24. T growth of t E vocabulary. Semantic change: causes,
nature of change, results.
Lexicology studies & describes vocab, its origin, development &
current use. It’s concerned with words, word groups, phraseol. units
& morphemes. Word –basic unit of lang. sys., t largest on t
morphologic & t smallest on t syntactic plane of ling. analysis. Word
= sound-form + meaning. Word-meaning changes with historical
development of lang. This is called t semantic change. Growth of
vocab. is determined by it.
1. Causes of sem. change: а)extralinguistic (in life of speech
community, in economic & social structure etc) (Sound-form
remains t same but meaning changes: e.g. pen meant “feather”
(перо), but t writing technology has changed & t word is used now
to denote any instrument for writing with ink)
b)linguistic 1) T commonest form–ellipsis. In a phrase of 2 words
one of them is omitted & its meaning is transferred to t 2 nd one. E.g.
starve in OldE meant “to die” & was used with hunger. In t 16th
century it got t meaning “die of hunger”. 2) Discrimination of
synonyms. E.g. beast came from French into MidE. Before it
appeared t general word for animal was deer which became
narrowed to its present meaning (олень) after beast was borrowed.
Then t Latin animal was borrowed & t meaning of beast served to
separate t 4-footed kind =>beast displaced deer & was then
displaced by animal.
2. Nature of sem. change: A necessary condition of s\c is some
association between old & new meaning. Basic kinds of association:
metaphor (transfer of meaning based on similarity- the leg of the
table) and metonymy (contiguity (смежность) of meanings)
(tongue-organ of speech-mother tongue) (T White House for pres).
Ling. metaph. & meton. differ from metaph. & meton, as literary
devices
Other types of sem. change: hyperbole (contiguity (смежность) of
meanings) (emotional attitude of speaker to what he is speaking
about: I haven’t seen you for ages!), litotes (understatement) (t
affirmative by t negative of its contrary) (not bad, rather decent),
irony (one’s meaning by words of opposite sense), euphemism
(refers to smth unpleasant by using milder words & phrases so that
an inoffensive word gets a disagreeable meaning: e.g. to pass away
= die).
3. Results of sem. changes: 1) changes in the denotational
meaning: restriction (specialization) & extension (generalization)of
meaning 2) changes in the connotational component: amelioration
(улучшение) & deterioration of meaning (pejorative development –
boor was peasant, became ill-mannered person)
27. Typological differentiation of t E vocabulary
1.sources of t E vocabulary etymological composition of t E
vocabulary is diverse. OE voc was almost entirely Germanic, t l of
later periods borrowed foreign words. As a result two thirds of t voc
come from foreign sources, mainly Romance. T loan words are fully
integrated into t E lang. At first sight we can’t find any differences in
them on a phonetic, grammatical, word bilding or syntactical level.
But a closer study reveals two typologically distinct layers: 1)
the analitical layer of native voc - Germanic words, though thin but
dominant (in frequent use) 2) the synthetic layer of borrowed voc of norman loan-words of romanic origin, numerous, but as a rule
less frequent, often stylistically marked
2. differences on t prosodical level: in ME period E words dropped
their endings & became much shorter (one\two syllable words).
Loan-words were much longer, word stress moved from t end to t
beginning of t word. Long words developped a second stress:
comfortable
On t grammatic level: Words of German origin are grammatically
flexible, they lost endings, & a vast number of E verbs & nouns
became identical in form–love – to love. Loan words are not flexible,
have a transparent morphological structure with a clear part-ofspeech meaning. Exeptions –use, face (short and flexible)
On t word-building level: Native words have fusion-free w building,
analitical generation. They tend to take on native affixes (of
Germanic origin)
Suffixes - -er, -y dirty, -ly, -less, -ness, -ful, -ish darkish
Prefixes – mis- misbehave, under- undertake, over- overload, upuphill
Loan words – fusion
The Romance prefix in-. It has variants – im-, ir-, il- dependently on t
1st sound of t root
Or changes in t root under influence of t affix: admire – admirable,
surpreme – supremacy.
Analitical nominations They are not formed by long multisyllable
loan-words. Short flexible native words are more dynamic in this
sense. Compare: t native word show & its borrowed synonym
demonstrate
10 compound words & analitical nominations formed by show:
show-room, show-girl, flower-show, etc, to show up (to put smb to
shame), to show down (устроить разборку) and only one affixal
derivative – showy.
on the stylistic level native words of Germanic origin are neutral,
colloquial. Borrowed words are for t most part their literary formal
synonyms: go on – continue, make – produce, putt off – postpone
25. English wordstock. Polysemy, homonymy etc.
Most E words are polysemantic. T actual number of meanings of t
commonly used words ranges from 5 to about a 100. T commoner t
word is t more meanings it has.
