Lexicology of the English Language
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It is a transfer of the meaning when the speaker expresses affirmative with the negative or vica versa, e.g. not bad, no coward etc.
PHRASEOLOGY
The vocabulary of a language is enriched not only by words but also by
phraseological units. Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot 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. American and British lexicographers call such units
«idioms». We can mention such dictionaries as: L.Smith «Words and Idioms»,
V.Collins «A Book of English Idioms» etc. In these dictionaries we can find
words, peculiar in their semantics (idiomatic), side by side with word-
groups and sentences. In these dictionaries they are arranged, as a rule, into different semantic groups.
Phraseological units can be classified according to the ways they are formed, according to the degree of the motivation of their meaning, according to their structure and according to their part-of-speech meaning.
WAYS OF FORMING PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
A.V. Koonin classified phraseological units according to the way they
are formed. He pointed out primary and secondary ways of forming
phraseological units.
Primary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a unit is
formed on the basis of a free word-group : a) Most productive in Modern English is the formation of phraseological
units by means of transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups, e.g. in cosmic technique we can point out the following phrases: «launching
pad» in its terminological meaning is «стартовая площадка» , in its
transferred meaning - «отправной пункт», «to link up» - «cтыковаться, стыковать космические корабли» in its tranformed meaning it means
-«знакомиться»; b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups
by transforming their meaning, e.g. «granny farm» - «пансионат для
престарелых», «Troyan horse» - «компьюторная программа, преднамеренно
составленная для повреждения компьютера»; c) phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration , e.g. «a
sad sack» - «несчастный случай», «culture vulture» - «человек, интересующийся искусством», «fudge and nudge» - «уклончивость». d) they can be formed by means of expressiveness, especially it is
characteristic for forming interjections, e.g. «My aunt!», « Hear, hear !»
etc e) they can be formed by means of distorting a word group, e.g. «odds and
ends» was formed from «odd ends», f) they can be formed by using archaisms, e.g. «in brown study» means «in
gloomy meditation» where both components preserve their archaic meanings, g) they can be formed by using a sentence in a different sphere of life, e.g. «that cock won’t fight» can be used as a free word-group when it is
used in sports (cock fighting ), it becomes a phraseological unit when it
is used in everyday life, because it is used metaphorically, h) they can be formed when we use some unreal image, e.g. «to have
butterflies in the stomach» - «испытывать волнение», «to have green
fingers» - »преуспевать как садовод-любитель» etc. i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or polititions in
everyday life, e.g. «corridors of power» (Snow), «American dream» (Alby)
«locust years» (Churchil) , «the winds of change» (Mc Millan).
Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a
phraseological unit is formed on the basis of another phraseological unit;
they are: a) conversion, e.g. «to vote with one’s feet» was converted into «vote
with one’s f eet»; b) changing the grammar form, e.g. «Make hay while the sun shines» is
transferred into a verbal phrase - «to make hay while the sun shines»; c) analogy, e.g. «Curiosity killed the cat» was transferred into «Care
killed the cat»; d) contrast, e.g. «cold surgery» - «a planned before operation» was
formed by contrasting it with «acute surgery», «thin cat» - «a poor person»
was formed by contrasting it with «fat cat»; e) shortening of proverbs or sayings e.g. from the proverb «You can’t
make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear» by means of clipping the middle of
it the phraseological unit «to make a sow’s ear» was formed with the
meaning «ошибаться». f) borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either as
translation loans, e.g. « living space» (German), « to take the bull by the
horns» ( Latin) or by means of phonetic borrowings «meche blanche»
(French), «corpse d’elite» (French), «sotto voce» (Italian) etc.
Phonetic borrowings among phraseological units refer to the bookish style
and are not used very often.
SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Phraseological units can be classified according to the degree of
motivation of their meaning. This classification was suggested by acad.
