Part 5. Semasiology

Meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated. It is only when we hear a spoken word or read a printed word the corresponding concept springs into mind. It enables the word to denote real objects, qualities, actions and abstract notions.

One should distinguish three main types of the lexical meaning of words:

1. Nominative meaning which is the direct meaning of the word, immediately referring to objects in extralinguistic reality. The nominative meaning includes denotational and connotational components. Denotation is the expression of the direct meaning of the word without any emotive evaluation or stylistic colouring, e.g. friend, dog, love, great, begin, etc. Connotation is the supplementary expressive meaning presented either by emotive charge, e.g. girlie, doggy, worship, etc., or by stylistic reference, e.g. father (neutr.) :: parent (book.) :: dad (col.) :: governor (slang); great (neutr.) :: terrific (col.).

2. Syntactically conditioned meaning which manifests itself in different colligations. Cf. look at :: look for :: look after, etc.

3. Phraseologically bound meaning which is idiomatic and manifests itself only in certain phraseological units, e.g. buy smth. for a song; to be on the safe side; to cut a long story short, etc.

Semasiology (or semantics) is a branch of linguistics which studies meaning. The name comes from the Greek sēmasiā – “signification” (from sēma – “sign”, sēmantikos – “significant”, and logos – “learning”). The modern approach to semantics is based on the assumption that the inner form of the word (its meaning) presents a structure which is called the semantic structure of the word. There are three main semantic structures of words: monosemy, semantic diffusion and polysemy.

1. Monosemy is the existence within one word of only one meaning. Monosemantic words are comparatively few in number. They are mainly scientific terms, e.g. chemistry, molecule, sputnic, etc.

2. Semantic diffusion is observed in words with a very wide conceptual volume. Such words can name an indefinitely large number of objects. For instance, the word thing denotes “any object of our thought”. It can name various objects, living beings, facts, affairs, problems, pieces of writing, possessions, etc.

3. Polysemy (from Greek poly, “many”+ semeion, “sign”) is the fact of a word having several meanings or being open to several or many meanings. Polysemy is a treasure and value of every spoken language. Most English words are polysemantic. The process of polysemy development involves both the appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones. Polysemantic word is the presence of several meanings in one word, connected with each other that are used to mark different subjects, occurrences, processes, and, consequently, are used in different meanings, or combinations of words.

Defining polysemy as a linguistic development, Ch.Bally made distinction between its two aspects: first, when one linguistic sign has several meanings, and then, when one meaning is expressed by several signs.

In analyzing the semantic structure of words we have already seen that some meanings invariably come to the fore when we hear the word in actual speech or see it written. Other meanings make themselves evident only when the word is use in certain context. The context makes the word explicit, in other words, brings them out. The word in one of its meanings is called lexico-semantic variant of this word. There may be no single semantic component common to all lexico-grammatical variants but every variant has something in common with at least one of the others. All the lexico-semantic variants of a word taken together form its semantic structure or semantic paradigm.

When analyzing the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, it is necessary to distinguish between two levels of analysis. On the first level, the semantic structure of a word is treated as a system of meanings. For example, the semantic structure of the noun “head” could be presented by the scheme given below (here you can

see only the most frequent meanings):

On the second level of analysis of the semantic structure of a word: each separate meaning is a subject to structural analysis in which it may be represented as sets of semantic components.

For instance the word “dark”: 1. Obscure – destitute of light. 2. Gloomy – destitute of cheerfulness. 3. Mysterious – destitute of clarity. 4. Not enlightened with knowledge; rude; ignorant – destitute of learning and science. 5. Not vivid – destitute of brightness. 6. Disheartening; having unfavorable prospects – destitute of luck, hope. 7. Blind – destitute of eyesight.

The semantic structure of a word should be investigated at both these levels: 1) of different meanings, 2) of semantic components within each separate meaning.

The language area, where the polysemy is really unwelcome is terminology. As a rule, a term usually has only one meaning in one science or sphere of activity. For example a word hydrogen has only one meaning, e.g. In the process of chlorine production, hydrogen is generated as a byproduct. Or a word molecule, which also has only one meaning, e.g.: In the pale yellow substance obtained, the ratio of coordination compound to organic molecule is 1/5000.

Exercise 1. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian paying attention to the different meanings of the words in bold type.

1. They say the best hotel for one customer is not the best for another, but even the face of this building was impressive. 2. Edward Cullen’s face was perfect, his lips flawless, his teeth brilliant, his voice irresistible. 3. Edward made a face when he kissed Bella, because he didn’t want to let her go. 4. Remember the most important thing in business is to save face no matter what happens. 5. They were standing face to face, I was afraid Edward would kill Jake. 6. “The bread has got hard, dad. How can you it that?” 7. Michael Porter tells us about strategy’s job, but for some people it is really hard to understand how it works. 8. I saw that, Edward tried so hard to preserve his humanity. 9. Jacob is a person of hard language and witted mind. 10. “It looked like a flight or something how did you do that so fast? You wasn’t here”. 11. If you think that a simple flight will help you to solve these problems, you are deeply wrong. 12. It just a flight of folly, she will never love someone like me. 13. The airplane appeared undamaged, but would undoubtedly be washed down and inspected thoroughly before resuming its interrupted flight to Acapulco. 14. All along, he had believed that seventy-five thousand dollars was the top limit for airport-purchase insurance for an overseas flight. 15. We went up two flights of stairs on a dilapidated staircase that at one time must have been luxurious. 16. You have to believe to make it real, it’s the only way to get what you want to achieve. 17. I got it, you don’t want to spend the rest of you life like a normal, real person. 18. Charlie got us sitting together in my room, I was absolutely lost. 19. “I’ve got to break this connection, before it's too late”, – he whispered. 20. “You know, Scarlett, money will come by never comes to good and this house is proof of the axiom. 21. At the same time, the structure of deposits as part of broad money, indicates that other deposits in domestic currency grew at the highest rates (29.0 percent). 22. The model of the station won two Grand Prix awards at expositions in Paris (1937) and Brussels (1958). 23. She was not only a good model, but a good housewife. 24. It would help me fight like a wildcat or run like a deer. 25. Run upstairs and get the iodine. 26. He was running from danger, being terrified to death. 27. He was talking the other night about how much he hated Frog Point and being Brent Faraday and running for mayor. 28. The car ran along the highway. 29. This bus runs between New Haven and Hartford. 30. Let the water run before you drink it. 31. The river ran down the burning candle. 32. The news of his promotion ran all over town.

CHANGE OF MEANING

Lexical meaning reflects the concept expressed by the given word. If the polysemantic structure of the word is subjected to a diachronic semantic analysis, it becomes clear that the word, as a rule, retains its original meaning, but at the same time acquires several new ones. Hence one should distinguish the following meanings comprising the set treated diachronically:

1. The direct meaning, subdivided into: a) the primary (etymological) meaning, e.g. wall – L. vallum – “fortification”; b) the derived meaning: wall – “upright structure, forming part of a room or building”.

2. The secondary meaning, subdivided into: a) the secondary denotative meaning: wall – “inside surface of cavity or vessel”, e.g. walls of the heart; reactor wall; b) the figurative meaning, e.g. wall of partition/between persons/; wall of fire; wall of hostility.

The process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is termed transference – the name of one object is transferred onto another, proceeding from their similarity (of shape, color, function, etc.) or closeness (of material existence, cause/effect, instrument/result, part/whole relations, etc.).

Transference based on resemblance (similarity).

This type of transference is also referred to as linguistic metaphor. A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects (phenomena, qualities…) due to their outward similarity.

Ex.: “The noun eye has for one of its meaning ‘hole in the end of a needle’ which developed through transference based on resemblance. Metaphors may be based on various types of similarity, for example, similarity of shape, position, colour, function, etc. E.g. the neck of a bottle, the teeth of a saw, to catch an idea, etc.

The noun drop has, in addition to its main meaning, ‘a small particle of water or other liquid’, the meanings: ‘ear-rings shaped as

drops of water’ (e.g. diamond drops), and ‘candy of the same shape’ (e.g. mint drops) both these meanings are also based on resemblance.

Words denoting animals and their actions may be used metaphorically to denote human qualities. Such cases belong to zoosemy, e.g. a fox (“a crafty person”), an ass (“a stupid, foolish, or stubborn person”), to wolf (“to eat greedily”), a cock (“a leader, chief person”), a bear (“a gruff, clumsy, bad-manner person”), etc.

Metaphoric epithets, denoting human qualities, are often applied to inanimate (неживой) objects: a treacherous calm, cruel heat, a sullen sky, pitiless cold, a virgin soil etc.

Transference based on contiguity.

It is also called linguistic metonymy. The 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.

