Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used : prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. 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) ( cf over the table ).
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles :
1. Semantic classification :
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals), un- (unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re- (revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter- (interplanetary) , hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over- (overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.
When we analyze such words as : adverb, accompany where we can find the root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac- as prefixes though they were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such as : contain, retain, detain and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-, con- act as prefixes and -tain, -ceive can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations of sounds have no lexical meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat such words as simple words, others as derived ones.
There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some scientists, e.g. after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British lexicographers treat such words as derived ones
.17. Types of meaning. Different approaches to the study of meaning.
Types of Meaning. Word-meaning is not homogeneous but is made up of various components the combination and interrelation of which determine the inner aspect of the word. These components are usually described as types of meaning. The two main types of meaning are the grammatical and the lexical meanings of words and word-forms.
The grammatical meaning is defined as an expression in speech of relationship between words. Grammatical meaning is the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words, as for example the tense meaning in the word-forms of verbs: asked, thought, walked; the case meaning in the word-forms of various nouns: girl’s, boy’s, night’s; the meaning of plurality which is found in the word-forms of nouns: joys, tables, places.
The lexical meaning of the word is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. The word-forms go, goes, gone possess different grammatical meanings of tense, person, number, but in each form they have one and the same semantic component denoting ‘the process of movement’.
The difference between the lexical and the grammatical components of meaning is not to be sought in the difference of the concepts underlying the two types of meaning, but rather in the way they are conveyed. The concept of plurality, for example, may be expressed by the lexical meaning of the word plurality; it may also be expressed in the forms of various words irrespective of their lexical meaning, for example, boys, girls, joys, etc. The concept of relation may be expressed by the lexical meaning of the word relation and also by any of the prepositions, for example, in, on, behind, etc. (compare: the book is on/in, behind the table). Both the lexical and the grammatical meaning make up the word-meaning as neither can exist without the other.
Part-of-speech meaning is revealed in the classification of lexical items into major word-classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) and minor word-classes (articles, particles, conjunctions, etc.).
All members of a major word-class share a distinguishing semantic component which though very abstract may be viewed as the lexical component of part-of-speech meaning. For example, the meaning of “thingness” or substantiality may be found in all the nouns like in table, love, sugar, though they possess different grammatical meanings of number, case, etc. However, the grammatical aspect of the part-of-speech meaning is conveyed as a rule by a set of forms. If we describe the word as a noun we mean to say that it possesses a set of forms expressing the grammatical meaning of number (table – tables), case (boy – boy’s) and so on. A verb possesses sets of forms expressing, for example tense meaning (worked-works), mood meaning (work! – work (indicative)), etc.
The part-of-speech meaning of the words that possess only one form, for example prepositions, some adverbs, etc., is observed in their distribution (compare to come in (here, there) and in (on, under) the table).
5. Aspects of lexical meaning. In the general framework of lexical meaning several aspects can singled out:
a) the denotational aspect
b) the connotational meaning
c) the pragmatic aspect
Denotational aspect of lexical meaning is the part of lexical meaning which establishes correlation between the name and the object, phenomenon, process, or characteristic feature of concrete reality (or thought as such), which is denoted by the given word. The term ‘denotational’ is derived from the English word ‘to denote’ which means ‘be a sign of, stand a s name or symbol for’. For example, the denotational meaning of booklet is ‘a small thin book that gives information about something’. It is through the denotational aspect of meaning that the bulk of information is conveyed in the process of communication. The denotational aspect of lexical meaning expresses the notional content of a word.
The connotational aspect of lexical meaning is the part of meaning which reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about. Connotation conveys additional information in the process of communication. Connotation includes:
The emotive charge, e.g. daddy as compared to father;
Evaluation, which may be positive or negative, e.g. clique (a small group of people who seem unfriendly to other people) as compared to group (a set of people);
Intensity (or expressiveness), e.g. adore as compared to love.
