IRINE GOSHKHETELIANI

BOOK OF

ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY

“The human spirit thinks with words,”

Johann Gottfried Herder
„ინგლისური ენის ლექსიკოლოგიის სახელმძღვანელო“ განკუთვნილია ინგლისური
ფილოლოგიის სპეციალობის სტუდენტებისთვის და ინგლისური ლექსიკოლოგიით
დაინტერესებული ყველა პირისათვის. ის აგებულია საგნის სილაბუსის მიხედვით.მასში
თავმოყრილია ცნობილი ლინგვისტების მოსაზრებები ინგლისური ენის ლექსიკის მთავარ
პრობლემებზე და შედგენილიაბიბლიოგრაფიაში მოცემული წიგნების ბაზაზე.
სახელმძღვანელოში განხილულია ინგლისური ლექსიკოლოგიის მთავარი ამოცანები და
მიზნები, სიტყვათწარმოების თავისებურებები, აფიქსები, შედგენილი სიტყვები, კონვერსია,
ფრაზეოლოგიზმები, ეტიმოლოგიის ზოგიერთი საკითხი, დიალექტები და ვარიანტები,
ლექსიკონების სახეები და სხვა. სტუდენტს შეუძლია შეამოწმოს ცოდნა თითოეული თავის
შემდეგ მოცემული სავარჯიშოების შესრულებით. სახელმძღვანელოს დანართში
მოცემულია ლინგვისტურ ცნებათა ლექსიკონი.
ეს წიგნი საშუალებას მისცემს სტუდენტს უფრო ღრმად ჩაწვდეს ინგლისური ენის
საიდუმლოებებს.

The “Book of English Lexicology” is designed for the students of English Philology and
may be of interest to all readers who would like to gain some information about English
vocabulary. Its subject matter fully corresponds to the Syllabus in the subject. It covers the
ideas of the well-known linguists on the main issues of English vocabulary and is compiled
from the books listed in the bibliography. The book will lead the students to better
understanding of English word-building, affixes, compound words, phraseology, semantic
structure, styles of speech, conversion, etymology, dialects, lexicography, etc.In seeking
guidance about the basic lexicological concepts and terms students are referred to the
Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Lexicology. To check the understanding of the main
lexicological topics students are offered exercises.
English Lexicology will give the students opportunity to understand the mystery of
English word. It will increase students’ knowledge in English morphology.

რედაქტორი:ფილოლოგიის მეცნიერებათა დოქტორი,

პროფესორი მადონა მეგრელიშვილი
რეცენზენტები:ფილოლოგიის დოქტორი,
ასოცირებული პროფესორი ნინო ნიჟარაძე
ფილოლოგიის დოქტორი,
ასოცირებული პროფესორი ნინო დვალიძე
ფილოლოგიის დოქტორი,
ასოცირებული პროფესორითეა შავლაძე

ბათუმის შოთა რუსთაველის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა

ბათუმი 2016
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

Chapter 1. SUBJECT OF LEXICOLOGY ------------------------------------------------------- c

Chapter 2. MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORDS.

MORPHEMES (free and bound morphemes)--------------------------------------

Chapter 3. AIMS, PRINCIPLES OF MORPHEMIC AND WORD-FORMATION

ANALYSES. AFFIXES-------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4. COMPOUND WORDS -------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5. SHORTENED WORDS AND MINOR TYPES OF LEXICAL OPPOSITION -----

Chapter 6.CONVERSION-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7. SET EXPRESSIONS. PHRASEOLOGY --------------------------------------------

Chapter 8. SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORD -----------------------------------

Chapter 9. SEMANTIC CHANGES------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10. POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY ---------------------------------------------

Chapter 11. THE OPPOSITION OF STYLISTICALLY MARKED ANDSTYLISTICALLY
NEUTRAL WORDS. STYLES OF SPEECH ----------------------------------------
Chapter 12. ETYMOLOGY. BORROWINGS. NATIVE WORDS -----------------------------
Chapter 13. LANGUAGE CHANGES: THE LEXICON ------------------------------------------

Chapter 14. REGIONAL VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

STANDARD ENGLISH VARIANTS AND DIALECTS -----------------------
Chapter 15. LEXICOGRAPHY ---------------------------------------------------------------------

BIBLIOGRAPHY----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPENDIX: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORD BUILDING
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS IN LEXICOLOGY
 INTRODUCTION

Lexicology is understood as the study of vocabulary of a language. The vocabulary is the system formed
by the sum total of all the words and word equivalents of a language. It is closely linked to
morphology that is the study of the forms of words, and the ways in which words are related to
other words of the same language. Formal differences among words serve a variety of purposes,
from the creation of new lexical items to the indication of grammatical structure.

The form and the meaning of a word may be related so they are closely linked. Meaning takes us to
semantics. Part of the semantic studies is based in meaning: lexical semantics that is concerned with
the analysis of word meanings and relations between them. Lexicology has links to many other
areas, etymology, stylistics, sociolinguistics, grammar, paremiology, etc.
We should never mix lexicography with lexicology because it's not a branch of linguistics but a
technique and has a very narrow aim. Lexicography deals with the making of dictionaries. So it's not a
level of languages. We have a narrow concept of lexicology: it's a branch of linguistics concerned with
the meaning and use of words. There is a diversity of approaches which goes from narrow conceptions
to very wide conceptions.
This book provides an introduction to the field of lexicology. It gives an overview of the basic
notions and the most important theoretical issues, emphasizing throughout the diversity of
morphological patterns in human languages.
 CHAPTERI
SUBJECT OF ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY

The term ‘word’ is a part of everyone’s vocabulary. We all think we understand what
words are. People speak with words, they think with words, they “do things”with words; to
a significant extent, words shape people’s lives. The part of linguistics, dealing with the
vocabulary of a language and the properties of words as the main units of the language is
Lexicology (Greek Lexis=word, logos=learning). The term vocabulary is used to denote the
system formed by the sum total of all the words that the language possesses. The term word
denotes the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a particular
meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment.
A word therefore is a simultaneously a semantic, grammatical, and phonological unit.
Words alone don‘t constitute language. Yet, we are all probably more aware of words than
of sounds, syntax or even meaning itself.
Exactly what is a word? Are words the smallest units of meaning in languages? How do
the speakers of a language produce words? Where do new words come from? These and
other questions will be answered in lexicology.
Lexicology is closely linked to morphology. In lexicology, what matters is the meaningful
side of the words and in morphology, what matters is the form of these units. The form and
the meaning of a word may be related so they are closely linked. Meaning takes us to
semantics. Part of the semantic studies is based in meaning: lexical semantics. So lexicology
has links to many other areas, but our vision of lexicology is restricted. Etymology is a
branch of linguistics on its own. It's regarded with words and its history.
We should never mix lexicography with lexicology because it is not a branch of linguistics
but a technique and has a very narrow aim. Lexicography deals with the making of
dictionaries. A diversity of approaches goes from narrow conceptions to very wide
conceptions. In sentence semantics we can predict the meaning of the whole sentence
because we have rules that show it to us.
Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research,
its basic task being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin,
development and current use. Lexicology is concerned with words, variable word-groups,
phraseological units, and with morphemes that make up words.
General lexicology is the general study of words, irrespective of the specific features of any
particular language. Special lexicology studies the characteristic peculiarities in the
vocabulary of a given language, e.g. English lexicology or Georgian lexicology, etc.
With regard to Special Lexicology, the synchronic approach is concerned with the
vocabulary of a language, as it exists at a given time, for instance, now.
Descriptive Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage,
certain time of its development. The descriptive lexicology of English language deals with
the English word in its morphological and semantic structures, investigating the
interdependence between these two aspects.
The distinction between the two basically deferent ways in which language can be
viewed, the historical or diachronic (Gr. dia-through, chronos-time) and the descriptive or
synchronic (Gr. syn-together, with) is a methodological distinction, a difference of approach
is inseparable in real language and exists in a state of constant development. The diachronic
approach in terms of Special Lexicology deals with the changes and the development of
vocabulary in the course of time. An English Historical Lexicology would be concerned,
therefore, with the origin of English vocabulary units, their change and development, the
linguistic and extralinguistic factors modifying their structure, meaning and usage within
the history of the English language.
The term system denotes a coherent homogeneous whole, constituted by interdependent
elements of the same order related in certain specific ways. Lexicology studies this whole by
determining the properties of its elements the different relationships of contrast and
similarity existing between them within a language. As well as the ways in which they are
influenced by extra-linguistic reality. The notions rendered in the meaning of words are
generalized reflections of real objects and phenomena.
The term notion (concept) is introduced into linguistics from logic and psychology. It
denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their essential features
and relations. Each notion is characterized by its scope (სფერო) and content (არსი). All the
objects it refers to determine the scope of the notion. The content of the notion is made up
of all the features that distinguish it from other notions. The distinction between the scope
and content of a notion lies at the basis of such terms as the identifying (demonstrative) and
significative functions of the word. The identifying function may be interpreted as denoting
the objects covered by the scope of the notion expressed in the word, and the significative
function is the function of expressing the content of the respective notion. The function of
rending an emotion or an attitude is termed the expressive function.
The first essential point is that the relationship between notion and meaning varies. A
word may have a notion for its referent.
Secondly, notions are always emotionally neutral as they are a category of thought.
Language, however expresses all possible aspects of human consciousness. Therefore, the
meaning of many words not only conveys some reflection of objective reality but also
connotations revealing the speaker‘s state of mind and his attitude to what he is speaking
about.
Thirdly, the absence not only of identity, but also of regular one-to-one correspondence
between meaning and notion is clearly seen in words belonging to some specific stylistic
level. This purely linguistic factor is relevant not for the content of the message but for the
personality of the speaker, his background and his relations with his audience.
Finally yet importantly, the difference between notion and meaning is based upon the fact
that notions are mostly international, especially for nations with the same level of cultural
development, whereas meaning may be nationally determined and limited.
Vocabulary is systematic because the sum total of all words in it may be considered as a
structural set of interdependent and interrelated elements. A set is a collection definite
distinct object to be conceived as a whole, it is a collection of distinct elements, e.g. the
closed set of English articles may be defined as comprising the elements – the, a/an, and
zero. The relations between the language elements and the regularity of these relations are
shown in terms of sets, elements of sets, oppositions, differences, equivalences, and
positional values. Equivalence is the relation between two elements based on the common
feature due to which they belong to the same set.
A lexical opposition is defined as the semantically relevant relationship of the partial
difference between two partially similar words. Without a basis of similarity, opposition
signs no comparison and no opposition is possible. Example in the table 1
 Table 1.Lexical opposition

Kind Definition and comment Example set

Complements . Opposites that have {(dead, alive), (true,

mutually exclusive false), (open, shut),
properties. For example, (male, female)}
if people are not dead,
they must be alive

Antonyms Opposites that are at two {(long, short), (good,

corresponding points or bad), (hot, cold), (warm,
ranges of a scale. For cool)}
example, if something is
not long, it is not
necessarily short. There is
neutral ground on the
scale.

Directional converses Opposites marking the {(east, west), (up, down),

two directions along an (convex, concave)}
axis.
Relational converses Opposites, which specify {(above, below), (in front
the relative positions of of, behind)}; {(doctor,
two entities on opposite patient), (teacher, pupil),
sides or poles of a spatial (master, servant),
or relational axis. (husband, wife)}

Vocabulary is a lexico-semantic system because all its elements are in some way connected
with all the others, have no value independently of the relations of equivalence and
contrast, which hold between them and are grouped into sets according to various features
of equivalence.
Linguistic relationships between words are classified into syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
Syntagmatic relations are based on the linear character of speech, i.e. on the influence of
context. The term context is defined as the minimum stretch of speech necessary and
sufficient to determine which of the possible meanings of a polysemantic word is used.
Syntagmatic relationships are studied by means of contextual, valence, distributional,
transformational and some other types of analysis. Paradigmatic relations linguistic
relationships determining the vocabulary system are based on the interdependence of words
within the vocabulary. Grouping of English vocabulary, studying various possible groupings
within classes, subclasses many groups of words, are based on some common feature with
respect to which words may be regard as equivalent.
Word–families have as their basis a common root, synonymic series - a common
denotative meaning, stylistic layers – a common sphere of usage, thematic groups – a
common sphere of reference, etc.
The treatment of words in lexicology cannot be divorced from the study of all the other
elements in the language system to which words belong, general linguistics, the history of
the language, phonetics, stylistics, and grammar. The connection of lexicology with
phonetics is very important. On the acoustic level words consist of phonemes participate in
signification. The form-meaning unity is introduced only on a higher level, i.e. on the level
of morphemes. Word-unity is conditioned by a number of phonological features,
discrimination between the words may be based upon stress (import (n) and (im‘port (v),
blackbird: black‘bird). The importance of the connection between lexicology and phonetics
may be explained if we remember that a word is an association of a given group of sounds
with a given meaning, so that ―top is one word, and ―tip is another. Phonemes have no
meaning of their own but they serve to distinguish between meanings. Their function is
building up morphemes, and it is on the level of morphemes that the formmeaning unity is
introduced into language. We may say therefore that phonemes participate in signification.
The branch of linguistics, dealing with causal relations between the ways the language
works and develops, on one hand, and the fact of a social life on the other, is termed
sociolinguistics.
The ties between the object of their study condition a close connection between
lexicology and grammar. Each word is connected with grammar according to its part of
speech. The ties between lexicology and grammar are particularly strong in the sphere of
word-formation. The analytical character of the language is largely responsible for the wide
spread of conversion and for the remarkable flexibility of the vocabulary. The difference
and interconnection between grammar and lexicology is one of the important controversial
issues in linguistics. Even isolated words as presented in a dictionary bear a definite relation
to the grammatical system of the language because they belong to some part of speech and
conform to some lexico-grammatical characteristics of the word class to which they belong.
Words seldom occur in isolation. They are arranged in certain patterns conveying the
relations between the things for which they stand; therefore, alongside with their lexical
meaning they possess some grammatical meaning, e.g. head of the committee and to head a
committee. Lexicology is closely connected with semantics, the history of language,
pragmatics, sociolinguistics, etc.
Pragmalinguistics is the branch of linguistics concerned with the relation of speech and its
users and the influence of speech upon listeners. Lexicology is also closely connected with
stylistics. Stylistics, although from a different angle, studies many problems treated in
lexicology. These are the problems of meaning, connotations, synonymy, functional
differentiation of vocabulary according to the sphere of communication and some other
issues. For a reader without some awareness of the connotations and history of words, the
images hidden in their root and their stylistic properties, a substantial part of the meaning of
a literary text, whether prosaic or poetic, may be lost.
The branch of linguistics concerned with the meaning of words and word equivalents is
called semasiology. If treated diachronically, semasiology studies the change in meaning
which words undergo. Descriptive synchronic approach demands a study not of individual
words but of semantic structures typical of the language studied, and of its general semantic
system.
Etymology is a branch of linguistics that deals with the origin and development of words
tracing them back to their earliest determinable source. Cognate words are descended from
a common ancestor. The cognate of heart (Ger. Origin) are the Latin Cor, whence-cordial
―hearty‖ ―sincere‖, and so cordially, cordiality, the Greek ―kardia -English-cardiac
condition. The cognates outside the English vocabulary are Georgian-გული, Russian-
сердце, German-Herz, Spanish-corazon, etc.
The theoretical and practical value of lexicology becomes obvious if we realize that it
forms the study of one of the three main aspects of language, i.e. its vocabulary, the other
two being its grammar and sound system. Lexicology came into being to meet the demands
of many different branches of applied linguistics, namely of lexicography, standardization of
terminology, information retrieval, literary criticism and especially of foreign language
teaching.
 Lexicology not only gives a systematic description of the present make-up of the
vocabulary, but also helps students to master the literary standards of word usage.
The correct use of words is an important counterpart of expressive and effective speech.
An exact knowledge of the vocabulary system is also necessary in connection with technical
teaching means. Lexicology plays a prominent part in the general linguistic training of every
philologist by summing up the knowledge acquired during all his years at the foreign
language faculty. It also imparts the necessary skills of using different kinds of dictionaries
and reference books, and prepares for future independent work on increasing and
improving one‘s vocabulary.

SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS
1. What Greek morphemes is the term 'lexicology' composed of?
2. What does lexicology study?
3. What is the main function of a word?
4. What does the term `word' denote?
5. What is the term 'vocabulary` used to denote?
6. What is the object of study of General Lexicology?
7. What does Special Lexicology study?
8. What does Descriptive Lexicology deal with?
9. What problems does Modern English Lexicology investigate?

How many words are there in the following sentence?

Mary goes to Edinburgh next week, and she intends going to Washington next month.
 CHAPTER 2
MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORDS
MORPHEMES (free and bound morphemes)

What is the word?

The important point to remember about definitions is that they should indicate the most
essential characteristic features of the notion expressed by the term under discussion, the
features by which this notion is distinguished from other similar notions. For instance, in
defining the word one must distinguish it from other linguistic units, such as the phoneme,
the morpheme, or the word-group. In contrast with a definition, a description aims at
enumerating all the essential features of a notion.
The word may be described as the basic unit of the language. It is composed of one or
more morphemes (minimal units of syntax in a language, units from which words are
formed), each consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation and
of united meaning and form. Morphemes are also meaningful units but they cannot be used
independently, they are always parts of words can be used as a complete utterance (see
chapter 2 and chapter 3)
When used in sentences together with other words they are syntactically organized.
Their freedom of entering into syntactic constructions is limited by many factors, rules and
constraints.
Being the central element of any language system, the word is a sort of focus for the
problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and for some other sciences that
have to deal with language and speech, such as philosophy and psychology, and probably
quite a few other branches of knowledge.
The semantic-phonological approach may be illustrated by A.H.Gardiner‘s (1922:355)
definition: ―A word is an articulate sound-symbol in its aspect of denoting something
which is spoken about.
The eminent French linguist A. Meillet (1866-1936) combines the semantic, phonological
and grammatical criteria and advances a formula, which underlies many subsequent
definitions:“A word is defined by the association of a particular meaning with a particular
group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment. The word is the
fundamental unit of a language. It is a dialectical unity of form and content “(Meillet
1926:30).
One common definition of a word given by Julia Falk is the following: -“A word is any
unit of language that, in writing appears between spaces or between a space and a hyphen.”
The investigation of actual linguistic performance – speaking and writing – reveals little
about the concept ―word. It is sometimes said that a word is any linguistic unit that is
capable of occurring as a minimum free form. A linguistic unit is said to be a free form, if it
may occur as an entire utterance; that is, if it is capable of independent use. Thus, any
normal English sentence is a free form, e.g. ―Some students demonstrated when the
president arrived on campus.
Units smaller than sentences also are free forms, such as the sentence fragment: ―When
the president arrived on campus.
No matter how great your knowledge of language or your imagination may be, you will
probably find it difficult to produce a free form by dividing a word ―demonstrate into
parts. Thus, ―demonstrate is a minimum free form. It is capable of independent use but can
not be separated into smaller forms that also occur independently. Perhaps, word is not a
single concept at all but rather at least three related concepts: 1.A word as a purely linguistic
unit of competence. 2. A word as a unit of performance is used in speech and 3. A word as a
unit of performance is used in writing.
As we see, the definition of a word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the
simplest word has many different aspects: phonemes, morphemes, various meanings, etc.
Being the central element of any language system, the word is a sort of focus for the
problems of phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and for some other sciences that
have to deal with language and speech, such as philosophy and probably quite a few other
branches of knowledge. Thomas Hobbes defines the word as ―not mere sounds but names
of matter, H.Sweet – as ―the minimum sentence, L.Bloomfield as ―a minimum free form.
E.Sapir calls the word ―one of the smallest, completely satisfying bits of isolated meanings
into which the sentence resolves itself. E. Sapir points out very important characteristic
features of words, its indivisibility, e.g. a lion and alive. A lion – is a word-group because we
can separate its elements and insert other words between them: a living lion, a dead lion.
Alive – is a word; it is indivisible. The morpheme a – is not free, it is not a word.
 John Lyons points out that word should be discussed in terms of two criteria ―positional
mobility and ―uninterruptability. To illustrate the first he segments into morphemes the
following sentence: E.g. the – boy – s – walk – ed - slow – ly – up – the – hill.
The sentence may be regarded as a sequence of the morphemes, which occur in a
particular order relative to one another:
Slow – ly – the – boy – s – walk – ed – up – the – hill
Up – the – hill – slow – ly – walk – ed – the – boy – s
There is no possibility of the sequence – s – the – boy, ly – slow, ed – walk. One of the
characteristics of the word is that it tends to be internally stable, but positionally mobile.
S. Ullman defines the word as connected discourse that falls into a certain number of
meaningful segments, which are ultimately composed of meaningful units.
At last, we may define the word summarizing all the given definitions:
To sum up: The word is one of the fundamental units of language. It is a dialectical unity
of form and content. Notions fixed in the meanings of words are formed as generalized and
approximately correct reflections of reality; therefore, in signifying those words reflect
reality in their content. The acoustic aspect of the words serves to name the objects of
reality not to reflect them. In this sense, the word may be regarded as a sign. The whole
process of its development motivates this sign.
The term ―motivation” is used to denote the relationship existing between the
morphemic or phonemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand,
and its meaning on the other.
There are three main types of motivation: phonetic motivation, morphological
motivation, and semantic motivation. E.g. hiss, bang, buzz, cuckoo, giggle, purr, etc . are
motivated phonetically; re-think, racialist, vitaminize, kindness, etc are motivated
morphologically; compounds – eyewash, heart-breaking, air-taxi, etc. are motivated
semantically as they are used figuratively.
When the connection between the phonetic and morphological structure of the word
and its meaning is conventional and there is no synchronously perceptible reason for the
word having the phonetic shape and morphological composition it has, the word is said to
be non-motivated. E.g. ―earn in old English meant – earnian – to harvest – now it is non-
motivated.
 It is clear that words don‘t constitute the smallest meaningful units in a language.
Instead, words are constructed of smaller units, called morphemes by most linguists (the
term formative is also found in some modern discussions of word formation). Morphemes
are the minimal units of syntax in a language – units from which words are formed.
Morpheme is also an association of a given meaning with a given sound pattern. However,
unlike a word it is not autonomous. Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of
words, not independently, although a word may consist of a single morpheme. Are they
divisible into smaller meaningful units? That is why the morpheme may be defined as the
minimum meaningful language unit.
To sum up, morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit possessing meaning. It is the smallest
meaningful unit, two-faced one, but in contrast to the word it cannot function independently. We
use them only when we speak of word structure and word formation.

Many simple words consist of only a single morpheme : dog, cat, book. Other words are
more complicated: - word ―textbook consist of two morphemes – ―text and ―book. The
identification analyses and description of morphemes, as well as the study of word
formation is called morphology.
The term morpheme is derived from Gr. morphe-form =eme. The morpheme is the
smallest meaningful unit of form. A morpheme is not necessarily a word itself. For example,
words-dogs, baked, badly, kindness- contain two morphemes; one of those morphemes is
also a word, the other is not: s, d, ly, ness are not words.
Structurally morphemes fall into three types; 1) free morphemes: 2) bound morphemes: 3)
semi-hound (semi-free) morphemes. Morphemes that don‘t occur independently as we have
already mentioned, are called bound morphemes, but those which can occur independently
are calledfree morphemes. Bound morphemes occur only as a constituent part of a word.
Affixes are bound morphemes for they always make part of a word. Every free morpheme is
a word, but not every word is necessarily a free morpheme (i.e. some words contain more
than one morpheme).
Semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes are morphemes that can function in a morphemic
sequence both as an affix and as a free morpheme. For example, the morphemes well and
half on the one hand occur as free morphemes that coincide with the stem and the word-
form in the utterances to sleep well, half an hour, on the other hand well and half occur as
bound morphemes in the words well-known,halftone.
According to the number of morphemes, words can be classified into monomorphic and
polymorphic. Monomorphic or root-words consist of only one root-morpheme, e.g. small,
dog, make, give, etc. All polymorphic word fall into two subgroups: derived words and
compound words – according to the number of root-morphemes they have. Derived words
are composed of one root-morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes, e.g.
acceptable, outdo, disagreeable, etc. Compound words are those that contain at least two
root-morphemes, the number of derivational morphemes being insignificant. There can be
both root- and derivational morphemes in compounds as in pen-holder, light-mindedness,
or only root-morphemes as in lamp-shade, eye-ball, etc. Simple abbreviations: exam, gym,
lab, doc, etc. Compound abbreviations: BBC, NATO, TV, etc. Paradigmatic relations reveal
themselves on this level in such semantic groups of words as word families, synonyms in the
polysemy of words.
Types of meanings in morphemes.
In morphemes, different types of meaning can be singled out depending on the semantic
class morphemes belong to. Root morphemes possess lexical, differential and distributional
types of meaning. Affix morphemes have lexical, word classes (part-of speech), differential
and distributional types of meaning. Both root-morphemes and affix morphemes are devoid
of grammatical meaning.
Lexical meaning. The lexical meaning of root-morphemes differs from that of affix
morphemes. Root-morphemes have an individual lexical meaning shared by no other
morphemes in the language. The lexical meaning of affix morphemes is of a more
generalizing character.
Differential meaning. Differential meaning is the semantic component that serves to
distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphemes. In words consisting
of two or more morphemes, one of the constituent morphemes always has differential
meaning. For example, in the word bookshelf the morpheme -shelf serves to distinguish the
word from other words containing the morpheme bookcase, bookstore.
Distributional Meaning. Distributional meaning is the meaning of the order and
arrangement of morphemes making up the word. It is found in all words containing more
than one morpheme. For example, the word singer is composed of two morphemes sing-
and -er both of which possess the denotative meaning — to make musical sounds and the
doer of the action. A different arrangement of the same morphemes would make the word
meaningless.
Word class (Part-of-speech) meaning. In most cases, affix morphemes are indicative of the
part of speech to which a derivational word belongs. For example, the affix morpheme -
ment (movement) is used to form nouns, while the affix morpheme -less (careless) forms
adjectives.
There are a number of differences among bound morphemes concerning their role in
the formation of words in human languages. Morphemes that serve as the basis for words
are called roots, while the attached bound morphemes are called affixes. The latter are
subdivided according to their position into prefixes, suffixes and infixes, and according to
their function and meaning into derivational and functional affixes, the latter are called
endings and outer formatives. Functional or inflectional affixes do not change the part of
speech of the root to which they are attached and derivational affixes often produce some
change, i.e. new words may be created in a language; e.g.
Derivational Inflectional
affixes suffixes
undo John‘s
anticlerical tempts
quickly jumped
national taken
symbolize pieces
rename reading

In English, there is usually only one inflectional affix in each word (the only exception is s
―plural ands―possessive, for we can say the cats’ cheese, when cats’ is both plural and
possessive, but pronunciation of cats‘ contains only one sound. In contrast to the
inflectional affixes, many words contain several derivational affixes; e.g. – unkindly.
Derivational affixes appear next to the root or next to another derivational affix. Inflectional
affixes occur in English at the very end of a word, following any derivational affixes that
may be present: - considerations, democratized. In English derivational affixes tends to be
much larger than the number of inflectional affixes, but inflectional affixes are more
frequently used than any particular derivational affix.
When a derivational or functional (inflectional) affix is stripped from the word, what
remains is a stem (SB). A stem is 1) the part of the word that remains unchanged throughout its
paradigm (secondary stem), e.g. worker, lucky – the secondary stems are: worker- (cf. workers,
worker’s) and lucky- (cf. luckier, luckiest). 2) The part of the word that remains when the
immediate derivational affix is stripped off, i.e. the part on which the word is built (primary or
derivational stem), e.g. the primary stems of worker, lucky are work and luck. Kinds of stems:
simple, e.g. place, green, derived, e.g. useful, uselessness, bound, e.g. arrogance, arrogant, compound,

e.g. trade-union, etc. The stem is a single morpheme. It contains nothing but the root, so it is a

simple stem. It is also a free stem because it is homonymous to the word heart. The stem
containing one or more affixes is a derived stem. (E.g. hearty –heartier heartiest-hearty-is a
derived stem).Bound stems are especially characteristic of loan words. E.g. French
borrowings: arrogance, clarity, courage, coward, etc. After the suffixes of these words are
taken away, the remaining elements are: arrog, clar-, cdow-, cour, etc. which doesn‘t
coincide with any semantically related independent words.
The paradigm is defined as the system of grammatical forms characteristic of a word (e.g. ed-
verb, s-verb, noun, er, est-adj.adv., etc. near-nearer-nearest; son, son‘s, sons, sons!).
The principal morpheme is the root (or simple stem) the lexical nucleus common to a
semantically elevated group of words (word family), e.g. help, helper, helpless, helpful,
helplessly, helpfully. Roots are main morphemic vehicles of a given idea in a given language
at a given stage of its development. A root may be homonymous with the word. Not all
roots are free forms, but productive roots, i.e. roots capable of producing new words.
The semantic realization of an English word is very specific. Its dependence on
distribution is further enhanced by the widespread occurrence of homonymy among both
the morphemes and affixes.
Unlike roots, affixes are always bound forms. A suffix is a derivational morpheme
following the stem and forming a new derivative in a different part of speech or different
word class. Prefix is derivational morpheme standing before the root and modifying
meaning. Prefix expresses the difference between a transitive and intransitive verb: stay-
 outstay (smb); an infix is an affix placed within a word, like – n in – stand, sport-s-man. The
type is not productive. An affix should not be confused with a combining form. A combing
form is also a bound but it can be distinguished from an affix historically by the fact that it is
always borrowed from another language, namely from Latin and Greek, in which it existed
as a free form, a separate word, e.g. kako-Gr.-―bad in words cacophony-ill sound,
cacoephy-bad pronunciation, policlinic, polymer, stereophonic, television… Nouns can be
created from verbs in English by the addition of a derivational suffix to the verb. Such
derivation of nouns from verbs is known as nominalization e.g. construction.

EXERCISES
Task 1
Segment the following words into morphemes.
M o d e l: aimless (root morpheme–aim, suffix-less)
Beggarly, postman, shorten, destabilize, sympathy, fruitfulness, maltreatment, disaffected,
overrule, photographic, half-eaten, theory, rent-free.

Task 2
Analyze the following words according to their morphemic types. Define the subtypes of
polymorphic words 1) words consisting of two or more roots with no affix morphemes. 2)
words containing two roots and one or more affix morphemes.
Model: duck, illiterateness, back-bencher
duck is monomorphic; illiterateness is polymorphic, prefix (il)+ root (lit)-stem (literate)+
suffix (ness); back-bencher is polymorphic and contains two roots(back, bench) and one
affix morpheme (er)
House, uncover, dark-brown, disappointment, effective, black, historian, bookkeeper, cry,
mistrust, unanswerable, home-sick, good, ex-wife, laughter-filled, go, unfortunately, age-
long, manageability, short-sightedness.

Task 3
Divide the given words into morphemes. Which of these morphemes are free and which
are bound? Are there any morphemes, which have two or more allomorphs?
 (a) tigers (b) untimely (c) leucocyte
speakers Uniquely Erythrocyte
(d) wholesome (e) consumed (f) decorating
gruesome(საშინელი) Consumption Decentralizing

Task 4
Make a proper word to fill in the blank.
Affixes to be used in the word:

-ment -hood -ish -less -like -able -proof -ed -ly dis-
child
1) He was remembering a story heard in his_____ (period of life when a person is a child)
2) She is very ______ and selfish. (immature)
3) Thousand of ______ couples come to this doctor with a hope. (having no children)
4) She looked at me with big, ______ eyes. (with appearance of a child)
5) A medicine chest should be secure and ______. (ensuring that children cannot access
it)
agree
1. I’ve gone out of my way to be ______ to my boss. (pleasant and trying to please other
people)
2. All the government members are ______ that something should be done about the
situation. (being of the same opinion)
3. We can't go on unless we have his ______ .(same opinion, joint decision)
4. Orange juice seems to ______ with some babies (makes to feel unwell)
5. The taste is bitter and ______ sour. (of unpleasant quality)
 CHAPTER 3

AIMS, PRINCIPLES OF MORPHEMIC AND WORD-FORMATION

ANALYSES. AFFIXES

If the analysis is limited to studying the number and type of morphemes that make up the
word, it is referred to as morphemic. E.g. girlishness must be analyzed into three
morphemes: root – girl, suf – ish and – ness. The morphemic classification of words is as
follows: one root morpheme – a root word (girl), one root morpheme plus one or more
affixes – a derived word (girlishness) two or more stems – a compound word ( girl-friend) ,
two or more stem and a common affix – a compound derivate (old-maidish). A structural
word-formation studies structural correlation with other words, the structural patterns or
rules on which words are built. Due to the suffix, the second number of the opposition is a
different word belonging to a different part of speech. This binary opposition comprises two
elements. A correlation is a set of binary opposition.
Child- ----- woman ------------boy
Childish womanish boyish
L. Bloomfield first suggested the analysis into immediate constituents. Immediate
Constituents (IC) mean any of the two meaningful parts forming a larger linguistic unity.
The main opposition dealt with the opposition of stem and affix. It is a kind of segmentation
revealing not the history of the word but its motivation, i.e. the data of the listener has to go
by in understanding it. The procedure generally employed for the purposes of segmenting
words into the constituent morphemes is the method of Immediate and Ultimate
Constituents. This method is based on a binary principle, i.e. each stage of the procedure
involves two components of the word immediately breaks into. At each stage, these two
components are referred to as the Immediate Constituents (ICs). Each IC at the next stage of
analysis is in turn broken into two smaller meaningful elements. The analysis is completed
when we arrive at constituents incapable of further division, i.e. morphemes. In terms of the
method employed, these are referred to as the Ultimate (უკანასკნელი,ზღვრული)
Constituents (UCs). Uc is an element of a construction that cannot be further divided into
grammatical constituents: the morphemes of an utterance are usually considered to be its
ultimate constituents. For example the noun friendliness is first segmented into the IC
friendly reoccurring in the adjectives friendly-looking and friendly and the -ness found in a
countless number of nouns, such as happiness, darkness, unselfishness, etc. The IC -ness is at
the same time a UC of the noun, as it cannot be broken into any smaller elements possessing
both sound-form and meaning. Needless to say that the ICs friend -and -ly are both UCs of
the word under analysis.
The morphemic analysis according to the IC and UC may be carried out based on two
principles: the so-called root principle and the affix principle. According to the affix
principle, the segmentation of the word into its constituent morphemes is based on the
identification of an affix morpheme within a set of words. For example, the identification of
the suffix morpheme -less leads to the segmentation of words like useless, hopeless,
merciless, etc., into the suffix morpheme -less and the root-morphemes within a word. The
identification of the root-morpheme agree- in the words agreeable, agreement, disagree
makes it possible to split these words into the root -agree- and the affix morphemes -able, -
ment, dis-. As the pattern showing the interdependence of all the constituents segregated at
various stages, Arnold obtains the following formula:
un + { {gent – le}man + } + -ly }
Breaking a word into its immediate constituents, we observe in each cut the structural
order of the constituents (which may differ from their actual sequence)
A box – like diagram presenting the four cuts described looks as follows:
un - gentlemanly

Un –gentleman -ly

Un – gentle –man –ly

Un gent –le man – ly

Structural pattern analysis can be carried out by proportional oppositions:

ungentlemanly gentlemanly
This correlation reveals the pattern un+adjective stem. The next stem is similar, only this
time it is the prefix that is taken away:
gentlemanly
gentleman
 This shows that this adjective is derived according to the pattern noun stem+ly. The above
procedure is an elementary case of the transformational analysis , in which the semantic
similarity or difference of words is revealed by the possibility or impossibility of
transforming them according to a prescribed model. Transformational analysis of the words
unassertive (adv) and re-declassify (verb):
Adv
uuu V
unas
A s(
V

A V

V N
un assert ive ly re de class ify

Morphemes of the second order are affixes. Depending upon whether they precede the
root or follow it, we distinguish prefixes and suffixes. Morphemes may have variants
distinguished by their sound forms; these are called allomorph of the same morpheme.
Allomorphs are the phonemic variants of the givenmorphemee.g.il-,im-,ir-, are the
allomorphs of the prefix in- (illiterate, important, irregular, inconstant). Allomorphs occur
among prefixes. Two or more sound forms of a stem existing under conditions of
complementary distribution may also be regarded as allomorphs, as for instance in long –
length; excite – excitation.
Morphosemantic units are of two kinds: designators, corresponding to the root
morpheme and formators, corresponding to affixes. The designators are determined by the
formator, e.g. the root writ‘- determined by the formators er‘ or ing‘, produces different
words: writer, writing. The ―v+er model, containing two sememes (action+agent), is highly
productive, i.e. it is able to produce a noun denoting the doer from any verb stem.
As for affixes, as they have part of speech meaning, they can be classified into nominal,
verbal, adjectival and adverbial affixes.
Lexical meaning in affixes can be more or less concrete; it is rather concrete in the suffix
―er, which points to the doer, in the suffix ―ful denoting the presence of quality; but in
the suffixes----ment,--tion the lexical meaning is very general, pointing merely to
abstractions, here the part of speech meaning is more important. Morphemes, like words,
contain denotative and expressive semantic units. In some cases, suffixes having the same
denotative meaning e.g. of similarity, as in -ly, ish contain different expressive units:
womanly- positive evaluation, womanish-derogatory evolution.
Derivation is the formation of the words by adding derivational (word building) affixes to
stone. Functional affixes serve to convey grammatical meaning. They build different forms
of one and the same word.
A derivative is always capable of further derivation and is therefore homonymous to a
stem. – Foolish, foolishness, foolishly. A functional affix marks the word boundary; it can
only follow the affix of derivation is possible for a stem to which a functional affix is added.
Different morphemes are characterized by contrastive distribution, i.e. if they occur in
the same environment they signal different meanings, e.g. The suffixes -able and –ed, are
different morphemes, not allomorphs because adjectives in –able mean ―capable of being‖,
whereas –ed as a suffix of adjectives has a resultant force. In some cases the difference is not
very clear, e.g. –ic, -ical are different affixes, the first a simple one, the second a group affix.

Some Difficulties of Morphemic Analysis

The morphemic analysis of derivatives presents no difficulties when the structural model
of words is ―free stem + affix e.g. ―pref + stem + suffix, where the stem can be simple (dis
+ color), derived (discover + y) or compound (assistant – professor + ship).
However words containing bound stems cause difficulties and differences of opinion
among the linguists as to their nature e.g. incomprehensible has a bound stem – prehene
which even the native speaker will not recognize as a meaningful unit of the English
language, unless he remembers his Latin ( prehendere - to grasp). Such words as – conceive,
deceive, receive, contain, detain, retain – may be considered as bound as it is built on the
model – prefix + bound stem; they are bimorphemic. The morphemes in these words also
have distributional meaning; the order in which they occur is determined by the structural
pattern ―prefix + stem‖ and they can not make a word if placed in another order: ceive + re.
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the free morpheme from the bound one as in the
words borrowed from Latin and Greek: e.g. helicopter, pteropus (tropical bird), diptera
(two-winged fly), -pte-r meaning wing. Bible, bibliography, bibliophile, _bibl- meaning
book; prefer, infer, defer, confer, transfer, -fer- meaning bear, bring, send;
Here is just a small part of that network:
 Refer prefer defer transfer
reduce conduce deduce induce
revoke convoke invoke provoke
reserve preserve conserve deserve
relate collate translate
remit commit transmit
pretend contend intend
revolve devolve involve
Derivation may be prefixal or suffixal. From the viewpoint of ordinary morphemic
analysis, we may say that the same words are prefixal-suffixal derivatives: e.g. unreasonable.
Suffixation and prefixation are not equally characteristic of different parts of speech.
Suffixation is more typical of noun and adjective formation. Prefixation is more typical of
verbs. Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of a word, but as a rule, the derived word
remains within the same part of speech: ―usual and ―unusual are both adjectives. As for
suffixes, it not only modifies the lexical meaning of the word, but also transposes it as a rule,
to another part of speech, e.g. home-homeless (n + less =adj).
It should be noted, however, that some prefixes transfer words to different parts of
speech, while some suffixes do not:
e.g. war (n) – pre-war (adj), head (n) – behead (v), friend (n) – befriend (v), bitter(adj0 –
embitter (v), in this case prefixes are said to be convertive, brother (n) – brotherhood (n),
state (n) – statehood (n) – statesmanship (n), where the suffixes are non-convertive.
There are three principal approaches to morphology. Each try to capture the distinctions
above in different ways. These are,
• Morpheme-based morphology, which makes use of an Item-and-Arrangement
approach; word-forms are analyzed as sequences of morphemes.
• Lexeme-based morphology, which normally makes use of an Item-and-Process
approach; a word-form is said to be the result of applying rules that changes a word-form or
stem in order to produce a new one.
• Word-based morphology, which normally makes use of a Word-and-Paradigm
approach.
 In morpheme-based morphology, Lexeme-based morphology is (usually) an Item-and-
Process approach. Instead of analyzing a word-form as a set of morphemes arranged in
sequence,. An inflectional rule takes a stem, changes it as is required by the rule, and
outputs a word-form; a derivational rule takes a stem, changes it as per its own
requirements, and outputs a derived stem; a compounding rule takes word-forms, and
similarly outputs a compound stem.
The Item-and-Process approach bypasses the difficulties inherent in the Item-and-
Arrangement approaches. Faced with a plural like geese, one is not required to assume a null
morpheme: while the plural of dog is formed by affixing -s, the plural of goose is formed
simply by altering the vowel in the stem-geese.
Word-based morphology theory takes paradigms as a central notion. Instead of stating
rules to combine morphemes into word-forms, or to generate word-forms from stems,
word-based morphology states generalizations that hold between the forms of inflectional
paradigms.

Prefixes
Unlike suffixation, which is usually more closely bound up with the paradigm of a certain
part of speech, prefixation is considered to be more neutral in this aspect. It is significant
that in linguistic literature derivational suffixes are always divided into noun-forming,
adjective-forming, etc. Prefixes, however, are treated differently. They are described either
in alphabetical order or subdivided into several classes in accordance with their origin,
meaning or function and never according to the part of speech.
Prefixes may be classified on different principles. Diachronically distinction is made
between prefixes of native and foreign origin. Synchronically prefixes may be classified:
1) According to the class of words they preferably form
A small group of prefixes may be referred to exclusively verb-forming (en-, be-, un-, etc.)
The majority of prefixes (in their various denotative meanings) tend to function either in
nominal parts of speech (41 patterns in adjectives, 42in nouns) or in verbs (22 patterns); 2)
As to the type of lexical-grammatical character of the base they are added to into:
a) De-verbal, e. g. rewrite, outstay, overdo, etc.
b) De-nominal, e.g. unbutton, detrain, ex-president, etc.
c) De-adjectival, e.g. uneasy, biannual, etc.
 3) Semantically prefixes fall into mono- and polysemantic
4) As to the generic denotative meaning there are different groups that are distinguished
in linguistic literature:
a) Negative prefixes, such as: un, non-, in-, dis-, a-, e.g. ungrateful, unemployment, non-
politician (cf. politician), non-scientific (cf. scientific), incorrect (cf. correct), disloyal (cf.
loyal), disadvantage (cf. advantage), amoral (cf. moral), asymmetry (cf. symmetry), etc.
b)Reversative or privative prefixes, such as un-, de-, dis- e.g. untie (cf. tie), unleash (cf.
leash), decentralize (cf. centralize), disconnect (cf. connect), etc.
c) Pejorative prefixes, such as mis-, mal-, pseudo-, e.g. miscalculate (cf. calculate),
misinform (cf. inform), maltreat (cf. treat)
d) Prefixes of time and order, such as fore-, pre-, post-, ex-, e.g foretell (cf. tell),
foreknowledge (cf. knowledge), pre-war (cf. war), post-war (cf.war post-classical (cf.
classical), ex-president (cf. president);
e) Prefix of repetition re-, e.g. rebuild (cf. build), re-write (cf. write)
f) Locative prefixes, such as super-, sub-, inter-, trans-, e.g. superstructure (cf. structure),
subway (cf. way), inter-continental (cf.continental), trans-atlantic (cf. Atlantic), etc. and
some other groups;
5) When viewed from the angle of their stylistic reference Englishprefixes fall into
those characterized by neutral stylistic reference and those possessing quite a definite
stylistic value. As no exhaustive lexico-stylistic classification of English prefixes has yet been
suggested, a few examples can only be adduced here. There is no doubt, forinstance, that
prefixes like un-, out-, over- re-, under- and some others can be qualified as neutral prefixes,
e.g., unnatural, unknown, unlace, outnumber, oversee, resell, underestimate, etc.
On the other hand, one can hardly fail to perceive, the literary-bookish character of such
prefixes as pseudo-, super-,, ultra-, uni-, bi- and some others, e.g. pseudo-classical,
superstructure, ultra- violet, unilateral, bifocal, etc.
Sometimes one comes across pairs of prefixes one of which is neutral, the other is
stylistically coloured. One example will suffice here: the prefix over-occurs in all functional
styles, the prefix super- is peculiar to the style of scientific prose.
6) Prefixes may be also classified as to the degree of productivity into highly productive,
productive, and non-productive.
 The semantic effect of a prefix may be termed adverbial, because it may modify the stem
for manner, time, place, degree, etc. Thus, mis – means ―wrongly‖ ―badly‖ modifying the
verb stem for manner, ―pre – ― and ―post‖ – refer to time, pre – war, post –
graduate―ante also refers to time – antecedent, antedate ―in, ―ab, ―a, ―out refer to
place – inter, abduct, outlaw.
Prefixes may be classified according to their origin (Germanic, Romance, Greek) to their
meaning (negative and non-negative), to their function in expressing time, relations, space
relations, degree, etc. or according to whether they are productive or not. We also have to
take into consideration the existence of allomorphs (in – im, il, ir) (en, em) and cases of
homonymy in prefixes (neg. unkind and untie)
Some difficulties concern with 1) the prefixes which are not easy to distinguish between
derivatives and compound words or between derivatives and root words – after, in, off, on,
over, under, with (afternoon, onlooker) 20 borrowed morphemes – amphi, ana, cata, exo,
en, hypo, meta, sina (Greek), ab, ad, amb (Latin) – e.g. amphitheatre.
The prefix equi- means ―equal or ―equally.Equi- is from the Latin prefix aequi-, which
came from Latin aequus meaning ―equal. Thus equidistant means ―equally distant.Equi-
often occurs in words with Latin elements. For example, equinox means ―having the night
equal (to the day), from Latin nox, ―night.

