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1 Analyze stem, root of the words, and give their types.
When a derivational or functional affix is stripped from the word, what remains is a stem. The stem expresses the lexical and the part of speech meaning. For the word hearty and for the paradigm heart(sing) – hearts(pl) the stem may be represented as heart-. This 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. A stem may also be defined as a part of the word that remains unchanged throughout its paradigm. The stem of the paradigm hearty – heartier (the) heartiest is hearty-. It is a free stem, but as it consists of a root morpheme and an affix, it is not simple but derived. Thus, a stem containing one or more affixes is a derived stem. If after deducing the affix the remaining stem is not homonymous to a separate word of a same root, we call it a bound stem. For example, in the word cordial the adjective-forming suffix can be separated on the analogy with such words as bronchial, radial, social. The remaining stem, however, cannot form a separate word by itself, it is bound. Bound stems are especially characteristic of loan words. Ex: French borrowings: arrogance, charity, courage, coward, which do not coincide with any semantically related independent words. Roots are main morphemic vehicles of a given idea in a given language at a given stage of its development. A root may be also regarded as the ultimate constituent element which remains after the removal of all functional and derivational affixes and does not admit any further analysis. Not all roots are free forms, the roots which capable of producing new words are productive roots. Ex: a morning’s drive, a morning’s ride, a morning’s walk.
2 Analyze the problems of Lexicology according to their importance in Lexicology.
The problems of Lexicology:
1)Word-formation
2)Semasiology and types of word meaning
3)Paradigmatic (synonymy and functional style) and syntagmatic relations of words
4)Phraseology
5)Lexicography. Types of dictionaries.
6)The study of vocabulary as a system.
The problem of word-building is associated with prevailing morphological word-structures and with processes of making new words. Semantics is the study of meaning. Modern approaches to this problem are characterized by two different levels of study: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
On the syntagmatic level, the semantic structure of the word is analysed in its linear relationships with neighbouring words in connected speech. In other words, the semantic characteristics of the word are observed, described and studied on the basis of its typical contexts.
On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationships with other words in the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in comparison with other words of similar meaning.
Phraseology is the branch of lexicology specializing in word-groups which are characterized by stability of structure and transferred meaning.
One further important objective of lexicological studies is the study of the vocabulary of a language as a system. The vocabulary can be studied synchronically, that is, at a given stage of its development, or diachronically, that is, in the context of the processes through which it grew, developed and acquired its modern form.
Lexicography is the branch of lexicology that deals with the problems of dictionary compiling.
3 Compare verbal and non-verbal causes of semantic change.
By extra-linguistic causes (non-verbal) we mean various changes in the life of the speech community, changes in economic and social structure, changes in ideas, scientific concepts, way of life, changes in culture, arts as reflected in word meanings. Newly created objects, new concepts and phenomena must obtain names. We already know of two ways for providing new names for newly created concepts: making new words (word-building) and borrowing foreign ones. One more way of filling such vocabulary gaps is by applying some old word to a new object or notion. F: when the first textile factories appeared in England, the old mill was applied to these early industrial enterprises. In this way mill (a Latin borrowing of the first century) added a new meaning to its former meaning “a building in which corn is ground into flour”. The new meaning was “textile factory”. F: carriage which had the meaning “a vehicle drawn by horses”, but with the first appearance of railways in England, it received a new meaning, that of “a railway car”.
By linguistic causes we mean factors acting within the language system or through the influence of other words, mostly of synonyms. F: the word land in old English meant both “solid part of earth’s surface” and “the territory of a nation”. When in middle English period the word country was borrowed at its synonym, the meaning of the word land was somewhat altered and “the territory of a nation” came to be denoted mainly by the borrowed word country.
4 Compare and contrast linguistic metaphor and metonymy.
Generally speaking, of any semantic change has some associations between the old meaning and the new. There are two kinds of association involved in various semantic changes: similarity of meaning (metaphor) and contiguity of meaning (metonymy). In other words transference based on Resemblance is metaphor. Transference based on contiguity is metonymy. The process of development of a new meaning or a change of meaning is traditionally termed transference. The transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison or resemblance is called metaphor. For example,
a)similarity of shape, e.g. head of a cabbage, bottleneck, teeth of a comb
b)similarity of position, e.g. foot of a mountain, a page, leg of a table
c)similarity of function, behaviour, e.g. branch of a science
d)similarity of colour, e.g. orange, chestnut
e)metaphors which are based on parts of a human body, e.g. an eye of a needle, mouth of a river, head of an army
f)when proper names become common nouns, e.g. vandals-destructive people, a Don Juan-a lover of many women
The transfer of the meaning on the basis of contiguity is called metonymy. For example,
There are different types of metonymy:
a)the material of which an object is made may become the name of the object, e.g. a glass, boards, iron
b)the name of the place may become the name of the people or of an object placed there, e.g. the House –members of Parliament, Fleet Street – bourgeois press, the White House – the administration of the USA
c)names of musical instruments may become names of musicians, e.g. the violin, the saxophone
d)the name of some person may become a common noun, e.g. boycott was originally the name of an Irish family who were so much disliked by their neighbours that they did not mix with them, sandwich-was named after Lord sandwich who was a gambler. He did not want to interrupt his game and had his food brought to him while he was playing cards between two slices of bread not to soil his fingers.