The simplest case of metonymy is synecdoche. Here the name of a part is applied to the whole or vice versa, e. g. to earn one’s bread; I don’t want to provoke the police (a single policeman is meant), etc. In metonymic epithets certain properties of the whole are ascribed to the part, e.g. threatening eyes (it is the person who is threatening), etc.

Other examples of metonymy include:

The foot of a bed is the place where the feet rest when one lies in the bed, but the foot of a mountain got its name by another association: the foot of a mountain is its lowest part, so that the association here is founded on common position.

By the arms of an arm-chair we mean the place where the arms lie, so that the type of association here is same as in the foot of the bed. The leg of a bed (table…) is a part which serves as a support, the original meaning ‘the leg of a man or animal’.

The meaning of the adj. sad in Old English was ‘satisfied with food’ (Rus. сытый). Later this meaning developed a connotation of a greater intensity of quality and came to mean ‘oversatisfied with food’, having eaten too much. Thus, the meaning of the adj. sad developed a negative evaluative connotation and now described the physical unease and discomfort of a person who has had too much to eat. The next shift of meaning as to transform the description of physical discomfort into one of spiritual discontent because these two states often go together. So the modern meaning of the word ‘sad’ → ‘melancholy’, ‘sorrowful’ was developed.

The scope of transference in metonymy is much more limited than that of metaphor, which is quite understandable: the scope of human imagination identifying two objects (phenomena, actions) on the grounds of commonness of their innumerable characteristics is boundless while actual relations between objects are more limited.

There is an example which displays synecdoche, metaphor and metonymy in one sentence. "Fifty keels ploughed the deep", where “keels” is the synecdoche as it takes a part (of the ship) as the whole (of the ship); “ploughed” is the metaphor as it substitutes the concept of ploughing a field for moving through the ocean; and “the deep” is the metonymy, as “deepness” is an attribute associated with the ocean.

Exercise 1. Pick up and comment on the metaphors in the following sentences.

1. All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances. 2. She is the true angel in my life. 3. My gym is a prison. 4. He is a snake in the grass. 5. I do not follow the herd; I take my own path. 6. John is the Tiger Woods of his golf team. 7. His hair was bone white. 8. She is an early bird. 9. The teacher descended upon the exams, sank his talons into their pages, ripped the answers to shreds, and then, perching in his chair, began to digest. 10. She wore a sunny smile that brightened up the room. 11. The pines were roaring on the height, the wind were moaning in the night. 12. O! Will you be staying, or will you be flying? Your ponies are straying, the daylight is dying! 13. What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, and yet never grows? – It is mountain. 14. The wind goes on from West and East, all movement in the forest ceased. 15. The Mountain was standing alone, dwarves have left it long ago. 16. The typical teenage boy’s room is a disaster area. But Charlie is a young lady! 17. Humor is the shock absorber of life; it helps us take the blows. 18. Marriage – is a souvenir of love. 19. There is an ocean of things for us to talk about and arrange. 20. I meant to see more of her. But I saw nothing. She was in the warehouse of intensions. 21. A wise man does not trust all his eggs to one basket. 22. Wit is the only wall between us and the dark. 23. He covered me with kisses of fire. 24. Life is an incurable disease. 25. America is a tune. It must be sung together. 26. Anger is a bow that will shoot sometimes when another feeling will not. 27. I was lost in a sea of nameless faces. 28. The detective listened to her tales with a wooden face. 29. It was extremely hot during the day. We were almost roasted! 30. What had awakened him from his train of thought that caused a tear to appear on his face was the sweet melody of his favorite song.

Exercise 2. Explain the logic of metonymic transference in the following sentences.

1. The pen is mightier than the sword. 2. He writes a fine hand. 3. Fox News has always maintained. 4. As the bullet pierced his chest, I watched the life flow out of him. 5. She is the shoulder I always cry on. 6. The blueberry pie wants to see the chef. 7. We have always remained loyal to the crown. 8. They gradually ascended for half-a-mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road with some abruptness wound. 9. Elizabeth’s heart was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. 10. King’s hand does this better than anyone else. We finished the book about three non-stop hours after we picked it up. 11. Smaug’s eyes certainly looked fast asleep, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. 12. My poor legs, my poor legs and poor me. It is a dangerous and long adventure for a little hobbit, I say. 13. You’re a fool head, William, as I’ve said afore this evening. 14. My eyes are exited! This is the real elvish blade. 15. Calm down, boy. We must wait to hear from the crown until we make any further decisions. 16. Don’t trouble your little peanut head over the problem. It is not worth. 17. Yes, we were together. We even engaged. But one day she just broke my heart. 18. One table was playing dominoes already. 19. The Stars and Stripes dangled languidly from a flagstaff. 20. She smoothed the front other dress with the palms of soft, clever hands. 21. I stopped at a bar and had a couple of double Scotches. They didn't do me any good. All they did was make me think of Silver Wig, and I never saw her again. 22. The White House asked the television networks for air time on Monday night. 23. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. 24. We must wait to hear from the crown until we make any further decisions.

Broadening (or Generalization) of meaning

Narrowing (or Specialization) of meaning

Sometimes, the process of transference may result in a considerable change in the range of meaning. For instance, the verb to arrive (French borrowing) began its life in English in the narrow meaning ‘to come to shore, to land’. In modern English it has greatly widened and developed the general meaning ‘to come’.

The meaning developed through transference based on contiguity, but the range of the second meaning is much broader.

It is interesting to trace the history of the word girl. In the Middle English it had the next meaning of ‘a small child of either sex’. Then the word underwent the process of transference based on contiguity and developed the meaning of ‘a small child of the female sex’, so that the range of meaning was narrowed. In its further semantic development the word gradually broadened its range of meaning. At first it came to denote not only a female child but, also, a young unmarried woman, later, only young woman, so that its range of meaning is quite broad.

Some more examples:

deer → any beast → a certain kind of beast;

meat → any food → a certain food product;

voyage → any trip or journey → a journey by sea or water.

In all these words the second meaning developed through transference based on contiguity, and when we speak of them as examples of narrowing of meaning we imply that the range of the second meaning is more narrow than that of the original meaning.

SEMANTIC GROUPS OF WORDS

SYNONYMS

Synonyms are words with the same or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn (σύν) ("with") and onoma (ὄνομα) ("name"). An example of synonyms are the words begin and commence. Likewise, if we talk about a long time or an extended time, long and extended become synonyms.

Synonyms can be any part of speech (such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions), as long as both words are the same part of speech. Here are more examples of English synonyms:

– verb

“buy" and "purchase”

– adjective

“big” and “large”

– adverb

“quickly” and “speedily”

– reposition

“on” and “upon”

Note that synonyms are defined with respect to certain senses of words; for instance, pupil as the “aperture in the iris of the eye” is not synonymous with student. Likewise, he expired means the same as he died, yet my passport has expired cannot be replaced by my passport has died.

In English, many synonyms emerged in the Middle Ages, after the Norman conquest of England. While England’s new ruling class spoke Norman French, the lower classes continued to speak Old English (Anglo-Saxon). Thus, today we have synonyms like the Norman-derived “people”, “liberty” and “archer”, and the Saxon-derived “folk”, “freedom” and “bowman”.

Some lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities, ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason: feline is more formal than cat; long and extended are only synonyms in one usage and not in others (for example, a long arm is not the same as an extended arm). Synonyms are also a source of euphemisms.

In contemporary research synonyms may be defined as words with the same denotation, or the same denotative component, but differing in connotations, or connotative components.

Types of Semantic Components

The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of a word is usually termed denotative (or sometimes referential) component. The denotative component expresses the conceptual content of a word.

The following list presents denotative components of some English verbs:

to glare → to look

to glance → to look

to shiver → to tremble

to shudder → to tremble.

The definitions given in the right column only partially describe the meaning of their corresponding words. To give more or less full picture of the meaning of a word, it is necessary to include in the scheme of analysis additional semantic components which are termed connotations or connotative components.

Let us give connotative components to our verbs.

to glare →to look + steadily 1. Connotation of duration

lastingly

in anger, 2.Emotive connotation

rage, etc.

to glance → to look + briefly Connotation of duration

passingly

to shiver → to tremble lastingly 1.Connotation of duration

with the cold 2. Connotation of cause

to shudder → to tremble briefly 1. Connotation of duration

with horror, 2. Connotation of cause

disgust, etc. 3. Emotive connotation

Types of connotations.