Suffixes. As we have already mentioned, suffixes modify the lexical meaning of words
and as a rule shift words to another part of speech. If a suffix does not do that, it shifts a
word to another semantic group, e.g. child – childhood.
Such suffixes as –ably (reasonable) are regarded as compounds; the much used suffix –
ation is actually a combination of two –ate + tion but when it is added to a stem that does
not end in –ate, e.g. adapt + ation it functions as a single composite suffix (translate –
translat + ion)
Some grammatical suffixes become lexicalized and should be regarded as derivational
affixes: e.g. custom – customs, which is not the plural of ―custom, but another word. Some
suffixes have allomorphs (-able, -ible, _ant, -ent). Suffixes may be homonymous, such as –ly
of adjectives and ly of adverbs, or –ish in bluish and – ishin ―fortyish where it makes an
adjective out of numeral meaning ―approximately‖, ―about‖. Synonymous suffixes such as
–er and –ist both denote persons: teacher, violinist. The suffix –er of Germanic origin, is
added to verb stem, while the suffix –ist of Latin origin borrowed in the 16th century is
added to noun stem.
Suffixes have been classified according to their origin, word class (part of speech) they
serve to form their frequency, productivity and other characteristics.
1) The first principle of classification that, one might say, suggests itself is the part of
speech formed. Within the scope of the word class (part-of-speech) classification suffixes
naturally fall into several groups:
a) Noun-suffixes, i.e. those forming or occurring in nouns, e.g. age, ance,/ence, ant/ent,
dom, ee, eer, ess, hood, ing, ion/sion/tion/ation, ism/icism, ist, ment, ness, ship, ity; -er, , -
ness, etc. (teacher, Londoner, freedom, brightness, justification, etc.);
Adjective-suffixes, i.e. those forming or occurring in adjectives, e.g. - able,/ible/uble, al, ic,
ical, ant/ent, ary, ate/ete, ed/d, ful, ian, ive, ish, less, like, ly, ous/ious, some, y; etc.
(agreeable, careless, doubtful, poetic, courageous, etc.);
b) Verb-suffixes e.g. those forming or occurring in verbs, e.g. ate, er, en, fy/ify, ize, ish;
(darken, satisfy, harmonize, etc.);
c) Adverb-suffixes, i.e. those forming or occurring in adverbs, e.g .- ly, ward/wards, wise;
(quickly, eastward, etc.).
d) Numeral-forming suffixes: fold, teen, ty, th; (tenth, sixteen, twenty..)
2) Suffixes may also be classified into various groups according to the lexico-grammatical
character of the base the affix is usually added to. Proceeding from this principle one may
divide suffixes into:
a) De-verbal suffixes (those added to the verbal base), e.g. -er, -ing, -ment, -able, etc.
(speaker, reading, agreement, suitable, etc.);
b) De-nominal suffixes (those added to the noun base), e.g. -less, -ish, -ful, -ist, -some,
etc. (handless, childish, mouthful, violinist, troublesome, etc.);
c) De-adjectival suffixes (those affixed to the adjective base), e.g. -en, -ly, -ish, -ness, etc.
(blacken, slowly, reddish, brightness, etc.).
A lexical and grammatical class may be defined as a class of lexical elements possessing
the same lexical and grammatical meaning and a common system of forms in which the
grammatical categories inherent in these units are expressed. The elements of one class are
substituted by the same prop-words, and are characterized by identical morphological
patterns and a common set of derivational affixes.
Suffixes characterized by stylistic reference. a) Those characterized by neutral stylistic
reference such as -able, -er, -ing, etc.;b) Those having a certain stylistic value such as -oid, -
i/form, -aceous, -tron, etc.
3) Suffixes classified to the degree of their productivity.
Another point to be considered is opposition of productive and unproductive affixes. The
affixes that are able at present to form new words are said to be productive, those that have
lost this ability are unproductive even though there are very many words that were formed
with these affixes at earlier stages of the language e.g. ful – adj. forming suffix is now
unproductive.
Productive prefixes: de – (decontrol), anti – (antifascist), pre – (preview), non
(nonobjective), re (reconvert), un (unfunny).
Within the parts of speech, suffixes have been classified semantically according to lexical
and grammatical groups and according to the types of stems, they are added to.
4) From the point of view of etymology, affixes are subdivided into two main classes: the
native affixes and the borrowed affixes. The most important native suffixes are:d, y, dom,
ed, en, fold, ful, hood, ing, ish, less, like, lock, ly, ness, oc, red, ship, some, teen, th, ward,
wise.
The suffixes of foreign origin are classified according to their source into Latin (-able,
ible, and/ent) French (age, ance/ence, ancy/ence, ard, ate, sy) Geek (ist, ism), etc.
The term borrowed affixes is not very exact, as part of affixes are never borrowed as such,
but only as part of loan words. Many of the borrowing affixes are international and occur
not only in the English but in several other European languages as well. The table in
appendix 1 gives examples of especially frequent native and loan affixes.
Words that are made up of elements derived from two or more different languages are
called hybrids. They have various combinations of morphemes coming from Latin, French
and Greek and of native origin. E.g. readable has an English root and a suffix that is derived
from the Latin –abilis and borrowed through French. There are also many hybrid
compounds, such as blackguard (English + Fr.) or schoolboy (Gr. + Engl.). English is very
rich of hybrids; readable has an English root and a suffix that is derived from the Latin –
abilis and borrowed through French. English stem+-able. Cf. answerable, eatable, likable,
usable. Its variant with the native negative prefix un- is also worthy of note: un-+English
stem+-able. The examples for this are: unanswerable, unbearable, unforeseeable, unsalable,
unbelievable.
Valency of affixes is understood as their capability to be combined with certain bases. For
example, adjective forming suffixes are mostly attached to nominal bases. They are: -en
(golden\. -ful (meaningful). -less (careless), -ly (soldierly). -like (childlike e). The highly
productive suffix -able, however, can he combined with nominal and verbal bases alike
<honorable. advisable).
Observation of the English vocabulary, which is probably richer in hybrids than that of
any other European language, shows a great variety of patterns. In some cases,the borrowed
affixes are used with native stems, or vice versa. A word can simultaneously contain
borrowed and native affixes.
Splinters or semi-affixesare the result of clipping the end or the beginning of a word and
producing a number of new words on the analogy with the primary word- group. For
example, there are many words formed with the help of the splinter/semi-affix
mini/maxi(apocopy produced by clipping the word “miniature”),such asminiplane, minijet,
minicycle, minicar, mini-radio, maxi-series, maxi-sculpture, maxi-taxi. Burger (a bun cut
into two parts)Hamburger, bacon-burger, beef-burger, cheeseburger, fish-burger.Watergate
(a political scandal, corruption) Irangate, Westlandgate, shuttlegate, milliongate . Napper
was formed by clipping the beginning of the wordkidnapper, busnapper; Quake is used to
form new words with the meaning ofshaking, agitation: earthquake, Marsquake,
Moonquake, youthquake. Scape is a clipping of the wordlandscape: moonscape, streetscape,
townscape, and seascape.

EXERCISES

Task 1
Classify the following words according to the part-of-speech meaning of their affix
morphemes.
Model: criticism. The affix -ism indicates that the derived word is a noun.
 Suitability, hatless, accordingly, combination, befriend, sideways, hospitalize, boyhood,
congratulatory, enlarge, northwards, spacious, bureaucracy, quarrelsome, clarify, breakage,
drinkable, weaken.

Task 2
Form a new word by derivation
 1. He said "Hallo" in a most ….….. way. FRIEND
 2. To be a good novelist you really have to be very ……. . IMAGINE
 3. I enjoyed the book very much because it was so ….... . READ
 4. Travelling in an airplane for the first time was a ….... experience. MEMORY
 5. Pete's parents decided that his scorpion was an ……….. pet. SUIT
 6. Be careful! The floor has just been washed and is very ……. . SLIP
 7. His ……... knowledge is very poor— he thinks Paris is in Italy. GEOGRAPHY
 8. He was turned down for the job because he wasn't …... . QUALIFY
 9. The film was well made but not very …... . AMUSE
 10. Many ……... people sleep on the streets of the capita! HOME
 11. Her hair is ……..., not bright red. RED
 12. In some places the weather changes so quickly that it's very ….. . PREDICT
 13. I was ………... by my friends to take this exam. COURAGE
 14. Alexis is really a very …………... kind of person. ART
 15. This is the restaurant where most of the town's rich and … people dine.
INFLUENCE
Task 3
Fill each space in the sentences below with the correct form of the word in bold print
about it. .
E.g.decide
(a) We must come to a _____ very soon.
(b) We beat them_____ . We won 7:0.
(c) He can never make up his mind. He's very_______.
Answers:
(a) decision (b) decisively (c) indecisive
 1 beauty
(a) She is very _____ .
(b) She's training to be a _____ .
(c) They're going to_____ the town with more trees and parks.
2 pay
(a) To buy this car I made a monthly _____ of £280 for two years.
(b) Please make your cheque _____ to John Watson.
(c) The person a cheque is made out to is called the _____ .
3 receive
(a) She works as a _____ . at a hotel in Scotland
(b) Ask for a_____ when you buy something, in case you need to return it.
(c) I made several suggestions to improve production, but the management was not very
_____ to my idea
4 hero
(a) He received a medal for his_____ .
(b) They fought _____ in the war.
(c) She was described as a______.
5 produce
(a) _____ of the new sports car has been halted by a strike.
(b) China is one of the world's leading _____ of rice
(c) I'm afraid the talks were totally _____. We didn't reach agreement on anything.
6 explain
(A) An _____ leaflet is given to all purchasers of the machine.
(b) His disappearance is very strange, in fact quite_____.
(c) I think you owe me an _____ for your behaviour.
7 compare
(a) This is _____. better than that. In fact, there is really no _____.
(b) Scientists have made_____ tests on the new drugs.
8 advise
(a) Until the situation has settled down, it is _____ to travel to that country.
(b) The government set up an _____ body on the use of drugs in sport.
 (c) I doubt the _____ of drinking alcohol while undergoing that medical treatment
9 admire
(a) She was a pleasant, attractive girl, always surrounded by _____ .
(b) I am full of_____ for what she has achieved.
(c) I approve of him wholeheartedly. He is an _____ man.
10 stable
(a) To _____ the boat in rough sea, we redistributed the weight.
(b) Between 1860 and 1900 the country had a number of revolutions and uprisings. It
was a time of great _____ .
(c) The exchange rate is going up and down dramatically. It's very _____ at the moment.
11 economy
(a) We're spending too much. We must _____.
(b) This car uses a lot of petrol. It's terribly _____.
(c) The Chancellor (Minister of Finance) is responsible for _____ affairs.
12comfort
(a) In that tense situation I found the good news very _____ .
(b) I felt rather _____, so I put a soft cushion behind me.
(c) She sat in terrible _____ on the hard chair for over an hour

Task 5
Analyze the following words from the point of view of their ICs and UCsapplying an affix
or a root principle.
Model:uncommonly
The morphemic analysis of the word uncommonly is based on the application of the affix
principle and includes the following stages:
uncommon- (IC) + -ly (strangely, sadly) (IC/UC);
un- (unsafe, unclean) (IC/UC) + -common (IC/UC).
The word consists of 3 UCs.
Independence, beautifulness, unforgettable, ultra-creative, spotlessness, disrespectful,
unladylike, disarmament, injustice, disobedience
 CHAPTER 4
COMPOUND WORDS

Another common process through which words are formed is known as compounding: the
combination of two roots (usually free forms in English). Word-composition is one of the
controversial problems of linguistics: where does it belong – in the sphere of Lexis, hence, to
be studied within lexicology, or in the sphere of syntax, hence, belonging to grammar.
Arnold I. remarks that as most English compounds are made up of free forms it is difficult to
distinguish them from free phrases (collocations). Bally calls a compound ―a syntagma
(a syntactic string of words that forms a part of some larger syntactic unit)expressing a single
idea. Certainly, a compound word is a linear combination of elements along the syntagmatic
axis; a compound is a word, the minimum unit of the morphemic level; it is an expression of
a single idea, other words, that it reflects one segment of reality.
In describing the structure of a compound, one should examine three types of relations,
namely a. the relations of the members to each other, b. the relation of the whole to its
members, and c. correlation with equivalent free phrases.
Various criteria have been suggested to help discriminate between compounds and
phrases; the graphic criterion of solid or hyphenated spelling as against separate spelling.
Another criterion is the phonetic, namely stress pattern in compounds--unity of stress e.g.
―blackboardas against ‘black board‘; but in compound adjectives, we have the letter
pattern: -easy-going; while in some phrases there is a kind of contrast stress, e.g. ‘passenger
train‘. Semantic criterion conveys a single concept.The graphic criterion is more common
than the stress pattern criterion, but still they are insufficient. What is the source of the
difficulty that gives rise to controversy as regards the essence of compound words? This
difficulty springs from the fact that compounds are very similar in function to syntagmas,
both have the function of nomination, proper to words and word combinations. However,
compounds, especially idiomatic compounds nominate one segment of reality. The semantic
integrity of a compound is very often idiomatic in its character, so that the meaning of the
whole is not a mere sum of its elements. A compound is often very different in meaning
from a corresponding syntactic group: e.g. ―a chatterbox is not a box, but a person who
talks a great deal without saying anything important, the combination is used only
figuratively.
Syntagm is a linguistic unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms phonemes, words, or
phrases) that are in a sequential relationship to one another. In most cases, compound
words and syntagmas are very similar in meaning, e.g.weekend---the end of the week. The
difference between word and syntagma is syntactic: a compound word is always one part of
the sentence, whereas the members of syntagma are different parts of the sentence.
Consequently, we should regard compounds as words – having the form and function of the
latter: lexical-nomination, syntactical – a definite part of the sentence.
Compounds must be analyzed at the level of morphemic analyses and at the level of
derivational analyses or word-formation analyses.
Some compounds are made up of determined and determining parts, which may be
called determinant and the determinatum. E.g. sunbeam – in this case beam is the basic part
the determinatum, the determinant ‘sun‘serves to differentiate it from other beams. The
determinatum is the grammatically most important part which undergoes inflection; e.g.
sunbeams,brothers-in-law, passers-by.
The bulk of compound words are motivated and the semantic relations between the two
components are transparent. e.g. instead of ―a wasteland pitted with puddles of rain – a
rain puddle wasteland; a river with green banks – a green-banked river; foot of the stairs –
stair-foot. Compounding is most productive in modern English.
Compounds springing as it were from syntagmas, and bound together by the relation of
subordination of one in elements to the other, so-called subordinative (attributive)
compounds are the most numerous in English language. On the other hand, compounds
formed from the non-syntagmatic collocations e.g. ―bitter-sweet from ―bitter and sweet
are not so numerous. In this case, there is no subordination of one element to the other and
are loosely bound together are calledcopulative (additive) compound. However, in language
there are many cases of the so-called linguistic vagueness (e.g. the element ―manin
―cabman or ―sportsman – affix or semi-affix?).
The compounds where two constituent elements, the determinant and the determinatum
are clear are called endocentric compounds (non-idiomatic) e.g. slow-coach, blackboard,
book-case, etc.
 There are, however, other compounds where the determinatum is not expressed but
implied, i.e. the essential part of the determinatum is obviously missing; it is implied and
understood but not formally expressed. These compounds are called exocentric (idiomatic),
because their determinatum lies outside E.g. a ―killjoy – a person who throws gloom over
social enjoyment is neither ―joynor ―killer; wall-flower-a girl who is waiting for
invitation to dance.
The following joke rather vividly shows what happens if an idiomatic compound is
misunderstood as non-idiomatic.
Patient: They tell me, doctor, you are a perfect lady-killer.
Doctor: Oh, no, no! I assure you, my dear madam, I make no distinction between the
sexes.
In this joke, while the woman patient means to compliment the doctor on his being a
handsome and irresistible man, he takes or pretends to take the word lady-killer literally, as
a sum of the direct meanings of its constituents.
The structural type of compound words and the word-building type of composition have
certain advantages for communication purposes.
Composition is not quite so flexible a way of coining new words as conversion but flexible
enough. Among compounds are found numerous expressive and colorful words. They are
also comparatively laconic, absorbing into one word an idea that otherwise would have
required a whole phrase (cf. The hotel was full of week-enders and The hotel was full of
people spending the week-end there).
Both the laconic and the expressive value of compounds can be well illustrated by English
compound adjectives denoting colours (cf. snow-white — as white as snow).
Sometimes it is pointed out as a disadvantage, that the English language has only one word
blue for two different colours denoted in Georgian by ლურჯი.
But this seeming inadequacy is compensated by a large number of adjectives coined on the
pattern of comparison such as navy blue, cornflower blue, peacock blue, chicory blue,
sapphire blue, china blue, sky-blue, turquoise blue, forget-me-not blue, heliotrope blue,
powder-blue. This list can be supplemented by compound adjectives, which also denote
different shades of blue, but are not built on comparison: dark blue, light blue, pale blue,
electric blue, Oxford blue, Cambridge blue, Georgian-ცისფერი.
 English compounds have two specific features 1) firstly both immediate constituents of
an English compound are free forms, i.e. they can be used as independent words with a
distinct meaning of their own. The conditions of distribution will be different, but the
sound patterns are the same, except for the stress: anybody, inkstand, notebook, post-card…
2) In English a compound is usually made up of two stems. There are exceptions: such
compounds contain a form-word stem. E.g. sister-in-law, good-for-nothing, bread-and-
butter, nevertheless, nose-to-nose.
However, a compound word may consist of two IC‘s of which one is a compound stem
and the other a simple one, thus consisting of three stems: e.g. wastepaper – basket (n+n) or
night-watchman (n+(n+n) . A few compounds contain a connective element, e.g. Anglo-
Saxon, Afro-Asian, handiwork, tragicomic, tradesman, agriculture, etc.
In such words as ―Anglo-Saxon and ―tragicomic, the first element is a bound stem. The
connective ―s may be of two origins: from the Old English Genitive as in ―statesman,
craftsman, or from a plural form, as in woodsman, salesman, etc.
A further theoretical aspect of composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a
compound and a word-combination.
In this case, the graphic criterion of distinguishing between a word and a word-group
seems to be sufficiently convincing, yet in many cases it cannot wholly be relied on. The
spelling of many compounds, tallboy among them, can be varied. In the case of tallboy the
semantic criterion seems more reliable, for the striking difference in the meanings of the
word and the word-group certainly points to the highest degree of semantic cohesion in the
word: tallboy (კომოდი)does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture, a chest of
drawers supported by a low stand.
Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also
convey a single concept and some of them are characterized by a high degree of semantic
cohesion. E.g.the word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts (a young male person; big in
size), whereas the word tallboy expresses one concept.
The phonetic criterion for compounds may be treated as that of a single stress. The
criterion is convincingly applicable to many compound nouns, yet does not work with
compound adjectives: cf. 'slowcoach, blackbird, 'tallboy; But: blue-'eyed, 'absent-'minded,
'ill-'mannered.
 Still, it is true that the morphological structure of these adjectives and their hyphenated
spelling leave no doubt about their status as words and not word-groups.
Morphological and syntactic criteria can also be applied to compound words in order to
distinguish them from word-groups. In the word-group,a tall boy each of the constituents is
independently open to grammatical changes peculiar to its own category as a part of speech:
They were the tallest boys in their form.Between the constituent parts of the word-group
other words can be inserted: a tall handsome boy.
The compound tallboy — and, in fact, any other compound — is not subject to such
changes. The first component is grammatically invariable; the plural form ending is added to
the whole unit: tallboys. No word can be inserted between the components, even with the
compounds, which have a traditional separate graphic form.
All this leads us to the conclusion that, in most cases, only several criteria (semantic,
morphological, syntactic, phonetic, and graphic) can convincingly classify a lexical unit as
either a compound word or a word group.
Some elements of the English vocabulary occurring as independent nouns, such as – man,
berry, land, have been very frequent as second elements of words for a long time. They
seem to have acquired valence similar to that of affixes. As these elements seem to come
somewhere in between the stems and affixes, the term semi-affix (splinters) is quite proper:
e.g. chairman – Madam Chairman, Scotland, strawberry. Semi-affixes are also –like, proof,
worthy, way – e.g. godlike, gentlemanlike, trust-worthy, seaworthy, always, anyway,
waterproof, fire-proof, etc. Unproductive semi-affixes are:wise (e.g. likewise), ment,
(mente-spirit, later-manner), monger, wright (fashionmonger, newsmonger, playwright,
shipwright, etc.). They seem to have acquired valence similar to that of affixes. They are
unstressed, and the vowel sound has been reduced to [mэn], although the reduction is not
quite regular: for instance, when the concept ― man is clearly present in the word, there is
no reduction. As to land, the pronunciation [lænd] occurs only in ethnic names Scotland,
Finland and the like, but not in homeland or fatherland.

Classification of Compounds
I. Functionally: compounds are classified as belonging to different parts of speech: most
English compounds are nouns (about 15%) or adjectives (4% of the vocabulary) e.g.
 Compound nouns:n+n – workman, adj.+n – blackboard, v+n – pickpocket, gerund+n –
reading-lamp, adv.+n – after-thought, n+prep. – passer-by, v+adv. – round-up.
Compound adjectives:world-wide (n+adj.), peace-loving (n+participle I), sunburnt
(n+participle II), red-hot (adj.+adj.), good-looking (adj.+participle I), low-down
(adj.+adv.),nearby (adv.+adv.)
Derivational compound adjectives: cloth-cupped (n+n)+ed, blue-eyed (adj.+n)+ed
Compound verbs:broadcast (adj.+v), waylay (n+v), uprise (adv.+v). Very often verbs are
formed by conversion e.g. to blackmail, to whitewash, by back formation – to tape-record
from ―tape-recorder), to babysit (from baby-sitter)
Compound adverbs:nearby, indoors, out-of-doors, etc.
Compound prepositions:upon, into, onto, without, within, etc.
Compound conjunctions:wherever, whenever, whereupon, etc.
II Classification of compounds according to the way of joining the compounds:without
any linking elements:snow-white, daybreakand with linking element:speedometer, Anglo-
American
III. Classification according to different ways of compounding:
Compounds proper are formed by joining stems of words already available in the
language. Compound proper is a word, the two Immediate Constituents of which are stems
of notional words, stem+stem, with or without a linking element: e.g . ice-cold, ill-luck,age-
old, looking-glass, handicraft, handiwork… where both IC‘s are free forms, homonymous
with words.
Derivational compound (or compound derivatives) is a word formed by a simultaneous
process of composition and derivation. Derivational compound is a word consisting of two
Immediate Constituents, only one of which is a compound stem of notional words, the
other being a derivational affix. E.g. penholder = pen + hold + er; blue-eyed (adj,. + n) + ed).
A compound word may contain a compound stem + a simple one, or a derived one, e.g .
flowerpot–stand ((n+n) +n), aircraft- carrier ((n+n) + (n+er)).
Nonce words show some variations on this type. The process of their formation is clearly
seen in the following examples:
―Have you ever thought of bringing them together? ―Oh, God forbid. As you may have
noticed, I'm not much of a bringer-together at the best of times.
 ―”The shops are very modern here”; he went on, speaking with all the rather touchy
insistence on up-to-dateness, which characterizes the inhabitants of an under-bathroomed
and over-monumented country (Huxley).
IV. Classification according to the relationship between the components:
Coordinative or additive compound in which both elements are more or less independent,
e.g. actor-manager, man-mechanic, breath-taking, self- discipline, word-formation, broad-
shouldered ((adj.+n)+ed), three-cornered ((numeral+n)+ed, red-faced ((adj.+n)+ed). To co-
coordinative compounds also belong reduplicative compounds ( fifty-fifty, pooh-pooh), and
phonetically varied compounds (sing-song, walkie-talkie)
Subordinated or attributive compounds. Most English compounds belong to this class. One
of the elements usually the second one is the structural center and the grammatically
dominant part of the word, giving it its part-of-speech meaning. Through this relation, the
two elements are closely bound together.
Determinant/Determinatum
wood -work (work made of wood) age -old (many years old) man- handle (handle
roughly by a man) sun -beam (beam of the sun)
V. Classification according to distributional formulas. subordinated compounds may be:
Syntactic, if the order in which the compounded stems are placed, follows the syntactic
rules according to which the corresponding words would be placed in an English sentence
or phrase –e.g. a blackboard – a black board, a know nothing – to know nothing.
Asyntactic compounds in which the order of the stems in different form would be normal
in a phrase or a sentence e.g. red hot – so hot that it is red. Besides in phrases and adjectives
cannot be modified by another adjective, but in compounds we get such structural patterns
as (adj.+adj) – red-hot, pale-blue, etc. a noun cannot modify an adjective or a participle in a
phrase, but in compounds we can get (n+participle) – weather-beaten, ice-bound or (n+adj)
– snow-while, blood-red, sky-blue.
VI. Semantic classification of compounds
In compound words, great varieties of semantic relations can be observed. Functional or
purpose relations like: raincoat, suitcase, place relations: sea-board, country-house temporal
(time) relations: summer-house, day-train comparison: blackhead, clubfoot material
relations: glassware, woodwork partitive relations: bottle-neck, door-handle sex relations:
tom-cat, Jackass, bull-elephant instrumental or agentive relations: steamboat, mind- mail
appositional relations: woman-doctor, man-servant
A very productive and numerous groups are nouns derived from verbs with postpositive,
or more rarely with adverbs. This type consists chiefly of impersonal deverbal nouns
denoting some action or specific instance. Examples:
Blackout--a period of complete darkness‘ (for example, when all the electric lights go out
on the stage of the theatre, or when all lights in a city are covered as a precaution against air
raids); also -a temporary loss of consciousness‘; Breakdown-a stoppage through accident‘, a
nervous collapse‘; Hangover(ნაბახუსევი) -an unpleasant after-effect‘(especially after drink);
Make-up, a polysemantic compound which may mean, for example, -the way anything is
arranged‘, one‘s mental qualities‘, cosmetics‘;Take-off, also polysemantic: -caricature‘, the
beginning of a flight‘, etc. Some more examples: comedown, drawback, dropout, feedback,
frame-up, knockout, setback, shake-up, splashdown, take-in, teach-in, etc. e.g. ―Are these
your books? ―Yes. They were a very odd collection of throw-outs from my flat (Cooper).
Meaning in compounds
The motivation of compounds is often quite clear through the lexical meaning of the
components, e.g. door-handle, hand-bag, etc. In some compounds, the motivation is not so
clear, e.g. flower-bed (which is not a bed, but a piece of ground for growing flowers). There
are compounds, which are idiomatic in meaning e.g. bluestocking (a pedantic woman), wall-
flower (a girl who is not invited to dance and has to sit at the wall).
The group bahuvrihi compound noun is not very numerous. The term ―bahuvrihi is
borrowed from the grammarians of ancient India. Its literal meaning is ―much-riced. It is
used to designate possessive exocentric formations in which a person, animal or thing are
metonymically named after some striking features they possess, chiefly a striking feature in
their appearance. This feature is in its turn expressed by the sum of the meanings of the
compound‘s immediate constituents. The formula of the bahuvrihi compound nouns is
adj.stem + noun stem.
E.g. … we all knew each other‘s life histories, including that of the wooden-leg‘s uncle, who
lived at Sisley…‘
Semantically the bahuvrihi are almost invariably characterized by a depreciative ironical
emotional tone: e.g. bigwig – a person of importance; black-shirt – an Italian fascist ; fathead
– a dull, stupid person; greenhorn – an ignoramus, highbrow – a person who claims to be
superior in intellect and culture, lazy-bones – a lazy person.
Compound Viewed Diachronically
Historically, compounding is one of the oldest ways of word building in English, as in
other Germanic languages and in all Indo-European languages. Some of the oldest
compounds have come down to us, e.g. holiday, sweetheart, others have undergone such
phonetic changes that we no longer see compounds in them. Their stems have become
simplified and being compressed, have made a monomorphic word: daisy – day‘s eye,
window – wind eye, women – wifman – woman-person…
Simplification is defined as ―morphological process by which a word of a complex
morphological structure loses the meaning of its separate morphological parts and becomes a
mere symbol of the notion given.
Demotivation is etymological isolation when the word loses its ties with other word or
words with which it was formally connected and associated ceases to be understood as
belonging to its original word-family: e.g. kidnap---steal (a child) or carry off a person by
illegal practice, literally means – to seize a young goat (nap- a slang word for – arrest).
Miscellanea of Composition
Some of the compound words contain only the free form the other constituent being a
variation of this, while there are also cases where both constituents are jocular pseudo-
morphemes, meaningless and fanciful sound clusters, which never occur elsewhere. Their
motivation is mostly based upon sound-symbolism and it is their phonetic made-up that
plays the most important role in their functioning. They are all stylistically colored
(colloquial, slang and nursery words) and markedly expressive and emotional: the emotion
is not expressed in the constituents but suggested by the whole pattern (reduplication,
rhyme). The group consists of reduplicative compounds that fall into three main sub-groups:
reduplicative compounds proper, ablaut combinations andrhyming combinations.
Reduplicative compounds proper are not restricted to the repetition onomatopoeic stems,
with intensifying effect. Actually, it is a very mixed group containing usual free forms,
onomatopoeic stems and pseudo-morphemes.Onomatopoeic repetition exists but it is not
very extensive: hush-hush-secret; murmur; pooh-pooh – express contempt; blah-blah –
nonsense; nursery words such as: quack-quack – duck, puff-puff – train. Non-imitative
words may be also used in reduplication and possess ironical ring : pretty-pretty, goody-
goody (sentimentally and affectedly good).
Ablaut combinations are twin forms consisting of one basic morpheme (usually the
second), sometimes a pseudo-morpheme, which is repeated in the other constituent with a
different vowel: Chitchat – gossip, knickknack – small articles of ornament, shilly-shally –
hesitate, ding-dong, Ping-Pong, singsong – monotonous voice, tip-top – first rate.
Rhyme combinations are twin forms consisting of two elements which are joined to
rhyme: boogie-woogie, harum-scarum – disorganized, helter-skelter – in disordered haste,
hoity-toity – snobbish, humdrum- bore, hurry-scurry – great hurry, namby-pamby –
weakly sentimental, willy-nilly – compulsorily. The words like – gillyflower or
sparrowgrass are not actually compounds, they are cases of false etymology, an attempt to
find motivation for a borrowed word: crayfish (small lobster – like fresh water Crustacean, a
spiny lobster) from OFrCrevice, gillyflower from OFrgirofle and sparrowgrass from Latin
asparagus.

EXERCISES

Task 1
Compound Adjectives
Warm-hearted means kind, considerate.
Can you match the correct words from the first two columns, and then match the
compound adjective with its definition from the column three?
1 2 3
tight- Minded mean (with money)
two- Sighted Bossy
narrow- Skinned good at planning
thick- Headed Obstinate
high- Fisted Hypocritical
pig- Faced Insensitive
far- Handed Intolerant
Task 2
Rewrite each of the sentences below, forming a compound adjective from the two words
in italics and making any other changes necessary.
E.g. The journey took ten hours. — It was a ten-hour journey.
They make these chocolates by hand. — These chocolates are hand-made.
Her hat caught everyone's eye. — She wore an eye-catching hat.
The doctor was trained in Germany. — He's a German-trained doctor.
The memory was both bitter and sweet. — It was a bitter-sweet memory.
(a) That thing looks dangerous.
(b) Mr. Reed is an accountant who was born in London.
(c) She always dresses very smartly.
(d) It was painted red like the colour of bricks.
(e) She had eyes like a cat.
(f) The meal tasted awful.
(g) The tower has a shape like a mushroom.
(h) He was famous all over the world.
(i) We had to write a composition of 200 words.

Task 3
State the difference in meaning of the given compounds possessing different
distributional patterns. Find examples of your own.
Model: finger-ring – ring-finger
The compound word finger-ring denotes ‘a ring which is worn on a finger’, whereas the
compound word ring-finger means ‘the finger next to the little finger, especially of the left
hand, onwhich the wedding ring is worn’. The different order and arrangement of the same
ICs (i.e.different distributional patterns) signal the difference in meaning.
Boathouse – houseboat; play-boy – boy-play; pot-flower – flower-pot;life-boat – boat-life;
board-school – school-board; dog-house – house-dog; pot-pie –pie-pot; boy-toy – toy-boy,
plant-house – house-plant.
 Task 4
Join each word on list A to a word on List B to make a compound word. Write out the
new words. Example No.1: under+ ground= underground
A B
bus keep
door phone
car stop
ear drain
house name
bell drop
brain pull
brand party
floppy store
side hold
book disk
free walk

Task 6
In each of the following sentences, there is a blank with a word just before it. Fill each
blank with a word that combines with the one given in a way that fits the sentence. If you
find the exercise too difficult, look for the right words in the list below.
1. He paid a lot of money for his FIRST-... ticket. 2. She hasn't much money to spend
because she can find only a PART-... job. 3. She looks rather severe but she is really a very
KIND-... woman. 4. My mother always gives her guests HOME-... cakes for tea. 5. What I'd
really like for breakfast is a nice NEW-... egg. 6. We say that the SO-... "leader" of the
group is just a petty tyrant. 7. I have never had any painting lessons. I am entirely SELF-....
8. Peter always wears very WELL-... shoes. 9. Our teacher isn't strict at all. She is very
EASY-.... 10. To be honest, I enjoy eating in HIGH-... restaurants. 11. Please, enclose a
SELF-... envelope. 12. Everyone began the holiday in a LIGHT-... mood. 13. This particular
kind of LONG-... sheep can run quite fast. 14. I think you would be ILL-... to sell the house
at the present time. 15. I much prefer having a drink in an OLD-... country club.
ADDRESSED CALLED CLASS GOING HEARTED HEARTED LAID LEGGED MADE/BAKED
POLISHED PRICED TAUGHT TIME ADVISED FASHIONED
 CHAPTER 5
SHORTENED WORDS AND MINOR TYPES OF
LEXICAL OPPOSITION

This comparatively new way of word building has achieved a high degree of productivity
nowadays, especially in American English.
Shortenings (or contracted/curtailed words) are produced in two different ways. The first
is to make a new word from a syllable (rarer, two) of the original word. The latter may lose
its beginning (as in phone made from telephone, fence from defense), its ending (as in hols
from holidays, vac from vacation, props from properties, ad from advertisement) or both
the beginning and ending (as in flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator).
The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word
group: UNO from the United Nations Organization, BBC. from the British Broadcasting
Corporation, MPfrom Member of Parliament. This type is called initial shortenings. They
are found not only among formal words, such as the ones above, but also among
colloquialisms and slang. So, g. f. is a shortened word made from the compound girl-friend.
The somewhat odd-looking words like flu, pram, lab, MP., V-day, H-bomb are called
shortenings, contractions or curtailed words and are produced by the way of word-building
called shortening (contraction). The shortening of words involves the shortening of both
words and word-groups. Distinction should he made between shortening of a word in
written speech (graphical abbreviation) and in the sphere of oral intercourse (lexical
abbreviation). Lexical abbreviations may be used both in written and in oral speech. Lexical
abbreviation is the process of forming a word out of the initial elements (letters,
morphemes) of a word combination by a simultaneous operation of shortening and
compounding.
The principle of linguistic economy of information as economically as possible operate
with full force on the syntactic level, compressing collocations into words, reducing
analytical verb forms to their possible minimum (I‘‘ do it, I‘ve done it) and even raising
words to the status of sentences by landing them to the function of communication,
especially in answers to questions:
―What are you doing? – Nothing.
 As we‘ve seen above, the transposition of syntagmas and free collocations into the class of
words of compound words is at the same time accompanied by the process of contraction,
the implementation of the principle of linguistic economy. This principle manifested in the
phenomenon of compression, account for the generation of a great many abbreviations in
the Modern English vocabulary.
Clipping
As a type of word-building, shortening of spoken words, also called clipping or
curtailment is recorded in the English language as far back as the 15 th century. Newly
shortened words appear continuously and this is testified by numerous neologisms, such as
demo-demonstration, dub-doubling; frig-fridge – refrigerator.
The correlation of a curtailed word with its prototype is of great interest. Two possible
developments should be noted: 1) The curtailed form may be regarded as a variant or a
synonym differing from the full form quantitatively and emotionally neutral. e.g. doc-
doctor, exam-examination, Becky-Rebecca, Frisco-San Francisco, Japs – the Japanese; The
missing part can at all times be supplied by the listener, so that the connection between the
prototype and the short form is not lost. 2) In the opposite extreme case the connection can
be established only etymologically. The denotative or lexico-grammatical meaning or both
may have changed so much that the clipping becomes a separate word. Consequently a pair
of etymological doublet comes into being: chap- Chapman, - fan-fanatic, fancy-fantasy.
Very often shortening occurs in the first or the stressed part of the word, as the initial
component of words are imprinted in the mind and memory readily than the final parts.
E.g. pep (sl.) – vigor, ec-eco – from economics, prep – (school sl.) – homework from
preparation. Unlike conversion, shortening produce new words in the same part of speech.
Shortened adjectives are very few and mostly reveal a combined effect of shortening and
suffixation e.g. comfy-comfortable, dilly-delightful, imposs-impossible, mizzy-miserable,
Shun! – Attention (Interjection).
There are various classifications of shortened words. The generally accepted one is
based on the position of the clipped part. According to whether it is the final, initial or
middle part of the word that is cut off we distinguish final clipping (apocope), initial
clipping (aphesis, i.e. aphaeresis) and medical clipping (or syncope). Sometimes a
combination of these types is observed (e.g. tec-detective, frig-refrigerator).
 Apocope [ә‟pokәpi] – final clipping, clipping off the end of a word- ad (advisement), -
exam, lab, gym, doc, coke- coca-cola, ed-editor, fab- fabulous, mac- mackintosh, ref-
reference, veg- vegetables.
Aphaeresis [ǽ‟fiәrisis]- clipping off the beginning of the word: phone-telephone, cute-
(Am)-acute, fend -defend, mend-amend, story- history, sport- disport, tend- attend, cello-
violoncello, chute- parachute, (auto)bus, (motor) car.
Final and initial clipping may be combined and result in curtailed words with the middle
part of the prototype retained. These are few and definitely colloquial- flue- influenza, frig,
fridge-refrigerator, tec- detective.
Syncope [sinkopi]- clipping out of the middle: ma‘am,- madam, maths –mathematics,
pants- pantaloons, cigs-cigarettes, spec- spectacles, fancy- fantasy.
Ellipsis is defined as the omission of a word or words considered essential for grammatical
completeness but nit for conveyance of the intended lexical meaning. Example: Police
served in an effort to stop the big sit-down planned for September, where sit-down is used
for sit-down demonstration. Other examples: Open on for ―open fire; put to sea for -put
ship to sea;finals – for final examinations; prelims – for preliminary examination; pop – for
popular music; prom – for promenade concert; pub – public house; taxi – taximeter – cab;
co-ed – a girl student at a co-educational institution. Co-op – cooperative store or society,
teen – ager, Lib – Labs - Ironical) – liberal Labor MP‘s.
Among these formations there is a specific group that has attracted special attention of
several and wasgivenname blends, blending, fusions, or portmanteau words: chortle-
chuckle, mimsy – miserable + flimsy, galumph – gallop + triumph, slithy – slimy + lithe,
snob – sine nobilitate, bit – binary digit, (telescoping is used for this process). The word
portmanteau was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice
Found There (1871), in which it is likened to the French word "portmanteau" for coat-rack.
In the book, Humpty Dumptyexplains to Alice words from Jabberwocky, saying, "Well,
slithy means lithe and slimy ... You see it's like a portmanteau— there are two meanings
packed up into one word." Carroll often used such words to a humorous effect in his work.
In modern French, a "portmanteau" (from "manteau" (coat) and the verb "porter", to carry)
is a coat rack. The English meaning of the word, however, is a suitcase with two
compartments – hence the linguistic idea of fusing two words and their meanings into one
(of which the modern French version is an appropriate example). "Portmanteau" is rarely
used to refer to a suitcase in English any more, since that type of a suitcase has fallen into
disuse.
The process of formation is also called telescoping. Blending or telescoping isformation of
a word by merging parts of words (not morphemes) into one new word; the result is a
blend, fusion, e.g., smog (smoke + fog), transceiver (transmitter + receiver), motel (motor +
hotel),brunch (breakfast + lunch), etc.
The analysis into immediate constituents is helpful as it permits the definition of a blend
as a word with the first constituent represented by a stem whose final part may be missing,
and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial part is missing. The second
constituent when used in a series of similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix onis,
for instance, well under way in such terms as nylon, rayon, silon, formed from the final
element of cotton. This process seems to be very active in present-day English word-
formation numerous new words have been coined recently: Reaganomics,. Irangate,
blacksploitation, workaholic, foodoholic, scanorama etc.
Two types of blends are distinguished; additive and restrictive. Additive type is
transformable into a phrase consisting of the restrictive complete stems combined by the
conjunction and e.g. smog < smoke and fog, smaze < smog + haze , brunch < breakfast and
lunch, Niffles < Niagara falls.
The restrictive type is transformable into an attributive phrase where the first element
serves as a modifier of the second. Position < positive electron, telecast < television
broadcast, motel < motorists‘ hotel, shamboo < sham bumboo imitation bamboo). Atomaniac
< atom maniac, slanguage < slang + language; Colloquial style gives such examples as –
bobby, cabbie, max. Nursery words: gran, granny, hanky < handkerchief, nightie < night.
School and college slang: caf < cafeteria, digs < diggings (logging), ec, eco < economics, lab,
prelims, etc.
Here are some more examples of informal shortenings:movie (from moving-picture); gent
(from gentleman); specs (from spectacles); circs (from circumstances, e. g. under the circs);
IOY (a written acknowledgement of debt, made from I owe you); lib (from liberty); cert
(from certainty, as in This enterprise is a cert if you have a bit of capital), metrop (from
metropolis, exhibish (from exhibition), posish (from position).
 Undergraduates' informal speech abounds in words of the type: exam, lab, prof, vac, hol,
co-ed (a girl student at a coeducational school or college).
Graphical Abbreviations. Acronyms.
Because of the ever-closer connection between the oral and the written forms of the
language, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate clippings formed in oral speech from
graphical abbreviations.
During World War I and after it the custom became very popular not only in English-
speaking countries, but in other parts of the world as well, to call countries, governmental,
social, military, industrial and trade organizations and officials not only by their full titles
but by initial abbreviations derived from writing.
Words formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major
parts of a compound term are called acronyms. Two possible types of correlation between
written and spoken forms should be: when the abbreviated written form is read like one:
e.g. UNESCO [ju:neskou] – United Nations educational, Scientific and Cultural organization;
UNO [ju:nou] – United Nations Organizations), UNRRA [ənra:] – United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration. Acronyms present a special interest because they exemplify
the working of the lexical adaptive system.
The opposite subgroup consists of initial abbreviations with the alphabetic reading
retained e.g. BBC [bi:bi:si:] - British Broadcasting Corporation, MP [em pi:] – member of
parliament or military police, PM – prime minister, SOS – save our souls, TV. The term
abbreviation is used for a shortened form of a written word or phrase in a text in place of
the whole, for economy of space. Abbreviation is achieved by omission of letters from one
or more parts of the whole; as for instance: abbr – abbreviation, bldg – building, govt –
government, cdr - commander, ltd – li9mited, B.A – Bachelor of Arts. NY – New York State,
oz – ounce, Xmas - Christmas, pp – pages, ll – lines, cc – chapter. NATFHE– National
Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (group 1); MP – Member of
Parliament (group 2) NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization, UNO – United
NationsOrganization, WHO – The World Health Organization, BUPA – British United
Provident Association, AGM – annual general meeting, WI – Women's Institute, UCAS –
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, IRA – Irish Republican Army, NASA –
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, CID – Criminal Investigation Department,
SALT – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, UEFA – Union of European Football Associations,
IQ – intelligence quotient, NAAFI – Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes, MRBM –
medium-range ballistic missile, FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, TEFL – teaching of
English as a foreign language, UFO – unidentified flying object, UNRRA – United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, VIP – very important person, FIFA – Federal
International Football Association, GI – government (or general) issue. SWOT-Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
An interesting feature of present-day English is the use of initial abbreviations for famous
persons’ names and surnames. Thus, George Bernard Show is often alluded to a GBS,
Herbert George Wells as H.G. Journalistic abbreviations are often occasioned by a desire to
economize head-line space, as seen from the example: CNO Calls Lobby to Stop MLF (multi
nuclear force), CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). It is familiar for English when
the first element is a letter and the second a complete word: e.g. A – bomb, H – accident,
risk, h – bomber, H – blast… U – for upper classes, e.g. U – pronunciation, U – language.
The term a b b r e v i a t i o n may be also used for a shortened form of a written word or
phrase used in a text in place of the whole for economy of space and effort. Abbreviation is
achieved by omission of letters from one or more parts of the whole, as for instance abbr for
abbreviation, bldg for building, govt for government, wd for word, doz or dz for dozen, ltd
for limited, B.A. for Bachelor of Arts, N.Y. for New York State. Sometimes the part or parts
retained show some alteration, thus, oz denotes ounce and Xmas denotes Christmas.
Doubling of initial letters shows plural forms as for instance pp. for pages, ll for lines or cc
for chapters. These are in fact not separate words but only graphic signs or symbols
representing them. Consequently no orthoepic correlation exists in such cases and the
unabbreviated word is pronounced: ll [lainz], pp ['peigiz]. ad lib (Lat ad libitum) — at
pleasure‘, a.m. (Lat ante meridiem) — in the morning‘, cf. (Lat conferre)—compare; cp. (Lat
comparare) — compare‘, e.g. (Lat exempli gratia)—for example; ib(id) (Lat ibidem) — in the
same place; i.e. (Lat id est)that is; loc.cit. (Lat locus citato) — in the passage cited; ob. (Lat
obit) —he (she) died; q.v. (Lat quod vide) — which see; p.m. (Lat post meridiem) — in the
afternoon; viz (Lat videlicet) — namely, sometimes read viz. Actual letters are also read in
the following cases: a.m. ['ei'em], e.g., i.e., p.m.
 Sound Interchange and Stress Interchange
These ways of word-building are non-productive in Modern English, but have remained
in the language as a means of distinguishing words belonging to different parts of speech.
Sound interchange may be defined as an opposition in which words or word forms are
differentiated due to an alternation in the phonemic composition of the root. Some of the
words are due to ablaut or vowel gradation characteristic of Endo-European languages and
consisting in a change from one to another vowel accompanying a change of stress e.g . abide
-abode, bear-burden, sing-song, to feed-food, ride-road.
The other group of cases is due to an assimilation process conditioned by the phonemic
environment. One of these is vowel mutation, otherwise called umlaut= a partial
assimilation to a succeeding sound as for example:
1. The fronting and rising of a back vowel or a low vowel caused by an [i] or [j] originally
standing in the following syllabus but now either altered or lost: full-fill, whole-heal, tale-
tell, speak-speech;
2. Vowel Interchange +affixation: long-length, strong-strength, deep-depth, wide-width,
nation-national, nature-natural.
3. Consonant Interchange: to use-use, to advise-advice, to speak-speech [k- ch], to
offend-offence. Consonant interchange may be accompanied by vowel interchange : life-
live, breath-breathe, bath-bathe.
4. Stress Interchange: This takes place mostly in borrowings from Latin or French:
'Export-to ex'port, 'import-to im'port, 'present-to pre'sent, 'increase-to in'crease,
'frequent-to fre'quen
Sound Imitation
The great majority of motivated words in present-day language are motivated by reference
to other words in the language, to the morphemes that go to compose them and to their
arrangement: e.g. skyscraper, strikebreaker. Sound imitation or onomatopoeic words are on
the contrary motivated with reference to extralinguistic reality; they are echoes of natural
sounds. Sound imitation (onomatopoeia /ˌɒnəʊmætəˈpiːə/or echoism) is naming an action or
thing by a more or less exact reproduction of a sound associated with it; e. g. words naming
sounds and movement of water; babble, blob; bubble, flush, gurgle, gush, splash, etc. The
same sounds are represented differently in different languages: e. g. cock-a-doodle-do (Eng),
cocorico(French), ყიყლო(Georg.)
The cock is crowing
The stream is flowing
The small birds twitter
The lake does glitter
The green field sleeps in the sun
(Wordsworth)

