Курс лекций по лексикологии

Федеральное агентство по образованию Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования Тульский государственный университет Кафедра лингвистики и перевода Лекции по лексикологии английского языка для студентов, обучающихся по направлению 031100 – лингвистика и перевод по специальности 031202 – перевод и переводоведение Автор: кандидат филологических наук, доцент Гусева Галина Владимировна Тула 2007 Lecture 1 What is Lexicology? I. The Subject of Lexicology The term lexicology is of Greek origin (from lexis – word and logos - science). Lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary and characteristic features of words and word-groups. The term word denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning. This unit is used in grammatical functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance. The term word-group denotes a group of words which exists in the language as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning, the unity of syntactical function, e.g. the word-group as loose as a goose means clumsy and is used in a sentence as a predicative (He is as loose as a goose). Lexicology can be general and special. General lexicology is the lexicology of any language, part of General Linguistics. It is aimed at establishing language universals – linguistic phenomena and propeties common to all languages. Special lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language (English, German, Russian, etc.). Lexicology can study the development of the vocabulary, the origin of words and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form and meaning. In this case it is called historical lexicology. Another branch of lexicology is called descriptive and studies the vocabulary at a definite stage of its development. II. What is a Word? First, the word is a unit of speech which, as such, serves the purposesof human communication. Thus, the word can be defined as a unit of communication. Secondly, the word can be perceived as the total of the sounds which comprise it. Third, the word, viewed structurally, possesses several characteristics. The modern approach to word studies is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word. By external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure. For example, in the word post-impressionists the following morphemes can be distinguished: the prefixes post-, im-, the root press, the noun-forming suffixes – ion, -ist, and the grammatical suffix of plurality –s. The external structure of the word, and also typical word-formation patterns, are studied in the framework of word-building. The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, is nowadays commonly referred to as the word‘s semantic structure. This is the word‘s main aspect. The area of lexicology specialising in the semantic studies of the word is called semantics. One of the main structural features of the word that it possesses both external (formal) unity and semantic unity. A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility to grammatical employment. In speech most words can be used in different grammatical forms in which their interrelations are realized. Thus, the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic unity. III. The Problem of Word-Boundaries The difference between words and other two-facet units is not always clear. There are: 1. Form words. On the one hand, they fuse with notional words phonetically and do not function as sentence-members. On the other hand, they are positionally mobile, e.g. a, to, and. 2. Loose compounds, e.g. speech sound, stone wall. On the one hand, theya are built in speech. On the other hand, they have one lexical stress. 3. Phrasal words: his I-love-you‘s. On the one hand, they are built in speech and are not reproducible. On the other, they have one lexical stress. The difference between variants of the same word and different words is also not always clear. Within the language system the word is a lexeme – an abstract unit which unites all its variant: a) lexico-semantic variants – different meanings of the same polysemantic word: to give a pen, to give a smile, to give an answer; b) phonetic variants – different pronouncation of the same word: neither, either, often; c) orthographic variants – different spelling of the same word: jail – gaol; d) morphological variants – different morphemic structure of the same word: learned – learnt, geographic – geographical. IV. Lexicology and its Connection with Other Linguistc Disciplines Lexicology is closely connected with other branches of linguistcs: 1. It is connected with Phonetics because the word‘s sound form is a fixed sequence of phonemes united by a lexical stress. 2. Lexicology is connected with Morphology and Word-Formation as the word‘s structure is a fixed sequence of morphemes. 3. It is connected with Morphology because the word‘s content plane is a unity of lexical and grammatical meanings. 4. The word functions as part of the sentence and performs a certain syntactical function that is why it is also connected with Syntax. 5. The word functions in different situations and spheres of life therefore it is connected with Stylistics, Socio- and Psycholinguistics. But there is also a great difference between lexicology and other linguistc disciplines. Grammatical and phonological systems are relatively stable. Therefore they are mostly studied within the framework of intralinguistics. Lexical system is never stable. It is directly connected with extralinguistic systems. It is constantly growing and decaying. It is immediately reacts to changes in social life, e.g. the intense development of science and technology in the 20th century gave birth to such words as computer, sputnik, spaceship. Therefore lexicology is a sociolinguistic discipline. It studies each particular word, both its intra- and extralingiustic relations. Lexicology is subdivided into a number of autonomous but interdependent disciplines: 1. Lexicological Phonetics. It studies the expression plane of lexical units in isolation and in the flow of speech. 2. Semasiology. It deals with the meaning of words and other linguistic units: morphemes, word-formation types, morphological word classes and morphological categories. 3. Onomasiology or Nomination Theory. It deals with the process of nomination: what name this or that object has and why. 4. Etymology. It studies the origin, the original meaning and form of words. 5. Praseology. It deals with phraseological units. 6. Lexicography. It is a practical science. It describes the vocabulary and each lexical unit in the form of dictionaries. 7. Lexical Morphology. It deals with the morphological stricture of the word. 8. Word-formation. It deals with the patterns which are used in coining new words. Lecture II Meaning. Concept I. Approaches to Lexical Meaning There are two main approaches to lexical meaning: referential and functional. The referential approach studies the connection between words and thins or concepts they denote. Functional approach studies relations between words. The referential model of meaning is the so-called basic semantic triangle. it consists of: 1. The sound-form (Sign) of the word: . 