Professional Documents
Culture Documents
- phonology
3 main branches - grammar
- lexis (vocabulary)
Lexicology
(Greek: = lexis (meaning) + logos (science, learning)
= science/study of the word)
A. TASK:
Study & systematic description of vocabulary of a given language
B. SUBJECT MATTER:
The word, its structure, meaning & history
C. SUBJECT MATTER:
The word, its structure, meaning & history
5 branches of lexicology:
1. word structure & formation:
structure of the word & the way it is formed
2. semasiology/semantics:
(lexical) meaning of word: types, change &
development
3. phraseology:
set/fixed expression (idioms, proverbs)
4. etymology:
history, origin of words
(whether words are native or borrowed)
5. lexicography:
dictionary compiling (types of dictionary, selection &
arrangement of words)
D. Approaches of lexicology
• General lexicology:
treat vocabulary in general
• Special lexicology:
treat the vocabulary of a given language
• Historical lexicology:
discusses the vocabulary in diachronic aspect
• Descriptive lexicology:
studies the vocabulary in synchronic aspect
3
II. SIGNIFICANCE OF LEXICOLOGY
In foreign language teaching
• build up student's vocabulary (select, group, analyze
new words)
• distinguish between different styles of speech
• express more ideas within a limited vocabulary
• develop skills of using types of dictionaries
• test student's knowledge of vocabulary
• provide a better insight into various cultural aspects of
target language
4
III. LEXICOLOGY IN ITS RELATION TO
PHONOLOGY, GRAMMAR & STYLISTICS
Contribution to lexicology from:
• Phonology:
condition of word unity & mark word limits,
e.g. 'RED tape vs red 'TAPE lipservice
• Grammar:
grammatical form & function of a word affect its lexical
meaning
e.g. feel (link V) vs feel (trans. V)
• Stylistics:
same words of different styles bring about different
meanings,
e.g. hell (standard) vs hell (non-standard)
5
IV. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
English vocabulary:
composite, mixed: 2 main layers:
1. native:
words of Anglo-Saxon origin -
foundation/basic stock: oldest, stable, polysemantic
e.g. man, woman, door
2. borrowed:
words of foreign origin
e.g. chic, rendevouz
6
VI. Causes in borrowings
1. Non-linguistic cause:
contact between Britain and other countries through business,
invasions, conquests...
2. Linguistic causes:
The necessity to name new things, ideas, notions...
-to replace group of words by a single word, e.g. campus
- to enrich the expressive means of English
END OF CHAPTER 1
8
Chapter 2
WORD STRUCTURE & FORMATION
A. WORD STRUCTURE
1. The morpheme :
1.1. Definition :
• the minimal meaningful language unit.
• not independent, occurs in speech only as part of word
•
2
b. The derivational morpheme (lexico-grammatical
morpheme)
• carrying both lexical and grammatical meaning.
• used to create new words
• studied in lexicology
E.g. pre in prewar ; re in rearrange ; ness in happiness ; ly in
fatherly
Derivational paradigm :
• the system of derivational forms characteristic of a word
E.g. fatherless, fatherhood, fatherly
care, careful, careless, carefully
3
THE DIVISION OF ENGLISH MORPHEMES
MORPHEME
ROOT AFFIXATIONAL
Free bound
inflectional derivational
prefix suffix
4
Division of morphemes
Morphemes
Lexical Grammatical
7
B. WORD FORMATION
I. Definition:
process of building new words from the already existing word
according to a certain structural and semantic patterns and
formulas
II. Affixation:
formation of new words with the help of affixes (prefix/suffix)
II.1. Prefixation
1. Characteristic features
• prefixes rarely form new parts of speech
• some coincide with words mostly prep & adv
E.g. over, out, up
2. Classification: 3 main groups :
• negative meaning : unhappy, disease, misfortune, immoral
• reversal or repetition of an action : undo, disconnect, remarriage
• space and time relationship : pre/ postwar, overwork,
supermarket
8
II.2. Suffixation :
1. Characteristic features:
-change the meaning of stems both lexically and grammatically
E.g. (to) write writer
friend friendly/friendship
cloud cloudy/cloudless
- Suffixes have the peculiarities :
+ polysemy : -er in worker, doer, Londoner
+ homonym : -s in spectacles (eye glasses), colours (flag)
2. Classification :
according to parts of speech:
• - noun - suffixes : -er, - or, - ing, ness
• - adjective - suffixes : -able, -ful, -ish, -like, etc
• - verb - suffixes : -en, -ize , -ish
• - adverb - suffixes: -ly, -ward, -wise
9
COMPOUNDING (word - composition)
1. Definition :
the building of a new word by joining two or more words.