V.V. Vinogradov for Russian phraseological units. He pointed out three
types of phraseological units: a) fusions where the degree of motivation is very low, we cannot guess
the meaning of the whole from the meanings of its components, they are
highly idiomatic and cannot be translated word for word into other
languages, e.g. on Shank’s mare - (on foot), at sixes and sevens - (in a
mess) etc; b) unities where the meaning of the whole can be guessed from the
meanings of its components, but it is transferred (metaphorical or
metonymical), e.g. to play the first fiddle ( to be a leader in
something), old salt (experienced sailor) etc; c) collocations where words are combined in their original meaning but
their combinations are different in different languages, e.g. cash and
carry - (self-service shop), in a big way (in great degree) etc.
STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classification of
phraseological units, comparing them with words. He points out one-top
units which he compares with derived words because derived words have only
one root morpheme. He points out two-top units which he compares with
compound words because in compound words we usually have two root
morphemes.
Among one-top units he points out three structural types; a) units of the type «to give up» (verb + postposition type), e.g. to
art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to sandwich
in etc.; b) units of the type «to be tired» . Some of these units remind the
Passive Voice in their structure but they have different prepositons with
them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions «by» or
«with», e.g. to be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at etc.
There are also units in this type which remind free word-groups of the type
«to be young», e.g. to be akin to, to be aware of etc. The difference
between them is that the adjective «young» can be used as an attribute and
as a predicative in a sentence, while the nominal component in such units
can act only as a predicative. In these units the verb is the grammar
centre and the second component is the semantic centre; c) prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are
equivalents of unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs , that is why they have no grammar centre, their semantic centre is the
nominal part, e.g. on the doorstep (quite near), on the nose (exactly), in
the course of, on the stroke of, in time, on the point of etc. In the
course of time such units can become words, e.g. tomorrow, instead etc.
Among two-top units A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structural
types: a) attributive-nominal such as: a month of Sundays, grey matter, a
millstone round one’s neck and many others. Units of this type are noun
equivalents and can be partly or perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic
units (phrasisms) sometimes the first component is idiomatic, e.g. high
road, in other cases the second component is idiomatic, e.g. first night.
In many cases both components are idiomatic, e.g. red tape, blind alley, bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others. b) verb-nominal phraseological units, e.g. to read between the lines , to
speak BBC, to sweep under the carpet etc. The grammar centre of such units
is the verb, the semantic centre in many cases is the nominal component, e.g. to fall in love. In some units the verb is both the grammar and the
semantic centre, e.g. not to know the ropes. These units can be perfectly
idiomatic as well, e.g. to burn one’s boats,to vote with one’s feet, to
take to the cleaners’ etc.
Very close to such units are word-groups of the type to have a glance, to
have a smoke. These units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a
special syntactical combination, a kind of aspect. c) phraseological repetitions, such as : now or never, part and parcel , country and western etc. Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g. ups and
downs , back and forth; often they are formed by means of alliteration, e.g
cakes and ale, as busy as a bee. Components in repetitions are joined by
means of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives
and have no grammar centre. They can also be partly or perfectly idiomatic, e.g. cool as a cucumber (partly), bread and butter (perfectly).
Phraseological units the same as compound words can have more than two
tops (stems in compound words), e.g. to take a back seat, a peg to hang a
thing on, lock, stock and barrel, to be a shaddow of one’s own self, at
one’s own sweet will.
SYNTACTICAL CLASSIFICATION
OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Phraseological units can be clasified as parts of speech. This
classification was suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following
groups: a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g.
bullet train, latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets, b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to
break the log-jam, to get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to
nose out , to make headlines, c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead , d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like
a dream , like a dog with two tails, e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke
of , f) interjection phraseological units, e.g. «Catch me!», «Well, I never!»
etc.
In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings and quatations, e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes
him tick», » I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. «Too many
cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g.
«Where there is a will there is a way».
BORROWINGS
Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English
throughout its history More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are
borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French,
Italian, Spanish). Borrowed words are different from native ones by their
phonetic structure, by their morphological structure and also by their
grammatical forms. It is also characterisitic of borrowings to be non-
motivated semantically.
