- •1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics, its aims and significance. Links with other branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study.
- •2. Words of native origin and their distinctive features.
- •3. The borrowed element in the English vocabulary. The distinction between the terms origin of borrowing and source of borrowing. Translation loans. Semantic loans.
- •4. Types of borrowed elements in the English vocabulary. Etymological doublets, hybrids, international words, and folk etymology.
- •5. Assimilation of borrowings. Types and degrees of assimilation.
- •6. Latin borrowings. Features of Latin borrowings. Periods of borrowings from Latin.
- •7. Celtic elements (5-6 c. Ad) in the English vocabulary.
- •8. Scandinavian loan-words(8-11 c.Ad) in Modern English.
- •9. French elements in the English vocabulary. Features of French borrowings. Periods of borrowings from French.
- •10. Greek borrowings. Features of Greek borrowings.
- •11. The morphemic structure of English words. Typology of morphemes. Structural and semantic classifications of morphemes.
- •Inflections
- •12. The derivative structure of English words. The distinction between morphological stem and derivational base. Morphemic analysis vs derivational analysis.
- •23. The nature and causes of semantic change. Types of semantic change.
- •24. Transference of meaning.
- •25. Traditional lexicological groupings of words: thematic and ideographic groups, lexicosemantic groups, semantic fields.
- •26. Dynamics of the English vocabulary. Neologisms: their sources and formation.
- •Idiomatic Neologisms
- •27. Polysemy. Semantic structure of English words. Diachronic and synchronic approaches to polysemy. Types of polysemy.
- •28. Homonyms. Classifications and sources of homonyms.
- •29. Syntagmatic vs paradigmatic relations among English words.
- •In psycholinguistics these terms are used in a different sense.
- •30. Synonyms. The notion of a synonymic dominant. Types of synonyms. Sources of synonymy.
- •31. Antonyms. Definition. Morphological and semantic classifications of antonyms.
- •32. Grammatical and lexical valency. Grammatical and lexical context.
- •33. Lexical syntagmatics. Free word-groups vs phraseological units.
- •34. Free word-groups. Definition. Classifications.
- •35. Phraseological units: a variety of terms and the problem of definition. Characteristic features of phraseological units.
- •36. Approaches to the classifications of phraseological units in modern linguistics.
- •37. Polysemy, synonymy and stylistic features of phraseological units.
- •38. Origins and sources of phraseological units.
- •39. Dialectology as a branch of linguistics, its aim and basic notions. A dialect vs a variant.
- •40. Standard English: characteristic features and the problem of definition.
- •41. Local dialects in the British Isles. Scottish English. Irish English.
- •Variants
- •42. Characteristic features of the American English lexicon.
- •43. Lexicography as a branch of linguistics, its aim, basic notions and main problems.
- •44. Typology of dictionaries.
- •45. Important milestones in the history of British and American lexicography.
3. The borrowed element in the English vocabulary. The distinction between the terms origin of borrowing and source of borrowing. Translation loans. Semantic loans.
the borrowed stock of words (70-75%) – words taken over from other languages and modified in phonetic shape, spelling, paradigm or / and meaning according to the standards of the English language.
Motivation for borrowing a word:
-to fill a gap in the vocabulary, e.g. butter (Latin), yogurt (Turkish), whisky (Scottish Gaelic), tomato (Nahuatl /’na: watl/ - the Aztec language), sauna ( /’so:nə/ Finnish) etc.;
-to represent the same concept in a new aspect, supplying a new shade of meaning or a different emotional colouring, e.g. cordial (Latin), a desire (French), to admire (Latin) etc.;
-prestige, e.g. picture, courage, army, treasure, language, female, face, fool, beef (Norman French); in many cases these fashionable words simply displaced their native English equivalents, which dropped out of use.
The term source of borrowing is applied to the language from which the loan word was taken into English.
The term origin of borrowing refers to the language to which the word may be traced.
paper < Fr papier < Gr papyros ‘paper made of papyrus stalks’
umbrella < It ombrella < L umbra ‘shade, shadow’ (cf. Ukr. парасоля).
Translation loans (calques) are compound words or expressions formed from the elements existing in the English language according to the patterns of the source language; such loans came in handy when original words were hard to reproduce.
G Umgebung – E environment
Modern English names of the days of the week were also created on the pattern of Latin words as their literal translations and are the earliest examples of calques; have become regularly capitalised since the 17th c .
Monday (O.E. mōnan-dæʒ) < L. Lunae dies ‘day of the moon’;
Tuesday (O.E. tiwes-dæʒ) < L. Martis dies (Tiw – a Teutonic God corresponding to Roman Mars);
The term semantic loans is used to denote the development in an English word of a new meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language.
pioneer ‘one who goes before’ ← ‘a member of the young communist organisation’;
dream ‘joy, music’ (O.E.) ← ‘a vision during sleep’ (Sc.);
4. Types of borrowed elements in the English vocabulary. Etymological doublets, hybrids, international words, and folk etymology.
Etymological doublets are pairs of words of the same language which share the same etymological basis but have entered the language through different routes; often diverge in current meaning and usage. They may result from:
-shortening: defence – fence, appeal – peal; history – story;
-stressed and unstressed position of one and the same word: of – off, to – too;
-borrowing the word from the same language twice, but in different periods: jail (Par. Fr.) – goal (Norm. Fr.);
-development of the word in different dialects or languages that are historically descended from the same root: to chase (Northern Fr) – to catch (Central Fr); chart – card; channel (Fr) – canal (L); senior (L) – sir (Fr).
Hybrids are words made up of elements from two or more different languages.
Patterns of hybrids:
native affix (prefix or suffix) + borrowed stem: befool, besiege, beguile; graceful, falsehood, rapidly;
borrowed affix + native stem: drinkable, starvation, wordage; recall, embody, mishandle;
borrowed affix + borrowed stem + native affix: discovering;
native affix + native stem + borrowed affix: unbreakable.
The term folk (false, popular, etymythology) etymology (from German Volksetymologie) refers to erroneous beliefs about derivation and the consequent changes to words.
Sources of folk etymology:
reasonable interpretations of the evidence that happen to be false, e.g. cockroach (as if from cock + roach or caca ‘excrement’) < Sp. cucaracha ‘chafer, beetle’ < cuca ‘kind of caterpillar’;
urban legends, e.g. a rule of thumb ‘rough measurement’ is mistakenly thought to refer to an old English law under which a man could legally beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb (though no such law ever existed);
racism and slavery, e.g. picnic as a shortening for pick a nigger is erroneously thought to refer to an outdoor community gathering during which families ate from box lunches while a randomly-chosen Afro-American was hanged for the diners’ entertainment.