Practical class № 1

Word-Meaning
Practical Assignment

1. Classify the following words into three columns according to the type of motivation – phonetic
motivation, morphological motivation, and semantic motivation:

phonetic motivation morphological motivation semantic motivation

babble basketball blooming (health)
bump bookshelf foot (of a mountain)
buzz bottleneck green (with envy)
crash boyish head (of a family)
giggle catlike heart (of the country)
howl chatter key (to a mystery)
mew eatable legs (of a table)
purr handkerchief nose (of a plane)
splash lioness tongues (of flame)
swish nightgown
tinkle overgrow
chirrup prefabricated
skillful
teacher
travelling-bag
twitter
untie
watery

2. Consult Macmillan / Oxford / Longman Dictionary, etc. and analyze the following word forms
classifying them on the grounds of common grammatical or lexical meaning and its elements
(denotative / connotative):

 telephones, desks, paintings, curtains, men, books, students – grammatical meaning (plurality)
 asked, reflected, smiled, smoked, told, wished, brought – grammatical meaning (past tense)
 happiest, bravest, best, most interesting – grammatical meaning (degrees of comparison: superlative form
of adjectives)
 smell, scent, odour, aroma – lexical meaning (the characteristic of something that can be recognized or
noticed using the nose)
 intelligent (denotative), clever (denotative), alert (denotative), quick-witted (denotative), bright
(connotative), smart (connotative), brainy (denotative), sharp (connotative), shrewd (denotative), canny
(denotative) – lexical meaning (having or showing the ability to learn and understand things quickly and
easily)
 jail (denotative), clink (connotative), trunk (connotative), jug (denotative), can (denotative), cooler
(denotative) – lexical meaning (a place where criminals are kept to punish them for their crimes)
 head (denotative), nob(connotative), nut (connotative), bean (connotative), upper storey (connotative),
belfry (connotative) – lexical meaning (the part of the body above the neck)

3. Consult the dictionary and determine the denotative and connotative meanings of the following
pairs of words in the sentences, dwell on the type of connotation in each case:
fat (having a lot of flesh on the body) vs plump (having a pleasantly soft, rounded body or shape)
You'll get fat if you eat all that chocolate. Denotative
The baby's nice and plump. Connotative (evaluative)

obstinate (stubborn) vs pig-headed (unwilling to change very strong opinions)

Don't be so obstinate! Denotative
I wish you’d stop being so pig-headed! Connotative (emotive, stylistic)

infant (a baby or a very young child) vs kid (a child)

Infants and elderly people are particularly at risk. Denotative
There was a group of kids playing football in the street. Connotative (stylistic)

beg (to make a very strong and urgent request) vs implore (to ask for something in a sincere and emotional
way)
I begged Helen to stay, but she wouldn't listen. Denotative
'Don't go,' I implored her. Connotative (emotive, stylistic)

friend (a person who you know well) vs crony (a close friend or companion)
She told this to only a few trusted friends. Denotative
He spent the evening drinking with his cronies. Connotative (stylistic)

fragrance (a sweet or pleasant smell) vs reek (a strong unpleasant smell)

The garden flower had a rich fragrance. Connotative (stylistic, evaluative)
The reek of cigarettes and beer filled the room. Connotative (stylistic, evaluative)

love (to like something very much) vs adore (to love someone very much)
I've always loved children. Denotative
Betty adores her grandchildren. Connotative (expressive)
I simply adore chocolate. Connotative (stylistic)
I’m lovin’ it (McDonald’s advertising jingle) Denotative

talent (a natural ability to be good at something) vs genius (very great and rare natural ability or skill)
She had an obvious talent for music. Denotative
She was a mathematical genius. Connotative (stylistic, expressive)

gobble (to eat quickly and sometimes with a lot of noise) vs eat
I exercise and eat right and get plenty of sleep. Denotative
She gobbled down her lunch. Connotative (stylistic, expressive)

4. Conduct the componential analysis of the following set of lexical units and represent their
meaning in the form of a structure with an appropriate combination of the semantic features:
Example: Father=
Human-seme
Adult-seme
Male-seme
Parent-seme

1. man – human, male, adult, parent

2. boy – human, male, non-adult
3. mother – human, female, adult, parent
4. girl – human, female, non-adult
5. bull – animal, male, adult, bovine
6. cow – animal, female, adult, bovine
7. calf – animal, non-adult, bovine
8. boar – animal, male, adult, porcine
9. sow – animal, female, adult, porcine
10. piglet – animal, non-adult, porcine