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Lexicology of the English Language

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Èñòîðè÷åñêàÿ ëè÷íîñòü

Èñòîðèÿ

Èñêóññòâî

Ëèòåðàòóðà

Ìîñêâîâåäåíèå êðàåâåäåíèå

Àâèàöèÿ è êîñìîíàâòèêà

Àäìèíèñòðàòèâíîå ïðàâî

Àðáèòðàæíûé ïðîöåññ

Àðõèòåêòóðà

Ýðãîíîìèêà

Ýòèêà

ßçûêîâåäåíèå

Èíâåñòèöèè

Èíîñòðàííûå ÿçûêè

Èíôîðìàòèêà

Èñòîðèÿ

Êèáåðíåòèêà

Êîììóíèêàöèè è ñâÿçü

Êîñìåòîëîãèÿ

ÏÎÄÏÈÑÀÒÜÑß

Ðàññûëêà ðåôåðàòîâ

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Lexicology of the English Language

borrowings from Scandinavian, German and Holland languages, though their

number is much less than borrowings from Romanic languages.

Scandinavian borrowings.

By the end of the Old English period English underwent a strong influence

of Scandinavian due to the Scandinavian conquest of the British Isles.

Scandinavians belonged to the same group of peoples as Englishmen and

their languages had much in common. As the result of this conquest there

are about 700 borrowings from Scandinavian into English.

Scandinavians and Englishmen had the same way of life,their cultural

level was the same, they had much in common in their literature therefore

there were many words in these languages which were almost identical, e.g.

ON OE

Modern E

syster sweoster

sister

fiscr fisc

fish

felagi felawe

fellow

However there were also many words in the two languages which were

different, and some of them were borrowed into English , such nouns as:

bull, cake, egg, kid, knife, skirt, window etc, such adjectives as: flat,

ill, happy, low, odd, ugly, wrong, such verbs as : call, die, guess, get,

give, scream and many others.

Even some pronouns and connective words were borrowed which happens very

seldom, such as : same, both, till, fro, though, and pronominal forms with

«th»: they, them, their.

Scandinavian influenced the development of phrasal verbs which did not

exist in Old English, at the same time some prefixed verbs came out of

usage, e.g. ofniman, beniman. Phrasal verbs are now highly productive in

English /take off, give in etc/.

German borrowings.

There are some 800 words borrowed from German into English. Some of them

have classical roots, e.g. in some geological terms, such as: cobalt,

bismuth, zink, quarts, gneiss, wolfram. There were also words denoting

objects used in everyday life which were borrowed from German: iceberg,

lobby, rucksack, Kindergarten etc.

In the period of the Second World War the following words were borrowed:

Volkssturm, Luftwaffe, SS-man, Bundeswehr, gestapo, gas chamber and many

others. After the Second World War the following words were borrowed:

Berufsverbot, Volkswagen etc.

Holland borrowings.

Holland and England have constant interrelations for many centuries and

more than 2000 Holland borrowings were borrowed into English. Most of them

are nautical terms and were mainly borrowed in the 14-th century, such as:

freight, skipper, pump, keel, dock, reef, deck, leak and many others.

Besides two main groups of borrowings (Romanic and Germanic) there are

also borrowings from a lot of other languages. We shall speak about Russian

borrowings, borrowings from the language which belongs to Slavoninc

languages.

Russian borrowings.

There were constant contacts between England and Russia and they borrowed

words from one language into the other. Among early Russian borrowings

there are mainly words connected with trade relations, such as: rouble,

copeck, pood, sterlet, vodka, sable, and also words relating to nature,

such as: taiga, tundra, steppe etc.

There is also a large group of Russian borrowings which came into English

through Rushian literature of the 19-th century, such as : Narodnik,

moujik, duma, zemstvo. volost, ukase etc, and also words which were formed

in Russian with Latin roots, such as: nihilist, intelligenzia, Decembrist

etc.

After the Great October Revolution many new words appeared in Russian

connected with the new political system, new culture, and many of them were

borrowed into English, such as: collectivization. udarnik, Komsomol etc

and also translation loans, such as: shock worker, collective farm, five-

year plan etc.

One more group of Russian borrowings is connected with perestroika, such

as: glasnost, nomenklatura, apparatchik etc.

ETYMOLOGICAL DOUBLETS

Sometimes a word is borrowed twice from the same language. As the

result, we have two different words with different spellings and meanings

but historically they come back to one and the same word. Such words are

called etymological doublets. In English there are some groups of them:

Latino-French doublets.

Latin English from Latin English from French

uncia inch

ounce

moneta mint

money

camera camera

chamber

Franco-French doublets

doublets borrowed from different dialects of French.

Norman Paris

canal channel

captain chieftain

catch chaise

Scandinavian-English doublets

Scandinavian English

skirt shirt

scabby shabby

There are also etymological doublets which were borrowed from the same

language during different historical periods, such as French doublets:

gentil - ëþáåçíûé, áëàãîðîäíûé, etymological doublets are: gentle - ìÿãêèé,

âåæëèâûé and genteel - áëàãîðîäíûé. From the French word gallant

etymological doublets are : ‘gallant - õðàáðûé and ga’llant - ãàëàíòíûé,

âíèìàòåëüíûé.

Sometimes etymological doublets are the result of borrowing different

grammatical forms of the same word, e.g. the Comparative degree of Latin

«super» was «superior» which was borrowed into English with the meaning

«high in some quality or rank». The Superlative degree (Latin

«supremus»)in English «supreme» with the meaning «outstanding»,

«prominent». So «superior» and «supreme» are etymological doublets.

SEMASIOLOGY

The branch of lexicology which deals with the meaning is called

semasiology.

WORD - MEANING

Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and the

inner aspect (its meaning) . Sound and meaning do not always constitute a

constant unit even in the same language. E.g. the word «temple» may denote

«a part of a human head» and «a large church» In such cases we have

homonyms. One and the same word in different syntactical relations can

develop different meanings, e.g. the verb «treat» in sentences:

a) He treated my words as a joke.

b) The book treats of poetry.

c) They treated me to sweets.

d) He treats his son cruelly.

In all these sentences the verb «treat» has different meanings and we can

speak about polysemy.

On the other hand, one and the same meaning can be expressed by different

sound forms, e.g. «pilot» , and «airman», «horror» and «terror». In such

cases we have synonyms.

Both the meaning and the sound can develop in the course of time

independently. E.g. the Old English /luvian/ is pronounced /l^v / in Modern

English. On the other hand, «board» primariliy means « a piece of wood sawn

thin» It has developed the meanings: a table, a board of a ship, a stage, a

council etc.

LEXICAL MEANING - NOTION

The lexical meaning of a word is the realization of a notion by means of

a definite language system. A word is a language unit, while a notion is a

unit of thinking. A notion cannot exict without a word expressing it in the

language, but there are words which do not express any notion but have a

lexical meaning. Interjections express emotions but not notions, but they

have lexical meanings, e.g. Alas! /disappointment/, Oh,my buttons!