2. The referent (Denotatum) – the object which the word names: the actual bird. 3. The concept (Designatum) – The essential properties of this object which are reflected in human mind: “a feathered anial with wings“. Meaning is closely connected with all parts of the semantic triangle but cannot be equated with any of them. Generally speaking, meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word with the ability of denoting real objects, qualities, actions and absract notions. The functional approach assumes that the meaning of a linguistic unit can be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units and not through its relation to concept or referent, e.g. we know that the meaning of “bird n“ and “bird v“ is different because they function in speech differently. Analysing various contexts in which these words are used we can observe that they have different distribution. As the distribution of the two words is different, their meanings are different too. The same is true of a polysemantic word: Look at me – You look tired. Consequently, semantic investigation is confined to the analysis of the difference or sameness of meaning. the functional approach is a valuable complement to the referential theory. II. Lexical Meaning and Concept Meaning and concept are very closely associated but not identical. Meaning is a linguistic category. Concept is a logical and psychological category, a unit of thinking. Meaning and concept coincide only in scientific terms that have no general meanings (morpheme, phoneme, amoeba) and in terminilogical meanings of polysemantic words, e.g. legal, medical or grammatical usages of the word case. In other aspects meaning and concept do not coincide: 1. Concept is emotionally and stylistically neutral. Meaning may include non-conceptual parts: kid, gorgeous, birdie. 2. One and the same concept can be expressed differently: die – pass away, kick the bucket. 3. The number of concepts does not correspond to the number of words and meanings. One concept may be expressed by several synonymous words: child, kid – infant. One polysemantic word may express several concepts: draw – “move by pulling“ (draw a boat out of the water), “obtain from a source“ (draw water from a well), “make with a pen, pencil or chalk“ (draw a straight line). Some words do not express concepts at all: well, must, perhaps. 4. Concepts are mostly international. Meanings are nationally specific. Words expressing identical concepts may have different meanings and different semantic structures in different languages: house – дом; blue - синий, голубой. III. Types of Lexical Meaning The content plane of words includes denotative and connotative meanings. Denotative or referential meaning, the basic type of lexical meaning, is the word‘s reference to the object. This reference may be individual (The dog is trained) or general (It‘s not a dog). That is why denotative meaning is subdivided into demonstrative and significative. The type of denotative meaning varies in different groups of words. The meaning of situational words is relative – it depends on the situation and context: here, son, my, this, now. Pronominal words do not name the referent, they only point to it: he, she, they. Their meaning in isolation is very general: he – any male. but in speech their reference is always individual: he – this particular male. The referent of proper names is always an individual object or person. They refer to each member of a particular class: London, Paris (cities), John, Bob (men). Specific and generic terms differ in the size of the referent group: rose – flower; flower – plant. General terms have a wider meaning and can substitute for any specific term: dog – English bulldog, French poodle, cocker spaniel. The referent of abstract words can be perceived by the mind and not by the senses: miracle, polite, to manage. Connotative meaning includes various additional meanings: emotional, evaluative intensifying and expressive, e.g. hillock, to devour. As a rule, connotation co-exists with denotation. However, sometimes it comes to the fore and weakens the word‘s denotative meaning. Words also may have a certain stylistic value. It means that they refer to this or that situation or functional style: science, everyday life, business: get – obtain – procure; child – kid – infant. IV. Lexical and Grammatical Meaning The word is a lexical-grammatical unity. Its content plane includes two types of meaning: lexical and grammatical. Lexical meaning is individual, unique. It does not belong to any other word in the same language: bicycle – a vehicle with two wheels, handle-bars to guide it with, a seat, and two pedals to make it go. Grammatical meaning is general, standard. It belongs to a whole class of words and word-forms: bicycle – a noun in the common case, singular. At the same time lexical and grammatical meanings co-exist in the word and are interdependent: 1. Lexical meaning affects grammatical meaning: abstract or mass nouns have no plural form (joy, sugar), relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison (watery), statal verbs are not used in progressive tenses (see, understand). 2. Grammatical meaning affects lexical meaning. Different meanings of the polysemantic word go have their own grammatical peculiarities: He has gone to China – moved (go + adverb of place); They are going to get married soon – are planning (be going + to-infinitive); The children went wild with eycitement – became (go + adjective). 3. Combinability of the word depends both on its lexical and grammatical (part-of-speech) meaning, e.g. the noun tea combines with strong but not with strongly. 4. Grammatical form may be isolated from the paradigm and become lexicalized: works – factory. 5. Lexical meaning may be grammaticalized, e.g. some notional verbs may be used as link-verbs: give a smile, turn red. Lecture III Semantic Changes I. The Causes of Semantic Changes The meaning of a word can change in the course of time. 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: the change of the lexical meaning of the noun pen was due to extra-longuistic 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. Still later any instrument for writing was called a pen. On the other hand, causes may 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. The noun tide in Old English was polysemantic and denoted time, season, hour. When the French words time, season, 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: 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. Semantic changes have been classified by different scientists. The most complete classification was suggested by a German scientist Herman Paul. It is based on the logical principle. He distinguishes two main ways where the semantic change is gradual (specialization and generalization), two momentary conscious