E.g. book keeper, well - known, (to) baby-sit
2. Characteristic features
Components of a compound:
- at least two root morphemes
E.g. worldwide, ice - cream, downstairs, motherland
R+R R+R R+R R+R
- derived words or even other compound words.
E.g. kindhearted, easy - going, greengrocer
R + DE.W R + DE.W R + DE.W
- or even other compound words
E.g. [[stone age] CP + [cave dweller] CP] CP
- English compounds have two stems :
+ determinatum (head) :
the second element, being the basic part in the
compound, usually expressing a general meaning
+ E.g : film star, home - made, maidservant
+ determinant (dependent/modifier):
the first element, being a determining part in the
compound, premodifying the determinatum
E.g. Wastepaper basket
wastepaper basket
determinant (dependent) determinatum (head)
, statesman, honeymoon
2.Criteria of compound words :
2.1. Phonological criterion :
- a heavy stress on the first element, especially most of
compound nouns.
E.g. 'PICKpocket, 'BLACKboard, 'FILMstar
- compound words which have double stress
E.g. 'good 'egg, 'happy - go - 'lucky
2.2. Inseparability criterion
- insertion of a word is impossible
E.g. homemade, honeymoon, house keeper
- sometimes, elements of a compound are separated in some
cases
E.g. Both cigar and cigarette smokers have to spend a lot
2.3. Semantic criterion
- single idea : A + B = S
E.g. make - up, brother - in - law, up - to - date
- The meaning of the whole compound word is not the sum
of the meanings of its components
E.g. green -grocer (a person selling vegetables),
honeymoon (vacation after wedding ceremony) , breakdown (a
stoppage through accident)
2.4. Graphic/ spelling criterion
if X: spelt with a hyphen or with no separation
then X: a compound.
E.g. notebook , fountainpen, take - in , teach - in
old age (not compound) old - age pensioner
(compound
3. Semi - affixes
- have generalized lexical meaning and great ability to be
combined with a great number of roots.
E.g. half in half - done, half - broken, half - eaten
well in well - fed, well - done, well - prepared
man in postman, chairman, cabman
- lose their grammatical independence, even their
meaning
- often used in combinations
4. Classification of compound words :
4.1.Classification according to meaning:
+ Non - idiomatic compounds (Motivated): meanings
easily deduced from the meaning of the components
E.g. bookshelf, salesgirl, handshake, table - cloth
+ Idiomatic compounds (Non-motivated): no relationship
between the meanings of the component;
meanings cannot be deduced
E.g. eye -wash (something said or done to deceive a
person)
fiddlesticks (nonsense, rubbish)
4.2. Classification according to componental relationships
+ Coordinate compounds :
components: both structurally and semantically independent
E.g. girl friend, Anglo - Saxon, oak - tree
+ Subordinate compounds :
domination of one component (structural center) over the other
(dependent).
