- •L.M. Takumbetоvа english lexicology preface
- •1. Morphological and Derivational Structure of Words.........................................57
- •Abbreviations and symbols
- •Introduction lexicology as a branch of linguistics.
- •Its subject matter and objectives
- •1. The Subject Matter of Lexicology.
- •2. The Theoretical and Practical Value of Lexicology
- •Questions and Tasks
- •2. The Problem of Word Definition
- •3. Types of Nomination and Motivation of Lexical Units
- •4. The Notion of Lexeme. Variants of Words
- •Questions and Tasks
- •Chapter 2 semasiology. The problem of meaning
- •1. Referential and Functional Approaches to Meaning
- •2. Types of Meaning
- •3. The Semantic Structure of Words. Polysemy
- •4. Сauses, Types and Results of Semantic Change
- •Questions and Tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. Which of the following words are monosemantic (use a dictionary)?
- •II. Group together the following pairs of words according to the lsVs they represent. Use dictionaries if necessary.
- •III. Define the meanings of the italicized words in the following sentences. Say how meanings of the same word are associated one with another.
- •IV. Explain the logical associations in the meanings of the same words in the following word combinations. Define the type of transference which has taken place.
- •V. Comment on the change of meanings in the italicized words.
- •Chapter 3 english vocabulary as a system
- •1. Semantic Classes of Lexemes in the Lexico-semantic
- •System of the English Language
- •2. Synonymy
- •3. Antonymy
- •4. Homonymy
- •The Origin of Homonyms in the English Language
- •Questions and Tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. Classify the following words into logical groups on the principle of hyponymy.
- •II. Arrange the following lexemes into three lexico-semantic groups - feelings, parts of the body, education.
- •III. Prove that the following sets of words are synonyms (use dictionaries).
- •IV. Find the dominant synonym in the following synonymic sets. Explain your choice.
- •V. Find antonyms for the words given below.
- •VI. A) Find the homonyms proper for the following words; give their Russian equivalents.
- •VI. Match the italicized words with the phonetics.
- •Chapter 4 morphological structure of english words and word formation
- •1. Morphological and Derivational Structure of Words
- •2. Аffixation
- •Clаssification of Prefixes
- •Classification of Suffixes
- •3. Conversion
- •Patterns of Semantic Relations by Conversion
- •Basic Criteria of Sеmantic Derivation within Conversion Pairs
- •4. Word-Composition (Compounding)
- •Classifications of Compound Words
- •Meaning and Motivation in Compound Words
- •Historical Changes of Compounds
- •5. Minor Types of Word-Formation
- •Questions and tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. A) Give examples of nouns with the following suffixes; state which of the suffixes are productive.
- •II. Explain the etymology and productivity of the affixes given below. Say what parts of speech they form.
- •III. In the following examples the italicized words are formed from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate these derivatives into Russian and explain the difference in meaning.
- •IV. Find cases of conversion in the following sentences.
- •V. Explain the semantic correlations within the following pair of words.
- •VI. Identify the compounds in the word-groups below. Say as much as you can about their structure and semantics.
- •VII. Match the following onomatopoeic words with the names of referents producing the sounds they denote in brackets.
- •VIII. Define the particular type of world-building process by which the following words were formed and say as much as you can about them.
- •Chapter 5 word-groups and phraseological units
- •1. Lexical Valency and Collocability
- •2. Criteria of phraseological units
- •3. Classifications of phraseological units
- •4. Origin of phraseological units
- •Questions and tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. What is the source and meaning of the following idioms?
- •II. Explain whether the semantic changes in the following units are complete or partial.
- •III. Give Russian equivalents of the following phraseological units from the list below.
- •IV. Give the proverbs from which the following phraseological units have developed.
- •V. Match the beginning of the proverb in the left-hand corner with its ending in the right-hand corner.
- •Chapter 6 etymological background of the english vocabulary
- •1. What Is Etymology?
- •2. Native English Vocabulary
- •3. Loan Words and Their Role in the Formation of the English Vocabulary
- •4. Assimilation of Borrowings
- •5. Degree of Assimilation and Factors Determining It
- •5. Impact of Borrowings on the English Language System
- •Quesions and Tasks
- •Exercises
- •I. Subdivide the following words of native origin into a) Indo-European, b) Germanic, c) English proper.
- •II. Distribute the following Latin borrowings into three groups according to the time of borrowing.
- •III. Find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings in the sentences given below. How can they be identified?
- •IV. Point out whether the italicized words in the sentences given below are Norman or Parisian French borrowings. How can they be identified?
- •V. Explain the etymology of the italicized words (native English and borrowings). Use etymological dictionaries if necessary.