Данная работа имеет теоретическую и практическую часть. В теоретической части рассматриваются основные способы словообразования разных частей речи при помощи приставок и суффиксов. В практической части приведены примеры типовых заданий из учебно-методических комплектов на отработку и развитие навыков и умений данного вида деятельности. Работа является актуальной, так как данный аспект языка выносится на контроль ГИА (ОГЭ,ЕГЭ) в разделе Use of English.

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Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation

Moscow University of Open Education

Section : Lexicology

Topic : Word-formation

Done by:

Teacher of English, state

secondary school 1055

Mayorova Svetlana Rudolfovna

________________________

Approved by:

Senior teacher, associate professor,

foreign languages department

Melchina Oksana Pavlovna

________________________

Moscow

2014

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………….3

2. Affixation 4

3.Conversion 7

4.Composition 8

5. Contraction 13

6. Exercises 14

7. Conclusion 22

8. Sources 23

1.Introduction. How English Words Are Made. Word-Building

Word-building are processes of producing new words from the resources of this particular language. Together with borrowing, word-building provides for enlarging and enriching the vocabulary of the language.

If viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units which are called morphemes. Morphemes do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of words. Yet they possess meanings of their own.

All morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots (or radicals) and affixes . The latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the structure of the word (as in re-read, mis-pronounce, unwell) and suffixes which follow the root (as in teach-er, cur-able, diet-ate).

Words which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of word-building known as affixation (or derivation).

Derived words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary. Successfully competing with this structural type is the so-called root word which has only a root morpheme in its structure.

Another wide-spread word-structure is a compound word consisting of two or more stems. Stem is part of the word consisting of root and affix. Words of this structural type are produced by the word-building process called composition .

Shortenings, contractions or curtailed words a are produced by the way of word-building called shortening (contraction).

The four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings) represent the main structural types of Modern English words, and conversion, derivation and composition the most productive ways of word-building.

Let us try and get a more detailed picture of each of the major types of Modern English word-building and, also, of some minor types.

2.Affixation

The process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme.

From the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same two large groups as words: native and borrowed.

Some Native Suffixes

Noun-forming

worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.

Ness

coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc.

feel ing , mean ing , sing ing , read ing , etc.

free dom, wis dom, king dom, etc.

Hood

child hood , man hood , mother hood , etc.

Ship

friend ship , companion ship , master- ship , etc.

leng th , bread th , heal th, tru th, etc.

Adjective-forming

care ful, joy ful, wonder ful, sin ful, skil ful, etc.

Less

care less , sleep less , cloud less , sense- less, etc.

coz y, tid y, merr y, snowy, show y, etc.

Engli sh , Spani sh , reddi sh , childi sh , etc.

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

wooden, woollen, silken, golden, etc.

Some

hand some, quarrel some , tire some , etc.

Verb-forming

wid en , redd en , dark en , sadd en , etc.

Adverb-forming

warm ly, hard ly , simp ly , careful ly , cold ly, etc.

Borrowed affixes , especially of Romance origin are numerous in the English vocabulary. An affix of foreign origin can be regarded as borrowed only after it has begun an independent and active life in the recipient language, that is, is taking part in the word-making processes of that language.

Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive types . By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce-words. One should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency of occurrence. There are quite a number of high-frequency affixes which, nevertheless, are no longer used in word-derivation (e. g. the adjective-forming native suffixes -ful, -ly; the adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin -ant, -ent, -al which are quite frequent).

Some Productive Affixes

Noun-forming suffixes

Er, -ing, -ness, -ism 1 (materialism), -ist 1 (impressionist), -ance

Adjective-forming suffixes

Y, -ish, -ed (learned), -able, -less

Adverb-forming suffixes

Verb-forming suffixes

Ize/-ise (realise), -ate

Prefixes

un- (unhappy), re- (reconstruct), dis- (disappoint)

Some Non-Productive Affixes

Noun-forming suffixes

Th, -hood

Adjective-forming suffixes

Ly, -some, -en, -ous

Verb-forming suffix

Semantics of Affixes

Meanings of affixes are specific and considerably differ from those of root morphemes. Affixes have widely generalised meanings and refer the concept conveyed by the whole word to a certain category, which is vast and all-embracing. So, the noun-forming suffix -er could be roughly defined as designating persons from the object of their occupation or labour (painter - the one who paints) or from their place of origin or abode (southerner - the one living in the South). The adjective-forming suffix -ful has the meaning of "full of", "characterised by" (beautiful, careful) whereas -ish may often imply insufficiency of quality (greenish - green, but not quite; youngish - not quite young but looking it).

Such examples might lead one to the somewhat hasty conclusion that the meaning of a derived word is always a sum of the meanings of its morphemes: un/eat/able = "not fit to eat" where not stands for un- and fit for –able but the constituent morphemes within derivatives do not always preserve their current meanings and are open to subtle and complicated semantic shifts.

3.Conversion

Conversion is sometimes referred to as an affixless way of word-building or even affixless derivation. Saying that, however, is saying very little because there are other types of word-building in which new words are also formed without affixes (most compounds, contracted words, sound-imitation words, etc.).

Conversion consists in making a new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged. The new word has a meaning which differs from that of the original one though it can more or less be easily associated with it. It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech.

Conversion is both a highly productive and a particularly English way of word-building. Its immense productivity is considerably encouraged by certain features of the English language in its modern stage of development. The analytical structure of Modern English greatly facilitates processes of making words of one category of parts of speech from words of another. So does the simplicity of paradigms of English parts of speech. A great number of one-syllable words is another factor in favour of conversion, for such words are naturally more mobile and flexible than polysyllables.

Conversion is a convenient and "easy" way of enriching the vocabulary with new words. It is certainly an advantage to have two (or more) words where there was one, all of them fixed on the same structural and semantic base.

The two categories of parts of speech especially affected by conversion are nouns and verbs. Verbs made from nouns are the most numerous amongst the words produced by conversion: e. g. to hand, to back, to face, to eye, to mouth, to nose, to dog, to wolf, to monkey, to can, to coal, to stage, to screen, to room, to floor, to blackmail, to blacklist, to honeymoon, and very many others.

Nouns are frequently made from verbs: do (e. g. This is the queerest do I"ve ever come across. Do - event, incident), go (e. g. He has still plenty of go at his age. Go - energy), make, run, find, catch, cut, walk, worry, show, move, etc.

Verbs can also be made from adjectives: to pale, to yellow, to cool, to grey, to rough (e. g. We decided to rough it in the tents as the weather was warm), etc.

Other parts of speech are not entirely unsusceptible to conversion as the following examples show: to down, to out (as in a newspaper heading Diplomatist Outed from Budapest), the ups and downs, the ins and outs, like, n, (as in the like of me and the like of you).

4. Composition

In this type of word-building new words are produced by combining two or more stems. It is one of the three most productive types in Modern English, the other two are conversion and affixation. Compounds, though certainly fewer in quantity than derived or root words, still represent one of the most typical and specific features of English word-structure.

There are at least three aspects of composition that present special interest.

The first is the structural aspect. Compounds are not homogeneous in structure. Traditionally three types are distinguished : neutral, morphological and syntactic.

In neutral compounds the process of compounding is realised without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems, as in blackbird, shop-window, sunflower, bedroom, tallboy, etc. There are three subtypes of neutral compounds depending on the structure of the constituent stems.

The examples above represent the subtype which may be described as simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affixless stems.

Compounds which have affixes in their structure are called derived or derivational compounds . E. g. absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, lady-killer, film-goer, music-lover, honey-mooner, first-nighter, late-comer, newcomer, early-riser, evildoer.