The majority of onomatopoeic words serve to name sounds or movements: bang, boom,
beep, hum, rustle, smack, thud… Interjections: bang! Hush! Pooh!
Semantically, according to the source of sound, onomatopoeic words fall into a few very
definite groups. Many verbs denote sounds produced by human beings in the process of
communication or in expressing their feelings : babble, chatter, giggle, grunt, grumble,
murmur, mutter, litter, whisper, then there are sounds produced by animals, birds and
insects, E.g. Buzz, crack, croak, crow, hiss, hawk, howl, moo, hew, neigh, purr, roar,. Some
birds are named after the sound they make crow, cuckoo, humming-bird, whip-poor-will,
cricket.; These are words imitating the noise of metallic thing: clink, tinkle, clash, crash,
whack, whip, whisk…
There is a hypothesis that sound imitation, as a way of word-formation, should be viewed
as something much wider than just the production of words by the imitation of purely
acoustic phenomena. Some scholars suggest that words may imitate through their sound
form certain encaustic features and qualities of inanimate objects, actions and processes or
that the meaning of the word can be regarded as the immediate relation of the sound group
to the object. If a young chicken or kitten is described as fluffy there seems to be something
in the sound of the adjective that conveys the softness and the downy quality of its plumage
or its fur. Such verbs as to glance, to glide, to slide, to slip are supposed to convey by their
very sound the nature of the smooth, easy movement over a slippery surface. The sound
form of the words shimmer, glimmer, glitter seems to reproduce the wavering, tremulous
nature of the faint light. The sound of the verbs to rush, to dash, to flash may be said to
reflect the brevity, swiftness and energetic nature of their corresponding actions. The word
thrill has something in the quality of its sound that very aptly conveys the tremulous,
tingling sensation it expresses.

EXERCISES
Task 1
Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed. e. g. ad —
advertisement
bike — bus — co-ed — coke — doc — exam — flu— fridge — gas — gent — grannie —
lab — maths — mike — movie — phone — photo — plane — pop— vet — zoo —

Task 2
Give clipped forms of the following words. e.g. cabriolet — cab
brassiere fanatic memorandum perambulator poliomyelitis promenade dance sergeant
communist graduate (student) Metropolitan Opera permanent (hair wave) preparatory
(school) public house taximeter cab dormitory grandmother pantaloons periwig professor
San Francisco violence

Task 3
Pick out the words with apharesis, syncope or apacope and put them in the table below:
Becky, Bella, Bess, brig, bus, cab, captain, cause, curtsy, cycle, demob, exam, fancy, Fred,
guy, Kate, mend, Mrs., Mr, mob, Nick, peal, phz, photo, para, prep, props, sprite, sport, taxi,
teck, through, Tony, tram, USA, wig, zoo, ad, cello, piano, pub

Apharesis Syncope apacope

 Task 4
Write out in full the fillowing shortened words:
UNO, UNESCO, USA, BBC, ABC, PM, MP, e.g. PR, P.S. UFO, FIFA, UEFA
SWOT NATO FBI

Task 5
Write the words blends consist of:
Smog, transceiver, motel, brunch, telecast, Atomaniac, slanguage, granny, hanky,
nightie,caf, digs, lab, prelims, fruice

Task 6
Give the words denoting sounds produced by the animals named below:
The cat the cock the frog the sheep
The dog the goose the horse the pig
The cow the snake the bee the duck
 CHAPTER 6
CONVERSION

Conversion is a way of forming new forms by means of the transposition of a word into
another part of speech, a new word formed in this way acquires the functions of that part of
speech. On the plane of expression, it acquires the paradigmatic forms of the part of speech
into which it was transposed and the ability to enter other kinds of syntagmas. e.g. ―to run
– a run the verb to run being intransitive does not form objective syntagmas (except the so-
called cognate objective syntagma ―run a race; as a verb it does not enter attributive
syntagmas ―I saw a run on the shop, ―I had a good run.
On the plane of the context, conversion produce new lexico-semantic units: ―a
hammer, part-of-speech meaning – a noun; sememe (from the semantic field to tools)- tool
for driving in nails) ―to hammer, part-ofspeech meaning – a verb; sememe – the
instrumental use of this object. The basis forms of words forming conversion pairs are
homonymous, e.g. silence (n) – to silence (v)
Conversion works mostly in root words, but derivatives also undergo conversion, so do
compound words: e.g. a star – to star, to dislike – to dislike, commission – to commission, to
broadcast – broadcast, etc.
Conversion is a most productive way of making new words in Modern English; to airlift –
airlift, alert – to alert, (to give the alarms), blueprint – to blueprint (work out a plan for
social reform, for education), booby-trap – to booby-trap (noun – a device to catch enemy
soldiers answers). It is interesting to find in this list of neologisms compound words made by
conversion from free word combinations e.g. to break through enemy lines – a
breakthrough. There is no morphological restriction to the formation of words by
conversion from nouns. Even free word formations, such as atom bomb, can give a verb by
conversion. So popular is conversion, that many occasional conversion pairs are coined.
Jerome k. Jerome says
―… we decided that we should… hotel it, and inn it and pub it when it was wet.
―Don‘t you ―my-dear me!
The most frequent cases of conversion are:
 Formation of verbs from nouns, so-called denominal verbs e.g. hand – to hand, hammer –
to hammer
2) Formation of nouns from verbs (rarely from other parts of speech), so-called deverbal
nouns, e.g. to jump – a jump. To burn – a burn, to guard – a guard
R.Ginsburg gives a convenient table showing the semantic relations between conversion
pairs.
Denominal verbs
ape – ape-to ape; hammer - to hammer; saw-to saw; nurse –to nurse; fish-to fish
powder – to powder; skin- to skin; peel-to peel
If a verb is polysemantic, it may belong to more than one of these groups:
I dusted the furniture – I removed the dust. Snow had only dusted the streets – there was
a slight powdering of snow (addition of the object)
b) Deverbal nouns
to jump – a jump; to chat; to guard - guard; to switch – a switch; to drive – a drive
to forge - a forge; to burn - a burn; to purchase - a purchase
How are we to determine which of the two words of a conversion pair is the basic one?
The verbs denote a process and the lexico-grammatical meaning of their stems is different
that of the roots, which are of a substantive character clearly the verb is derived from the
noun. In other cases, the matter is not so clear e.g . answer (v) or answer (n). If the root is
the center of the whole cluster of derived words, e.g. hand, handful, handy, left-handed, we
can judge whether it is a noun or a verb stem; in this case the suffixes are added to a noun
stem, consequently, the center of the word cluster is a noun root, and the verb ―to hand is
denominal.
Looking at the problem from the diachronic standpoint, we find that quite a number of
conversion pair in Modern English originated through the loss of inflexions by old English,
which reduced the basic word form.O.E. Lufu, love (v) from O.E. kufian; answer (n) from
O.E. andawarn answer(v) from O.E. andawarian. From the viewpoint of Modern English
such conversion pairs as answer – to answer, phone – to phone, taxi – to taxi, coexist in the
language and how it cause about is irrelevant.
 Criteria of Semantic Derivation
In cases of conversion, the problem of criteria of semantic derivation arises: which of the
converted pair is primary and which is converted from it.
There are following criteria:
1. If the lexical meaning of the root morpheme and the lexico-grammatical meaning of
the stem coincide the word is primary, e.g. in cases pen - to pen, father - to father the nouns
are names of an object and a living being. Therefore, in the nouns pen and father the lexical
meaning of the root and the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem coincide. The verbs to
pen and to father denote an action, a process therefore the lexico- grammatical meanings of
the stems do not coincide with the lexical meanings of the roots. The verbs have a complex
semantic structure and they were converted from nouns.
2. If we compare a converted pair with a synonymic word pair, which was formed by
means of suffixation, we can find out which of the pair is primary. This criterion can be
applied only to nouns converted from verbs, e.g. chat n. and chatv. can be compared with
conversation» - «converse.
3. The criterion based on derivational relations is of more universal character. In this
case, we must take a word-cluster of relative words to which the converted pair belongs. If
the root stem of the word-cluster has suffixes added to a noun stem the noun is primary in
the converted pair and vice versa, e.g. in the word-cluster : hand n., hand v., handy, handful
the derived words have suffixes added to a noun stem, that is why the noun is primary and
the verb is converted from it. In the word-cluster: dance n., dance v., dancer, dancing we
see that the primary word is a verb and the noun is converted from it.
Substantivized Adjectives
Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga ) refer substantivation of adjectives to conversion.
But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of substantivation of adjectives we
have quite different changes in the language. Substantivation is the result of ellipsis
(syntactical shortening) when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses
its semantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. a grown-up person is shortened to «a
grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivation the attribute takes the paradigm of a
countable noun, e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal‘s (mistake), criminals‘ (mistakes). Such
words are used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of musicals.
(musical comedies). There are also two types of partly substantivized adjectives: a) those
which have only the plural form and have the meaning of collective nouns, such as:
sweets,news, empties, finals, greens; b) those which have only the singular form and are
used with the definite article. They also have the meaning of collective nouns and denote a
class, a nationality, a group of people, e.g. the rich, the English, the dead.
Back- formation
Some compound verbs are resulted from back-formation: e.g.to babysit
frombabysitter;to tape-record from tape-recorder. The classic example of back- formation is
the verb – to beg from beggar on the pattern of ―to speak – speaker. In reality, the noun
beggar was borrowed from old French (beghard, a mendicant) it was taken for a derivative
with the suffix – ar, which was clipped off and the verb ―to beg came into being.
Incidentally, this is what might happen to the word ―laser where the final –er may be
taken for the suffix – er and if it is clipped off the verb ―to laze may come into being.
Other examples of back-formation are ―to edit ―from ―editor, to ―burgle from
―burglar.
So, back-formation is the term borrowed from diachronic linguistics. It denotes the
derivation of new words by subtracting a real or supposed affix from existing words though
misinterpretation of their structure.

EXERCISE
Task 1
Find cases of conversion in the following sentences. Indicate the part of speech of the
words derived by conversion and guess their meaning.
1. The Army would radio the location to the nearest airstrip.
2. We summered in Kashmir.
3. They pensioned him off when they found a younger man for the job.
4. You aren’t down. Nothing will down you.
5. It doesn’t interfere with your own likes and dislikes.
6. When did you get the invite, Mother?
7. It has been quite a wait before he heard her voice.
8. The detectives tailed the thief to the station.
 Task 2
From the sentences given below write out the words built up by backformation.
Model: They commentate on live Monday matches.
The word commentate (v) is formed by means of back-derivation. The word from which it
was formed is commentator (n).
1. They both enthused over my new look. 2. She didn‟t like that he frivoled in such a
serious situation. 3. It was pure greed that made me finish all those chocolates. 4. They ‘ve
asked me to edit one of the volumes in their new series of Shakespeare plays. 5. The police
found the people who burgled our house while we were away on holidays. 6. They televised
a live debate between the party leaders. 7. There is no one today worth butting for. 8. They
didn’t want him to orate at the meeting.
 CHAPTER 7
SET EXPRESSIONS. PHRASEOLOGY

Alongside with separate words speakers use large blocks consisting of more than one
word functioning as the whole. These set expressions are extremely variegated structurally,
functionally, semantically and stylistically. Not only expressive colloquialisms, whether
motivated like a sight for sore eyes and to know the ropes, or demotivated like tit for tat, but
also terms like -blank verse, direct object, political clichés - cold war, round table
conference, summit meeting, etc. any emotionally and stylistically neutral combinations: in
front of, as well as, great deal… may be referred to this type.
Phraseology also belongs to set expression, but it studies word-groups, which are
semantically and functionally inseparable units; some authors consider them to be
equivalents of words. The concise Oxford dictionary says that phraseology is choice or
arrangement of words; mode of expression. A.V.kunin and M.N.Amasova considered that
phraseology was not a branch of lexicology, but an independent branch of linguistics.
Phraseological units, or idioms, as they are called by most western scholars, represent
what can probably be described as the most picturesque, colorful and expressive part of the
language's vocabulary. If synonyms can be figuratively referred to as the tints and colors of
the vocabulary, then phraseology is a kind of picture gallery in which are collected vivid
and amusing sketches of the nation's customs, traditions and prejudices, recollections of its
past history, scraps of folk songs and fairy-tales. Quotations from great poets are preserved
here alongside the dubious pearls of philistine wisdom and crude slang witticisms, for
phraseology is not only the most colorful but probably the most democratic area of
vocabulary and draws its resources mostly from the very depths of popular speech.
Characteristic features of phraseological units are non-motivation for idiomaticity and
stability of context. They cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as
readymade units.
And what a variety of odd and grotesque images, figures and personalities one finds in this
amazing picture gallery: dark horses, white elephants, bulls in china shops and green-eyed
monsters, cats escaping from bags or looking at kings, dogs barking up the wrong tree and
men either wearing their hearts on their sleeves or having them in their mouths or even in
their boots. Certainly, a dark horse mentioned above is actually not a horse but a person
about whom no one knows anything definite, and so one is not sure what can be expected
from him. The imagery of a bull in a china shop lies very much on the surface: the idiom
describes a clumsy person. A white elephant, however, is not even a person but a valuable
object which involves great expense or trouble for its owner, out of all proportion to its
usefulness or value, and which is also difficult to dispose of. So, together with synonymy
and antonymy, phraseology represents expressive resources of vocabulary.
Where does the phraseological unit belong? It is not a word neither a syntagma. Most
linguist include phraseology into the sphere of lexicology, the basic reason being that,
according to A. Smirnitsky, I.Arnold and others, phraseological units are equivalents of
words. Such word groups that are figurative, stylistically colored, emotional are called by
them idioms proper, e.g. to wash one‘s dirty linen in public – to discuss family mattersbefore
others. Controversial problem is the classification of phraseological units V.Vinogradov
recognizes three types of phraseological units: 1) phraseological combinations (fully
motivated, one component being used metaphorically e.g. to meet the requirements) 2)
phraseological unities _ clearly motivated, the whole being metaphorical, e.g. To stick to
one‘s guns= to be firm in one‘s opinions, even in the face of opposition. 3) Phraseological
fusionswhich are unmotivated, as the meaning of the whole cannot be understood from the
meanings of the components e.g. To see the elephant_ to gain experience; to play hockey=
to cut classes.
Arnold suggests that the only objective classification of phraseological units (set
expressions, as she terms them) is based on the structural approach, taking into account the
functions of the units in speech: a set expression functioning in speech is in distribution
similar to definite classes of words or to complete sentences, set expressions can be: nominal
phrases e.g. Cat‘s paw (one who is tool in another‘s hands); verbal phrases. E.g. To rise in
the world (to succeed, to make a career), adjectival phrases, e.g. Mad as a March hare (quite
mad); adverbial phrases, e.g. In the long run (finally); prepositional phrases, as far as, as long
as, as far as I know. Whole sentences may be set expressions, ―ready made for use in
speech. This general classification is given in further details:
 It should be noted that there are points one might criticize in this classification e.g.
Knight errant, to give up etc.
Arnold underlines specific features of set expressions: euphonic, imaginative and
connotative qualities, such as rhythm, alliteration, rhyme, imagery, contrast, etc.e.g. ―stuff
and nonsense‖ is more expressive than merely ―nonsense; sale and sound (with alliterated
synonyms) is more expressive than ―uninjured. Rhythm is apparent in many cases: far and
near, far and wide, heart and soul.
Reiterationis another factor: on and on, more and more, two by two, etc.Alliteration.
Then and there(at once andon the spot) with might and main (with all one‘s strength).
Rhyme is frequently used: by hook or by crook,out and about (well enough to go out), high
and dry (left without help). Some other factors are Contrast: for love and money. More or
less. Simile: as like as two peas, as old as the hills, Metaphor:a lame duck, (a feature in life),
Synonymy: proud and haughty, high and mighty.
There are different definitions of idioms, phraseological units, set expressions.The latter
are only comparatively stable and semantically separable, neither is their grammatical
structure always fixed; consequently, the criterion of stability of lexical composition and
grammatical structure in these word-groups is not very reliable. Julia Falk overviews idioms
under compounds and states that, “compounds like ―greenhouse, ―blackboard and ―hot
dog might be labeled idioms. An idiom is any string to words for which the meaning of the
whole expression cannot be determined from the meanings of the individual morphemes
that make up the string”. E.g. John does not know much but he has managed to pull the
wool over their eyes.
For almost all idioms, a language usually contains a seemingly identical string of words,
which has a literal non-idiomatic meaning. According to J.Falk, proverbs are similar to
idioms. Idiom, proverb and metaphor are all terms that describe expressions with
unexpected meanings, and it should not be surprising that there is often some overlap
among these terms, considers she.
Victoria Fromkin treats idioms ―similar in structure to ordinary phrases except that they
tend to be frozen in form and do not readily enter to other combinations or allow the word
order to change.e.g. ―She put her foot in her month has the same structure as ―she put
her bracelet in her drawer, but the latter do not have the idiomatic sense.
 Idioms can break the rules on combining semantic properties. E.g .He ate his hat (but hat is
not edible), eat your heart; She (Fromkin) considers that ―many idioms may have
originated as metaphorical expressions that ―took hold in the language and became frozen
in their form and meaning. So idioms are phrases whose meaning is not the combination of
the meanings of the individual words. Idioms often violate co-occurrence restrictions of
semantic properties.
As for the criterion of motivation, the basic point of V.Vinogradov‘s theory, there are
cases where the presence or lack of motivation is a matter of subjective opinion.
Phraseological units are half-motivated, whereas idioms are unmotivated e.i. the meaning of
immediate constituents never fall on meaning of the whole phrase.
One of the important cultural sources of information is study of paremiology. Linguists
and folklorists have repeatedly attempted to explain the semantic ambiguity of proverbs,
which results to a large degree from their being used in various contexts with different
functions. However, proverbs also act as analogies, which add to the complexity of
understanding their precise meaning in a particular speech act. In trying to understand the
meaning of proverbs in certain contexts, we must keep in mind that they are usually
employed to disambiguate complex situations and events. Yet they are paradoxically
inherently ambiguous, because their meaning depends on analogy.
Proverbs are idiomatic in their sense that makes the speech emotively charged and
expressive. Proverbs are universal as they reflect reality. At the same time, they are
national, though it strives for no high ideal, but merely voices the sum total of everyday
experience which has become the common property of social group and which is the basis
of the group morality in a work-a-day world. If we analyze some types of proverbs, e.g.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise; Two wrongs don‘t
make a right ; or ‗Never steal anything small‘; we‘ll find that the moral , i.e. the meaning of
the proverb is adequately expressed by the lexemes that constitute it.
Ways of Forming Phraseological Units
A.V. Kunin classified phraseological units according to the way they are formed. He
pointed out primary and secondary ways of forming phraseological units.
Primary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a unit is formed on the basis
of a free wordgroup a) Most productive in Modern English is the formation of
phraseological units by means of transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups.
e.g. in cosmic technique we can point out the following phrases: launching pad(გამშვები
ბაქანი) in its transferred meaning - საწყისიპუნქტი;To link up-
კოსმოსურიხომალდებისშეპირიპირება in its transformed meaning it means-შეხვედრა,
შეერთება. b) A large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups by
transforming their meaning, e.g. granny farm - მოხუცებულთათავშესაფარი,
კომპიუტერულიპროგრამავირუსი.Funny farm-საგიჟე c) phraseological units can be
formed by means of alliteration, e.g. a sad sack - დეპრესიული ადამიანი,
უბედურიშემთხვევა, culture vulture - კულტურითგატაცებულიადამიანი. d) They can
be formed by means of expressiveness; especially it is characteristic for forming
interjections, e.g. My aunt! Hear, hear!(approval) etc. e) they can be formed by means of
distorting a word group. e.g. odds and ends was formed from odd ends. f) They can be
formed by using archaisms, e.g. in brown study means in gloomy meditation, where both
components preserve their archaic meanings. g) They can be formed by using a sentence in
a different sphere of life. e.g. that cock won‘t fight can be used as a free word-group when it
is used in sports (cock fighting ). It becomes a phraseological unit when it is used in
everyday life, because it is used metaphorically. h) They can be formed when we use some
unreal image, e.g. to have butterflies in the stomach - აღელვება, to have green fingers -
წარმატებულიმებაღე etc. i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or
politicians in everyday life, e.g. corridors of power (Snow), American dream (Ably) locust
years (Churchill) , the winds of change (Mc Millan).
Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a phraseological unit is
formed based on another phraseological unit. They are: a) conversion, e.g. to vote with one‘s
feet was converted into vote with one‘s feet; b) changing the grammar form, e.g. Make hay
while the sun shines is transferred into a verbal phrase - to make hay while the sun shines.
c) Analogy, e.g. Curiosity killed the cat was transferred into Care killed the cat. d) Contrast,
e.g. cold surgery - a planned before operation was formed by contrasting it with acute
surgery. Thin cat - a poor person was formed by contrasting it with fat cat; e) shortening of
proverbs or sayings e.g. from the proverb You can‘t make a silk purse out of a sow‘s ear by
means of clipping the middle of it the phraseological unit to make a sow’s ear was formed
with the meaning შეცდომა. f) borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either
as translation loans, e.g. living space (German), to take the bull by the horns ( Latin) or by
means of phonetic borrowings meche blanche(French), corpse d‘elite.
Syntactical Classification of Phraseological Units
Phraseological units can be classified as parts of speech. I.V. Arnold suggested this
classification. Here we have the followinggroups:
a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet train,
latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets,
b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g . tobreak the log-jam, to
get on somebody‘s coattails, to be on the beam, tonose out , to make headlines,
c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g . loose as a goose,dull as lead ,
d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, likea dream , like a
dog with two tails,
e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the strokeof ,
f) Interjection phraseological units, e.g. Catch me! Well, I never! etc.
In I.V.Arnold‘s classification there are also sentence equivalents,proverbs, sayings and
quotations, e.g. The sky is the limit; what makes him tick; I am easy. Proverbs are usually
metaphorical, e.g. too many cooks spoil the broth, while sayings are as a rule non-
metaphorical.
Idiom
An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definition, but
refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.Idioms are
words collocated togetherthat became fixed over time, e.g. "go Dutch" (when everybody
pays for his meal).
In the English expression "kick a bucket", for example, a listener knowing only the meaning
of "kick" and "bucket" would be unable to deduce the expression's actual meaning, which is
"to die". Although it can refer literally to the act of striking a specific bucket with a foot,
native speakers rarely use it that way. It cannot be directly translated to other languages –
for example, the same expression in Georgian is "პატრონს ჩაბარდა, ჩაილურის წყალი
დალია, გაღმა გავიდა,etc. The green-eyed monster is jealousy, the image being drawn
from Othello. To let the cat out of the bag has actually nothing to do with cats, but means
simply "to let some secret become known". In to bark up the wrong tree (Amer.), the
current meanings of the constituents create a vivid and amusing picture of a foolish dog
sitting under a tree and barking at it while the cat or the squirrel has long since escaped. But
the actual meaning of the idiom is "to follow a false scent; to look for somebody or
something in a wrong place; to expect from somebody what he is unlikely to do". The idiom
is frequently used in detective stories: The police are barking up the wrong tree as usual (i.e.
they suspect somebody who has nothing to do with the crime).
The ambiguousness of these interesting word groups may lead to an amusing
misunderstanding, especially for children who are apt to accept words at their face value.
Little Johnnie (crying): Mummy, mummy, my auntie Jane is dead.
Mother: Nonsense, child! She phoned me exactly five minutes ago.
Johnnie: But I heard Mrs. Brown say that her neighbours cut her dead.
(To cut somebody dead means "to rudely ignore somebody; to pretend not to know or
recognize him".)
Puns are frequently based on the ambiguousness of idioms:
"Isn't our Kate a marvel? I wish you could have seen her at the Harrisons' party yesterday.
If I'd collected the bricks she dropped all over the place, I could build a villa."
(To drop a brick meansto say unintentionally a quite indiscreet or tactless thing that
shocks and offends people".)
So, together with synonymy and antonymy, phraseology represents expressive resources
of vocabulary. V. H. Collins writes in his Book of English Idioms: In standard spoken and
written English today idiom is an established and essential element that, used with care,
ornaments and enriches the language.
Use idioms with care, is an important warning because speech overloaded with idioms
loses its freshness and originality. Idioms, after all, are ready-made speech units, and their
continual repetition sometimes wears them out: they lose their colours and become trite
clichés. Such idioms can hardly be said to "ornament" or "enrich the language".
Idioms and culture
An idiom is generally a colloquial metaphor — a term which requires some foundational
knowledge, information, or experience, to use only within a culture where parties must
have common reference. Idioms are therefore not considered a part of the language, but
rather a part of the culture. As cultures are typically localized, idioms are often not useful
outside of that local context. However some idioms can be more universally used than
others, and they can be easily translated, metaphorical meaning can be more easily deduced.
While many idioms are clearly based in conceptual metaphors such as "time as a
substance", "time as a path", "love as war" or "up is more", the idioms themselves are often
not particularly essential, even when the metaphors themselves are. For example, "spend
time", "battle of the sexes", and "back in the day" are idiomatic and based in essential
metaphors.
In forms like "profits are up", the metaphor is carried by "up" itself. The phrase "profits are
up" is not itself an idiom. Practically anything measurable can be used in place of " profits":
"crime is up", "satisfaction is up", "complaints are up" e tc. Truly essential idioms generally
involve prepositions, for example "out of" or "turn into". Further examples of idioms are
"back seat driver", "feeding frenzy", or "right off the bat".
"Idiom" can also refer to the characteristic manner of speaking in a language, also called its
parlance. An utterance consistent with a language's parlance is described as idiomatic. For
example, "I have hunger" is idiomatic in several European languages if translated literally
(e.g. Dutch "ik heb honger", German "ich habe Hunger"; French "j'ai faim"; Spanish "tengo
hambre"; Italian "ho fame", European Portuguese "tenho fome"), but the usual English idiom
is "I am hungry".
This sense is also carried over to programming languages, where the former sense does not
apply, as an expression or statement in a programming language can generally have only one
meaning.
In computer science, an idiom is a low-level pattern that addresses a problem common in
a particular programming language. An idiom describes how to implement particular aspects
of components or the relationships between them using the features of the given language.
Phrasal Verbs
The lexicological aspects of the stonewallproblem have been mentioned in connection
with compound words. Phrasal verbs of the give up type deserve a more detailed study from
the phraseological viewpoint.
An almost unlimited number of such units may be formed by the use of the simpler,
generally monosyllabic verbs combined with elements that have been variously treated as
adverbs, postpositions of adverbial origin.
 The verbs most frequent in these units are: bear, blow, break, bring, call, carry, cast, catch,
come, cut, do, draw, drive, eat, fall, fly, get, give, go, hurry, hold, keep, lay, let, look, make,
move, play, pull, put, ride, run, sell, set, shake, show, shut, sit, speak, stand, strike, take,
throw, turn, walk, etc. To these the adverbs: about, across, along, around, away, back, by,
down, forth, in, off, on, out, over, past, round, through, to, under, and the particularly
frequent up are added.
The pattern is especially common with the verbs denoting motion, e.g. go ahead ‗to
proceed without hesitation‘; go away ‗to leave‘; go back ‗to return‘; go by ‗to pass‘; go
down (a) ‗to sink‘ (for a ship). Other expressions with to set‘ (of the sun, moon, etc.); (c) ‗to
be remembered‘ (of people or events); (d) ‗to become quiet‘ (of the sea, wind, etc. ); tobring
up may mean not only ‗ to rear from childhood, educate‘ but also ‗to cause to stop‘, ‗to
introduce to notice‘, ‗to make prominent‘, etc.
Only combinations forming integral wholes, the meaning of which is not readily derived
from the meaning of the components, so that the lexical meaning of one of the components
is strongly influenced by the presence of the other, are referred to set expressions or
compounds. E. g. come off ‗to take place‘, fall out ‗to quarrel‘, give in ‗to surrender‘, leave
off ‗to cease‘.
The borderline between free phrases and set expressions is not always sharp and distinct.
This is very natural, because set expressions originate as imaginative free phrases and only
gradually become stereotyped. So, this is one more instance where understanding of
synchronic facts is incomplete without diachronic additions.

EXERCISES
Task 1
Which of the following word combinations in bold are set phrases?
1. Where do you think you lost your purse?
2. Don't lose you lose your temper when you talk to her.
3. Have a look at the reverse side of the coat.
4. The reverse side of the medal is that we’ll have to do it ourselves.
5. Keep the butter in the refrigerator.
6. Keep an eye on the child.
 Task 2
Numeral idiom quiz.
Fill in the blanks with proper numerals to make an idiom with the specified meaning.
one two three Four(s) five six(es) seven(s) nine ten

1) She crawled on all _____ to the window = on her knees, feet and hands.
2) He is at _____ and _____ = He is confused and doesn’t know what to do.
3) He puts _____ and _____ together.= He begins to draw conclusions about something
4) He looks out for number _____ = He only thinks about his interests.
5) "the _____ R's." = The basics of education
6) He has a _____ o'clock shadow. = A man hasn't shaved for a day or two
7) Things that are very cheap and common are _____ a penny.
8) This four bedroom home, located in Country Club Estates, is completed and ready to
move in. This home has "the whole _____ yards" in convenience.' (=all of it)
Task 3
Color idiom quiz
Many expressions and idioms in English are based on colours. Can you fit the correct
expression into each sentence? The meaning of each expression is shown in brackets .
out of the blue saw red
in black and white once in the blue moon
in the red browned off

1) I’ve overspent this month and I’m _____.(owing money in the bank)
2) The manager said he would consider my complaint if I put it down _____.(in writing)
3) She used to visit me every week, but now I only see her _____.( very occasionally)
4) I hadn’t heard from my brother for years and last week I got a letter from him ___. (
very unexpectedly)
5) He says that he is very _____ (depressed) because he doesn’t enjoy his job.
6) I listened to his stupid argument for about ten minutes and suddenly I _____.
(lost my temper)
 CHAPTER 8
SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORD

What is lexical semantics? It is the study of what individual lexical items mean. Why they
mean what they do? How we can represent all of this, and where the combined
interpretation for an utterance comes from? Lexical semantics is concerned with the
identification and representation of the semantics of lexical items. When learning a
language, it is important for all speakers to agree upon meaning of certain strings of sounds
and to learn how to combine these units into larger units that also convey a particular
meaning.
The account of meaning given by Ferdinand de Saussure implies the definition of a word
as a linguistic sign. He calls it „signifiant‟ (signifier) and what it refers to — ‗signifie‘ (that
which is signified). By the latter term he understands not the phenomena of the real world
but the ‗concept‘ in the speaker‘s and listener‘s mind. Here, according to F. de Saussure,
only the relationship shown by a solid line concerns linguistics and the sign is not a unity of
form and meaning as we understand it now, but only sound form

Well-known English scholars C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards adopted this three-cornered
pattern with considerable modifications. With them, a sign is a two-facet unit comprising
form (phonetic and orthographic), regarded as a linguistic symbol, and reference which is
more linguistic phenomenon than just a concept. This approach may be called referential
because it implies that linguistic meaning is connected with the referent. It is graphically
shown by there being only one dotted line. A solid line between reference and referent
shows that the relationship between them is linguistically relevant, that the nature of what
is named influences the meaning. This connection should not be taken too literally; it does
not mean that the sound form has to have any similarity with the meaningor the object
itself. The connection is conventional. See below Frege semiotic triangle