Imagery, e.g. to wade – to walk with an effort (through mud, water or anything that makes progress difficult). The figurative use of the word gives rise to another meaning which is based on the same image as the first – to wade through a book.
The pragmatic aspect of lexical meaning is the part of meaning that conveys information on the situation of communication. The pragmatic aspect falls into four closely linked together subsections:
Information on the time and space relationship of the participants. For example, the time element when related through the pragmatic aspect of meaning is fixed indirectly. Indirect reference to time implies that the frequency of occurrence of words may change with time and in extreme cases words may be out of use or become obsolete. Thus, the word behold – ‘take notice, see (esp. smth unusual or striking)’ as well as the noun beholder – ‘spectator’ are out of use now but widely used in the 17th century;
Information on the participants and the given language community. E.g.: (1)They chucked a stone at the cops, and then did a bunk with the loot. (2) After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money. The first sentence could be applied to the speech of criminals, the second one could be applied to the speech of the chief inspector in making his official report. The pragmatic aspect of the word may also convey information about the social system of the given language community, its ideology, religion, system of norms and customs.
Information of the tenor of discourse. The tenors of discourse reflect how the addressor (the speaker or the writer) interacts with the addressee (the listener or the reader). A mother will talk in a different way a) with her small child and b) about her children.
Information on the register of communication. The register defines the general type of the situation of communication grading the situations in formality. Three main types of the situations of communication may singled out: formal, neutral and informal.
Thus, the pragmatic aspect of meaning refers words like cordial, fraternal, anticipate, aid, sanguinary, celestial to the formal register while units like cut it out, to be kidding, hi, stuff are to be used in the informal register.
Meaning in the Referential Approach. The referential approach distinguishes the three components closely connected with meaning: the sound-form of the linguistic sign, the concept underlying this sound-form, and the actual referent, i.e. that part of that aspect of reality to which the linguistic sign refers. The best known referential model of meaning is the “basic triangle”:
concept
sound-form referent
[dAv]
As can be seen from the diagram the sound-form of the linguistic sign, for example [dAv], is connected with the concept of the bird it denotes and through it with the referent, i.e. the actual bird. The sound-form of the word is not identical with its meaning, for example [dAv] is the sound form used to denote a grey bird. There is no innate connection between this particular sound sequence and the meaning of the word dove. The connection is conventional and accidental.
To distinguish meaning from the referent, i.e. from the thing denoted by the linguistic sign, is of great importance. Meaning is linguistic, whereas the referent is beyond the scope of language. We can denote one and the same object by more than one word of a different meaning. For example, in a speech situation an apple can be denoted by the words apple, fruit, something, this, etc. as all these words may have the same referent. Meaning cannot be equated with the actual properties of the referent, for example the meaning of the word water cannot be regarded as identical to its chemical formula H²O as water means the same to all English speakers including those who have no idea of its chemical composition.
Some supporters of the referential approach substitute meaning for concept, others identify meaning with the referent. We have shown that meaning is closely connected but not identical with sound-form, concept or referent. Some linguists regard meaning as the interrelation of the three points of the triangle within the framework of the given language. Others proceed from the assumption that of the objectivity of language and meaning and understand a linguistic sign as a two-facet unit. They view meaning as a certain reflection in our mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign – its so-called inner facet, whereas the sound-form functions as its outer facet. Meaning is to be found in all linguistic units and together with their sound-form constitutes the linguistic signs studied by linguistic science.
Meaning in the Functional Approach. The functional approach maintains that the meaning of a linguistic unit may be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units and not through its relation to either concept or referent. For example the meaning of two words move and movement is different because they function in speech differently. Comparing the contexts in which we find these words we see that they occupy different positions in relation to other words: to move can be followed by a noun (move the chair), preceded by a pronoun (we move), etc. the position of the word movement is different: it may be followed by a preposition (movement of something), preceded by an adjective (slow movement), etc. As the position of these linguistic units in relation to other units is different, we may conclude that their meanings are different too. It follows that in the functional approach meaning is understood as the function of the use of linguistic units.