I.

Questions on Lexicology-Semantics
1. What is morpheme and types of morphemes?
- Morpheme are the smallest indivisible meaningful language unit- (cf.phonemes)
occur in speech as parts of words, not independently, although a word may consist
of a single morpheme.
- Types of morphemes: Morphemes in English can be classified into root
morrpheme morrphemes and affixal morphemes:
+ Root morphemes come into two small kinds:
_ free M . ex: Table, Boy
_ bound M . ex: girl – girls
+ Affixal M can be broken into two kinds: grammatical M and Derivational M
_ Grammatical M and Derivational M comes into three kinds:
prefix ex: unkind, mislead
infix ex: salesman, fisherman
suffix ex: kindly, leader
2. What is a word and types of words?
- Word is an independent language unit which has both sound and spelling form
and is capable to form a sentence by itself.
Ex Today, house, what…
- There are 3 types of words : + simple (R): heart
+ derived (R+A): hearty
+ compound (R+R): sweet heart
3. What is the difference between a word and a morpheme?
- The main difference is that while a word can stand alone, a morphemes may not
be able to stand alone.
4. What is word formation and ways of word formation?
- Word formation refers to the way in which new words are formed on the basic of
other words or morphemes.
7 ways of word formation:

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+ affixation ex: unhappy .unlucky, uneven; dishonest, assistance, appearance,
existence, audience;
+compounding ex:
(n) blackboards (tấm bảng đen), store-keepers (thủ kho), mothers-in-law
(mẹ chồng), passers-by (khách qua đường)
(v) handwash (giặt tay), handwashes, handwashing, handwashed
(adj) heart-breaking (làm đau xé lòng/ làm đau buồn), heart-broken (rất đau
buồn, đau khổ), middle-aged (trung niên – between young and old), first-rate (hạng
nhất, loại 1, xuất săc/ rất cừ)
+shortening
ex: UK: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
GB: Great Britain
USA: The United States of America
UNO: United Nations Organization
UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
UNICEF: United Nations Children's Emergency Fund
UNFPA: United Nations Fund for Population Activities
ESCAP: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
WHO/OMS: World Health Organization
+conversion
ex: Substantiation of adjectives : (adj > n) and verbs ( v > n)
- a native , a female, a relative, a daily – 1 nhật báo, elastic – dây
thun, a private, an intellectual, a criminal, a conservative, a
radical, a red, a grown-up.
- the blind, the rich, the happy, the good.
+sound&stress intercharge
ex: sound intercharge : food-feed, speak-speech, life-live, advice-
advise, bath-bathe, belief-believe, proof-prove, loss-lose
stress intercharge : 'accent(n) ac'cent(v)
'frequent(adj) fre'quent(v)
+sound imitation ex: - Sound and movement of water : babble – tiếng
róc rách, blob, bubble – bong bóng, bọt, tăm, flush – phun/ toé

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nước, làm ngập/ tràn nước, gurgle – tiếng ùng ục/ róc rách, gush –
phun ra, splash – sự bắn toé nước,
+back formation/back derivation
ex:
Beggar – người ăn xin to beg
house-breaking – sự lẻn vào to house-break
nhà để ăn trộm giữa ban
ngày
babysister – người trông trẻ to baby-sit

5. What is affixation ? The difference between prefixation and suffixation?

- affixation is a way of word formation, building new word by adding affixes to
roots. There are two types of affixation:
+ prefixation ex: awake, afresh, anew, aloud, alike, alone, misunderstand, mislead,
misbehave
+ Suffixation ex: assistance, appearance, existence, audience;
6. What is compounding and how are compound words classified?
- Compounding is a way of word formation, building new word by combining
at least two root morphemes. Ex blacklist, greenhouse
Compound words are classified based on the criteria:
+ structural classification:
+ According to the structure of the immediate components
- simple stems : handbag, film-star (ngôi sao điện ảnh)
- derived stems : skyscraper (toà nhà chọc trời), long-legged
(chân dài), ill-mannered (thô lỗ/ cục cằn), teenager
- abbreviated stems : maths -teacher, H-bomb, X-ray (tia X)
- at least one compound stem: aircraft carrier (tàu sân bay),
waste paper basket
- v + adv : break-down (sự hỏng máy/ thiết bị), cut-back (phàn cắt
bớt/ đoạn phim chiếu lại)
+ According to the part of speech
- compound nouns : girlfriend, greengrocer (người buôn bán rau
quả), splashdown (sự hạ xuống biển của con tàu vũ trụ)
- compound adjectives : red-hot (nóng đỏ/ giận bừng bừng/ nhiệt
huyết), peace-loving (yêu chuộng hoà bình), man-made, middle-
aged