1. The connotation of degree and intensity (to surprise – to astonish – to amaze).

2. The connotation of duration (to stare – to gaze – to glance).

3. Emotive connotation (alone – single – lonely – solitary).

4. The evaluative connotation (well-known – famous; to produce – to create – to manufacture).

5. The connotation of manner (to like – to admire – to love – to adore worship).

6. The connotation of cause (to shudder – to tremble).

One can get a sufficiently clear picture of what the word really means by singling out denotative components. A meaning can have two or more connotative components.

A group of synonyms may be studied with the help of their dictionary definitions (definitional analysis). In this work the data from various dictionaries are analysed comparatively. After that the definitions are subjected to transformational operations (transformational analysis). In this way, the semantic components of each analysed word are signed out.

Here are the results of the definitional and transformational analysis of some synonyms for the verb to look.

Denotation Connotation

1. To stare: to look + steadily, lastingly + in surprise, curiosity, etc.

2. To glare: to look + steadily, lastingly + in anger, rage, fury.

3. To gaze: to look + steadily, lastingly + in tenderness, admiration.

4. To glance: to look + briefly, in passing.

5. To peep: to look+ steadily, lastingly + by stealth, through an opening or from a conceded location.

The common denotation shows that the words are synonyms. The connotative component highlight their differentiations

In modern research the criterion of interchangeability is applied. According to it, synonyms are defined as words which are interchangeable at least in some contexts without considerable alteration in denotational meaning. But this theory has been much criticized. Synonyms are not, cannot and should not be interchangeable, or they would simply become useless ballast in the vocabulary.

Types of synonyms.

The only existing classification system for synonyms was established by Academician Vinogradov.

There are 3 types of synonyms:

1. ideographic synonyms are words conveying the same concept but differing in shades of meaning, e.g. fast – rapid – swift – quick, etc.;

2. stylistic synonyms differ in stylistic characteristics, e.g. to begin (neutral) – to commence (bookish) – to start (neutral) – to initiate (bookish);

3. absolute synonyms coincide in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics and, therefore, are interchangeable in all contexts, e.g. compounding – composition; word-building – word-formation.

Absolute stylistic synonyms are rare in the vocabulary. The vocabulary system tends to abolish it either by rejecting one of the absolute synonyms or by developing differentiation characteristics in one or both of them.

The dominant synonym.

In every synonymic group there is a word called the dominant synonym.

Ex: to shine – to gleam - to sparkle – to glitter – to glimmer – to shimmer – to flash – to blaze; fear – terror – horror.

The dominant synonym expresses the notion common to all synonyms of the group in the most general way, without contributing any additional information as to the manner, intensity, duration, etc. Its meaning which is broad and generalized, covers the meaning of the rest of the synonyms. Here, the idea of interchangeability comes into its own. But such substitution would mean a loss of the additional information.

SOURCES OF SYNONYMY

Synonymy has its characteristic patterns in each language. Its peculiar feature in English is the contrast between simple native words stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Greco-Latin origin. This results in a sort of stylistically conditioned triple “keyboard” that can be illustrated by the following:

Native English words	Words borrowed from French	Words borrowed from Latin
teaching	guidance	instruction
to rise	to mount	to ascend
to end	to finish	to complete
empty	devoid	vacuous
to gather	to assemble	to collect
belly	stomach	abdomen
to ask	to question	to intrrogate

The important thing to remember is that it is not only borrowings from foreign languages but other sources as well that have made increasing contributions to the stock of English synonyms. There are, for instance, words that come from dialects, and, in the last hundred years, from American English in particular. As a result speakers of British English may make use of both elements of the following pairs, the first element in each pair coming from the USA: gimmick : : trick; dues : : subscription; long distance (telephone) call : : trunk call; radio : : wireless. There are also synonyms that originate in numerous dialects as, for instance, clover : : shamrock; liquor : : whiskey (from Irish); girl : : lass, lassie or charm : : glamour (from Scottish).

Exercise 3. Pick out synonyms from the sentences below. Comment on their shades of meaning and stylistic reference.

1. Miss Elphistone was white and pale. 2. He is continuously tense and worried, easily upset, and constantly haunted by future calamities or future errors. 3. It can cause only sad and tragic kind of entertainment. 4. Soldiers began to fire and shoot with all guns they had. 5. We were hungry so he suddenly became so unselfish and generous. 6. Due to aliens’ gas it was too hazardous and dangerous to stay outdoors. 7. Welcome to the new wave of fear. If you were scared before, you’ll be terrified now... 8. She must have been a foolish, dull woman, or else very inexperienced. 9. “I’ll give him ‘go out’!” he shouted like an insane, crazy thing. 10. They said good-day, and all departed together. 11. It is not only your skill and dexterity that fascinates me. 12. Her cleanliness and purity had reacted upon him. 13. Nothing upsets me more than being hungry; I snarl and snap and burst into tears. 14. It was a shark attack, clear and simple. 15. I don’t believe she took their curses and graces any more seriously than she took the aches and pains of characters in a novel.

EUPHEMISMS

More “decent” synonymic substitutes used instead of indecent, impolite or too direct words are called euphemisms. A euphemism is a generally innocuous word, name, or phrase that replaces an offensive or suggestive one. Some euphemisms intend to amuse, while others intend to give positive appearances to negative events or even mislead entirely. Euphemisms are used for dissimulation, to refer to taboo topics (such as disability, sex, or death) in a polite way, and to mask profanity. The opposite of euphemism roughly equates to dysphemism.

The word euphemism comes from the Greek word ευφημία (euphemia), meaning “the use of words of good omen”, which in turn is derived from the Greek root-words eu (ευ), “good/well” + pheme (φήμι) “speech/speaking”, meaning glory, flattering speech, praise. Etymologically, the eupheme is the opposite of the blaspheme (evil-speaking). The term euphemism itself was used as a euphemism by the ancient Greeks, meaning “to keep a holy silence” (speaking well by not speaking at all). A euphemism also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny.

When a phrase is used as a euphemism, it often becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. Euphemisms may be used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas (stupid → unwise, drunk → mellow, to lie → to distort the facts, etc.), even when the literal term for them is not necessarily offensive. This type of euphemism is used in public relations and politics, where it is sometimes called doublespeak. Sometimes, using euphemisms is equated to politeness. There are also superstitious euphemisms (devil → deuce, dickens), based on the idea that words have the power to bring bad fortune and religious euphemisms, based on the idea that some words are sacred, or that some words are spiritually imperiling.

Euphemisms can also be treated within the synchronic approach, because both expressions, the euphemistic and the direct one, co-exist in the language and form a synonymic opposition. Not only English but other modern languages as well have a definite set of notions attracting euphemistic circumlocutions. These are notions of death, madness, stupidity, drunkenness, certain physiological processes, crimes and so on. For example: die : : be no more : : be gone : : lose one’s life : : breathe one’s last : : join the silent majority : : go the way of alt flesh : : pass away : : be gathered to one’s fathers.

A prominent source of synonymic attraction is still furnished by interjections and swearing addressed to God. To make use of God’s name is considered sinful by the Church and yet the word, being expressive, formed the basis of many interjections. Later the word God was substituted by the phonetically similar word goodness: For goodness sake / Goodness gracious] Goodness knows! Cf. By Jovel Good Lord!

Many euphemisms fall into one or more of these categories: foreign terms, abbreviations, abstractions, indirections, longer (usually Latinate) words, mispronunciation.

There is some disagreement over whether certain terms are or are not euphemisms. For example, sometimes the phrase visually impaired is labeled as a politically correct euphemism for blind. However, visual impairment can be a broader term, including, for example, people who have partial sight in one eye, a group that would be excluded by the word blind.

Exercise 4. State which words are replaced by euphemisms in the following sentences.