- •VIII. Think of 10-15 examples of Russian borrowings in English and English borrowings in Russian. Literary sources
- •II. Optional
- •Dictionaries
- •Internet sources
Basic Criteria of Sеmantic Derivation within Conversion Pairs
It is not always easy to determine which of the two words within a conversion pair is a derived member, especially in case of conversion between nouns and verbs. The criteria of semantic derivation by conversion found in linguistic literature [Смирницкий 1956; Соболева 1959; Marchand 1969; Ginzburg 1979] are as follows:
1) The criterion of semantic dependence of the derived word from the derivational base. If the word, say, a verb e.g. to water includes in its definition the noun, water in our case: ‘put water on; sprinkle with water’ it means that it semantically depends on the noun, hence it is derived from it. The derived word has a more complex semantic structure. For example, the semantic structure of the verb to pencil ‘write, draw, mark with a pencil’ is more complex than that of the noun pencil, because besides the meaning of substantivity (thingness) borrowed from the derivational base it includes the verbal meaning of process.
2) The above criterion is hard to apply to the conversion pairs like work v. - work n., chat v. - chat n., show v. - show n., etc. In such cases the criterion of analogy might be applied, which helps to determine the derived word by analogy with synonyms or antonyms derived by affixation. Comparing chat v. – chat n. and converse v. – conversation n., show v. – show n. and exhibit v. - exhibition n., work v. – work n. and employ v. - employment n., it’s possible to determine the direction of derivation from the verb to the noun within conversion pairs. This criterion as well as the previous one cannot be considered universal. It can be applied to a limited number of words.
3) The criterion based on derivational relations within the word-cluster of which the converted words in question are members. If the centre of this cluster is a noun and the majority of derivatives are denominal ones, we deal with conversion from noun to verb. For example, in the word-cluster hand n. - hand v. - handful - handy - handed the centre is the noun hand. Consequently, we can conclude that the verb hand is derived from the noun.
Accordingly, analyzing the directions of semantic derivation in the word-cluster: float n. – float v. – floatable – floatation – floating, we discover that the suffixes are added to the verbal base float v, it follows that the derived word is the noun float n. This criterion, however, is also limited as it can hardly be applied to the clusters with few derived words.
4) The criterion of typical semantic relations. The typical semantic relations within conversion pairs were described in the previous section of this chapter. If the semantic relations within a conversion pair in question correspond to any one of the typical patterns of semantic relations, the direction of conversion is the same as in this pattern. For instance, the semantic relations between crowd n. and crowd v. correspond to pattern 3 of typical semantic relations of denominal verbs: ‘the object expressed by a collective noun → to perform actions typical of the given object’. Hence, the direction of conversion is crowd n. > crowd v. Considering the conversion pair take v. – take n. ‘act of taking’ we determine that the relations of semantic derivation coincide with pattern 1 of deverbal nouns. The direction of conversion is take v. > take n.
5) The criterion of frequency of occurrences of words belonging to conversion pairs. According to this criterion the word having a lower frequency value of the two words in the conversion pair is the derived one. The data of word frequency can be found in dictionaries of word frequency. The following data from M.West’s dictionary “A General Service List of English Words” of the frequency value of four verb – noun conversion pairs are presented in the book “A Course in Modern English Lexicology” [Ginzburg 1979: 135]:
to answer (V=63%) – answer (N=35%),
to help (V=61%) – help (N=1%),
to sample (V=10%) – sample (N=90%),
to joke (V=8%) – joke (N=82%).
These data of word frequencies prompt that in the first two pairs nouns answer and help are derived from verbs (deverbal substantives), while in the other two pairs the verbs sample and joke are denominal verbs.
6) Тhe transformational criterion of semantic derivation by conversion [see e.g. Соболева 1964] Тhe transformational analysis includes many complicated procedures. One of them is the transformation of nominalisation which can prompt the direction of semantic derivation by conversion. If it is possible to transform a predicative syntagm into a nominal syntagm, the direction of conversion is from verb to noun: V > N. For example:
Roy loves nature → Roy’s love of nature
John visited his friend → John’s visit to his friend
She promised help → her promise of help
The impossibility of such a transformation shows the opposite direction of conversion – from noun to verb: N > V:
She bosses the establishment –|→ *her boss of the establishment
I skinned the rabbit –|→ *my skin of the rabbit
He taxied home –|→ *his taxi home
Modern English vocabulary is rich in conversion pairs, highly productive is the pattern of conversion nouns into verbs (denominal verbs). Not only morphologically simple but also polysyllabic and compound words make up conversion pairs: to holiday, to petition, to microfilm ‘produce a microfilm of’, to blueprint ‘work out, outline’, etc.