E.g. book keeper, baby sitter, wrist - watch, road building
4.3. Classification according to the part of speech :
+ Compound nouns : sitting room, blackboard
+ Compound adjectives: hot tempered, age - long
+ Compound verbs : to handwash, to baby-sit
+ Compound adverbs: whole heatedly, self -confidently
+ Compound prepositions : into, onto, inside
4.4. Classification according to compositional types :
+ Compounds formed by juxtaposition (i.e. without
connecting elements)
E.g. queen-bee, heart-broken, daytime
+ Compounds formed by morphological means (i.e. with vowel or
consonant as a linking element)
E.g. speedometer, statesman, bridesmaid
+ Compounds formed by syntactical means (i.e. group of
words condensed into one word)
E.g. merry - go - round, up - to - date
+ Compounds formed by both by morphological and
syntactical means (i.e. phrases turned into compounds by means of
suffixes and hyphen) :
E.g. bottle -opener, heart - shaped, long - legged
5. Miscellanea of compounds :
+ Derivational compounds
structural integrity is ensured by a suffix
E.g. two - sided, broad - mended, honeymooner, pen -
holder
+ Reduplicative compounds :
imitating sounds or repeating one of their components
E.g. goody - goody , fifty - fifty, hush - hush, zig - zag , chit -
chat
+ Faded compounds :
compositional characteristic: "faded" & hardly recognizable .
E.g. breakfast, cupboard, highway, Sunday, boatswain
+ Dead compounds :
compositional characteristics: etymologically analysed &
discovered
E.g. husband , kidnap
SHORTENING
1. Characteristic features
- highly productive, specifically in colloquial speech and
advertisement
- a good way of creating roots : can take endings.
E.g. examination exam, laboratory lab,
television TV, refrigerator fridge
2. Types of shortening :
2.1 Acronyms : built from the initial letters of several words
E.g. S.O.S : Save Our Souls
BBC : British Broadcasting Corporation
UNO : United Nations Organizations
MP : Member of Parliament
Two special cases of acronyms :
+ Monograms :
- two or more letters combined in one design
- used in handkerchief, note - paper or in wedding invitation cards
+ Homonymy :
based on the use of identical sounds of words letters
E.g. U2 = ?, mobi 4Y = ?
I. O .U = ?
2.2. Clipping :
- shortening a word of two or more syllables (usually N and A)
+ Initial clipping : the first part of a word is clipped :
E.g. telephone phone, helicopter copter
+ Final clipping : the last part of a word is clipped :
E.g. Advertisement ad , microphone mike
+ Initio - final clipping : the first and the last part are clipped
E.g. influenza flu , detective tec
+ Elliptico - conversional clipping (phrasal clipping) : E.g.
music
ular
popA
popN
perm (from permanent ware), taxicab (from taxi meter - cab)
3. Blending :
parts of words merge into one new word.
E.g. breakfast and lunch
br + unch
sm + og
trans + istor
CONVERSION ZERO DERIVATION
XA + XB (A & B: different parts of speech)
1. Definition
new word formed in a different part of speech without adding any
element.
E.g. workN to workV , loveN to loveV , waterN to waterV
2. Characteristic features :
- The difference between words in each pair is :
+ Morphological : new paradigm
E.g. work - worked - working
+ Syntactic : new function
E.g. He worked very hard
+ Semantic : completely new meaning
E.g. act : a scene in a play
to act : to do something
- the most productive way of creating new words
3. Forms of conversion :
a. Traditional conversion :
commonly and traditionally used by the public, recorded in
dictionaries
b. Occasional conversion :
- individual use of conversion in special situation, occasions,
- to express one's idea vividly, humorously.
E.g. package - to package, wireless - to wireless, holiday -
to holiday
c. Partial conversion: verb + noun
in verbal phrases like : "have, take, make + N"
E.g. dance to have a dance,
progress to make progress
d. Substantiation : Adjective + Noun
E.g. deaf the deaf ; rich the rich
poor the poor ; old the old
Back derivation/back formation : XA - Af X'B
1. Definition :
subtracting a real or supposed affix from existing words.
