Language units

LOCAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH ON THE BRITISH ISLES On the British Isles there are some local varieties of English whichdeveloped from Old English local dialects. There are six groups of them:Lowland /Scottish/ , Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, Southern. Thesevarieties are used in oral speech by the local population. Only theScottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/. One of the best known dialects of British English is the dialect ofLondon - Cockney. Some peculiarities of this dialect can be seen in thefirst act of 'Pigmalion' by B. Shaw, such as : interchange of /v/ and /w/e.g. wery vell; interchange of /f/ and /0/ , /v/ and / /, e. g/ fing/thing/ and fa:ve / father/; interchange of /h/ and /-/ , e.g. ''eart' for'heart' and 'hart' for 'art; substituting the diphthong /ai/ by /ei/ e.g.'day' is pronounced /dai/; substituting /au/ by /a:/ , e.g. 'house' ispronounced /ha:s/,'now' /na:/ ; substituting /ou/ by /o:/ e.g. 'don't' ispronounced /do:nt/ or substituting it by / / in unstressed positions, e.g.'window' is pronounced /wind /. Another feature of Cockney is rhyming slang: 'hat' is 'tit for tat','wife' is 'trouble and strife', 'head' is 'loaf of bread' etc. There arealso such words as 'tanner' /sixpence/, 'peckish'/hungry/. Peter Wain in the 'Education Guardian' writes about accents spoken byUniversity teachers: 'It is a variety of Southern English RP which isdifferent from Daniel Jones's description. The English, public schoolleavers speak, is called 'marked RP', it has some characteristic features :the vowels are more central than in English taught abroad, e.g. 'bleckhet'/for 'black hat'/, some diphthongs are also different, e.g. 'house' ispronounced /hais/. There is less aspiration in /p/, /b/, /t/ /d/. The American English is practically uniform all over the country, becauseof the constant transfer of people from one part of the country to theother. However, some peculiarities in New York dialect can be pointed out,such as: there is no distinction between / / and /a: / in words: 'ask','dance' 'sand' 'bad', both phonemes are possible. The combination 'ir' inthe words: 'bird', 'girl' 'ear' in the word 'learn' is pronoinced as /oi/e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/.In the words 'duty', 'tune' /j/ is notpronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH British and American English are two main variants of English. Besidesthem there are : Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and othervariants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar andvocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between peopleliving in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned,some scientists /H.N. Menken, for example/ tried to prove that there is aseparate American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book called'The American Language'. But most scientists, American ones including,criticized his point of view because differences between the two variantsare not systematic. American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th centurywhen first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coastof the American continent. The language which they brought from Englandwas the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First. In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names forplaces, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the Americancontinent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the localpopulation - Indians, such as :'chipmuck'/an American squirrel/, 'igloo'/Escimo dome-shaped hut/, 'skunk' / a black and white striped animal with abushy tail/, 'squaw' / an Indian woman/, 'wigwam' /an American Indian tentmade of skins and bark/ etc. Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, andEnglish-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words fromtheir languages, e.g. from French the words 'bureau'/a writing desk/,'cache' /a hiding place for treasure, provision/, 'depot'/ a store-house/,'pumpkin'/a plant bearing large edible fruit/. From Spanish such words as:'adobe' / unburnt sun-dried brick/, 'bananza' /prosperity/, 'cockroach' /abeetle-like insect/, 'lasso' / a noosed rope for catching cattle/ wereborrowed. Present-day New York stems from the Dutch colony New Amsterdam, andDutch also influenced English. Such words as: 'boss', 'dope', 'sleigh'were borrowed . The second period of American English history begins in the 19-thcentury. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When largegroups of immigrants from the same country came to America some of theirwords were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style ofcooking which became widely spread and such words as: 'pizza', 'spaghetti'came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers thefollowing words were borrowed into English: 'delicatessen', 'lager','hamburger', 'noodle', 'schnitzel' and many others. During the second period of American English history there appeared quitea number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due tothe new poitical system, liberation of America from the Britishcolonialism, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due tothese events: the United States of America , assembly, caucus, congress,Senate, congressman, President, senator, precinct, Vice-President and manyothers. Besides these political terms many other words were coined inAmerican English in the 19-th century: to antagonize, to demoralize,influential, department store, telegram, telephone and many others. There are some differences between British and American English in theusage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BErequres 'on' / I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there isno preposition / I start my vacation Friday/. In Be we use 'by day', 'bynight'/'at night', in AE the corresponding forms are 'days' and 'nights'.In BE