain these consonants, j

( One o f the most indicative signs o f Indian English grammar is the use o f the progressive aspect with habitual actions, completed actions, and stative verbs. This produces sentences such as, I am doing it often or She was having many sarees. 7

■ The word order o f questions/is often unique in Indian English. Sentences such as( What you would like to eat? and Who you will come with?' show the absence o f subject-verb inversion in direct questions.

Other distinguishing features are the use o f isn't it as a ubiquitous question tag (We are meeting tomorrow, isn’t it?) and the reduplication used for emphasis and to indicate a distributive meaning (1 bought some small small things', Why you don't give them one one piece o f cake?).]

i Indians will often ask “ What is your good name? ” which is used as a polite way o f asking for someone’s full name. When Indians ask “ Where are you put up? ” they mean “Where do you live? ” I f an Indian English speaker says "I have some doubts”, he means "I have some questions ]

188 A G uide to E nglish Lexicology

Indians also shorten many words to create commonly used terms. For instance, enthu is a short form for “enthusiasm” or “enthusiastic” ; despo is a shortening o f “desperate” ; senti - a shortened form o f “sentimental”, etc.7

The Indian English lexicon has/ many distinct terms which are commonly used by its speakers, for example (words from indigenous languages, such as Hindi and Bengali. jSome are earlier and more Anglicized in their spelling:;’/w/iga/ow, cheetah, pice, pukka, pundit, rupee, sahib, etc.lSome are later and less orthographically Anglicized: basmati (“a kind o f rice”), chapatti (“a flat, pancake-like piece o f unleavened bread”), crore (“ten million rupees”), jawan (“a soldier in the present-day Indian Arm y”), masala (“a mixture o f spices ground into a paste”), paisa (“a monetary unit worth one hundredth o f a rupee”), etc. ' .

When Indians use English, it is often a mixture o f English, Hindi, and other languages. This phenomenon, known as code-mixing, gives rise to a great number o f hybrids:icoconut paysam (“a dish made o f coconut”), grameen bank (“a village bank”), kaccha road (“a dirt road”), swadeshi cloth (“home-made cloth”), etc."?

jit 'h a s been noticed that the vocabulary o f all the variants is characterized by a high percentage o f borrowings from the language o f the people who inhabited the land before the English colonisers came.j Many o f them denote some specific realia o f the new country: local animals, plants or weather conditions, new social relations, new trades and conditions o f labour. The local words for new notions penetrate into the English language and later on may become international, if they are o f sufficient interest and importance for people speaking other languages.

: International words coming through the English o f India are for instance: bungalow, jungle, jute, mango, nabob, pyjamas, sahib, sari. Similar examples, though perhaps fewer in number, such as boomerang, dingo, kangaroo, are all adopted into the English language through its Australian variant and became international.'

Olga BUREA 189

* Questions and Tasks

\. Define the concepts o f Standard English, local dialects and variants.

2. Name the m ain groups o f dialects o f Great Britain and characterizethem briefly.

3. W hat is the regional dialect o f London? How does it differ fromStandard English? Give examples.

4. Speak about the unique characteristics o f Scottish English.5. Point out the peculiarities o f Irish English.6 . Describe the circumstances that influenced the form o f E nglish

language spoken in America.7. Does American English differ from British English in pronuncia­

tion? Bring arguments.8 . Give a brief account o f the most significant spelling divergences

between American English and British English.9. Classify the vocabulary peculiarities o f A m erican English.10. Give examples o f differences in gram m ar between British English

and American English.11. W hat can you say about English language in Canada?12. W hat are Canadianisms? Exemplify your answer.13. Characterize the English language on the Australian continent.14. Point out some distinctive features o f Indian English.

Exercises

1. Identify the Cockney rhyming slang expressions in the sentences below and translate them into ordinary English.a) Feel like going to the rub-a-dub-dub?b) The trouble and strife's at home looking after the Gawd

forbids.c) You’ve left your titfer on the Cain and Abel in the bedroom.d) Let’s have a butcher’s at the lean and lurch while we ’re in the

village?