e)names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they invented, e.g. watt, om, roentgen
f)some geographical names can also become common nouns through metonymy, e.g. Holland (linen fabrics), Brussels (a special kind of carpets), china (porcelain), astrakhan (a sheep fur)
Linguistic metonymy may be described as the semantic process of associating two referents one of which makes part of the other or is closely connected with it. This association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty. The two objects may be associated together because they often appear in common situations, and so the image of one is easily accompanied by the image of the other; or they may be associated on the principle of cause and effect, of common function, of some material and an object which is made of it.
5 Compare the results of change fom the denotational and connotational points of view.
Results of semantic change can be generally observed in the changes of the denotational meaning of the word (extension and restriction of meaning) or in the alteration of its connotational component (amelioration and deterioration of meaning). Changes in the denotational meaning may result in the restriction of the types or range of referents denoted by the word. Restriction of meaning is called specialization of meaning or narrowing of meaning. It is gradual process when a word passes from a general sphere to some special sphere of communication. The meaning of a word can specialize when it remains in the general usage. It happens in the case of the conflict between two absolute synonyms when one of them must specialize in its meaning to remain in the language. F: 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, room – originally a space, now-dining room, sleeping room
Changes in the denotational meaning may also result in the application of the word to a wider variety of referents. This is commonly described as extension of meaning. If the word with the extended meaning passes from the specialized vocabulary into common use, we describe the result of the semantic change as the generalization of meaning or broadening of meaning. F: the word borrowed into Middle English from old French where it was persone and came from Latin persona “the mask used by an actor, one who plays a part, a character in a play”. The great theatre spaces in ancient Rome made it impossible for the spectators to see the actor’s face and facial changes. It was also difficult to hear his voice distinctly. That is why masks with a megaphonic effect were used (chairperson, policeperson, salesperson, workperson)
A change in the connotational meaning may be subdivided into pejoration or degradation of meaning and amelioration or elevation or improvement of the connotational component of meaning. Semantically speaking deterioration or pejoration means the second meaning develops a negative evaluative connotation which was absent in the first meaning. They seem to imply that meanings can become worse which is neither logical nor plausible. Amelioration or elevation is a transfer of the meaning when becomes better in the course of time. Elevation or amelioration of meaning is a transfer of the meaning when it becomes better in the course of time, e.g. knight – originally meant a boy, then a young servant, then a military servant, then a noble man. Now it is a title of nobility given to outstanding people; marshal originally meant a horse man., now it is the highest military rank. Degradation or pejoration of meaning is a transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the course of time. It is usually connected with nouns denoting common people, e.g. villain-originally meant working on a villa, now it means a scoundrel.
7 Comment on types of context, give examples.
Context is the minimal stretch of speech necessary to determine individual meanings of the word. A full understanding of the semantic structure of any lexical item can be gained only from the study of a variety of contexts in which the word is used, i.e. from the study of the intralinguistic relations of words in the flow of speech. That is why the main types of linguistic contexts which serve to determine individual meanings of words are lexical, grammatical, the extra-linguistic or context of situation, common contextual associations or thematic groups.
In lexical contexts the main importance are the groups of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word under consideration. F: the verb to take in isolation has primarily the meaning “lay hold of with the hands, grasp, seize” when combined with the lexical group of words denoting some means of transportation (e.g. to take the tram, the bus, train) it acquires the meaning synonymous with the meaning of the verb go. This can be also proved that when we want to describe the individual meaning of a polysemantic word, we find it sufficient to use this word in combination with some members of a certain lexical group. F: handsome + man, person; size, reward, sum. The meaning “good looking” and “considerable, ample” are illustrated by the contexts. The meanings determined by lexical contexts are sometimes referred to as lexically (or phraseologically) bound meanings which implies that such meanings are to be found only in certain lexical contexts.
In grammatical contexts the grammatical structure serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. F: one of the meanings of the verb make is “to force, to induce” is found only in the grammatical context possessing the structure to make smb do smth or in other terms this word’s meaning is “to become”. “to turn out to be” is observed in the contexts of a different structure. i.e. make followed by an adjective and a noun (to make a good wife, a good teacher). A different syntactic function of the verb, e.g. that of the predicate (to make machines, tables) excludes the possibility of the meaning “to become, turn out to be”. The lexical and grammatical contexts are also called linguistic or verbal contexts.