we say 'at home' , in AE - 'home' is used. In BE we say 'a quarter tofive', in AE 'a quarter of five'. In BE we say 'in the street', in AE -'on the street'. In BE we say 'to chat to somebody', in AE 'to chat withsomebody'. In BE we say 'different to something', in AE - 'different fromsometing'. There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting thesame notions, e.g. BE - 'trousers', AE -'pants'; in BE 'pants' are 'трусы'which in AE is 'shorts'. While in BE 'shorts' are outwear. This can lead tomisunderstanding. There are some differences in names of places: BE AE BE AE passage hall cross-roads intersection pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies studio, bed-sitter one-room appartment flyover overpass zebra crossing Pxing pavement sidewalk tube, uderground subway tram streetcar flat apartment surgery doctor's office lift elevator Some names of useful objects: BE AE BE AE biro ballpoint rubber eraser tap faucet torchflashlight parcel package elastic rubberband carrier bag shopping bag reel of cotton spool of thread Some words connected with food: BE AE BE AE tin can sweets candy sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuitcrackers sweet dessert chipsfrench fries minced meat ground beef Some words denoting personal items: BE AE BE AE fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- upscuffs tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat ladder run/in a stocking/ braces suspenders poloneck turtleneck waistcoatvest Some words denoting people: BE AE BE AE barrister, lawyer, staff /university/faculty post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy caretaker janitor constablepatrolman shopassistant shopperson bobby cop If we speak about cars there are also some differences: BE AE BE AE boot trunk bumpersfenders a car, an auto, to hire a car to rent acar Differences in the organization of education lead to different terms. BE'public school' is in fact a private school. It is a fee-paying school notcontrolled by the local education authorities. AE 'public school' is afree local authority school. BE 'elementary school' is AE 'grade school' BE'secondary school' is AE 'high school'. In BE ' a pupil leaves a secondaryschool', in AE 'a student graduates from a high school' In BE you cangraduate from a university or college of education, graduating entailsgetting a degree. A British university student takes three years known as the first, thesecond and the third years. An American student takes four years, known asfreshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying a Britishstudent takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors ina subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in onemain subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An Americanstudent earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses instudies, and has to reach the total of 36 credits to receive a degree. Differences of spelling. The reform in the English spelling for American English was introducedby the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his firstdictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in theEnglish spelling are as follows: a) the delition of the letter 'u' in words ending in 'our', e.g. honor,favor; b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants,e.g. traveler, wagon, c) the replacement of 're' by 'er' in words of French origin, e.g.theater, center, d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g. catalog, program, e) the replacement of 'ce' by 'se' in words of Romanic origin, e.g.defense, offense, d) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro. Differences in pronunciation In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in thecombinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / /corresponds to the AE /^/, e.g. 'not'. In BE before fricatives andcombinations with fricatives 'a' is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it ispronounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc. There are some differences in the position of the stress: BE AE BE AE add`ress adress la`boratory`laboratory re`cess `recess re`search`research in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess`excess Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation, e.g. BE AE BE AE /`fju:tail/ /`fju:t l/ /`dousail / /dos l/ /kla:k/ /kl rk/ /`fig / /figyer/ / `le3 / / li:3 r/ /lef`ten nt//lu:tenant/ / nai / /ni: r/ /shedju:l//skedyu:l/ But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen andAmerican from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as aproof that British and American are different languages. Words can be classified according to the period of their life in thelanguage. The number of new words in a language is always larger than thenumber of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly we can havearchaisms, that is words which have come out of active usage, andneologisms, that is words which have recently appeared in the language.

ARCHAISMS Archaisms are words which are no longer used in everyday speech, whichhave been ousted by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, butthey are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity. Most of these words are lexical archaisms and they are stylistic synonymsof words which ousted them from the neutral style. Some of them are: steed/horse/, slay /kill/, behold /see/, perchance /perhaps/, woe /sorrow/ etc. Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting a new meaning,then the old meaning becomes a semantic archaism, e.g. 'fair' in themeaning 'beautiful' is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning 'blond' itbelongs to the neutral style. Sometimes the root of the word remains and the affix is changed, thenthe old affix is considered to be a morphemic archaism, e.g. 'beautious'/'ous' was substituted by 'ful'/, 'bepaint' / 'be' was dropped/, 'darksome'/'some' was dropped/, 'oft' / 'en' was added/. etc.