English Lexicography Lexicography, the science o f dictionary-compiling, is closely connected with

lexicology, both dealing with the samefroblems - the form, meaning, usage and origin o f vocabulary units — and m aking use o f each other’s achievements.

The principles o f dictionary-making are always based on linguistic fundamentals, and each individual entry is made up in accordance with the current knowledge and findings o f scholars in the various fields o f language study.

'I, Main Types o f English DictionariesThe term dictionary is used to denote a book listing words o f a language with their

meanings and often with data reguarding pronunciation, usage and/or origin.There are many different types o f English dictionaries. First o f all they may all be

roughly divided into two groups - encyclopedic and linguistic.The encyclopedic dictionaries, the biggest o f which are sometimes called simply

encyclopedias, are books that give information about the extra-linguistic world, they deal with concepts (objects and phenomena), their relations to other objects and phenomena, etc.

The encyclopaedic dictionaries will enter items such as names for substances, diseases, plants and animals, institutions, terms o f science, some important events in history and also geographical and biographical entries.

Some o f the items included in the encyclopaedic and linguistic dictionaries coincide, such as the names o f some diseases, the information presented in them is altogether different. The form er givêimuch more extensive information on these subjects. For example, the entry ‘ influenza’ in a linguistic dictionary presents the word’s spelling and pronunciation, gram m ar characteristics, synonyms, etc. In an encyclopedia the entry “ influenza’ discloses the causes, symptoms, characteristics and varieties o f this disease, various treatments o f and remedies for it, ways o f infection, etc.

The most well-known encyclopaedias in English are ‘The Encyclopaedea Britanica ‘and ‘The Encyclopaedia Am ericana’. Very popular in Great Britain and the USA are also ‘Collier’s Encyclopaedia’ intended for students and school teachers, ‘Cham ber’s Encyclopaedia51which is a family type reference book, and Everyman’s Encyclopaedia’ designed for all-round use.

Besides the general encyclopaedic dictionaries there are reference books that are confined to definite fields o f knowledge, such as ‘The Oxford Companion to English Literature’, ‘Oxford Companion to Theatre’, ‘Cassell’s Encyclopaedia o f WorldLiterature’, etc.

There are also numerous dictionaries presenting information about notable persons (scientists, writers, kings, presidents,etc.) often called ‘Who’s Who Dictionaries’.

Encyclopaedias sometimes indicate the origin o f the word, which belongs to the dom ain o f linguistics. On the other hand, there are elements o f encyclopaedic character in many linguistic dictionaries. Some o f these are unavoidable.

Som e dictionary-com pilere i^ lu d e in their w orld-lists such elem ents o f purely encyclopaedic nature as nam es o f fam ous^opstner with their birth and death dates or the nam es o f m ajor cities and tow ns, giving not only their correct spelling and pronunciation, but also a b rie f description o f their population, location, etc.

A linguistic dictionary is a book o f words in a language, usually listed alphabetically, w ith definitions, pronunciations, etym ologies and other linguistic inform ation or w ith their equivalents in another language (or other languages).

For dictionaries in which the words and their definitions belong to the sam e language the term monolingual or explanatory is used, whereas bilingual or translation dictionaries are those that explain words by giving their equivalents in another language. M ultilingual o r polyglot dictionaries are not num erous; they serve chiefly the purpose o f com paring synonym s and term inology in various languages.

M onolingual dictionaries are further subdivided. Diachronic dictionaries, o f which The Oxford English Dictionary is the m ain example, reflect the developm ent o f the English vocabulary by recording the history o f form and m eaning for every w ord registered. They m ay be contrasted to synchronic or descriptive dictionaries o f current English concerned with present-day m eaning and usage o f words. Some synchronic dictionaries are a t the same tim e historical w hen they represent the state o f vocabulary at som e past stage o f its development.

A ccording to the nature o f their word-list, linguistic dictionaries m ay be divided into general and specialized dictionaries.

General dictionaries represent the vocabulary as a whole w ith a degree o f completeness depending upon the scope and bulk o f the book in question. The group includes, for instance, all the volum es o f The Oxford English Dictionary alongside w ith any m iniature pocket dictionary.