Several generations of writers, following C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards, have in their turn
taken up and modified this diagram. It is known under several names: the semantic triangle,
triangle of signification, Frege semiotic triangle, Ogden and Richards‘s basic triangle or
simply basic triangle.
Semantic relations between words are manifested in respect of homonymy, antonymy,
paronymy, etc. Semantics usually involved in lexicological work is called "lexical semantics".
Lexical semantics is somewhat different from other linguistic types of semantics like phrase
semantics, semantics of sentence, and text semantics, as they take the notion of meaning in
much broader sense. There are outside (although sometimes related to) linguistics types of
semantics like cultural semantics and computational semantics, as the latest is not related to
computational lexicology but to mathematical logic.
After studying the word as a unit of the plane of expression, word-structure and the
various ways of building this structure (derivation, composition, etc), we should proceed to
a study of the word as a unit of the plane of content, the lexico-semantic unit, word
meaning and its structure, change of meaning and its causes, polysemy, also the structure of
lexis, semantic groups of words (semantic fields, synonyms, antonyms, thematic groups).
The main theoretical principles from which we shall proceed are as follows:
1. The word as a unit of lexis (the lexical system of the language fulfils its function of
nomination in utterance, in speech, naming (denoting, designated) a segment of reality.
We have to bear in mind, the two functions of language, the function of communication
and the function segmenting the real world, reality. The real world as a whole is reflected in
language, in all the system of lexis. Individual segments of reality are reflected in words.
However, reality itself is structured, every segment of it belongs to this or that sphere of
reality – nature –the lithosphere – the biosphere (flora and fauna), man, his mental life,
emotions, society, production, etc. These spheres and sub-spheres of reality are reflected in
semantic fields and subfields.
We can thus observe three parallel and interconnected planes in reality and in lexis. A)
Reality is a whole, reflected in the whole system of lexis. B) Sphere of reality, reflected in
semantic fields. C) Segments of reality, reflected in words. The word is a part of a semantic
field and through it – of lexis.
2) The plane of content is found to be structured differently from the plane of
expression, it has only two levels.
All the linguistic means of expressing content are connected with the morphemic level
of the plane of expression and its units, the morpheme and the word. Hence, the two levels
of the plane of content are the morpho-semantic level (its units corresponding to
morphemes) and the lexico-semantic level (its units corresponding to words).
A lexico-semantic unit may contain belonging to four different parallel strata layers, with
no relation of hierarchy between them: denotative units, significant units, expressive units
and syntactic- semantic units.
The denotative unit that the word performs its function of denoting (designating, naming)
things, phenomena processes (segments of reality); consequently, it is the principal unit of
word-meaning, which makes communication possible. Significative and expressive units
may or may not be present in the meaning of a word, they make up its connotative meaning
(emotive charge, stylistic reference)
It has been mentioned that there is no direct, one-to-one correspondence between the
units of the plane of expression and those of the plane of context. A word, as a unit of the
plane of expression, may correspond to several lexico-semantic units of the plane of content:
in this case, we have the problem of polysemy. The word ―light‖ may correspond to the
following: not heavy, not dark, not difficult (many hands make light work), not moral (a
light woman).
On the other hand, several words, units of the plane of expression, may correspond to one
basic denotative unit on the plane of content (one basic sememe): the problem of synonymy.
Synonyms differ in their connotative meanings, expressed by significative and expressive
units (secondary sememes) e.g. girl, girlie, maiden, hussy, hoyden, tom-boy). There is also
the problem of homonymy. The correspondence between the word and the lexico-semantic
unit is liable to change in course of time: the problem of change of meaning.
Types of meaning
A word has grammatical and lexical meaning. Grammatical meaning is revealed, first of
all, in the fact that a word has part-of-speech meaning; then, it is also seen in the paradigm,
e.g. ―boys‖ has grammatical meaning of case (common), number (plural). Grammatical
meaning is often identified by the distribution of a word; e.g. goes, plays, works, have the
same grammatical meaning as they occur after nouns in the singular and the pronouns – he,
she, it – and before adverbs, such as there, here, well, badly…
Lexical meaning is that which belongs to all the word forms of a word, e.g. plays, played,
playing, girl, girls, girl‘s. Thus the grammatical meaning and the lexical meaning together
make up then word-building. These two types of meaning do not have equal force in all
classes of words. In link verbs, such as – turn, grow, take a walk, lexical meaning is
weekend, while the link verb ―to be‖ is almost devoid of lexical meaning and grammatical
meaning prevails in it. In some prepositions, such as – of, about, etc. the lexical meaning is
vague (about you,window in my room, talk of you…) with other prepositions, such as - in,
on, under, above, etc. lexical meaning is more clear; in advance, on duty, to work under
smb. – lexical meaning is weak.
Lexical meaning is not something homogeneous; it has two main components denotative
meaning, expressed by the denotative meaning and connotative unit, expressed by the
significative and expressive units of meaning. Denotative meaning is that which makes the
act of communication possible, enabling the word to name a segment of reality; to denote is
to serve as linguistic expression for the notion or as a name for an actually existing object
referred to by a word. The term denotatum (pl. denotata) or referent means either a notion
or an actually existing individual thing to which reference is made. The emotional content
of the word is its capacity to evoke or directly expressed emotion. It is rendered by the
emotional or expressive counterpart of meaning, also called emotive charge, intentional or
effective connotations of words. The denotative meaning may be of two types according to
whether the word function is significative and evokes a general idea, or demonstrative, e.g.
identifying.
 The term notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their
essential features and relations. The relationship between notion and meaning varies. A
word may have a notion for its referent; notions are always emotionally neutral as they are a
category of thought. Language, however, expresses all possible aspects of human
consciousness. Therefore the meaning of many words not only conveys some reflection of
objective reality but also the speaker‘s state of mind and his attitude to what he is speaking
about. Emotionally charged word can cover the whole scale of both positive and negative
emotions: admiration, respect, tenderness and other positive feelings on the other hand and
scorn, irony, loathing, etc. on the other two or more words having the same denotative
meaning may differ in emotional tone. Connotativemeaning contains the emotive charge
and the stylistic value of a word, e.g. mother- mummy, big- large- tremendous, or the
stylistic difference between literary and non-literary words, such as ―money‖ and
―dough‖.Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending
on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it may be used.
There are four main types of connotations: stylistic, emotional, evaluative and expressive or
intensifying.
Stylistic connotations is what the word conveys about the speaker's attitude to the social
circumstances and the appropriate functional style (slay vs kill).Evaluative connotation may
show his approval or disapproval of the object spoken of (clique vs group).Emotional
connotationconveys the speaker's emotions (mummy vs mother), the degree of intensity
(adore vs love) is conveyed by expressive or intensifying connotation.
The interdependence of connotations with denotative meaning is also different in
connotations. Thus, for instance, emotional connotation comes into being based on
denotative meaning but in the course of time may substitute it by other types of connotation
with general emphasis, evaluation and colloquial stylistic overtone. E.g. terrific which
originally meant 'frightening' is now a colloquialism meaning 'very, very good' or 'very
great': terrific beauty, terrific pleasure.
The orientation toward the subject matter, characteristic of the denotative meaning, is
substituted here by pragmatic orientation toward speaker and listener; it is not so much,
what is spoken about as the attitude to it that matters.
 Fulfilling the significative and the communicative functions of the word the denotative
meaning is present in every word and may be regarded as the central factor in the
functioning of language.
The expressive function of the language (the speaker's feelings) and the pragmatic function
(the effect of words upon listeners) are rendered in connotations. Unlike the denotative
meaning, connotations are optional. The meaning is figurative when the object is named and
at the same time characterized through its similarity with another object. The expressive
counterpart of meaning is optional, and even when it is present, its proportion with respect
to the logical counterpart may vary within wide limits. In some words the realization of
meaning is accompanied by the additional stylistic characteristics revealing the speaker‘s
attitude to the situation, the subject-matter and to his interlocutor. Within the affective
connotations of word, we distinguish its capacity to evoke or directly express: a) emotion
(e.g. daddy), b) evaluation (e.g. ―clique compared to ―group), c) Intensifying (e.g. ―adore
compared to ―love), d) stylistic coloring (e.g. ―slay compared to ―kill).
The emotive charge does not depend on the feeling of the individual speaker but is true
for all speakers of English. The emotive charge varies in different word-classes. In some of
them, in interjections, the emotive element prevails, whereas in conjunctions the emotive
charge as a rule practically is non-existing.
The emotive charge is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as
linguistic units and forms part of the connotative component of meaning. It should not be
confused with emotive implications that the words may acquire in speech. The emotive
implication of the word is to a great extent subjective as it greatly depends of the personal
experience of the speaker, the mental imagery of the words evokes in him. Words
seemingly devoid of any emotional element may possess in the case of individual speakers
strong emotive implications as may be illustrated, e.g. by the word hospital. What is thought
and felt when the word hospital is used will be different in the case of an architect who
built it, the invalid staying there after an operation or the main living across the road.
Word differs not only in their emotive charge but also in their stylistic reference. The
greater part of the literary layer of Modern English vocabulary are words of general use,
possessing no specific stylistic reference and known as neutral words.
 Stylistic reference and emotive charge of words are closely connected and to a certain
degree interdependent. As a rule stylistically colored words, i.e. words belonging to all
stylistic layers except the neutral style are observed to possess a considerable emotive
charge. That can be proved by comparing stylistically labeled words with their neutral
synonyms.
The colloquial words daddy, mammy are more emotional than the neutral father, mother,
the slang words mum, bobare undoubtedly more expressive than their neutral counterparts
silent, shilling. Words of neutral style however may also differ in the degree of emotive
charge. We see, e.g. that the words large, big, tremendous, though equally neutral as to their
stylistic reference are not identical as far as their emotive charge is concerned.
The complexity of the word meaning is manifold. Apart from the lexical meaning
(including denotative and connotative meaning) and grammatical meaning, morphemes
may possess specific meanings of their own, namely the differential and the distributional
meanings. Differential meaning is the semantic component that serves to distinguish one
word from all others containing identical morphemes. In words consisting of two or more
morphemes, one of the constituent morphemes always has differential meaning, e.g .
bookshelf-bookcase-book-counter; note-book-exercise-book-copybook.
Distributional meaning is the meaning of the order and arrangement of morphemes
making up the word. It is found in all words containing more than one morpheme. The
word singer, is composed of two morphemes sing- and –er both of which possess the
denotative meaning and namely to make music sounds‖ (sing-) and the doer of the action.
There is one more element of meaning, however, that enables us to understand the word
and that is the pattern of arrangement of the component morphemes. So, we can observe a
direct connection between the structural pattern of the word and its meaning. This
relationship between morphemic structure and meaning is termed morphologically
motivation.
Word meaning and motivation.
The main criterion in morphological motivation is the relationship between morphemes.
Hence all one-morpheme words (e.g. sing, tell, eat, go, etc) are by definition non-motivated.
In words composed of more than one morpheme, the carrier of the word meaning is the
combined meaning of the component morphemes and the meaning of the structural pattern
of the word. This can be illustrated by the semantic analysis of different words composed of
phonemically identical morphemes with identical lexical meaning. The words finger-ring
and ring-finger‖ e.g. contain two morphemes, the combined lexical meaning of which is the
same; the difference in the meaning of these words can be accounted for by the difference
in the arrangement of the component morphemes. If we can observe a direct connection
between the structural pattern of the word and its meaning, we say that this word is
motivated. If the connection between the structure of the lexical unit and its meaning is
completely arbitrary and conventional, we speak of non-motivated or idiomatic words, e.g.
matter, repeat‖.
It should be noted in passing that morphological motivation is relative”, i.e. the degree of
motivation may be different. Between the extremes of complete motivation and lack of
motivation, there exist various grades of partial motivation. The word cranberry is only
partially motivated because of the absence of the lexical meaning in the morpheme cran.
Such place-names as – Newtown and Wildwoods are lexically and structurally motivated
and may be easily analyzed into component morphemes. But other place-names e.g. Essex,
Norfolk, Sutton, are non-motivated. To the average English speaker these names are non-
analyzable lexical units like sing and tell. (But we can suppose that Essex isEast+Saxon,
Norfolk-North-Folk, and Sutton-South-Town). Morphological motivation implies a direct
connection between the morphological structure of the word and its meaning.
There is another type of motivation called phonetic motivation. It may be described as a
direct connection between the phonetic structure of the word and its meaning. It is argued
that speech sounds may suggest spatial and visual dimensions, shape, size, etc. Experiments
carried out by a group of linguists showed that back open vowels are suggestive of big size,
heavy weight, dark color (e.g. ching-chung for light-heavy, bigsmall). Another type of
phonetic motivation is represented by such words as ― swish, swizzle, boom, splash, etc.
These words may be defined as phonetically motivated because the sound clusters [swi, sizl,
bum, splǽ ] are direct imitation of the sounds these words denote. It is also that sounds
themselves may be emotionally expressive which accounts for the phonetic motivation in
certain words (e.g. pooh, fie, flim-flam, etc). There are some words, which involve phonetic
symbolism: these are onomatopoeic, imitative or echoic words such as the English cuckoo,
splash and whisper‖.
 The term motivation is also used to denote the relationship between the central and the
coexisting meaning or meanings of a word which are understood as a metaphorical
extension of the central meaning. Metaphorical extension may be viewed as generalization
of the denotative meaning of a word permitting it to include new referents, which are in
some way like the original class of referents. Similarity of various aspects and functions of
different classes of referents may account for the semantic motivation of a number of minor
meanings. E.g. a woman who has given birth is called a mother, by extension, any act that
gives birth is associated with being a mother e.g. Necessity is the mother of invention or
mother country, a mother‘s mark (=a birthmark), mother tongue. Such metaphoric
extension may be observed in the so-called trite metaphors e.g. burn with anger, break
smb‘s heart, jump at a chance‖, etc.
A further subdivision within the lexico-grammatical groups is achieved in the well-known
thematic subgroups, such as terms of kinship, names for parts of the human body, colour
terms, military terms and so on. The basis of grouping this time is not only linguistic but
also extra-linguistic: the words are associated, because the things they name occur together
and are closely connected in reality. It has been found that these words constitute quite
definitely articulated spheres held together by differences, oppositions and distinctive
values. For an example, it is convenient to turn to the adjectives. These are subdivided into
qualitative and relative lexico-grammatical groups. Among the first, adjectives that
characterize a substance for shape, colour, physical or mental qualities, speed, size, etc. are
distinguished.
The theory of semantic fields continues to engage the attention of linguists. The semantic
areas of the units limit one another and cover up the whole sphere. The greatest merit of
the field theories lies in their attempt to find linguistic criteria disclosing the systematic
character of the language.A semantic field isa set of words (or lexemes)relatedin meaning
(e.g.child- toddler; color terms: blue, red, yellow, green, black, purple, etc.). Also known as
a word field, lexical field, field of meaning, and semantic system.
 Table 4. Semantic field of bedroom

Semantic fields are the answer to the problem / question of structuring the lexicon of a
language. Those who defend the existence of semantic fields believe that the language is
structured. Semantic field arethe words can be classified in sets, which are related to
conceptual fields and these words divide the semantic space / domain in different ways.
They are the grouping of words based on the connection of the notions underlying their
meanings, e.g. face, head, hand, arm, foot.
The basic notion behind any semantic field approach is the notion of association: words
are associated in different words. There is also the idea of a mosaic. The words form it in
such a way that for it to be complete you need all the words in their correct place. Scientists
also have to distinguish between lexical and semantic fields. There are concepts, which
cannot be expressed in words. From the psychological point of view, there are concepts
which cannot be verbalized but that really exist in the mind.
A lexical field denotes a segment of reality symbolized by a set of related words. The
words in a semantic field share a common semantic property. Most often, fields are defined
by subject matter, such as body parts, landforms, diseases, colors, foods, or kinship relations.
Internally, these may be organized as a hierarchy (e.g. royalty, military ranks), as a
meronymy (e.g. body parts), as a sequence (e.g. numbers), or as a cycle (e.g. days of the
week, months of the year), as well as with no discernible order. The words which are part of
a lexical field enter into sense or meaning relationships with one another.
 The idea behind semantic fields is the arrangement of words in sets depending on the
organizing concepts.
Stylistic reference.
Words differ not only in their emotive charge but also in their stylistic reference.
Stylistically words can be roughly subdivided into literary, neutral and colloquial layers.
The greater part of the literary layer of Modern English vocabulary are words of general
use possessing no specific stylistic reference and known as neutral words. Against the
background of neutral words we can distinguish two major subgroups – standard colloquial
words and literary or bookish words, e.g. parent -father-dad, father-neutral, dad- colloquial
and parent-bookish. ―Chum-friend, rot-nonsense, suppose -presume (bookish), expect-
anticipate (bookish).
Literary (bookish) words are not stylistically homogeneous. Besides general-literary
words (e.g. harmony, calamity, alacrity, etc.) we single out various specific subgroups, 1)
terms of scientific words (e.g. renaissance, genocide, teletype, etc.) 2) poetic words and
archaisms (whilom-formerly, aught-anything, ere-before, albeit -although, fare-walk, etc.)
3) barbarisms and foreign words (e.g. bon mot – a clever saying, bouquet, etc.)

The colloquial words are subdivided into: 1) common colloquial words, 2) slang (to
bamboozle – to deceive) 3) professionalisms (e.g. lab, a buster – bomb), 4) jargons(a sucker –
a person who is easily deceived), 5) vulgarisms (bloody, hell, damn, shut up) 6) dialectical
words (e.g. lass, kirk, haar) 7) colloquial coinages (e.g. newspaperdom, etc.)

EXERCISES

Task 1.
Define lexical and grammatical meanings of the underlined words in the following text.
An Austrian town is to open a James Bond museum to mark its brief appearance in
Quantum of Solace. Local government (1) officials (2) say the museum will open in Brogans
on March 20 to celebrate the (3) location's links with 007. The museum (4) will feature
props from shooting and pictures and fact sheets for (5) visitors.
Example:
(1) officials
Lexical meaning: ‘one who holds an office or position’.
Grammatical meaning: a noun, plural number

Task 2.
Define the meaning of the polysemantic word in the following contexts:
rough
1. Grace made her way slowly across the rough ground. uneven, not smooth_____
2. The sea was rough and no swimming allowed.
3. Rugby's a rough game at the best of times.
4. It was quite a rough part of our town.
5. All women have a rough time in our society.
6. The virus won't go away and the lad is still feeling a bit rough.
7. We were only able to make a rough estimate of how much fuel would be required.
8. I've got a rough idea of what he looks like.
9. The bench had a rough wooden table in front of it.
 CHAPTER 9

SEMANTIC CHANGES

The meaning of a word can change in the course of time. Changes of lexical meanings
can be proved by comparing contexts of different times. Transfer of the meaning is called
lexico-semantic word-building. In such cases, the outer aspect of a word does not change.
The causes of semantic changes can be extra-linguistic and linguistic, e.g. the change of
the lexical meaning of the noun pen was due to extra- linguistic causes. Primarily pen comes
back to the Latin word penna (a feather of a bird). As people wrote with goose pens the
name was transferred to steel pens, which were later on used for writing. Later any
instrument for writing was called a pen.
On the other hand, causes can be linguistic, e.g. the conflict of synonyms when a perfect
synonym of a native word is borrowed from some other language one of them may
specialize in its meaning, and e.g. the noun tide in Old English was polisemantic and
denoted time, season, hour. When the French words time, season, and hour were borrowed
into English they ousted the word tide in these meanings. It was specialized and now means
regular rise and fall of the sea caused by attraction of the moon . The meaning of a word can
also change due to ellipsis, e.g. the word-group a train of carriages had the meaning of a row
of carriages, later on of carriages was dropped and the noun train changed its meaning, it is
used now in the function and with the meaning of the whole word-group.
Different scientists have classified semantic changes. A German scientist Herman Paul in
his work “Prinzipien des Sprachgeschichte” suggested the most complete classification. It is
based on the logical principle. He distinguishes two main ways where the semantic change
is gradual (specialization and generalization), two momentary conscious semantic changes
(metaphor and metonymy) and secondary ways: gradual (elevation and degradation),
momentary (hyperbole and litotes). The process reverse to specialization is termed
generalization and widening of meaning.In that case scope of the new notion is wider than
that of the original one, whereas the content of the notion is poor. E.g. ―ready has wider
meaning than ―ræde – to ride, thing – original meaning ―cause, object, decision, and
meaning, at present it is generalized, the word can substitute nearly any more.
 Specialization. It is a gradual process when a word passes from a general sphere to some
special sphere of communication, e.g. case has a general meaning circumstances in which a
person or a thing is. It is specialized in its meaning when used in law (a law suit), in
grammar (a form in the paradigm of a noun), in medicine (a patient, an illness). The
difference between these meanings is revealed in the context. The meaning of a word can
specialize when it remains in the general usage. The meaning edible flesh was formed when
the word food, its absolute synonym, won in the conflict of absolute synonyms (both words
are native). The English verb starve was specialized in its meaning after the Scandinavian
verb die was borrowed into English. Die became the general verb with this meaning because
in English there were the noun death and the adjective dead. Starve got the meaning to die
of hunger.
The third way of specialization is the formation of Proper names from common nouns, it
is often used in toponimics, e.g. the City - the business part of London, Oxford - university
town in England, the Tower originally a fortress and palace, later -a prison, now - a
museum.
The fourth way of specialization is ellipsis. In such cases, primarily we have a word-group
of the type attribute + noun, which is used constantly in a definite situation. Due to it the
attribute can be dropped and the noun can get the meaning of the whole word-group, e.g.
room originally meant space, this meaning is retained in the adjective roomy and word
combinations: no room for, to take room, to take no room. The meaning of the word
roomwas specialized because it was often used in the combinations: dining room, sleeping
room which meant space for dining, space for sleeping.
Generalization. It is a process contrary to specialization; in such cases, the meaning of a
word becomes more general in the course of time.
The transfer from a concrete meaning to an abstract one is most frequent, e.g. ready
meant prepared for a ride, now its meaning is prepared for anything. Journey was borrowed
from French with the meaning one day trip, now it means a trip of any duration. All
auxiliary verbs are cases of generalization of their lexical meaning because they developed a
grammatical meaning. E.g. have, be, do, shall, will when used as auxiliary verbs are devoid
of their lexical meaning which they have when used as notional verbs or modal verbs, e.g.
cf. I have several books by this writer and I have read some books by this author. In the first
sentence the verb have has the meaning possess, in the second sentence it has no lexical
meaning, and its grammatical meaning is to form Present Perfect. As we see, the study of
change of meaning requires naturally the diachronic (historical) approach.
The meaning of many common English words have greatly changed e.g. ―fondused to
mean – ―foolish, glad – bright shining, to starve (OE – starben) – meant ―to die not only
of hunger. In the middle ages the word ―niceused to mean ―ignorant.
As we have mentioned, the causes of semantic change may be extra-linguistic (i.e. beyond
the sphere of language) and linguistic. Extra-linguistic factors affecting meaning are the
economic, social life, etc.
The word ―carriage used to mean a vehicle drawn by horses, now we speak of railway
carriages; ―coach used to be a public vehicle carrying people from one town to another,
now ―coach‖ is bus performing the same function; OE dëor (wild beast > deer; OE mete
(food) > meat; OE tæcan (show) > beach, OE writan (to scratch) > write…
Extension (broadening of meaning), to arrive (French – arriver – ―rive‖ means shore,
bunk) meant ―to come by water to the shore‖, now it means to come by water, by land, by
air; ―to ship‖ meant to transport by any kind of transport. ―place (Lat. Platea – a street)
has a very broad meaning now; ―box– from ―boxwood (ბზა), a tree with very hard wood
formerly used for making jewel caskets; now ― box means any case of wood or of any
material, also a ―box in a theatre, ―a driver‘s box, etc.
Linguistic causes of change of meaning are: a) Ellipsis, i.e. dropping an element, which
usually went with a word to complete its meaning in a syntagma; e.g. we say ― a daily‖
instead of ―a daily newspaper, a sale‖ instead of a ―out-price sale, etc.
b) Borrowing is another cause of semantic change; e.g. the French automne ( autumn
substituted the OE word hærfest,which meant the season, and changed its meaning to
―gathering in the fruits of the earth‖ and those fruits themselves. C) Linguistic analogy
causes a change of meaning in a group of synonyms; if one of them acquires a new meaning,
the others also get that meaning. In ―I couldn‘t catch his meaning‖ ―catch‖ means
―tounderstand‖, so we can say ―I couldn‘t grasp what he meant‖, ―I don‘t get you = I
don‘t understand you‖.
D) Change of meaning also occurs if there is some association between the old meaning
and the new. These associations are of two basic kinds: 1) similarity of meaning or metaphor
accounts for a great many changed meanings. E.g. ― hand‖ – ―hand of the clock; all hands
abroad!‖―Nose‖ on your face and ―nose‖ of ship; ―foot‖ and ―foot of a tree, of a
mountain‖, ―mill‖ where corn is ground and ―mill‖ a factory, etc.
Here we might include a special kind of metaphor called “zoosemy” e.g. an ass – foolish
person, a mule – obstinate person, a fox – sly person, a bear – clumsy, grumpy person, a
snake – a person bad in every way, a vixen or a cat – a spiteful woman.
The relationship of the direct denotative meaning of the word and the meaning it has in
the literary context in question is based on similarity of some features in the objects
compared. The poeticmetaphor is the fruit of the author‘s creative imagination, as for
example when England is called by Shakespeare – ―this precious stone set in the silver sea‖.
In a linguistic metaphor, especially when it dead because of long usage, the thing named
often has no other name. In a dead metaphor the comparison is completely forgotten: a sun
beam or a beam of light. (Beam – tree); there are no associations with hens in the verb brood
– to meditate, though the direct meaning is ―to sit on eggs.
Here are some metaphors: a bottleneck – anything obstructing an even flow of work,head
of a cabbage, the teeth of a saw, the head of a school, the key to a mystery, foot of a page, of
a mountain; bookworm, the leg of the table; arms and mouth of a river, eye of a needle, foot
of a hill, tongue of a bell, to catch (grasp) an idea, to take a hint, to throw light upon, a
Cicero, a Don Juan, Philistine (out-and-out mercenary and a hypocrite into the bargain
person), Vandals (ruthlessly destructive people).
As we see, metaphor is a transfer of the meaning based on comparison.
A special type of metaphor is when Proper names become common nouns, e.g. philistine -
a mercenary person, vandals - destructive people, a Don Juan - a lover of many women etc.
Closeness of meaning or metonymy results from the association of two referents that are
closely connected or one is part of the other. E.g. tongue – language, the House – the
members of the House of Commons or House of Lords, book – actually means part of a
beech-tree, on tablets of which words used to be cut or scratched; Here we also class cases of
metonymic use of proper names e.g. diesel, volt, ampere, mackintosh, sandwich, hooligan,
etc. kill< killen – to hit on the head. Examples of geographic names turning into common
nouns to name the goods exported or originating there are exceedingly numerous, e.g.
astrakhan, bikini, boston, cardigan, china, tweed; fashion – raglan, Wellingtons, etc. It is a
transfer of the meaning based on contiguity.
One type of metonymy – namely the one, which is based on the relations between the
part and the whole – is often viewed independently as synecdoche (e.g. The "pentagon" can
refer to a few decision-making generals)
As a rule, metonymy is expressed by nouns(less frequently – by substantivized numerals)
and is used in syntactical functionscharacteristic of nouns (subject, object, predicative).
Some other kinds of semantic change are:
Hyperbole or exaggeration: a thousand pardons, it‘s a nightmare! I‘d love to go there! And
such emphatic words often used colloquially, as ―awfully, terribly, tremendous,
magnificent… So, Hyperbole (from Gr. Huperballo – exceed) is an exaggerated statement
not meant to be understood literally but expressing an intensely emotional attitude of the
speaker to what he is speaking about. E.g. When people say I‘ve told you fifty times, they
mean to scold and very often do. It‘s absolutely maddening; You‘ll be the death of me, I
hate troubling you, It‘s monstrous, I‘d give the world to, I shall be eternally grateful…
Litotes (Gr. Litos – plain) or understatement. It may be defined as expressing the
affirmative by the negation of its contrary (the antonym of hyperbole) – e.g. not bad – good,
he is not fool – he is clever, not small – great, not coward – brave
Irony – expression of one‘s meaning by words of the opposite meaning, especially a
simulated adoption of the opposite point of view for the purpose of ridicule: e.g. nice-for-
bad, unsatisfactory; you‘ve got us into a nice mess! Pretty – A pretty mess you‘ve made of it!
That was clever of you = that was foolish. In irony, subjectivity lies in the evaluation of the
phenomenon. The essence of irony consists in the foregrounding not of the logical but of the
evaluative meaning. Irony thus is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative
meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning. E.g.She turned with the
sweet smile of an alligator‖. The word sweetreverse their positive meaning into the negative
one due to the context. So, like all other lexical stylistic devices irony does not exist outside
the context.
There are two types of irony: verbal irony and sustained irony. In the stylistic devise of
verbal ironyit is always possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual meaning
diametrically opposes its dictionary meaning. And we deal with sustained irony when it is
not possible to indicate such exact word and the effect of irony is created by number of
statements by the whole text. This type of irony is formed by the contradiction of the
speaker‘s (writer‘s) considerations and the generally accepted moral and ethical codes.
Euphemism (Gr. Euphemismos from eu – well, pheme – speak) the use of an acceptable
word instead of one that is unpleasant or forbidden: queer – mad, deceased – dead, perspire
– sweat.
Another result of semantic change is a change in connotative meaning: a word may rise in
the ranks of meaning; it becomes better in the course of time. It is called elevation
(ამაღლება)of meaning or ameliorative development (Lat. Melior – better), e.g. knight
originally meant a boy, then a young servant, then a military servant, then a noble man.
marshal originally meant a horse man now it is the highest military rank, the word
―minister which now means a ―civil servant (an official) of high rank, or clergyman‖,
comes from the Latin ―minister – a servant, the verb ―to minister‖ however has retained
some of its original meaning: to give aid or service to somebody, especially to the sick, etc.
Degradationis a transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the course of time. It is
usually connected with nouns denoting common people. Instance of degradation or
pejorative development of meaning can be seen in boor (ხეპრე)-a dweller in a village, now
it means ―an ill – mannered, clumsy fellow. Accident which used to mean any kind of
chance happening, now it has acquired the connotation of an unfortunate occurrence; while
the adjective accidental means only ―occurring by chance;villain(არამზადა) originally
meant working on a villa now it means a scoundrel.
Pun, zeugma, semantically false chains and nonsense of non-sequence are united into a
small group as they have much in common both in the mechanism of their formation and in
their function.
In the stylistic tradition of the English-speaking countries only the first two (pun and
zeugma) are widely discussed. The effect of these lexical stylistic devices is humorous.
Contextual conditions leading to the simultaneous realization of two meanings.
The formation of pun may vary. One speaker‘s utterance may be wrong interpreted by the
other due to the existence of different meaning of the misinterpreted word or its homonym.
For example, ―Have you seen any spirits? ―Or taking any?The firstspirits refers to
supernatural forces, the second one – to strong drinks.
We deal with zeugma when polysemantic verbs that can be combined with nouns of most
varying semantic groups are deliberately used with two or more homogeneous
members,which are not connected semantically, as in such example: ―He took his hat and
his leave.He lost his coat and his temper. She opened the door and her heart to the orphan .
In most examples of zeugma the verb loses some of its semantic independence and
strength being considered as member of phraseological unit or cliché.
Nonsense of non-sequence results in joining two semantically disconnected clauses into
one sentence, as in: Emperor Nero played the fiddle, so they burnt Rome. Two disconnected
statements are forcibly linked together.
In all previously discussed lexical stylistic devices we dealt with various transformations of
the denotative meaning of words, which participated in the creation of metaphors,
metonymies, puns, zeugmas, etc. Each of these lexical stylistic devices added expressiveness
and originality to the nomination of the object. Their subjectivity relies on the new and
fresh look at the object mentioned and shows the object from a new and unexpected side.
Antonomasia is a lexical stylistic device in which a proper name is used instead of a
commonnoun or vice versa.
Normal sentence:
“Oh, look! Sam’s arrived!”
Sentence with Antonomasia:
“Oh, look! The great chef has arrived!”
Logical meaning serves to denote concepts and thus to classify individual objects into
groups (classes). The nominal meaning of a proper name is suppressed by its logical meaning
and acquires the new – nominal – component. E.g. The word ―Mary does not indicate if
the denoted object refers to the class of women, girls, boats, cats, etc. However, in example:
―He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary, something… the attribute ―each, used
with the name, turns it into a common noun denoting any woman. Here we deal with a case
of antonomasia of the first type.
Another type of antonomasia we meet when a common noun is still clearly perceived as a
proper name. So, no speaker of English today has it in his mind that such popular English
surnames as Mr.Smith or Mr.Brown used to mean occupation and the color. While such
names as Mr.Snake or Mr.Backbite immediately raise associations with certain human
qualities due to the denotative meaning of the words ―snake and ―backbite
(ცილისმწამებელი).Antonomasia is created mainly by nouns, more seldom by attributive
combinations (as in ―Dr.Fresh Air) or phrases (as in ―Mr.What‘s-his-name‘).
Epithet is a lexical stylistic device that relies on the foregrounding of the emotive meaning
(e.g.Richard the Lion-Heart). Like metaphor, metonymy and simile epithets are also based
on similarity between two objects, on nearness of the qualified objects and on their
comparison. Through long and repeated use, epithets become fixed.Many fixed epithets are
closely connected with folklore. First fixed epithets were found in Homer‘s poetry (e.g.
―swift-footed Achilles)
Semantically, there should be differentiated two main groups. The biggest one is affective
epithets. These epithets serve to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the
speaker. Most of qualifying words found in the dictionary can be and are used as affective
epithets.
The second group – figurative epithets. The group is formed of metaphors, metonymies
and similes and expressed predominantly by adjectives (e.g. ―the smiling sun, ―the
frowning cloud‖), qualitative adverbs (e.g. ―his triumphant look‖), or rarely by nouns in
exclamatory sentences (e.g. ―You, ostrich!) and postpositive attributes (e.g. ―Richard of
the Lion Heart‖). Two-step epithets are so called because the process of qualifying passes
two stages: the qualification of the object and the qualification of the qualification itself, as
in ―an unnaturally mild day. Two-step epithets have a fixed structure of Adv+Adj model.
Phrase-epithets always produce an original impression (e.g. shutters-coming-of-the-shops
early morning). Their originality proceeds from rare repetitions. Phrase-epithet is
semantically self-sufficient word combination or even a whole sentence, which loses some
of its independence and self-sufficiency, becoming a member of another sentence.
Oxymoron is lexical stylistic device the syntactic and semantic structures of which come
to clashes (e.g. ―cold fire, ―brawling love).
The most widely known structure of oxymoron is attributive. However, there are also
others, in which verbs are employed. Such verbal structures as ―to shout mutely‖ or ―to
cry silently‖ are used to strengthen the idea.
Oxymoron may be considered as a specific type of epithet.
 Originality and specificity of oxymoron becomes especially evident in non-attributive
structures which also (not infrequently) are used to express semantic contradiction as in
―The street was damaged by improvements. Silence was louder than thunder.
Oxymoron rarely become trite, for their components, linked forcibly, repulse each other
and oppose repeated use. There are few colloquial oxymoron; all of them show a high
degree of the speaker‘s emotional involvement in the situation, as in ― awfully pretty.

EXERCISE
Task 1
Identify Metaphor or simile:
1. The giant‘s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack.
2. The pillow was a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day.
3. I feel like a limp dishrag.
4. Those girls are like two peas in a pod.
5. The fluorescent light was the sun during our test.
6. No one invites Harold to parties because he‘s a wet blanket.
7. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dog‘s bath.
8. Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs.

Task 2
Explain the logical associations in the following groups of meaning for the same words.
Define the type of transference, which has taken place.
1) the wing of a bird - the wing of a building; e.g. metaphor (similarity of form)
2) the eye of a man - the eye of a needle;
3) the hand of a child - the hand of a clock;
4) the heart of a man - the heart of the matter;
5) the bridge across the river - the bridge of the nose;
6) the tongue of a person - the tongue of a bell
7) green grass - green years;
8) black shoes - black despair;
9) nickel (metal) - a nickel (coin) ;
 Task 3
Define in which sentences the underlined words are used in the metaphorical or
metonymical shifted meaning.
1) I went to kick the ball and I completely missed it.
2) I immediately regretted having said this. I could have kicked myself
3) He stirred his coffee with a spoon.
4) She likes her tea with two spoons of sugar.
5) Some sharks have very sharp teeth and may attack people.
6) Beware the sharks when you are making up your mind how to invest.
7) He fumbled(ხელისფათურითძებნა) with the buttons at the neck.
8) He fumbled his lines, not knowing what he was going to say

Task 4
Analyze the meanings of the italicized words. Group the words according totheir type of
motivation: a) words morphologically motivated; b) words semanticallymotivated.
Driver – someone who drives a vehicle, especially as his/her job; careless –not taking
enough care;
leg – the part of a piece of furniture such as a table or chairthat supports it and raises it off
the floor; horse – a piece of equipment shaped like alarge box that is used in gymnastics;
singlehood – the state of being single rather thanmarried; wall – emotions or behaviour that
prevent people from feeling close to eachother; hand-made – made by hand, not machine;
piggish – selfish; blue-eyed – havingblue eyes.

Task 5
Identify the denotative and connotative aspects of lexical meaning of the given words.
Analyze the similarity and difference between the components of the connotative aspect of
lexical meaning in the given pairs of words.
Model:celebrated – notorious
Words Denotative & connotative aspects
 Components of the connotative aspect of lexical meaning which specify the difference
between the words celebrated widely known, admired and talked about by many people
because ofgood qualities notorious widely known because of something bad, for example,
for being criminal, violent, or immoral
evaluation (positive) evaluation (negative)
To deal with – to grapple with, sophisticated – hardened, adventure – ordeal, perfect –
flawless, to glance – to glare, adulation – respect, ugly – repulsive, to murmur – to mutter.

Task 6
Antonomasia.The following are names of characters in popular fiction. They are so well -
known (even by those who have never read or even heard of the original work) that they
are often used in ordinary conversation. Put each on in its correct place in the sentences
below.
Jekyll Tarzan
and Big Brother Cinderella
Hyde Sherlock Holmes

1) He is a strange person. Usually he is very pleasant and reasonable, but there are times
when he gets very bad-tempered and almost violent. He has a ___________ personality.
2) How on earth did you guess his nationality, occupation and all those other things
about him just from his appearance? You’re a proper ___________ .
3) I don’t like this new government proposal to put details of everyone’s private life on
computers. I can’t see it will mean greater efficiency and all that, but, well, it is a bit like
___________, isn’t it?
4) She’s really exploited by her family. They make her do everything for them, cook,
clean… She’s a sort of ___________ .
5) He’s a body-builder and weight-lifter. Have you seen him in a swimsuit? He looks like
___________ .
 CHAPTER 10
POLYSEMY. HOMONYMY.

If a word has only one meaning, that is if it nominates only one segment of reality, it is
said to be monosemantic. There are not many monosemantic words in any language: words
of this kind are usually terms of this or that branch of science, engineering, etc.
A word having more than one meaning is said to be polysemantic. There is no one-to-
one correspondence between the units of the plane of expression and the units of the plane
of content. One unit of the former may correspond to several units of the latter, that is a
word is able to nominate several different segments of reality (its denotata) belonging to
different spheres of reality, the meanings of a polysemantic word belong, then to different
semantic field.
Polysemy is a phenomenon of language. All the meaning of a polysemantic word making
up its semantic structure can be regarded as a paradigm of meanings, in speech, in utterance
individual meanings find their realization through syntagmatic relations with the meanings
of other words, through context. To build up his utterance, the speaker selects from all the
meanings of a word existing in the language just the one he needs for the set of
communication and his interlocutor will understand exactly what means through the
context. The source of polysemy are: 1. Change of meaning, which was the subject
―semantic change 2. Frequency of use 3. The syllabic structure of a word (polysemantic
words are usually short) 4. The stylistic and emotivecharacteristics of a word; words that are
neutral as regards style and emotive charge are more frequently polysemantic than those
which are stylistically or emotionally coloured.
In the New English Dictionary, the maximum number of meanings registered for the verb
―to set is 126. The verb ―to get has scarcely fewer meanings. The average number of
meanings of the most frequently used words is 25.
All the denotative meanings of a polysemantic word and the relation between them, as
well as the connotative meanings of the style and emotive charge make up the semantic
structure of a word. As I.Arnold writes ―the semantic structure of a polysemantic word
may be defined as a structured set of interrelated meanings. Any addition or new meanings
or the disappearance of some old ones changes a word‘s semantic structure.
 Let us consider the semantic structure of the verb to land, as given in the Concise Oxford
Dictionary: 1) to set or go ashore: We landed on an island; 2) to set down from a vehicle:
The taxi landed me at my door; 3) to reach a certain place: My fate landed me in London; 4)
to deal a blow: I landed him one in the eye; 5) bring fish to land: I landed a fine trout; 6) to
slight after a jump: A cat always lands on its feet; 7) to come down to earth: The plane
landed softly.
The semantic structure of equivalent words in different languages is different, so their
equivalence is not full. If we compare the English ― to land‖ with its Georgian equivalents,
we shall see it clearly:
We landed on an island - ჩვენკუნძულზეჩავედით.
Thetaxilandedmeatmydoor -ტაქსმასახლამდემიმიყვანა.
My fate landed me in London- ჩემმაბედმალონდონშიჩამიყვანა.
I landed him one on the jaw-მეალიყური გავაწანი.
I landed a fish -მეთევზიწყლიდანამოვიყვანე.
A cat lands on its feet - კატაყოველთვისთათებზეეშვება.
To land on the moon – მთვარეზედავეშვი
to land in the sea – ზღვაშიშევედით.
When studying the semantic structure of a word, we study its primary and secondary
meanings, its direct and figurative meanings, its abstract and concrete meanings, and its
stylistic reference emotive charge – all the elements of lexical meaning we can discover in
it. In the verb ―to land the primary meanings are derived. The system of meanings of any
polysemantic word develops gradually, mostly over the centuries, as more and more new
meanings either are added to old ones, or oust some of them.
So, the complicated processes of polysemy development involve both the appearance of
new meanings and the loss of old ones. Yet, the general tendency with English vocabulary
at the modern stage of its history is to increase the total number of its meanings and in this
way to provide for a quantitative and qualitative growth of the language's expressive
resources.
When analyzing the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, it is necessary to
distinguish between two levels of analysis.
 In the following list of meanings of the adjective dull one can hardly hope to find a
generalized meaning covering and holding together the rest of the semantic structure.
Dull, adj.
I. Uninteresting, monotonous, boring; e. g. a dull book, a dull film.
II. Slow in understanding, stupid; e. g. a dull student.
III. Not clear or bright; e. g. dull weather, a dull day, a dull colour.
IV.Not loud or distinct; e. g. a dull sound.
V. Not sharp; e. g. a dull knife.
VI. Not active; e. g. Trade is dull.
VII. Seeing badly; e. g. dull eyes (arch.).
VIII, Hearing badly; e. g. dull ears (arch.),
Yet, one distinctly feels that there is something that all these seemingly miscellaneous
meanings have in common, and that is the implication of deficiency, be it of colour (m. III),
wits (m. II), interest (m. I), sharpness (m. V), etc. The implication of insufficient quality, of
something lacking, can be clearly distinguished in each separate meaning.
In fact, each meaning definition in the given scheme can be subjected to a
transformational operation to prove the point.
Dull, adj.
I. Uninteresting > deficient in interest or excitement.
II. Stupid > deficient in intellect.
III Not bright > deficient in light or colour.
IV Not loud > deficient in sound.
V. Not sharp > deficient in sharpness.
VI.Not active > deficient in activity.
VII.Seeing badly> deficient in eyesight.
VIII. Hearing badly> deficient in hearing.
The transformed scheme of the semantic structure of dull clearly shows that the center
holding together the complex semantic structure of this word is not one of the meanings but
a certain component that can be easily singled out within each separate meaning.
 Homonyms
Homonyms are traditionally defined as words having the same sound form, but different
in meaning, distribution and often in origin.
The problem of discriminating between homonyms and various meanings of a
polysemantic word is one of the controversial questions in linguistics, because difference in
meaning and distributions also typical of the lexico-semantic units making up the semantic
structure of polysemantic words. But these spheres are in regular contact within the reality.
As for homonyms, they also name different segments of reality, belonging to different
spheres of reality, but there is no contact between these spheres. Consequently, the sound
form ―ear‖ with its two meanings ―the organ of hearing‖ and ―ear of corn belonging as
they do to spheres of reality that have no contact within reality are homonyms and not two
meanings of a polysemantic word. This is also corroborated by the etymological criterion,
―ear the organ of hearing comes from the Latin ― auris and ―ear of corn from the Latin
―ocus.
Hyponymy is the relationship of meaning inclusion between a superordinate term and one
or more subordinate terms or hyponyms. We have a hierarchical relationship here. The
meaning of the superordinate term is included in the meaning of the hyponym. We can also
define hyponymy by using extension and intension. The superordinate term has greater
extension than the hyponym and the hyponym has greater intension than the superordinate
term, that is, this is vaguer in meaning and therefore including more entities from outside
world, whereas the hyponym has more semantic features so it's restricted to fewer entities
in the outside world.
The most widely accepted classification is that recognizing homonyms proper,
homophones and homographs.
Homonyms proper are words identical in pronunciation and spelling. E.g. back– part of
the body, back (v) – away from the front, back (v) – go back; ball (n) – a round object used
in games, ball – gathering of people for dancing, bark (n) – the skin of a tree, bark (n) – the
noise made by dog, bark (v) – to utter sharp explosive cries, bark (n) – a sailing ship. The
important point is that homonyms are distinct words: not different meanings within one
word.
 Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning: air-heir,
arms-alms, buy-by-bye, knight-night, bill-Bill.
Homographsare words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally identical in
spelling: bow [bou] – bou [bau], lead [li:d] – lead [led] tear [tεə] – tear [tiə ] wind [wind] –
wind [waind], etc.
In Modern English, there are a great many homonyms. Most homonyms are
monosyllabic. If words are homonymous throughout their paradigm, in all their word-forms
we have a case of full homonymy.
The word ―bat and ―bat are both nouns, so their word-forms are identical: bat, bat‘s,
bats, bats. But if we consider the verb to bat only some of its word forms will coincide with
those of the homonymous nouns; this is partial homonymy, typical of word belonging to
different parts of speech. E.g. a bat – to bat, two bats – he bats. However, partial homonymy
can also occur within the same part of speech: to lie - to lie.
On the other hand, there are cases of full homonymy, in words belonging to different
parts of speech. This is mostly true of unchangeable words, especially of prepositions and
adverbs: for – preposition, for – conjunction, four - numeral.
Homonyms may create ambiguity. A word or a sentence is ambiguous if it can be
understood or interpreted in more than one way, the sentence: ―She cannot bear children
may be understood to mean ―She is unable to give birth to children or ―She can‘t tolerate
children. The ambiguity is due to the two words ―bear with different meanings. Sometimes
additional context can help to disambiguate the sentence can help to disambiguate the
sentence.
She can not bear children if they are noisy
She can not bear children because she is sterile
Both words ―bear as used in the above sentences are verbs. There is another homonym
―bear the animal, which is a noun with different semantic properties. The adjective
―bare‖ despite its different spelling is homophonous with the above words and also has a
different meaning. ―Bare as a verb is another homonym (V.Fromkin).
According to the type of meaning, we should discriminate between lexical homonyms,
grammatical homonyms and lexico-grammatical homonyms. Lexical homonyms belong to
the same type of speech and the only difference between such homonyms as ―bat 1, and
―bat 2 in all their word-forms is lexical. However, if we compare them with ―bat 3which
is a verb, the difference between them is both lexical and grammatical; such homonyms are
called lexico-grammatical.
As for grammatical homonyms, they are homonyms word-forms of the same word, e.g.
cat‘s and cats, sister‘s and sisters. So, if we take into consideration the graphic forms of
words we distinguish the following classes of homonyms: 1) homographs; 2)homophones; 3)
perfect homonyms (homographwords identical in sound-forms and spelling, but different
in meaning, e.g. bear - bear, bow – bow, nail – nail.
Professor A. I. Smirnitsky(1956) classified homonyms into two large classes: I. full
homonyms, II. Partial homonyms.
Full lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of speech
and have the same paradigm.
E. g. Match, n. — a game, a contest
Matches, n. — a short piece of wood used for producing fire
Wren, n. — a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service wren, n. — a bird
Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:
A. Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the same
category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the
same form, as will be seen from the examples. E. g. / (to) found, v.
Found, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to ( find)
To lay, v. I lay, v. (Past Indef. of to lie)
To bound, v. I bound, v. (Past Indef., Past Part, of tobind)
B. Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of
parts of speech, which have one identical form in their paradigms. E. g. f rose, n. rose, v.
(Past Indef. of to rise)maid, n. made, v. (Past Indef., Past Part, of to make)left, adj. left, v.
(Past Indef., Past Part, of to leave)bean, n. been, v. (Past Part, of to be)one, num. won, v.
(Past Indef., Past Part, of to win)
C. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech, which are
identical only in their corresponding forms.
E. g. to lie (lay, lain), v. to lie (lied, lied), v. to hang (hung, hung), v. to hang (hanged,
hanged), v. to can (canned, canned) (I) can (could).
 Sources of Homonyms
One source of homonyms has already been mentioned: phonetic changes,which words
undergo in the course of their historical development. As a result, of such changes, two or
more words, which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound
forms and thus become homonyms.
Night and knight, for instance, were not homonyms in Old English as the initial k in the
second word was pronounced, and not dropped as it is in its modern sound form: О.Е. kniht
(cf. О.Е. niht). A more complicated change of form brought together another pair of
homonyms: to knead (О.Е. cnēdan) and to need (О.Е. nēodian).
In Old English, the verb to write had the form writan, and the adjective right had the
forms reht, riht. The noun sea descends from the Old English form sæ, and the verb to see
from О. Е. sēon. The noun work and the verb to work also had different forms in Old
English: wyrkean and weork respectively.
Borrowing is another source of homonyms. A borrowed word may,duplicate in form
either a native word or another borrowing in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation. So,
in the group of homonyms rite,a Latin borrowing (<Lat. ritus)n. — to write, v. — right, adj.
the second and third words are of native origin. In the pair piece, n. — peace, п. the first
originates from O.F. pais, and the second from O.F. (< Gaulish) pettia. Bank, n. ("shore") is a
native word, and bank, n. ("a financial institution") is an Italian borrowing.
Word building also contributes significantly to the growth of homonymy, and the most
important type in this respect is undoubtedly conversion. Such pairs of words as comb, n. —
to comb, v., pale, adj. — to pale, v., to make, v. — make, n. are numerous in the vocabulary.
Homonyms of this type, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different
categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.
Shortening is a further type of word-building which increases the number of homonyms.
E.g. fan, n. in the sense of an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor,
singer, etc. is a shortening produced from fanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan, n.
that denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air. The noun rep,
n. denoting a kind of fabric (cf. with the R. репс) has three homonyms made by shortening:
rep, n. (<repertory), rep, n. (<representative), rep, n. (<reputation)', all the three are
informal words.
During World War II girls serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (an auxiliary of
the British Royal Navy) were jokingly nicknamed Wrens (informal). This neologistic
formation made by shortening has the homonym wren(ნიბლია), n. a small bird with dark
brown plumage barred with black.
Words made by sound-imitation can also form pairs of homonyms with other words: e. g.
bang, n. (a loud, sudden, explosive noise") — bang, n. (a fringe of hair combed over the
forehead). Also: mew, n. (the sound a cat makes) — mew, n. (a sea gull) — mew( ბაკი,
გალია), n. (a pen in which poultry is fattened) — mews (small terraced houses in Central
London).
The above-described sources of homonyms have one important feature in common. In all
the mentioned cases the homonyms developed from two or more different words, and their
similarity is purely accidental. (In this respect, conversion certainly presents an exception
for in pairs of homonyms formed by conversion one word of the pair is produced from the
other: a find < to find.)
Now we come to a further source of homonyms, which differs essentially from all the
above cases. Two or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same
word when, for some reason, the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts.
This type of formation of homonyms is called split polysemy.
Let us consider the history of three homonyms:
1. Board, n. — a long and thin piece of timber;2. Board, n. — daily meals, esp. as provided
for pay, e. g. room and board; 3.Board, n. — an official group of persons who direct or
supervise some activity, e. g.a boardof directors
It is clear that the meanings of these three words are in no way associated with one
another. Yet, larger dictionaries still enter a meaning of board that once held together all
these other meanings table. It developed from the meaning a piece of timber by transference
based on contiguity (association of an object and the material from which it is made). The
meanings meals and an official group of persons developed from the meaning table, also by
transference based on contiguity: meals are easily associated with a table on which they are
served; an official group of people in authority is also likely to discuss their business round a
table.
Nowadays, however, the item of furniture, on which meals are served and round which
boards of directors meet, is no longer denoted by the word board but by the French Norman
borrowing table, and board in this meaning, though still registered by some dictionaries, can
very well be marked as archaic as it is no longer used in common speech. That is why, with
the intrusion of the borrowed table, the word board actually lost its corresponding meaning.
The speakers almost forgot that board had ever been associated with any item of furniture,
nor could they associate the concepts of meals or of a responsible committee with a long
thin piece of timber (which is the oldest meaning of board). Consequently, the semantic
structure of board was split into three units.
A somewhat different case of split polysemy may be illustrated by the three following
homonyms: spring, n. — the act of springing, a leap spring, n. — a place where a stream of
water comes up out of the earth (ნაკადული) spring, n. — a season of the year.
Historically all three nouns originate from the same verb with the meaning of to jump, to
leap (О. Е. sprin-gan), so that the meaning of the first homonym is the oldest. The meanings
of the second and third homonyms were originally based on metaphor. At the head of a
stream the water sometimes leaps up out of the earth, so that metaphorically such a place
could well be described as a leap. On the other hand, the season of the year following
winter could be poetically defined as a leap from the darkness and cold into sunlight and
life. Such metaphors are typical enough of Old English and Middle English semantic
transferences but not so characteristic of modern mental and linguistic processes. The poetic
associations that lay in the basis of the semantic shifts described above have long since been
forgotten, and an attempt to re-establish the lost links may well seem far-fetched. It is just
the near-impossibility of establishing such links that seems to support the claim for
homonymy and not for polysemy with these three words.
Homonyms appear in a language as a result of:
Disintegration of polysemy or in other words, the divergent development of polysemy,
e.g. Latin ―flos ―floren (flower) produce the ME flour, which had two meanings:
―flower and the finest part of wheat; from the ME polysemantic ― flourwe have how
―flower and ―flour.
 Convergent sound development: words that were phonetically different may get the same
sound-form as a result of phonetic development, e.g. OE ic and ea e have development into i
[ai] and ey [əi]. OE sunne and sunu – sun and son
Borrowing is another source of homonyms: ―write‖ and ―right‖, that came from OE
(written and right) and ―rite‖from Latin ―ritue‖ (a ritual) or ―rain‖and ―rein‖ (French)
and ―reign‖ (Latin ―regnum‖). A Horse is a Hoarse, Of Course, Of Coarse

EXERCISES
Task 1
Read the sentences in which the polysemantic word simple is used. Give all the lexico-
semantic variants constituting the semantic structure of this word. Check yourself by a
dictionary.
1. The book tries to give simple explanations of some very complex scientificideas. 2. Sally
likes clothes that are simple but elegant. 3. The simple fact is that hewants a divorce. 4.
Archaeologists found several simple tools at the site. A knife is asimple tool. 5. Her
grandparents were simple people who never had much money. I’mjust a simple farmer. 6.
You may be joking but she’s simple enough to believe you. 7. I’m afraid old Jack is a bit
simple

Task 2
Fill in the blanks using the right choice given in brackets.