NEOLOGISMS At the present moment English is developing very swiftly and there is socalled 'neology blowup'. R. Berchfield who worked at compiling a four-volume supplement to NED says that averagely 800 neologisms appear everyyear in Modern English. It has also become a language-giver recently,especially with the development of computerization. New words, as a rule, appear in speech of an individual person who wantsto express his idea in some original way. This person is called'originater'. New lexical units are primarily used by university teachers,newspaper reporters, by those who are connected with mass media. Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing in thelanguage can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. Insuch cases we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word 'umbrella' developedthe meanings: 'авиационное прикрытие', 'политическое прикрытие'. A newlexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenonwhich already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases we havetransnomination, e.g. the word 'slum' was first substituted by the word'ghetto' then by the word-group 'inner town'. A new lexical unit can beintroduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case we have 'aproper neologism', many of them are cases of new terminology. Here we can point out several semantic groups when we analize the groupof neologisms connected with computerization, and here we can mention wordsused: a) to denote different types of computers, e.g. PC, super-computer, multi-user, neurocomputer / analogue of a human brain/; b) to denote parts of computers, e.g. hardware, software, monitor,screen, data, vapourware / experimental samples of computers forexhibition, not for production/; c) to denote computer languages, e.g. BASIC, Algol FORTRAN etc; d) to denote notions connected with work on computers, e.g. computerman,computerization, computerize, to troubleshoot, to blitz out / to ruindata in a computer's memory/. There are also different types of activities performed with the help ofcomputers, many of them are formed with the help of the morpheme 'tele',e.g. to telework, to telecommute / to work at home having a computer whichis connected with the enterprise for which one works/. There are also suchwords as telebanking, telemarketing, teleshopping / when you can performdifferent operations with the help of your computer without leaving yourhome, all operations are registered by the computer at your bank/,videobank /computerized telephone which registers all information which isreceived in your absence/. In the sphere of lingusitics we have such neologisms as: machinetranslation, interlingual / an artificial language for machine translationinto several languages / and many others. In the sphere of biometrics we have computerized machines which canrecognize characteristic features of people seeking entrance : finger-printscanner / finger prints/, biometric eye-scanner / blood-vessel arrangementsin eyes/, voice verification /voice patterns/. These are types ofbiometric locks. Here we can also mention computerized cards with the helpof which we can open the door without a key. In the sphere of medicine computors are also used and we have thefollowing neologisms: telemonitory unit / a telemonitory system fortreating patience at a distance/. With the development of social activities neologisms appeared as well,e.g. youthquake - волнения среди молодежи, pussy-footer - политик, идущийна компромисы, Euromarket, Eurodollar, Europarliament, Europol etc. In the modern English society there is a tendency to socialstratification, as a result there are neologisms in this sphere as well,e.g. belonger - представитель среднего класса, приверженец консервативныхвзглядов. To this group we can also refer abbreviations of the typeyuppie /young urban professional people/, such as: muppie, gruppie, rumpie,bluppie etc. People belonging to the lowest layer of the society arecalled survivers, a little bit more prosperous are called sustainers, andthose who try to prosper in life and imitate those, they want to belongto, are called emulaters. Those who have prospered but are not belongersare called achievers. All these layers of socety are called VAL /Valueand Lifestyles/ . The rich belong also to jet set that is those who can afford to travel byjet planes all over the world enjoying their life. Sometimes they arecalled 'jet plane travellers'. During Margaret Thatcher's rule the abbreviation PLU appeared which means'People like us' by which snobbistic circles of society call themselves.Nowadays /since 1989/ PLU was substituted by 'one of us'. There are a lot of immigrants now in UK , in connection with whichneologisms partial and non-partial were formed /имеющие право жить встране и его антоним/. The word-group 'welfare mother' was formed to denote a non-working singlemother living on benefit. In connection with criminalization of towns in UK volantary groups ofassisting the police were formed where dwellers of the neighbourhood arejoined. These groups are called 'neighbourhood watch', 'home watch'.Criminals wear 'stocking masks' not to be recognized. The higher society has neologisms in their speech, such as : dial-a-meal,dial-a-taxi. In the language of teen-agers there are such words as : Drugs! /OK/,sweat /бег на длинные дистанции/, task /home composition /, brunch etc. With the development of professional jargons a lot of words ending in'speak' appeared in English, e.g. artspeak, sportspeak, medspeak, education-speak, video-speak, cable-speak etc. There are different semantic groups of neologisms belonging to everydaylife: a) food e.g. 