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- compound verbs : to whitewash (minh oan/(n) nước vôi),
to carpet- bomb (ném bom rải thảm), to streamline (tổ chức hợp
lý hoá)
- compound adverbs : whole-heartedly (hết lòng), shamefacedly
(xấu hổ), self-confidently
- compound prepositions : onto, into, hereafter (sau đây)
+ According to the type of composition
- compounds formed by juxtaposition (vị trí kề nhau): backache
(chứng đau lưng), heart-broken, railroad
- compounds formed by morphological means (with an infix}:
spokesman, Afro-Asian (người Châu Á), speedometer (đồng hồ chỉ
tốc độ).
- compounds formed by syntactical means:
(word group —> compound ): up-to-date (cập nhật/ hiện đại),
forget-me-not (Đừng quên tôi), cash-and-carry (tiền trao cháo
múc)
- compounds formed by morphological and syntactical means :
kind-hearted : with a kind heart
blue-eyed : with blue eyes
teenager : a person in his teens
+ According to the relation between components
- Coordinative components – QH đẳng lập (both are
independent) :socio- economical (kinh tế xã hội), brain master,
mother-earth, parent-teacher
- Subordinative components – QH chính phụ (one component
dominates over the other): wrist-watch (đồng hồ đeo tay), gate-
keeper, spaceship.
+ semantic classification:
+ Non-idiomatic – kp nghĩa thành ngữ (morphologically
motivated- có thể đoán đc nghĩa): The meaning of the whole can
deduced from the meanings of the components: door-handle (tay
nắm cửa), headache, rose-bush (khóm hoa hồng), lifeboat (thuyền
cứu sinh), bedroom, sunlight.
+ Idiomatic- nghĩa thành ngữ (non-motivated- k đoán đc nghĩa):
no semantic relation between components:
nightmare, lotus-eater (kẻ hưởng lạc/ kẻ thích nhàn hạ), lip-
service (lời nói đãi bôi), eyewash (thuốc rửa mắt), horse sense
(lương tri chất phác), monkey-business (công việc vớ vẩn).
+ phonetic classification

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They are reduplicative compounds which fall into three
subgroups:
+ reduplicative compounds proper: hush-hush (làm thinh), pooh-
pooh (coi thường/ khinh rẻ), murmur (rì rào/ thì thầm), quack-
quack, puff-puff (máy phụt phụt), fifty-fifty (năm mươi – năm
mươi/ mỗi bên 1 nửa). – láy nguyên
+ ablaut combinations: the second basic morpheme is repeated
with a different vowel: sing-song (giọng đều đều/ giọng ê a), chit-
chat (câu chuyện phiếm/ cuộc tán gẫu), ding-dong (tiếng bing
boong (n)/ (adj) gay go), ping-pong (bóng bàn), zip-zag, tip-top
(đỉnh cao (n)/ (adj) tuyệt mỹ, hoàn hảo). – láy âm đầu
+ rhyme combinations: two pseudo- morphemes is joined to
rhyme: walkie-talkie (bộ đàm), willy-nilly (dù muốn dù không/
không có định hướng hay kế hoạch), hotchpotch (mớ hỗn độn),
hurry-scurry (ngược xuôi lộn xộn (adj)/ (n) tình trạng adj/ (v) hành
động adj), lovey-dovey (adj – đa cảm, yêu thương, âu yếm). – láy
vần

