- •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
Chapter 6 etymological background of the english vocabulary
1. What Is Etymology?
Etymology is a branch of lexicology, the subject-matter of which is the origin and evolution of lexical items, i.e. historical changes in the sphere of lexis. Etymology is mainly based on a diachronic approach. The history of the English lexicon, or vocabulary, is a history of far-reaching changes. It is marked by losses and gains in the word-stock of the English language, its considerable expansion due to internal and external causes.
The question, that investigations in the sphere of etymology should give an answer to, is ‘Where have the items in the lexicon come from?’. If we regard English words in the light of the present-day language we should say that the majority of words with certain exceptions (e.g. garçon Fr., kimono Jap., perestroika Rus., rajah, Hind., etc.) are English. But according to their etymology the majority of English words are taken, or borrowed, from other languages (Latin, French, Scandinavian, etc.), about 70% of modern English lexicon are not English by their origin. From etymological point of view the English word-stock is mixed. It consists of native and borrowed, or loan words.
In linguistic literature the term native is used to denote words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles from the continent in the 5th century by the Germanic tribes – the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, and also words coined later on their basis.
The term borrowing is used to denote the process of adopting words from other ‘donor’ languages and also the result of this process, the language material itself (lexemes, morphemes, some word-groups) which are also called loans. In its second meaning the term borrowing is sometimes used in its wider sense including the so-called translation-loans (calques) and semantic borrowing. Translation-loans are words and word-groups formed from the material available in the language but under the influence of some foreign words and expressions: mother tongue < L lingua materna, it goes without saying < Fr cela va sans dire, self-criticism < Rus самокритика.
Semantic borrowing is the appearance of a new meaning due to the linguistic influence of a related word in another language: words propaganda and reaction acquired their political meanings under the influence of French, deviation and bureau - under the influence of Russian, as in right and left deviations, Political bureau.
Distinction should be made between true borrowings and words coined out of the morphemes borrowed from Latin and Greek (telephone, thermodynamic, phonogram). Such words were not actually borrowed from those languages.
There is also certain confusion between the terms source of borrowing and the origin of the word. The term source of borrowing should be applied to the language from which a lexeme was taken into English. The term origin of the word should be applied to the language the lexeme can be traced to. Thus the word table is Latin by origin (L tabula) but it was borrowed from French (the source of borrowing). It should be noted that whereas the immediate source of borrowing is as a rule known, the actual origin of the word may be obscure, e.g. riot < OF riote(r), origin unknown.