MODERN ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY THE NOTION OF LEXICAL SYSTEM.

MODERN ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY THE NOTION OF LEXICAL SYSTEM. PRINCIPLES OF SYSTEMATIZATION. Part 2

№ 1

Classification by the criterion of semantic contrast Antonyms are two or more words of the same language belonging to the same semantic field, identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, associated and often used together so that their denotative meanings render contradictory (dead :: alive, single :: married, perfect :: imperfect) or contrary notions (old :: middle-aged :: young).

Basic characteristics of antonyms Antonyms are classified on the basis of semantic opposition. A word which has more than one meaning can have more than one antonym. Antonyms do not differ in style, emotional colouring or distribution. Antonyms form mostly pairs, not groups like synonyms. Some words can have two different types of antonyms at the same time, one being the negative (derivative) and the other opposite (root): happy – unhappy - sad, productive – unproductive – destructive, free – unfree - enslaved.

Classification of antonyms by V.N. Comissarov Absolute antonyms have different roots: late - early Derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes: to please - to displease

Classification of antonyms by R.S. Ginzburg Contradictories are words mutually opposed and denying one another: late :: early Contraries are words mutually opposed, but gradable: cold :: cool :: warm :: hot Incompatibles are antonyms with the common component of meaning, which exclude but do not deny each other: Monday :: Sunday

Classification of antonyms by J.I. Saeed Simple antonyms - words where the positive meaning of one implies the negative of the other: black :: white. Gradable antonyms: HUGE - very big – big - quite big - medium-sized - quite small – small - very small - TINY Reverses – are words describing the same movement but in different directions: up::down, inflate::deflate, fill::empty, knit::unravel. Converses or conversives - denote one and the same referent or situation as viewed from different points of view, with a reversal of the order of participants or their roles (to buy ::to sell). Taxonomic sisters – words which are incompatible: Monday – Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday - Friday

№ 2

Classification of words according to difference/similarity of phonetical form, lexical meaning, grammatical meaning «What do you do with the fruit?» «We eat what we can, and what we can’t eat we can» Homonyms are identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and (in many cases) origin.

Classification of homonyms by Walter Skeat Criterion of classification: spelling, sound form. Classes of homonyms: perfect homonyms - words identical in sound and spelling: school - «косяк рыбы» and «школа»; homographs - words with the same spelling but pronounced differently: bow [bau] «поклон» - [bou] «лук»; homophones - words pronounced identically but spelled differently: night «ночь» - knight -«рыцарь».

Classification of homonyms by A.I. Smirnitsky Criterion of classification: spelling, sound form, grammatical form. Classes of homonyms: 1. full homonyms – are words belonging to the same part of speech and having the same paradigm: match “состязание, матч” :: match “спичка”; 2. partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups: simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms - belong to the same part of speech, their paradigms have one identical form: “to lay”, v. – “lay”, Past Indefinite of “to lie”; complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms - words of different parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms: “rose”, n. – “rose”, Past Indefinite of “to rise”; partial lexical homonyms - words of the same part of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms: can, canned, canned – “can”, could.

Classification of homonyms by I.V. Arnold Criterion of classification: spelling, sound form, grammatical meaning, lexical meaning. Classes of homonyms: homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms and different in their lexical meanings, e.g. «board» in the meanings «a council» and « a piece of wood sawn thin»; homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms, different in their lexical meanings and paradigms, e.g. to lie - lied - lied, and to lie - lay - lain; homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms, e.g. «light» / «lights»/, «light» / «lighter», «lightest»/; homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, in their basic forms and paradigms, but coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms, e.g. «a bit» and «bit» (from « to bite»).

Patterned homonyms Patterned homonyms are words different in their grammar meanings, in their paradigms, identical in their basic forms and having a common component of meaning: «warm» - «to warm». «before» an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition.

Sources of homonyms Change in sound and spelling: lang – long, langian – long; Levelling of grammar inflexions: «care» from «caru» and «care» from «carian»; Borrowing: «fair» from Latin «feria» and «fair « from native «fager» (blond); Conversion: «to slim» from «slim», «to water» from «water»; Shortening: «cab» from «cabriolet», «cabbage», «cabin»; Split of polysemy (or disintegration): in the course of time different meanings of a polysemantic word deviate very far from the central meaning and the connections get lost and they start a separate existence: board – “a long and thin piece of timber”, board – “daily meals provided for pay”, board – “an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity”. Convergent sound development: words of different origin accidentally coincide in sound (Latin cadere «to fall»\capere «to hold» are the sources of the homonyms case «instance of thing’s occuring»\case «a box»).