'starter'/ instead of 'hors d'oevres'/, macrobiotics / rawvegetables, crude rice/ , longlife milk, clingfilm, microwave stove,consumer electronics, fridge-freezer, hamburgers /beef-, cheese-, fish-,veg- /. b) clothing, e.g. catsuit /one-piece clinging suit/, slimster , string /miniscule bikini/, hipster / trousers or skirt with the belt on hips/,completenik / a long sweater for trousers/, sweatnik /a long jacket/,pants-skirt, bloomers / lady's sports trousers/. c) footwear e.g. winklepickers /shoes with long pointed toes/, thongs/open sandals/, backsters /beech sandals with thick soles/. d) bags, e.g. bumbag /a small bag worn on the waist/, sling bag /a bagwith a long belt/, maitre / a small bag for cosmetics/. There are also such words as : dangledolly / a dolly-talisman dangling inthe car before the windscreen/, boot-sale /selling from the boot of thecar/, touch-tone /a telephone with press-button/. Neologisms can be also classified according to the ways they are formed.They are subdivided into : phonological neologisms, borrowings, semanticneologisms and syntactical neologisms. Syntactical neologisms are dividedinto morphological /word-building/ and phraseological /forming word-groups/. Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations ofsounds, they are called artificial, e.g. rah-rah /a short skirt which isworn by girls during parades/, 'yeck' /'yuck' which are interjections toexpress repulsion produced the adjective yucky/ yecky. These are strongneologisms. Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as 'perestroika'/Russian/, 'solidarnosc' /Polish/, Berufsverbot / German /, dolce vita/Italian/ etc. Morphological and syntactical neologisms are usually built on patternsexisting in the language, therefore they do not belong to the group ofstrong neologisms. Among morphological neologisms there are a lot of compound words ofdifferent types, such as 'free-fall'-'резкое падение курса акций' appearedin 1987 with the stock market crash in October 1987 /on the analogy withfree-fall of parachutists, which is the period between jumping and openingthe chute/. Here also belong: call-and-recall - вызов на диспансеризацию,bioastronomy -search for life on other planets, rat-out - betrayal indanger , zero-zero (double zero) - ban of longer and shorter range weapon,x-rated /about films terribly vulgar and cruel/, Ameringlish /AmericanEnglish/, tycoonography - a biography of a business tycoon. There are also abbreviations of different types, such as resto, teen/teenager/, dinky /dual income no kids yet/, ARC /AIDS-related condition,infection with AIDS/, HIV / human immuno-deficiency virus/. Quite a number of neologisms appear on the analogy with lexical unitsexisting in the language, e.g. snowmobile /automobile/, danceaholic/alcoholic/, airtel /hotel/, cheeseburger /hamburger/, autocade /cavalcade/. There are many neologisms formed by means of affixation, such as:decompress, to disimprove, overhoused, educationalist, slimster, folkniketc. Phraseological neologisms can be subdivided into phraseological unitswith transferred meanings, e.g. to buy into/ to become involved/, fudgeand dudge /avoidance of definite decisions/, and set non-idiomaticexpressions, e.g. electronic virus, Rubic's cube, retail park, acid rain ,boot trade etc. Changes in pronunciation. In Modern British English there is a tendency to change pronunciation ofsome sounds and combinations of sounds due to the influence of AmericanEnglish and some other factors. These changes are most noticeable in thespeech of teachers and students of the universities in the Southern part ofEngland /Oxford, Cambridge, London/. There are the following changes in pronouncing vowels: a) shortening of long vowels, especially at the end of the word andbefore voiceless consonants, e.g. see, keep; b) lengthening of short vowels before voiced consonants, e.g. big, good,come, jam etc. In such adjectives which end in /d/ lengthening of thevowel is observed all over England, e.g. bad, sad, glad, mad etc. c) drawling of stressed syllables and clipping of unstressed syllables. d) In unstressed syllables / / is pronounced instead of / i /, e.g. /b`ko:z/, /`evid ns/ etc. e) In the words consisting of three or more syllables there is a