1. Polysemy: 2 approaches to this problem: diachronic &
synchronic.
Diachronically - change in t semantic structure of t word. A word
retains its previous meaning + acquires 1 or several new ones.
Questions regarded in this connection: did some meanings appear
earlier than t others? Are t new meanings dependent on t existing
meanings? e.g. table: in ModE t primary meaning–“flat slab of
stone or wood”. This meaning is proper to t word in OE. All other
meanings are secondary. Synchronically -Polysemy is t
coexistence of diff meanings of t same word at a certain historical
period of t development of E. Table: “an article of furniture”–the
basic (central) meaning. Other meanings are minor (marginal).
Minor meanings are observed only in certain contexts.
2. Homonyms – words identical in sound-form but diffr in meaning.
E–rich in homonymous words & word-forms cos of monosyllabic
structure of t commonly used E words. Homonyms are DISTINCT
words: not diffr meanings within one word!
3 groups: 1. homonyms proper - identical in pronunciation &
spelling: back (noun & adv) 2. homophones – buy – by, knight –
night 3. homographs-lead, tear
Causes of homonymy: a) homonymy through convergent sound
development: 2 or more words of diffr origin coincide in sound: e.g.
OE ic & ea - ModE I & eye. b) homonymy developed from Polysemy
through divergent sense development: e.g. flower & flour (originally
– one word flour with 2 meanings)
3. Synonyms –words different in sound-form but similar in their
denotational meaning/meanings.
4. Lexical variants and paronyms. Lexical variants – free
variation in lang. that is optional with t individual speaker. T variation
can concern morphological or phonological features or it may be
limited to spelling.
These are words belonging to the same part of speech, containing
identical stems & synonymical affixes, and yet not permitting free
variation, not optional. E.g. economic & economical –
interchangeable under certain conditions, more often economic is
associated with economics, economical – with economy.
Paronyms – words related in origin, similar in sound-form that are
liable to be mixed but in fact different in meaning & usage & => only
mistakenly interchanged. E.g. ingenious (=clever) – ingenuous
(frank, artless)
26. Vocabulary replenishment in ModE. Analytical trends:
Different languages possess diff. means of expressing t same
content. Like other Indo-Eur lang. E used to be an inflectedsynthetic lang.– with a well-developed sys of morphological cgs &
inflected parts of speech (declinations & conjugations). The loss of
the inflexion transformed E from synthetic to analytic (the inflexion
was compensated by a rigid word order, a greater use of prep,
auxiliary verbs etc.). ModE is highly analytical.
Word-formation in OE displayed clearly synthetic features:
1)suffixation was usually accompanied by sound interchange in
roots: e.g. sinzan –sonz (sing–song). Modern suffixation is fusionfree: root morpheme & suffix don’t fuse together (не слив-ся).
Derived words are characterized by morphological clarity: worker,
hopeful. Sound interchange became less productive. 2) Prefixation
used to be (and still is!) a productive way of building new words in
OE But in ME prefixes used with verbs to modify their meaning were
replaced by adverbs in post-position to form “composite verbs”: e.g.
go away (OE azan), go round (OE bezan). This is t main evidence
of E becoming analytical. 3) Suppletive forms were common in OE:
e.g. good–well, go–went. As a word-building it disappeared by the
end of OE 4) Word-composition used to (and still is!) be productive:
compounds were often formed with a linking element which is not t
case now. It remained in words: salesman, spokesman.
Analytical features in ModE word-building: 1) fusion-free affixation.
Suffixation & prefixation – still productive but characterized by
morphological clarity & transparency. Exceptions – borrowed words:
admire – admiration. 2) no suppletion 3) word-composition without a
linking element 4) conversion as a new method of word derivation
arose in Late ME and became a most productive way of creating
new words. It’s effected through a change in t gram paradigm & t
syntactic use of t word in t sentence. Transformation into another
part of speech: water – to water 5) Analytical derivation–productive
means of vocab. replenishment to compensate for relatively less
active morphol. derivations. 6) Composite verbs–with locative
particles: run in/off/away/up/around. They correspond to prefixal
verbs in synthetic lang. (Russian: убежал, выбежал).7) “phrasal
verbs”: e.g. give up/in/away etc. These are analyt nominations that
denote by combining 2 or 3 (to be in for) separate elements: base
verb (bring, take) & particle (up, down). T meaning is transferred: it
can’t be understood from t meanings of elements. Phrasal verbs
belong in informal style, in everyday E. They originate from informal
E. Their one-word synonyms are preferred in formal areas: put off –
postpone, make up for smth – compensate. 8) Link verbs or rather
semi-link verbs (have, take, give, make) & predicative verbal noun
(a cry, look, laugh): e.g. have a cry, take a look. These nominations
& their 1-word counterparts aren’t always interchangeable for they
belong to different contexts: have a smoke (≠smoke)–doesn’t define
t process but creates atmosphere of relaxation. To have a shave (≠
shave) etc. isn’t normally used in t Contin Tense as it can’t present
actions in progress.