7. What is the difference between a compound and a free-word group?

- A compound words differs from a free word group in 4 aspects:
+ Phonological aspect:compound words often have stress on the first
element. Ex; + Most the compounds have a stress on the first
component
e.g. 'classroom, 'greenhouse, "boy-friend, to 'whitewash,
to'bottlefeed, "snub- nosed, 'forget-me-not, 'mothers-in-law,
'passer-by, 'dancing-girl
cf. free word groups : a green 'house, a dancing 'girl
e.g. A : Look at that beautiful dancing 'girl.
B : She's a well-known 'dancing-girl.
If you don't drive the 'bluebottle (con ruổi xanh) away, I will throw
the blue'bottle on your face .
+ Semantic integrity aspect :The meaning of compound words is not the sum
of their components
EX: dirty work (dishonorable proceedings)
fuss-pot (person easily excited and nervous about trifles) (người
hay làm to chuyện)
slow-coach (person who thinks and acts slowly) (chậm như rùa)
chatterbox (person who talks a great deal without saying anything
important) (chóp lười đầu môi)

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blue-stocking woman (woman who affects literary tastes and
learning) (nữ học giả)
lip-service (superficial service from the lips only) (lời nói k thành
thật/ cửa miệng) – to pay lip-serve to sb(chỉ khéo cái mồm, không
thành thật với ai)/st (thừa nhận st ngoài miệng)
lip-reading (interpretation (giải thích) of the motion of the lips)
lipstick (a stick of cosmetics for redding the lips)

+ Structural integrity aspect: Compounds are indivisible and it is

impossible to insert any other words . Endings are added to the
whole word.
e.g. black-markets (chợ đen), blackbirds, blackmail (sự hăm doạ
để tống tiền), blacklist, blacklegs (kẻ lừa đảo), red-tape (thói
quan liêu), fair- haired
+ Graphic aspect: A compound can be spelt in three ways : with a
hyphen (dấu gạch ngang) between two components, with break
and without break.
e.g. air-line, air line, airline
match-box, match box, matchbox
Few compounds have connective elements (infixes).
e.g. statesman, handicraft, savings-bank, goods-train, Anglo-
Saxon
8. What is shortening and types of shortening?
- a way of word formation, building new word(s) by reducing the
root. It is a very productive way of word building used in colloquial
speech, documents and advertisements.
- There are 2 types of shortening: abbreviation and blending
+ abbreviation : Acronyms: words built from the initials of
components
+ Monograms: UK: The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
GB: Great Britain
USA: The United States of America
UNO: United Nations Organization
+ Homonymy-based acronyms: I.O.U

Clipping

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 +initial: car (motor car), plane (air plane), phone
(telephone), bus(omnibus)
drome (airdrome).
+ final: exam(examination), lab(laboratory), prof
(professor),doc(document),ad
(advertisement),
+ inito-final: fridge( refrigerator), flu(influenza),
+medial: fancy(fantacy), Mr.(Mister), Mrs., Mmes.
Ms.(Messrs, Messieurs),
Dr(Doctor)
+ elliptic-conversational: sit-
down(demonstration), pop(popular
music),
+blending: parts of two words merge into a new word.
Ex:brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog( smoke+fog), telecast(tele-
broadcast), medicare ( medical care),telex (telegramme express),
9. What is conversion? State the types of conversion?
- Process of coining a new word in a different part of speech without adding any
element
- types of conversion:
1. Substantiation of adjectives : (adj n) and verbs ( v n)
- a native , a female, a relative, a daily – 1 nhật báo
- a go (1 lần 1 lượt), a find, black-out, take-over, a stand, a must,
a walk, a move.
2. Adjectivization of nouns (n adj)
a silver cup, a gold ring, an iron knife.
3. Verbalization of nouns or adjectives (n/adj v)
to hand, water, land, pocket, arm, elbow, silence, skin, bottle,
railroad, honeymoon, rubber-stamp, machine-gun, head, eye,
finger, fish, shoulder, better, black, up, down, lower, narrow,
clear, clean, cool, quiet
4. Adverbialization of adjectives (adj adv)
fast ,long, high, pretty, hard, wrong, dead
5. Partial conversion (chuyển đổi từ loại nhưng không hoàn toàn)

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to have a look/ talk/ smoke/ swim/ wash/ chat/ drink/ sleep/
dance/ rest
to give a ring/kick/ blow/ cry/ laugh/ whistle/jerk/jump/start/
answer
to take a ride / walk/ the lead
to make a move/dive/request/suggestion/ attempt/agreement
6. Individual coinage – nói 1 cách cho vuông in conversation
'Hello, dear!' He hello-deared everybody.
I'm tired of his 'hello-dear'.

