British English, American E, Australian E are variants of the same language, because they serve all spheres of verbal communication. Their structural peculiarities, especially morphology, syntax and word-formation as well as their word-stock and phonetic system are essentially the same. The so-called local dialects in the British Isles and in the USA are used only by the rural population and only for the purposes of oral communication. In both variants local distinctions are more marked in pronunciation, less conspicuous in vocabulary and insignificant in grammar.

The existing cases of difference between the two variants are conveniently classified into:

1. cases where there are no equivalents in BE: drive-in – a cinema where you can see the film without getting out of your car or a shop where motorists buy things staying in the car.

2. Cases where different words are used for the same denotation. F: can, candy, mailbox, movies, truck in the USA, and tin, sweets, pillar-box, pictures, lorry in England.

3. Cases where the semantic structure of a partially equivalent word is different. The word pavement means in the first place “covering of the street or the floor and the like made of asphalt, stones or some other material”. The derived meaning is in England “the footway at the side of the road”. The Americans use the noun sidewalk for this, while pavement with them means “the roadway”.

4. Cases where otherwise equivalent words are different in distribution. The verb ride in standard English is mostly combined with nouns as a horse, a bicycle, more seldom they say to ride on a bus. In AE combinations like a ride on the train, to ride in a boat are quite usual.

5. It sometimes happens that the same word is used in AE with some difference in emotional and stylistic colouring.

There may be a marked difference in frequency characteristics. F: time-table in AE rarely, yielded its place to schedule.

35. Compare and contrast formal types of words and their classification.

English vocabulary as a system with respect to different groups we deal with two main types of English vocabulary:

1. social difference-word-stock and society, terms, professional terminology

2. territorial difference-learned words, dialect, slang and colloquial words.

The social context in which the communication is taking place determines both the mode of dress and the modes of speech. When placed in different situations, people instinctively choose different kinds of words and structures to express their thoughts. What word to use in certain 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, 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).

Formal style or formal vocabulary is used to cover varieties of English vocabulary that occur in books and magazines, that we hear from a lecture, a public speaker, a radio announcer or possibly in official talk. These types of communication are characterised as monologues addressed by one person to many, and often prepared in advance. Words are used with precision, the vocabulary is elaborate.

Informal style or informal vocabulary is used in personal two-way everyday communication. It is in the form of dialogue where the speaker has the qualities of voice, gesture, the speaker has an opportunity to know whether he is understood, the listener can always interrupt him and demand additional information. The vocabulary may be determined socially or regionally(dialect). Informal vocabulary is used in one’s immediate circle: family, relatives or friends. Informal style is relaxed, free and easy, familiar and unpretentious. 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.

Formal words fall into the grouping as: words associated with professional communication (professional terminology) and a less exclusive group so-called learned words.

Learned words are mainly associated with the printed page. Their main resources are poetry and fiction (or also called literary). We said that learned words are mainly used with the printed page, but sometimes any educated English-speaking individual is sure to use many learned words not only in his formal letters and professional communication but also in his everyday speech. Generally speaking, educated people in both modern fiction and real life use learned words quite naturally and their speech is certainly the richer for it. Writers and poets use these words for stylistic purposes with vivid points and colours, not only their humorous effects. Even we may say that learned words are the selection of words which makes the description serious, devoid of cheap sentimentality and yet charged with grave forebodings and tense expectation. What role do learned words play in the language –learning? Should they be taught? The answer is clear without knowing some learned words, it is even impossible to read fiction or listen to lectures delivered in the foreign language or to understand scientific articles. But of course they should be carefully selected and activized to become part of the students’ functional vocabulary. The language a poet who writes poetry, a writer who writes different stories uses is closely bound with his outlook and experience, with his subject-matter and the message he wants to express. That is why it is important to know the learned words and try to use them in speech.

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Professional terminology means the set of words which belong to special scientific, professional or trade systems and are not used or even understood by people outside the particular speciality. Every field of modern activity has its specialized vocabulary.

36. Define the sources of homonyms and general classification of homonyms.

Many words may be characterized by a high frequency rating are not connected with meaning, but identical in form, on the contrary different in form, but connected in meaning. That’s why we differentiate English words, as other languages as homonyms, synonyms and antonyms. Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and origin is called homonyms. F: bank (n)- a shore, an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging and safe-guarding money. English vocabulary is rich in such words and even groups of words. The term is derived from Greek “homos”-similar and “onoma”-name. homonyms exists in many languages, but in English it is frequent, especially among monosyllabic words. From the viewpoint of their morphological structure, they are mostly one-morpheme words. People cannot expect homonyms to be of particular value for communication, metaphorically speaking, homonyms are accidental creations, and therefore purposeless. In the process of communication they are more of an encumbrance, leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding. This characteristics of homonyms makes them one of the most important sources of popular humour.