Som e general dictionaries m ay have very specific aim s and still be considered general due to their coverage. They include frequency dictionaries, i.e. lists o f words, each o f which is followed by a record o f its frequency o f occurrence in one or several sets o f reading m atter. A rhyming dictionary is also a general dictionary, though arranged in inverse order, and so is a thesaurus in spite o f its unusual arrangem ent.

They are contrasted to specialized dictionaries whose stated aim is to cover only a certain specific part o f the depending on whether the words are chosen according to the sphere o f hum an activity in which they are used (e.g. technical dictionaries, phraseological dictionaries, dictionaries o f synonym s, etc).

The first subgroup em braces highly specialized dictionaries o f lim ited scope. They register and explain technical term s for various branches o f knowledge, art and trade: linguistic, m edical, technical, econom ical term s, etc. M onolingual books o f this type giving definitions o f term s are called glossaries.

T he second subgroup deals w ith specific language units, i.e. w ith phraseology, abbreviations, neologism s, borrow ings, surnam es, proverbs and sayings, etc.

The th ird subgroup contains different synonymic dictionaries o f A m ericanism s, dialect and slang.

Electronic Dictionaries. H ie need to store, sort, and retrieve huge am ounts o f linguistic inform ation drew publishers to electronic m ethods. Thus, in the 1980’s various publishers have issued dictionaries in C D -R O M form at (and later in DVD form at), taking advantage o f this technology to increase the speed o f lookup and cross-reference, to extend m ethods o f searching for inform ation, and to include recordings o f pronunciations, so that users can hear words o r phrases spoken aloud.

In the late 1990’s dictionaries, old and new, have m ade their w ay into the internet, and this form o f publication is likely to becom e more and m ore usual. The online versions typically include all the tex t o f the p rin t and electronic disc versions, as well as m uch o f the multimedia.The new system frees readers from having to install the products from CD -R O M s or DVDs and also allow s dictionary editors update their products m uch m ore frequently than they could when publishing on paper o r on electronic disc.

The Internet w as essential to the creation o f the Encarta W orld English D ictionary (1999), w hich is the m ost recently created dictionary o f English. Based in London it involves m ore th$n 300 lexicographers around the world.

In the 21st century a new type o f online encyclopedia, known as W ikipedia, enabled readers to create and edit encyclopedia articles. A wild is a type o f server software that enables users to create or alter content on a W eb page. W ikipedia was closely associated w ith the open source softw are m ovem ent and rapidly expanded to include hundreds o f thousands o f articles, many on popular culture topics, in a num ber o f languages.

2. Some Basic Problems of Dictionary-Compiling

The w ork at a dictionary consists o f the following m ain stages: the collection o f material, the selection o f entries and their arrangem ent, the setting o f each entry.

A t different stages o f h is w ork the lexicographer is confronted w ith different problems.The choice of lexical units for inclusion in the prospective dictionary is one o f the first

problem s the lexicographer faces.First o f all the type o f lexical units to be chosen for inclusion is to be decided upon. Then the

num ber o f items to be recorded m ust be determ ined. Then there is the basic problem o f what to select and w hat to leave out the dictionary. W hich form o f the language, spoken o r written or both, is the dictionary to reflect? Should the dictionary contain obsolete and archaic units, technical term s, dialectism s, colloquialism s, and so forth?

There is no general reply to any o f these questions. The choice am ong the different possible answ ers depends upon the type, the aim , the size, the linguistic conceptions o f the dictionary- m akers.

Explanatory and translation dictionaries usually record words and phraseological units, some o f them also include affixes as separate entries. Synonym -books, pronouncing, etymological dictionaries and som e others deal only w ith words.

G eneral explanatory dictionaries, for exam ple, diachronic and synchronic word-books differ greatly in their approach to the problem . The diachronic embrace not only vocabulary o f oral and w ritten English o f the present day, but also a considerable proportion o f obsolete, archaic and dialectal w ords and uses. Synchronic explanatory dictionaries include m ainly com m on words in ordinary present-day use w ith only some m ore im portant archaic and technical words.