/surprise/ etc. There are also words which express both, notions and

emotions, e.g. girlie, a pig /when used metaphorically/.

The term «notion» was introduced into lexicology from logics. A notion

denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their

relations. Notions, as a rule, are international, especially with the

nations of the same cultural level. While meanings can be nationally

limited. Grouping of meanings in the semantic structure of a word is

determined by the whole system of every language. E.g. the English verb

«go» and its Russian equivalent «èäòè» have some meanings which coincide:

to move from place to place, to extend /the road goes to London/, to work

/Is your watch going?/. On the other hand, they have different meanings: in

Russian we say :»Âîò îí èäåò» , in English we use the verb «come» in this

case. In English we use the verb «go» in the combinations: «to go by bus»,

«to go by train» etc. In Russian in these cases we use the verb «åõàòü».

The number of meanings does not correspond to the number of words,

neither does the number of notions. Their distribution in relation to words

is peculiar in every language. The Russian has two words for the English

«man»: « ìóæ÷èíà» and «÷åëîâåê». In English, however, «man» cannot be

applied to a female person. We say in Russian: «Îíà õîðîøèé ÷åëîâåê». In

English we use the word «person»/ She is a good person»/

Development of lexical meanings in any language is influenced by the

whole network of ties and relations between words and other aspects of the

language.

POLYSEMY

The word «polysemy» means «plurality of meanings» it exists only in the

language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called

polysemantic.

Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the

proximity of notions which they express. E.g. the word «blanket» has the

following meanings: a woolen covering used on beds, a covering for keeping

a horse warm, a covering of any kind /a blanket of snow/, covering all or

most cases /used attributively/, e.g. we can say «a blanket insurance

policy».

There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, such as most

terms, /synonym, molecule, bronchites/, some pronouns /this, my, both/,

numerals.

There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation

and concatination. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the

centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each

secondary meaning can be traced to the primmary meaning. E.g. in the word

«face» the primary meaning denotes «the front part of the human head»

Connected with the front position the meanings: the front part of a watch,

the front part of a building, the front part of a playing card were formed.

Connected with the word «face» itself the meanings : expression of the

face, outward appearance are formed.

In cases of concatination secondary meanings of a word develop like a

chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary

one. E.g. in the word «crust» the primary meaning «hard outer part of

bread» developed a secondary meaning «hard part of anything /a pie, a

cake/», then the meaning »harder layer over soft snow» was developed, then

«a sullen gloomy person», then «impudence» were developed. Here the last

meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms

appear in the language. It is called the split of polysemy.

In most cases in the semantic development of a word both ways of semantic

development are combined.

HOMONYMS

Homonyms are words different in meaning but identical in sound or

spelling, or both in sound and spelling.

Homonyms can appear in the language not only as the result of the split

of polysemy, but also as the result of levelling of grammar inflexions,

when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect, e.g.

«care» from «caru» and «care» from «carian». They can be also formed by

means of conversion, e.g. «to slim» from «slim», «to water» from «water».

They can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem,

e.g. «reader»/ a person who reads and a book for reading/.

Homonyms can also appear in the language accidentally, when two words

coincide in their development, e.g. two native words can coincide in their

outer aspects: «to bear» from «beran»/to carry/ and «bear» from «bera»/an

animal/. A native word and a borrowing can coincide in their outer aspects,

e.g. «fair» from Latin «feria» and «fair « from native «fager» /blond/. Two

borrowings can coincide e.g. «base» from the French «base» /Latin basis/

and «base» /low/ from the Latin «bas» /Italian «basso»/.

Homonyms can develop through shortening of different words, e.g. «cab»

from «cabriolet», «cabbage», «cabin».

Classifications of homonyms.

Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling and sound

forms and he pointed out three groups: perfect homonyms that is words

identical in sound and spelling, such as : «school» - «êîñÿê ðûáû» and

«øêîëà» ; homographs, that is words with the same spelling but pronounced

differently, e.g. «bow» -/bau/ - «ïîêëîí» and /bou/ - «ëóê»; homophones

that is words pronounced identically but spelled differently, e.g. «night»

- «íî÷ü» and «knight» - «ðûöàðü».

Another classification was suggested by A.I Smirnitsky. He added to

Skeat’s classification one more criterion: grammatical meaning. He

subdivided the group of perfect homonyms in Skeat’s classification into two

types of homonyms: perfect which are identical in their spelling,

pronunciation and their grammar form, such as :»spring» in the meanings:

the season of the year, a leap, a source, and homoforms which coincide in

their spelling and pronunciation but have different grammatical meaning,

e.g. «reading» - Present Participle, Gerund, Verbal noun., to lobby - lobby

.

A more detailed classification was given by I.V. Arnold. She classified

only perfect homonyms and suggested four criteria of their classification:

lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms and paradigms.

According to these criteria I.V. Arnold pointed out the following groups:

a) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and

paradigms and different in their lexical meanings, e.g. «board» in the

meanings «a council» and « a piece of wood sawn thin»; b) homonyms

identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms, different in their

lexical meanings and paradigms, e.g. to lie - lied - lied, and to lie -

lay - lain; c) homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical

meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms, e.g. «light» /

«lights»/, «light» / «lighter», «lightest»/; d) homonyms different in their

lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, in their basic forms and paradigms,

but coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms, e.g. «a bit» and

«bit» (from « to bite»).

In I. V. Arnold’s classification there are also patterned homonyms,

which, differing from other homonyms, have a common component in their

lexical meanings. These are homonyms formed either by means of conversion,

or by levelling of grammar inflexions. These homonyms are different in

their grammar meanings, in their paradigms, identical in their basic forms,

e.g. «warm» - «to warm». Here we can also have unchangeable patterned

homonyms which have identical basic forms, different grammatical meanings,

a common component in their lexical meanings, e.g. «before» an adverb, a

conjunction, a preposition. There are also homonyms among unchangeable

words which are different in their lexical and grammatical meanings,

identical in their basic foms, e.g. « for» - «äëÿ» and «for» - «èáî».

SYNONYMS

Synonyms are words different in their outer aspects, but identical or

similar in their inner aspects. In English there are a lot of synonyms,

because there are many borrowings, e.g. hearty / native/ - cordial/

borrowing/. After a word is borrowed it undergoes desynonymization, because

absolute synonyms are unnecessary for a language. However, there are some

absolute synonyms in the language, which have exactly the same meaning and

belong to the same style, e.g. to moan, to groan; homeland, motherland etc.

In cases of desynonymization one of the absolute synonyms can

specialize in its meaning and we get semantic synonyms, e.g. «city»

/borrowed/, «town» /native/. The French borrowing «city» is specialized. In

other cases native words can be specialized in their meanings, e.g. «stool»

/native/, «chair» /French/.