tendencyto have two main stresses,e.g. /`nes `s ri/, /`int `restin/. f) The diphthong /ou/ is pronounced / u/,e.g. home /h um/, go /g u/. g) the diphthong / u / is pronounced /o:/, e.g. sure /sho:/. Vowels can also change under the influence of consonants: a) after fricatives and consonants /n/ and /m/ /ju:/ is pronounced as/u:/, e.g. resume, music, news, enthusiasm. b) before fricatives and combinations of fricatives with consonants 'a'is pronounced as / /, e.g. dance, answer, class, fast. The pronunciation of some consonants is also changed : a) after a vowel /r/ is pronounced ,e.g. /ka:r/ , /ha:rt/. b)There appears an intrusive /r/ in the combinations where after thefinal vowel / / there is a vowel at the beginning of the next word, e.g.the idea of, Asia and Europe/ on the analogy with word combinations thereis, there are/. c) /p/ and /t/ are glotalized in the middle of the word,e.g. matter ispronounced as /`m ? /, happy as /`h ? i/. d) /s/ is used instead of /sh/ before /i/ in the structure of suffixes,e.g. social /`sousi l/, negotiate / ni`gousi,eit/; e) /l/ is vocalized at the end of the word, e.g. full/ ful/( close to/v/ in sound). f) /sh/ is voiced in the intervocal position in some geographical names,e.g . 'Asia', 'Persia'; g) combinations of sounds /dj/, /tj/ , /sj/ in such words as duke, tube,issue have two variants of pronunciation: /d3u:k/ and /dju:k/, /chu:b/ and/tju:b/, /`ishu:/ and /`isju:/; g) pronunciation approaching spelling is being developed, e.g. often/`oftn/, forehead / fo:`hed/ etc; h) /t/ and/d/ at the end of words are not pronounced, e.g. 'half pastfive' /`ha:f `pa:s`faiv/, 'old man' /`oul `m n/. LEXICOGRAPHY The theory and practice of compiling dictionaries is calledlexicography. The history of compiling dictionaries for English comes asfar back as the Old English period, where we can find glosses of religiousbooks / interlinear translations from Latin into English/. Regularbilingual dictionaries began to appear in the 15-th century /Anglo-Latin, Anglo-French , Anglo-German/. The first unilingual dictionary explaining difficult words appeared in1604, the author was Robert Cawdry, a schoolmaster. He compiled hisdictionary for schoolchildren. In 1721 an English scientist and writerNathan Bailey published the first etymological dictionary which explainedthe origin of English words. It was the first scientific dictionary, it wascompiled for philologists. In 1775 an English scientist compiled a famous explanatory dictionary.Its author was Samuel Johnson. Every word in his dictionary was illustratedby examples from English literature, the meanings of words were clear fromthe contexts in which they were used.. The dictionary was a great successand it influenced the development of lexicography in all countries. Thedictionary influenced normalization of the English vocabulary. But atthe same time it helped to preserve the English spelling in itsconservative form. In 1858 one of the members of the English philological society Dr.Trench raised the question of compiling a dictionary including all the words existing in the language. The philological society adopted the decision to compile the dictionaryand the work started. More than a thousand people took part in collectingexamples, and 26 years later in 1884 the first volume was published. Itcontained words beginning with 'A' and 'B'. The last volume was publishedin 1928 that is 70 years after the decision to compile it was adopted. Thedictionary was called NED and contained 12 volumes. In 1933 the dictionary was republished under the title 'The OxfordEnglish Dictionary', because the work on the dictionary was conducted inOxford. This dictionary contained 13 volumes. As the dictionary was verylarge and terribly expensive scientists continued their work and compiledshorter editions of the dictionary: 'A Shorter Oxford Dictionary'consisting of two volumes. It had the same number of entries, but far lessexamples from literature. They also compiled 'A Concise Oxford Dictionary'consisting of one volume and including only modern words and no examplesfrom literature. The American lexicography began to develop much later, at the end of the18-th century. The most famous American English dictionary was compiled byNoah Webster. He was an active stateman and public man and he published hisfirst dictionary in 1806. He went on with his work on the dictionary and in1828 he published a two-volume dictionary. He tried to simplify the Englishspelling and transcription. He introduced the alphabetical system oftranscription where he used letters and combinations of letters instead oftranscription signs. He denoted vowels in closed syllables by thecorresponding vowels, e.g. / a/, /e/, / i/, / o/, /u/. He denoted vowelsin the open syllable by the same letters, but with a dash above them,e.g./ a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. He denoted vowels in the position before /r/ asthe same letters with two dots above