In extra-linguistic contexts (context of situation) the meaning of the word is determined not by the linguistic factors but by the actual speech situation in which this word is used.
In common contextual associations (the thematic groups) the meaning is based on the coocurrence of words in certain repeatedly used contexts. Words in thematic groups are joined together by common contextual associations within the framework of the sentence and reflect the interlinking of things or events. Words making up a thematic group belong to different parts of speech and do not possess any common denominator of meaning. Contextual associations formed by the speaker of a language are usually conditioned by the context of situation which necessitates the use of certain words. F: journey-train-taxi-bags-ticket; shopping – it is usual to speak of the prices, of the goods we buy, sell.
Extra-linguistic and common contextual associations are also called extra-linguistic or non-verbal contexts.
8 Compare denotational and connotational types of word-meaning.
The Denotational or denotative meaning means that component of the lexical meaning which makes communication possible. To denote is to serve as linguistic expression for a notion or as a name for an actually existing object referred to by a word (also referential or extentional meaning) The first or given meaning of the words. Denotation- the expression of the main meaning, meaning proper of a linguistic unit.
The connotational or connotative meaning means the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. It means the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. The emotional content of the word is its capacity to evoke or directly express emotion (also called emotive charge, intentional or affective connotations of words). The figurative, secondary meaning of the words. Connotation- supplementary, complementary meaning or stylistic shade which is added to the word’s main meaning and which serves to express all sorts of emotional, expressive, evaluative overtones.The emotional charge is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as linguistic units and forms part of the connotational component of meaning. But as for stylistic meaning of the word we mean their stylistic reference (about literary, neutral and colloquial layers).
9 Compare and contrast amelioration and pejoration of meanings.
Semantic changes depending on the social evaluation and emotional tone, are called amelioration and pejoration of meaning. Amelioration is a semantic shift undergone by words due to their referents coming up the social scale. In other words it is the elevation or improvement of meaning. For example, OE cwen “a woman” > ModE gueen, OE marshall “a house man” > ModE a highest military rang. The reverse process is pejoration; it involves a lowering in social scale connected with the appearance of a derogatory and scornful emotive tone reflecting the disdain of the upper classes towards the lower ones. A knave < OE cnafa meant at first “boy” then “servant” and finally became a term of abuse and scorn. From their names elevation and degradation it is clear that this two processes are opposite: amelioration – OE cniht “a young servant” > ModE knight; pejoration – OE gossip “a god parenrs” >ModE “chats, not truthful information.” Consequently, this two results of semantic changes are opposite to each other.
11 Contrast the major and minor types of word-classes.
Major type
Word-building or formation is the process of creating words from the material available in the language after certain structural and semantic patterns. There are productive (major or basic, principle) and non-productive (minor or secondary) ways of creating words in the English language. The main and productive types of word-building in English are affixation, word-compounding, conversion, shortening; the minor types of creating words are back-formation, reduplication, blending, sound-interchange, stress-interchange, sound-imitation.
Major types of word-formation.
Affixation and types of affixation.
All morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots (or radicals) and affixes. \Words which consist of a root and an affix are called derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of word-building known as affixation or derivation. From the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same two large groups as words: native and borrowed.
Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive types
Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation. The main function of suffixes is to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. There are different classifications of suffixes:
-
part-of-speech classification.
2. semantic classification.
3. lexical-grammatical character of the stem.
4. origin of suffixes.
-
productivity.
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead, over the table).
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech.
Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation. e.g. to form the verb “to dial” from the noun “dial” we change the paradigm of the noun (a dial, dials) for the paradigm of a regular verb (I dial, he dials, dialed).
Compound words and their types.
Composition is the way of word-building when a word is formed by joining two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound word depends upon the unity of stress, solid or hyphenated spelling, semantic unity, unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. e.g. middle-of-the-road, off-the-record.
Shortening is a comparatively new way of word-building has achieved a high degree of productivity, especially in American English.
Shortenings are produced in two different ways. The first is to make a new word of syllable 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, ad from advertisement) or both the beginning and ending (as flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator).
Minor type
Blending
The term blending is used to designate the method of merging parts of words into one new word; the result is a blend, also known as a portmanteau word. Blends are words formed from a word-group or two synonyms. In blends two way of word-building are combined: abbreviation and composition. Cinemadict from cinema addict, chunnel from canal and channel, dramedy from drama and comedy, faction from fact fiction-fiction based on real facts, informecial from information commercial, medicare from medical care, slanguist from slang linguist
Back-formation
It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new word (reversion). Instead of a noun made from a verb by affixation, a verb was produced from a noun by substraction. F: to collocate from collocation, to compute from computer, to emote from emotion, to televise from television, painter from to paint, to baby sit from baby sitter.