Sometimes one of the absolute synonyms is specialized in its usage and we

get stylistic synonyms, e.g. «to begin»/ native/, «to commence»

/borrowing/. Here the French word is specialized. In some cases the native

word is specialized, e.g. «welkin» /bookish/, «sky» /neutral/.

Stylistic synonyms can also appear by means of abbreviation. In most

cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style, and the full

form to the neutral style, e.g. «examination’, «exam».

Among stylistic synonyms we can point out a special group of words which

are called euphemisms. These are words used to substitute some unpleasant

or offensive words, e.g «the late» instead of «dead», «to perspire» instead

of «to sweat» etc.

There are also phraseological synonyms, these words are identical in

their meanings and styles but different in their combining with other words

in the sentence, e.g. «to be late for a lecture» but «to miss the train»,

«to visit museums» but «to attend lectures» etc.

In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning,

which can substitute any word in the group, e.g. «piece» is the synonymic

dominant in the group «slice», «lump», «morsel». The verb « to look at» is

the synonymic dominant in the group «to stare», «to glance», «to peep». The

adjective «red’ is the synonymic dominant in the group «purple», «scarlet»,

«crimson».

When speaking about the sources of synonyms, besides desynonymization and

abbreviation, we can also mention the formation of phrasal verbs, e.g. «to

give up» - «to abandon», «to cut down» - «to diminish».

ANTONYMS

Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech, identical in

style, expressing contrary or contradictory notions.

V.N. Comissarov in his dictionary of antonyms classified them into two

groups : absolute or root antonyms /»late» - «early»/ and derivational

antonyms / «to please’ - «to displease»/ . Absolute antonyms have

different roots and derivational antonyms have the same roots but

different affixes. In most cases negative prefixes form antonyms / un-, dis-

, non-/. Sometimes they are formed by means of suffixes -ful and -less.

The number of antonyms with the suffixes ful- and -less is not very

large, and sometimes even if we have a word with one of these suffixes its

antonym is formed not by substituting -ful by less-, e.g. «successful»

-»unsuccessful», «selfless» - «selfish». The same is true about antonyms

with negative prefixes, e.g. «to man» is not an antonym of the word «to

unman», «to disappoint» is not an antonym of the word «to appoint».

The difference between derivational and root antonyms is not only in

their structure, but in semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express

contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other, e.g. «active»-

«inactive». Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions

can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant

members of the group will be absolute antonyms, e.g. «ugly» , «plain»,

«good-looking», «pretty», «beautiful», the antonyms are «ugly» and

«beautiful».

Leonard Lipka in the book «Outline of English Lexicology» describes

different types of oppositeness, and subdivides them into three types:

a) complementary, e.g. male -female, married -single,

b) antonyms, e.g. good -bad,

c) converseness, e.g. to buy - to sell.

In his classification he describes complimentarity in the following way:

the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, and vice versa.

«John is not married» implies that «John is single». The type of

oppositeness is based on yes/no decision. Incompatibility only concerns

pairs of lexical units.

Antonymy is the second class of oppositeness. It is distinguished from

complimentarity by being based on different logical relationships. For

pairs of antonyms like good/bad, big/small only the second one of the above

mentioned relations of implication holds. The assertion containing one

member implies the negation of the other, but not vice versa. «John is

good» implies that «John is not bad», but «John is not good» does not imply

that «John is bad». The negation of one term does not necessarily implies

the assertion of the other.

An important linguistic difference from complementaries is that antonyms

are always fully gradable, e.g. hot, warm, tepid, cold.

Converseness is mirror-image relations or functions, e.g. husband/wife,

pupil/teacher, preceed/follow, above/below, before/after etc.

«John bought the car from Bill» implies that «Bill sold the car to John».

Mirror-image sentences are in many ways similar to the relations between

active and passive sentences. Also in the comparative form: »Y is smaller

than X, then X is larger than Y».

L. Lipka also gives the type which he calls directional opposition

up/down, consiquence opposition learn/know, antipodal opposition

North/South, East/West, ( it is based on contrary motion, in opposite

directions.) The pairs come/go, arrive/depart involve motion in different

directions. In the case up/down we have movement from a point P. In the

case come/go we have movement from or to the speaker.

L. Lipka also points out non-binary contrast or many-member lexical sets.

Here he points out serially ordered sets, such as scales / hot, warm,

tepid, cool, cold/ ; colour words / black, grey, white/ ; ranks /marshal,

general, colonel, major, captain etc./ There are gradable examination

marks / excellent, good, average, fair, poor/. In such sets of words we

can have outer and inner pairs of antonyms. He also points out cycles, such

as units of time /spring, summer, autumn, winter/ . In this case there are

no «outermost» members.

Not every word in a language can have antonyms. This type of opposition

can be met in qualitative adjectives and their derivatives, e.g. beautiful-

ugly, to beautify - to uglify, beauty - ugliness. It can be also met in

words denoting feelings and states, e.g. respect - scorn, to respect - to

scorn, respectful - scornful, to live - to die, alive - dead, life - death.

It can be also met among words denoting direction in space and time, e.g.

here - there, up - down , now - never, before - after, day - night, early -

late etc.

If a word is polysemantic it can have several antonyms, e.g. the word

«bright» has the antonyms «dim», «dull», «sad».

LOCAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

ON THE BRITISH ISLES

On the British Isles there are some local varieties of English which

developed from Old English local dialects. There are six groups of them:

Lowland /Scottish/ , Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, Southern. These

varieties are used in oral speech by the local population. Only the

Scottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/.

One of the best known dialects of British English is the dialect of

London - Cockney. Some peculiarities of this dialect can be seen in the

first act of «Pigmalion» by B. Shaw, such as : interchange of /v/ and /w/

e.g. wery vell; interchange of /f/ and /0/ , /v/ and / /, e. g/ fing

/thing/ and fa:ve / father/; interchange of /h/ and /-/ , e.g. «’eart» for

«heart» and «hart» for «art; substituting the diphthong /ai/ by /ei/ e.g.

«day» is pronounced /dai/; substituting /au/ by /a:/ , e.g. «house» is

pronounced /ha:s/,«now« /na:/ ; substituting /ou/ by /o:/ e.g. «don’t» is

pronounced /do:nt/ or substituting it by / / in unstressed positions, e.g.

«window» is pronounced /wind /.

Another feature of Cockney is rhyming slang: «hat» is «tit for tat»,

«wife» is «trouble and strife», «head» is «loaf of bread» etc. There are

also such words as «tanner» /sixpence/, «peckish»/hungry/.

Peter Wain in the «Education Guardian» writes about accents spoken by

University teachers: «It is a variety of Southern English RP which is

different from Daniel Jones’s description. The English, public school

leavers speak, is called «marked RP», it has some characteristic features :

the vowels are more central than in English taught abroad, e.g. «bleck

het»/for «black hat»/, some diphthongs are also different, e.g. «house» is

pronounced /hais/. There is less aspiration in /p/, /b/, /t/ /d/.