1. Nobody can ......... what I tell ......... (hear / here)

2. ......... desires in our village to become a ......... (nun / none)

3. ......... ......... you till now? (Were / Where)

4. I have not ......... the ......... cover book till now. (red / read)

5. The house ......... was ......... to work for many hours without rest. (maid /made)

6. They ......... at the market where they buy ......... (meat / meet)

7. Last ........., she was ......... (weak / week)

8.......... people cannot show the ......... way to success. (idle / ideal)
 Task 3
Circlethecorrectwordineachsentence.

Oneoftheassignmentswastocreate a (bibliography/biography)
1
. ofallthebooksthestudentshadreadduringtheschoolyear.

2 Theteacher'sgoalwastohelpthestudents (adopt/adapt) goodstudyhabits.

.
Thestudents, ontheotherhand, had a (duel/dual) objective:
3
. theywantedlesshomeworkandlongersummervacations.

Theteacherpromisedthatthein-classessaysheassignedwouldhaveno (affect/effect)
4
. onthestudents' finalgrades.

5 Inanattempttoconvincetheteachertochangetheassignment, thestudentsarguedthattheyhad
.
(allready/already) doneenoughin-classwritingfortheweek.

Theteachersmiledandtoldthestudentstotake a deep ( breath/breathe)

6
. andbegintheirwritingassignment.

Thestudentsdecidedtostopresistingtheinevitableandstartgettingdowntoworkontheir
7
. (personal/personnel) essays.

(Whether/Weather) ornotthestudents' essayswereneatlywrittenandlegible,

8 theteacherplannedtoreadthemcarefullyandcommentonthem.
.
 CHAPTER 11
SYNONYMY. ANTONYMY

Almost every word in English seems to have many synonym sets with rough to subtle
differences in meaning between members of each set. For example, to name the place where
one lives, you can use home, house, quarters, or lodging (standard); residence, domicile, or
habituation (formal); and shack, digs, spot, or pad (informal, slang). A set of words can also
be found to describe a person who talks a lot: articulate, eloquent, fluent (positive
connotation); vocal, talkative, verbose (neutral connotation); chattering, gossipy, and gabby
(negative connotation). There just seems to be no end to English words.
D.Crystal (2002:164) defines synonymy as ―the relationship of sameness of meaning e. g
kingly/royal/regal, pavement/sidewalk, youth/youngster. Synonyms are also defined as
words belonging to the same part of speech having the same or almost the same denotative
meaning, but different in sound-form and shades of meaning, such as the connotative
meanings of emotive force in style revealed in additional components of meaning,
differential sememes and also differing in distribution. Synonyms may be interchangeable
in some contexts.
If a word loses all the features differentiating it from other words in its group of
synonyms, it either disappears from the language, or changes its meaning.
Arnold defines synonym in terms of linguistics as two or more words of the same
language, belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or
nearly identical denotative meanings, interchangeable, at least in some context, without any
considerable alteration in denotative meaning, but differing in morphemic composition,
phonemic shape, shades of meaning, connotations, affective value, style, valency and
idiomatic use. Additional characteristics of style, emotional colouring and valency peculiar
to one of the elements in a synonymic group may be absent in one or all of the others.
If words have common semantic nucleus in their denotative meaning, but differ in some
shade of meaning, they are called ideographic synonyms, e. g seem, appear, look, whose
common semantic nucleus is a. giving the impression of.
e.g. He looks clever – I judge so from his appearance
He seems clever - such is my opinion of him
 He appears to be clever – such is my opinion, but I may be mistaken.
Compare synonyms: shiver – with cold, tremble – with fear, agitation, from weakness,
shake – violently as a result of shock, some strong negative emotion, quiver over
excitement, impatience, whose common semantic nucleus, as is shown, is to shake
involuntarily from various causes and in various degrees of intensity. Synonymous are: to
look at, gaze at, stare at, gape at, glare at, glance at, peer at.
In a group of synonyms, one word is synonymic dominant,i.e. the word having the most
general meaning. In the above examples,shake and lookare the dominants. The synonymic
dominant should not be confused with so called ―generic term, e.g. animal thatinclude
such words as horse, tiger, mouse …
If the words in the synonymic group differ not only in some element or denotative
meaning, but also in some components of connotative meanings (emotive or stylistic) they
are called ideographic-stylistic synonyms. E.g. horse and steed, do not differ only in their
stylistic reference, the former being neutral, the latter – poetic, ―horse means any animal
of this kind, ―steed is a powerful war-horse.
As it has been stated above, synonyms are interchangeable in some contexts, e.g . deep
sleep - a profound sleep, deep learning -profound learning, but we can say – a deep river,
deep voice, deep in debt, where the synonym ―profound wouldn‘t fit in. Synonyms are
rarely interchangeable in all contexts. Complete interchangeability is possible only in the
sphere of terminology, so called total synonymy; noun - substantive, inflexion - functional
affix, spirant - fricative etc.
It is also most important to know the combinability of synonyms, i.e. the context in
which this or that synonym can occur e.g. a precious stone but not a dear stone,to amount a
horse, but not to ascend a horse…
Translation cannot serve as a criterion of synonymy; there are cases when several
English words of different distribution and valency are translated into Georgian by one and
the same word: also, too, as well-
Contextual or context-dependent synonyms are similar in meaning only under some
specific distributional conditions. It may happen that the difference between the meanings
of two words is contextually neutralized, e.g. buy and get wouldn‘t be taken as synonyms,
but they are synonyms in the following examples. I‘ll go to the shop and buy some bread =
I‘ll go to the shop and get some bread.
There are some other distinctions to be made with respect to different kind of semantic
similarity, like relative synonyms: e.g. ask -beg - implore; like - love -adore; gift - talent -
genius, etc.
Modern English is rich in synonyms. A powerful source of synonyms is borrowing
words from other languages: e.g. heaven (OE) and sky (Scandinavian), hide (OE) and skin
(Scandinavian).
There are pairs of synonyms, one of which is Greek and the other – Romanic,
hypothesis – supposition, sympathy – compassion, synthesis – composition, etc.
In triple groups of synonyms, native English and borrowing from French and Latin, we
may often observe that the native word is stylistically neutral, while the borrowed words
are stylistically marked as bookish, e.g.
To ask (Eng.) - question (Fr.) - to interrogate (Lat.)
To gather (Eng.) - to assemble (Fr.) - to collect (Lat.)
To end (Eng.) - to finish (Fr.) - to complete (Lat.)
This does not mean to say, that all borrowings are bookish, e.g. sky (Scand.), valley (FR.)
are neutral while the native English heaven and dale are bookish.
Borrowings from dialects are also a source of synonyms: e.g. lass (Scotish) -girl, glamour -
charm. American English has also contributed synonyms to British English: radio - wireless,
to mail - to post, to cable -to wire…
However, borrowing is not and cannot be the only source of synonymy. A language has
the power to enrich its vocabulary by making use of its own resources; already existing
morphemes and word-building models, e.g. getable = available, a pin-up = pretty girl…
A source of synonymy is euphemism in which by a shift of meaning a word of more or
less pleasant or at least inoffensive connotation substitutes one that is harsh, obscene,
indelicate or otherwise unpleasant, e.g.
drunk > merry, naked > in one‘s birthday suit, pregnant > in the family way, very often a
learned word which sounds less familiar is therefore less offensive, as in drunkenness >
intoxication, sweat > perspiration to die > to be no more - to be gone -to lose one‘s life - to
breath one‘s last - to join the silent majority - to go the way of all flesh - to pass away - to be
gathered to one‘s fathers - to kick a bucket.
There are many cases of similarity between words easily confused with synonymy but in
fact different from it. These are:
Lexical variants: (northward/nor ward, whoever/whosoever);
Paronyms, words that are kindred both in sound form and meaning and therefore liable to
be mixed but in fact different in meaning and usage and therefore only mistakenly
interchanged (ingenious (clever) – ingenuous (frank, artless)); to affect – to effect;
Malaphorism, misapplied or out-of-place words and expressions (―to illiterate‖ instead of
to ―obliterate, progeny for prodigy)
Hyponyms and superordinates. Other important relations between words are
classificatory relations. For example, if someone asks you would you like drink? In order to
respond you would need to establish what kind of drink was on offer as well as what kind
you wanted. This range of choice could be presented in a diagram like this:

Drink

Alcoholic drink non-alcoholic drink

/ / /
Wine beer spirits cocktail etc. Hot drink cold drink
/ /
Coffee tea hot chocolate water milk juice fizzy drinks
/
Filter cappuccino espresso flavoured coffee
/
Almond vanilla raspberry hazelnut

All these different categories of drink can be described in terms of their relationship to
each other and the technical terms are hyponyms and superordinates. Coffee is a
superordinate for cappuccino, filter espresso etc. A hyponym is the opposite: a word that
can be included in the category above it on the diagram. Cappuccino is a hyponym of coffee,
and coffee is a hyponym of drink.
 Hyponymy
Hyponymy is a relation in which the referent of a word is totally included in the referent of
another word. In order words, hyponymy is the relationship between each of the hyponyms
(the “lower” word) and its superordinate (the “higher “ word).
Distinction between a hyponym and superordinate is following: A hyponym is a word
whose referent is totally included in the referent of another word whilea superordinate is a
word whose referent covers all the referents of its hyponyms.
Criteria of synonymy
Synonyms are one of the language's most important expressive means. Synonymy is
associated with some theoretical problems, which at present are still an object of controversy.
Probably, the most controversial among these is the problem of criteria of synonymy. To put
it in simpler words, we are still not certain which words should correctly be considered as
synonyms, nor are we agreed as to the characteristic features which qualify two or more
words as synonyms.
Traditional linguistics solved this problem with the conceptual criterion and defined
synonyms as words of the same category of parts of speech conveying the same concept but
differing either in shade of meaning or in stylistic characteristics.
Some aspects of this definition have been criticized. It has been pointed out that linguistic
phenomena should be defined in linguistic terms and that the use of the term concept makes
this an extra-linguistic definition. The term shades of meaning has been condemned for its
vagueness and lack of precision.
In contemporary research on synonymy semantic criterion is frequently used. In terms of
componential analysis,synonyms may be defined as words with the same denotation, or the
same denotative component, but differing in connotations, or in connotative components.
Though not beyond criticism, this approach has its advantages and suggests certain new
methods of analyzing synonyms.
A group of synonyms may be studied with the help of their dictionary definitions
(definitional analysis). The definitions are subjected to transformational operations
(transformational analysis). In this way, the semantic components of each analyzed word are
singled out.
 There are three types of synonyms: ideographic (which he defined as words conveying the
same concept but differing in shades of meaning), stylistic (differing in stylistic
characteristics) and absolute (coinciding in all their shades of meaning and in all their
stylistic characteristics).
Here are the results of the definitional and transformational analysis of some of the
numerous synonyms for the verb to look.
Connotation
Glare –look steadily, lastingly in anger, rage
Glance –look briefly, passingly, -by stealth; through an opening or from a concealed
location
Stare---look steadily, lastingly, in surprise, curiosity
Gaze—look steadily, lastingly, in tenderness, admiration, wonder
Peer—steadily, lastingly,with difficulty or s
The common denotation convincingly shows that, according to the semantic criterion, the
words grouped in the above table are synonyms. The connotative components represented
on the right side of the table highlight their differentiations.
In modern research on synonyms the criterion of interchangeability is sometimes applied.
According to this, synonyms are defined as words, which are interchangeable at least in
some contexts without any considerable alteration in denotative meaning.
This criterion of interchangeability has been much criticized. Every or almost every
attempt to apply it to this or that group of synonyms seems to lead one to the inevitable
conclusion that either there are very few synonyms or, else, that they are not
interchangeable.
It is sufficient to choose any set of synonyms placing them in a simple context to
demonstrate the point. Let us take, for example, the synonyms from the above table.
E.g.He glared at her (i. e. He looked at her angrily). He gazed at her (i. e. He looked at her
steadily and attentively; probably with admiration or interest).
He glanced at her (i. e. He looked at her briefly and turned away).
He peered at her (i. e. He tried to see her better, but something prevented: darkness, fog,
weak eyesight).
 Used in this way, in a related context, all these words (/ like you, but I cannot love you;
the young man was strolling, and his child was trotting by his side; Romeo should smile, not
grin, etc.) clearly demonstrate that substitution of one word for another is impossible.
Consequently, it is difficult to accept interchange-ability as a criterion of synonymy because
the specific characteristic of synonyms, and the one justifying their very existence, is that
they are not, cannot and should not be interchangeable, in which case they would simply
become useless ballast in the vocabulary.
Synonyms are frequently said to be the vocabulary's colours, tints and hues (so the term
shade is not so inadequate, after all, for those who can understand a metaphor). Attempts at
ascribing to synonyms the quality of interchangeability are equal to stating that subtle tints
in a painting can be exchanged without destroying the picture's effect.
All this does not mean that no synonyms are interchangeable. One can find whole groups of
words with halferased connotations which can readily be substituted one for another. The
same girl can be described as pretty, good-looking, handsome or beautiful. Yet, even these
words are far from being totally interchangeable. Each of them creates its own picture of
human beauty, handsome is not pretty and pretty is not necessarily handsome. Perhaps they
are not even synonyms.However, they are. Both, the criterion of common denotation (good-
looking, of pleasing appearance) and even the dubious criterion of inter-changeability seem
to indicate that.
In conclusion, synonyms are words of the same part of speech different in their sound-
form and connotation but similar in their denotative meaning and interchangeable at least
in somecontexts, e.g. to look, to seem, to appear; high – tall, etc.

Types of Connotations
I. The connotation of degree or intensity can be traced in such groups of synonyms as to
surprise — to astonish — to amaze — to astound; to satisfy — to please — to content — to
gratify — to delight — to exalt; to shout — to yell — to bellow — to roar; to like — to
admire — to love — to adore — to worship.
П. In the group of synonyms to stare — to glare — to gaze — to glance — to peep — to
peer, all the synonyms except to glance denote a lasting act of looking at somebody or
something, whereas to glance describes a brief, passing look. These synonyms may be said to
have a connotation of durationin their semantic structure.
Other examples are: to flash (brief) — to blaze (lasting); to shudder (brief) — to shiver
(lasting); to say (brief) — to speak, to talk (lasting).
III. The synonyms to stare — to glare — to gaze are differentiated from the other words of
the group by emotive connotations, and from each other by the nature of the emotion they
imply. In the group alone — single — lonely — solitary, the adjective lonely also has an
emotive connotation:
IV. The evaluative connotationconveys the speaker's attitude towards the referent,
labeling it as good or bad. So in the group well-known — famous — notorious —
celebrated, the adjective notorious bears a negative evaluative connotation and celebrated a
positive one. E.g.: a notorious murderer, robber, swindler, coward, lady-killer, flirt, but a
celebrated scholar, artist, singer, man-of-letters.
A. His (her) eyes sparkled with amusement, merriment, good humour, high spirits,
happiness, etc. (positive emotions).
B. His (her) eyes glittered with anger, rage, hatred, malice, etc. (negative emotions).
V. The causative connotation can be illustrated by the examples to sparkle and to glitter
given above: one's eyes sparkle with positive emotions and glitter with negative emotions.
However, this connotation of to sparkle and to glitter seems to appear only in the model
"Eyes + Sparkle/Glitter".
The causative connotation is also typical of the verbsto shiver and to shudder, in whose
semantic structures the cause of the act or process of trembling is encoded: to shiver with
cold, from a chill, because of the frost; to shudder with fear, horror, etc.
VI. The connotation of mannercan be singled out in some groups of verbal synonyms. The
verbs to stroll — to stride — to trot — to pace — to swagger — to stagger — to stumble all
denote different ways and types of walking, encoding in their semantic structures the length
of pace, tempo, gait and carriage, purposefulness or lack of purpose.
VII. The verbs to peep and to peer are differentiated by connotations of duration and
manner. But there is some other curious peculiarity in their semantic structures. Let us
consider their typical contexts.
One peeps at smb./smth. through a hole, crack or opening, from behind a screen, a half-
closed door, a newspaper, a fan, a curtain, etc. One peers at smb./smth. in darkness, through
the fog, through dimmed glasses or windows, from a great distance; a short-sighted person
may also peer at things. So, in the semantic structure of to peer are encoded circumstances
preventing one from seeing clearly. We shall call this the connotation of attendant
circumstances(არაძირითადიგარემოებანი).
VIII. The synonyms pretty, handsome, beautiful have been mentioned as the ones which are
more or less interchangeable. Yet, each of them describes a special type of human beauty:
beautiful is mostly associated with classical features and a perfect figure, handsome with a
tall stature, a certain robustness and fine pro portions, pretty with small delicate features
and a fresh complexion. This connotation may be defined as the connotation of attendant
features.
IX. Stylistic connotationsstand somewhat apart for two reasons. Here are some examples of
synonyms, which are differentiated by stylistic connotations. The word in brackets starting
each group shows the denotation of the synonyms. E.g. (Meal). Snack, bite (coll.), snap
(dial.), repast, refreshment, feast (formal).These synonyms, besides stylistic connotations,
have connotations of attendant features. Snack, bite, snap all denote a frugal meal taken in a
hurry; refreshment is also a light meal; feast is a rich or abundant meal.
(Girl). Girlie (coll.), lass, lassie (dial.), bird, birdie, jane, fluff, skirt (sl.), maiden (poet.),
damsel (arch.). (To leave). To be off, to clear out (coll.), to beat it, to hoof it, to take the air
(sl.), to depart, to retire, to withdraw (formal)
Antonyms
Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech and having contrary or
contradictory denotative meaning, e.g.
As a rule, man is fool
When it‘s hot it is hot
When it‘s cool he wants it hot
Always wanting what is not.
The meaning of a word may be partially defined by saying what it is not. Male means not
female, dead means not alive. Ironically, the basic property of two words are antonyms is
that the share all but one semantic property. Beautiful and tall are not antonyms; beautiful
and ugly or talland short are antonyms.
Absolute antonyms express contrary notions, they shoe polarity of meaning, on the
plane of expression their sound-forms are entirely different, as they come from different
roots, e.g. big-small.
Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, they do not show polarity of
meaning, but simply negation will the help of negative prefixes, they are formed by adding a
negative prefix to a root or stem, e.g. natural ╪ unnatural, understand ╪ misunderstand.
In some cases, however the presence of a negative prefix does not make a word the
antonym without that prefix, e.g. to disappoint is not the antonym of to appoint, to disclose
is not the antonym of to close. As we see from the above, derivational antonyms form
binary oppositions: do – undo, successful – unsuccessful; as for absolute antonyms, they
usually obtain polarity of meaning through a series of gradual oppositions, e.g . cold – cool –
warm – hot, where only the extreme members of the series are actually antonyms.
However, this is not always the case, absolute antonyms may also stand in relation of binary
polar oppositions, without any intermediate members: clean-dirty, late-early.
Antonym is typical of qualitative adjectives and their derivations: glad-sad, gladly-
gladness-sadness. Antonyms also express opposition in state, e.g. ill-well, hope-despair,
oppositions in time and space, e.g. late-early, day-night, near-far, etc.
It is interesting to note the emphatic use of synonyms and antonyms in English.
Synonymic pairs are often used for emphasis, e.g. to pick and choose, really and truly, safe
and sound, bright and shining.
Antonyms are also used phraseologically in pairs : from first to last, in black and white,
day and night, to and from…
Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most
antonyms are adjectives, which is only natural because qualitative characteristics are easily
compared and contrasted: high — low, wide — narrow, strong — weak, old — young,
friendly — hostile.
Verbs take second place, so far as antonymy is concerned. Yet, verbal pairs of antonyms
are fewer in number. Here are some of them: to lose — to find, to live — to die, to open —
to close, to weep — to laugh.
 Nouns are not rich in antonyms, but even so some examples can be given: friend —
enemy, joy — grief, good — evil, heaven — earth, love — hatred.
Antonymic adverbs can be subdivided into two groups: a) adverbs derived from adjectives:
warmly — coldly, merrily — sadly, loudly — softly; b) adverbs proper: now — then, here
— there, ever — never, up — down, in — out.
Nowadays most scholars agree that in the semantic structures of all words, which
regularly occur in antonymic pairs, a special antonymic connotation can be singled out. We
are so used to coming across hot and cold together, in the same contexts that even when we
find hot alone, we cannot help subconsciously registering it as not cold, that is, contrast it to
its missing antonym. It is reasonable to suggest that the semantic structure of hot can be said
to include the antonymic connotation of not cold, and the semantic structure of enemy the
connotation of not a friend.
Together with synonyms, antonyms represent the language's important expressive means.

Euphemism
Euphemismcomes from the Greek to speak wellin place of the blurt term for something
disagreeable, terrifying or offensive, of a term that is vaguer, more roundabout, or less
colloquial. Euphemisms are frequently used in reference to death ( to pass away, mortician),
to soften moral opprobrium (rip off for ―rob, set high for ―use a drug)etc.
This device is dictated by social conventions, which are sometimes apt to be over-
sensitive.
The word lavatory has produced many euphemisms. Here are some of them: powder
room, washroom, restroom, retiring room, (public) comfort station, ladies' (room),
gentlemen's (room), water-closet, wc([dublju:'si:]), public conveniences and even Windsor
castle.
Pregnancy is another topic for delicate references. Here are some of the euphemisms used as
substitutes for the adjective pregnant: in an interesting condition, in a delicate condition, in
the family way, with a baby coming, (big) with child, expecting.
Eating is also regarded as unrefined by some minds, hence such substitutes as to partake of
food (of refreshment), to refresh oneself, to break bread.
 The apparently innocent word trousers, not so long ago, had a great number of
euphemistic equivalents, some of them quite funny: unmentionables, inexpressible,
indescribable, unwhisperables, you-mustn't-mention 'ems, sit-upons; lower extremities
instead of legs, etc. Nowadays, however, nobody seems to regard this word as indecent any
more, and so its euphemistic substitutes are no longer in use.
Fiction writers have often ridiculed pretentious people for their weak attempts to express
themselves in a delicate and refined way.
There are words which are easy targets for euphemistic substitution. These include words
associated with drunkenness, which are very numerous.
The adjective drunk, for instance, has a great number of such substitutes, some of them
delicate, but most comical. E. g. intoxicated (form.), under the influence (form.), tipsy,
mellow, fresh, high, merry, flustered, overcome, full (coll.), drunk as a lord (coll.), drunk as
an owl (coll.), boiled (sl.), fried (sl.), tanked (sl.), tight (sl.), stiff (sl.), pickled (sl.), soaked
(sl.), three sheets to the wind (sl.), high as a kite (sl.), half-seas-over (sl.), etc.
Euphemisms may be used due to genuine concern not to hurt someone's feelings. For
instance, a liar can be described as a person who does not always strictly tell the truth and a
stupid man can be said to be not exactly brilliant.
All the euphemisms that have been described so far are used to avoid the so-called social
taboos. Their use is inspired by social convention.
Superstitious taboosgave rise to the use of other type of euphemisms. The reluctance to
call things by their proper names is also typical of this type of euphemisms, but this time it
is based on a deeply-rooted subconscious fear.
Superstitious taboos have their roots in the distant past of mankind, when people believed
that there was a supernatural link between a name and the object or creature it represented.
Therefore, all the words denoting evil spirits, dangerous animals, or the powers of nature
were taboo. If uttered, it was believed that unspeakable disasters would result not only for
the speaker but also for those near him. That is why all creatures, objects and phenomena
threatening danger were referred to in a round-about descriptive way. So, a dangerous
animal might be described as the one-lurking-in-the-wood and a mortal disease as the Black
Death. Euphemisms are probably the oldest type of synonyms, for it is reasonable to assume
that superstitions which caused real fear called for the creation of euphemisms long before
the need to describe things in their various aspects or subtle shades caused the appearance of
other synonyms.
The Christian religion also made certain words taboo. The proverb Speak of the devil and
he will appear must have been used and taken quite literally when it was first used, and the
fear of calling the devil by name was certainly inherited from ancient superstitious beliefs.
So, the word devil became taboo, and a number of euphemisms were substitutes for it: the
Prince of Darkness, the black one, the evil one, dickens (coll.), deuce (coll.), (Old) Nick
(coll.).
The word God, due to other considerations, also had a great number of substitutes which
can still be traced in such phrases as Good Lord! By Heavens/, Good Heavens! (My)
Goodness! (My) Goodness gracious! Gracious me!
Even in our modern emancipated times, old superstitious fears still lurk behind words
associated with death and fatal diseases. People are not superstitious nowadays and yet they
are surprisingly reluctant to use the verb to die which has a long chain of both solemn and
humorous substitutes.
E. g. to pass away, to be taken, to breathe one's last, to depart this life, to close one's eyes,
to yield (give) up the ghost, to go the way of all flesh, to go West (sl.), to kick off (sl.), to
check out (sl.), to kick the bucket (sl.), to take a ride (sl.), to hop the twig (sl.), to join the
majority (sl.).
The slang substitutes seem to lack any proper respect, but the joke is a sort of cover for the
same old fear: speak of death and who knows what may happen. Mental diseases also cause
the frequent use of euphemisms.
A mad person may be described as insane, mentally unstable, unbalanced, unhinged, not
(quite) right (coll.), not all there (coll.), off one's head (coll.), off one's rocker (coll.), having
bats in one's belfry (coll.), crazy as a bedbug (coll.), cuckoo (sl.), nutty (sl.), off one's nut (sl.),
loony (sl.), a mental case, a mental defective, etc.
A clinic for such patients can also be discreetly referred to as, for instance, an asylum,
sanitarium, sanatorium, (mental) institution, and, less discreetly, as a nut house (sl.), booby
hatch (sl.), loony bin (sl.), etc.
All the above examples show that euphemisms are substitutes for their synonyms. Their
use and very existence are caused either by social conventions or by certain psychological
factors. Most of them have stylistic connotations in their semantic structures. One can also
assume that there is a special euphemistic connotation that can be singled out in the
semantic structure of each such word. Let us point out that euphemistic connotations in
formal euphemisms are different in flavour from those in slang euphemistic substitutes. In
the first case they are solemn and delicately evasive, and in the second rough and somewhat
cynical, reflecting an attempt to laugh off an unpleasant fact.

EXERCISES
Task 1
Organize the given words in accordance with their hyponymic relations. Enumerate the
general terms (hyperonyms).
1) train, light lorry, bicycle, vehicle, cabriolet, car, heavy lorry, estate car, motorcycle,
bus, lorry, three-door hatchback, three-way dump truck;
2) turtle, mammal, squirrel, animal, reptile, seal, tiger, lizard, leopard, fox, wolf, iguana,
bear, snake, feline, panther.

Task 2
Group the sentences into pairs so that in one sentence there should be a hyperonym (the
more general term) and in the other – the hyponym (the moreconcrete term).
Model: The man was murdered. – The man was poisoned.
1. He gave her a ring with five emeralds as a birthday present. 2. The man waspoisoned. 3.
She looked at him. 4. He heard a nightingale singing. 5. He is an officer. 6. It’s an old car. 7.
She was wearing a black dress. 8. They built a boat. 9. The manwas murdered. 10. She
stared at him. 11. He is a colonel. 12. It’s an old vehicle.13. He gave her a ring with five
precious stones as a birthday present. 14. Theybought flowers in the shop. 15. She was
wearing a dark dress. 16. She has got a child.17. They built a yacht. 18. They bought lilacs in
the shop. 19. She has got a daughter.20. He heard a bird singing.

Task 3
Give meanings of the following synonyms. State the difference in the connotative aspect
of their meaning.
 Model:love – worship
Love – an intense feeling of deep affection
Worship – the feeling of profound reverence and strong adoration
Emotive charge and expressiveness (intensity) are different.
Confidence – assurance; to satisfy – to delight; alone – lonely; to create – to manufacture;
to blush – to redden; to tremble – lo shudder.

Task 4
State the difference in the pragmatic aspect of meaning of the given synonyms. Consult a
dictionary.
Model:to see – to behold
The verb to behold is formal, whereas the verb to see is neutral.
Car – automobile; refreshment – bite; soldier – warrior; to begin – to commence; face –
puss; to leave – to abandon; hearty – cordial, hand – fin; to cry – to weep.

Task 5
Look up in a dictionary meaning of the given pairs of synonyms. Classify synonyms into
stylistic, ideographic and ideographic-stylistic.
Model:mum – mother
The words have the same denotative meaning ‘a female parent’, but they differ in the
pragmatic aspect of meaning as the word mum is informal. Thus, this pair of synonyms
belongs to the group of stylistic synonyms.

Information – data; associate – pal; infectious – contagious; to ask – to interrogate; to meet

– to encounter; to reckon – to estimate; mum – mother, faculty –talent; to foretell – to
predict; to walk – to promenade; blemish – flaw; heaven – sky; intelligent – smart; affair –
business.

Task 6
Find the synonymic dominant in the following groups of synonyms.
 To sob – to weep – to cry; to brood – to reflect – to mediate – to think; to glare – to peep –
to look – to stare – to glance; strange – quaint – odd – queer; terror –fear – horror; angry –
furious – enraged; to flash – to gleam – to sparkle – to blaze –to shine.

Task 7
Give antonyms to the following words. Group them into antonyms of the same root (a)
and antonyms of different roots (b).
Model:artistic
The antonym of the word artistic is inartistic. These words belong to the group of
antonyms of the same root (group a).
Happy (adj), careful (adj), dwarf (adj), obedience (n), criticism (n), above (adv), regular
(adj), asleep (adj), back (adv), polite (adj), triumph (n), hope (n), artistic (adj), appear (v),
prewar (adj), far (adv), logical (adj), love (n), known (adj).

Task 8
Organize the given words in accordance with their hyponymic relations. Enumerate the
general terms (hyperonyms).
1) train, light lorry, bicycle, vehicle, cabriolet, car, heavy lorry, estate car, motorcycle, bus,
lorry, three-door hatchback, three-way dump truck;
2) turtle, mammal, squirrel, animal, reptile, seal, tiger, lizard, leopard, fox, wolf, iguana,
bear, snake, feline, panther.
 CHAPTER 12
THE OPPOSITION OF STYLISTICALLY MARKED AND
STYLISTICALLY NEUTRAL WORDS. STYLES OF SPEECH

Stylistically coloured are words suitable only on certain definite occasions in specific
spheres and suggestive of specific conditions of communication. Dictionaries label them as
colloquial, familiar, poetical, and popular. The term styleis to more than one
interpretation. To Samuel Wesley it was the Dress of thought to Jonathan Swift it was
proper words in proper places, to Yeats it was high breeding in words and in argument, to
Arnold it is a quality of writing. The Oxford Dictionary records it in twenty-seven different
meanings. Style comes from Latin stilus the name of the writing rod for scratching letters on
waxcovered tablets. The many senses of style can be classified into two broad types:
evaluative and descriptive.Linguistically functional style may be defined as a system of
expressive means peculiar to a definite sphere of communication this system is a unit of
phonetically, grammatical and lexical means of expression. When dealing with styles of
speech, lexicology is interpreted in vocabulary, in the stylistic coloring and functioning of
words. Every stylistically coloured word presupposes the possibility of choice, which means
that there must exist a neutral synonymy to which it is contrasted e.g. steed -horse, maiden
-girl…
The basis of opposition is created by the similarity of denotative meaning; the distinctive
feature is the stylistic reference.
Stylistically colored words are devided into two large groups: informal or colloquial
English (whether oral written) and formal English, sometimes called bookish and often used
into the written form of speech. Each of these two large groups is subdivided into several
smaller ones: I. Informal (colloquial English: 1) Literary colloquial (cultivated speech), 2)
Familiar colloquial (highly colloquial), 3) Low colloquial (illiterate speech), 4) Dialectal
speech, 5) Slang, 6) Argot or jargon (including thieves)
Formal English (called bookish): 1) Learned words, 2) Special terminology, 3) Official
vocabulary, 4) Poetic vocabulary.
Books, stories, magazines, journals, newspapers provide us with plenty of material for
observing all these styles of speech. The speech of the woman is mostly familiar colloquial:
E.g. I‘m just simply crazy about that man, I think he is terribly nice‖, I‘d really love to meet
you‖, There‘s no telling what I‘ll do, etc.

Formal or Informal?
When placed in different situations, people instinctively choose different kinds of words
and structures to express their thoughts. The suitability or unsuitability of a word for each
particular situation depends on its stylistic characteristics or, in other words, on the
functional style it represents.
The term functional style is generally accepted in modern linguistics. Professor I. V. Arnold
defines it as a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication.By
the sphere of communication, we mean the circumstances attending the process of speech in
each particular case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a formal letter,
an intimate letter, a speech in court, etc.
All these circumstances or situations can be roughly classified into two types: formal (a
lecture, a speech in court, an official letter, professional communication) and informal (an
informal talk, an intimate letter).
Accordingly, functional styles are classified into two groups, with further subdivisions
depending on different situations.
Learned or bookish wordsare mainly associated with the printed page. It is in this
vocabulary stratum that poetry and fiction find their main resources.
The term learned includes several heterogeneous subdivisions of words. We find here
numerous words that are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-
of-fact flavour (e.g. comprise, compile, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous,
conclusive, divergent, etc.). . As a rule a word of learned style has a synonym in colloquial
style: to commence, to initiate -to begin; to end or conclude -to finish;to indicate- to
demonstrate - to show; chamber - room, to participate - to take part, brief - short, magnify
- to enlarge, similarity - likeness…
Among learned words we find cases of lexicalsuppletion, a word in a word family may be
derived from another root, e.g. sun = solar, son = field, father = paternal, home = domestic,
lip = label, mind = mental. Some words of this kind have synonyms that are colloquial e.g.
fraternal = brotherly, maternal = motherly. The learned vocabulary contains quite a
number of archaic connectives, such as therefore, thereby, therewith, thereafter, thereupon,
hereby, etc.
There are some expressions used in scientific and other special texts: ―as follows, as
early as, when the occasion is formed, in official documents and business correspondence
some words may be used which in ordinary conversation would have a pretentious or
jocular ring. E.g accommodation = room, comestibles = food, conveyance = carriage,
dispatch = send off, donation = gift, emoluments = pay, forenoon, = morning, obtain = get,
sustain = suffer. The objectionable variants of these vocabularies have received the
derogatory names of officialese and journalese.
Social terminology is the specific vocabulary used to denote things, phenomena,
processes, qualities of this or that in any branch of science and engineering. To this group
also belongs so-called officialese. These are the words of the official, bureaucratic language
that should be avoided in speech and in print. E.g. assist (help), endeavor (try), proceed (go),
approximately (about), sufficient (enough), attired (for dressed), inquire (ask).
Probably the most interesting subdivision of learned words is represented by the words
found in descriptive passages of fiction. These words, which may be called literary, usually
described as refined. They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance
languages and, though fully adapted to the English phonetic system, some of them continue
to sound foreign. Here are some examples: solitude, sentiment, fascination, fastidiousness,
facetiousness, delusion, meditation, felicity, elusive, cordial, illusionary.
Learned words are mainly associated with the printed page, this is not exclusively so. Any
educated Englishspeaking individual is sure to use many learned words not only in his
formal letters and professional communication but also in his everyday speech.
 Hundreds of thousands of words belong to special scientific, professional or trade
terminological systems and are not used or even understood by people outside the particular
specialty. Every field of modern activity has its specialized vocabulary. There is a special
medical vocabulary, and similarly special terminologies for psychology, botany, music,
linguistics, teaching methods and many others.
Term, as traditionally understood, is a word or a word-group, which is specifically
employed by a particular branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to convey a
concept peculiar to this particular activity.
So, bilingual, interdental, labialization, palatalization, glottal stop, descending scale are
terms of theoretical phonetics.
Basic Vocabulary. These words are stylistically neutral, and, in this respect, opposed to
formal and informal words described above. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to
use them in all kinds of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written
communication. Certain of the stylistically marked vocabulary strata are, in a way,
exclusive: professional terminology is used mostly by representatives of the professions;
dialects are regional; slang is favoured mostly by the young and the uneducated. Not so basic
vocabulary. These words are used every day, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of
profession, occupation, educational level, age group or geographical location. These are
words without which no human communication would be possible as they denote objects
and phenomena of everyday importance (e. g. house, bread, summer, winter, child, mother,
green, difficult, to go, to stand, etc.).
The basic vocabulary is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and
living core. That is why words of this stratum show a considerably greater stability in
comparison with words of the other strata, especially informal.
Basic vocabulary words can be recognised not only by their stylistic neutrality but, also,
by entire lack of other connotations. Their meanings are broad, general and directly convey
the concept, without supplying any additional information.
For instance, the verb to walk means merely "to move from place to place on foot"
whereas in the meanings of its synonyms to stride, to stroll, to trot, to stagger and others,
some additional information is encoded as they each describe a different manner of walking,
a different gait, tempo, purposefulness or lack of purpose and even length of paces. Thus, to
walk, with its direct broad meaning, is a typical basic vocabulary word, and its synonyms,
with their elaborate additional information encoded in their meanings, belong to the
periphery of the vocabulary.
The basic vocabulary and the stylistically marked strata of the vocabulary do not exist
independently but are closely interrelated. Most stylistically marked words have their
neutral counterparts in the basic vocabulary. On the other hand, colloquialisms may have
their counterparts among learned words; most slang has counterparts both among
colloquialisms and learned words. Archaisms, naturally, have their modern equivalents at
least in some of the other groups.
It‘s typical that writers of the elder generation for example, Galsworthy use literary
colloquial or at most familiar colloquial to characterize the speech habits of older people,
wile the younger generation use slang.
Michael Mont uses such words as: ―ripping, topping, corking, swell‖ for ―excellent‖.
The characteristic features of informal (colloquial) English are conversational formulas,
such as: you see, look here, there you are, here you are, here‘s to you, see you later, meet my
friend, etc. Overworked words, such as thing, business, do, get, go, well, etc. Substantivized
adjectives, such as greens (vegetables), woolies (woolen clothes), bitter (bear) etc, words
produced by conversion from verbs with postpositive: a let-down (disappointment),
carryings-on (behavior), make-up (cosmetics), etc. In colloquial speech emotional
vocabulary and intensifiers are such as terribly, smashing, awfully, tremendously, lovely,
terrific, etc.
Syntactically, colloquial English is characterized by incomplete (elliptical) sentences.
Who took you there? – Nobody.
Informal Style
Informal vocabulary is used in one's immediate circle: family, relatives or friends. One
uses informal words when at home or when feeling at home.
Informal style is relaxed, free-and-easy, familiar and unpretentious. But it should be
pointed out that the informal talk of well-educated people considerably differs from that of
the illiterate or the semi-educated; the choice of words with adults is different from the
vocabulary of teenagers; people living in the provinces use certain regional words and
expressions. Consequently, the choice of words is determined in each particular case, not
only by an informal (or formal) situation, but also by the speaker's educational and cultural
background, age group, and his occupational and regional characteristics.
Informal words and word-groups are traditionally divided into three types: colloquial,
slang and dialect words and word-groups.
The term literary colloquial is used to denote the vocabulary used by educated people in
the course of ordinary conversation or when writing letters to intimate friends. Familiar
colloquial is more emotional and much more free and careless than literary colloquial. It is
also characterized by a great number of jocular or ironical expressions and nonce-words.
Low colloquial is a term used for illiterate popular speech. It is very difficult to find hard
and fast rules that help to establish the boundary between low colloquial and dialect,
because in actual communication the two are often used together. The basis of distinction
between low colloquial and the two other types of colloquial is purely social(Everybody
remembers G.B. Shaw‘s ―Pygmalion).
The chief peculiarities of low colloquial concern grammar and pronunciation; as to the
vocabulary, it is different from familiar colloquial in that it contains more vulgar words, and
sometimes also elements of dialect.
Colloquial Words
Among other informal words, colloquialisms are the least exclusive: they are used by
everybody, and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide, at least of literary
colloquial words. These are informal words that are used in everyday conversational speech
both by cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. The sphere of communication of
literary colloquial words also includes the printed page, which shows that the term
"colloquial" is somewhat inaccurate. Vast use of informal words is one of the prominent
features of 20th century English and American literature. It is quite natural that informal
words appear in dialogues in which they realistically reflect the speech of modern people:
"You're at some sort of technical college?" she said to Leo, not looking at him ... .
"Yes. I hate it though. I'm not good enough at maths. There's a chap there just down from
Cambridge who puts us through it. I can't keep up. Were you good at maths?"
"Not bad. But I imagine school maths are different."
"Well, yes, they are. I can't cope with this stuff at all, it's the whole way of thinking that's
beyond me... I think I'm going to chuck it and take a job."
 However, in modern fiction informal words are not restricted to conversation in their use,
but frequently appear in descriptive passages as well. An author creates an intimate, warm,
informal atmosphere, meeting his reader, as it were, on the level of a friendly talk.
Here are some more examples of literary colloquial words. Pal and chum are colloquial
equivalents of friend; girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age; bite and
snack stand for meal; hi, hello are informal greetings, and so long a form of parting; start, go
on, finish and be through are also literary colloquialisms; to have a crush on somebody is a
colloquial equivalent of to be in love. A bit (of) and a lot (of) also belong to this group.
A considerable number of shortenings are found among words of this type. E. g. pram,
exam, fridge, flu, prop, zip, movie.
Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put
over, make up, make out, do away, turn up, turn in, etc.
Literary colloquial words are to be distinguished from familiar colloquial and low
colloquial. The borderline between the literary and familiar colloquial is not always clearly
marked. Yet the circle of speakers using familiar colloquial is more limited: these words are
used mostly by the young and the semi-educated. This vocabulary group closely verges on
slang.
E. g. doc (for doctor), hi (for how do you do), ta-ta (for good-bye), goings-on (for
behaviour, usually with a negative connotation), to kid smb.(fortease, banter), to pick up
smb. (formake a quick and easy acquaintance), go on with you (for let me alone), shut up
(for keep silent), beat it (for go away).
Low colloquial is defined by G. P. Krappas "characteristic of the speech of persons who
may be broadly described as uncultivated". This group is stocked with words of illiterate
English, which do not present much interest for our purposes.
The problem of functional styles is not one of purely theoretical interest, but represents a
particularly important aspect of the language-learning process. Students of English should
be taught how to choose stylistically suitable words for each particular speech situation.
Literary colloquial words should be included in the students' functional and recognition
vocabularies, they should be presented and drilled in suitable contexts and situations,
mainly in dialogues. It is important that students should be trained to associate these words
with informal, relaxed situations.
 Other vocabulary layers below the level of standard educated speech are, besides low
colloquial, the so-called slang and argot. Unlike low colloquial, however, they have only
lexical peculiarities. Argot should be distinguished from slang; it serves to denote a special
vocabulary and idiom, used by a particular social or age group, especially by the so-called
underworld (the criminal circles). Its main point is to be unintelligible to outsiders.