10. What is the difference between affixation and back-formation?

- Affixation: formation of words by adding affixes to roots
prefixation+suffixation
- Back-formation: building of a new word by subbtracting a real or supposed
affix from the existing word.
Eg: editor >to edit
11. State types of meaning of words?
- Words in English often have 2 types of meaning : Gram meaning ( functional
words ) and Lexical meaning ( notional words)
Ex:
- For lexical meaning, it is often broken into denotational meaning and con-
notational meaning. Ex:
- Denotational meaning refersto abstract and concrete things/concepts while
con-notational meaning refers to speakers viewpoint or emotion.
Ex:
- a science / study which deals with words, morphemes and word
groups.
- a science which studies and describes systematically the
vocabulary of a given language
12. What is context? State the kinds of context?
- Context is an environment with helps us to understand the meaning of word. It is
also the minimal stretch of speech that determines each meaning of a word.
- There are two types of context:

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 + linguistic: . lexical ex: black days/period (unhappy, full of hardships)
. Grammatical ex: Yesterday I gave her a ring and asked her to go out
with me.
+ non-linguistic(situational)
ex: to set has 126 meanings in maximum
I won't set my foot in his house.
You must set your name to this document.
The machine was set in motion.

13. What is homonym? State the kinds of homonym?

- Homonym words identical in pronunciation and/or spelling, but different in
meaning. They are not connected semantically (They have no semantic relation).
They are quite different words. eg. He ran fast (quickly)
-Types of homonyms
a- according to form:
+ Full/perfect homonyms: words identical both in pronunciation and spelling. They
are of the same part of speech.
e.g. ball: a round object used in games.
ball: gathering of people for dancing
seal: a sea animal
seal: a design printed on paper by means of a stamp.
+ Partial homonyms: words identical both in pronunciation and/or spelling. They
are homonymous only in some of the forms of their respective paradigms. They
may be found both within the same part of speech and in different parts of speech.
eg. to found - (he) found
pail (n) - pale (adj)
lie, lied, lied lie, lay, lain lay, laid, laid
b. according to meaning:
+ Lexical homonyms: words of the same part of speech, but of different meanings
and there is no semantic relation between them.
eg. match:
que diêm;
trận đấu
board:
tấm ván,
boong tàu,
ủy ban
spring:
mùa xuân,

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 suối,
lò so
+ Grammatical homonyms: words of different parts of speech .
eg. work (n) - work (v) asked (simple past) - asked (PII)
brothers - brother's light (n) - light (adj)
From a different angle, homonyms are classified into:
+ Homophones: words identical in pronunciation, but different or coincidental in
spelling.
eg. son - sun air - heir night - knight
ear - ear not - knot buy - by - bye
race - race piece - peace write - right - rite
+ Homographs: words of the same spelling, but of different pronunciation.
eg. tear/ti∂/ - tear /te∂/ bow /b∂u/ - bow / bau/
wind/wind/ - wind/waind/ lead /li:d/ - lead / led /
14. What is the difference between polysemy and homonymy?
- They are different in the folowing aspects:
a. Semantic criterion: connection between meanings
Homonyms Polysemantic words
game: trò chơi, cuộc thi đấu hand: part of body
game: thú săn help
skill
pointer of a clock
b. Derivational criterion: homonyms have their own derivation.
eg. air - aircraft, airfield, airline
air (suggestive appearance) - no derivatives
to have an air of importance
to put on airs
to put on an air of innocence
c. Criterion of synonyms: homonyms have different synonyms.
eg. bay (n) - syn. gulf
bay (n) syn. barking
d. Criterion of combination: homonyms have different valency (combination
ability) or different paradigms.
eg. game, games: trò chơi, thi đấu long(adj)- longer, longest
game: thú săn long (v)- longed, longing

15. What is synonym? State the types of synonym?

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- Synonyms are words (two or more) of the same part of speech, similar in their
denotational meaning, but different in their phonetic and graphic forms,
connotational meaning and combinability.