The American English is practically uniform all over the country, because

of the constant transfer of people from one part of the country to the

other. However, some peculiarities in New York dialect can be pointed out,

such as: there is no distinction between / / and /a: / in words: «ask»,

«dance» «sand» «bad», both phonemes are possible. The combination «ir» in

the words: «bird», «girl» «ear» in the word «learn» is pronoinced as /oi/

e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/.In the words «duty’, «tune» /j/ is not

pronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

British and American English are two main variants of English. Besides

them there are : Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other

variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and

vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people

living in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned,

some scientists /H.N. Menken, for example/ tried to prove that there is a

separate American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book called

«The American Language». But most scientists, American ones including,

criticized his point of view because differences between the two variants

are not systematic.

American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th century

when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coast

of the American continent. The language which they brought from England

was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First.

In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names for

places, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the American

continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local

population - Indians, such as :»chipmuck»/an American squirrel/, «igloo»

/Escimo dome-shaped hut/, «skunk» / a black and white striped animal with a

bushy tail/, «squaw» / an Indian woman/, »wigwam» /an American Indian tent

made of skins and bark/ etc.

Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, and

English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words from

their languages, e.g. from French the words «bureau»/a writing desk/,

«cache» /a hiding place for treasure, provision/, «depot’/ a store-house/,

«pumpkin»/a plant bearing large edible fruit/. From Spanish such words as:

»adobe» / unburnt sun-dried brick/, »bananza» /prosperity/, «cockroach» /a

beetle-like insect/, «lasso» / a noosed rope for catching cattle/ were

borrowed.

Present-day New York stems from the Dutch colony New Amsterdam, and

Dutch also influenced English. Such words as: «boss», «dope», «sleigh»

were borrowed .

The second period of American English history begins in the 19-th

century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When large

groups of immigrants from the same country came to America some of their

words were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style of

cooking which became widely spread and such words as: «pizza», «spaghetti»

came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers the

following words were borrowed into English: «delicatessen», «lager»,

«hamburger», «noodle», «schnitzel» and many others.

During the second period of American English history there appeared quite

a number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due to

the new poitical system, liberation of America from the British

colonialism, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due to

these events: the United States of America , assembly, caucus, congress,

Senate, congressman, President, senator, precinct, Vice-President and many

others. Besides these political terms many other words were coined in

American English in the 19-th century: to antagonize, to demoralize,

influential, department store, telegram, telephone and many others.

There are some differences between British and American English in the

usage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BE

requres «on» / I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there is

no preposition / I start my vacation Friday/. In Be we use «by day», «by

night»/»at night», in AE the corresponding forms are «days» and «nights».

In BE we say «at home» , in AE - «home» is used. In BE we say «a quarter to

five», in AE «a quarter of five». In BE we say «in the street», in AE -

«on the street». In BE we say «to chat to somebody», in AE «to chat with

somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE - «different from

someting».

There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the

same notions, e.g. BE - «trousers», AE -«pants»; in BE «pants» are «òðóñû»

which in AE is «shorts». While in BE «shorts» are outwear. This can lead to

misunderstanding. There are some differences in names of places:

BE AE BE AE

passage hall cross-roads intersection

pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies

studio, bed-sitter one-room appartment

flyover overpass zebra crossing Pxing

pavement sidewalk tube, uderground subway

tram streetcar flat apartment

surgery doctor’s office lift elevator

Some names of useful objects:

BE AE BE AE

biro ballpoint rubber eraser

tap faucet torch

flashlight

parcel package elastic rubber

band

carrier bag shopping bag reel of cotton spool of thread

Some words connected with food:

BE AE BE

AE

tin can sweets

candy

sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuit

crackers

sweet dessert chips

french fries

minced meat ground beef

Some words denoting personal items:

BE AE BE

AE

fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- ups

cuffs

tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat

ladder run/in a stocking/ braces suspenders

poloneck turtleneck waistcoat

vest

Some words denoting people:

BE AE BE

AE

barrister, lawyer, staff /university/

faculty

post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy

caretaker janitor constable

patrolman

shopassistant shopperson bobby cop

If we speak about cars there are also some differences:

BE AE BE

AE

boot trunk bumpers

fenders

a car, an auto, to hire a car to rent a

car

Differences in the organization of education lead to different terms. BE

«public school» is in fact a private school. It is a fee-paying school not

controlled by the local education authorities. AE «public school» is a

free local authority school. BE «elementary school» is AE «grade school» BE

«secondary school» is AE «high school». In BE « a pupil leaves a secondary

school», in AE «a student graduates from a high school» In BE you can

graduate from a university or college of education, graduating entails

getting a degree.

A British university student takes three years known as the first, the

second and the third years. An American student takes four years, known as

freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying a British

student takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors in

a subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in one

main subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An American

student earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses in

studies, and has to reach the total of 36 credits to receive a degree.

Differences of spelling.

The reform in the English spelling for American English was introduced

by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first

dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the

English spelling are as follows:

a) the delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor,

favor;

b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants,

e.g. traveler, wagon,

c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g.

theater, center,

d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g.

catalog, program,

e) the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g.

defense, offense,

d) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.

Differences in pronunciation

In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the

combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / /

corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and

combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is

pronounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.

There are some differences in the position of the stress:

BE AE BE

AE

add`ress adress la`boratory

`laboratory

re`cess `recess re`search

`research

in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess

`excess

Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation, e.g.

BE AE BE

AE

/`fju:tail/ /`fju:t l/ /`dousail /

/dos l/

/kla:k/ /kl rk/ /`fig /

/figyer/

/ `le3 / / li:3 r/ /lef`ten nt/

/lu:tenant/

/ nai / /ni: r/ /shedju:l/

/skedyu:l/

But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and

American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a

proof that British and American are different languages.

Words can be classified according to the period of their life in the

language. The number of new words in a language is always larger than the

number of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly we can have

archaisms, that is words which have come out of active usage, and

neologisms, that is words which have recently appeared in the language.

ARCHAISMS

Archaisms are words which are no longer used in everyday speech, which

have been ousted by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but

they are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity.

Most of these words are lexical archaisms and they are stylistic synonyms

of words which ousted them from the neutral style. Some of them are: steed

/horse/, slay /kill/, behold /see/, perchance /perhaps/, woe /sorrow/ etc.

Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting a new meaning,

then the old meaning becomes a semantic archaism, e.g. «fair» in the

meaning «beautiful» is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning «blond» it

belongs to the neutral style.

Sometimes the root of the word remains and the affix is changed, then

the old affix is considered to be a morphemic archaism, e.g. «beautious»

/»ous» was substituted by «ful»/, «bepaint» / «be» was dropped/, «darksome»

/»some» was dropped/, «oft» / «en» was added/. etc.