Slang
Much has been written on the subject of slang that is contradictory and at the same time
very interesting. The Oxford English Dictionary defines slang as language of a highly
colloquial style, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting
either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense.
This definition is inadequate because it equates slang with colloquial style. The
qualification "highly" can hardly serve as the criterion for distinguishing between colloquial
style and slang. Yet, the last line of the definition current words in some special sense is
important and we shall have to return to this a little later.
All or most slang words are current words whose meanings have been metaphorically
shifted. Each slang metaphor is rooted in a joke, but not in a kind or amusing joke. This is
the criterion for distinguishing slang from colloquialisms: most slang words are metaphors
and jocular, often with a coarse, mocking, cynical colouring.
Why do people use slang? For a number of reasons; to be picturesque, arresting, striking
and, above all, different from others; to avoid the tedium of outmoded hackneyed
"common" words; to demonstrate one's spiritual independence and daring;to sound
"modern" and "up-to-date".
The circle of users of slang is narrower than that of colloquialisms. It is mainly used by the
young and uneducated. Yet, slang's colorful and humorous quality makes it catching, so that
nearly all the groups of speakers may accept a considerable part of slang.
One mark of the informal style is the frequent occurrence of slang. Almost everyone
uses slang on one occasion, but it is not easy to define the word. Slang has been defined as
one of those that everybody can recognize and nobody can define. The use of slang or
colloquial language introduces many new words into the language by recombining old
words into new meanings; spaced out, right on‖, hang up and ripoff has all gained a degree
of acceptance. Slang may also introduce an entirely new word, such as barf(პირის
ღებინება), flub(გაფუჭება, შეცდომების დაშვება) and pooped(დაღლილი). Slang often
consists of ascribing totally new meanings to old words. Grass and pot widened their
meaning to marijuana, pig and fuzz are derogatory terms for policeman.
One generation‘s slang is another generation‘s standard vocabulary; fan was once a slang
term short for fantastic, Phone was once a slangy, clipped version of telephone, TV to
television. The use slang varies from region to region. The word slang itself is slang in
British English for scold. Slang words and phrases are often invented in keeping with new
ideas and customs. A number of slang words have entered English from the underworld.
Here are some of the slang words:
Clever = fly, no dumb cell, not born yesterday
Fool = blockhead, bonehead, nitwit, ninny, boob(y), loony
To go mad = go off one‘s nut,/chump/the track, blow one‘s top, lose one‘s taffy
Madhouse = bughouse, nuthouse
Money = tin, chink, dough, brass, blunt
Food = chow, eats, bell cheer
Drink = alky, eye-water, tangle-legs
Drunkard = drun, booze, soaker, swillpot
A few examples of British and American slang
Slang has often attracted the attention of lexicographers. The best-known English slang
dictionary is compiled by E. Partridge.
The most vital among slang words are accepted into literary vocabulary. The examples are
bet, bore, chap, donkey, fun, humbug, mob, odd, pinch, shabby, sham, snob, trip, also some
words from the American slang: graft, hitch-hiker, sawbones, etc. These words were
originally slang words but have now become part of literary vocabulary. The most
prominent place among them is occupied by words or expressions having no synonyms and
serving as expressive names for some specific notions. The word teenager, so very frequent
now, is a good example.
Slang is subdivided according to the sphere of usage, into general slang and special slang.
General slang includes words that are not specific for any social or professional group,
whereas special slang is peculiar for some such group: teenager slang, university slang,
public school slang, Air Force slang, football slang, sea slang, and so on. This second group is
heterogeneous. Some authors consider argot to belong here. It seems, however, more logical
to differentiate slang and argot. The essential difference between them results from the fact
that the first has an expressive function, whereas the second is primarily concerned with
secrecy. Slang words are clearly motivated, e.g.window-shopping -feasting one‘s eyes on the
goods displaced in the shops, without buying anything‘. Argot words on the contrary do not
show their motivation, сf. rap -kill‘, shin -knife‘, book -a life sentence‘.
Here is an example of school slang: ― At School(Burke D. Street Talk. 1999:3)
A: You seem really tict off. What‘s up?
P. Jus get oudda my face, would ja?!
A. Chill out! What‘s eatin‘ you, anyway?
P. Sorry. It‘s jus‘ thad I think I blew the final‘ now my parents‘r gonna ged all ben‘oudda
shape. I like todally drew a blank on ev‘rything!
A. Well, now yer really gonna freak out when I tell ya who aced it… what‘s er face… the
one who always kisses up ta the teacher.
P. Jennifer Davies? Gimme a break! I can‘t stand ‗er. She‘s such a dweeb! How could she
possibly ace it when she keeps cudding class all the time?
A. She‘s the teacher‘s pet, that‘s why. Besides, he‘s laid back ‗e lets ‗er ged away with i t.
She jus‘ really rubs me the wrong way. And ya know what? I think she‘s got the hots fer‘im,
too.
P. Ged oudda here!
A. I‘m dead serious. Yesterday, before class starts, she walks up ta Mr. Edwards desk‘n
goes. ―Good morning, Jim‖
P. Oh, gag me! She‘s todally gross!

Translation of the dialogue in Standard English:

A.You seem really angry. What‘s the matter?
P. Just leave me alone, alright?
A. Relax! What‘s the matter with you, anyway?
P. Sorry. It‘s just that I think I failed the final examination and now my parents are going
to get all upset. I, uh, couldn‘t think of any of the answers!
 A. Well, now you‘re really going to be mad when I tell you who got 100% on it…I forgot
her name … the one who always flatters the teacher.
P. Jennifer Davies? You‘re kidding! I don‘t like her! She‘s such a moron! How could she
possibly get 100% on it when she‘s absent from class all the time?
A. She‘s the teacher‘s favorite student, that‘s why. Besides, he‗s so casual he permits her to
do it. There‘s just something about her I don‘t like. And you know what? I think she really
likes him, too. P. You‘ve got to be joking!
A. I‘m very serious. Yesterday, before class starts, she walks up to Mr.Edward‘s desk and
says, ―Good morning, Jim‖
P. Oh, that makes me sick! She‘s totally disgusting!
Regarding professional words that are used by representatives of various trades in oral
intercourse, it should be observed that when the word is the only name for some special
notion it belongs not to slang but to terminology. If, on the other hand, it is a jocular name
for something that can be described in some other way, it is slang.
A great deal of slang comes from the USA: corny, cute, fuss-pot, teenager, swell, etc. On
the contrary, American slang also contains elements coming from Great Britain, such as
cheerio -goodbye‘, right-ok-yes‘ Gerry for -a German soldier‘, and some, though not many,
others.
The lexical meaning of a slang word contains not only the denotative component but also
an emotive component (most often it expresses irony) and all the other possible types of
connotation — it is expressive, evaluative and stylistically coloured and is the marked
member of a stylistic opposition.
Argot or jargon is a layer of words close to slang in its original, ironical sound. Practically
every conceivable science profession, trade, and occupation has its own set of words, some
of which are considered to be slang and others technical depending on the status of the
people using these words. Jargon is the vocabulary used by certain social groups, such as
professionals, soldiers, sailors, etc. Some linguists consider words of this kind to belong to
special slang, as they are not meant to be secret language. It may be more correct use the
term ―soldiers‘ slang, etc. and reserve the term ―jargon to secret speech, such as thieves‘
jargon orcant; this sort of speech is made secret intentionally, so that members of other
social groups should not understand what one criminal communicates to another. E.g . to kill
= to rap, to be put in a bag = to be killed, picture show = battle, sewing machine = machine
gun, big noise = General; students‘ slang: to swat = to work hard for an exam, to cram = to
learn by heart, to cut lectures or to play hockey = to absent oneself from classes.
There certain words in society so called taboo words which are not to be used or at least
not in polite company. The word taboo was borrowed from Tongan a Polynesian language,
in which it refers to acts that are forbidden or to be avoided. What acts or words are
forbidden reflect the particular customs and views of the society. In England the word
bloody is a taboo word, perhaps because it originally referred to be blood of Christ, it is
considered by respectable people a horrid word and usually it is printed in the newspapers
b-y. It further states that the origin of the term is not quite certain. This uncertainty itself
gives us a clue about dirty words. Words relating to sex, sex organs and natural bodily
functions make up a large part of the set of the taboo words of many cultures. The existence
of taboo words or taboo ideas stimulates the creation of euphemisms. A euphemism is a
word or phrase that replaces a taboo word or serves to avoid frightening or unpleasant
subjects
Poetic Diction. Any word or set expression which is peculiar to a certain level of style or a
certain type of environment and mood will become associated with it and will be able to
call up its atmosphere when used in some other context. There is no such thing as one
poetic style in the English language. The language a poet uses is closely bound with his
outlook and experience, with his subject message he wants to express. But there remains in
English vocabulary a set of words which contrast with all other words, because, having been
traditionally used only in poetry, they have poetic connotations. These words are not only
loftier but also as a rule more abstract in their denotative meaning than their neutral
synonyms. To illustrate this layer, suffice it to give some examples in oppositions with their
stylistically neutral synonyms. Nouns: array : : clothes; billow : : wave; brine : : salt water;
brow : : forehead; gore : blood; main : : sea; steed : : horse; woe : : sorrow. Verbs: behold : :
see; deem : : think; hearken : : hear; slay : : kill; Adjectives: fair : : beautiful; hapless : :
unhappy; lone : : lonely; murky : : grim; uncouth : : strange. Adverbs: anon : : presently;
nigh : : almost; oft : : often; whilom : : formerly. Pronouns: thee:: thou; aught : : anything;
naught : : nothing. Conjunctions: albeit : : although; ere : : before.
 Sometimes it is not the word as a whole that is poetic but only one of its variants. It may
be semantic: the words fair, hall, flood and many others have among their meanings a
poetical one. It may be also a phonetic variant: e'en : : even; morn : : morning; oft : : often.
Today archaisms are avoided, but they should be understood, so that the reader should be
able to appreciate the old people. Here are some examples with their neutral synonyms: slay
= kill, trow = believe, billow = wave, steed, charger = horse, brow = forehead, behold = see,
hark = listen, oft = often, e‘er = ever, e‘ve = even, o‘er = over, morn = morning, eve =
evening, etc.
Dialect Words
H. W. Fowler defines a dialect as "a variety of a language which prevails in a district, with
local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase". England is a small country, yet
it has many dialects which have their own distinctive features (e. g. the Lancashire,
Dorsetshire, Norfolk dialects).
So dialects are regional forms of English. Standard English is defined by the Random
House Dictionary as the English language as it is written and spoken by literate people in
both formal and informal usage and that is universally current while incorporating regional
differences. Dialectal peculiarities, especially those of vocabulary, are constantly being
incorporated into everyday colloquial speech or slang. From these levels they can be
transferred into the common stock, i. e. words which are not stylistically marked and a few
of them even into formal speech and into the literary language; car, trolley, tram began as
dialect words.
Archaic and Obsolete Words
These words stand close to the "learned" words, particularly to the modes of poetic
diction.Archaisms are words which have come out of active usage, and have been ousted by their
synonyms. They are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity. Many lexical archaisms belong to
the poetic style: woe (sorrow), betwixt (between), tochide (to scold), save (except) etc. 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); darksome (some was dropped);
oft (-en was added) etc.
Learned words and archaisms are both associated with the printed page. Yet, as we have
seen, many learned words may also be used in conversational situations. This cannot happen
with archaisms, which are invariably restricted to the printed page. These words are
moribund, already partly or fully out of circulation, rejected by the living language. Their
last refuge is in historical novels (whose authors use them to create a particular period
atmosphere) and, of course, in poetry which is rather conservative in its choice of words.
Thou and thy, aye ("yes") and nay ("no") are certainly archaic and long since rejected by
common usage, yet poets use them even today. (We also find the same four words and many
other archaisms among dialectisms, which are quite natural, as dialects are also conservative
and retain archaic words and structures.)
Numerous archaisms can be found in Shakespeare’s works, but it should be taken into
consideration that what appear to us today as archaisms in the works of Shakespeare, are in
fact examples of everyday language of Shakespeare's time.
Further examples of archaisms are: morn (for morning), eve (for evening), moon (for
month), damsel (for girl), errant (for wandering, e. g. errant knights), etc.
Sometimes, an archaic word may undergo a sudden revival. So, the formerly archaic kin
(for relatives; one's family) is now current in American usage.
Some authors use the terms «archaic and obsolete» more or less indiscriminately. Others
make a distinction between them using the term "obsolete" for words which have
completely gone out of use. The Random House Dictionary defines an obsolete word as one
"no longer in use, esp. out of use for at least a century ", whereas an archaism is referred to as
"current in an earlier time but rare in present usage".
Obsolete words are words that drop from the language completely or remain in the language as
elements performing purely historical descriptive functions. Namesof obsolete occupations are often
preserved as family names, e.g. Chandler –candle maker, Latimer (i.e. Latiner) – interpreter,
Webster – weaver (with –sterthe old feminine ending).
It should be pointed out that the borderline between "obsolete" and "archaic" is vague and
uncertain, and in many cases it is difficult to decide to which of the groups this or that word
belongs.
There is a further term for words, which are no longer in use: historisms. By this, we mean
words denoting objects and phenomena which are, things of the past and no longer exist.
 Professional Terminology
Hundreds of thousands of words belong to special scientific, professional or trade
terminological systems and are not used or even understood by people outside the particular
speciality. Every field of modern activity has its specialised vocabulary. There is a special
medical vocabulary, and similarly special terminologies for psychology, botany, music,
linguistics, teaching methods and many others.
Term, as traditionally understood, is a word or a word-group which is specifically
employed by a particular branch of science,technology, trade or the arts to convey aconcept
peculiar to this particular activity.
So, bilingual, interdental, labialization, palatalization, glottal stop, descending scale are
terms of theoretical phonetics.
There are linguists in whose opinion terms are only those words which have retained
their exclusiveness and are not known or recognised outside their specific sphere. From this
point of view, words associated with the medical sphere, such as unit ("წამლის დოზა),
theatre (საოპერაციო), contact (ინფექციის მატარებელი) are no longer medical terms as
they are in more or less common usage. The same is certainly true about names of diseases
or medicines, with the exception of some rare or recent ones only known to medical men.
Basic Vocabulary
These words are stylistically neutral, and, in this respect, opposed to formal and informal
words described above. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to use them in all kinds of
situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written communication.
Certain of the stylistically marked vocabulary strata are, in a way, exclusive: professional
terminology is used mostly by representatives of the professions; dialects are regional; slang
is favoured mostly by the young and the uneducated.Basic words are used every day,
everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, educational level, age
group or geographical location. These are words without which no human communication
would be possible as they denote objects and phenomena of everyday importance (e. g.
house, bread, summer, winter, child, mother, green, difficult, to go, to stand, etc.).
The basic vocabulary is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and
living core. That is why words of this stratum show a considerably greater stability in
comparison with words of the other strata, especially informal.
 Basic vocabulary words can be recognised not only by their stylistic neutrality but, also,
by entire lack of other connotations (i. e. attendant meanings). Their meanings are broad,
general and directly convey the concept, without supplying any additional information.
The basic vocabulary and the stylistically marked strata of the vocabulary do not exist
independently but are closely interrelated. Most stylistically marked words have their
neutral counterparts in the basic vocabulary. On the other hand, colloquialisms may have
their counterparts among learned words, most slang has counterparts both among
colloquialisms and learned words. Archaisms, naturally, have their modern equivalents at
least in some of the other groups.
The table gives some examples of such synonyms belonging to different stylistic strata.
Basic Informal Formal
vocabulary

begin start, get started commence

continue go on, get on proceed

end finish, be through, terminate

be over

child, kid, brat, beam infant, babe

baby (dial.) (poet.)

The following table sums up the description of the stylistic strata of English vocabulary.
Stylisticallyneutr Stylistically-marked words
al words Informal Formal

Basic vocabulary I. Colloquial words I. Learned words

A. literary, A. literary,
B. familiar, B. words of scientific prose,

C. low. C. officialese,
II. Slang words. D. modes of poetic diction.
III. Dialect words. II. Archaic and obsolete
words.

III. Professional terminology.

 EXERCISES
Task 1
Put the words on the left into the correct columns in the table.
purchase handy
Formal Informal
loo resume purchase
thus terrific
quid commence
apprehendreckon guy
Now find a formal/ informal/neutral synonym for each of the words from this list. e.g.
purchase—buy
therefore toilet convenient/useful catch/stop start man start
again
pound think fantastic buy

Task 2
Rewrite these sentences in more informal English.
1. When are you going to collect your bicycle?
2. Most of these children are very clever.
3. I think it'll commence quite soon.
4. Would you like to go out for a meal?
5. What's the matter?
6. The man in the market wanted twenty pounds for this ring.
7. Where did you purchase that book
Task 3
Now rewrite this letter in more suitable formal English.
Dear Mr. Collins
We're really sorry to say that we can't lend you the sum of five hundred quid that you need,
but it may be possible to give you a loan for some of the money. If you are still interested, do
you fancy getting in touch with our main office to fix up an appointment with the assistant
manager? He will be happy to talk to you about it.
 CHAPTER13
ETYMOLOGY. BORROWINGS. NATIVE WORDS.
INTERNATIONAL WORDS

Etymology is language history that deals with the extra linguistic factors, i.e. historical and
cultural circumstances, under which foreign words were borrowed. The task of lexicology is
to study the role of borrowings in the formation and development of the English vocabulary
and the synchronistic analysis of the results of borrowing and the results of assimilation of
foreign words by the English language. According to origin the wordstock may be divided
into two main sets: the elements on one are native; the elements of the other are borrowed.
A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock; a loan
word,borrowed word or borrowing is a word taken over from another language and
modified in phonetic shape, spelling paradigm or meaning to the standards of the English
language.
The native words are further subdivided by diachronic linguistics into Indo-European
stock, and those of common Germanic origin. Examples: Moon ( M.E)__mona (O.E)__mena
(Goth.)__Luna (Lat.)__mene (Gr)__mas (Sanskrit)__луна (Rus.)__ Mond (Germ.) Two
(M.C)__Два (Rus.)__ Zwei (Germ.)
Germanic Words(Teutonic words)
Wife (M.E)__Wif (O.E.)__Weib (M.G)
House (M.E.)__Hus (O.E.)__Hause (M.G.)
Drink (M.E.)__Drincan (O.E.)__trinken (M.G.)
The oldest words belong to the general Indo -European layer. These are terms of kinship,
such as ‘‘father , mother, son,‘‘ etc. words denoting the most important objects and
phenomena of nature: Sun, moon, wind, star, water hill, tree, etc. names of animals and
birds: bull, cow, cat, crow, goose, wolf etc. the most common verbs come, sit, stand etc.
adjectives: hard, red, white, quick etc. numerals: one, two, etc.
Common Germanic (Teutonic) words have parallels in Germanic, Dutch, and the
Scandinavian languages. Here we find many semantic groups e.g. nouns: winter
(Eng.)__Winter (Ger.) ; Storm (Eng.)-Sturn (Ger.); rain (eng.)-regen (Ger.) and etc. verbs
burn (Eng.)- brennen (Ger.); hear (Eng.)-heren (Ger.) etc.
 The characteristic features of both subjects of native words are: high frequency value,
wide range of grammatical and lexical valency, well developed polysemy, great word-
building power; most English words of native stock are monosyllabic. Words of native stock
make up from 25 to 30 percent of the English vocabulary. 70 % of the English vocabulary
consists of loan words (borrowings). Though native words are used most frequently, and the
proportion of native and borrowed words with regard to frequency proves conclusively that
the frequency value of native words is very high; documentary proof of this is found in
literature. Writers use many more native words than loan words: with Milton_81%, with
Tennyson of 88%.
Besides native roots, there are the greatest numbers of words that are formed from them
by derivation, composition or conversion. Not only roots but native affixes are active in the
forming of new word, even from borrowed roots, making so _called ‘‘Hybrid words‘‘. Such
affixes as: -er, -ish, -ed, -mis are most active in this respect: e.g. miner, governess, foolish
etc.
The term source of borrowing should be distinguished from the term origin of borrowing.
The first should be applied to the language from which the loan word was taken into
English. The second refers to the language to which the word may be traced (paper < Fr.
paper<lat papyrus<Gr papyrus).
As V. Fromkin states ‘‘A language may borrow a word directly or indirectly. A direct
borrowing means that the borrowed item is a native in the language from which it is
borrowed. ‗ ‘ Feast‘‘ was borrowed directly from French and can be traced back to Latin
‘Festa‘‘. On the other hand, the word ‘‘algebra‘‘ was borrowed from Spanish, which in turn
had borrowed it from Arabic. Thus ‘‘algebra‘‘ was indirectly borrowed from Arabic, with
Spanish is an intermediary.
English has borrowed extensively. It borrowed many ‘‘learned‘‘ words from foreign
sources during the renaissance. From Greek came drama, comedy, tragedy, scene, botany,
physics, zoology, atomic, etc. Latin loan words in English are numerous: bonus, scientific,
orthography, exit, describe etc. Latin like Greek has also provided prefixes and suffixes that
are used productively with both native and nonnative words, e.g ex- ex-husband, ex-wife,
etc. –able/ible-writable, readable. Many English words beginning with [sk] are of
Scandinavian origin, scotter, scare, scrape, skirt, skin, sky, and many pronouns they, their,
them etc. -‘Bin, flannel, clan, slogan, whisky, etc. are all words of Celtic origin, borrowed at
various times from Welsh, Scots Gaelic ot Irish. Dutch was source of borrowed words too
many of which are related to shipping: buoy, freight, leak, pump, yacht. From Italian, many
musical terms including words describing opera houses have been borrowed: opera, piano,
virtuoso, balcony, mezzanine, etc. Words having to do with mathematics and chemistry
were borrowed from Arabic algebra, cipher, zero. Spanish has loaned directly: barbecue,
cockroach, guitar,ranch, California(hot furnace); from German came- quartz, cobalt, beer.
The influence of Yiddish on English is also interesting-yenta (gossipy woman, shrew) lox
(smoked salmon), chutzpah, kibitz, etc.
Alongside loan words proper, we distinguish translation loans (or calques) and semantic
loans. Translation loans are words and expressions formed from the material already
existing in the British language but according to patterns taken from another language by
way of literal morpheme-for-morpheme translation e.g. chain-smoker=kettenraucher (Ger.),
goes without saying (-(cela) va sans dire (FR.).
The term loanwordis equivalent to borrowing. By translation-loans we indicate
borrowings of a special kind. Translation-loansare not taken into the vocabulary of another
language more or less in the same phonemic shape in which they have been functioning in
their own language, but undergo the process of translation. It is quite obvious that it is only
compound words (i. e. words of two or more stems) which can be subjected to such an
operation, each stem being translated separately: masterpiece (from Germ. Meisterstück),
wonder child (from Germ. Wunderkind), first dancer (from Ital. primaballerina), collective
farm (from R. колхоз, კოლმეურნეობა), five-year plan (from R. пятилетка,
ხუთწლედი).The Russian колхоз was borrowed twice, by way of translation-loan
(collective farm) and by way of direct borrowing (kolkhoz).
The case is not unique. During the 2nd World War the German word Blitzkrieg was also
borrowed into English in two different forms: the translation-loan lightning-war and the
direct borrowings blitzkrieg and blitz.
While loan translation utilizes morphemes, which are already present in the lexicon, new
words can also be created by the use of such morphemes even in the absence of a foreign
language to serve as the stimulus. The presence of the morphemes – tele (far) phone (sound),
‘ vision‘‘ and scope‘‘ in English makes possible the potential formation of new words such as
phonoscope, telephonovision, etc.
The term semantic loan is used to denote the development in an English word of a new
meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language, e. g. pioneer (explorer)
in English gained Russian meaning of the word ‘‘пионер(პიონერი)‘‘.
The causes of borrowing are extra linguistic factors, namely political, cultural and
economic contacts between nations.
Assimilation of loan words. The process of assimilation is determined by two factors: the
use of borrowing and the frequency of use. Oral borrowings and frequently used words are
more readily assimilated to the norms of the adopting language. The term assimilation of
loan words is used to denote a partial or total conformation to the phonetic, graphical and
morphological standards of the receiving language and its semantic system. There are three
groups of assimilated loan words: 1) completely assimilated loan words, 2) partially
assimilated loan words and 3) unassimilated loan words or barbarisms.
The group of partially assimilated words may be subdivided depending on the aspect that
remains unaltered, i.e. according to whether the word retains features of spelling,
pronunciation, morphology or denotation that are not English: a) Loan words not
assimilated semantically because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country
from which they come: e. g. sari, sombrero, shah, rajah, sheik, bei, rickshaw , pilav, sherbet,
etc. b) loan words not assimilated grammatically, e.g. crisis-crises, formula-formulae, index-
indeces, etc. c) loan words not completely assimilated phonetically e.g. Some French words
keep the accent on the final syllable: machine, cartoon, police, besides, there are some
sounds that don‘t occur in English language: - bourgeois, camouflage, prestige, regime,
sabotage, memoir, etc. The pronunciation of words where the process of assimilation is
phonetically incomplete will often vary as in [bu: lwa:] [bu: li va:] [bu: lva:d] for
‘‘boulevard‘‘ d) Loan words not completely assimilated graphically e.g. café` cliché`,
bouquet, brioche.
Completely assimilated words are found in all the layers of older borrowings. E.g. cheese,
street, wall, wine (lat.) husband, fellow, gate, root (Scand.) table, chair, face, figure, finish,
matter (Fr.). The number of completely assimilated loan words is many times greater then
the number of partly assimilated ones. They follow all morphological, phonetic and
orthographic standards.
The third group of borrowings comprises the so-called barbarisms, i.e. words from other
languages used by English people in conversations or in writing but not assimilated in any
way and for which there are corresponding English equivalents. e. g addio, ciao, affiche, etc.
Latin borrowings
Among words of Romanic origin borrowed from Latin during the period when the British
Isles were a part of the Roman Empire, there are such words as: street, port, wall etc. Many
Latin and Greek words came into English during the Adoption of Christianity in the 6-th
century. At this time the Latin alphabet was borrowed which ousted the runic alphabet.
These borrowings are usually called classical borrowings. Here belong Latin words: alter,
cross, dean, and Greek words: church, angel, devil, and anthem.
Latin and Greek borrowings appeared in English during the Middle English period due
to the Great Revival of Learning. These are mostly scientific words because Latin was the
language of science at the time. These words were not used as frequently as the words of the
Old English period, therefore some of them were partly assimilated grammatically, e.g.
formula- formulae. Here also belong such words as: memorandum, minimum, maximum,
veto etc.
Classical borrowings continue to appear in Modern English as well. Mostly they are
words formed with the help of Latin and Greek morphemes. There are quite a lot of them in
medicine (appendicitis, aspirin), in chemistry (acid, valency, alkali), in technique (engine,
antenna, biplane, airdrome), in politics (socialism, militarism), names of sciences (zoology,
physics). In philology, most of terms are of Greek origin ( homonym, archaism,
lexicography).
French borrowings
The influence of French on the English spelling. The largest group of borrowings is
French borrowings. Most of them came into English during the Norman Conquest. French
influenced not only the vocabulary of English but also its spelling, because documents were
written by French scribes as the local population was mainly illiterate, and the ruling class
was French.
There are the following semantic groups of French borrowings:
 a) words relating to government : administer, empire, state, government;
b) words relating to military affairs: army, war, banner, soldier, battle;
c) words relating to jury: advocate, petition, inquest, sentence, barrister;
d) words relating to fashion: luxury, coat, collar, lace, pleat, embroidery;
e) words relating to jewelry: topaz, emerald, ruby, pearl ;
f) words relating to food and cooking: lunch, dinner, appetite, to roast, to stew.
Words were borrowed from French into English after 1650, mainly through French
literature, but they were not as numerous and many of them are not completely assimilated.
There are the following semantic groups of these borrowings:
a) words relating to literature and music: belle-lettres, conservatoire, brochure, nuance,
pirouette, vaudeville;
b) words relating to military affairs: corps, echelon, fuselage, maneuver;
c) words relating to buildings and furniture: entresol, chateau, bureau;
d) words relating to food and cooking: ragout, cuisine.
Italian borrowings
Cultural and trade relations between Italy and England brought many Italian words into
English. The earliest Italian borrowing came into English in the 14-th century, it was the
word bank /from the Italian banko - bench. Italian money-lenders and money-changers sat
in the streets on benches. When they suffered losses they turned over their benches, it was
called banco rotta from which the English word bankruptoriginated. In the 17-th century
some geological terms were borrowed: volcano, granite, bronze, lava. At the same time some
political terms were borrowed: manifesto, bulletin.
But mostly Italian is famous by its influence in music and in all Indo-European languages
musical terms were borrowed from Italian: alto, baritone, basso, tenor, falsetto, solo, duet,
trio, quartet, quintet, opera, operetta, libretto, piano, violin.
Among the 20-th century Italian borrowings we can mention: gazette, incognitto,
autostrada, fiasco, fascist, dilettante, grotesque, graffito etc.
Spanish borrowings
Spanish borrowings came into English mainly through its American variant.
There are the following semantic groups of them:
a) trade terms: cargo, embargo;
 b) names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, habanera, guitar;
c) names of vegetables and fruit: tomato, potato, tobacco, cocoa, banana, apricot etc.
Germanic Borrowings
English belongs to the Germanic group of languages and there are 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.
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, zinc, 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
 Dutchborrowings
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.
Etymological Doublets
Etymological doubletsare either of two words of the same language which werederived by
different routes from the same basic word, e.g. chase – catch, disc –dish, shirt – skirt, scar –
share, one - an, raid - road, etc.
They differ to a certain degree in form, meaning and current usage. The words at present
slightly differentiated in meaning may have originally been dialectal variants of the same
word. The words - shirt, shrick, share, shabby—come down from old English, whereas their
respective doublets-skirt, screech, scar and scabby—are etymologically cognate
Scandinavian borrowings. These doublets are characterized by a regular variation of-sh and
sc. The Latin word-discuss-is the origin of a whole group of doublets:
dais<ME deis< OE deis<Lat dicus dish<ME dish<OE disc<Lat discus
disc/disk<Lat discus discus (in sport)<Lat discus
Chase>catch, chieftain>captain, chattels>cattle
guard>ward gage>wage
These words are borrowed in Middle English from Parisian French with their doublets of
Norman French. Other doublets that for the most part justify their names by coming in
pairs show in their various ways the influence of the language or dialect systems which they
passed before entering the English vocabulary.
They may enter the vocabulary by different routes. Some of these pairs, like shirt and
skirt, consist of a native word and a borrowed word: shrew, n. (E.) — screw, n. (Sc.).
Others are represented by two borrowings from different languages which are historically
descended from the same root: senior (Lat.) — sir (Fr.), canal (Lat.) — channel (Fr.), captain
(Lat.) — chieftan (Fr.).
 Still others were borrowed from the same language twice, but in different periods: corpse
[ko:ps] (Norm. Fr.) — corps [ko:] (Par. Fr.), travel (Norm. Fr.) — travail (Par. Fr.), cavalry
(Norm. Fr.) — chivalry (Par. Fr.), gaol (Norm. Fr.) — jail (Par. Fr.).
Etymological triplets (i. e. groups of three words of common root) occur rarer, but here are
at least two examples: hospital (Lat.) — hostel (Norm. Fr.) — hotel (Par. Fr.), to capture
(Lat.) — to catch (Norm. Fr.) — to chase (Par. Fr.).
A doublet may also consist of a shortened word and the one from which it was derived:
history — story, fantasy — fancy, fanatic — fan, defence — fence, courtesy — curtsy,
shadow — shade.
Doublets borrowed from different dialects of French.
Norman Paris
canal channel
captain chieftain
catch chaise
Scandinavian-English doublets
Scandinavian English
skirt shirt
scabby shabby
Latino-French doublets
Latin English from Latin English from French
uncia inch ounce
moneta mint money
camera camera chamber
International Words
As the process of borrowing is mostly connected with the appearance of new notions
which the loan words serve to express, it is natural that the borrowing is seldom limited to
one language. Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of
simultaneous or successive borrowings from one ultimate source are called international
words.
 Expanding global contacts result in the considerable growth of international vocabulary.
All languages depend for their changes upon the cultural and social matrix in which they
operate and various contacts between nations are part of this matrix reflected in vocabulary.
International words play an especially prominent part in various terminological systems
including the vocabulary of science, industry and art. The etymological sources of this
vocabulary reflect the history of world culture. Thus, for example, the mankind‘s cultural
debt to Italy is reflected in the great number of Italian words connected with architecture,
painting and especially music that are borrowed into most European languages: allegro,
andante, aria, arioso, barcarole, baritone (and other names for voices), concert, duet, opera
(and other names for pieces of music), piano and many more.
The rate of change in technology, political, social and artistic life has been greatly
accelerated in the 20th century and so has the rate of growth of international word-stock. A
few examples of comparatively new words due to the progress of science will suffice to
illustrate the importance of international vocabulary: algorithm, antenna, antibiotic,
automation, bionics, cybernetics, entropy, gene, genetic code, graph, microelectronics,
microminiaturization, quant, quasars, pulsars, ribosome, etc. All these show sufficient
likeness in English, French, Russian and several other languages.
The international word-stock is also growing due to the influx of exotic borrowed words
like anaconda, bungalow, kraal, orangutan, sari, etc. They come from many different
sources.
It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, and not just by one. Such
words usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of communication.
Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e.
g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, linguistics, lexicology.
There are also numerous terms of art in this group: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy,
artist, primadonna.
It is quite natural that political terms frequently occur in the international group of
borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism.
20th century scientific and technological advances brought a great number of new
international words: atomic, antibiotic, radio, television, sputnik. Fruits and foodstuffs
imported from exotic countries often transport their names too and, being simultaneously
imported to many countries, become international: coffee, cocoa, chocolate, coca-cola,
banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit.
International words should not be mixed with words of the common Indo-European stock
that also comprise a sort of common fund of the European languages.
This layer is of great importance for the foreign language teacher not only because many
words denoting abstract notions are international but also because he must know the most
efficient ways of showing the points of similarity and difference between such words as
control : : კონტროლი ; general : :გენერალი; industry : : ინდუსტრია, or magazine :
:მაღაზია, etc. usually called ‗translator‘s false friends‘.False friends are words in two
languages (or letters in two alphabets) that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in
meaning. An example is the English embarrassed and the Spanish embarazada (which means
pregnant), or the word sensible, which means reasonable in English, but sensitive in French
and Spanish.British guest to Georgia expressed his surprise in internet “If you go to Georgia,
you might be surprised to hear kids calling theirdadsmama. In Georgian, mama means
father. Mother, on the other hand, is დედა (http://www.bbc.co.uk).
We find numerous English words in the field of sport: football, out, match, tennis, time. A
large number of English words are to be found in the vocabulary pertaining to clothes:
jersey, pullover, sweater, nylon, tweed, etc. Cinema and different forms of entertainment
are also a source of many international words of English origin: film, club, cocktail, jazz.
Language and Sexism
The discussion of obscenities, blasphemis, taboo words, and euphemisms showed that
words of a language cannot be intrinsically good or bad but may reflect individual or social
values. In addition one speaker may use a word with positive connotations while another
may select a different word with negative connotations to refer to the same person. E.g. the
same individual may be referred to as a terrorist by one group and as freedom fighter by
another. The words we use to refer to certain individuals or groups reflect our individual
non-linguistic attitudes and may also reflect the culture and views of society.
Language reflects sexism in society. Language itself is not sexist, just as it is not obscene,
but it can connote sexist attitudes as well as attitudes about social taboos or racism.
Dictionaries often give clues to social attitudes.
 In the 1969 edition of the ―American Heritage Dictionary examples used to illustrate the
meaning of words include ―manly courage and ―masculine charm. In Webster‘s New
World Dictionary of the American Language ― honorarium is defined as ―a payment to a
professional man for service on which no fee is set or legally obtainable. ― The US
American Men of Science‖ did not change its name to include ―and women until 1921.
Language also reflects sexism in society by the way we interpret neutral (non-gender)
terms. Most people hearing ―My cousin is a professor- assume the cousin is a man. ―My
neighbor is blond-is understood as referring to a woman. Studies analyzing the language
used by men is reference to women, which often has derogatory or sexual connotations,
indicate hat such terms go far back into history and sometimes enter the language with no
pejorative implications but gradually gain them.
An increasing number of researchers have been investigating language and sex and
language and sexism. On area of research concerns the differences between male and female
speech styles. One characteristic of female speech is the higher pitch used by women, due to
a great extent to the shorter vocal tracts of women. Sociolinguist e.g. D.Tanen considers that
the difference in speech is very considerable, as women use more colloquialism and
emotional words to express their opinion.