Sources of homonyms:

1. phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their historical development. As the result of such changes, two or more words which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms. F: night-knight were not homonyms in old English as the initial k in the second word was pronounced, but in modern sound form it is not pronounced.

2. borrowing – a borrowed word may, in initial stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing. F: bank (n)-shore is a native word and bank (n)-a financial institution is an Italian borrowing. Match (n)-a game, a contest of skill, strength is native and match (n)-a slender short piece of wood used for producing fire is a French borrowing.

3. shortening- F: fan (n)-an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer is a shortening produced from fanatic. This homonym is a Latin borrowing fan (n)-denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air

4. sound-imitation can also form pairs of homonyms with other words. F: bang (n)-a loud sudden, explosive noise – bang (n)-a fringe of hair combed over the forehead.

split polysemy-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. All its constituent meanings are held together by logical associations. The function of the arrangement and the unity is determined by one of the meanings. If this meaning happens to disappear from the word’s semantic structure, associations between the rest of the meanings may be severed, the semantic structure loses its unity and falls into two or more parts which then become accepted as independent lexical units. F: board (n)-a long and thin piece of timber, board (n)-an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity, e.g. a board of directors. The meanings of these three words are in no way associated with one another. 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 are also lively to discuss their business round a table.

We can mention three types of homonyms:

1) homonyms proper are the words which are the same in sound and spelling, e.g. ball-ball

2) homophones are words which are the same in sound but different in spelling, e.g. bean-been 3) homographs are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound, e.g. to lead-to conduct on the way, go before to show the way; lead-a heavy, rather soft metal

Homonyms may belong both the same and to different categories of parts of speech. According to professor A.I.Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes:

1) full or complete homonyms. They are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm. Paradigm is the system of the grammatical forms of a word. F: match (n)- a game, a contest; match (n)-a short piece of wood used for producing fire.

2) 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 never the same form, as will be seen from the examples as found (v), found (v)-past indef, past part of to find; b) complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms. F: rose (n)-rose (v)-pas indef, past part of to rise; c) partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms. F: to hang (hung, hung) (v)- to hang (hanged, hanged) (v)

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37. Define the sources of antonyms and their classification.

Antonyms are words to indicate the same category of parts of speech which have contrasting meanings. If synonyms from whole, often numerous groups, antonyms appear in pairs. Yet, this is not quite true in reality. Most antonyms are adjectives which is only natural because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted. Verbs take the second place, verbal pairs – to lose-to find, to lose-to win. Nouns are not rich in antonyms, friend-enemy, heaven-earth. Antonymic adverbs can be subdivided a) adverbs derived from adjectives, e.g. warmly-coldly; b) adverbs proper, now-then, here-there, ever-never.

Antonyms may be defined as two or rarely more words of the same language belonging to the same part-of-speech, identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, associated and used together so that their denotative meanings render contrary or contradictory notions.

Together with synonyms, antonyms represent the language’s important expressive means. Authors use antonyms as a stylistic device of contrast. V.N.Komissarov’s work antonyms are classified into: a) absolute or root antonyms (love-hate, late-early); b) derivational antonyms (known-unknown). Not so many years ago antonyms was not as a linguistic problem and the opposition between pairs was regarded as purely logical and finding no reflection in the semantic structures of the words. The contrast between the pairs is said by most scholars as the contrast of things opposed by their very nature.

The difference between derivational and root antonyms is not in their structure, but in semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other, e.g. active-inactive. Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant members of the group will be absolute antonyms, e.g. ugly, plain, good-looking, pretty, beautiful, the antonyms are ugly and beautiful.

38. Define the sources of synonyms and their classification from the connotational point of view.

Lexical units may also be classified by semantic similarity and semantic contrasts. The terms generally used to denote these two types of semantic relatedness synonymy and antonymy. Synonymy is often understood as semantic equivalence. It can exist between words and word-groups, word-groups and sentences, sentences and sentences. Synonyms may be found in different parts of speech and both among notional and function words. They are phonemically different words but similar in their denotational meaning. Synonyms are traditionally described as words different in sound-form but identical or similar in meaning. Synonyms are one of the language’s most important expressive means, they add precision to each detail of description and show how the correct choice of a word from a group of synonyms may colour the certain whole text. The principal function of synonyms is to represent the same phenomenon in different aspects, shades and variations. More often synonyms are used for stylistic purposes. After some detailed analysis synonyms are frequently said to be vocabulary’s colours, tints and hues. In terms of componential analysis synonyms may be defined as words with the same denotation or the same denotative component (ideographic synonyms), but differing in connotations or in connotative components (stylistic reference) or ideographic –stylistic synonyms. Quite number of words in synonymic sets are usually of Latin or French origin. Synonymy is still an object of controversy, one of the theoretical problems, the most controversial is the problem of criteria of synonymy. 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 shades of meaning or in stylistic characteristics. 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. 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 denotational meaning.

