семинары

SEMINAR 1

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics.

2. Word as the basic language unit. Its main characteristics.

3. Etymological characteristics of the vocabulary. Native words.

4. Borrowings in the English vocabulary.

5. Assimilation of borrowings.

6. Etymological doublets.

7. Read the text and do the following tasks.

Vacation was approaching. The schoolmaster, always severe, grew severer and more exacting than ever, for he wanted the school to make a good showing on "Examination" day. His rod and his ferule were seldom idle now - at least among the smaller pupils. Only the biggest boys, and young ladies of eighteen and twenty, escaped lashing. Mr. Dobbins' lashings were very vigorous ones, too; for although he carried, under his wig, a perfectly bald and shiny head, he had only reached middle age and there was no sign of feebleness in his muscle. As the great day approached all the tyranny that was in him came to the surface; he seemed to take a vindictive pleasure in punishing the least shortcomings. The consequence was, that the smallest boys spent their days in terror and suffering and their nights in plotting revenge. They threw away no opportunity to do the master a mischief. But he kept ahead all the time. The retribution that followed every vengeful success was so sweeping and majestic that the boys always retired from the field badly worsted. At last they conspired together and hit upon a plan that promised a dazzling victory. They swore in the sign-painter's boy, told him the scheme, and asked his help. He had his 'own reasons for being delighted, for the master boarded in his father's family and had given the boy ample cause to hate him. The master's wife would go on a visit to the country in a few days, and there would be nothing to interfere with the plan; the master always prepared himself for great occasions by getting pretty well fuddled, and the sign-painter's boy said that when the dominie had reached the proper condition on Examination evening he would "manage the thing" while he napped in his chair; then he would have him awakened at the right time and hurried away to school.

In the fullness of time the interesting occasion arrived. At eight in the evening the school house was brilliantly lighted and adorned with wreaths and festoons of foliage and flowers. The master sat throned in his great chair upon a raised platform, with his blackboard behind him. He was looking tolerably mellow. Three rows of benches on each side and six rows in front of him were occupied by the dignitaries of the town and by the parents of the pupils... All the rest of the house was filled with non-participating scholars.

The exercises began. A very little boy stood up and sheepishly recited, "You'd scarce expect one of my age, to speak in public on the stage," etc., accompanying himself with the painfully exact and spasmodic gestures which a machine might have used - supposing the machine to be a trifle out of order. But he got through safely, though cruelly scared, and got a fine round of applause when he made his manufactured bow and retired.

Mark Twain

1. Write out words of native origin from the text. Motivate your choice.

2. Write out borrowings from different languages. If possible, give their synonyms.

3. Comment upon the degree of assimilation of the borrowings that you have found.

4. Find and copy international words. Motivate your choice.

Seminar 2

1. Morphological structure of words.

2. Prefixation. Classification of prefixes.

3. Suffixation. Classification of suffixes.

4. Conversion.

5. Composition. Classification of compounds.

6. Secondary ways of word building.

7. Word meaning as a linguistic category.

8. Types of word meanings.

9. Polysemy. Semantic structure of polysemantic words.

10. Synonymy.

11. Synonymic rows and their types.

12. Antonyms in the lexical system of the language.

13. Read the text and do the following tasks.

Almost all of Agatha Christie’s books are whodunits, focusing on the British middle and upper classes. “I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest” – Christie confessed. Such a kind of crime proved to be the most captivating in the readers’ eyes. Whatever the crime is, the investigation pattern is remarkable.

Usually, the detective either stumbles across the murder or is called upon by an old acquaintance, who is somehow involved. Gradually, the detective interrogates each suspect, examines the scene of the crime and makes a note of each clue, so readers can analyze it and be allowed a fair chance of solving the mystery themselves. Then, about halfway through, or sometimes even during the final act, one of the suspects usually dies, often because they have inadvertently deduced the killer’s identity and need silencing. In a few of her novels there are multiple victims. Finally, the detective organizes a meeting of all the suspects and slowly denounces the guilty party, exposing several unrelated secrets along the way, sometimes over the course of thirty or so pages. The murders are often extremely ingenious, involving some convoluted piece of deception.

“Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend,” – the writer said. She would produce unforgettable patterns of background for a “guilty mind” in each narration. In six stories, Christie allows the murderer to escape justice There are also numerous instances where the killer is not brought to justice in the legal sense but instead dies (death usually being presented as a more ‘sympathetic’ outcome. In some cases this is with the collusion of the detective involved. In some stories the question of whether formal justice will be done is left unresolved. Twice, the murderer surprisingly turns out to be the narrator of the story. However some biographers report that she had been expelled from the Detection Club on the grounds that a reader should not feel himself a murderer.

1. Copy out derived words and show derivational morphemes.

2. Copy out compounds and words formed by conversion. Comment on them.

3. Comment on words formed by other ways.

4. Find mono- and polysemantic words. In which meaning are polysemantic words used in the text?

5. Find examples of synonyms in the text.

6. Bring examples of antonyms.

Seminar 3

1. Lexical valency and combinability of words.

2. Classification of free word combinations.

3. Phraseological units.

4. The problem of classification of phraseological units.

5. Proverbs and sayings.

6. Stylistic differentiation of lexis.

7. Variants and dialects of a language.

8. Lexicography as theory and practice of dictionary making. Types of dictionaries.

9. Read the text and do the following tasks.

He passed out of the room and began the ascent, Basil Hallward following close behind. They walked softly, as men do instinctively at night. The lamp cast fantastic shadows on the wall and staircase. A rising wind made some of the windows rattle.

When they reached the top landing, Dorian set the lamp down on the floor, and taking out the key, turned it in the lock. "You insist on knowing, Basil?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes."

"I am delighted," he answered, smiling. Then he added, somewhat harshly, "You are the one man in the world who is entitled to know everything about me. You have had more to do with my life than you think"; and, taking up the lamp, he opened the door and went in. A cold current of air passed them, and the light shot up for a moment in a flame of murky orange. He shuddered. "Shut the door behind you," he whispered, as he placed the lamp on the table.

1. Point out stylistically neutral, colloquial and literary words.

2. Write free word combinations and comment on their type.

3. Are there any phraseological units in the text?

4. Pick up any word and analyse its representation in one of the English-English dictionaties.