The third subtype of neutral compounds is called contracted compounds. These words have a shortened (contracted) stem in their structure: TV-set (-program, -show, -canal, etc.), V-day (Victory day), G-man (Government man "FBI agent"), H-bag (handbag), T-shirt, etc.

Morphological compounds are few in number. This type is non-productive. It is represented by words in which two compounding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, e. g. Anglo-Saxon, Franko-Prussian, handiwork, handicraft, craftsmanship, spokesman, statesman (see also p. 115).

Syntactic compounds are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs, as in the nouns lily-of-the-valley, Jack-of-all-trades, good-for-nothing, mother-in-law, sit-at-home. Syntactical relations and grammatical patterns current in present-day English can be clearly traced in the structures of such compound nouns as

pick-me-up, know-all, know-nothing, go-between, get-together, whodunit. The last word (meaning "a detective story") was obviously coined from the ungrammatical variant of the word-group who (has) done it.

In this group of compounds, once more, we find a great number of neologisms, and whodunit is one of them. Consider, also, the two following fragments which make rich use of modern city traffic terms.

Another focus of interest is the semantic aspect of compound words, that is, the question of correlations of the separate meanings of the constituent parts and the actual meaning of the compound. Or, to put it in easier terms: can the meaning of a compound word be regarded as the sum of its constituent meanings?

To try and answer this question, let us consider the following groups of examples.

(1) Classroom, bedroom, working-man, evening-gown, dining-room, sleeping-car, reading-room, dancing-hall.

This group seems to represent compounds whose meanings can really be described as the sum of their constituent meanings. Yet, in the last four words we can distinctly detect a slight shift of meaning. The first component in these words, if taken as a free form, denotes an action or state of whatever or whoever is characterised by the word. Yet, a sleeping-car is not a car that sleeps (cf. a sleeping child), nor is a dancing-hall actually dancing (cf. dancing pairs).

The shift of meaning becomes much more pronounced in the second group of examples.

(2) Blackboard, blackbird, football, lady-killer, pick
pocket, good-for-nothing, lazybones, chatterbox.

In these compounds one of the components (or both) has changed its meaning: a blackboard is neither a board nor necessarily black, football is not a ball but a game, a chatterbox not a box but a person, and a lady-killer kills no one but is merely a man who fascinates women. It is clear that in all these compounds the meaning of the whole word cannot be defined as the sum of the constituent meanings. The process of change of meaning in some such words has gone so far that the meaning of one or both constituents is no longer in the least associated with the current meaning of the corresponding free form.

The compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the separate meanings of their constituent parts are called idiomatic compounds, in contrast to the first group known as non-idiomatic compounds.

A further theoretical aspect of composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination .

This question has a direct bearing on the specific feature of the structure of most English compounds which has already been mentioned: with the exception

of the rare morphological type, they originate directly from word-combinations and are often homonymous to them: cf. a tall boy - a tallboy.

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 even within the same book. 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 does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers supported by a low stand.

Moreover, the word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts (1. a young male person; 2. big in size), whereas the word tallboy expresses one concept.

Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept and some of them are characterised by a high degree of semantic cohesion (see Ch. 12).

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: blие-"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 actual 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, graphic) can convincingly classify a lexical unit as either a compound word or a wordgroup.

5. Shortening (Contraction)

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 defence), 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: U.N.O. ["ju:neu] from the United Nations Organisation, B.B.C. from the British Broadcasting Corporation, M.P. from 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.

6. Exercises on Word-Building

In my work I use student’ books and workbooks “Enjoy English” by Biboletova M.Z.. Here are some exercises on this topic.

Ex.1. Fill in the gaps in the text with the correct forms of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Finding his own way .

Though he is only twelve years old, Peter James Donnelly has already

tasted the rewards of finding his own way when it comes to (O) expressing himself. (1)... and record company Fatt Boy Records has just released his first record, Too Young, on (2)... to prove it. By day, Peter goes about his lessons like any other school (3) ... in Corby, Northamptonshire. By night he becomes PJ the DJ, spinning speed garage, drum and bass and hip hop at clubs such as Laposte in Corby, Generation X in Manchester and as far as Magalus on Majorca.

“I don’t get (4) ..., just a bit excited,” he says. “When I’m mixing at a club,

I have five or ten minutes to get used to the (5)... . I try a few tunes to see what the club’s like, see whether people are dancing and know the tunes. Then I play some older ones, then the (6) .... I love music.”