E.g. baby - sitter - er (Af) to baby sit
beggar - gar (Af) to beg
2. Characteristic features
- an opposite process to affixation :
- fairly productive in building compound verbs from
compound nouns
E.g. to tape record (from tape recorder), to air condition (from air -
conditioner)
SOUND IMITATION (ONNOMATOPOEIA)
1 Definition : (phonetical motivation)
imitating sounds produced by actions, things and so on.
2 Classification :
Word showing showing showing showing showing showing
used animals actions actions noise of forceful move
for themsel made by by man metallic motion ment of
ves animals things water
E.g. the crow to moo, babble clink, clash, flush,
(from to mew, chatter tinkle crash, splash,
crow), to purr, giggle, whack, babble
the to roar, grunt, whip,
cuckoo to howl, grumble whisk.
(from to neigh murmur
cuckoo)
ABLAUT & STRESS SHIFT- SOUND AND STRESS
INTERCHANGE
1. Sound interchange go – went suppletion
changing the root vowel or consonant form the old word.
E.g. song to sing
/ s I ŋ / /s I ŋ /
breath breathe
/ bre T / / bri: D /
2. Stress interchange
building the place of the stress on the old one.
E.g. present to present
/’preznt/ / pri’zent ,
accent to accent
/ ‘&ksent/ / @ ‘sent /
•End of Chapter 2
28
Chapter 3
SEMASIOLOGY /SEMANTICS
1. Types of meaning:
1.1. Lexical meaning :
- usually associated with real-world referents (e.g. entities,
situations)
1.2. Grammatical meaning :
- unites words with different lexical meanings into groups with their
own grammatical features (with the presence of categorical markers).
E.g. book, chair, boy, house : nouns
red, good-looking, tired, talkative : adjectives
1.3. Notional Words & Function words:
- notional words (whose lexical meaning is clear) name objects,
actions, qualities, etc.
- functional words (whose prevailing meaning is grammatical), e.g.
particles, articles, prepositions, etc.
2. The components of lexical meaning :
2.1. The denotational meaning (denotation)
- indicates or points out things, concepts, etc which is called
referent & sense.
E.g. wind - a phenomenon of nature
a child - a young person from birth to the age full physical
development, a table - an object
significative denotation (sense): concept,
abstract idea, e.g. love, happiness
Denotation
demonstrative denotation (referent):
individual object, e.g. a table, that cat
2.2) The connotational meaning (connotation)
- shows us how things, concepts, etc are indicated. It conveys the
speaker's attitude, emotions and so on.
E.g. - die, pass away, go to the west
- child, kid
- father, dad, daddy
Connotation ingredients
Semantic emotive evaluation intensity stylistic
shades charge colouring
E.g. slang :
like, love, magnificent governor
magic,
worship, gorgeous, (father) ;
witchcraft,
large, big, splendid, bookish :
sorcery
tremendous superb anticipate
(to expect)
3. The types of lexical meaning
Indirect meaning
Type of meaning
Direct meaning : (figurative/
(literal meaning) transferred
Function
meaning)
denotes
directly indirectly
something
Mophologic
Phonetic motivation Semantic motivation
motivation
STANDARD NON-STANDARD
General Special
run an instrument
to move with quick steps
- full homonyms: an act of running
no logical relationship between the meanings of a word
E.g.
case something that has happened
a question decided in the court of law
a box, a container
b) Derivational criterion :
only X or Y forms its own derivatives
E.g. air - aircraft - airport
c) Synonymy - based criterion :
synonyms of X & Y have nothing in common
E.g. back (n) - a part of body
back (adv) - away from the front
ball (n) - a round object used in games
ball (n) - a gathering of people for dancing
d) Combinability criterion :
two or more meanings of X have different combining ability or
different paradigms
E.g. lie - lay - lain long - longer - longest
lie - lied - lied to long - longed - have/has longed
8. Synonyms
8.1. Definition :
phonetically and morphologically different words of the same part
of speech, possessing similar denotation but differing in
connotation, combinability, etc.