1. It was the name of the man who had been walking along the Oxford Canal at the time when Joanna Franks passed away – when Joanna Franks was supposedly murdered. 2. They’re all asleep. 3. The remains of Joanna Franks was found at Duke’s Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5.30am on Wednesday 21^st June 1859. 4. Sad, however, from Morse’s point of view, was the unequivocal assertion made here that the body was still warm. 5. Do you mean he's lost his life? 6. The protagonist, ‘the cave-man in a lounge suit’, is the maddening, irascible and fascinating Professor George Edward Challenger. 7. Shirley, would you go powder your nose? I have things to discuss with Loulie. 8. After all, losing weight by losing your lunch is never a goal. 9. She was wearing a white leotard that showed off her ample proportions. 10. Before an agency can furlough employees, it must seek approval of its plan from the State Personnel Board. 11. By comparison, private correctional facilities held only 10.2% of the total adults in 1998. 12. First he sent Pat to a specialist to investigate why, after nine months of marriage, there was still no bun in oven. 13. It includes people who are temporarily between jobs because they are moving, etc. 14. “Are there any houses of ill repute in Foxglove?” he said. 15. At first everything was O.K. but suddenly he felt a call of nature. 16. For drinkers of more adult beverages, there is a special establishment. 17. We had a friend whose parents completely furnished their house with stuff that fell off the back of the track. 18. The dog was bad, so veterinarian had to put her to sleep. 19. Two pirates had bit the dust. 20. There are also concerns that present policies are not only ineffective but create collateral damage. 21. Shirley, would you go powder your nose? I have things to discuss with Loulie. 22. After all, losing weight by losing your lunch is never a goal. 23. She was wearing a white leotard that showed off her ample proportions. 24. Before an agency can furlough employees, it must seek approval of its plan from the State Personnel Board. 25. By comparison, private correctional facilities held only 10.2% of the total adults in 1998. 26. First he sent Pat to a specialist to investigate why, after nine months of marriage, there was still no bun in oven. 27. It includes people who are temporarily between jobs because they are moving etc. 28. Are there any houses of ill repute in Foxglove?” he said. 29. At first everything was O.K. but suddenly he felt a call of nature. 30. For drinkers of more adult beverages, there is a special establishment. 31. We had a friend whose parents completely furnished their house with stuff that fell off the back of the track. 32. The dog was bad, so veterinarian had to put her to sleep. 33. Two pirates had bit the dust. 34. There are also concerns that present policies are not only ineffective but create collateral damage.

HOMONYMS

Modern English is exceptionally rich in homonymous words and word-forms. It is held that languages where short words abound have more homonyms than those where longer words are prevalent. Therefore it is sometimes suggested that abundance of homonyms in Modern English is to be accounted for by the monosyllabic structure of the commonly used English words.

Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and origin are called homonyms. The term is derived from Greek “homonymous” (homos – “the same” and onoma – “name”) and thus expresses the sameness of name combined with the difference in meaning. The term "homonyms" in its broad meaning includes homonyms, homophones, and homographs. The traditional formal classification of homonyms is as follows:

1. Homonyms proper (or perfect homonyms) which are identical both in sound and spelling, e.g. back n ‘part of the body’ – back adv ‘away from the front’ – back v ‘go back’; ball n ‘a gathering of people for dancing’ – ball n ‘round object used in games’; bark n ‘the noise made by dog’ – bark v ‘to utter sharp explosive cries’ – bark n ‘the skin of a tree’.

2. Partial homonyms are subdivided into:

a) Homographs which are identical in spelling but different in sound, e.g. bow [bou] – bow [bau]; lead [li:d] – lead [led]; row [rou] – row [rau]; sewer [‘soue] – sewer [sjue]; tear [tie] – tear [tee]; wind [wind] – wind [waind] and many more.

b) Homophones which are identical in sound but different in spelling, e.g. arms – alms; buy – by; him – hymn; knight – night; not – knot; or – oar; piece – peace; rain – reign; scent – cent; steel – steal; write – right and many others. These words are a very common source of confusion when writing. Common examples of sets of homophones include: to, too, and two; they're and their; bee and be; sun and son; which and witch; plain and plan; key and quay; sow and sew, etc.

Homonyms may be classified by the type of their meaning. In this case one should distinguish between:

1. Lexical homonyms which belong to the same part of speech, e.g. plane n. (літак) – plain n. (рівнина), light a. (світлий) – light a. (легкий).

2. Grammatical homonyms which belong to different parts of speech, e.g. row v. (гребти) – row n. (ряд), weather n. (погода) – whether conj. (чи).

3. Homoforms which are identical only in some paradigm constituents, e.g. scent n. – sent (Past Ind. and Past Part. of send), seize v. – sees (Pr. Ind., 3d p. sing. of see).

Professor A.I. Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes:

1) full homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm, e.g. wren n. (a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service) – wren n. (a bird).

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 only one identical form, but it is never the same form, e.g. (to) found v. - found v. (past indef., past part. of to find), (to) lay .v - lay .v (past indef. of to lie).

b) complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech, which have identical form in their paradigms, e.g. rose n. - rose v. (past indef. of to rise), maid n - made v (past indef., past part. of to make).

c) partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms, e.g. to lie (lay, lain) v. - to lie (lied, lied) v., to hang (hung, hung) v. - to hang (hanged, hanged) v.

Sources of Homonyms.

1. Phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of historical development. Two or more words which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms.

Night and knight were not homonyms in Old English as the initial k was pronounced. In Old English the verb to write had the form writan, and the adjective right had the form reht, riht.

2. Borrowing is another source of homonyms. A borrowed word may, in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing. So, in the group of homonyms rite, n. – to write, v. – right, adj. the second and the third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing. Match, n. (a game) is a native, and match, n. (a slender short piece of wood used for producing fire) is French borrowing.

3. Word building also contributes significantly the growth of homonymy, and the most important in this respect is conversion. Such pairs of words as comb – to comb, pale – to pale are numerous in the vocabulary. Homonyms of this type, which are the same in the sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms. Shortening is a further type of the word-building increases the number of homonyms: fan (shortened from fanatic) and fan (веер, опахало, вентилятор). Words made by sound-imitation can also form pairs of homonyms with other words: bang (a loud, sudden noise) – bang (чёлка).

In all the mentioned cases the homonyms developed from two or more different words, and their similarity is purely accidental.

Another source: 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. This type of formation is called split polysemy. Let us consider the history of three homonyms:

board,n. – a long and thin piece of timber;

board, n. – daily meals, esp. as provided for pay, e.g. room and board; board, n.- an official group of persons who direct some activity, e.g. a board of directors.

These three words are in no way associated with one another. Yet board has a meaning ‘table’. It developed from the meaning ‘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’ develop from the meaning ‘table’ also by transference based on contiguity. It was meaning ‘table’ which served as a link to hold together all the parts.

Exercise 5. Classify the words in bold type into homophones, homographs and homonyms proper.

1. a) “It’s made out of wood. b) The skaters would normally perform their stunts and tricks there,” May explains. 2. a) “A half – pipe can be dangerous. Skateboarders wear protective gear,” May points out. b) “Staying safe is important,” Buzz agrees. “Now where is my notebook?” 3. a) “Good luck!” Buzz tells May. “Go take the lead in this competition!” b)“I feel nervous”, May says. “My legs feel as if they are made of lead”. 4. “May I sail with you in May?”. 5. Mouse: Deer, I’m very glad to have such dear friends. 6. But he’s unable to see that Oscar prefers his presence to his presents once in a while. 7. a)“It’s my birthday present to him.” b) “I can fill in,” Ollie says. “I’d be happy to present the Big Air Jam, with Buzz”. 8. a) “Dad, buy me a ball!” b) “Bye, Osc, I’m in a hurry,” answered Mark and hung on. 9. a) “What a nice scent, Nicky! Hilary Duff “With love?” asked Ally. b) “Ughmn. My father sent it to me last Christmas,” said Nicky climbing the ladder. 10. a) “I’d like to go to the sea. b) I think it’s amazing to see the autumn sunset,” said Carolyn a bit enigmatically. 11. a) Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere. b) It was of a very handsome young man called Dorian Gray and when Lord Henry saw it, he wanted to meet this young man. 12. a) If I had known that you were ill I would have gone to see you. b) They entered it in one of it’s lowest points, and drove for some time through a beautiful wood, stretching over a wide extent. 13. a) But they won fair and square… even Wood admits it. b) I took one last look out at the statue. 14. a) It was the worst I have ever seen. b) The whole scene was almost too perfect to disturb. 15. a) I may thank you, Eliza, for this piece of civility. b) They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. 16. a) She couldn’t come to the party, which was a pity. b) If the one-eyed witch was boarded up too, he would never be able to go into Hogsmeade again. 17. a) The journey to King’s Cross was very uneventful compared to Harry’s trip on the Knight Bus. b) Last Wednesday night, there were over a thousand fans at Cardiff University Great Hall to see Coldplay. 18. a) What would you do if somebody gave you a lot of money? b) ‘Though it is difficult,’ said Jane, ‘to guess in what way he can mean to make us the atonement he thinks our due, the wish is certainly to his credit.’ 19. a) And with his arm around my waist, guiding me into my third-row seat, I was reminded that the nice man attended the gym very regularly. b) ‘This is such a waste of time,’ Hermione hissed. 20. a) I have a high respect for your nerves. b) ‘Hi,’ I said, accepting his kiss on the cheek and feeling distinctly underdressed in a little Splendid T-shirt dress and Havaianas. 21. a) He is going to fall into the hole. b) ‘And with Alex?’ Jenny asked, signaling the waitress and ordering more or less the whole dessert menu. 22. a) Well, you know that old motorbike that Mick had for years? b) ‘No,’ he hook his head, smiling. 23. a) Our boat survived and I was trying to recover when my elder brother put mouth close to my ear, and screamed out the horrifying word ‘Whirlpool!’ b) He did look at it and into it for half an hour, was pleased with what the owner said in its praise, and took it immediately. 24. Do you see the letter 'c' written in sea salt? 25. a) Nazan picked up me and stroken my tail. b) That is the beginning of my tale. 26. a) He sees America as a crazy house. b) The final issue deals with the right to seize the item. 27. A much more terrible sight awaited one at the site of the accident. 28. a) Suffice to say I’d never hammered a nail before in my life, and Alberta knew it. b) My nails skewed at odd angles or bounced free and took flight.