NEOLOGISMS

At the present moment English is developing very swiftly and there is so

called «neology blowup». R. Berchfield who worked at compiling a four-

volume supplement to NED says that averagely 800 neologisms appear every

year in Modern English. It has also become a language-giver recently,

especially with the development of computerization.

New words, as a rule, appear in speech of an individual person who wants

to express his idea in some original way. This person is called

«originater». New lexical units are primarily used by university teachers,

newspaper reporters, by those who are connected with mass media.

Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing in the

language can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. In

such cases we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word «umbrella» developed

the meanings: «àâèàöèîííîå ïðèêðûòèå», »ïîëèòè÷åñêîå ïðèêðûòèå». A new

lexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenon

which already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases we have

transnomination, e.g. the word «slum» was first substituted by the word

«ghetto» then by the word-group «inner town». A new lexical unit can be

introduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case we have «a

proper neologism», many of them are cases of new terminology.

Here we can point out several semantic groups when we analize the group

of neologisms connected with computerization, and here we can mention words

used:

a) to denote different types of computers, e.g. PC, super-computer, multi-

user, neurocomputer / analogue of a human brain/;

b) to denote parts of computers, e.g. hardware, software, monitor,

screen, data, vapourware / experimental samples of computers for

exhibition, not for production/;

c) to denote computer languages, e.g. BASIC, Algol FORTRAN etc;

d) to denote notions connected with work on computers, e.g. computerman,

computerization, computerize, to troubleshoot, to blitz out / to ruin

data in a computer’s memory/.

There are also different types of activities performed with the help of

computers, many of them are formed with the help of the morpheme «tele»,

e.g. to telework, to telecommute / to work at home having a computer which

is connected with the enterprise for which one works/. There are also such

words as telebanking, telemarketing, teleshopping / when you can perform

different operations with the help of your computer without leaving your

home, all operations are registered by the computer at your bank/,

videobank /computerized telephone which registers all information which is

received in your absence/.

In the sphere of lingusitics we have such neologisms as: machine

translation, interlingual / an artificial language for machine translation

into several languages / and many others.

In the sphere of biometrics we have computerized machines which can

recognize characteristic features of people seeking entrance : finger-print

scanner / finger prints/, biometric eye-scanner / blood-vessel arrangements

in eyes/, voice verification /voice patterns/. These are types of

biometric locks. Here we can also mention computerized cards with the help

of which we can open the door without a key.

In the sphere of medicine computors are also used and we have the

following neologisms: telemonitory unit / a telemonitory system for

treating patience at a distance/.

With the development of social activities neologisms appeared as well,

e.g. youthquake - âîëíåíèÿ ñðåäè ìîëîäåæè, pussy-footer - ïîëèòèê, èäóùèé

íà êîìïðîìèñû, Euromarket, Eurodollar, Europarliament, Europol etc.

In the modern English society there is a tendency to social

stratification, as a result there are neologisms in this sphere as well,

e.g. belonger - ïðåäñòàâèòåëü ñðåäíåãî êëàññà, ïðèâåðæåíåö êîíñåðâàòèâíûõ

âçãëÿäîâ. To this group we can also refer abbreviations of the type

yuppie /young urban professional people/, such as: muppie, gruppie, rumpie,

bluppie etc. People belonging to the lowest layer of the society are

called survivers, a little bit more prosperous are called sustainers, and

those who try to prosper in life and imitate those, they want to belong

to, are called emulaters. Those who have prospered but are not belongers

are called achievers. All these layers of socety are called VAL /Value

and Lifestyles/ .

The rich belong also to jet set that is those who can afford to travel by

jet planes all over the world enjoying their life. Sometimes they are

called «jet plane travellers».

During Margaret Thatcher’s rule the abbreviation PLU appeared which means

«People like us» by which snobbistic circles of society call themselves.

Nowadays /since 1989/ PLU was substituted by «one of us».

There are a lot of immigrants now in UK , in connection with which

neologisms partial and non-partial were formed /èìåþùèå ïðàâî æèòü â

ñòðàíå è åãî àíòîíèì/.

The word-group «welfare mother» was formed to denote a non-working single

mother living on benefit.

In connection with criminalization of towns in UK volantary groups of

assisting the police were formed where dwellers of the neighbourhood are

joined. These groups are called «neighbourhood watch», «home watch».

Criminals wear «stocking masks» not to be recognized.

The higher society has neologisms in their speech, such as : dial-a-meal,

dial-a-taxi.

In the language of teen-agers there are such words as : Drugs! /OK/,

sweat /áåã íà äëèííûå äèñòàíöèè/, task /home composition /, brunch etc.

With the development of professional jargons a lot of words ending in

«speak» appeared in English, e.g. artspeak, sportspeak, medspeak, education-

speak, video-speak, cable-speak etc.

There are different semantic groups of neologisms belonging to everyday

life:

a) food e.g. «starter»/ instead of «hors d’oevres»/, macrobiotics / raw

vegetables, crude rice/ , longlife milk, clingfilm, microwave stove,

consumer electronics, fridge-freezer, hamburgers /beef-, cheese-, fish-,

veg- /.

b) clothing, e.g. catsuit /one-piece clinging suit/, slimster , string /

miniscule bikini/, hipster / trousers or skirt with the belt on hips/,

completenik / a long sweater for trousers/, sweatnik /a long jacket/,

pants-skirt, bloomers / lady’s sports trousers/.

c) footwear e.g. winklepickers /shoes with long pointed toes/, thongs

/open sandals/, backsters /beech sandals with thick soles/.

d) bags, e.g. bumbag /a small bag worn on the waist/, sling bag /a bag

with a long belt/, maitre / a small bag for cosmetics/.

There are also such words as : dangledolly / a dolly-talisman dangling in

the car before the windscreen/, boot-sale /selling from the boot of the

car/, touch-tone /a telephone with press-button/.

Neologisms can be also classified according to the ways they are formed.

They are subdivided into : phonological neologisms, borrowings, semantic

neologisms and syntactical neologisms. Syntactical neologisms are divided

into morphological /word-building/ and phraseological /forming word-

groups/.

Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations of

sounds, they are called artificial, e.g. rah-rah /a short skirt which is

worn by girls during parades/, «yeck» /»yuck» which are interjections to

express repulsion produced the adjective yucky/ yecky. These are strong

neologisms.

Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as «perestroika»

/Russian/, «solidarnosc» /Polish/, Berufsverbot / German /, dolce vita

/Italian/ etc.

Morphological and syntactical neologisms are usually built on patterns

existing in the language, therefore they do not belong to the group of

strong neologisms.

Among morphological neologisms there are a lot of compound words of

different types, such as «free-fall»-»ðåçêîå ïàäåíèå êóðñà àêöèé» appeared

in 1987 with the stock market crash in October 1987 /on the analogy with

free-fall of parachutists, which is the period between jumping and opening

the chute/. Here also belong: call-and-recall - âûçîâ íà äèñïàíñåðèçàöèþ,

bioastronomy -search for life on other planets, rat-out - betrayal in

danger , zero-zero (double zero) - ban of longer and shorter range weapon,

x-rated /about films terribly vulgar and cruel/, Ameringlish /American

English/, tycoonography - a biography of a business tycoon.