English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other
countries, that is why it is very rich in borrowings. The Roman invasion, the adoption of Cristianity, Scandinavian and Norman conquests of the
British Isles, the development of British colonialism and trade and
cultural relations served to increase immensely the English vocabulary. The
majority of these borrowings are fully assimilated in English in their
pronunciation, grammar, spelling and can be hardly distinguished from
native words.
English continues to take in foreign words , but now the quantity of
borrowings is not so abundunt as it was before. All the more so, English
now has become a «giving» language, it has become Lingva franca of the
twentieth century.
Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria: a) according to the aspect which is borrowed, b) according to the degree of assimilation, c) according to the language from which the word was borrowed.
(In this classification only the main languages from which words were
borrowed into English are described, such as Latin, French, Italian.
Spanish, German and Russian.)
CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS ACCORDING TO THE BORROWED ASPECT
There are the following groups: phonetic borrowings, translation loans, semantic borrowings, morphemic borrowings.
Phonetic borrowings are most characteristic in all languages, they are
called loan words proper. Words are borrowed with their spelling, pronunciation and meaning. Then they undergo assimilation, each sound in
the borrowed word is substituted by the corresponding sound of the
borrowing language. In some cases the spelling is changed. The structure of
the word can also be changed. The position of the stress is very often
influenced by the phonetic system of the borrowing language. The paradigm
of the word, and sometimes the meaning of the borrowed word are also
changed. Such words as: labour, travel, table, chair, people are phonetic
borrowings from French; apparatchik, nomenklatura, sputnik are phonetic
borrowings from Russian; bank, soprano, duet are phonetic borrowings from
Italian etc.
Translation loans are word-for-word (or morpheme-for-morpheme )
translations of some foreign words or expressions. In such cases the notion
is borrowed from a foreign language but it is expressed by native lexical
units, «to take the bull by the horns» (Latin), «fair sex» ( French),
«living space» (German) etc. Some translation loans appeared in English
from Latin already in the Old English period, e.g. Sunday (solis dies).
There are translation loans from the languages of Indians, such as: «pipe
of peace», «pale-faced», from German «masterpiece», «homesickness»,
«superman».
Semantic borrowings are such units when a new meaning of the unit
existing in the language is borrowed. It can happen when we have two
relative languages which have common words with different meanings, e.g.
there are semantic borrowings between Scandinavian and English, such as the
meaning «to live» for the word «to dwell’ which in Old English had the
meaning «to wander». Or else the meaning «дар» , «подарок» for the word
«gift» which in Old English had the meaning «выкуп за жену».
Semantic borrowing can appear when an English word was borrowed into some
other language, developed there a new meaning and this new meaning was
borrowed back into English, e.g. «brigade» was borrowed into Russian and
formed the meaning «a working collective«,»бригада». This meaning was
borrowed back into English as a Russian borrowing. The same is true of the
English word «pioneer».
Morphemic borrowings are borrowings of affixes which occur in the
language when many words with identical affixes are borrowed from one
language into another, so that the morphemic structure of borrowed words
becomes familiar to the people speaking the borrowing language, e.g. we can
find a lot of Romanic affixes in the English word-building system, that is
why there are a lot of words - hybrids in English where different morphemes
have different origin, e.g. «goddess», «beautiful» etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS ACCORDING TO THE DEGREE OF ASSIMILATION
The degree of assimilation of borrowings depends on the following
factors: a) from what group of languages the word was borrowed, if the word
belongs to the same group of languages to which the borrowing language
belongs it is assimilated easier, b) in what way the word is borrowed:
orally or in the written form, words borrowed orally are assimilated
quicker, c) how often the borrowing is used in the language, the greater
the frequency of its usage, the quicker it is assimilated, d) how long the
word lives in the language, the longer it lives, the more assimilated it
is.
Accordingly borrowings are subdivided into: completely assimilated, partly assimilated and non-assimilated (barbarisms).
Completely assimilated borrowings are not felt as foreign words in the
language, cf the French word «sport» and the native word «start».