29. Semantic mechanism of phras. Sources.
1. Sources: reality of everyday life, customs, traditions, historical
events, folklore, literature – all these serve sources of associations
to form imagery for Phr U.
e.g. everyday life, customs, folklore: carry coals to Newcastle – to
do smth unnecessary (Newcastle was a centre of coal-mining in
England)
2. Phr U containing proper nouns or names in particular:
Hobson’s choice (=no choice at all) – referring to Tobias Hobson
who kept a large number of horses for hire. When anyone asked to
hire a horse Hobson would always offer only the horse nearest the
door of the stable
3. a large number of Phr U originate from literary sources: from
antique, Greek mythology, the Bible: a Pandora’s box, to cross/pass
the Rubicon. The Bible: cast pearl before swine; wash one’s hands
of smth.
4. Shakespeare: cakes and ale – беззаботно наслаждаться
жизнью; to give the devil his due – отдавать должное противнику.
Also: Dickens, Pope, Swift, Scott etc.
5. Differences in associations with some certain words in diff
languages: e.g. Dutch in English – negative association: 17th
century – rivalry between England & Holland. In other lang it isn’t
the case.
Dutch bargain – односторонне выгодная сделка, Dutch comfort –
слабое утешение, Dutch defense – притворная защита.
6. Some Phr U are similar in diff lang: to get on the high horse –
sich aufs hohe Pferd setzen. – высокомерно держаться,
важничать.
Middle Ages – the same customs => the same Phr U.: to win one’s
spurs – sich die Sporen verdienen = добиться известности,
выдвинуться. Reference to a medieval custom of awarding
knighthood on warriors who distinguished themselves in combat.
7. In diff lang. the transferred meaning may be the same or close
but the underlying imagery – different (when diff associations are
formed, prompted by diff conditions):
Чертова дюжина – a baker’s dozen; ехать в Тулу со своим
самоваром- to carry coals to Newcastle.
8. Interpreter’s false friends: hands down (=easily) – руки
опустились (=ready to give up)– the same (or close) lexical
composition but diff meanings as diff associations are formed: He
passed the exam hands down.
To lead smb by the nose (to persuade smb to do what one wants, to
control smb) – водить к-л за нос (cheat).
30 Neologisms, types of neologisms.
The English language just like other European languages is now
facing “a neological boom”. This process has boosted a new branch
of linguistics – neology. It’s a science concerned with the
investigation and description of new vocabulary items. Neologism is
any unit (a word or an expression) new either in form or in meaning.
Proceeding from the type of nominative change three main groups
of neologisms may be distinguished:
1.
Neologisms proper (new form is combined with
new meaning): the euro, e-mail, AIDS
2.
Transnominations
new vocabulary
units, the meaning of which is already
expressed by traditional words (the form is new,
the meaning is old though some new
connotations are added
3.
4.
Semantic innovation (the form is old, the
meaning is new): gas, funky.
31. Sources of neologisms in the E language
According to the way of creating neologisms may be qualified as:
1. Phonological neologisms (words created ex nihilo, out of
separate sounds, sometimes called artificial or “invented”),
acryl,
perlon
Very closed to these are neologisms created by sound imitation
(zizz (a short sleep), zap (to shoot, hit))
2. Borrowings The spelling of recent loan words is generally
faithful to the system of the original language (dolce vita (ital),
lunokhod (rus)); loan translations: third world, socialist realism
(Russian)
3. Morphological neologisms are created according to the patterns
of word-formation already existing in the language. Such units
usually
consist
of
familiar
morphemes.
Created through affixation, conversation, compounding,
shortening etc.
Affixation proves the most fruitful neological source.
Suffixation: more productive than others suffixes are: -er, -ist, -y, ism, -ster, -able
Prefixation a large percentage of neologisms in E:
De- (meaning of doing the opposite of), Non - (meaning of the lack
of), Pre – (meaning of before), Re (meaning of repetition of the
action), Micro, Mini, Counter, Anti, Under, Over
Conversation is less popular nowadays, the commonest type being
formation of verbs from nouns: the nominalization of phrasal verbs
(show – off, face – off). Many verbs are formed from compound
nouns.