As an afterthought, he mentions that he’s the youngest DJ in the land to mix vocals.

  1. EXPRESS 1. MUSIC 2. PROMOTE 3.STUDY 4. NURVE 5. EQUIP 6.FAVOUR

Answers: 1. MUSIC 2. PROMOTION 3. STUDENT 4.NURVOUS 5. EQUIPMENT 6.FAVOURITES

Ex.2 Complete the table with the correct form of the words.

noun

verb

adjective / participle

argue

related

suggestion

suggested

change

provision

employed

competition

anxious

concluding

belief

Answers: argument, argumentative; relative/relationship, relate; suggest; change, changeable/changing; provide, provided; employment/unemployment/employer/employee, employ; compete, competitive; anxiety; conclusion ,conclude; believe, believable

Ex.3 WORD FOCUS: WORD FORMATION: NOUN SUFFIXES -ENCE, -ANCE, -ITY, -TY

Complete the following table with the missing word forms. Consult the dictionary if necessary.

noun

verb

adjective

active

depend

reliable

humanity

Answers: activity, act; dependency, dependent; reliance, rely; humanise, humane

Ex.4 Fill in the gaps in the text with the correct forms of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS at the end of each line.

Without my computer I would not have the pleasure of the getting to my favourite sites, I would have difficulty (1) ... with friends, and I would not be able to do my work for school. I often wonder how we all managed before computers were a common place in the home. I just don’t have the time to be always running to the post box to send letters. E-mail is very 2)...when you have a tough schedule. Most of my (3) ... time is spent at the computer as by the time I finish doing homework I am too tired and it is often too late to go out. It is a (4) ... reference aid and (5) ... tool. If all else fails, you can play cards on it, although my own (6) ... is for action games!

  1. COMMUNICATE 2. IMPORTANCE 3. RELAX 4. WONDER 5. EDUCATION 6.PREFER

ANSWERS: 1. COMMUNICATING 2.IMPORTANT 3.RELEXATION 4.WONDERFUL 5.EDUCATIONAL 6.PREFERENCE

Ex.5 Fill in the gaps in the text with the correct forms of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Bowing

The tradition of bowing is so (0) complex that Asians attend special classes to learn how to do it (1).... It’s unlikely that any (2) ... visitor would be able to appropriately carry out the formal bow, doing it to the right (3) ... and with the correct duration. However, a polite attempt to bow in (4) ... will be appreciated by your Asian (5) ... .If you want to express some special respect in the (6) ..., bow lower. Be sure to learn an appropriate verbal greeting to accompany the bow.

0.COMPLEXITY 1.PROPER 2.NATION 3.DEEP 4.GREET 5. ACQUAINT 6.RALATION

ANSWERS: 1. PROPERLY 2.INTERNATIONAL 3.DEPTH 4.GREETING 5.ACCUAINTANCE (S) 6.RELATIONSHIP

Ex.6 Fill in the gaps in the text with the correct forms of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Origins of writing in China

Most linguists believe that writing was (0 ) invented in China during the latter half of the 2nd millennium BC.

Chinese is written with characters. Each character represents a syllable of (1) ... Chinese and also has a SPEAK meaning. The characters were originally pictures of people, animals or other things but over the centuries they have become (2) ... stylised and no longer look like INCREASE the things they represent.

The Chinese writing system is (3) ... . The largest LIMIT Chinese dictionaries include about 56,000 characters, but most of them are archaic, obscure or rare variant forms.

Knowledge of about 3,000 characters (4) ... you to read ABLE about 99% of the characters in Chinese newspapers and magazines. To read Chinese literature, technical writings or Classical Chinese, though, you need to be familiar with about 6,000 characters.

There are currently two systems for Chinese characters. The (5)... system, still used in Hong Kong and TRADITIO. Taiwan, comes from standardised character forms dating back to the late Han Dynasty. The Simplified Chinese Character System, (6)... in 1954 to promote mass literacy,

(7) ... most complex traditional characters to fewer strokes.