LANGUAGE CHANGES: THE LEXICON

Emotionally Neutral and Emotionally Colored Vocabulary
The great majority of words used to in speech or writing is emotionally neutral. Most
everyday situations do not require that we should colour our speech emotionally. Scientists
delivering a lecture or writing a paper would scarcely need any emotional vocabulary.
Words that do not contain an expressive sememe denoting emotional colouring may acquire
emotive force if the root contains a sememe that will arise emotional attitude in the speaker.
Let us consider some emotionally coloured synonyms of the adjective ‘‘bad ‗ ‘ we say ‘‘a
rotten business‘‘, ‘‘ a rotten thing to say or do, ‘‘he is a rotter‘‘ from the root ‘‘rot‘‘ ( ლპობა);
From the name of disease, scurry (კეთრი) we get another synonym of ‗ ‘ bad‘‘ by
conversion noun to adjective, ‗ ‘beastly‘‘ from ‗‘beast‘‘ is another emotively charged
synonym: ‗‘ beastly affair, a beastly mess, etc.
 Some words get their emotive charge through sememes expressed by diminutive of
derogatory suffixes, e.g. doggie, kitty, babykins, auntie, etc. sluggard=a lazy fellow,
drunkard; braggart=a boaster; gangster, huckster, scandal-monger, war-monger;. It is
interesting to note how some affixes acquire emotive force. In ‘‘ spinster ‘‘ the suffixes has
no derogatory connotation which is quiet evident in ‘‘gangster ‗‘. The same might be said of
– monger, neutral in ‘‘fish-monger‘, but derogatory in scandelmonger and ‘‘warmonger‘‘.
Word combinations can also become emotionally coloured (derogatory) words : he is a
ne`er – do well, good-for-nothing; she is a sit-by-the-fire, etc.
Under the stress of emotion the speaker may corn a word which may not afterwards enter
the lexical system of a language a so-called nonce-words. Such words usually express a
distinctly negative attitude to what another speaker has said and by echoing parts of his
utterance, such emotions as anger, indignation, threat, etc. are expressed, e.g. ‘‘My dear….‘‘-
Don‘t you ‘my-dear me! ‗‘ But….-- ‘‘ But me no ‗buts ! ‘‘ One person may exclaim ‘‘Oh,
hell!‘‘ and the other will retort ‘‘Hell me once again and you‘ll be sorry!‘‘ : ―Now well!‖
―Don‘t now-well-me!‖ ―How on earth!?‖ ―Don‘t begin how-on-earthing! ―Oh, bloody
hell! ―You don‘t bloody-hell here.
The most usual words expressing emotion are interjections. Here are a few examples of the
expressions of various emotions:
Approval: hear! Fine! Splendid!
Comforting another: come, come!
Surprise: Oh, Ah! Oh, boy! Boy!
Regret: Ah! Alass!
Irritation: Bother! Damn! Hell!
Skepticism: Stuff! Stuff and nonsense! Fiddlesticks!
Intensifiers or emphatic words lend emotive force to the speaker‘s utterance, e.g. ‘What
are you doing?‘and What on earth are you doingor What the hell//the devil are you doing?
Compounds with-ever and so ever-also serve this purpose; e.g. Where did I put that book?
and ―Wherever did I put that book?I have no interest in the matter and I have no interest
whatsoever in the matter. Such intensifiers as awfully, dreadfully, tremendously,
wonderfully, terriblyare often used, e.g. ―She is awfully pretty. Words may also express an
evaluation, the speaker‘s attitude to a fact, to a situation. Synonyms may be used in positive
and negative meaning, e.g. spy: agent-the notorious US Air force flyer Powers is a spy to us,
while to the Us Army authorities he is an agent. In evaluable words the denotative meaning
is not superseded by the evaluative component, on the contrary they co-exist and support
each other. The verb fabricate has not lost its original neutral meaning of -manufacture‘, but
added to it the meaning of -invent falsely‘. When using this word, the speaker is not
indifferent to the fact but expresses his scorn, irony or disgust. Scheming is a derogatory
word (cf. planning), it means -planning secretly, by intrigue or for private ends‘.
There are several groups expressing censure by their morphological structure. There are
personal nouns formed by conversion: a bore, a swell and by combined composition and
conversion from verbs with post positives: a come-back-a person reinstated in his former
position‘, a stand-in -asubstitute‘, a stuck-up = an upstart -a person who assumes arrogant
tone‘ (also one who has risen from insignificance), a washout -a failure‘.
The type is definitely on the increase in English speech of today.
Often the muscular feeling of the emotional word or phrase is more important than its
denotative meaning. Its function is to release pent-up (ფარული) emotions, pent-up
tension. This may explain why hell and heaven have such rich possibilities, while paradise
has practically none. It must be noted that emotional words only indicate the presence of
emotion but very seldom are capable of specifying its exact character.
The emotionally coloured words are contrasted to the emotionally neutral ones. The
words of this latter group express notions but do not say anything about the state of the
speaker or his mood: copy, report, impatient, reach, say, well are all emotionally neutral.
The difference between the sets is not very clear-cut, there are numerous boundary cases.
The sets may be said to intersect and contain elements that belong to both, because many
words are neutral in their direct meaning and emotional under special conditions of context.
Having been used for some time with an occasionally emotional effect, they may acquire
some permanent features in their semantic structure that justify referring them into the
other subset.
It is also difficult to draw a line of demarcation between emotional and emphatic or
intensifying words; therefore we shall consider the latter a specific group of the emotional
words subset. I n t e n s i f i e r s convey special intensity to what is said, they indicate the
special importance of the thing expressed. The simplest and most often used of these are
such words as ever, even, all, so. The first of them, due to its incessant use, has become a
kind of semi-affix, as seen from the solid spelling of such combinations as whatever,
whenever, etc.
The speaker may express his attitude to another person by resorting to zoosemy. E.g.He is
a pup- a conceited young man; She is a cat (a vixen)- an ill-tempered, spiteful woman; ‘He is
a beast (a swine, a skunk) An amusing point about some intensifiers is that, being derogatory
in their basic meaning, they may express just the contrary, high appreciation. e.g. He is a
damn food fellow; She was too bloody sweet for words, -we have a hell of a good time.
Emotional, emphatic and evaluative words should not be confused with words possessing
some definite stylistic features although in actual discourse these properties may coincide,
and we often come across words both emotionally and stylistically coloured. Style is,
however, a different kind of opposition; it will be discussed in the next chapter. The
distinction we are dealing with in the present paragraph is helpful, because it permits us to
observe some peculiar phenomena and features of words in emotional speech.
Neologisms
Through the basic process of word formation, all people are capable of producing words –
not only those words they have used in the past but also ‘new‘ – words, such as the plural of
a noun they have just learned or the past tense of a newly acquired verb. Such words result
from the combination of morphemes (which the speaker knows) according to general
principles of word formation (which the speaker also knows). Since the morphemes and the
principles are familiar, the speaker is seldom aware that he or she has used language
creatively. Such individual creation is the result of the fact that language, by its very nature
is productive. Words produced in this way by a particular speaker of the language. Every
speaker of the language can produced similar words in exactly the same way.
Throughout the history of any language, however, there are cases when truly new words
appear, words that no speaker of the language has ever produced before. The study of the
origin and development of words is etymology. New notions come into being, requiring
new words to name them. On the other hand, some notions and things become outdated
and the words that denote them drop out of the language.
New words and expressions or neologisms are created for new things irrespective of their
scale or importance. Neologisms are words whose appearance in a language is necessitated
by some new phenomena is social life, in technique, in production, in international life, etc.
Such new words are coined on this or that productive structural pattern or borrowed from
another language. Some of them have synonyms, e.g. atomic war-nuclear war, to dislike-to
be allergic to; But most of them, being new, have no synonyms: tape-recorder, bed-sitter,
herbicide, defoliant, supermarket, sputnik, zipper, hippy and etc.
Neologisms may be quite insignificant and short-lived, like fashions in dancing, clothing
hair-do or footwear e.g. jitterbug and pony-tail. The intense development of science and
industry has called forth the invention and introduction of an immense number of new
words and changed the meanings of old ones, e. g. aerobic, black hole, computer, isotope,
feedback, penicillin, pulsar, quasar, tape-recorder, supermarket. In the ever-changing field
of political life and affairs new words are constantly coined: e.g.Unemployment, is
substituted by the down-toned euphemisms unused or underused manpower or
redundancy. So neologisms are euphemistic in character.
Some productive word-building patterns are seen in: automation= automation; to
automate-is a backformation. re- is one of the most productive prefixes, the others are –
‘anti-, de-, un-, the semi-affixes-self and mini e.g. anti-flash-serving to protect the eyes,
unfunny-not amusing in spite of the desire to amuse, minicab, mini-dream etc.
Compounding is also productive e.g. redbrick (university), paperback (books) etc.
Conversion, especially from words with postpositions, is also a very productive pattern: fall
– out, breakthrough, ‘teach-in-a student conference or a series of seminars on some burning
issue of the day, holdup-rob. Very often two or more types of word-building combine in
creating a neologism.
The process of nomination may pass several stages. In other words, a new notion is named
by a terminological phrase consisting of words, which in their turn are made up of
morphemes. The phrase may be shortened by ellipsis or by graphical abbreviation, and this
change of form is achieved without change of meaning. Acronyms are not composed of
existing morphemes according to existing word-formation patterns, but on the contrary
revolutionize the system by forming new words and new morphemes out of letters. The
whole process of word-formation is paradoxically reversed.
Neologisms are at first clearly motivated. In the course of time, the new word is accepted
into the word-stock of the language and being often used ceases to be considered new, or
else it may not be accepted for some reason or other and vanish from the language. The fate
of neologisms is hardly predictable: some of them are short-lived, others, on the contrary,
become durable as they are liked and accepted. Once accepted, they may serve as a basis for
further word-formation: gimmick, gimmickry, gimmicky. Zip (an imitative word denoting a
certain type of fastener) is hardly felt as new, but its derivatives — the verb zip(zip from
one place to another), the corresponding personal noun zipper and the adjective zippy —
appear to be neologisms.
Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures, which are rapidly changing. Neologisms
often become popular by way of mass media, the Internet, or word of mouth. Every word in
a language was, at some time, a neologism, though most of these ceased to be such through
time and acceptance.
Neologisms often become accepted parts of the language. Other times, however, they
disappear from common usage. Whether a neologism continues as part of the language
depends on many factors, probably the most important of which is acceptance by the public.
It is unusual, however, for a word to enter common use if it does not resemble another word
or words in an identifiable way. (In some cases however, strange new words succeed
because the idea behind them is especially memorable or exciting). When a word or phrase
is no longer new, it is no longer a neologism. Neologisms may take decades to become old,
though. Opinions differ on exactly how old a word must be to no longer be considered a
neologism; cultural acceptance probably plays a more important role than time in this
regard.Many are accepted very quickly; others attract opposition. Language experts
sometimes object to a neologism on the grounds that a suitable term for the thing described
already exists in the language. Non-experts who dislike the neologism sometimes also use
this argument, deriding the neologism as abuse and ignorance of the language.
Proponents of a neologism see it as being useful, and also helping the language to grow
and change; often they perceive these words as being a fun and creative way to play with a
language. Also, the semantic precision of most neologisms, along with what is usually a
straightforward syntax, often makes them easier to grasp by people who are not native
speakers of the language.
The outcome of these debates, when they occur, has a great deal of influence on whether a
neologism eventually becomes an accepted part of the language. Linguists may sometimes
delay acceptance, for instance by refusing to include the neologism in dictionaries; this can
sometimes cause a neologism to die out over time.
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 originator. 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: 1. 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: პოლიტიკური თავშესაფარი,
საავიაციო ფარდული. 2. 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 trans-nomination, e.g. the word slum was first substituted by the word ghetto then by
the word-group inner town. 3. 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 analyze 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,
vaporware / 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. computer-man,
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/video-bank /computerized
telephone which registers all information which is received in your absence.
In the sphere of linguistics we have such neologisms as: machine translation, inter-
lingual(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.
With the development of social activities neologisms appeared as well, e.g. youthquake
(1960s fashion, musical and cultural movement)–მღელვარე ახალგაზრდობა, pussy-
footer-პოლიტიკოსი, რომელიც კომპრომისზემიდის, Euro-market, Eurodollar, Euro-
parliament, 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 – საშუალო კლასის წარმო
მადგენელი, კონსერვატორი ადამიანი. To this group we can also refer abbreviations of
the type yuppie /young urban professional people/, such as: muppie(Middle-aged urban
professional), gruppie(an enthusiastic or uncritical follower), rumpie, bluppie etc. People
belonging to the lowest layer of the society are called survivors, 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 emulators. Those who have prospered but are not belongers are called
achievers. All these layers of society are called VAL /Value and Lifestyles/ .
There are a lot of immigrants now in UK , in connection with which neologisms partial
and non-partial were formed. The word-group welfare mother was formed to denote a non-
working single mother living on benefit.
 With the development of professional jargons a lot of words ending in speak appeared in
English, e.g. art-speak, sport-speak, mad-speak, education-speak, video-speak, cable-speak
etc. There are different semantic groups of neologisms belonging to everyday life:
a) food e.g. starter/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/, bootsale /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/, Solidarność /Polish/, dolce vita /Italian(a life of heedless pleasure and
luxury/ 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 -აქციების კურსის სწრაფი ვარდნა, bio-astronomy -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
immune-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.

EXERCISE
Task 1
Fill in the missing elements in the table with the lexical pairs.
English French

Ox

Mutton

Calf

Venison (ირმისხორცი)

Pig, swine

Commence

Child

Liberty

Doom

Cordial

Help
 Meal

Aroma

Wedding

Desire

Task 2
Group the following loans into 1) completely assimilated borrowings, 2) partially
assimilated borrowings, 3) unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.
Cheese, street, wall, wine, formulae, husband, fellow, gate, root, addio, ciao, wing, call,
take, die, want, coup d'Etat, happy, ill, low, old, wrong, bourgeois, prestige, memoir, table,
face, chair, figure, finish, matter, ad libitum, animal, article, incognito, macaroni, soprano,
tobacco, kapellmeister, ballet, buffet, corps, bouquet, brioche, Autoda-fe, nucleus,
chauffeur, nota bene, shaman, souvenir, spaghetti, a la carte, boulevard, torero, ad hoc, a la
mode, tet-a- tet, deja vu.

Task 3
Write out international words from the given sentences.
1. He gave a false address to the police. 2. I’ve seen many good films lately. 3. Do you take
sugar in your coffee? 4. Arrange the words in alphabetical order.5. Charlotte Bronte wrote
under the pseudonym of Curer Bell. 6. He worked in radiofor nearly 40 years. 7. Many
people feel that their interests are not represented by mainstream politics. 8. We’ve seen the
open-air theatre in London’s Regent Park.9. I’m worried about my son’s lack of progress in
English. 10. The government has promised to introduce reforms of the tax system. 11. He
went on to study medicine atEdinburgh University.
Task 3
Transcribe the following borrowings not completely assimilated graphically and / or
phonetically. Pay special attention to their spelling and pronunciation.
Torchere, chalet, parquet, chauffeur, corps, souvenir, spaghetti, memoir,incognito,
sabotage, boulevard, macaroni.
 Task 4
Give the plural form of the nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek.
Sanatorium, terminus, datum, nucleus, formula, bacillus, stratum, parenthesis, thesis,
stimulus, criterion, hypothesis.

Task 5
Give adjectives of Latin origin corresponding to the following nouns.
Tooth, sun, youth, death, eye, star, sea, nose, town, sight.

Task 6
Arrange the words from the columns so that they form double or triple synonymous
series.

Native English French Latin

words borrowings borrowings

guts flame Lassitude

ask sacred Felicity

fire courage Ascend

house attire Interrogate

kingly mount Regal

weariness mansion

rise question

happiness royal

holy

clothes

Task 7
If you meet a new word it is often possible to work out its meaning from its context.
Practise by explaining what the words in bold in the following sentences may mean.
 1. I very much prefer restaurants where there is no microwavery.
2. They’re building a new cineplex on the edge of the town so we should be able to
choose from a variety of films on Saturday nights.
3. Upskiing, which uses small parachutes, is a rapidly developing sport in the USA.
4. World AIDS Day was inspired by the health globocrats of the World Health
Organization.
5. He is writing a thesis on humorology.

Task 8.
Now guess the meaning of the following neologisms (ca. 2006) studying their natural
context and explain in which way they were formed.
DOLLARIZE
Example Citation:
"American officials said today that they doubted Argentina would decide to 'dollarize' its
economy unless it came under dire pressure from an economic meltdown in Brazil."
—"Resistance to Argentine 'Dollar'," The New York Times
EXTREME TOURISM
Example Citation:
"Ah, vacation! Balmy breezes, ice-cold margaritas, compliant snipers, Snipers? Yep. The
newest kick for jaded tourists who have hit all the world's hot spots is to hit the world's
really hot spots. The idea behind what some are calling terror travel or extreme tourism is
basically to take the U.S. State Department's travel advisory warning list and make an
itinerary out of it."
 CHAPTER 14
REGIONAL VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY
STANDARD ENGLISH VARIANTS AND DIALECTS

The flexibility inherent in human language is one of its most important characteristics. All
speakers of English can talk to each other and pretty much understand each other; yet no
two speak exactly alike. Some differences are due to age, sex, state of health, size,
personality, emotional state and personal idiosyncrasies. The unique characteristics of the
language of an individual speaker are referred to as the speaker‘s idiolect.
If we study many samples of idiolects from all over the world, we find that some idiolects
are more similar to one another than are other idiolects. In other words certain idiolects
share linguistic features not found in others. By comparing idiolects in this way, we can
arrive at a view of different languages of the world, and of course, in exactly the same way
we can devide the speakers of a language into groups, where the speech of each group
contains certain features not found in the other groups. A procedure such as this would
serve to identify the dialects of a language. The difference between the Standard English
and a dialect is a matter of digree. Standard English is a literary norm and a dialect is not.
Standard English — the official language of Great Britain taught at schools and
universities, used by the press, the radio and the television and spoken by educated people
may be defined as that form of English which is current and literary, substantially uniform
and recognised as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood. Its vocabulary is
contrasted to dialect words or dialecticisms. Local dialeсts are varieties of the English
language peculiar to some districts and having no normalised literary form. Regional
varieties possessing a literary form are called variants. In Great Britain there are two
variants, Scottish English and Irish English, and five main groups of dialects: Northern,
Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern. Every group contains several (up to ten) dialects.
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. The local population uses these varieties in oral speech. Only
the Scottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/. One of the best known dialects of
seen in the first act of Pigmalionby 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/ in unstressed positions, e.g .
window is pronounced /windo/.
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/, puckish /hungry/.
As we have already mentioned, one of the best known Southern dialects Cockney is the
regional dialect of London. As spoken by the educated lower middle classes it is a regional
dialect marked by some deviations in pronunciation but few in vocabulary and syntax. As
spoken by the uneducated, Cockney differs from Standard English not only in
pronunciation but also in vocabulary, morphology and syntax. ―The Encyclopedia
Britannica treats Cockney as an accent, not acknowledging it the status of dialect.
The study of dialects has been made based on information obtained with the help of
special techniques: interviews, questionnaires, recording by phonograph and tape-recorder,
etc. Data collected in this way show the territorial distribution of certain key words and
pronunciations, which vary from region to region.
Dialects are now chiefly preserved in rural communities, in the speech of elderly people.
Their boundaries have become less stable than they used to be; the distinctive features are
tending to disappear with the shifting of population due to the migration of working-class
families in search of employment and the growing influence of urban life over the
countryside. Dialects are said to undergo rapid changes under the pressure of Standard
English taught at schools and the speech habits cultivated by radio, television and cinema.
For the most part dialect in literature has been limited to speech characterisation of
personages in books otherwise composed in Standard English. The dialect vocabulary is
remarkable for its conservatism: many words that have become obsolete in Standard English
are still kept in dialects.
The Scottish Tongue and the Irish English have a special linguistic status as compared with
dialects because of the literature composed in them. The name of Robert Burns, the great
national poet of Scotland, is known all over the world. There is a whole group of modern
 Words from dialects and variants may penetrate into Standard English. The Irish English
gave, for instance, blarney n‗flattery‘, bog -a spongy, usually peaty ground of marsh‘. This
word in its turn gave rise to many derivatives and compounds, among them bog-trotter, the
ironical nickname for Irishman. Shamrock (a trifoliate plant, the national emblem of
Ireland) is a word used quite often, and so is the noun whiskey. NameSean О‘Casey is worth
an explanation. O‘ is Gaelic and means -of the clan of‘. Mac — the Gaelic for -son‘ found in
both Scottish and Irish names. Sean, also spelled Shawn and pronounced [So: n], is the Irish
for John.
The contribution of the Scottish dialect is very considerable. Some of the most frequently
used Scotticisms are: bairn -child‘, billy -chum‘, bonny -handsome‘, brogue -a stout shoe‘,
glamour -charm‘, laddie, lassie, kilt, raid, slogan, tartan, wee, etc. A great deal in this process
is due to Robert Burns who wrote his poems in Scottish English, and to Walter Scott who
introduced many Scottish words into his novels.
Regional phonological or phonetic distinctions are often referred to as different accents. A
person is said to have a Boston accent, a Southernaccent, etc. Thus, accent refers to the
characteristics of speech that convey information about the speaker‘s dialect, which may
reveal in what country or what part of the country the speaker grew up or to what
sociolinguistic group the speaker belongs. The term accent is also used to refer to speech of
someone who speaks a language non-natively, e.g. a French person speaking English is
described as having French accent. The English, public school leavers speak, is called, 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 study of dialects has been made on the basis of information obtained with the help of
special techniques: interviews, questionnaires, recording by phonograph and tape-recorder,
etc. Data collected in this way show the territorial distribution of certain key words and
pronunciations which vary from region to region.Isoglosses (Greek isos-equal and glossa-an
obscure or foreign word) are lined mapsshowing points where test usage is the same. When
you cross an isogloss, you are passing from one dialect area to another. Sometimes several
isoglosses will coincide, often at a political boundary or at a natural boundary such as a river
or mountain range. Linguists call these groupings a bundle of isoglosses. Such a bundle will
 Even though every language is composite of dialects, many people talk and think about a
language as if it were a ―well-defined‖ fixed system with various dialects diverging from
this norm. Standard English is customary use of community when it is recognized and
accepted as the customary use of the community. Beyond this is larger field of good English,
any English that justifies itself by accomplishing its end by hitting the mark.
After this brief review of dialects, we shall now proceed to the discussion of variants.
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.

American English
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 / e / 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/.
The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. The
term variant or variety appears most appropriate for several reasons. American English
cannot be called a dialect although it is a regional variety, because it has a literary
normalized form called Standard American (or American National Standard), whereas by
definition given above a dialect has no literary form. Neither is it a separate language,
because it has neither grammar nor vocabulary of its own. From the lexical point of view,
we shall have to deal only with a heterogeneous set of Americanisms.
An Americanism may be defined as a word or a set expression peculiar to the English
language as spoken in the USA. E. g. cookie -a biscuit‘; frame-up -a staged or preconcert law
case‘; guess -think‘; mail -post‘; store -shop‘.
The American variant of the English language differs from British English in
pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary, and this
paragraph will deal with the latter.
 Speaking about the historic causes of these deviations it is necessary to mention that
American English is based on the language imported to the new continent at the time of the
first settlements that is on the English of the 17th century. Words, which have died out in
Britain, or changed their meaning may survive in the USA. For more than three centuries,
the American vocabulary developed more or less independently of the British stock and was
influenced by the new surroundings. The early Americans had to coin words for the
unfamiliar fauna and flora. Hence bullfrog-a large frog‘, moose (the American elk), opossum,
raccoon (an American animal related to the bears) for animals; corn, hickory, etc. for plants.
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. As to the toponyms, for instance Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Missouri, Utah (all names of Indian tribes), or other names of towns, rivers and
states named by Indian words, it must be borne in mind that in all countries of the world
towns, rivers and the like show in their names traces of the earlier inhabitants of the land in
question.
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, hamburger, noodle, schnitzel and
many others.
 During the second period of American English history there appeared quite a number of
words and wordgroups, which were formed in the language due to the new political 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, VicePresident 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.
The opposition of any two lexical systems among the variants described is of great
linguistic and heuristic value, because it furnishes ample data for observing the influence of
extra-linguistic factors upon vocabulary. American political vocabulary shows this point
very definitely: absentee voting -voting by mail‘, dark horse -a candidate nominated
unexpectedly and not known to his voters‘, gerrymander -to arrange and falsify the electoral
process to produce a favourable result in the interests of a particular party or candidate‘, all-
outer -an adept of decisive measures‘.
Both in the USA and Great Britain the meaning of l eftist is an adherent of the left wing of
a party‘. In the USA it also means a left-handed personwhile in Great Britain it is a
colloquial variant of leftist and has a specific sense of a communist or social.
There are some differences between British and American English in the usage of
prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BE requires 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
something.
There are also units of vocabulary, which are different while denoting the same notions,
e.g. BE - trousers, AE -pants; in BE pants are ტრუსებიwhich in AE is shorts. While in BE
shorts are outwear. This can lead to misunderstanding. There are some differences in names
of places:
BE passage, cross-roads, pillar box, cinema, bed-sitterflyover
 BE crossingzebrapavementtube/undergroundtram flat surgery lift
AE Pxingsidewalksubwaystreetcarapartmentdoctor‘s officeelevator
Some names of useful objects:
BE -AE biro-ballpoint pen, 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--- Tin- can, candy-sweets, sweet biscuit- cookie, crackers- dry biscuit,Sweet-
dessert French fries-chips minced meat- ground beef
Some words denoting personal items:
BE-AE----Fringe- bangs/of hair/, turn- ups-cuffsTights-pantyhose, mackintosh-raincoat,
ladder-run/in a stocking/, braces-suspenders poloneck-turtleneck, waistcoat-vest
Some words denoting people:
BE- AE------Barrister-lawyer, staff /university/-faculty, post-graduate-graduate,
Fellow-guy caretaker-janitor, bobby-cop shop-assistant-shop-person, constable-
patrolman
If we speak about cars, there are also some differences:
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 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 famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first dictionary in
1806 introduced the reform in the English spelling for American English. Those of his
proposals, which were adopted in the English spelling, are as follows:
a) The deletion of the letter uin words ending in our, e.g. honor, favor;
b) The deletion 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 deletion 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,
e) Deletion 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 / o /corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. not. In BE before
fricatives and combinations with fricatives a are pronounced as /a: /, in AE it is pronounced /
e / 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//klrk/ /`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 are words, which have come out of
active usage, and neologisms, that is words, which have recently appeared in the language.
Black English. Black English and standard English are dialects because they are, for the
most part, mutually intelligible. Black English Vernacular (BEV) (where vernacular refers to
"everyday speech") may be a preferable term. What some call contemporary slang of Black
youth is one form among several varieties of Black English Vernacular. "Black slang" thus
can be considered a variant spoken by African American youth in the 1990s. Contemporary
Black English Vernacular of Black inner city youth reflects a "street world" where male
friendships are established and male reputations built. Peer pressure exerts a formidable
influence on the use and perpetuation of rapping, as well as on other present day variants of
Black English Vernacular among inner city youth.
This dialect is characterized by a systematic grammar (for example, the frequent use of the
habitual tense), particular sound patterns, and in some cases, words that deviate in their
meanings from Standard English. All these elements are thought to have some linguistic
basis in West African languages, particularly those belonging the Niger-Congo language
family.
Ebonics, a term introduced by Black linguists in the mid-1970s, refers not only to a
particular grammar and syntax, but also to paralinguistic (i.e., noises such as laughing and
crying) and gestural (movement) features of African American communication.
A number of social scientists recognize that the spoken language and body motion
communication of many African Americans are distinct. These language styles are thought
to derive partly from West African cultural heritages transmitted from one generation to
the next in Black Americans. Even the pronunciation of ax instead of ask, for example, may
be a learned cultural trait passed down through nearly 40 generations of Black slaves and
their descendants in the United States.
DIALECTOLOGY is the study of dialects, that is, of variant features within a language,
their history, differences of form and meaning, interrelationships, distribution, and, more
broadly, their spoken as distinct from their literary forms. The discipline recognizes all
variations within the bounds of any given language; it classifies and interprets them
distribution, and social correlates. The scientific study of dialects dates from the mid-19c,
when philologists using data preserved in texts began to work out the historical or
diachronic development of the Indo-European languages. Their interest was etymological
and systematic. Scientific phonetics and the principle that sound change was not erratic but
followed discoverable rules or laws were a basic part of the growth of dialectology. Living
dialects were seen to furnish a huge treasury of living data on phonology, lexicology, and
other features of language that written texts could not furnish. The linguist's task was to
gather, analyze, and interpret this living body of language.
Canadian, Australian and Indian Variants
It should be noted that American English is not the only existing variant. There are
several other variants where difference from the British standard is normalized. Besides the
Irish and Scottish variants, there are Australian English, Canadian Englishand Indian
English. Each of these has developed a literature of its own, and is characterised by
peculiarities in phonetics, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.
Canadian English is influenced both by British and American English but it also has some
specific features of its own. Specifically Canadian words are called Canadianisms. They are
not very frequent outside Canada, except shack a hut‘ and fathom out to explain‘.
The vocabulary of all the variants is characterised by a high percentage of borrowings
from the language of the people who inhabited the land before the English colonizers came.
Many of them denote some specific realia of the new country: local animals, plants or
weather conditions, new social relations, new trades and conditions of labour. The local
words for new notions penetrate into the English language and later on may become
international, if they are of sufficient interest and importance for people speaking other
languages.
International words coming through the English of India are for instance: bungalow n,
jute n, khaki a, mango n, nabob n, pyjamas, sahib, sari.
Similar examples, though perhaps fewer in number, such as boomerang, dingo, kangaroo,
are all adopted into the English language through its Australian variant and became
international. They denote the new phenomena found by English immigrants on the new
continent. A high percentage of words borrowed from the native inhabitants of Australia
will be noticed in the sonorous Australian place names.
 It has been noticed by a number of linguists that the British attitude to this phenomenon
is somewhat peculiar. When anyone other than an Englishman uses English, the natives of
Great Britain, often half-consciously, perhaps, feel that they have a special right to criticise
his usage because it is their language. It is, however, unreasonable with respect to people in
the United States, Canada, Australia and some other areas for whom English is their mother
tongue. At present there is no single ―correct English and the American, Canadian and
Australian English have developed standards of their own.

EXERCISES
Task 1
Decide whether the sentence is written in British or American English.

1. English is my favourite subject at school.

a. British English
b. American English
2. Have you seen Dick's new truck?
a. British English
b. American English
3. The park is in the center of our town.
a. British English
b. American English
4. Mr Barnes, our caretaker, found my key.
a. British English
b. American English
5. I like French fries, they're very crispy.
a. British English
b. American English
6. Have you seen the latest movie?
a. British English
b. American English
7. I've passed this test. So I'll get my driving licence very soon.
a. British English
b. American English
8. The accident happened because the blue car didn't stop at the traffic lights.
a. British English
b. American English
9. Tom told me to get off the Underground at Tower Hill.
a. British English
10. We have to hand in our résumé by Friday.
a. British English
b. American English
11. Should we really put the bottles into the boot of the car?
a. British English
b. American English
12. Andy and Tom, would you read the dialog, please?
a. British English
b. American English
13. Jim is our new neighbor.
a. British English
b. American English
14. Shouldn't we take the tram?
a. British English
b. American English
15. Sales tax is not included.
a. British English
b. American English
16. It was the worst railroad disaster in the history of our country.
a. British English
b. American English
17. The car had to stop because of a flat tire.
a. British English
b. American English
18. His sister attends the primary school in our town.
a. British English
b. American English
19. I think I'll change Mary's nappy.
a. British English
b. American English
 CHAPTER 15
LEXICOGRAPHY

The theory and practice of compiling dictionaries is called lexicography. The historical
roots of British lexicography go back to 7th-8th centuries when Latin was ameans of
international communication in Europe and the most important texts, first and
foremostbiblical ones, were written in this language. To facilitate their reading and
translation Englishmonks produced glosses based on interlinear translations from Latin. All
religious texts weresupplemented with such lists of Latin-English equivalents – glossaries.
One of the first glossaries isthe «Leiden Glossary» in which the pairs of equivalents are
arranged in the order of their occurrencein the text.
It took seven centuries to achieve fully alphabetical order in glossaries. By that time
(14thc.) it became clear that glossaries could not satisfy the growing reference needs of their
users. Itwas necessary to make regular Latin-English dictionaries, which would not be
confined to ‘hard’Latin words in a particular text but include as many Latin-English
equivalents as possible.
Latin-English and English-Latin dictionaries were very popular down to the end of the
16thcentury but already by the middle of the century Latin began to lose its status of an
internationallanguage and English lexicographers turned to new West-European languages.
The dictionary-making methodology was graduallyevolving over the period of nine
centuries, and various lexicographic conventions were adopted.The structure of the entry
became fairly complex and the reader could extract more andmore information about the
lexis of the target language. Lexicographers commented on themorphological structure of
the word (derivational affixes were singled out in 1538), its origin and field of usage, took
into account synonymy and dialectal differences, used different modes ofdefinition,
examples, usage notes and even illustrations to make their dictionaries user-friendly.
Monolingual Lexicography
The first monolingual 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 that was
 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. The most
important innovations of the Dictionary were a) clear differentiation of sense (separate
meanings were neatly arranged and enumerated); b) each meaning was illustrated by
quotations from the best writers.
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 (New English Dictionary) 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. Noah Webster compiled the most famous American English dictionary. He was an
active statesman 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.
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 letter «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, and 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.
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.
Unilingual dictionaries are further subdivided with regard to the time. Diachronic
dictionaries, of which ―The Oxford English Dictionary is the main example, reflect the
development of the English vocabulary by recording the history of form and meaning for
every word registered. They may be contrasted to synchronic or descriptive dictionaries of
current English concerned with present-day meaning and usage of words. Both bilingual
and unilingual dictionaries can be general and special.
General dictionaries represent the vocabulary as a whole with a degree of completeness
depending upon the scope and bulk of the book in question. The group includes the thirteen
volumes of ―The Oxford English Dictionary alongside with any miniature pocket
dictionary. Some general dictionaries may have very specific aims and still be considered
general due to their coverage. They include, for instance, frequency dictionaries, i.e. lists of
words, each of which is followed by a record of its frequency of occurrence in one or several
sets of reading matter. A rhyming dictionary is also a general dictionary, though arranged in
inverse order, and so is a thesaurus in spite of its unusual arrangement.
General dictionaries are contrasted to special dictionaries whose stated aim is to cover
only a certain specific part of the vocabulary. Special dictionaries may be further subdivided
depending on whether the words are chosen according to the sphere of human activity in
which they are used (technical dictionaries), the type of the units themselves (e. g.
synonyms). Finally, dictionaries may be classified into linguistic and nonlinguistic. The
latter are dictionaries giving information on all branches of knowledge, the encyclopedias.
They deal not with words, but with facts and concepts. The best known encyclopedias of
the English-speaking world are ―The Encyclopedia Britannica‖ and ―The Encyclopedia
Americana‖. There exist also biographical dictionaries and many minor encyclopedias. The
number of special bilingual dictionaries for various branches of knowledge and engineering
is ever increasing. Completely new types are the machine translation dictionaries, which
present their own specific problems, naturally differing from those presented by bilingual
dictionaries for human translation.
There are a lot of explanatory dictionaries (NED, SOD, COD, NID, N.G. 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, English-Georgian, Georgian-
English 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(Concise Oxford Dictionary) , for advanced foreign learners and language teachers.
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.
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, and antonyms are presented. 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 Dictionary of English Proverbs each proverb is
Vizetelli gives definitions and illustrations, but different meanings of poly-semantic units
are not given. A.V. Kunin compiled the most famous bilingual dictionary of phraseology. 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. W. Skeat compiled one of the best etymological
dictionaries.
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/, Bloomsbury Dictionary of New Words /1996/.

EXERCISE
Task 1
Read the following sentences. Use your general purpose dictionary, synonym dictionary
or thesaurus to find a word that could replace the word in bold type. Then find a word that
is opposite in meaning.
Model: The fruit shriveled in the hot sun.
Synonym: withered.
Antonym: flourished.
1. The foundation of the old hotel was damaged in the earthquake.
2. The discovery of DNA has led to many breakthroughs in finding cures for hereditary
diseases.
3. The man who was leading the group through the jungle had been raised there.
4. A former Olympic ice-skater has accepted the position of instructor at the skating-rink.
5. The towering decorated tree in the city square was a marvelous sight to see.
6. The prairie grass vanished in a summer storm of locusts.
7. The two countries decided that a mutual trade agreement was the solution to the
problem.
8. The beaming child had a look of total innocence about herself.
9. Consumers are reluctant to change their spending habits.
10. A musty atmosphere permeated the room.
 Task 2
In each of the lists below there is one word that should not be there. Can you find it?
Model: cat, dog, fish, horse. Answer: fish – because it lives in water and is not a mammal.
Look up the definitions of the words in your monolingual dictionary.
1. football, chess, tennis, cricket
2. milk, juice, water, wine
3. ship, train, boat, submarine
4. skating, singing, swimming, rowing
5. fry, bake, chop, roast
6. provide, donate, borrow, supply
7. snap, nudge, pat, stroke
8. wail, weep, titter, whimper
9. bond, cent, dime, nickel
10. mauve, marvellous, magenta, tangerine
 APPENDIX
WORD BUILDING
1 AM-, AMOR-: love, liking, friendliness
word Meaning
typical use

amateur n Lora didn‘t study drama art, she‘s

an 1amateur but I like her playing.
literally, “lover”
When it comes to baking a cake
1/person who does smth because
Mom is the expert, I‘m only an
he likes it but it‘s not his professional
amateur.
line; 2/inexperienced person
amiable lovable; good-natured; pleasant and Charlotte is an amiable child and
adj agreeable everybody loves her.
amicable friendly, neighbourly; not They have reached an amicable
adj quarrelsome settlement of the dispute.

amity n friendship; goodwill; friendly A spirit of perfect amity between

relations very formal countries should be a constant goal of
politicians.
amorous having to do with love; loving; In the famous balcony scene, the
adj inclined to love amorous
Romeo expresses his undying love
for
Juliet.

2 SCRIB-, SCRIPT- write

prescrib (literally, ―write before) 1/order, The law prescribes that aliens
e dictate, direct may not vote.
2/order as a remedy His doctor prescribed Harry a
diet.
conscri to make smb join the armed forces; The government conscripted
pt v additional men to continue the
war.
script Written text of a play, film, etc Actors often have to memorize
long scripts.
subscrib 1/ someone who signs their name The petition to nominate Sue for
er on a document formal president of the freshman class
2/ someone who pays money to has 43 subscribers.
receive something regularly. He is a subscriber of five
newspapers!

3 POSE-, PONE- place, put

postpo change to a later date The meeting has been postponed
ne v until next week
depose put off the throne The king was deposed by his own
v son.
 v on you.

4 LITER- letter
alliterati repetition of the same consonant Note the alliteration in the line
on n at the beginning of neighbouring ―Sing the song of sixpence‖
words or accented syllables
literary having to do with letters or Edwin is a literary critic.
adj literature
Literate 1/able to read and write; The first school grade‘s main aim is
adj 2/having a good knowledge of to make pupils literate. To enter this
literature; 3/having a good college you have to be
understanding of a particular mathematically literate.
subject
Illiterate 1/not being able to read or write; Jack can‘t sign the paper because he
adj 2/lacking knowledge in a is illiterate. Elderly people are often
particular subject technologically illiterate.
literacy n ability to read and write Tom attends an adult literacy class.
illiteracy The state of being unable to read African countries have to face
n or write problems of illiteracy and poverty.
Literal adj following exact words of the We translate ‗laissez -faire‖ as
original ‗absence of government control‖ but
its literal meaning is ―let do‖.
5. SIMIL-, SIMUL- same, like
similar adj sharing some qualities but not The brother and sister have
exactly the same similar hobbies.
dissimilar adj Different from English and Chinese are two very
dissimilar languages.
Similarity n likeness, resemblance The similarity between the two
stories makes us think that they
were written by the same author.

simulate v imitate Classroom games simulate real

communication.
simultaneou happening or done at the same In simultaneous announcements,
sadj time the two men resigned from their
jobs.
assimilate v make alike In the ―congress‖ [n] assimilates
to [g] and is replaced by [n].

I. Latin Affixes
Nouns The suffix –ion communion, legion,opinion, session,
union, etc.
The suffix –tion relation, revolution, starvation,
temptation,
Verbs The suffix -ate [eit] appreciate, create, congratulate, etc.

The suffix -ute [ju:t] attribute, contribute, constitute,

distribute, etc.
 The remnant suffix –ct act, conduct, collect, connect, etc.

The remnant suffix -d(e) applaud, divide, exclude, include, etc.

The prefix dis- disable, distract, disown, disagree, etc.

The suffix –able detestable, curable, etc.

The suffix -ate [it] accurate, desperate, graduate, etc.
Adjectives
The suffix –ant arrogant, constant, important, etc.

Nouns The suffix ance arrogance, endurance, hindrance, etc.

consequence, intelligence, patience, etc.

The suffix ence

The suffix ment appointment, development, experiment,

etc.

The suffix –age courage, marriage, passage, village, etc.

The suffix –ess tigress, lioness, actress, adventuress, etc.

Adjectives The suffix -ous curious, dangerous, joyous, serious, etc.

Verbs The prefix en- enable, endear, enact, enfold, enslave,

etc.

Some Native Suffixes

-er worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.
-ness coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc.
-ing feeling, meaning, singing, reading, etc.

Forming Nouns -dom freedom, wisdom, kingdom, etc.

-hood childhood, manhood, motherhood, etc.
-ship friendship, companionship, mastership, etc.

-th length, breadth, health, truth, etc.

-ful careful, joyful, wonderful, sinful, skilful, etc.
Forming Adjectives
 -less careless, sleepless, cloudless, sense-less, etc.

-y cozy, tidy, merry, snowy, showy, etc.

-ish English, Spanish, reddish, childish, etc.

-ly lonely, lovely, ugly, likely, lordly, etc.

-en wooden, woollen, silken, golden, etc.
-some handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.
Verbforming -en widen, redden, darken, sadden, etc.

Adverbforming -ly warmly, hardly, simply, carefully, coldly,

etc.

AMERICAN AND BRITISH SPELLING DIFFERENCES

1-3: Greek (classic) & Latin spellings 20-31: Pronunciation simplifications

simplified 20. -er/-or
1. -e-/-oe- 21. -g-/-gg-
2. -e-/-ae- 22. -ll-/-l-
3. -yze/-yse 23. -l-/-ll-
4-9: Old/Middle English simplified 24. -p-/-pp-
4. -f-/-ph- 25. -t-/-tt-
5. -ed/-t 26. -g-/-ge-
6. other past tense forms 27. in-/en-
7. -f-/-gh-
8. -i-/-y- 28-30: Spaces, diacritics, punctuation,
9. /-st miscellaneous
10-27: French spellings simplified 28. spaces
10. -er/-re 29. punctuation
11. -or/-our 30. miscellaneous
12. -o-/-ou-
13. -m/-mme
14. -ck/-que
15. -g/-gue
16. -ction/-xion
17. -ize/-ise
18. -a-/-au-
19. -se/-ce

1. -e-/-oe- American
British
diarrhea diarrhoea
enology oenology
homeopath homoeopath
(1-3) Greek (classic) and Latin spellings simplified

2. -e-/-ae- American British

esthete aesthete
esthetic aesthetic
anemia anaemia
anemic anaemic
anesthetic, -thesia, -thetist anaesthetic, -thesia, -
thetist
archeology archaeology
cesium caesium
encyclopedia encyclopaedia,
encyclopedia
ether aether, ether
gynecology gynaecology
hemoglobin haemoglobin
hemorrhage haemorrhage
leukemia leukaemia
medieval mediaeval, medieval
orthopedics orthopaedics
pediatrician paediatrician
pediatrics paediatrics
primeval primaeval, primeval

3. -lyze/-lyse
American British
analyze analyse
paralyze paralyse
psychoanalyze psychoanalyse
4. -f-/-ph- American British
sulfate sulphate
sulfide sulphide
sulfur, sulphur sulphur
5. -ed/-t American British
burned or burnt burnt, burned
dreamed or dreamt dreamt, dreamed
kneeled knelt, kneeled
leaned leant, leaned,
leaped leaped, leapt
learned learned, learnt
smelled smelt, smelled
spelled spelt, spelled
spilled spilt, spilled
spoiled spoilt, spoiled
 while while, whilst

6. Other past tense verb forms

American British
gotten got
proven proved
7. -f-/-gh- and -ow/-ough
American British
draft, -fty draught, -ghty (only air current,
drawing of liquid)
draftsman draughtsman, draftsman (one who
makes drawings)
plow (plough), -man, -share plough, -man, -share
snowplow snowplough

8. -i-/-y- American British

drily (dryly) dryly
(drily)
gipsy (gypsy) gypsy
(gipsy)
tire tyre (on
vehicles
only)
9. /-st American British
amid, amidst amid,
amidst
among among,
amongst
while while,
whilst

(10-27) French spellings simplified

10. -er/-re
American British
center centre
fiber fibre
fiberglass fibreglass
goiter goitre
liter litre
louver louvre
luster lustre (brilliance)
maneuver manoeuvre
meager meagre
meter metre
 saber sabre
scepter sceptre
somber sombre
theater theatre

11. -or/-our British

American
arbor arbour
behavior behaviour
color colour
endeavor endeavour
favor favour
favorite favourite
favoritism favouritism
flavor flavour
glamor glamour
harbor harbour
honor honour
labor labour
misdemeanor misdemeanour
neighbor neighbour
neighborhood neighbourhood
odor odour
parlor parlour
rigor rigour
rumor rumour
savior saviour
savor savour
savory savoury
splendor splendour
tumor tumour
valor valour
vapor vapour
vigor vigour

12. -o-/-ou- British

American
citrus citrous (adj)
mold mould (rot and form)
molt moult
13. -m/-mme American British
gram gramme, (gram)
kilogram kilogramme
program programme

14. -ck/-que American British

check cheque (banking only)
 15. -g/-gue American British
analog analogue
catalog catalogue
dialog dialogue
demagog, -goged, - demagogue, -gogued, -
goging goguing
epilog epilogue
monolog monologue
pedagog pedagogue
prolog prologue
synagog synagogue
travelog travelogue

16. -ction/-xion
American British
connection connection, connexion
flection (flexion) flection, flexion
inflection inflection, inflexion
reflection reflection, reflexion

17. -ize/-ise American

British
advertize advertise
apologize apologise
appetizer appetiser
burglarize burgle, burglarise
characterize characterise
civilize civilise
civilization civilisation
colonize colonise
computerize computerise
criticize criticise

dramatize dramatise
economize economise
emphasize emphasise
hospitalize hospitalise
memorize memorise
mobilize mobilise
monopolize monopolise
naturalize naturalise
organize organise
popularize popularise
realize realise
recognize recognise
symbolize symbolise
 utilize utilise
vaporize vaporise

18.-a-/-au- American
British
balk baulk (balk)
gage, gauge gauge

19. -se/-ce American

British
defense defence
license licence
offense offence
practice, practise practise
pretense pretence
20. -er/-or American British
adapter, adaptor adaptor, adapter
adviser, advisor advisor, adviser

21. -g-/-gg- American British

fagot, faggot (bundle of sticks)
wagon waggon

22. -ll-/-l- American British

appall appal
distill distil
enroll enrol

enrollment enrolment
fulfill fulfil
fulfillment fulfilment
install instal
installment, instalment
instalment
instill instil
skillful skilful
willful wilful

23. -l-/-ll- American British

calisthenics callisthenics
canceled, -ling cancelled, -lling
chili chilli
counselor counsellor
disheveled dishevelled
jeweler jeweller
 marvelous marvellous
quarreled, -ling quarrelled, -lling
rebeling rebelling
signaled, -ling signalled, -lling
traveled, -ling travelled, -lling
traveler traveller
woolen woollen
24. -p-/-pp- American British
kidnaped kidnapped
kidnaper, kidnapper, -pping
worshiped worshipped, -pping
worshiper worshipper
25. -t-/-tt- American British
carburetor carburettor
cigaret, cigarette cigarette
omelet omelette
26.-g-/-ge- American British
abridgment abridgement
acknowledgment acknowledgement
aging ageing
judgment judgement
27. in-/en- American British
insure ensure
inquire enquire
inquiry enquiry
28. spaces American British
alright all right
anymore any more
cooperate cooperate, co-operate
onto on to