Compounding. Semantically all new compounds – 3 groups:
Motivated compounds (finger-food)
Partially motivated compounds (TV-dinner)
Highly idiomatic (completely non-motivated)
compounds (slow-coach, sweet-tooth)
Blends may be defined as new lexemes formed from two parts of
two other words in such a way that there is no transparent analysis
into morphs.
1. analytical nomination: take over, show off;
composite verbs (with locative particles, that correspond to
Russian prefixal verbs): run out, in, into, away;
units on the pattern of a semi link verb + a predicative verbal
noun: to have a smoke
2. derivation on the basis of phraseology. 2 processes:
a. word derivation- words are derived from phraseological units:
 compound words: a trail- blazer from to blaze a trail
(to be the first to do smth.); simple words: shirty
(angry, ill-tempered) from to have one’s shirt out (to
become angry) homonyms derived from P/Us: to
finger (to give information on a person to the police; orly: to feel with one’s finger) from to put the finger on
smb. (to give information on smb. to the police
b. phrasal derivation- new phrasal units derive from original P/Us:
a man Friday from a girl Friday (secretary);
Morphological sources
1.
highly productive suffixes:
-y/-ie: a groupy, a yuppy;
2.
prefixes:
de-: defrost; re-: rethink, rebook, renew
3.
semi affixes: (an affix based as a word): consumerfriendly, stress-free, fat-free; -oriented, -wide, -conscious
4.
blends (слова-слитки): workerholic, brunch (breakfast +
lunch), motel (motor + hotel)
5.
clipping (a lexeme is shortened): mike (microphone)
6.
acronyms: abbreviations that are pronounced as a word:
NATO, AIDS
32.33.34 Stylistic differentiation of the E vocabulary
3 groups:
neutral words (notional content of the word)
colloquial words (direct express or awake
emotions)
literary words (educational state)
neutral
literary
colloquial
Child
Infant
Kid
To meet
To socialize
To hang out
Use of the word that belongs to another stylistic layer is a stylistic
device, can express irony, sarcasm
Literary words
Types: general & special
general literary words – bookish, belong to the official speech
ubiquitous (вездесущий), pernicious (пагубный)
special literary words: - neologisms, - archaic, - barbarisms, - terms
styl neologisms retain individual colour, are use for exotic effect.
When a community begins to talk in these words, they become
lexicological neologisms, stop being styl neologisms. Made on the
basis of word building existing patterns: - suffixation
A spoonfula stateful of, armful of charm.
conversation: to mother, to mydear (expressiveness)
compounds: stepmotherland
archaic words: obsolete, historical, proper
obsolete archaic words – not identified by the language community
(happily for perhaps, nay for no). to create historical background
archaic words proper – not typical for El, but not so old as obsolete
words, used for fun, joke: thou (ты), thee (тебя, тебе)
historical words – denote objects, general phenomena, not
relevant now: spear (копье), vassal for creating a true to life
background
barbarisms – borrowings, retained native spelling and
pronunciation: tet-a-tet, babushka
terms – in special literature, no connotations, neutral. 2 purposes:
1) convincing background; 2) humorous effect
colloquial words
slang, jargonism, vulgarism, dialectal words (have neutral synonyms
of the vocabulary)
slang – in/out of the language very soon, main feature –
expressiveness which is result from figurativeness, the image is
transparent (buck for dollar, all that jazz – all that stuff, gas – fun)
there can be some phonetic peculiarities: sound imitation (blip –
quick, insignificant, of little importance: it was not a fight, only a blip)
some word building peculiarities: through abbriviation (shortening)
business – bus, teenager – teen
jargonisms – social and professional
social gargonisms – words used by a particular social class (mafia
jargonisms: wacked – killed)
professional – used to replace terms: a shot – injection, x-ray –
scrins
dialectal words – retain dialectal character, to create local coloring :
pat – dialectal “darling” (now – no longer dialectal because lost its
dialectal characteristics)
vulgarisms – tabu words, ненормативные слова
35. Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices
several groups of stylistic devices, lexical devices are the most
numerous
1)
based on the interaction of different types of
meaning
2)
descriptive devices
3)
on use of phraseology
4)
on different styles, the contamination
1. based on the interaction of different types of meaning - of the
logical and contextual types of meanings
metaphor
based on the resemblance between the object named and the
object implied (on the association of similarity)
Lucy was a violette on a mossy stone
the metaphor can be
a) - sustained, prolonged or 1 word-metaphor
b) – noun M, verb M, adj M (metaphorical epithets) spidery fingers,
he listened hungrily
a kind of M is the personification Necessity is the mother of invention
Metonymy
Based on the association of contiguity between the object named
and the object implied
types:
-between a part and a whole
-symbolic association through a symbol established (from the cradle
to the grave)
-trite M (the Cremlin said...)