Exercise 6. Read the following jokes and say on what linguistic phenomenon they are based.

1. – Is life worth living?

– It depends upon the liver.

2. – How much is my milk bill?

– Excuse me, Madam, but my name is John.

3. A tailor guaranties to give each of his customers the perfect fit.

4. – Why is it so wet in England?

– Because many kings and queens have reigned there

5. – Where do you find giant snails?

– On the ends of giants' fingers.

6. – Waiter.

– Yes, sir.

– What is this?

– It’s bean soup, sir.

– Never mind what it has been. I want to know what it is now

7. – I got sick last night eating eggs.

– Too bad.

– No, only one.

8. – I spent last summer in a very pretty city in Switzerland.

– Berne ?

– No, I almost froze.

9. – Officer (to driver in parked car): Don’t you see this sign “Fine for parking”?

– Driver: Yes, officer, I see and agree with it.

Exercise 7. Provide homonyms for some words (jokes 1,2). Classify homonyms according to prof. Smirnitsky’s classification system.

1. Teacher: Here is a map. Who can show us America?

Nick goes to the map and finds America on it.

Teacher: Now, tell me who found America?

2. Father: I promised you to buy a car if you passed your exam, and you have failed. What were you doing last term?

Son: I was learning to drive a car.

3. a) When I started to strike a match for a light, he stopped me. b) He is not a man to lose the match without your knowing that he has tried and tried everything not to lose.

4. a) She had been in situations where she owed a penny, and the store clerk actually stood there and waited until she found the penny, that she had asked for. b) And with growing entrepreneurial spirit and self-confidence, she decided to found her own firm, Mix and Match Music, to supply groups with varied instrumentation or any type of music.

5. a) The deep flush the anticipated engulfing her face in a sea of crimson never rose. b) He stands before a rose in bloom; the rose we see is an expression of its inner spirit, a shadow, a representation of spirit in material form.

PARONYMS

There are several meanings of the word paronym. Paronym is a word similar to another in sound; the partial coincidence in outward form occurs simply by chance and is not conditioned by semantic or word-formation processes. Some scholars regard as paronyms words with the same root that are similar in structure or sound and are the same part of speech or have common grammatical features. But the definition that shows up most often is that “paronyms are words pronounced alike, but have different meanings”, or in other words, words that have the same root. Another word for paronym is cognate.

Paronyms can be categorized in several ways. There are two different types of paronyms: those that look like they’re related and those that don’t. Coming from the same root doesn’t mean that words came into English at the same time or in the same way. So, while paronyms beauty and beauteous share the first 5 letters, paronyms dubious and doubtful look far less alike, though they both have the letters d, u, and b in the first syllable.

Another way to categorize paronyms is by whether or not they sound alike. Paronyms may be differentiated by having different prefixes or suffixes and added word syllables can change stress and other elements of pronunciation. Paronyms beauty and beautiful sound identical for the first syllable. Paronyms legal and legislate sound quite different, with the pronounciation of both e and g changing when the suffix is applied, even though the spelling of the first three letters is identical.

A third way to categorize paronyms is the ones that are words in the same language and the ones include words in more than one language. English, with words from so many language, also has paronyms with many, many different languages, although Spanish, French, and German are three that often are referred to.

Exercise 8. Deduce the meanings of the paronyms. Translate the sentences into Ukrainian.

1. a) In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking shack’s supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain. b) Bakewell is a historic town in Derbishire. 2. a) The great secret of a successful marriage is to treat all disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters. b) About half of all cases of breast cancer occur in women over the age of 65, and its incidence rises with increasing age. 3. a) The lawyer's indiscreet remarks to the media provoked an angry response from the judge. b) The indiscrete nucleus does not have a nuclear membrane and is therefore not separate from the cytoplasm. 4. a) To read of a detective's daring finesse or ingenious stratagem is a rare joy. b) She was enchanted by his ingenuous expression and frank blue eyes. 5. a) It is only because miners sweat their guts out that superior persons can remain superior. b) We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. 6. a) One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak. b) A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. 7. a) The Quidditch team scheduled an extra practice session for Thursday. b) Auckland has a warm climate, with fertile farmland and seas that teem with fish. 8. a) ‘Does the order still own that cloister on the road to Cardos?’ she asked. b) Let us deal with the specific issues that have been raised when we cluster items. 9. a) She is your bride. b) This is my last chance; I had to bribe a helicab to get me here. 10. a) She, Scarlett O’Hara was lying behind a negro cabin, in the midst of ruins, too sick and too weak to move, and no one in the world knew or cared. b) Further properties of thick spaces are given in the following lemma. 11. a)It tasted as grape juice but not as sweet. b) A trickle of sweat rolled down her brow. 12. a) I am not such a bear, you know, as you think. b) Why didn’t he just buy lots of milk and beer and keep it in the refrigerator? 13. a) So different from me. b) Making contact with yourself is quite difficult. 14. a) I can feel your heart, you know. b) If a company requests approval prices then it is necessary to fill in those forms and send by e-mail to EMI (or send on CD). 15. a) “What, is it you?” said Candide, “you live?” b) She would just as soon leave him, but that wouldn’t be wise. 16. a) The trouble with you, kid, is you just don’t give a damn. Really. b) Will this spell doom for developing countries?

ANTONYMS

Words that have directly opposite meanings are called antonyms. An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning as another word. It refers to a word that is completely different from another. They also are called opposites. For example: good – bad, badly, badness, evil, evilness, ill, malevolent, malicious, poorly, wicked .

Antonyms fall into two main groups:

1. Root antonyms (those which have different root), e.g. long – short, up – down, to start – to finish, etc.

2. Affixal antonyms (in which special affixes or their absence express semantic opposition), e.g. hopeful – hopeless, happy – unhappy, appear – disappear, etc.

By the nature of the relationship between the opposed meanings we can figure out three categories of antonyms:

1. A gradable antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings where the two meanings lie on a continuous spectrum. For example: young, old; early, late; empty, full; dull, interesting.

2. A complementary antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where the two meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum, e.g. dead, alive; off, on; day, night; exit, entrance; exhale, inhale; occupied, vacant; identical, different.

3. A relational antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where opposite makes sense only in the context of the relationship between the two meanings: husband, wife; doctor, patient; predator, prey; teach, learn; servant, master; come, go; parent, child.

It is more or less universally recognised that among the cases that are traditionally described as antonyms there are at least the following three groups.

1. Contradictories which represent the type of semantic relations that exist between pairs like dead and alive, single and married, perfect and imperfect, etc. To use one of the terms is to contradict the other and to use not before one of them is to make it semantically equivalent to the other, cf. not dead=alive, not single=married.

2. Contraries differ from contradictories mainly because contradictories admit of no possibility between them. One is either single or married, either dead or alive, etc. whereas contraries admit such possibilities. This may be observed in cold – hot, and cool and warm which seem to be intermediate members. Thus we may regard as antonyms not only cold and hot but also cold and warm.

3. Incompatibles. Semantic relations of incompatibility exist among the antonyms with the common component of meaning and may be described as the reverse of hyponymy, i.e. as the relations of exclusion but not of contradiction. To say morning is to say not afternoon, not evening, not night. The negation of one member of this set however does not imply semantic equivalence with the other but excludes the possibility of the other words of this set. A relation of incompatibility may be observed between colour terms since the choice of red, e.g., entails the exclusion of black, blue, yellow and so on. Naturally not all colour terms are incompatible. Semantic relations between scarlet and red are those of hyponymy.

Polysemantic words usually have antonyms for each of their lexico-semantic variants: a dull knife – a sharp knife, a dull boy – a bright boy, etc.

Exercise 9. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian. Classify the words in bold type.