The order of a rra n g e m e n t of the en tries to be included is different in different types o f dictionaries and even in the w ord-books o f the sam e type. In m ost dictionaries o f various types entries are given in a single alphabetical listing. In m any others the units entered are arranged in nests, based on th is o r that principle.

In som e explanatory and translation dictionaries, for example, entries are grouped in families o f w ords o f the sam e root.

In synonym -books w ords are arranged in synonymic sets and its dom inant m em ber serves as the head-w ord o f the entry.

In som e phraseological dictionaries the phrases are arranged in accordance w ith their pivotal words w hich are defined as constant non-interchangeable elem ents or phrases.

In frequency dictionaries the items included are not arranged alphabetically. In such dictionaries the entries follow each other in the descending order o f their frequency, items o f the sam e frequency value grouped together.

Each o f the tw o m odes o f presentation, the alphabetical and the cluster-type, has its own advantage, The form er provides for an easy finding o f any word and establishing its meaning, frequency value, etc. The latter requires less space and presents a clearer picture o f the relations o f each unit under consideration w ith some other units in the language system , since words o f the sam e root, the sam e denotative m eaning or close in their frequency value are grouped together.

O ne o f the m ost difficult problem s nearly all lexicographers face is recording the word- meanings and arranging them in the m ost rational w ay that is supposed to be o f m ost help to those w ho w ill use the dictionary.

I f one com pares the general num ber o f m eanings o f a word in d ifferent dictionaries, even those o f the sam e type, one w ill easily see that their num ber varies considerably. This depends, m ainly on tw o factors: 1) on w hat aim the com pilers set them selves and 2) w hat decisions they m ake concerning the extend to which obsolete, archaic, dialectal o r h ighly specialized m eanings should be recorded, how the problem o f polysem y and hom onym y is solved, how cases o f conversion are treated, how the segm entation o f different m eanings o f a polysem antic word is m ade, etc.

D iachronic dictionaries list m any m ore m eanings than synchronic dictionaries o f current English, as they record no t only the m eanings in present-day use, but also those that have already becom e archaic o r gone out o f use.

Definition of meanings constitutes another problem in com piling dictionaries. M eanings o f w ords m ay be defined in different ways: by means o f definitions that are characterized as encyclopaedic, by m eans o f descriptive definitions o r paraphrases, w ith the help o f synonymous w ords and expressions by m eans o f cross-references.

Encyclopaedic definitions as distinct from descriptive definitions determ ine not only the word- m eaning, bu t also the underlying concept.

Synonym ous definitions consist o f words o f w ord-groups w ith nearly equivalent meaning, as distinct from descriptive definitions w hich are explanations w ith the help o f w ords not synonym ous w ith the w ord to be defined.

Encyclopaedic definitions are typical o f nouns, especially proper nouns and term s. Synonyms are used m ost often to define verbs and adjectives. Reference to other words is resorted to define som e derivatives, abbreviations and variant forms.

Frequency dictionaries, spelling books, etym ological, pronouncing, ideographic or reverse dictionaries, provide illu s tra tiv e exam ples.

The purpose o f these exam ples depends on the type o f the dictionary and on the aim the com pilers set them selves. They can illustrate the first and the last know n occurrences o f the entry word, the successive changes in its graphic and phonetic forms, as w ell as in its m eaning, the typical patterns and collocations, the difference betw een synonym ous words, they place words in a context to clarify their m eanings and usage. H ow m uch space should be devoted to illustrative exam ples? W hich exam ples should be chosen as typical?

Those are som e o f the questions to be considered by the compilers.It is natural that the bigger the dictionary the m ore exam ples it usually contains. Only very

sm all dictionaries, usually o f low quality, do not include examples at all.The form o f the illustrative quotations can differ in different dictionaries; the m ain variation

can be observed in the length o f the quotations and in the precision o f the citation.Som e dictionaries indicate the author, the work, the page, vase, or line, and (in diachronic

dictionaries) the precise date o f the publication, som e indicates only th e author, because it gives a t least basic orientation about the tim e w hen the word occurs and the type o f text.

O ne o f the m ajor problem s in compiling translation dictionaries and other bilingual word-book is to provide adequate translation of vocabulary items or rather to choose an adequate equivalent in the target language.