0. INVENT 1.SPEAK 2.INCREASE 3.LIMIT 4.ABLE 5. TRADITION 6.DEVELOP 7.SIMPLE

ANSWERS: 1. SPOKEN 2.INCREASINGLY 3. UNLIMITED 4. ENABLES 5. TRADITIONAL 6. DEVELOPED 7. SIMPLIFIES Ex.7 Fill in the table with the correct form of the words.

noun

adjective

verb

imaginative

professional

creative

competent

enthusiastic

responsible

competitive

persistent

inspirational

ANSWERS: IMAGINATION, IMAGINE

PROFESSION

CREATION/CREATIVITY/CREATOR/CREATURE, CREATE

COMPETENCE

ENTHUSIAST/ENTHUSIASM,ENTHUSE

RESPONSIBILITY

COMPETITION/COMPETOR, COMPETE

PERSISTANCE, PERSIST

INSPIRATION, INSPIRE

Ex.8 Fill in the gaps in the text with the correct forms of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Career choice

Making a career choice is one of the most difficult and most important (0) decisions we will ever make in our lives. It has to be made with much (1) ... and deliberation. Moreover, career choices cannot be made based on just a few criteria alone. Your job may carry great monetary (2) ... and perks, but if you do not enjoy what you do then you are (3) ... wasting a large part of your life. At the same time, remember that money is also important for you need it to survive. So, if a job is all (4) ... but no pay, things can get difficult.

Before you start choosing a perfect career, you need to know yourself first. But sometimes all this self-analysis leads to (5) ... . We end up more (6) ... than we were at the beginning. Then, the best way to deal with the dilemma is to think about (7) ... a career counselor.

A career development professional will use various tools to help you evaluate your interests, personality, (8) ... and values. He or she will then show you how all these things, combined, play a role in choosing a career. You can also learn about a career by interviewing people who are already in that profession.

Once you have all the information you need, list out all the pros and cons of that particular job. Look at the various (9) ... . Check to see if the job gives you what you want from a career. Passion is the key word in selecting a career. Select something because you feel passionate about it, not because it is the latest thing in the job market.

  1. DECIDE 1.THINK 2. BENEFICIAL 3. FOOL 4. SATISFY 5.WHERE 6. CONFUSION 7. CONSULT 8.SKILLFULL 9.ALTER

ANSWERS: 0.DECISION 1. THOUGHT 2. BENEFITS 3. FOOLISHLY 4. SATISFACTION 5. NOWHERE 6.CONFUSED 7.CONSULTING 8.SKILLS 9.ALTERNATIVES

Ex. 9 Complete the sentences with the correct forms of the words at the end of the text.

Earth-friendly fabrics

Shopping for clothes involves tricky decisions about fit, colour, style, and price. And if a (1) ... number of companies have their way, you’ll soon start checking labels for another key detail: (2) ... impact.

Earth-friendly fabrics are in. It’s already (3) ... to buy shirts made from bamboo and socks made from corn. Shopping malls of the future might also carry clothes made from chicken feathers or rice straw.

The companies that make such fabrics are interested in (4) ... development. This means trying to (5) ... things that people need while protecting natural resources and preserving biodiversity.

“A fully sustainable business would be one that (6) ., negative impact on the environment,” says Gordon Rands, an environmental business expert at Western Illinois University in Macomb. “I don’t think such a business exists yet, but (7) ... it’s very possible. And companies are moving in this (8) ... .” So, (9) ... are now looking for new ways to make fabrics for clothes that are good both for your (10) ... and for the Earth.

1.GROW 2.ENVIRONMENT 3.POSSIBILITY 4. SUSTAIN 5.PROVIDER 6.CREATIVE 7.THEORY 8.DIRECT 9.SCIENCE 10.IMAGINE

ANSWERS: 1.GROWING 2.ENVIRONMENTAL 3.POSSIBLE 4. SUSTAINABLE 5. PROVIDE 6. CREATED 7. THEORETICALLY 8. DERECTION 9.SCIENTISTS 10.IMAGE

Ex.10 Fill in the gaps in the text with the correct forms of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS at the end of the text.

The dragon dance

The dragon dance was started by the Chinese who had shown great (0 ) belief and respect towards the dragon. The dragon is an important symbol of Chinese culture and tradition. The dragon dance has spread beyond China to the whole world. It has become a special (1) ... of arts in Chinese physical activities. It symbolises good luck and (2) ... in the year to come for all the human beings on Earth. According to ancient history, during the period of Chun Chiu, the learning of Chinese Martial Arts was very popular and in students’ spare time, the dragon dance was also being (3) ... to provide more (4) ... . From its origins in combining stylised depictions of natural animals, the Chinese dragon evolved to become a mythical (5)... in Chinese culture. Its physical form is a (6) ... of many animals, including the horns of a stag, ears of a bull, eyes of a rabbit, claws of a tiger and the scales of a fish, all on a long serpent’s body. With these traits, it was believed that dragons were amphibious with the (7) ... to move on land, fly through the air and swim in the sea. The emperors of ancient China considered themselves to be dragons. The dragon is also the emblem of Imperial Authority. It symbolises (8) ... power, goodness, fertility, and dignity.