1. “Flash Wiggins makes scoring look easy,” Harold tells Cassy. “But beating the goalie is difficult”. 2. “Krupp and Smythe worked together to even the score,” Harold adds. “Nothing can tear them apart!”. 3. “You can help me make this rough ice smooth again!” says the driver. 4. Father Bear “I’m Father Bear, and I sit in this great big chair.” Baby Bear “I’m Baby Bear and I sit in that little chair”. 5. “Ah, but sometimes it is more courageous to do the right thing, than rebel and do the wrong thing, you know,” she said softly, meeting my eye. 6. He blushed and suddenly paled from nerves at the situation he was in. 7. “Oh, no, Nicky!! For you it’s hard, but for me…it’s very easy. I have known him for ages”. 8. “And then we couldn’t sleep in the spacious room after being promised. But I suppose, it will be better to sleep in narrow rooms”. 9. Anne had a young, brighter face and more delicate features than the others; Marilla saw at her and felt herself old enough to change her life. 10. “I can; and A-n-n looks dreadful, but A – n – n – e looks so much more distinguished, but call me Cordelia! It looks wonderful!” 11. A marvelously written novel... rich with both ordinary and extraordinary realities. 12. This sparky debut novel... Enthralling from the first page, this bittersweet fusion of fairytales and nightmares is sugared by nostalgia and salted with sadness.

FUNCTIONAL SEMANTIC CLASSES

Side by side with classifying words into lexico-grammatical classes known as parts of speech, modern scholars make attempts to work out the classification of words into functional semantic classes. Here it is limited to considering two functional semantic classes which can be clearly distinguished: those of qualifiers and responsives.

Qualifiers (degree modifiers)

Qualifiers (degree modifiers) are words used for qualifying properties, states, etc as to the degree of their manifestation. The degree modifiers are adverbs that normally modify and emphasize gradable words and answer the question “How?”, “How far?” (“To what degree?”), “How much?” Qualifiers are used only with adjectives and adverbs preceding them to indicate the degree to which these gradable words apply. More specifically, they derive from a group of words called adverbs of degree, also known as degree adverbs. However, when used grammatically as degree modifiers, these words cease to be degree adverbs, because they no longer quantify the idea they modify. Instead, they emphasize it emotionally.

Qualifiers are subdivided into three groups:

1. intensifiers;

2. moderators;

3. limiters.

Intensifiers are degree words used to emphasize the high degree of gradable adjectives and adverbs (very, too, extremely, more, much, so, ever, most, really, utterly, exactly, all too, a little too, a lot, even, far, etc).

Moderators are degree words used to emphasize the moderate degree of gradable adjectives and adverbs (almost, rather, quite, kind of, enough, half, equally, mildly, somewhat, reasonably, etc).

Limiters are degree words used to emphasize the low degree of gradable adjectives and adverbs (a little, a bit, hardly, faintly, scarcely, slightly, less, least, etc).

One should bear in mind that degree modifiers are adverbs which lack the primary characteristic of adverbs: the ability to modify verbs. They modify exclusively adjectives and adverbs.

Exercise 10. Arrange the qualifiers in bold type according to the degree of intensity.

1. Hindsight, our cruelest and most astute adviser, so easily illuminates our errors of judgment, and yet in the middle of life one seizes upon things that seem to mean so much. 2. I saw Nathan sitting there nursing a bleeding elbow, tears in his eyes, the temptation to touch it growing ever stronger as he looked. 3. “The war is over, right?” he said, and smiled half-heartedly. 4. He clutched his face, couldn’t see a thing, and I let go with the most almighty kick to his balls. 5. I had never believed myself to be anything other than honest, straight as a die, implacable almost in my attention to those things that were right and just and equitable. 6. There was blackness behind my eyelids, black and deep enough to swallow me. 7. People change a little every day, and sometimes you can meet someone down the road and they are utterly different from the person you thought they were…but then sometimes it’s you who has changed, and they stay exactly the same, and now you merely see them from a different point of view. 8. And then suddenly, all too suddenly, she was gone, breezing past me with her grace, her beauty, the scent of something autumnal from her hair. 9. Hands big enough to floor Marty Hooper, sensitive enough to fold an origami bird in Benny’s Soda Shop. 10. Nathan came down a little later. I said nothing. 11. I was talking, rambling a little…I remember I was tired, really tired. 12. Perhaps Maurice’s mind was patterned with equally vivid images, contrasts which had made him a Socialist and which, even now, kept him one despite the knowledge, which surely he shared, that his creed would merely transfer the Lagonda to an owner equally. 13. The door to the front room was slightly open, and peering through the gap between the edge of the door and the frame I could see movement on the floor behind the chair. 14. The careful handwriting, the official-looking, very clean paper and the red margin gave the manuscript the look of an affidavit or of an examination script. 15. She held me a little too long for this just to be the excitement of a chance meeting. 16. Now she and her mother became mildly addicted to the risible awfulness of a family drama series in which the characters apparently physically and mentally unscathed by the traumas of the last episode… 17. He knew with absolute certainty, even without nothing the imprint of the murderess on this younger, more glowing face, without consciously deducing that the girl was too young to be her sister and unlikely to be her niece, that this was Mary Ducton’s daughter. 18. Harris spoke quite kindly and sensibly about it. 19. It was easier to find her, a lot easier than I thought. 20. “When a man asks himself what is meant by action, he proves that he isn’t a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking”. 21. He didn’t know whether to feel angry he’d been cheated of the kill, or sympathetic because we had encountered what appeared to be a far worse fate.

Responsives (interjections)

The categorical features of responsives are as follows: their non-nominating character, the communicative function of response to the interlocutor’s utterance or a certain situation, invariability and semantic intonational arrangement.

The bulk of the functional semantic class of responsives is constituted by interjections (ah!, oh!, alas!, etc.). However, this class includes a lot of words which descended from other parts of speech (my!, boy!, hell!, swell!, come!,rubbish! etc.). The interjection is a part of speech which expresses various emotions without naming them.

According to their meaning, interjections fall under two main groups, namely emotional interjections and imperative ones. Emotional interjections express the feelings of the speaker. They are: ah, oh, eh, uuuhhh, bravo, alas, huh, hell, my God, okay, Jesus, etc. Imperative interjections show the will of the speaker, his order or appeal to the hearer. They are: here, hush, sh-sh, ssshhh, well, come, hey, now, etc.

Interjections may be also primary and secondary. Primary interjections are not derived from other parts of speech. Most of them are simple words: ah, oh, eh, ooh, pooh, fie, bravo, hush, okay, hey, ow, uuuhhh, etc. Only a few interjections are composite: heigh-ho!, hei-ho!, holla-ho!, gee-ho!, uh huh, etc. Secondary interjections are derived from other parts of speech. They are homonymous with the words they are derived from. They are simple or composite: well, now, so, here, there, come, why, hell, Christ, gosh, Jesus Christ, my God, trailer trash, Goddamn, oh god, etc.

Interjections are used as independent sentence-words or independent elements of the sentence. One should also bear in mind that formulas of courtesy, greetings, etc should not be regarded as interjections. Thus, good-bye, thank you are not interjections because they do not express emotion or will.

Exercise 11. Comment on the responsives in bold type. State to what parts of speech some of them can be traced back.

1. Ah, to hell with what’s right and what’s not. You want something, you take it baby. 2. “Ssshhh,” he whispered. “Quiet now…don’t you want to be wasting what little breath you have left there, Daniel”. 3. Whaddaya figure huh? Ain’t some folk prejudiced or what? 4. “Hell, Danny, take it easy,” Linny told me. 5. “Don’t bite!” she hollered. “Ow, ow, ow…” 6. “Okay,” I said. “So I’m standing here in the room and I hear someone screaming who I think is Linny Goldbourne-”. 7. “Got your date eh?” West went on. 8. My knees were weak, my insides churning, and I anticipated the sound of his voice, the Hey you! That would come any second. 9. Christ, Linny, he’s my friend. 10. Hey, Danny, hold up there! 11. “My God, Nathan,” she shouted. “When did you get back?” 12. “Okay, just tell me what happened with Nathan and you after Linny came back”. 13. Get up, go to work, mow and lawn, read the paper… Jesus, could you imagine having a life like that? 14. “Ooh, ooh, Danny, that hurt,” I replied. 15. “Danny?” – “Uh huh?” – “Tell me,” Father John repeated. 16. Hell, you know what, guys? A couple of heavies came down and saw me at Eve Chantry’s place. 17. And then he said it too. “Nigger! Damned nigger!” 18. “Trailer trash,” Nathan went on. 19. I could hear myself crying, and then making that sound once more…Uuuhhh… 20. Hell, it was Christmas Eve. We relaxed; we had a drink and a smoke. 21. When I opened my eyes I could see his half-lit face right there above me through the bars. “Jesus Christ!” I started. 22. I thought this was it. This was the moment I die. This is when it goes really ugly and they kick the living crap out of me, and Oh Lord Jesus Christ Almighty, Mary Mother of God… 23. I felt a sound escaping from my lips. Uuuhhh… 24. “So?” he prompted, and I leaned back and looked at him, feeling strangely awkward. 25.…when she said Well thank you, Frank, and thank you to all our listeners today. It certainly has been a day of revelation, hasn’t it? 26. Goddamn. He said Goddamn. So unlike Nathan. 27.Oh God, oh God, oh God…not like this…not like this…any other way than this.