them, e.g. / a/, /o/ and by the letter 'e' with two dots above it for the combinations 'er', 'ir', 'ur'because they are pronounced identically. The same tendency is preservedfor other sounds : /u:/ is denoted by /oo/, /y/ is used for the sound /j/etc. Classification of dictionaries All dictionaries are divided into linguistic and encyclopedicdictionaries. Encyclopedic dictionaries describe different objects,phenomena, people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionariesdescribe vocabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, theirusage. Words are usually given in the alphabetical order. Linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and specialized . Togeneral dictionries two most widely used dictionaries belong: explanatoryand translation dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries includedictionaries of synonyms, antonyms, collocations, word-frequency,neologisms, slang, pronouncing, etymological, phraseological and others. All types of dictionaries can be unilingual ( excepting translation ones)if the explanation is given in the same language, bilingual if theexplanation is given in another language and also they can be polilingual. There are a lot of explanatory dictionaries (NED, SOD, COD, NID, N.G.Wyld's 'Universal Dictionary' and others). In explanatory dictionaries theentry consists of the spelling, transcription, grammatical forms, meanings,examples, phraseology. Pronunciation is given either by means of theInternational Transcription System or in British Phonetic Notation which isdifferent in each large dictionary, e.g. /o:/ can be indicated as / aw/,/or/, /oh/, /o/. etc. Translation dictionaries give words and their equivalents in the otherlanguage. There are English-Russian dictionaries by I.R. Galperin, byY.Apresyan and others. Among general dictionaries we can also mentionLearner's dictionaries. They began to appear in the second half of the 20-th century. The most famous is 'The Advanced Learner's Dictionary' by A.S.Hornby. It is a unilingual dictionary based on COD, for advanced foreignlearners and language teachers. It gives data about grammatical and lexicalvalency of words. Specialized dictionaries of synonyms are also widelyused, one of them is 'A Dictionary of English Synonyms and SynonymousExpressions' by R.Soule. Another famous one is 'Webster's Dictionary ofSynonyms'. These are unilingual dictionaries. The best known bilingualdictionary of synonyms is 'English Synonyms' compiled by Y. Apresyan. In 1981 'The Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English' was compiled, wherewords are given in 14 semantic groups of everyday nature. Each word isdefined in detail, its usage is explained and illustrated, synonyms,antonyms are presented also. It describes 15000 items, and can be referredto dictionaries of synonyms and to explanatory dictionaries. Phraseological dictionaries describe idioms and colloquial phrases,proverbs. Some of them have examples from literature. Some lexicographersinclude not only word-groups but also anomalies among words. In 'The OxfordDicionary of English Proverbs' each proverb is illustrated by a lot ofexamples, there are stylistic references as well. The dictionary byVizetelli gives definitions and illustrations, but different meanings ofpolisemantic units are not given. The most famous bilingual dictionary ofphraseology was compiled by A.V. Koonin. It is one of the bestphraseological dictionaries. Etymological dictionaries trace present-day words to the oldest forms ofthese words and forms of these words in other languages. One of the bestetymological dictionaries was compiled by W. Skeat. Pronouncing dictionaries record only pronunciation. The most famous is D.Jones' s 'Pronouncing Dictionary'. Dictionaries of neologisms are : a four-volume 'Supplement to NED' byBurchfield, 'The Longman Register of New Words'/1990/, 'BloomsuryDictionary of New Words' /1996/. SEMINARS Seminar 1 Language units. The smallest language unit. The function of a root morpheme. The main function of suffixes. The secondary function of suffixes. The main function of prefixes. The secondary function of prefixes. Splinters and their formation in English. The difference between affixes and splinters. Structural types of words in English. The stem of a word and the difference beween a simple word, a stem and aroot. The difference between a block compound and a nominal benomial. The difference between a word and a phraseological unit. The similarity between a word and a phraseological unit. Analyze the following lexical units according to their structure. Pointout the function of morphemes. Speak about bound morphemes and freemorphemes. Point out allomorphs in analyzed words: accompany unsystematic forget-me-not computerise expressionless reservation de-restrict superprivileged moisture lengthen clannish pleasure beautify workaholic reconstruction beflower inwardly counterculture specialise moneywise