0.BELIEVE 1. PERFORM 2. PROSPER 3. TEACH 4.ENCOURAGE 5. CREATE 6. COMBINE 7. ABLE 8. NATURE

ANSWERS: 0. BELIEF 1. PERFORMANCE 2. PROSPERITY 3. TAUGHT 4. ENCOURAGEMENT 5. CREATURE 6. COMBINATION 7. ABILITY 8. NATURAL/SUPERNATURAL

7.Conclusion

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of word-formation in the English language. Knowing the rules of word-building and understanding the meanings of affixes simplify the process of learning English and enrich students’ vocabulary. Word-formation is a part in the section” Use of English” in Single State Exam in English, so teachers should pay a lot of attention to it and spend some time drilling students on this aspect.

8. Sources

1. Антрушина Г.Б. Лексикология английского языка. М., 2001

2. Биболетова М.З. Английский с удовольствием. Учебник и рабочая тетрадь для 10 класса. М., 2010

3. Биболетова М.З. Английский с удовольствием. Учебник и рабочая тетрадь для 11 класса. М., 2010

4. Смирницкий А.И. Лексикология английского языка. М.,1956

5 .Koonin A. English Lexicology. M., 1940



Преподаватель Беляева Е.П.

ПГУ 3 курс

Lexocology it’s subject and brunches. Word and it’s meaning.

L. is a branch of linguistic which deals with analysis of words.

Task is a systematic description of the vocabulary in respect to it’s origin. Development and use.

Plato’s work: words are names or labels for things.

Aristotle: the smallest significant unit of speech.

Modern linguists: Reference

Symbol Referent

The model is the result of attempts to find relations between words and things.

C.Ogden and I.Richards (this triangle)

Is represented by

meaning: an animal

kept as a pet

Name:”dog” is named by Referent: a real dog

Reference- meaning

We’re able to use a word when this triangle is formed in our brain, when we know what object (concept) this word denotes.

Выготский: “a word is a microcosm of human conscienceness”

Words are different.

H. Sweet distinguished between full words (words with an independent meaning and form words which are grammatical elements. (the sane Aristotel)

Gently and

The words in 1-st column

Second- has no independent meaning proper. They are of structural function (they contribute to the meaning of the whole phrase when they are used in conjunction with other words)/ This division is not strict enough. Sometimes form words can receive full semantic status even if they are used in complete isolation.

Sometimes it’s easy to understand the meaning of a words and it’s parts.

S. Ullman distinguishes between transparent and opaque words.

washable transparent

glove opaque

T.words are always motivated.

O. words are conventional words.

This distinguish goes back to the Greeks.

Motivation is the relationship existing between the phonemes or morphemic composition ans structural pattern of a word on the one hand and it’s meaning oh the other hand.

3 types of M.: 1.phonetical

When there us a certain similarity between the sounds of a word and the sounds referred to by the meaning of a word – phonetical.

Звукоподражательные слова:

Ding-dong …etc.

Morphological- it’s possible to guess the meaning of a word from it’s parts.

(in newly coined words)

Semantic motivation is based on the coexistence of direct and figurative meaning of the same word.

Foot- a lower part of smth; part of a body

The foot of the mountain.

Each word has a hard core of meaning which stable, but can’t be modified by the context within certain limits.

2 types of context: linguistic (verbal)

L. the environment in which the word occurs as for the extra L. It consists of the entire cultural background against which we said this or that event.

The meaning of a word can change depending on the environment .

Instead of the term “word” some linguists prefer the terms “lexical unit”, “lexical item” or “lexeme”

“Word” causes much confusion because it’s used orthographically, grammatically and lexically.

No agreement between the scholars in terminology.

Lexicology presents a wide area of knowledge.

    Historical lex-y deals with the historic change of words in the course of lang. development.

    Comparative l. Studies closely relative languages from the point of view of their identity and differentiation.

    Contrastive- both relative and unrelative lang-s. establishes differences and similarity.

    Applied lex-y- translation, lexicography, pragmatics of speech.

Lexicology investigates various meaning relations existing in the lang., how the lexicon words to provide and support meaningfull communication.

Each word is a part of entire system land. vocabulary. Every item of a language stands closely with 2 other items. - the sintagmatic level

    the paradygmatic level.

On the sintagmatic level the semantic structure of a word is analysed in it’s linear relationships with neighbouring words.

On the paradigmatic level- relationship with other words in the vocabulary system: synonims