eg. to help, to aid , to assist, to succour

to help sb do st , to aid sb to do st
humanitarian aid : viện trợ nhân đạo

Types of synonyms
+ Absolute synonyms: words having the same denotational and connotational
meanings. They are few in number. This is a result of borrowing and territorial
synonyms.(dialect)
eg. Br E - team (in a football match) Am E - squad
luggage baggage
autumn fall
lift elevator
flat apartment
+ Semantic synonyms: words differing in shades of meaning
eg. beautiful, pretty, good-looking, nice, lovely, fair
to ask, to beg, to entreat, to ask, to question, to interrogate
hoy-simmering-boiling

+ Stylistic synonyms: words belonging to different stylistic layers văn phong,

differing in emotive value, expressiveness.
eg. policeman - bobby (colloq.) - cop (sl)
father - dad (colloq.) - daddy (colloq., emotional)
man - fellow, chap (colloq), lad
to begin - to commence (lit., official)

- Euphemisms uyển ngữ: words or expressions synonymous to those denoting

unpleasant notions or processes and sounding pleasant or basing on the desire not
to hurt other people's feelings.
eg. to die - to pass away, to depart this life/world
dead - late, deceased to dismiss —to sack, fire,
corpse - remains poor - underprivileged
crisis -recession, slow-down, depression drunk-merry, intoxicated
+ Semantic-stylistic synonyms: words differing both in shades of meaning and
stylistic aspect.
eg. house - shack, slum, pad (sl.)
to dismiss, to sack, to fire, to expel, to lay off, to kick out (sl)

T r a n g 11
+ Phraseological synonyms đồng nghiã về mặt thành ngữ: words differing in their
combinability.
eg. do exercises make money
native tongue foreign language
to raise/lift a finger to raise prices/wages/questions
to say smth (to sb) to tell sb smth
much many

16. What is metaphor? State the types of similarities?

17. What is metonymy? State the cases of relation?

18. What is idiomatic expression and its study ?
Phraseology is the study of set expressions called phraseological units.
These "set expressions are completely or partially idiomatic and reproduced in
speech as ready- made units.
19. What is the difference between idioms and proverbs/saying?
20. State stylistic classification of the English vocabulary?
Stylistically English words are divided into two main layers , we have
standard words and non-standard words.
1. Standard words:
 Neutral words : man, boy, father, ………
 Colloquial words : fellow, bike, dad,…….
 Bookish words : infant, lexicology,………
2. Non-standard words :
 Slangs : buck, mug, cop …….
 Vulgar words : dam, hell, bloody ……….
 Dialectal words : loch= lake ……..

T r a n g 12
 II. Exercises. Students will do one of the following exercise
models.

1. Identify derived words in the following passage and state the way of word-
formation they are coined.

Petunia has a well-equipped primary and secondary school. There is a good-

sized sports field, but instead of playing football the boys usually choose to
knit, like their fathers, while the girl make wool.

2. Underline the metaphoric expressions and state what type of similarity

they express.
1. a green apple; green with envy. /………………………………./
2. the wings of a bird; the wings of an aero-plane. /…………………………./
3. the root of a tree; the root of the matter. /………………………………./

3. Discuss the relation in metonymy of the underlined part in the following

sentences.
1. I have never read Balzac in the original. /………………………………./
2. My sister is fond of old china. /………………………………./
3. The coffee-pot is boiling. /………………………………./
4. Give the synonyms to the underlined words
1. He returned to his lodgings late.
2. They started early in the morning.
3. He's been very sweet to his mother.

5. Read the following pairs of sentences and mark the underlined words with /P/
if they are poly-semantic and with /H/ if they are homonymous. Match the marks
with the numbers.
1. a, Children, put up your right hand, please.

T r a n g 13
 b, I think I have no right to know that.
2. a, What a nice ball pen.
b, They made snow balls and threw at one another.
3. a, What can I do for you?
b, Give me a can of beer, please.
6. Explain the meaning of the underlined words:
1. He downed his gun.
2. She had never outed before.
3. He voiced his dream.

T r a n g 14