Differentiation of homonyms from polysemants Homonym refers to different words which happen to share the same form and polysemant is the one and same word which has several distinguishable meanings; Homonyms are from different source whereas a polysemant is from the same source which has acquired different meanings in the course of development; The various meanings of a polysemant are correlated and connected to one central meaning to a greater or lesser degree, but meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another;

№ 3

Classification by the criterion of semantic inclusion Hyponymy deals with the relationship of semantic inclusion when the meaning of a more specific word is included in that of another more general word. General words are hyperonyms (or superordinate terms). Specific words are hyponyms (or subordinate terms): Lion, tiger, wolf are hyponyms of the hyperonym animal.

№ 4

Classification by the criterion of part-whole relations Meronymy - is a part-whole relationship between lexical items. BICYCLE SADDLE TYRES FRAME CHAIN BRAKES HANDLE-BAR WHEELS MERONYMS

№ 5

Classification by the similarity of underlying concept Semantic field – is a closely knit sector of vocabulary characterized by a common concept. The members are not synonymous but all of them are joined together by some common semantic component (common dominator of meaning). All members of the field are semantically interdependent as each member helps to delimit and determine the meaning of its neighbours and is semantically delimited and determined by them: Semantic field of colour: grey, black, yellow, orange, pink, red, blue…

№ 6

Classification according to the sphere of communication Vocabulary Stylistically neutral Stylistically coloured Formal English Informal English Special terminology Learned words Official vocabulary Poetic diction Literary colloquial Familiar colloquial Low colloquial Argot Slang General slang Special slang

Stylistically neutral :: stylistically coloured Words used in any sphere of communication are said to be stylistically neutrlal. They constitute the core of the vocabulary, are of high frequency and cover the greater portion of every utterance. The words suitable only on certain definite occasions in specific spheres and suggestive of specific conditions of communication are stylistically coloured. Dictionaries label them as colloquial, familiar, poetical, popular, etc. Every stylistically coloured word belongs to a functional style – a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication.

Formal English :: Informal English Formal English includes vocabulary that occurs in books, magazines, lectures, on TV, over the radio, in a formal official talk, in a public speech – that is in a monologue addressed by one person to many. Words are used with precision; the vocabulary is elaborate, generalized, national, not limited socially or geographically. Informal English is the vocabulary of a dialogue. It is used in personal two-way every-day communication and thus may be determined socially or regionally (dialect).

Formal English Learned words are common to fields of knowledge: paternal, labial, heterogeneous; Official vocabulary is used in documentation, business and political transactions; Poetic diction is used only in poetry: array (clothes), billow (wave), murky (grim); Terminology is used in a specific branch of knowledge and art. A term is any word or word-group used to name a notion characteristic of some special field of knowledge, industry or culture: thermonuclear.

Informal English literary colloquial is the vocabulary used by educated people in the course of ordinary conversation or when writing letters to intimate friends; Familiar colloquial is more emotional, much more free and careless than literary colloquial. It is characterised by a great number of jocular or ironical expressions and nonce-words; Low colloquial is a term used for illiterate popular speech. It contains a great number of vulgar words, elements of dialect, violates the norms of grammar and pronunciation; Argot - a special vocabulary and idiom, used by a particular social or age group, especially by the so-called underworld (the criminal circles). Its main point is to be unintelligible to outsiders. Major function - secrecy; Slang – a special vocabulary which consists of expressive, mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names for some things that are frequent topics of discourse. Major function – expressiveness: drunk: boozy, cock-eyed, high, soaked, tight.

Classification of slang Classification of slang suggests subdivision according to the sphere of usage into general slang and special slang. General slang includes words that are not specific for any social or professional group. Special slang is peculiar for some such group: teenager slang, university slang, public school slang, Air Force slang, football slang, sea slang, and so on.

№ 7

Classification of the vocabulary according to the emotional colouring Emotionally coloured words express by means of permanent or occasional (contextual) connotations the speaker’s attitude to what he is talking about, his emotional reaction, his relations with his audience (warning, approval, disapproval, etc.) Emotionally neutral words express notions but do not say anything about the state of the speaker or his mood.

№ 8

Classification of the vocabulary according to the time axis A neologism is a newly coined word or phrase or a new meaning for an existing word, or a word borrowed from another language (aerobic, black hole, computer, isotope, penicillin); An obsolete word – a word that dropped out from the language; Archaisms – words that were common but are now replaced by synonyms and became rare thanks to which they acquire ancient flavour; Historisms – are words denoting things that are no longer used, for example, brougham, berlin, calash, diligence, fly, gig, hansom, landeau, phaeton;

№ 9

Etymological classification of the vocabulary According to the origin: native :: borrowed; According to the source of borrowing; According to the period of borrowing; According to the aspect borrowed; According to the degree of assimilation;

№ 10

Non-semantic grouping of the vocabulary alphabetical organization of written words; rhyming organization; organization based on the length or the number of letters the words contain; organization based on a statistical analysis of the frequency of words.