PART 6. ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY

Phraseology is a branch of linguistics which studies different types of set expressions. If synonyms may be figuratively referred to as the tints and colours of the vocabulary, then phraseology is a kind of picture gallery, in which are collected bright and amusing sketches of the nation’s customs, traditions, recollections of its past history, folk songs, fairy tales, quotations from the great poets, crude slang witticisms, etc. Phraseology is not only the most colourful, but probably the most democratic area of vocabulary and it drowse its resources mostly from the very depths of popular speech.

Phraseological unit is a word group with a fixed lexical composition and grammatical structure; its meaning, which is familiar to native speakers of the given language, is generally figurative and cannot be derived from the meanings of the phraseological unit’s component parts. The meanings of phraseological units are the result of the given language’s historical development. Phraseological units are word-groups that can not be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units. They are compiled in special dictionaries. The same as words phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it.

In modern linguistics there is considerable confusion about the terminology associated with these word-groups. Along with the term “phraseological unit” generally accepted in our country there exist a lot of other terms, such as: set phrases, set-expressions, fixed word-groups, collocations, word equivalents, idioms. Differences in terminology reflect certain differences in the main criteria used to distinguish between free word-groups and a specific type of linguistic units generally known as phraseology. Phraseological units are habitually defined as non-motivated word-groups that cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready-made units. The term set-phrase implies that the basic criterion of differentiation is stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure of word-groups. The term idioms generally implies that the essential feature of the linguistic units under consideration is idiomaticity or lack of motivation. This term habitually used by English and American linguists is very often treated as synonymous with the term phraseological unit. The term word-equivalent stresses not only the semantic but also the functional inseparability of certain word-groups and their aptness to function in speech as single words.

The essential features of phraseological units are stability of the lexical components and lack of motivation. Unlike components of free word-groups which may vary according to the needs of communication, member-words of phraseological units are always reproduced as single unchangeable collocations.

Thus, for example, the constituent red in the free word-group red flower may, if necessary, be substituted for by any other adjective denoting colour (blue, white, etc.), without essentially changing the denotational meaning of the word-group under discussion (a flower of a certain colour). In the phraseological unit red tape (bureaucratic “methods) no such substitution is possible, as a change of the adjective would involve a complete change in the meaning of the whole group. A blue (black, white, etc.) tape would mean ‘a tape of a certain colour’. It follows that the phraseological unit red tape is semantically non-motivated, i.e. its meaning cannot be deduced from the meaning of its components and that it exists as a ready-made linguistic unit which does not allow of any variability of its lexical components.

Grammatical structure of phraseological units is to a certain extent also stable. Thus, though the structural formula of the word-groups red flower and red tape is identical (A + +N), the noun flower may be used in the plural (red flowers), whereas no such change is possible in the phraseological unit red tape; red tapes would then denote ‘tapes of red colour’ but not ‘bureaucratic methods’.

There are some classification principles of phraseological units. The most popular is the synchronic (semantic) classification of phraseological units by V.V. Vinogradov. He developed some points first advanced by the Swiss linguist Charles Bally and gave a strong impetus to a purely lexicological treatment of the material. It means that phraseological units were defined as lexical complexes with specific semantic features and classified accordingly. His classification is based upon the motivation of the unit that is the relationship between the meaning of the whole and the meanings of its component parts. The degree of motivation is correlated with the rigidity, indivisibility and semantic unity of the expression that is with the possibility of changing the form or the order of components and of substituting the whole by a single word though not in all the cases.

According to Vinogradov’s classification all phraseological units are divided into phraseological fusions, phraseological unities and phraseological combinations. Other scientists enlarge this classification and say that basing on the semantic principle English phraseological units fall into the following classes: fusions; half-fusions; unities; half-unities; phraseological collocations; phraseological expressions.

Phraseological fusion is a semantically indivisible phraseological unit which meaning is never influenced by the meanings of its components. It means that phraseological fusions represent the highest stage of blending together. Sometimes phraseological fusions are called idioms under which linguists understand a complete loss of the inner form. The meaning of components is completely absorbed by the meaning of the whole, by its expressiveness and emotional properties, e.g. once in a blue moon (“very seldom”), a white elephant (“a present one can’t get rid of”), cried for the moon (“to demand unreal”), etc.

Half – fusions are stable word-groups in which the leading component is literal while the rest of the group is idiomatically fused, e.g. to buy smth. for a song (“to buy smth very cheaply”), to talk through one’s hat (“to talk foolishly”), to pay through the nose (“to pay unreasonably much”), ect.

Unities – metaphorically motivated idioms, e.g. to make a mountain out of a molehill (“to become excited about trifles”), to play second fiddle (“to have a lower or less important position”), to wash one's dirty linen in public (“to tell people about one’s hidden sins and faults”), a snake in the grass (“a person with harmful intentions”; “a hidden enemy”), etc.

Half-unities – binary word-groups in which one of the components is literal, while the other is phraseological bound (the so-termed phrasemes), e.g. black frost (“frost without ice or snow”), small talk (“polite talk about unimportant things”), a tall story (“a lie”), Dutch courage (“courage of a drunk”), husband’s tea (“very weak tea”), to talk turkey (“to talk plainly and honestly about practical matters”), etc.

Phraseological collocations (standardized phrases) – word-groups with the components whose combinative power (valency) is strictly limited, e.g. to make friends (but not ‘to do friend’ or ‘to make comrades’), to bear a grudge, to break silence, to make sure, to take into account, unconditional surrender, ways and means, now and then, ect. Phraseological collocation is a construction or an expression in which every word has absolutely clear independent meaning while one of the components has a bound meaning.

Phraseological expressions – proverbs, sayings and aphoristic familiar quotations, e.g. Birds of a feather flock together (= Рибак рибака пізнає здалека); Still water runs deep(= Тиха вода греблю рве); No pains no gains (= Без труда нема плода); Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (= Не все гаразд у Датському королівстві, тобто “щось не гаразд, справи йдуть не так, як треба”); Brevity is the soul of wit (= Стислість – основа дотепності) (W. Shakespeare); Fools rush in where angels fear to tread (= дурням закон не писаний) (A. Pope), ect.

Exercise 1. Group the phraseological units in bold type according to their classification based on the semantic principle. Comment on them.

1. Regan can build a castle in the air, but he didn’t believe her. 2. I don’t want to hear all the whys and wherefores-just get it finished properly this time. 3. He wasn’t sick, he just was up to the ears in love, and that is why he couldn’t eat. 4. But I laughed and said, “Don’t worry, Professor, I am not pulling her ladyship’s leg. I wouldn’t do such a thing. I have too much respect for that charming limb. 5. My sister lives in Alaska, so I only get to see her once in a blue moon. 6. I know Sir John will go, he was sure it wouldn’t rain Cats and Dogs. 7. No one else wanted it, so I picked it up for a song. I could buy this house for a song, because it’s so ugly. 8. Meanwhile a pretty kettle of fish was preparing for Mr. Noon. He smelled nothing of it for some days. 9. Finally, we asked him to lay his cards on the table and tell us about his plans. 10. Of course I can lift him. He’s light as a feather. 11. Lewis was watching Fifteen to one in the rec room and as usual you could hear a pin drop. 12. Let’s talk over the arrangement with the others before we make a decision. 13. It would certainly make a sensation second to none, and Mr. Rachel dearly love to make a sensation. 14. I can stop when make up my mind to it, although it’s difficult. 15. Now and again Jane had qualms about the fact that if she had not done for little Kate everything? 16. “What he thinks has taken the place of the ivory tower?” “Abstraction?” She shook her head. 17. She flew off the handle when she heard it. 18. Jake and Max made a bargain with their sponsor and they were going to have a cup of coffee. 19. Please, don’t worry about it, she just got out of bed on the wrong side. 20. He could make nothing of it. 21. “Kate, please, go and make sure she’s all right”, said he emotionally. 22. David was finding it hard to keep his eyes off Sophie and, as the evening progressed. 23. I did my best and I thought I was following your instructions. 24. Annie grimaced as Sophie and Jake locked eyes. Eat your heart out, Love Boat 25. Annie was watering the flowers as a phone call broke the silence in the room. 26. “Of course I’ll help you”, he replied. “Two heads are better than one”. 27. I’m going to burst into tears. 28. Mrs. Rachel prided herself on always speaking her mind. 29. Jake lived to the best of his abilities and didn’t want to leave this place. 30. I always knew I could trust her completely – which became more and more important as time went by and my stature in Hollywood grew. 31. That is except to do some cooking every now and then. 32. They pull out all the stops. 33. I’m going to look them over, see if I can make head or tail of them. 34. Over the years she had taken a back seat to Georgio, always had. 35. Every now and then she would come over and take my temperature. 36. I can only say that Philip is a cool cat. 37. Bird in Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush. This philosophical statement, of course, is centuries old, but I’d just like to repeat it again to emphasize its importance. 38. I kept my eyes fixed on this terrible infant. 39. Sometimes, breaking the law seems less harmful than obeying the law. 40. Tommy, now casting his eyes over the children and nodding towards Nardy. 41. ‘Mind what I told you. Behave yourself’. 42. I know that isn’t a very optimistic observation of humans, but remember, every cloud has a silver lining. 43. The filth will come out of the woodwork now. 44. Clifford Malin just tried to commit suicide. 45. Every penny we have in the bank was earned fair and square. 46. Thought Georgio had had it built for next to nothing ten years before. 47. Wise man says: An apple a day keeps the doctor away – if aimed right. 48. A rolling stone gathers no moss that's what the majority say and that danged old stone keeps rolling going on its’ merry way. 49. Georgio stood his ground, refusing to be intimidated. 50. Lady Exner said that it was time off.