-original M (the moustache and I have nothing common)
Irony
Based on the contradiction betw the logical and contextual meaning
through it, words are made to arouse an opposite meaning (saying
the opposite of what you actually mean)
How nice of you to have lost my key!
Antonomasia
Interaction betw the nominal and logical components of the
meaning, instead of the figure’s name is used a quality of the
character, a trait: He is a real Hercules
Epithets
Indirection betw the logical and motive components, disclose the
individual emotional colored attitude of the author to describe the
object. Expressed by adj, adv, nouns in an attributive position and
the of-phrase
He was a man with lips of flame but with a heart of stone
-by ordinary adj: a grey metallic face
-whole attributive chains (syntactical units, may form expressive
epithets: don’t-touch-me-or-i’ll-kill-you
-fixed epithets: my true love
-transferred E: unbreakfasted morning
Oxymoron
a combination (adj+noun, adj+adv ‘pleasantly ugly’), a combination
of openly contradictory words and meanings. (sharp dullness)
hyperbole
overstatement, obvious and deliberate exaggeration. Its purpose is
to emphasize something or to produce a humorous effect.
all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand
Zeugma
The direct and figurative meanings are engaged at the same time
(He took his sorrows and books to Paris)
Pun
A play of words, based on polysemy and homonymy, a play on
words that have a similar sound but different meanings. The E has
many homophones The importance of Being Earnest
2. descriptive devices
Allusion
Reference to well-known characters, facts: historic (He was an
Napoleon), literary, mythological, biblical
simile
a kind of comparison in which 2 things are compared because they
have smth in common (like or as)
She walks like an angel.
periphrasis
a around-about way of describing things
kinds of P:
-metonimic P: marry a big bag of money
-metaphoric P: a ship (camel)
-euphemistic P (common in mass-media to conceal true motives): a
war – involvement
a.
the use of phraseology
the transformation of P/U, manipulating the components, concealing
the primary meaning, manipulating the imagination:
to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth (He was born with a
silver spoon in his mouth and the spoon remained there)
b.
contamination of style
mixing up of the words relating to different stylistic levels
36. Syntactical expressive means
- sentences and paragraphs; word order, different constructions
within a sentence
Inversion
Inverted WO, is used to emphasize that part of a sentence is of
great significance
2 types of I: isolation & ellipsis
isolation – a private case of I; usually expressed by an attribute or
adv modifier: Pale and trembling, Mary opened the door
Ellipsis (used to draw smb’s attention): Becky entered the ballroom, her face radiant.
Rhetorical question and litotes – gramm. form is contradictory to
their meaning
Rq don’t need any answers, a kind of statement.
Litotes - a deliberate understatement, often designed to create a
comic or sarcastic effect. Mary was not a little surprised. He is not
unlike a bull
Represented speech
2 types: - represented uttered
represented inner
It is a mixture of the direct speech & indirect speech
a)
the WO is reserved as ds
b)
the sequence of tense is observed
c)
only in the 3d person
d)
contains all kinds of interjections & exclamations
Within a paragraph
A paragraph is a device itself. Its criteria – integrity, coherence. It
contains one topic (which runs through the whole paragraph).
Coherence is a logical sequence of ideas, having a clear connection
among all the parts by using connecting devices (transitions,
bridging sentences, repeated words, synonyms, conjunctions).
Parallel constructions – the pattern of the 1. sentence is repeated
in the next sentence, shows equal importance, adds balance and
rhythm and clarity to the sentence (He loved her dearly, she loved
him passionately).
Chiasmus – a reversed parallelism (he stood up, down sat she).
Climax (gradation) – a special arrangement of sentences used to
show an increase in emotions, significance: Your son is ill. He is
desperately ill. I think he is beyond hope.
Antithesis – a syntactical device, contrast of 2 ideas brought out
through parallel constructions, .2 criteria – the 2 sent repeat the
same syntactical pattern + logical contrast, contextual antonyms (in
intellect they are angels, in their lust - serpents)
Cumulation – a conjunction is used to combine 2 parts of the
paragraph which at first sight have no logical connection: He adored
his mother and it was his first trip
Repetition - emphasize smth important, to reinforce a theme, to
create parallel structure, to highlight the speaker's attitude, to focus
the reader's attention on some idea. Its function – to create a certain
rhythmical effect
3 types: - anaphora – the first word is repeated
epiphora – the final element is repeated
framing – the initial element is repeated at the end
of the sentence