There are also abbreviations of different types, such as resto, teen

/teenager/, dinky /dual income no kids yet/, ARC /AIDS-related condition,

infection with AIDS/, HIV / human immuno-deficiency virus/.

Quite a number of neologisms appear on the analogy with lexical units

existing in the language, e.g. snowmobile /automobile/, danceaholic

/alcoholic/, airtel /hotel/, cheeseburger /hamburger/, autocade /

cavalcade/.

There are many neologisms formed by means of affixation, such as:

decompress, to disimprove, overhoused, educationalist, slimster, folknik

etc. Phraseological neologisms can be subdivided into phraseological units

with transferred meanings, e.g. to buy into/ to become involved/, fudge

and dudge /avoidance of definite decisions/, and set non-idiomatic

expressions, e.g. electronic virus, Rubic’s cube, retail park, acid rain ,

boot trade etc.

Changes in pronunciation.

In Modern British English there is a tendency to change pronunciation of

some sounds and combinations of sounds due to the influence of American

English and some other factors. These changes are most noticeable in the

speech of teachers and students of the universities in the Southern part of

England /Oxford, Cambridge, London/.

There are the following changes in pronouncing vowels:

a) shortening of long vowels, especially at the end of the word and

before voiceless consonants, e.g. see, keep;

b) lengthening of short vowels before voiced consonants, e.g. big, good,

come, jam etc. In such adjectives which end in /d/ lengthening of the

vowel is observed all over England, e.g. bad, sad, glad, mad etc.

c) drawling of stressed syllables and clipping of unstressed syllables.

d) In unstressed syllables / / is pronounced instead of / i /, e.g. /b

`ko:z/, /`evid ns/ etc.

e) In the words consisting of three or more syllables there is a tendency

to have two main stresses,e.g. /`nes `s ri/, /`int `restin/.

f) The diphthong /ou/ is pronounced / u/,e.g. home /h um/, go /g u/.

g) the diphthong / u / is pronounced /o:/, e.g. sure /sho:/.

Vowels can also change under the influence of consonants:

a) after fricatives and consonants /n/ and /m/ /ju:/ is pronounced as

/u:/, e.g. resume, music, news, enthusiasm.

b) before fricatives and combinations of fricatives with consonants «a«

is pronounced as / /, e.g. dance, answer, class, fast.

The pronunciation of some consonants is also changed :

a) after a vowel /r/ is pronounced ,e.g. /ka:r/ , /ha:rt/.

b)There appears an intrusive /r/ in the combinations where after the

final vowel / / there is a vowel at the beginning of the next word, e.g.

the idea of, Asia and Europe/ on the analogy with word combinations there

is, there are/.

c) /p/ and /t/ are glotalized in the middle of the word,e.g. matter is

pronounced as /`m ? /, happy as /`h ? i/.

d) /s/ is used instead of /sh/ before /i/ in the structure of suffixes,

e.g. social /`sousi l/, negotiate / ni`gousi,eit/;

e) /l/ is vocalized at the end of the word, e.g. full/ ful/( close to

/v/ in sound).

f) /sh/ is voiced in the intervocal position in some geographical names,

e.g . «Asia», «Persia»;

g) combinations of sounds /dj/, /tj/ , /sj/ in such words as duke, tube,

issue have two variants of pronunciation: /d3u:k/ and /dju:k/, /chu:b/ and

/tju:b/, /`ishu:/ and /`isju:/;

g) pronunciation approaching spelling is being developed, e.g. often

/`oftn/, forehead / fo:`hed/ etc;

h) /t/ and/d/ at the end of words are not pronounced, e.g. «half past

five’ /`ha:f `pa:s`faiv/, «old man» /`oul `m n/.

LEXICOGRAPHY

The theory and practice of compiling dictionaries is called

lexicography. The history of compiling dictionaries for English comes as

far back as the Old English period, where we can find glosses of religious

books / interlinear translations from Latin into English/. Regular

bilingual dictionaries began to appear in

the 15-th century /Anglo-Latin, Anglo-French , Anglo-German/.

The first unilingual dictionary explaining difficult words appeared in

1604, the author was Robert Cawdry, a schoolmaster. He compiled his

dictionary for schoolchildren. In 1721 an English scientist and writer

Nathan Bailey published the first etymological dictionary which explained

the origin of English words. It was the first scientific dictionary, it was

compiled for philologists.

In 1775 an English scientist compiled a famous explanatory dictionary.

Its author was Samuel Johnson. Every word in his dictionary was illustrated

by examples from English literature, the meanings of words were clear from

the contexts in which they were used.. The dictionary was a great success

and it influenced the development of lexicography in all countries. The

dictionary influenced normalization of the English vocabulary. But at

the same time it helped to preserve the English spelling in its

conservative form.

In 1858 one of the members of the English philological society Dr.

Trench raised the question of compiling a dictionary including all the

words existing in the language. The

philological society adopted the decision to compile the dictionary

and the work started. More than a thousand people took part in collecting

examples, and 26 years later in 1884 the first volume was published. It

contained words beginning with «A» and «B». The last volume was published

in 1928 that is 70 years after the decision to compile it was adopted. The

dictionary was called NED and contained 12 volumes.

In 1933 the dictionary was republished under the title «The Oxford

English Dictionary», because the work on the dictionary was conducted in

Oxford. This dictionary contained 13 volumes. As the dictionary was very

large and terribly expensive scientists continued their work and compiled

shorter editions of the dictionary: «A Shorter Oxford Dictionary»

consisting of two volumes. It had the same number of entries, but far less

examples from literature. They also compiled «A Concise Oxford Dictionary»

consisting of one volume and including only modern words and no examples

from literature.

The American lexicography began to develop much later, at the end of the

18-th century. The most famous American English dictionary was compiled by

Noah Webster. He was an active stateman and public man and he published his

first dictionary in 1806. He went on with his work on the dictionary and in

1828 he published a two-volume dictionary. He tried to simplify the English

spelling and transcription. He introduced the alphabetical system of

transcription where he used letters and combinations of letters instead of

transcription signs. He denoted vowels in closed syllables by the

corresponding vowels, e.g. / a/, /e/, / i/, / o/, /u/. He denoted vowels

in the open syllable by the same letters, but with a dash above them,e.g.

/ a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. He denoted vowels in the position before /r/ as

the same letters with two dots above them, e.g. / a/, /o/ and by the l

etter «e» with two dots above it for the combinations «er», «ir», «ur»

because they are pronounced identically. The same tendency is preserved

for other sounds : /u:/ is denoted by /oo/, /y/ is used for the sound /j/

etc.