Sources of synonyms:

1. desynonymization (when words are borrowed it undergo desynonymization)

2. abbreviation (in most cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style, and the full form to the neutral style)

3. formation of phrasal verbs (to give up –to abandon, to cut down –to diminish)

By the connotational side synonyms are divided:

1) the connotation of degree or intensity, e.g. to like-to admire, to love, to adore, to worship

2) the connotation of duration in their semantic structure, e.g. to shudder (brief)-to shiver (lasting), to say (brief)-to speak, to talk (lasting)

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3) by emotive connotations (or by the nature of the emotion they imply), e.g. alone-single-lonely-solitary (the adj lonely has an emotive connotation, it means desolation resulting from being alone)

4) the evaluative connotation conveys the speaker’s attitude towards the referent, labeling it as good or bad, e.g. well-known-famous, notorious-celebrated – the adj notorious beans a negative evaluative connotation and celebrated a positive one, a notorious murderer, robber, lady-killer, a celebrated scholar, singer, man-of-letters

5) the causative connotation, e.g. to blush and to redden represent people mostly blush from modesty, shame or embarrassment (positive), but usually redden from anger, indignation

6) the connotation of manner, synonyms of this type denote different ways and types, length, tempo, purposefulness or lack of purpose, e.g. to love, to admire, to worship, to like

7) the connotation of attendant circumstances in the semantic structure of words are encoded circumstances preventing one from seeing clearly to peer, to peep- peer at smb or smth in darkness, through the fog, from a great distance, through dimmed glasses of windows.

8) the connotation of attendant features describes a special type of human activities.

9) stylistic connotations we deal with stylistically marked words (colloquial, slang, dialect, learned, poetic, terminological).

39. Give the difference between neutral and coloured or marked vocabulary.

Emotionally neutral and emotionally coloured (marked) grouping.

Emotionally coloured words are contrasted to the emotionally neutral ones. The words of this type express notions but do not say anything about the state of the speaker or his mood. F: copy, report, reach, say, well are all emotionally neutral. Many words are neutral in their direct meaning and emotional under special conditions of context.

1) Interjections. They express emotions without naming them. F: Alas! Heavens! Hell! Nonsense! Pooh! Some of them are primary interjections, others are derived from other parts of speech. The second type of emotional words are composed with the help of special morphemes or patterns or combinations. F: daddy, darling, deari, blackie, oldie; combinations: old chap, old fellow, little chap, poor devil; semi-affix – monger: panicmonger, scandalmonger, scaremonger. To express emotion the utterance must be smth not quite ordinary. Very often it is a kind of echo-conversion, nonce-words. Emotional nonce-words are created in angry back-chat by transforming whole phrases into verbs to express irritation. F: Now well! Don’t now-well me! How on earth? Don’t begin how-on-earthing! Oh, bloody hell! You don’t bloody hell me!

2) Intensifiers. They convey special intensities 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. There is also a big group of intensifying adverbs: awfully, dreadfully, frightfully, marvellously, terribly, tremendously and others.

3) Evaluatory words. They are words when used in a sentence pass a value judgement differ from other emotional words in that they can not only indicate the presence of emotion but specify it. When using the evaluatory words, the speaker is not different to the fact but expresses his scorn, irony or disgust. Usually the names of animals when used metaphorically have a strong evaluatory force. F: silly ass, parrot, pig, snake, wolf.

The pattern a+(A)+N1+of+a+N2 is often used to express emotion and emphasis. F: a devil of a time, a hell of a success, an absolute jewel of a report, a mere button of a nose.

4) Emotive speech. Speech has numerous functions as to make statements, to express the speaker’s attitude to what he is talking about, his emotional reaction, his relations with his audience. He may wish to express his approval or disapproval.

40. Comment on context and types if context.

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.

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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.

41. Speak on the causes and nature of semantic change.

The systems of meanings of polysemantic words evolve gradually. The older a word is, the better developed is its semantic structure, i.e. words acquire new meanings. The semantic change may be analysed according to the cause, nature and results.

The factors accounting for semantic changes may be roughly subdivided into two groups: extra-linguistic, 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”.

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.

Nature of semantic change: linguistic metaphor and linguistic 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,

1. similarity of shape, e.g. head of a cabbage, bottleneck, teeth of a comb

2. similarity of position, e.g. foot of a mountain, a page, leg of a table

3. similarity of function, behaviour, e.g. branch of a science

4. similarity of colour, e.g. orange, chestnut

5. 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

6. 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:

1. the material of which an object is made may become the name of the object, e.g. a glass, boards, iron

2. 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

3. names of musical instruments may become names of musicians, e.g. the violin, the saxophone

4. 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.

5. names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they invented, e.g. watt, om, roentgen

6. 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)

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