29. punctuation
American British
B.S. BSc
Dr. Dr
Jr. Jnr, Jr
M.S. MSc
Ph.D. PhD
Sr. Snr, Sr
30.miscellaneous
American British
aluminum aluminium
artifact artefact
ax axe
chamomile camomile, chamomile
cozy cosy
crawfish crayfish
curb kerb (edging of road
 disk disc
doodad doodah
donut doughnut
furor furore
gray grey
karat carat (gold)
ketchup, catchup, ketchup
catsup
mustache moustache
naught nought (digit 0)
pajamas pyjamas
specialty speciality
thru through
 GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS IN LEXICOLOGY
A
Abbreviation (syn. clipping, shortening) – a shortened form of a word or phrase, e.g., prof –
professor, pike - turnpike, etc.
Abbreviation, graphical – a sign representing a word or word-group of high frequency of
occurrence, e.g., Mr – Mister, Mrs – Mistress, i.e. (Latin “id est”) –that is, cf (Latin “cofferre”) –
compare.
Abbreviation, lexical (syn. acronym) – a word formed from the first (or first few)letters of several
words which constitute a compound word or word-group, e.g.,U.N.E.S.C.O. – United Nations
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, B.B.C. – the British Broadcasting Corporation,
S.O.S. – Save Our Souls, B.A. –Bachelor of Arts, etc.
Ablaut (syn. vowel gradation or interchange) – a change from one to anothervowel, characteristic
of Indo-European languages, e.g., to bear – burden, to abide – abode, to bite – bit, to ride – rode, to
strike –stroke, etc.
Absolute (total, complete) synonyms – synonyms so identical in their meaning that one can always
be substituted for by the other in any given context, e.g., fricative – spirant, almost – nearly, mirror
– looking-glass, flection – inflection,noun – substantive, etc.
Acronym (see lexical abbreviation) – a word formed from the initial letters of a fixed phrase or
title, e.g., TV – television, VIP – very important person, hi-fi –high fidelity, etc.
Adjectivalization – the use of nouns and participles as adjectives, e.g., a stone wall, home affairs,
swimming-pool, etc.
Adverbialization – the use of adjectives as adverbs, e.g., he spoke loud (loudly), it tastes good, etc.
Affix (affixational morpheme) – a derivational morpheme which is always bound to a stem or to a
combination containing a stem, e.g., unmistakable, unpardonable,irregularity. Affixes are subdivided
into prefixes, suffixes and infixes according to their position (see prefix, suffix, infix), e.g., un-, dis-,
re-, -ful, -less, -able, etc.
Affixation – is the formation of new words by adding derivative affixes to derivational bases or
stems, e.g., kind + ness, grate + ful, un + happy, im +moral, etc.
Allomorphs – positional variants of a morpheme characterized by complementary distribution
(they are used in mutually exclusive environment and stand in alternation with each other), e.g.,
allomorphs of the prefix in- are: il- (illegal), ir-(irregular), im- (impossible), etc.
Amelioration or elevation (a semantic shift of meaning) – the improvement of the connotational
component of meaning, i.e. a lexeme develops a positive meaning, e.g., nice originally meant foolish,
knight originally meant boy, fame originally meant report, common talk, rumour, minister
 Americanism – a word or a set expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in the USA,
e.g., cookie – biscuit (Br.E.), fall – autumn (Br.E.), truck – lorry (Br.E.), movies – pictures (Br.E.),
sidewalk – pavement (Br.E.), etc.
Antonyms – words of the same parts of speech different in sound-form, opposite in their
denotational meaning or meanings and interchangeable in some contexts, e.g., short – long, to begin
– to end, regular – irregular, day – night, thick – thin,early – late, etc.
Aphaeresis, aphesis – initial clipping, i.e. the formation of a word by the omission of the initial
part of the word, e.g., phone from telephone, mend from amend, story from history, etc.
Apocope – final clipping, i.e. the omission of the final part of the word, e.g., exam from
examination, gym from gymnasium or gymnastics, lab from laboratory, ref from referee, etc.
Archaisms – words which have come out of active usage, and have been ousted by their synonyms.
They are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity. Many lexical archaisms belong to the poetic
style: woe (sorrow), betwixt (between), tochide (to scold), save (except) etc. 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); darksome (some was dropped); oft (-en was
added) etc.
Assimilation (of a loan word) – a partial or total conformation to the phonetical, graphical and
morphological standards of the English language and its semantic system.
Asyntactical compounds – compounds whose components are placed in the order that contradicts
the rules of English syntax, e.g., snow-white (N + A) (in syntax: white snow – A + N), pale-green – A
+ A, etc. (see syntactic compounds).
В
Back-formation – derivation of a new word by subtracting a real or supposed affix from an existing
word, e.g., to sculpt – sculptor, to beg – beggar, to burgle –burglar, etc.
Barbarisms – unassimilated borrowings or loan words, used by English people in conversation or
in writing, printed in italics, or in inverted commas, e.g., such French phrases as топ cher – my dear,
tete-a-tete – face to face, or Italian words, addio, ciao – good bye.
Blending or telescoping – formation of a word by merging parts of words (not morphemes) into
one new word; the result is a blend, fusion, e.g., smog (smoke + fog), transceiver (transmitter +
receiver), motel (motor + hotel), brunch (breakfast + lunch), etc.
Borrowings (also loan words) – words taken over from another language and (partially or totally)
modified in phonetic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the English
language, e.g., rickshaw (Chinese), sherbet (Arabian), ballet, cafe, machine, cartoon, police (French),
etc.
 Bound form (stem or morpheme) – a form (morpheme) which must always be combined with
another morpheme (i.e. always bound to some other morpheme and cannot stand in isolation, e.g.,
nat- in native, nature, nation; all affixes are bound forms.
Briticism – a lexical unit peculiar to the British variant of the English language, e.g., petrol is a
Briticism for gasoline; opposite Americanism.
C
Cliche – a term or phrase which has become hackneyed and stale, e.g., to usher in a new age (era),
astronomical figures, the arms of Morpheus, swan song, the irony offate, etc.
Clipping – formation of a word by cutting off one or several syllables of a word, e.g., doc (from
doctor), phone (from telephone), etc. (see abbreviation, apocope, aphaeresis, syncope).
Cockney – the regional dialect of London marked by some deviations in pronunciation and few in
vocabulary and syntax, e.g., fing stands for thing, farver for farther, garn for go on, toff for a person
of the upper class.
Coding (in lexicology) – replacing words or morphemes by conventional wordclass symbols, e.g.,
to see him go (V + N/pron + V), blue-eyed ((A + N) +-ed), etc.
Cognates (cognate words) words descended from a common ancestor, e.g., brother (English),
брат(Ukrainian), frater (Latin), Bruder (German).
Collocability – see lexical valency.
Collocation – habitual lexico-phraseological association of a word in a language with other
particular words in a sentence, e.g., to pay attention to, to meet thedemands, cold war, etc.
Colloquial (of words, phrases, style) – belonging to, suitable for, or related to ordinary; not formal
or literary conversation, e.g., there you are, you see, here’sto us, to have a drink, etc.
Combinability (occurrence-range, collocability, valency) – the ability of linguistic elements to
combine in speech.
Complementary distribution – is said to take place when two linguistic variants cannot appear in
the same environment (i.e. they appear in mutually exclusive environment and stand in alternation
with each other, e.g., variants of the prefix in- (im-, il-, ir-) are characterized by complementary
distribution as in imperfect, illegal, irregular.
Composition – see word-composition.
Compounding – see word-composition.
Compound-derivative or derivational compound – a word formed simultaneously by composition
and derivation, e.g., blue-eyed, old-timer, teenager, kind-hearted,etc.
Compound words or compounds – words consisting of at least two stems or root morphemes
which occur in the language as free forms, e.g., tradesman, AngloSaxon, sister-in-law,
 Concept (syn. notion) – an idea or thought, especially a generalized idea of a class of objects, the
reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their essential features and relations.
Connotation – complementary meaning or complementary semantic and (or) stylistic shade which
is added to the word‟s main meaning and which serves to express all sorts of emotional, expressive,
evaluative overtones.
Connotational (meaning) – the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word.
Content – the main substance or meaning, e.g., the content of a poem is distinguished from its
form.
Context – the minimum stretch of discourse necessary and sufficient to determine which of the
possible meanings of a polysemantic word is used.
Contrastive distribution – characterizes different morphemes, i.e. if they occur in the same
environment they signal different meanings (see complementary distribution), e.g., the suffixes -able
and -ed are different morphemes, because adjectives in -able mean capable of being, e.g.,
measurable, whereas -ed has a resultant force, e.g. measured
Conversion (root formation, functional change, zero-derivation) – the formationof a new word
solely by changing its paradigm or the method of forming a newword by changing an existing one
into another part of speech without anyderivational affixes (or other external changes), so that the
resulting word ishomonymous with the original one, e.g. water (n) – to water (v); dry (adj) – todry
(v); must (v) – a must (n), go (v) a go (n).
Convertive prefix – a prefix which transfers words to a different part of speech, e.g. pre + war (n) =
prewar (adj); de + plane = deplane (v); de + part (n) = depart (v).
Contextual synonyms – words (synonyms) similar in meaning only under some specific
distributional conditions (in some contexts), e.g. bear, suffer and stand when used in the negative
construction can't bear, can’t suffer, can’t stand become synonyms.
Coordinative (or copulative) compounds – compounds whose components are structurally and
semantically independent and constitute two structural and semantic centres, e.g., actor-manager,
fifty-fifty, secretary-stenographer, etc. in- (im-, il-, ir-) are characterized by complementary
distribution as in imperfect,illegal, irregular.
Composition – see word-composition.
Compounding – see word-composition.
Compound-derivative or derivational compound – a word formed simultaneously by composition
and derivation, e.g., blue-eyed, old-timer, teenager, kind-hearted,etc.
Compound words or compounds – words consisting of at least two stems or root morphemes
which occur in the language as free forms, e.g., tradesman, Anglo-Saxon,sister-in-
 Concept (syn. notion) – an idea or thought, especially a generalized idea of a class of objects, the
reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their essential features and relations.
Connotation – complementary meaning or complementary semantic and (or) stylistic shade which
is added to the word’s main meaning and which serves to express all sorts of emotional, expressive,
evaluative overtones.
Connotative(meaning) – the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word.
Content – the main substance or meaning, e.g., the content of a poem is distinguished from its
form.
Context – the minimum stretch of discourse necessary and sufficient to determine which of the
possible meanings of a polysemantic word is used.
Contrastive distribution – characterizes different morphemes, i.e. if they occur in the same
environment they signal different meanings (see complementarydistribution), e.g., the suffixes -able
and -ed are different morphemes, becauseadjectives in -able mean capable of being, e.g., measurable,
whereas -ed has aresultant force, e.g. measured.
Conversion (root formation, functional change, zero-derivation) – the formation of a new word
solely by changing its paradigm or the method of forming a new word by changing an existing one
into another part of speech without any derivational affixes (or other external changes), so that the
resulting word is homonymous with the original one, e.g. water (n) – to water (v); dry (adj) – todry
(v); must (v) – a must (n), go (v) a go (n).
Convertive prefix – a prefix which transfers words to a different part of speech, e.g. pre + war (n) =
prewar (adj); de + plane = deplane (v); de + part (n) = depart (v).
Contextual synonyms – words (synonyms) similar in meaning only under some specific
distributional conditions (in some contexts), e.g. bear, suffer and stand when used in the negative
construction can't bear, can’t suffer, can’t stand become synonyms.
Coordinative (or copulative) compounds – compounds whose components are structurally and
semantically independent and constitute two structural and semantic centres, e.g., actor-manager,
fifty-fifty, secretary-stenographer, etc.
D
Degradation of meaning (also pejoration or deterioration) – the appearance of a derogatory and
scornful emotive charge in the meaning of the word, i.e. alexeme develops a negative meaning, e.g.
knave (OE – boy), silly (OE – happy),boor (OE – farmer).
Demotivation – loss of motivation, when the word loses its ties with another word or words with
which it was formerly connected and associated, ceases to be understood as belonging to its original
word-family, e.g. lady, breakfast,boatswain, to kidnap, etc.
 Denominal verb – a verb formed by conversion from a noun or an adjective, e.g., stone – to stone,
rat – to rat, empty – to empty, nest – to nest, corner – to corner, etc.
Denotation (see referent) – the direct, explicit meaning or reference of a word or term.
Denotational (or denotative) meaning – the component of the lexical meaning which makes
communication possible, i.e. the component of meaning signifying or identifying the notion or the
object and reflecting some essential features of the notion named; see referential meaning.
Derivation – the process of forming new words by affixes, sound and stress interchange, e.g. work
– worker, kind – unkind, food – feed, blood – bleed, life –live, present – present, import – import.
Some scholars include conversion into derivation, too.
Derivational affix - an affix which serves to form new words, e.g. -less in helpless or dis- in dislike,
etc.
Derivational level of analysis is aimed at establishing the derivational history of the word in
question, i.e. at establishing through what word-building means it is built and what is its structural
or word-building pattern. The method of analysis into immediate and ultimate constituents (IC‟s
and UC‟s) is very effective on this level, e.g. threateningly (adv) falls into the following IC‟s: 1)
threatening + -ly on the pattern A + -ly,2) threaten + -ing on the pattern V +-ing, 3) threat + -en on
the pattern N+ -en Thus, the adverb threateningly is a derivative built through affixation in three
steps.
Derivational suffix – a suffix serving to form new words, e.g. read-able, helpless, useful etc., see
suffix.
Derivative (syn. derived word) – a word formed through derivation, e.g. manhood, rewrite, unlike,
etc.
Derived stem – a stem (usually a polymorphemic one) built by means of derivation;a stem
comprising one root-morpheme and one or more derivational affixes, e.g.courageously, singer,
tigress, etc.
Descriptive approach – see synchronic approach.
Deterioration – see degradation of meaning.
Deverbal noun – a noun formed from a verb by conversion, e.g. to buy – a buy, must – a must, to
cut – a cut, etc.
Diachronic or historic approach (in lexicology) – the study of the vocabulary in its historical
development. It results in historical lexicology which studies the language in its flux, see synchronic
approach.
Dialect (local) – a variety of the English language peculiar to some district and having no
normalized literary form, e.g. Cockney, Northern, Midland, Eastern dialectsof England, etc., see
 Dictionary – a book of words in a language usually listed alphabetically withdefinitions,
translations, pronunciations, etymologies and other linguisticinformation. Kinds of dictionaries:
bilingual, encyclopaedic, etymological,explanatory, general, ideographic, linguistic, multilingual,
phraseological,pronouncing, special, unilingual etc.
Differential meaning (of a morpheme) – the semantic component that serves todistinguish one
word from the others containing identical morphemes, e.g. cranberry, blueberry, blackberry.
Distribution – possible variants (the total, sum) of the immediate lexical,grammatical and phonetic
environment of a linguistic unit (i.e. the position of alinguistic sign in relation to other linguistic
signs). For a morpheme it is thepreceding and following morpheme(s), for a word it is the preceding
and thefollowing word(s), for a phoneme it is the preceding and the followingphoneme(s); see the
complementary and contrastive distribution.
Distributional meaning (of a morpheme) – the meaning of the order ADarrangement of
morphemes making up the word, cf, ring-finger and finger ring.
Distributional pattern – a phrase (word) all elements of which including the headword are
coded,e.g. tohearsmbsing(V+N/pron+V,),copybook(N+N),redhaired(A+N+suffix).
Distributional formula – a structure (phrase, word) whose components except thehead one are
coded, e.g. to hear somebody sing (hear + N/pron + V). In
distributional formulas of words affixes are usually coded: e.g. blue-eyed((A + N) + -ed).
Doublet – see etymological doublet.
E
Elevation of meaning – see amelioration.
Ellipsis – the omission of a word or words considered essential for grammaticalcompleteness but
easily understood in the context, e.g. daily (paper), (cut-price)sale, private (soldier), etc.
Emotive charge – a part of the connotational component of meaning evoking ordirectly expressing
emotion, e.g. cf: girl and girlie
Etymological doublet – either of two words of the same language which werederived by different
routes from the same basic word, e.g. chase – catch, disc –dish, shirt – skirt, scar – share, one - an,
raid - road, etc.
Etymology – a branch of lexicology dealing with the origin and history of words,especially with
the history of form.
Etymological level of analysis is aimed at establishing the etymology (origin) of theword under
analysis, i.e. at finding out whether it is a native English word, or aborrowing or a hybrid, e.g. ballet
is a French borrowing, threateningly is a nativeEnglish word, nourishing is a hybrid composed of
morphemes of differentorigin: nourish is a French borrowing, but -ing is a native English suffix.
 Euphemism – a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression bya
conventionally more acceptable one, e.g. to be no more, to pass away for to die;to tell stories, to
distort the facts for to lie; remains for corpse; paying guest forlodger.
Extension (also generalization or widening) of meaning – changes of meaningresulting in the
application of a word to a wider variety of referents. It includesthe change both from concrete to
abstract and from specific to general, e.g.journal originally meant daily; a thing originally meant
meeting, decision; salaryoriginally meant salt money; pioneer originally meant soldier.

F
Form words, also called functional words, empty words or auxiliaries are lexical units used only in
combination with notional words or in reference to them, e.g.auxiliary verbs – do, be, have,
prepositions – in, at, for, conjunctions – while,since, etc.
Free forms – forms which may stand alone without changing their meaning, i.e.forms
homonymous with words, e.g. the root-morpheme teach- in teacher.
Free morphemes coincide with word-forms of independently functioning words,e.g. first-nighter.
Functional (or grammatical) affixes – affixes serving to build different(grammatical) forms of one
and the same word, e.g. -(e)s in boys, classes, -ed inworked, etc.
Functional approach to meaning – an approach showing that the meaning of alinguistic unit
(word) may be studied only through its relation to other linguisticunits (words) and not through its
relation to either concept or referent, i.e. itviews the meaning as the function of distribution, see
referential approach tomeaning.
Functional meaning (of a morpheme) – the part-of-speech meaning of the morpheme,e.g. the part-
of-speech meaning of the suffixes -ize in verbs and -ice – in nouns asin the words realize and justice,
etc.
Fusion – see blend(ing), also phraseological fusions.
Generalization – see extension or widening of meaning, e.g. ready from OE rade that meant
prepared for a ride, animal from Latin anima soul.
Glossary – a list of special or difficult terms with explanations or translations, often included in the
alphabetical order at the end of a book.
Grammatical homonyms – homonyms that differ in grammatical meaning only (i.e.homonymous
word-forms of one and the same word), e.g. cut (infinitive) – cut(past participle); boys – boy's.
Grammatical meaning – the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets ofgrammatical
forms of different words as, e.g., the meaning of the plural numberin the word-forms of nouns:
books, tables, etc., grammatical meaning expressesin speech the relationship between words.
 Grammatical valency – the aptness of a word to appear in specific grammatical (orrather syntactic)
structures.
H
Historism – a word which denotes a thing that is outdated nowadays or the causes of the word‟s
disappearance are extra-linguistic. Historisms are very numerous asnames for social relations,
institutions, objects of material culture of the past,e.g. transport means: brougham, berlin, fly, gig,
phaeton etc.; vehicles as prairieschooner (a canvas-covered wagon used by pioneers crossing the
NorthAmerican prairies)etc.; weapons: breastplate, crossbow, arrow, etc.
Homographs – words identical in spelling but different both in their sound-form ADmeaning, e.g.
bow [ ] – bow , row [ ] – row [ ], etc.
Homonyms – words identical in sound or spelling (or in both) but different inmeaning (in
semantic structure), e.g. sound (adj) – sound (n).
Homonyms proper (syn. absolute, perfect) – words identical in sound-form ADspelling but
different in meaning, e.g. temple – საფეთქელი, temple – ტაძარი; seal –ბეჭედი, seal – სელაპი,
etc.
Homonyms, etymological (syn. historical homonyms) – homonyms that are etymologically
different words, e.g. sea – ზღვა, to see – ხედვა, bear –დათვი, to bear –ატანა, დაბადება etc.
Homonyms, full – words that are homonymous in all their forms, e.g. seal -სელაპი, seal –
ბეჭედი; mole –თხუნელა , mole – ხალი.
Homonyms, grammatical – words that have homonymous forms of the same word,e.g. he asked –
he was asked; boys’ – boys, etc.
Homonyms, lexical – words that differ in lexical meaning, e.g. knight (რაინდი) –night (ღამე),
ball (ბურთი) - ball (მეჯლისი), etc.
Homonyms, lexico-grammatical – words that differ both in lexical and grammatical meaning, e.g.
swallow – მერცხალი, to swallow – ყლაპვა, well – ჭა, well –კარგად, etc.
Homonyms, partial – words that are homonymous in some of their forms, e.g.brothers (pl) –
brother’s (possessive case), etc.
Homophones – words identical in sound-form but different both in spelling and inmeaning, e.g. to
know – no, not – knot, to meet – meat, etc.
Hybrid – a word made up of elements derived from two or more differentlanguages, e.g. fruitless
(Fr. + native), readable (native + Fr.), unmistakable(native + native + Fr.), schoolgirl (Gk. + native),
etc.
Hyperbole – an exaggerated statement not meant to be understood literally butexpressing an
emotional attitude of the speaker to what he is speaking about,e.g. Lovely! Awful! Splendid! For
 Hyponymy – type of paradigmatic relationship when a specific term is included in ageneric one,
e.g. pup is the hyponym of dog, and dog is the hyponym of animal,etc.
I
The identifyingfunction may be interpreted as denoting the objects covered by the scope of the
notion expressed in the word
Ideographic (relative) synonyms – synonyms denoting different shades of meaning or different
degrees of intensity (quality), e.g. large, huge, tremendous; pretty,beautiful, fine; leave, depart, quit,
retire; understand, realize, etc.
Idiom – an accepted phrase, word-group, or expression the meaning of which cannotbe deduced
from the meanings of its components and the way they are puttogether, e.g. to talk through one’s
hat, to smell a rat, a white elephant, red tape,etc.
Idiomatic (syn. non-motivated) – lacking motivation from the point of view ofone's mother
tongue.
Immediate Constituents analysis – cutting of a word into IC's. It is based on abinary principle.
Immediate Constituents (IC’s) – the two immediate (maximum) meaningful partsforming a larger
linguistic unity, e.g. the IC‟s of teacher are teach and -er,red-haired – red and hair and -ed, etc.
Infix – an affix placed within the stem (base), e.g. stand and stood. Infixes are notproductive in
English.
International words – words borrowed from one language into several otherssimultaneously or at
short intervals one after another, e.g. biology, student, etc.
Juxtaposition – the way of forming compounds by placing the stems side by side without any
linking elements. It is very productive in English, e.g. airline, postman, blue-bell, waterfall, house-
keeper, etc.
Juxtapositional compound – a compound whose components are joined togetherwithout any
linking elements, i.e. by placing one component after another in adefinite order, e.g. door-handle,
snow-white, etc.
L
Lexical meaning – the component of meaning proper to the word as a linguistic unit, i.e. recurrent
in all the forms of this word and in all the possible distributions ofthese forms.
Lexical transformation – a paraphrasis of a phrase (sentence) in which some wordis replaced by its
semantic equivalent or definition, e.g. (he is) an Englishteacher – (he is) a person who teaches
English; (the sky was) cloudy – (the skywas) covered with clouds, etc., see transformation.
Lexical valency (or valence, collocability) – the aptness of a word to appear invarious combinations
with other words.
 Lexicography – a branch of applied lexicology concerned with the theory ADpractice of compiling
dictionaries.
Lexicology – a branch of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of a language andthe properties of
words, word-equivalents and word-collocations.
Litotes or understatement – a word or word-group which expresses the affirmativeby the negation
of its contrary, e.g. not bad for good,not small for great, nocoward for brave, etc.
Loan-words – see borrowings.
M
Meaning – an essential aspect of any linguistic sign (word) reflecting objective reality in our
consciousness. The relation between the object or notion named ADthe name itself. Kinds of
meaning: abstract, archaic, basic, central, concrete,connotational or connotative, denotational or
denotative, derived, differential (inmorphemes), direct, distributional (in morphemes), etymological,
extended,figurative, functional (in morphemes), grammatical, lexical, lexico-grammatical,literal,
main, major, marginal, metaphoric, metonymic, minor, obsolete, original,secondary, transferred.
Metaphor – transfer of meaning based on the association of similarity, e.g. 1) similarity of shape:
head of a cabbage, nose of a plane;2) similarity in function or use: hand of a clock, wing of a plane;3)
similarity in temperature: hot scent, cold reason, warm heart;4) likeness in colour: orange for colour
and for fruit;5) analogy between duration of time and space: long distance vs long speech;6)
transition of proper names into common ones: an Adonis, a Cicero, a Don Juan;7) likeness in
position: foot of a man vs foot of a hill;8) zoosemy(names of animals are used to denote human
beings and their qualities): a bookworm (person devoted to books), an ass (a stupid person), atiger (a
cruel person), etc.
Metonymy – transfer of meaning based on contiguity, i.e. by naming a closelyrelated object or
idea, e.g.1)giving the part for the whole (synecdoche):house may denote the Members of the
Parliament; The White House, The Pentagon can mean its staff ADpolicy ; 2) the sign for the thing
signified: ‘gray hair’ – old age;3) the container for the thing contained: the kettle is boiling (water);5)
geographical names turning into common nouns (to name the goods exported or originating there):
china, champagne, burgundy, cheddar; 6) the material substitutes the thing made of: glass, iron,
copper, nickel; 7) symbol for thing symbolized: „the crown‟ for monarchy.
Morpheme – the smallest linguistic unit possessing meaning (or the minimum meaningful unit of
language). It is the smallest meaningful unit, two-faced one, but in contrast to the word it cannot
function independently. We use them only when we speak of word structure and word formation.
e.g. un-luck-i-ly has four morphemes, see rootmorphemes and affixes.
Morphemic analysis – splitting the word into its constituent morphemes and determining their
 Morphemic level of analysis is aimed at establishing the number and type of the morphemes
making up the word, e.g. the adverb threateningly is a polymorphemic word consisting of four
morphemes of which one is a root morpheme and three derivational morphemes.
Morphological composition – the way of forming compounds by joining together two stems with
the help of special linking elements: -о-, -i-, -s-, e.g. handicraft,gasometer, sportsman, etc.
Morphological compound – a compound whose components are joined together with a linking
element, e.g. speedometer, handiwork, spokesman, etc.
Morphological motivation (of a word or phraseological unit) – a direct connection between the
structural (morphological) pattern of the word (or phraseological unit) and its meaning, e.g.
fatherless, greatly, thankful, etc.
Motivated (non-idiomatic, transparent) words are characterized by a direct connection between
their morphemic or phonemic composition and their meaning, e.g. motorway, friendship, boom,
cuckoo, etc.
Motivated word-groups are word-groups whose combined lexical meaning can be deduced from
the meaning of their component-members, e.g. to declare war,head of an army, to make a bargain, to
cut short, to play chess, etc.
Motivation – the relationship between the morphemic or phonemic composition of the word and
its meaning, e.g. schoolchild, moo, tick, etc.
N
Narrowing of meaning (also restriction or specialization) – the restriction of the semantic capacity
of a word in the course of its historical development, e.g. meat originally meant food, dear originally
meant beast, hound originally meantdog, etc.
Neologism – a new word or word equivalent formed according to the productive structural
patterns or borrowed from another language; a new meaning of an established word, e.g.
dictaphone, travelogue, monoplane, multi-user,pocketphone, sunblock, etc.
Nonce-word – a word coined and used for a single occasion, e.g. Bunburyist (O. Wilde), dimple-
making (Th. Hardy), library-grinding (S. Lewis), familyphysicianery (J.K.Jerome).
О
Obsolete words – words that drop from the language completely or remain in the language as
elements performing purely historical descriptive functions. Namesof obsolete occupations are often
preserved as family names, e.g. Chandler –candle maker, Latimer (i.e. Latiner) – interpreter,
Webster – weaver (with –sterthe old feminine ending).
Occasionalism – a word or a word-combination created in each case anew, e.g. living metaphors
whose predictability is not apparent, e.g. the ex-umbrella man, a horse-faced woman, a gazelle-eyed
 Onomatopoeia (syn. sound imitation, sound symbolism) – the formation of a word by imitating the
natural sound associated with the object or action involved, e.g. buzz, cuckoo, tinkle, cock-a-doodle-
do, etc.
Origin – the historic source of any linguistic unit or item.

P
Paradigm – the system of grammatical forms characteristic of a word, e.g. to write, wrote, written,
writing, writes; girl, girl’s, girls, girl’', etc.
Paradigmatic relationships are based on the interdependence of words within the vocabulary.
Paronyms are words kindred in sound form and meaning and therefore liable to be mixed but in
fact different in meaning and usage and therefore only mistakenlyinterchanged, e.g. to affect – to
effect, allusion – illusion, ingenious – ingenuous,etc.
Pejoration – see degradation.
Phrase (syn. collocation, word-combination, word-group) – a lexical unit comprising more than
one word, e.g. to go to school, a red apple etc. Kinds of phrases: adjectival, e.g. rich in gold, etc.; free,
e.g. green leaves – yellow leaves –dry leaves, etc.; nominal, e.g. a blue sky, Jack of all trades, etc.;
verbal, e.g. to go toschool, to cry over spilt milk, etc.; motivated, e.g. fine weather, to play the piano,
etc.; non-motivated, e.g. red tape, by hook or by crook, etc.
Phraseological collocations (combinations) – motivated phraseological units made up of words
possessing specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain degree of stability and strictly limited
variability of member-words, e.g. to bear grudge or to bear a malice, to win the race, to gain access,
etc.
Phraseological fusions (idioms) – completely non-motivated invariable phraseological units whose
meaning has no connection with the meaning of the components (i.e. it cannot be deduced from the
knowledge of components), e.g. to pay through the nose (to pay a high price); red tape (bureaucratic
methods), etc.
Phraseological units (syn. set expressions, fixed combinations, units of fixed context, idioms) –
partially motivated or non-motivated word-groups thatcannot be freely made up in speech but are
reproduced as ready-made units.
Phraseological unities – partially non-motivated phraseological units whose meaning can usually
be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole unit, e.g. to know the way the wind
blows, to show one’s teeth, to make amountain out of a mole-hill, etc.
Phraseology – a branch of linguistics studying set-phrases – phraseological units of all kinds.
Pidgin – a simplified form of speech developed as a medium of trade or through other contacts
 Polymorphic – having two or more morphemes, e.g. inseparable, boyishness, impossibility, etc.
Polysemantic words – having more than one meaning, e.g. board, power, case, etc.
Polysemy – plurality of meanings, i.e. co-existence of the various meanings of the same word and
the arrangement of these meanings in the semantic structure of theword, e.g. maid 1) a girl, 2) a
woman servant.
Prefix – a derivational affix (morpheme) placed before the stem, e.g. un- (unkind), mis- (misuse),
etc. Kinds of prefixes: borrowed, e.g. re-, ex-, sub-, ultra-, non-, etc.; native, e.g. un-, under-, after-,
etc.; non-productive (unproductive), e.g. in-(il-, im-, ir-), etc.; productive, e.g. un-, de-, non-, etc.
Prefixation – the formation of words with the help of prefixes. It is productive in Modern English,
especially so in verbs and adjective word-formation.
Productive affixes – affixes which participate in the formation of new words, in neologisms in
particular, i.e. which are often used to form new words; opposite non-productive (unproductive).
Productivity – the ability of a given affix to form new words.
Proverb – a sentence expressing popular wisdom, a truth or a moral lesson in a concise and
imaginative way, e.g. a friend in need is a friend indeed, while thereis life there is hope, make hay
while the sun shines, etc.
R
Reduplication – a method of forming compounds by the repetition of the same root, e.g. to pooh-
pooh, goody-goody, etc.
Reduplicative compound – a compound formed with the help of reduplication, e.g. tick-tick,
hush-hush, etc.
Referent (denotatum) – the part (aspect) of reality to which the linguistic sign refers (objects,
actions, qualities), etc.
Referential approach to meaning – the school of thought which seeks to formulate the essence of
meaning by establishing the interdependence between the word(sound-form), the concept
(reference) underlying this form and the actualreferent.
Referential meaning (denotational) meaning – denoting, or referring to something, either by
naming it John, boy, red, arrive, with, if or by pointing it out be this so.
Root (morpheme) – the primary elements of the word conveying the fundamental lexical meaning
(e.g. the lexical nucleus of the word) common to a set of semantically related words constituting one
word family, e.g. speak, speaker,speech, spoken.
S
Semantic – relating to meaning, dealing with meaning in language.
Semantic changes – changes of meaning, see amelioration, degradation, extension, narrowing of
 Semantic field – the words can be classified in sets, which are related to conceptual fields and
these words divide the semantic space / domain in different ways. They are the grouping of words
based on the connection of the notions underlying their meanings, e.g. face, head, hand, arm, foot.
Semantic level of analysis – aimed at establishing the word‟s semantic structure or the type of
meaning in which the word under analysis is used in a given context, e.g. sense is a polysemantic
word, contemptuous is a monosemantic word.
Semantic motivation – based on the co-existence of direct and figurative meanings. When a word
is used in a transferred meaning, metaphorical or otherwise, the result will be semantically
motivated: it will be transparent thanks to the connection between the two senses, e.g. head of an
army, the root of an evil, thebranches of science, etc.
Semantics – see semasiology.
Semasiology – the branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning.
Seme(me) – the meaning of a morpheme.
Semi-affixes (semi-suffixes) – elements which stand midway between root-morphemes and affixes,
i.e. root-morphemes functioning as derivational affixes,e.g. -man (in seaman, airman, workman,
chairman, etc.), -like (childlike,gentlemanlike, businesslike, etc.); -proof (fire-proof, water-proof),
etc.
Semiotics (semiology) – the science dealing with various systems of signs (including all sorts of
codes, military and traffic signals, languages in general, etc.).
Simile – a comparison, but an indirect one, using words, such as seem, like, or as to link two
objects of the comparison, e.g. My love is like a melody. I wanderedlonely as a cloud, etc.
Slang – a vocabulary layer below the level of standard educated speech.
Sound imitation – see onomatopoeia.
Sound interchange – a diachronically relevant unproductive way of word-formation due to an
alteration in the phonetic composition of the root, i.e. consonantinterchange and vowel interchange
(umlaut, or vowel mutation, and ablaut, orvowel gradation), e.g. to speak – speech, to prove – proof,
blood – to bleed,
food – to feed, etc.
Sound symbolism – associating a certain type or class of meaning with a certain sound or cluster of
sounds, e.g. there seems to be in English an association between the initial consonant cluster (sn)
and the nose, e.g. snarl, sneer, sneeze,sniff, snore, snort, snuffle.
Specialization of meaning - see narrowing.
Standard English – the official language of Great Britain used by the press, the radio and the
television and spoken by educated people. It may be defined asthat form of English which is current
and literary, substantially uniform andrecognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or
understood.
Stem – 1) the part of the word that remains unchanged throughout its paradigm (secondary stem),
e.g. worker, lucky – the secondary stems are: worker- (cf. workers, worker‟s) and lucky- (cf. luckier,
luckiest); 2) the part of the word that remains when the immediate derivational affix is stripped off,
i.e. the part on which the word is built (primary or derivational stem), e.g. the primary stems of
worker, lucky are work and luck. Kinds of stems: simple, e.g. place, green, derived, e.g. useful,
uselessness, bound, e.g. arrogance, arrogant, compound, e.g. trade-union, etc.
Style of language – a system of expressive means of language peculiar to a specific sphere of
communication, e.g. the newspaper style, the belles-letres style, etc.
Stylistic level of analysis is aimed at establishing the stylistic colouring of the word, e.g.
nourishment isa word of literary style, threat is aword of neutral style, baccy (curtailment of
tobacco) is a word of colloquial style.
Stylistics – a branch of general linguistics dealing with the study of language styles and stylistic
devices.
Stylistic synonyms – words that are similar in their denotational meaning(s) but different in their
connotational meaning(s), e.g. motherly – maternal, to put off –to postpone, cf. absolute (total,
complete) synonyms.
Subordinative (often called determinative) compound – a compound whose components are not
equal in importance. The relation between them is based on the domination of one component over
the other. The second component in these compounds is the structural and semantic centre (head)
which imparts the part-of-speech meaning to the whole word, e.g. banknote, teaspoon, duty-
free,grandson, etc.
Substantivation – turning into nouns, e.g. female (n) from female (adj), relative (n) from relative
(adj), criminal (n) from criminal (adj), etc.
Substitution – the method of testing similarity (or difference) by placing into identical
environment (within identical or similar contexts), e.g. I know thisbook. – 1 know it.
Suffix –a derivational morpheme (an affix) placed after the stem, e.g. –ness (goodness), -less
(friendless), -er (worker), etc.
Suffixal derivative – a word formed with the help of a suffix.
Suffixation – the formation of words with the help of suffixes. It is very productive in Modern
English, especially so in noun and adjective word-formation, e.g.actor, thirsty, etc.
Synchronic approach (in lexicology) – the approach concerned with the vocabulary of a language
as it exists at a given time, for instance at the present time, the previous stages of development
 Syncope – medial clipping, i.e. the formation of the word by the omission of the middle part of the
word, e.g. fancy from fantasy, specs from spectacles, etc.
Synecdoche – a type of metonymy consisting in the substitution of the name of a whole by the
name of some of its parts or vice versa, e.g. a hand – a worker,employee, etc.
Synonymic dominant – the most general word in a given group of synonyms, e.g. red, purple,
crimson; doctor, physician, surgeon; to leave,abandon, depart.
Synonymic set – a group of synonyms, e.g. big, large, great, huge, tremendous.
Synonyms – words of the same part of speech different in their sound-form but similar in their
denotative meaning and interchangeable at least in somecontexts, e.g. to look, to seem, to appear;
high – tall, etc., see absolute or total,complete, ideographic, stylistic synonyms.
Syntactic compounds – compounds whose components are placed in the order that conforms to
the rules of Modern English syntax, e.g. a know-nothing, ablackboard, daytime, etc. (cf. to know
nothing, a black colour, spring time).
System denotes a coherent homogeneous whole, constituted by interdependent elements of the
same order related in certain specific ways. A certain abstraction, a whole constituted by
intodepended elements of the same order, and we study the properties of these elements and the
relationships they enter.

Syntagma-a syntactic string of words that forms a part of some larger syntactic unit. A linguistic

unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms (phonemes, words, or phrases) that are in a
sequential relationship to one another.
Syntagmatic relations are based on the linear character of speech, i.e. on the influence of context.
Syntagmatic relationships are studied by means of contextual, valence, distributional,
transformational and some other types of analysis.
Synchronic approach– one which is concerned with the state of a language at a given state of its
development. This method of study is applied in descriptive lexicology which analyses the present
day state of the vocabulary.

T
Telescoping - see blending.
Term – a word or word-group used to name a notion characteristic of some special field of
knowledge, industry or culture, e.g. linguistic term: suffix, borrowing,polysemy, scientific term:
radius, bacillus; technical term: ohm, quantum, etc.
Thematic group – a group of words belonging to different parts of speech and joined together by
common contextual associations, e.g. sea, beach, sand, wave, toswim, to bathe, etc., they form a
 Transform - the result of transformation, see next.
Transformation(al) analysis in lexicology – the method in which the semantic similarity or
difference of words (phrases) is revealed by the possibility oftransforming them according to a
prescribed model and following certain rulesinto a different form, e.g. daily – occurring every day,
weekly – occurring everyweek, monthly – occurring every month, see lexical transformation.
Translation loans (loan-translations) – words and expressions formed from the material available
in English by way of literal word-for-word or morpheme-form-morpheme Translation of a foreign
word or expression (i.e.formed according to patterns taken from another language), e.g. masterpiece
(cf. GermanMeisterwerk); it goes without saying (cf. French cela va sans dire), etc.
U
Umlaut (syn. vowel mutation) – a partial assimilation to a succeeding sound, one of the causes of
sound interchange, e.g. food – feed, blood – bleed, see soundinterchange.
Unmotivated – see motivated (phrase, word).
Unproductive – see productive; also see affix, prefix, suffix.
Ultimate constituents (UC’s) – all the morphemes of a word (i.e. constituents incapable of further
division into any smaller elements possessing sound formand meaning). The term is usually used in
morphemic and IC‟sanalysis of wordstructure.
V
Valency (valence) – the combining power or typical cooccurrence of a linguistic element, i.e. the
types of other elements of the same level with which it canoccur; see lexical valency. Kinds of
valency: lexical valency – the aptness of aword to occur with other words, grammatical valency - the
aptness of a word toappear in specific syntactic structures.
Valency of affixes – the types of stems with which they occur.
Variants (of some language) – regional varieties of a language possessing literary form, e.g. Scottish
English, British English, American English, see dialect
Vocabulary – the system formed by the sum total of all the words and word equivalents of a
language.
W
Word –1) a basic unit of any language, which serves as a name of things, actions, qualities; it is a
two-faced unit, possessing both the form and the content.
2) one of the fundamental units of language, dialectical unity of form and content. It is related
both to extralinguistic reality and to human notions, and its basic function is to reflect reality in its
content. It is used for purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds,
possessing a meaning and characterized by formal and semantic unity.
 3) a fundamental autonomous unit of language consisting of a series of phonemes and conveying a
certain concept, idea or meaning, which has gainedgeneral acceptance in a social group of people
speaking the same language andhistorically connected (one of general definitions); 4) another
definition – a basicautonomous unit of language resulting from the association of a given
meaningwith a given group of sounds which is susceptible of a given grammaticalemployment and
able to form a sentence by itself. Kinds of words: archaic,borrowed, cognate, compound, derived,
form, homonymous, international,monomorphic, monosemantic, motivated, native, non-motivated
(unmotivated),notional, obsolete, onomatopoeic, polymorphic, polysemantic, root, synonymous.
Word-composition (also composition or compounding) – the way of forming new words by
putting two or more stems together to build a new word. Composition is very productive in Modern
English. It is mainly characteristic of noun and adjective formation, e.g. headache, typewriter,
killjoy, somebody, mother-in-law,wastepaper basket, Anglo-Saxon; pitch-dark, home-made, etc
Z
Zero-derivation – see conversion.
Zero-morpheme – see conversion.
Zoosemy – nicknaming from animals, i.e. when names of animals are used metaphorically to
denote human qualities, e.g. a tiger stands for a cruel person, afox stands for a crafty person, a
chicken stands for a lively child, an ass or a goosestands for a stupid person, a bear stands for a
clumsy person, etc.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. გამყრელიძე 2003: გამყრელიძე თამაზ, შადური ინგა, შენგელაია. თეორიული

ენათმეცნიერების კურსი. თბილისის უნივერსიტეტის
გამომცემლობა, თბილისი.
2. Antrushina 2000: Antrushina G.B. Afanaseva O.B. Morozova N.N. English
Lexicology.Москва. Издательскийдом "Дрофа.
3. Arnold 1986: Arnold I.V. The English Word. Москва «Высшаяшкола».
4. Cristal 2003: Cristal David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
Cambridge University Press. London
5. Cruse 2000: Cruse A. Meaning in Language. An Introduction to Semantics and
Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
6. Дубенец2001:ДубенецЭ. М. Курс лекций и планы семинарских занятий
по лексикологии английского языка. МПУ. Москва.
7. Carstairs-McCarthy 2002: Carstairs-McCarthy A. An Introduction to English
Morphology: Words and their Structure.Edinburgh University Press.
8. Ginzburg1979:Ginzburg, R. S. Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y. Sankin A.A.
A Course in Modern English Lexicology. «ВысшаяШкола».Москва.
9. Falk1978:Falk J.Linguistics and Language. A Survey of Basic Concepts and
Implications. John Wiley and Sons. New York

10. Fromkin 1988: Fromkin V.Rodman R. Introduction to Language. Holt, Rinehart and

Winston. Chicago
11. Haspelmath 2002: Haspelmath M. Understanding Morphology. Arnold. London.
12. Katamba 1993: Katamba F. Morphology. London. McMillan Press LTD
13. Kozub 2011: Kozub L. Modern English Lexicology.Тернополь: Изд-во ТНПУ
14. Löbner 2002:Löbner S. Understanding Semantics. Arnold. London.
15. Metthews2003:Metthews P.H. Morphology. An Introduction to the Theory of
Word-structure. Cambridge University Press. London
16. Смирницкий1956. СмирницкийА.И. Лексикологияанглийского
языка.Moscow
17. Зыкова 2008:ЗыковаИ. В. Практическикурсанглийсскойлексикологии.
Москва.Изд.»Академия»
DICTIONARIES

1. Webster 1987: Webster’s New World Dictionary. Third College Edition. Webster’s
NewWorld. Cleveland and New York.

2.Oxford 1998:The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Clarendon Press. Oxford.