Classification of dictionaries

All dictionaries are divided into linguistic and encyclopedic

dictionaries. Encyclopedic dictionaries describe different objects,

phenomena, people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionaries

describe vocabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, their

usage. Words are usually given in the alphabetical order.

Linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and specialized . To

general dictionries two most widely used dictionaries belong: explanatory

and translation dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include

dictionaries of synonyms, antonyms, collocations, word-frequency,

neologisms, slang, pronouncing, etymological, phraseological and others.

All types of dictionaries can be unilingual ( excepting translation ones)

if the explanation is given in the same language, bilingual if the

explanation is given in another language and also they can be polilingual.

There are a lot of explanatory dictionaries (NED, SOD, COD, NID, N.G.

Wyld’s «Universal Dictionary» and others). In explanatory dictionaries the

entry consists of the spelling, transcription, grammatical forms, meanings,

examples, phraseology. Pronunciation is given either by means of the

International Transcription System or in British Phonetic Notation which is

different in each large dictionary, e.g. /o:/ can be indicated as / aw/,

/or/, /oh/, /o/. etc.

Translation dictionaries give words and their equivalents in the other

language. There are English-Russian dictionaries by I.R. Galperin, by

Y.Apresyan and others. Among general dictionaries we can also mention

Learner’s dictionaries. They began to appear in the second half of the 20-

th century. The most famous is «The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary» by A.S.

Hornby. It is a unilingual dictionary based on COD, for advanced foreign

learners and language teachers. It gives data about grammatical and lexical

valency of words. Specialized dictionaries of synonyms are also widely

used, one of them is «A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Synonymous

Expressions» by R.Soule. Another famous one is «Webster’s Dictionary of

Synonyms». These are unilingual dictionaries. The best known bilingual

dictionary of synonyms is «English Synonyms» compiled by Y. Apresyan.

In 1981 «The Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English» was compiled, where

words are given in 14 semantic groups of everyday nature. Each word is

defined in detail, its usage is explained and illustrated, synonyms,

antonyms are presented also. It describes 15000 items, and can be referred

to dictionaries of synonyms and to explanatory dictionaries.

Phraseological dictionaries describe idioms and colloquial phrases,

proverbs. Some of them have examples from literature. Some lexicographers

include not only word-groups but also anomalies among words. In «The Oxford

Dicionary of English Proverbs» each proverb is illustrated by a lot of

examples, there are stylistic references as well. The dictionary by

Vizetelli gives definitions and illustrations, but different meanings of

polisemantic units are not given. The most famous bilingual dictionary of

phraseology was compiled by A.V. Koonin. It is one of the best

phraseological dictionaries.

Etymological dictionaries trace present-day words to the oldest forms of

these words and forms of these words in other languages. One of the best

etymological dictionaries was compiled by W. Skeat.

Pronouncing dictionaries record only pronunciation. The most famous is D.

Jones’ s «Pronouncing Dictionary».

Dictionaries of neologisms are : a four-volume «Supplement to NED» by

Burchfield, «The Longman Register of New Words»/1990/, «Bloomsury

Dictionary of New Words» /1996/.

SEMINARS

Seminar 1

Language units.

The smallest language unit.

The function of a root morpheme.

The main function of suffixes.

The secondary function of suffixes.

The main function of prefixes.

The secondary function of prefixes.

Splinters and their formation in English.

The difference between affixes and splinters.

Structural types of words in English.

The stem of a word and the difference beween a simple word, a stem and a

root.

The difference between a block compound and a nominal benomial.

The difference between a word and a phraseological unit.

The similarity between a word and a phraseological unit.

Analyze the following lexical units according to their structure. Point

out the function of morphemes. Speak about bound morphemes and free

morphemes. Point out allomorphs in analyzed words:

accompany unsystematic forget-me-not

computerise expressionless reservation

de-restrict superprivileged moisture

lengthen clannish pleasure

beautify workaholic reconstruction

beflower inwardly counterculture

specialise moneywise three-cornered

round table Green Berets to sandwich in

Seminar 2.

Affixation.

Classification of suffixes according to the part of speech they form.

Classification of suffixes according to the stem they are added to.

Classification of suffixes according to their meaning.

Classification of suffixes according to their productivity.

Classification of suffixes according to their origin.

Classification of prefixes according to their meaning.

Classification of prefixes according to their origin.

Classification of prefixes according to their productivity.

Analyze the following derived words, point out suffixes and prefixes and

classify them from different points of view:

to embed nourishment unsystematic

to encourage inwardly to accompany

translatorese dispensable clannishness

to de-restrict workaholic jet-wise

reconstruction to overreach thouroughly

afterthought foundation childishness

transgressor to re-write completenik

gangsterdom pleasure concentration

refusenik counter-culture brinkmanship

allusion self-criticism to

computerise

slimster reservation

translation

Seminar 3

Compound words.

Characteristic features of compound words in different languages.

Characteristic features of English compounds.

Classification of compound words according to their structure.

Classification of compound words according to the joining element.

Classification of compound words according to the parts of speech.

Classification of compound words according to the semantic relations

between the components.

Ways of forming compound words.

Analyze the following compound words:

note-book speedometer son-in-law

to job-hop brain-gain video-corder

fair-haired forget-me-not Anglo-Russian

teach-in back-grounder biblio-klept

theatre-goer well-dressed bio-engineer

to book-hunt mini-term to baby-sit

blood-thirsty good-for-nothing throw-away

do-gooder skin-head kleptomania

sportsman para-trooper airbus

bus-napper cease-fire three-

cornered

tip-top brain-drain bread-and-

butter

Compare the strucure of the following words:

demagougery tablewards heliport

tobbacoless money-wise non-formal

booketeria go-go motel

counter-clockwise to frontpage productivity

giver-away newly-created nobody

Seminar 4.

Conversion.

Conversion as a way of wordbuilding.

Different points of view on the nature of conversion.

Semantic groups of verbs which can be converted from nouns.

The meanings of verbs converted from adjectives.

Semantic groups of nouns which can be converted from verbs.

Substantivised adjectives.

Characteristic features of combinations of the type «stone wall».

Semantic groups of combinations of this type.

Analyze the following lexical units:

to eye a find to

slim

a grown-up to airmail steel helmet

London season resit sleep

a flirt a read

handout

to weekend a build-up supersonics

a non-formal to wireless to submarine

to blue-pencil to blind - the blind - blinds

distrust a jerk to

radio

news have-nots the

English

to co-author to water to winter

a sit-down mother-in-law morning star

undesirables a walk a find

dislike log cabin finals

Seminar 5.

Shortenings and abbreviations.

Lexical and graphical abbreviations,the main differences between them.

Types of graphical abbreviations.

Types of initias, peculiarities of their pronunciation.

Lexical shortenings of words, their reference to styles.

Compound-shortened words, their structural types.