It is obvious that Acadimician V. V. Vinogradov’s classification system does not take into account the structural characteristics of phraseological units. On the other hand, the border-line separating unities from fusions is vague and even subjective. One and the same phraseological unit may appear motivated to one person (and therefore be labelled as a unity) and demotivated to another (and be regarded as a fusion). The more profound one’s command of the language and one’s knowledge of its history are, the fewer fusions one is likely to discover in it.

The structural principle of classifying phraseological units is based on their ability to perform the same syntactical functions as words. Phraseological units can be classified as parts of speech. This or that part of speech is the organising centre of the sentence. For example, an adverbial units are units that function as an adverb. In other words, it contains a subject (explicit or implied) and a predicate, and it modifies a verb, e.g. He was so surprised like a bolt from the blue. This classification was suggested by I. V. Arnold. In the traditional structural approach, the following principal groups of phraseological units are distinguishable:

1) Verbal: to run for on’s (dear) life, to get (win) the upper hand, to talk through one's hat, to make a song and dance about something, to sit pretty (Amer. sl.);

2) Substantive: dog's life, cat-and-dog life, calf love, white lie, tall order, birds of a feather, birds of passage, red tape, brown study;

3) Adjectival: high and mighty, spick and span, brand new, safe and sound, (as) cool as a cucumber, (as) nervous as a cat, (as) weak as a kitten, (as) good as gold (usu. spoken about children), (as) pretty as a picture, as large as life, (as) drunk as an owl (sl.), (as) mad as a hatter/a hare in March;

4) Adverbial: in cold blood; to the bitter end; by a long chalk; like a dog with two tails; like a dream; with a bump.

5) Intcrjectional: my God/by Jove! By George! Goodness gracious! Good Heavens’ sakes alive!

6) Prepositional: in the course of, on the stroke of.

Exercise 2. Group the phraseological units in bold type according to the classification based on the structural principle. Comment on them.

1. It is a case of sink or swim. All depends on his own effort. 2. I’ll make no bones about it: I don't like your attitude to work. 3. He’s reasonable and tries to meet his coworkers halfway, when possible. 4. The bottom line is, she didn’t have enough money. 5. They are true friends. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. 6. Stop crying and complaining! You have to pull yourself together now. 7. The speeding car almost hit the man. That was really a close call. 8. The blonde woman seemed to know Roscoe. But she disappeared as if by magic. 9. God forbid! I won’t hold her anymore! 10. Remember what a wet blanket he was last time? Please don’t invite him again. 11. The new evidence turned the tide, and the defendant was acquitted of charges. 12. Oh my God! You’re so beautiful! 13. I feel myself so depressed. Don’t want to live with a heavy heart. 14. He said a stupid thing and tried to save face by saying he misunderstood me. 15. He knows the ins and outs of this business. 16. I want to speak with you as with man – head to head, face to face. Are you ready to this? 17. His remarks rub many coworkers the wrong way. 18. This question is an apple of discord in our family. 19. He shook his head… Good heavens! Nearly hundred thousand… 20. It was just a slip of the tongue! 21. There were two brothers, as like as two peas in a pot. 22. Chris and Sara always live a cat and dog life. I don’t remember them without any scandal. 23. Brad examined all the facts closely, he doesn't just scratch the surface. 24. Why does she keep all those things she never uses? – Marcella is a pack rat. 25. They’re a married couple. It’s as sure as eggs is eggs. 26. In the current economic climate, survival is the name of the game. 27. I won’t believe in this! Caroline will do this only when pigs fly. 28. Their second son is the black sheep of the family, he is good for nothing. 29. I hated living in London. I started getting itchy feet. 30. She wanted it all, the whole ball of wax. She wanted the company for himself. 31. As quickly as possible we cleaned the fish and placed them in coolers. 32. Marge, you're as pretty as Princess Leia and as smart as Yoda. 33. Foolishness! Your dog is not smarter than my dog! 34. It was empty, but a door stood as black as night at the other end. 35. Brad and his mother didn’t see eye to eye any longer. 36. Cheshire Cat drunk as a lord, beginning with the end of its tail. 37. By George, they’re coming back to me!!! 38. Devil is not so black as he is painted. 39. He looked at me again… Goodness gracious! You look so… smart. 40. There was a sound of heavy footsteps, then he became fierce as a tiger. 41. Sakes alive! I see you had a crazy night. 42. This was a cunning as fox gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner. 43. I’m going to look through them, see if I can make head or tail of them. 44. Georgio will be much happier finding out the state of play from the horse’s mouth. 45. If I don’t finish those houses then I’m afraid my business will go the wall. 46. I think we were both at sixes and sevens today. 47. But he did call Robert “the most determined person” he had ever known. To another reporter he said proudly, “Bobby’s as hard as nails”. 48. Why can’t you come back to Bellomont this evening? We’re all alone, and Judy is as cross as two sticks. 49. I haven’t a worry and haven’t a care. I feel like a feather floating on air. I am fit as a fiddle and ready to go. 50. “It’s nothing”, Charlie muttered. “Give me a brandy and I’ll be as right as a trivet in a moment of two”.

Like words phraseological units can be related as synonyms, e.g. to back the wrong house – to hunt the wrong hare – to get the boot on the wrong foot; before the ink is dry – in a twinkle of an eye – before one can say Jack Robinson; like a shot – in half a trice, etc. Phraseological synonyms often belong to different stylistic layers.

Phraseological synonyms should not be mixed up with variants of а phraseological unit, e.g. to add fuel to the fire – to add fuel to fire – to add oil to fire – to add fuel to the flame, etc.; God knows – goodness knows – Heaven knows – the Lord knows, etc.; not worth a bean – not worth a brass farthing – not worth a button – not worth a pin – not worth a rap – not worth a straw, etc.

Occasional phraseological variants may be formed due to authors’ actualizing the potential (literary) meanings of their components. Cf. A skeleton in the family cupboard :: We were peeping into the family cupboard and having a look at the good old skeleton (P.G. Wodehouse).

Phraseological antonyms are of two main types: they may either differ in a single component (to do one’s best – to do one’s worst; up to date – out of date; to look black – to look bright, etc.) or have different sets of components (to draw the first breath – to breathe one’s last; to take a circuit – to make a bee-line; to talk to the dozen – to keep mum, etc.).

Proverbs

Ex.: Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. We never know the value of water till the well is dry.

Even these examples show that proverbs are different from phraseological units. Phraseological units are a kind of ready-made blocks which fit into the structure of a sentence performing a certain syntactical function.

Ex.: George liked her for she never put on air. (predicate).

Proverbs are sentences and so cannot be used in the way in which phraseological units are used.

If we compare proverbs and phraseological units in the semantic aspect, the difference becomes more obvious. Proverbs could be compared with fables for they sum up the collective experience of the community. They moralize, give advice, give warning (if you sing before breakfast, you will cry before night).

No phraseological unit ever does any of these things. They do not stand for whole statements as proverbs do but for a single concept. Their function in speech is purely nominative (they denote an object, an act, etc.). The function of proverbs in speech is communicative (they impart certain information).

The question of whether or not proverbs should be regarded as a subtype of phraseological units is controversial one. Professor Koonin labels them communicative phraseological units.