Completely assimilated verbs belong to regular verbs, e.g. correct
-corrected. Completely assimilated nouns form their plural by means of s-
inflexion, e.g. gate- gates. In completely assimilated French words the
stress has been shifted from the last syllable to the last but one.
Semantic assimilation of borrowed words depends on the words existing in
the borrowing language, as a rule, a borrowed word does not bring all its
meanings into the borrowing language, if it is polysemantic, e.g. the
Russian borrowing «sputnik» is used in English only in one of its meanings.
Partly assimilated borrowings are subdivided into the following groups:
a) borrowings non-assimilated semantically, because they denote objects and
notions peculiar to the country from the language of which they were
borrowed, e.g. sari, sombrero, taiga, kvass etc. b) borrowings non-assimilated grammatically, e.g. nouns borrowed from
Latin and Greek retain their plural forms (bacillus - bacilli, phenomenon -
phenomena, datum -data, genius - genii etc. c) borrowings non-assimilated phonetically. Here belong words with the
initial sounds /v/ and /z/, e.g. voice, zero. In native words these voiced
consonants are used only in the intervocal position as allophones of sounds
/f/ and /s/ ( loss - lose, life - live ). Some Scandinavian borrowings have
consonants and combinations of consonants which were not palatalized, e.g.
/sk/ in the words: sky, skate, ski etc (in native words we have the
palatalized sounds denoted by the digraph «sh», e.g. shirt); sounds /k/
and /g/ before front vowels are not palatalized e.g. girl, get, give, kid, kill, kettle. In native words we have palatalization , e.g. German, child.
Some French borrowings have retained their stress on the last syllable, e.g. police, cartoon. Some French borrowings retain special combinations
of sounds, e.g. /a:3/ in the words : camouflage, bourgeois, some of them
retain the combination of sounds /wa:/ in the words: memoir, boulevard. d) borrowings can be partly assimilated graphically, e.g. in Greak
borrowings «y» can be spelled in the middle of the word (symbol, synonym),
«ph» denotes the sound /f/ (phoneme, morpheme), «ch» denotes the sound
/k/(chemistry, chaos),«ps» denotes the sound /s/ (psychology).
Latin borrowings retain their polisyllabic structure, have double
consonants, as a rule, the final consonant of the prefix is assimilated
with the initial consonant of the stem, (accompany, affirmative).
French borrowings which came into English after 1650 retain their
spelling, e.g. consonants «p», «t», «s» are not pronounced at the end of
the word (buffet, coup, debris), Specifically French combination of letters
«eau» /ou/ can be found in the borrowings : beau, chateau, troussaeu. Some
of digraphs retain their French pronunciation: ‘ch’ is pronounced as /sh/, e.g. chic, parachute, ‘qu’ is pronounced as /k/ e.g. bouquet, «ou» is
pronounced as /u:/, e.g. rouge; some letters retain their French
pronunciation, e.g. «i» is pronounced as /i:/, e,g, chic, machine; «g» is
pronounced as /3/, e.g. rouge.
Modern German borrowings also have some peculiarities in their spelling:
common nouns are spelled with a capital letter e.g. Autobahn, Lebensraum;
some vowels and digraphs retain their German pronunciation, e.g. «a» is
pronounced as /a:/ (Dictat), «u» is pronounced as /u:/ (Kuchen), «au» is
pronounced as /au/ (Hausfrau), «ei» is pronounced as /ai/ (Reich); some
consonants are also pronounced in the German way, e.g. «s» before a vowel
is pronounced as /z/ (Sitskrieg), «v» is pronounced as /f/ (Volkswagen),
«w» is pronounced as /v/ , «ch» is pronounced as /h/ (Kuchen).
Non-assimilated borrowings (barbarisms) are borrowings which are used by
Englishmen rather seldom and are non-assimilated, e.g. addio (Italian), tete-a-tete (French), dolce vita (Italian), duende (Spanish), an homme a
femme (French), gonzo (Italian) etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS ACCORDING
TO THE LANGUAGE FROM WHICH THEY WERE BORROWED
ROMANIC BORROWINGS
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