Analyze the following lexical units:

aggro /aggression/ Algol / algorythmic language/

apex /eipeks/ - advanced purchased excursion/ payment for an excursion

ninety days before the time of excursion/

A-day /announcement Day - day of announcing war/

AID / artifitial insemination by a donor/

AIDS / acquired immunity deficiency syndrome/

Ala / Alabama/ a.s.a.p. /as soon as possible/

bar-B-Q ,barb /barbecue/ to baby-sit / baby-sitter/

A-level /advanced level/ BC /birth certificate/

burger /hamberger/ Camford, Oxbridge

CALL /computer-assisted language learning/

CAT /computer-assisted training/

cauli / cauliflower/ COD / cash on delivery/

COBOL / k ubol/ /common business-oriented language/

co- ed comp /komp, k mp/ /accompaniment/

DINKY /double income ,no kids yet/

E-Day /entrance day //Common Market/ expo/exposition/

edbiz/ educational business/ el-hi / elementary and high

schools/, ex lib/ex libris/ /from the library of/

etc Euratom fax /facsimile/

G-7 / group of seven: GB, Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy, Spain/.

FORTRAN /formula translation/.

Seminar 6.

Phraseological units.

Ways of forming phraseological units.

Semantic classification of phraseological units.

Structural classification of phraseological units.

Syntactical classification of phraseological units.

Analyze the following phraseological units according to their meaning,

structure, syntactical function and the way they are formed:

When pigs fly /never/. To leap into marriage.

To be a whipping boy. To be behind scenes.

Girl Friday /a man’s assistant/. Fire in the belly.

Man Friday /a true friend/. A dear John.

To be on the beam. Game, set and match.

Country and western. To jump out of one’s skin.

As smart as paint. It’s my cup of tea.

Robin Crusoe and Friday / seats at a theatre divided by a passage/.

Fortune favours fools. To be in the dog house.

The green power. Green Berets.

Culture vulture. To get off one’s back.

To make headlines. On the nose.

With a bump. To have a short fuse.

To vote with one’s feet. Nuts and bolts.

Blackboard jungle. The sky is the limit.

Cash and carry. To nose out.

To sandwich in. Berlin wall.

A close mouth catches no flies. To speak BBB.

To sound like a computer. As dull as lead.

Last but not least. On the stroke of.

Seminar 7.

Phraseological units.

Students choose ten phraseological units from Koonin’s dictionary of

phraseological units and a unilingual dictionary of idioms and analyze them

in the written form. During the seminar they analyze their phrasological

units chosen from dictionaries at the blackboard.

Seminar 8.

Borrowings.

Classification of borrowings according to the language from which they

were borrowed:

Latin borrowings.

French borrowings.

Italian borrowings.

Scandinavian borrowings.

German borrowings.

Russian borrowings.

Classification of borrowings according to the borrowed aspect: phonetic

borrowings, semantic borrowings, translation loans, morphemeic borrowings,

hybrids.

Classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation:

fully assimilated borrowings, partly assimilated borrowings, barbarisms.

Borrowings partly assimilated semantically, grammatically, phonetically and

graphically.

Analyze the following borrowings:

school represent sky-blue

degree rhythm immobility

chandelier the Zoo vase

mot /mou/ hybrid bouffant

illuminate keenly communicative

possessiveness to reproach command

moustache gifted boutique

skipper cache-pot well-scrubbed

nouveau riche emphatic mysteriously

dactyl Nicholas group

to possess chenile psychological

garage guarantee contempt

trait/trei/ triumph stomach

sympathy cynical Philipp

schoolboy Christianity paralyzed

system hotel cyclic

diphtheria kerchief dark-skinned.

Seminar 9

Semaciology.

Word and notion.

Lexical meaning and notion.

Polysemy.

Homonyms.

Synonyms.

Antonyms.

Classifications of homonyms when applied to analysis.

Classifications of antonyms when applied to analysis.

Analyze the following lexical units applying the above mentioned

classifications of homonyms and antonyms:

present - absent, present - to present

like , to like - to dislike - dislike

sympathy - antipathy

progress - to progress, regress - to regress

success - failure, successful- unsuccessful

left - left/to leave/, right adj. - right n.

inflexible - flexible

unsafe - safe adj. - safe n.

fair n. - fair adj. unfair, foul

piece - peace

dark-haired - fair-haired

a row - a row /rou/ - /rau/

a fan - a fan

superiority - inferiority

different - similar, indifferent, alike, difference - similarity

meaningful - meaningless

after prep.- before -before adv., before conj.

to gossip - a gossip

shapeless - shapy

air - to air - air

fearless - fearful

bright - dim, dull, sad

to fasten - to unfasten

something - nothing

eldest - oldest -youngest

to husband - husband

obscure - to obscure

unaccustomed - accustomed

to exclude - to include

to conceal -to reveal

too - too- two

somewhere - nowhere

a drawer - a drawer

with - without

Seminar 10.

Neology.

Neology «blowup» and the work of R.Berchfield.

Semantic neologisms, transnomination and proper neologisms.

Semantic groups of neologisms connected with computerization.

Social stratification and neologisms.

Semantic groups of neologisms referring to everyday life.

Phonological neologisms and borrowings as strong neologisms.

Morphological and syntactical neologisms.

Changes in pronunciation.

Analyze the following neologisms from the point of view of neology theory

and also from the point of view of their morphemic structure and the way

they were formed :

to clip-clip AIDS coup

sound barrier to Vice-Preside boutique

to re-familiarize tourmobile sevenish

to de-dramatize non-formals to baby-sit

to scrimp and save fireside chat hide-away

coin-in-the-slot cashless society memo

We shall overcome. to dish old wine in new bottles

to-ing and fro-ing multinationals the Commons

hyperacidity religiosity D-Day

face-to-face/tuition/ femme-fatalish to the wingtips

to river singer-songwriter beatnik

communication gap laundered money cheeseburger

Don’t change horses. to put a freeze on micro-surgical

SA out-doorsy medicare

Cold War self-exile public-

schooly

brain-drainer movers and shakers Euroyuppie

Seminar 11.

Control work on the analysis of language units. Each student gets

six language units of different types / simple words, derived words,

compound words, phraseological units, combinations of the type «stone

wall», borrowings, abbreviations, antonyms, homonyms, neologisms ,

abbreviations/ and is to analize them from all points of view which were

studied during the seminars.

Seminar 12.

Lexicography.

Analysis of the control paper.

Historical development of British lexicography.

Historical development of American lexicography.

Classification of dictionaries.

Student reports on dictionaries they use in their work.

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Canon G. Historical Changes and English Wordformation: New

Vocabulary items. N.Y., 1986.

Ginzburg R.S. et al. A Course in Modern English Lexicology.

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Jespersen ,Otto. Growth and Structure of the English

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Halliday M.A.K. Language as Social Semiotics. Social

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Howard Ph. New words for Old. Lnd., 1980.

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Sheard, John. The Words we Use. N.Y..,1954.

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Ñòðàíèöû: 1, 2, 3


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