Conveying the m eaning o f a lexical unit in the target language is no easy task as the semantic structures o f related w ords in different languages are never identical, w hich is observable in any pair o f languages. The lack o f isom orphism is not lim ited to the so-called “culture-bound words” only but also the m ost o ther lexical units.

The dictionary m aker is to give the m ost exact equivalent in the target language. Very often enum eration o f equivalents alone does not supply a com plete picture o f the sem antic volume o f this o r that word, so a com bination o f different means o f sem antization is necessary.

D ifferent types o f dictionaries differ in their aim , in the inform ation they provide, in their size, in the structure and context of the entry.

The m ost com plicated type o f entry is that found in explanatory dictionaries.In explanatory dictionaries o f the synchronic type the entry usually presents the follow ing

data: accepted spelling and pronunciation; gram m atical characteristics including the indication o f the part o f speech o f entry w ord, the transitivity and intransitivity o f verbs and irregular gram m atical form s; defin itions o f m eanings; m odem currency; illustrative examples; derivatives; phraseology; etym ology; som etim es also synonym s and antonym s.

A typical entry in diachronic explanatory dictionaries w ill have som e specific features, word m eaning and quotation th a t indicate the tim e o f its first registration or, i f the w ord or one o f its m eanings is obsolete, the tim e o f its last registration.

Som etim es the entries for the same w ord look like quite different, depending upon the practical needs o f the intended users. Som e w ord-books enum erate synonym s to each m eaning o f the head-w ord to help the user recall words close in m eaning that m ay have been forgotten.O ther w ord-books provide discrim inating synonym ies, i.e. they explain the difference in sem antic structure, use and style, and show how each synonym is related to, yet differs from all the others in the sam e group.

In spite o f the great variety o f linguistic dictionaries their com position has m any features in com m on. N early all o f them m ay be roughly divided into three unequal parts.

A part from the d ictionary proper, that m ake up the b ilk o f the word-book, every reference book contains som e separate sections w hich are to help the user in handling it - an Introduction and Guide to the use o f the dictionary. The prefatory m atter usually explains all the peculiarities o f the w ord-book; but also contains a key to pronunciation, the list o f abbreviations used and the like.

In explanatory dictionaries the appendixes o f the first kind usually include addenda or/and various word-lists: geographical names, foreign words and expressions, forenames, etc., record new m eanings o f w ords already entered and words that have com e into existence since the com pilation o f the w ord-book.

Translation d ictionaries supplem entary material contains rules o f pronunciation as well as b rie f outlines o f gram m ar.

3. Learner’s Dictionaries and Some Problems of Their Compilation

N ow adays practical and theoretical learner’s lexicography is given great attention to. Lexicographers, linguists and m ethods specialists discuss such problem s as the classification o f learner’s dictionaries, the scope o f the word-list for learners at different stages o f advancement, the principles o f w ord selection, etc.

In the board sense o f the w ord the term learner’s dictionaries m ight be applied to any word­book designed as an aid to various users, both native and foreign, studying a language from various angles. Thus, w e m ight refer to this group o f word-books such reference books as S tu d en t’s D ictionary o f Anglo-Saxon by H. Sweet, the num erous school-level or college-level dictionaries for native speakers, the num erous spelling-books, etc. By tradition the term is confined to dictionaries specially com piled to m eet the dem ands o f the learners for whom English is no t their m other tongue.

T hese dictionaries d iffer essentially from ordinary academ ic dictionaries, on the one hand, m d from w ord-books com piled specially for English and Am erican schoolchildren and college students, on the other hand.

The needs and problem s o f the two groups o f dictionary users are altogether different. A foreign adult student o f E nglish even at a moderately advanced stage o f learning will have pitfalls and needs o f his own: am ong the other things he may have difficulties with the use o f the m ost “sim ple” words, he m ay not know the names fo r com m onest things in everyday life and he w ill experience in th is or that degree interference o f his m other tongue.

The word-lists and the sort o f directions for use for the benefit o f the foreign adult learners o f English m ust differ very w idely from those given to English or A m erican schoolchildren.