E.g. to seem, totolook,
lookto appear
to begin
begin, to commence, to start
to
todie
die, to pass away, to kick the bucket
8.2.) Characteristic features :
- synonymic dominant, the most general, neutral word in a
synonym group
E.g. totohelp,
helpto aid, to assist
8.3) Classification :
a) Semantic synonyms :
differing in shades of meaning
E.g. *nice, pretty, good looking, beautiful, attractive
- to like, to love
b) Stylistic synonyms :
differing in stylistic aspects
E.g. - to die- to pass away
- girlfriend - bird
c) Semantico - Stylistic synonyms :
differing in both shades of meaning and stylistic aspect
E.g. - to experience, to undergo, to sustain, to suffer
- house - slack - slum
d) Phraseological synonyms :
differing in their collocations
E.g. - to say what
X is communicated
- to speak s.thing without
X content
- to do s.th as activity/
X work
- to make sth as creation/
X construction
e) Territorial synonyms :
synonyms that belong to different countries
E.g. - autumn (E) - fall (A) - autumn (Aus)
8.4) Sources of synonyms
a) Borrowings :
E.g. to gather (native) - to assemble (French) - to collect
to end (native) - to finish (French) - to complete (Latin)
b) Change of meaning:
c) The development of word formation :
+ Derivation and compounding
E.g. - to abandon - to give up
- trader - tradesman
- arrangement - layout
+ Conversion
E.g. - conversation - talk/chat
- laughter - laugh
+ Shortening :
E.g. - examination - exam
- laboratory - lab
9. Antonyms
9.1. Definition :
words of opposite meaning and of the same part of speech
E.g. joy - sorrow
increase - decrease
34
Chapter 4
PHRASEOLOGY
I. Definition & characteristic features
1.The study of set expressions (phraseological units), e.g.
in high feather
2. Structural features
completely or partially fixed
grammatical structure and lexical components: stable.
E.g. in high feather *in tall feather
but
to kill two birds with one stone I killed three birds
with one stone
3. Semantic & stylistic features
set expressions may be:
+ motivated (meaning can be deduced)
+ non-motivated (meaning cannot be deduced),
e.g. to pull one's leg
+ Expressions of figures of speech:
- metaphor: a dog in the manger
- metonymy: a golden boot
+ Expressions based on alliteration and contrast,
e.g. now or never...
+ Expressions based on synonymy,
e.g. by leaps or bounds...
+ Expressions based on rhyme,
e.g. by hook or by crook...
II. Classification: based on
1.motivation
Phraseological fusions: completely non-motivated or
idiomatic; cannot be literally translated into other
languages, e.g. a nice kettle of fish
like verbs,
e.g. to make eyes at...
like adjectives,
eg. as meek as a lamb
like prepositions,
e.g. in consequence of
like interjections,
e.g. son-of-a-bitch!
III. Proverbs, idioms, quotations, clichÐs & sayings
1. Proverb:
a short saying expressing popular wisdom, a truth or moral
lesson, e.g.
Two heads are better than one, no pains no gain
- lexical components are constant, stable, e.g.
tit for tat
- meaning: figurative, ready-made units, e.g.
make or mar
- often elliptical, e.g.
(so) many dishes (so) many diseases
2. Idiom:
expression, short saying
- meaning cannot be deduced from components
- not instructive, moral in nature, e.g.
kick the bucket, mum the words
3. Quotation:
- expression from literature
- gradually become part and parcel of the language, e.g.