three-cornered round table Green Berets to sandwich in Seminar 2. Affixation. Classification of suffixes according to the part of speech they form. Classification of suffixes according to the stem they are added to. Classification of suffixes according to their meaning. Classification of suffixes according to their productivity. Classification of suffixes according to their origin. Classification of prefixes according to their meaning. Classification of prefixes according to their origin. Classification of prefixes according to their productivity. Analyze the following derived words, point out suffixes and prefixes andclassify them from different points of view: to embed nourishment unsystematic to encourage inwardly to accompany translatorese dispensable clannishness to de-restrict workaholic jet-wise reconstruction to overreach thouroughly afterthought foundation childishness transgressor to re-write completenik gangsterdom pleasure concentration refusenik counter-culture brinkmanship allusion self-criticism tocomputerise slimster reservationtranslation Seminar 3 Compound words. Characteristic features of compound words in different languages. Characteristic features of English compounds. Classification of compound words according to their structure. Classification of compound words according to the joining element. Classification of compound words according to the parts of speech. Classification of compound words according to the semantic relationsbetween the components. Ways of forming compound words. Analyze the following compound words: note-book speedometer son-in-law to job-hop brain-gain video-corder fair-haired forget-me-not Anglo-Russian teach-in back-grounder biblio-klept theatre-goer well-dressed bio-engineer to book-hunt mini-term to baby-sit blood-thirsty good-for-nothing throw-away do-gooder skin-head kleptomania sportsman para-trooper airbus bus-napper cease-fire three-cornered tip-top brain-drain bread-and-butter Compare the strucure of the following words: demagougery tablewards heliport tobbacoless money-wise non-formal booketeria go-go motel counter-clockwise to frontpage productivity giver-away newly-created nobody Seminar 4. Conversion. Conversion as a way of wordbuilding. Different points of view on the nature of conversion. Semantic groups of verbs which can be converted from nouns. The meanings of verbs converted from adjectives. Semantic groups of nouns which can be converted from verbs. Substantivised adjectives. Characteristic features of combinations of the type 'stone wall'. Semantic groups of combinations of this type. Analyze the following lexical units: to eye a find toslim a grown-up to airmail steel helmet London season resit sleep a flirt a readhandout to weekend a build-up supersonics a non-formal to wireless to submarine to blue-pencil to blind - the blind - blinds distrust a jerk toradio news have-nots theEnglish to co-author to water to winter a sit-down mother-in-law morning star undesirables a walk a find dislike log cabin finals Seminar 5. Shortenings and abbreviations. Lexical and graphical abbreviations,the main differences between them. Types of graphical abbreviations. Types of initias, peculiarities of their pronunciation. Lexical shortenings of words, their reference to styles. Compound-shortened words, their structural types. Analyze the following lexical units: aggro /aggression/ Algol / algorythmic language/ apex /eipeks/ - advanced purchased excursion/ payment for an excursionninety days before the time of excursion/ A-day /announcement Day - day of announcing war/ AID / artifitial insemination by a donor/ AIDS / acquired immunity deficiency syndrome/ Ala / Alabama/ a.s.a.p. /as soon as possible/ bar-B-Q ,barb /barbecue/ to baby-sit / baby-sitter/ A-level /advanced level/ BC /birth certificate/ burger /hamberger/ Camford, Oxbridge CALL /computer-assisted language learning/ CAT /computer-assisted training/ cauli / cauliflower/ COD / cash on delivery/ COBOL / k ubol/ /common business-oriented language/ co- ed comp /komp, k mp/ /accompaniment/ DINKY /double income ,no kids yet/ E-Day /entrance day //Common Market/ expo/exposition/ edbiz/ educational business/ el-hi / elementary and high schools/, ex lib/ex libris/ /from the library of/ etc Euratom fax /facsimile/ G-7 / group of seven: GB, Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy, Spain/. FORTRAN /formula translation/. Seminar 6. Phraseological units. Ways of forming phraseological units. Semantic classification of phraseological units. Structural classification of phraseological units. Syntactical classification of phraseological units. Analyze the following phraseological units according to their meaning,structure, syntactical function and the way they are formed: When pigs fly /never/. To leap into marriage. To be a whipping boy. To be behind scenes. Girl Friday /a man's assistant/. Fire in the belly. Man Friday /a true friend/. A dear John. To be on the