Hence the w ord-books o f this group are characterized by the following features:- by their strictly lim ited word-list, the selection o f w hich is based on carefully thought

over scientific principles;- the great attention given to the functioning o f lexical units in speech;- a strong prescriptive, norm ative character;- by their com pilation w ith the native linguistic background in view.

Learner’s dictionaries may be classified in accordance w ith different principles, the m ain o f w hich are the scope o f the w ord-list and the nature o f the inform ation afforded.

From the point o f view o f the scope (volume) o f the w ord-list they fall into two groups. Those o f the first group contain all lexical units that the prospective user m ay need, in the second group only the m ost essential and im portant words are selected. To the first group we can refer C am bridge Advanced L ea rn er’s D ictionary (170,000 lexical units); to the second group - A G ram m ar o f English Words by H. Palmer (1,000 words).

As to the inform ation they provide they m ay be divided into two groups: those giving equal attention to the w ord’s sem antic characteristics and the way it is used in speech (these m ay be called learner’s dictionaries proper) and those concentrating on detailed treatm ent o f the w ord’s lexical and gram m atical valency (dictionaries of collocations).

To learner’s dictionaries proper issued in English-speaking countries we m ay refer, for exam ple, The Progressive English Dictionary and A n English R eader's D ictionary by A. S. H ornby and E. Pam w ell designed for beginners, as well as O xford A dvanced Learner’s D ictionary o f Current English by A. S. Hornby for more advanced students.

To dictionaries o f th is kind w e can refer, for exam ple, A. R eum ’s D ictionary o fE nglish Style, designed for the Germ ans; K enkyudha’s N ew D ictionary o f English Collocations, intended for the Japanese; Verbal Collocations in modern English by R. Ginzburg, designed for the Russian people, etc.

Com pilers o f learner’s dictionaries have to tackle the same cardinal problem s as those o f ordinary explanatory and translation dictionaries, but they often solve them in their own way.

The com m on purpose o f learner’s dictionaries is to give inform ation on what is currently accepted usage, besides m ost com pilers seek to choose the lexical units that foreign learners o f E nglish are likely to need. Colloquial and slang words as well as foreign words o f common occurrence in English are included only i f they are o f the sort likely to be m et by students either in reading or in conversation. M oreover some o f the com m on words m ay be om itted i f they are not often encountered in books, newspapers, etc. or heard over the radio and in conversation.

Space is further saved by om itting certain derivatives and com pounds the m eaning o f which can be easily inferred.

A lternative spelling and pronunciations are avoided, only the m ore accepted forms are listed.In the first place the selection o f words is based on the frequency principle.Frequency value, an im portant characteristic o f lexical units, is closely connected with their

other properties. That is w hy the w ord counts enable the com piler to choose the m ost important, the m ost frequently used words.

The order o f arrangem ent o f m eanings followed in learner’s dictionaries is usually empiric, the follow ing principles o f arrangem ent are considered proper for language learners: literal uses before figurative, general uses before special, com m on uses before rare and easily understandable uses before difficult.

It w ould be w rong to th ink how ever that he definitions in learner’s dictionaries are always less com plete then in the dictionaries designed for native users.

In learner’s dictionaries cross-references are for the m ost part reduced to a minimum.In som e learner’s dictionaries pictorial m aterial is widely used as a m eans o f semantization o f

the w ords listed. Pictures cannot only define the m eanings o f som e nouns, but sometimes also o f adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

C h ief among these is m arked attention to the w ays words are used in speech, e.g. Oxford A dvanced L earner’s D ictionary points out which nouns, and in w hich o f their meanings, can be used w ith the indefinite articles (the symbol [C] and [U] stand for "countable” and “uncountable”). Sets o f words w ith w hich the head-word m ay combine as well as illustrative exam ples taken from everyday language are given.

For instance, O xford A dvanced L earner’s D ictionary includes not only lists o f irregular verbs, com m on abbreviations, geographical names, etc., but also com m on forenames listed with their pet nam es, num erical expressions giving help in the reading, speaking and writing o f numbers and expressions which contain them , the works o f W illiam Shakespeare and even ranks in the

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