To err is human,
Live now pay later,
Life is but a sea of trouble
4. ClichÐs:
quotation or saying so frequently used to become hackened and
stale, e.g.
stand shoulder to shoulder with...,
pave the way to a bright new world
IV. Set expressions vs compound words
Criteria to distinguish set expressions from compound
words:
- The divisibility of a set expression into separately structural
elements
- The structural integrity of a compound
- Derivational ability
- The spelling of some compounds: solid and hyphenated
•End of Chapter 4
8
Chapter 5 ETYMOLOGY
I. Basic assumptions on English vocabulary:
- Mixed character
- 2 main layers of English vocabulary:
1. Native words: Anglo-Saxon origin: 30%
2. Borrowed words: completely or partially assimilated: 70%
- sound-form borrowings
- semantic borrowings (English origin - foreign related
meaning),
e.g. red (revolutionary due to influence of French word rouge)
- translation loans (material available in English - patterns
of other languages),
e.g. wall newspaper: a literal translation loan from Russian
- source vs origin: paper (borrowed from French but
originated: Greek)
II. Assimilation of borrowings:
The confirmation to the phonetical, graphical, grammatical and
lexical rules of the receiving language
According to degree of motivation: 2 groups
1. Completely assimilated words:
- old borrowings, frequent and stylistically neutral
E.g. cheese, wine, street (Latin)
husband, fellow, happy (Scandinavian)
table, face, finish (French)
2. Partially assimilated words:
2.1. Semantically non-assimilated words:
-denote objects, notions peculiar to the original country, e.g.
kimono, sheik
2.2. Grammatically non-assimilated words:
- keep their original plural forms, e.g. crisis --- crises, index --
- indices
2.3. Phonetically partially assimilated words:
- stress on the final syllable, e.g. police, cartoon, machine,
prestige
- alien sounds, e.g. bourgeois, regime, memoir
- whole different pattern, e.g. potato, opera, tomato,
confetti
2.4. Graphically partially assimilated words
E.g. cafÐ, clichÐ, fiancÐ, corps, ballet
III. Barbarisms (unassimilated borrowings)
completely non-assimilated borrowed words in both oral and
written forms
E.g. coup d' Ðtat
IV. Etymological doublets
Two or more words of the same language derived by different
routes from the same basic word, e.g. canal --- channel; hospital ---
hotel (Latin - French doublets)
V. International words:
- have identity or similar sound forms and meaning
- used in many languages
- the majority in scientific terms, e.g. atomic, antibiotic,
phenomenon...
VI. Causes in borrowings
1. Non-linguistic cause:
contact between Britain and other countries through business,
invasions, conquests...
2. Linguistic causes:
The necessity to name new things, ideas, notions...
-to replace group of words by a single word, e.g. campus
- to enrich the expressive means of English
•End of Chapter 5
6
Chapter 6 LEXICOGRAPHY
I. Types of English dictionaries
1. General dictionaries:
+ Explanatory/ uni-lingual dic.
focus on form, usage and meaning of words
- treating words synchronically,
e.g. Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English
- treating words diachronically,
e.g. Webster New International Dictionary
+ Bilingual / Translation dic.
contain vocabulary items in one language and their
equivalents in another language
+ Learner's dictionary
e.g. Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English
by A.S. Hornby (etal)
2. Specialized dictionaries:
aim at covering a certain specific part of the vocabulary (synonyms,
antonyms, terms, phraseology, pronunciation, etymology...)
- Technical dictionary
Dictionary of Scientific -&Phraseological
Technical Terms NXB KH & KT
dictionary
NTC’s English Idioms Dictionary Richard
- Pronouncing A. Spears NTC
dictionary
English Pronouncing Dictionary Daniel
- Etymological Jones CUP
dictionary
Electronic Dictionary Online Yahoo.com
- Usage dictionary
Language Activator Longman
- Dictionary of word frequency
- Dictionary of collocations
- Dictionary of synonyms
Webster’s NewWorld Thesaurus Charlton Laird Prentice Hall Press
- Dictionary of Abbreviations
The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations Oxford
- Dictionary of Proverbs
Dictionary of Proverbs Rosalind Fergusson The Penguin
- Dictionary of Slang
Dictionary of American Slang Robert L. Chapman Perennial Lib.
•End of Chapter 6