beam. Game, set and match. Country and western. To jump out of one's skin. As smart as paint. It's my cup of tea. Robin Crusoe and Friday / seats at a theatre divided by a passage/.Fortune favours fools. To be in the dog house. The green power. Green Berets. Culture vulture. To get off one's back. To make headlines. On the nose. With a bump. To have a short fuse. To vote with one's feet. Nuts and bolts. Blackboard jungle. The sky is the limit. Cash and carry. To nose out. To sandwich in. Berlin wall. A close mouth catches no flies. To speak BBB. To sound like a computer. As dull as lead. Last but not least. On the stroke of. Seminar 7. Phraseological units. Students choose ten phraseological units from Koonin's dictionary ofphraseological units and a unilingual dictionary of idioms and analyze themin the written form. During the seminar they analyze their phrasologicalunits chosen from dictionaries at the blackboard. Seminar 8. Borrowings. Classification of borrowings according to the language from which theywere borrowed: Latin borrowings. French borrowings. Italian borrowings. Scandinavian borrowings. German borrowings. Russian borrowings. Classification of borrowings according to the borrowed aspect: phoneticborrowings, semantic borrowings, translation loans, morphemeic borrowings,hybrids. Classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation:fully assimilated borrowings, partly assimilated borrowings, barbarisms.Borrowings partly assimilated semantically, grammatically, phonetically andgraphically. Analyze the following borrowings: school represent sky-blue degree rhythm immobility chandelier the Zoo vase mot /mou/ hybrid bouffant illuminate keenly communicative possessiveness to reproach command moustache gifted boutique skipper cache-pot well-scrubbed nouveau riche emphatic mysteriously dactyl Nicholas group to possess chenile psychological garage guarantee contempt trait/trei/ triumph stomach sympathy cynical Philipp schoolboy Christianity paralyzed system hotel cyclic diphtheria kerchief dark-skinned. Seminar 9 Semaciology. Word and notion. Lexical meaning and notion. Polysemy. Homonyms. Synonyms. Antonyms. Classifications of homonyms when applied to analysis. Classifications of antonyms when applied to analysis. Analyze the following lexical units applying the above mentionedclassifications of homonyms and antonyms: present - absent, present - to present like , to like - to dislike - dislike sympathy - antipathy progress - to progress, regress - to regress success - failure, successful- unsuccessful left - left/to leave/, right adj. - right n. inflexible - flexible unsafe - safe adj. - safe n. fair n. - fair adj. unfair, foul piece - peace dark-haired - fair-haired a row - a row /rou/ - /rau/ a fan - a fan superiority - inferiority different - similar, indifferent, alike, difference - similarity meaningful - meaningless after prep.- before -before adv., before conj. to gossip - a gossip shapeless - shapy air - to air - air fearless - fearful bright - dim, dull, sad to fasten - to unfasten something - nothing eldest - oldest -youngest to husband - husband obscure - to obscure unaccustomed - accustomed to exclude - to include to conceal -to reveal too - too- two somewhere - nowhere a drawer - a drawer with - without Seminar 10. Neology. Neology 'blowup' and the work of R.Berchfield. Semantic neologisms, transnomination and proper neologisms. Semantic groups of neologisms connected with computerization. Social stratification and neologisms. Semantic groups of neologisms referring to everyday life. Phonological neologisms and borrowings as strong neologisms. Morphological and syntactical neologisms. Changes in pronunciation. Analyze the following neologisms from the point of view of neology theoryand also from the point of view of their morphemic structure and the waythey were formed : to clip-clip AIDS coup sound barrier to Vice-Preside boutique to re-familiarize tourmobile sevenish to de-dramatize non-formals to baby-sit to scrimp and save fireside chat hide-away coin-in-the-slot cashless society memo We shall overcome. to dish old wine in new bottles to-ing and fro-ing multinationals the Commons hyperacidity religiosity D-Day face-to-face/tuition/ femme-fatalish to the wingtips to river singer-songwriter beatnik communication gap laundered money cheeseburger Don't change horses. to put a freeze on micro-surgical SA out-doorsy medicare Cold War self-exile public-schooly brain-drainer movers and shakers Euroyuppie Seminar 11. Control work on the analysis of language units. Each student getssix language units of different types / simple words, derived words,compound words, phraseological units, combinations of the type 'stonewall', borrowings, abbreviations, antonyms, homonyms, neologisms ,abbreviations/ and is to analize them from all points of view which werestudied during the seminars.

Lexicography

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