Back-formation is derivation of new words by substracting a real or supposed affix from existing words through misinterpretation of their structure.
Reduplication
New words are made by doubling a stem either without any phonetic changes or with a varation of the root vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chit-chat, bye-bye, stylistically speaking most words are made by reduplication represent informal groups colloquialisms and slang.There are two types of reduplication: partial which reduplicates only part of the morpheme and full in which the entire morpheme is reduplicated.
Sound-interchange
They 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 sounds are changed to form a new word. It is non-productive in Modern English, F: life-to live, blood-to bleed, hot-to heat, to sing-song.
Sound imitation
Words are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimated objects. It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by imitating different sounds. a) sounds produced by human beings, to whisper, to giggle, to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle; b) sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, to hiss, to buzz, to bark, to moo; c) sounds produced by nature and objects, to splash, to rustle, to clatter, to bubble, to tinkle.
Stress interchange
They can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of Romanic origin: nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs on the last syllable. F: ‘accent-to ac’cent, to con’flict –‘conflict, to ex’port- ‘export.
12 Define the morphological, phonetic and semantic types of motivation.
There are three types of motivation.
The morphological motivation is a direct connection between the structural pattern of the word and its meaning. It is the relationship between morphemes. F: one morpheme words sing, tell, eat are non-motivated, if we add suffixes or prefixes and form words as singer, rewrite, eatable they are described as motivated.
The phonetical motivation is a direct connection between the phonetical structure of the word and its meaning. F: words swish, sizzle, boom, splash they may be defined as phonetically motivated because the soundclusters are a direct imitation of the sounds these words denote.
The semantic motivation is a relationship between the central and coexisting meaning or meanings of a word which are understood as a metaphorical extension of the central meaning. It means generalization of the denotational meaning of a word permitting it to include new referents which are in some way like the original class of referents. F: a woman who has given birth is called a mother, by extension, any act that gives birth is associated with being a mother. A necessity is the mother of invention, a mother looks after a child, so that we can say she became a mother to her orphan nephew, also mother country, a mother tongue.
17 Discuss on the difference between comparative and contrastive types of Lexicology.
Comparative and Contrastive Lexicology aims to study the correlation between the vocabularies of two or more languages and find out the correspondences between the vocabulary units of the languages under comparison. The difference between the terms comparative and contrastive is that comparative methods give the similarities and differences of vocabulary of related languages and contrastive aims to investigate the vocabulary of non-related languages.
18 Differetiate Descriptive and Historical types of Lexicology.
Special Lexicology is the Lexicology of a particular language, i.e. the study and description of its vocabulary and units, primarily words as the main units of language. It goes without saying that every special lexicology has its own inner branches as historical and descriptive lexicology.
Historical (Diachronic) Lexicology is a branch of linguistics discusses the origin of different words, their change and development, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form and meaning. (Greek dia-“through” and chronos – “time”)
Descriptive (Synchronic) Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage of its development. It studies the vocabulary at a definite stage of its development. The Descriptive Lexicology of the English language deals with the English word in its morphological and semantic structures, investigating the interdependence between these two aspects. (Greek syn-“together, with” and chronos – “time”)
19 Express your attitude on linguistic metaphor and metonymy.
Generally speaking, of any semantic change has some associations between the old meaning and the new. There are two kinds of association involved in various semantic changes: similarity of meaning (metaphor) and contiguity of meaning (metonymy). In other words transference based on Resemblance is metaphor. Transference based on contiguity is metonymy. The process of development of a new meaning or a change of meaning is traditionally termed transference. The transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison or resemblance is called metaphor.
20. Say about the linguistic and extra-linguistic causes.
By extra-linguistic causes (non-verbal) we mean various changes in the life of the speech community, changes in economic and social structure, changes in ideas, scientific concepts, way of life, changes in culture, arts as reflected in word meanings. Newly created objects, new concepts and phenomena must obtain names. We already know of two ways for providing new names for newly created concepts: making new words (word-building) and borrowing foreign ones. One more way of filling such vocabulary gaps is by applying some old word to a new object or notion. F: when the first textile factories appeared in England, the old mill was applied to these early industrial enterprises. In this way mill (a Latin borrowing of the first century) added a new meaning to its former meaning “a building in which corn is ground into flour”. The new meaning was “textile factory”. F: carriage which had the meaning “a vehicle drawn by horses”, but with the first appearance of railways in England, it received a new meaning, that of “a railway car”.