Basics of Lexicology

traditional linguistics solved this problem with the notional criterion and defined synonyms as words of the same category of parts of speech conveying the same notion but different either in shades of meaning or in stylistic characteristics (but this linguistic phenomenon should be defined in linguistic terms and the use of the term “notion” makes this an extralinguistic definition).

now semantic criterion is frequently used. It defines synonyms in terms of componential analysis as words with the same denotation or the same denotative component, but different in connotations or connotative component:

e.g.: to stare - to look (don-n) + steadily, lastingly + in surprise, curiosity (con-n)

to glare - to look (don-n) + steadily, lastingly + in anger, rage, fury (con-n)

to gaze - to look (don-n) + steadily, lastingly + in tenderness, admiration,

wonder (con-n)

to peep - to look (don-n) + steadily, lastingly + by stealth (con-n)

So this criterion uses a method of analysis. It studies a group of synonyms with the help of dictionary definition (=definitional analysis) and then the data from various dictionaries are analyzed comparatively, and after that the definitions are subjected to transformational operation (=transformational analysis).

sometimes the criterion of interchangeability is applied on synonyms. According to it synonyms are defined as words, which are interchangeable at least in some contexts without any considerable alteration in denotative meaning. It's difficult to accept interchangeability as a criterion of synonymy as the specific characteristic of synonyms is that they are not, can't and shouldn't be interchangeable, or in that case they would become useless ballast in the vocabulary.

TYPES OF SYNONYMS

The only existing classification system for synonyms was established by V.V. Vinogradov. In his classification system there are 3 types of synonyms:

ideographic synonyms - are defined as words conveying the same notion but different in shades of meaning;

stylistic synonyms - words different in stylistic characteristics;

absolute synonyms - words coinciding in all their shades of meaning and in all stylistic characteristics.

But some aspects of this system are open to question:

absolute synonyms are rare in the vocabulary because the vocabulary system tends to abolish them either by rejecting one of the absolute synonyms or by developing differentiation characteristics in one or both of them;

the term “shades of meaning” is very vague;

there seems to be no rigid demarcation line between synonyms differing in their shades of meaning and in stylistic characteristics. Therefore, the subdivision into ideographic and stylistic synonyms is controversial as well.

Thus, it is more effective to classify synonyms according to their definition of words different in connotations:

the connotation of degree or intensity:

e.g.: to surprise - to astonish - to amaze - to astound

the connotation of duration:

e.g.: to flash (briefly) - to blaze (lastingly)

to shudder (briefly) - to shiver (lastingly)

the connotation of manner:

e.g.: to stroll - to stride - to trot - to pace - to swagger - to stagger - to

stumble

the emotive connotation:

e.g.: to stare - to glare - to gaze

alone - single - lonely - solitary

the evaluative connotation:

e.g.: well - known = famous - notorious - celebrated

to sparkle (amusement) - to glitter (anger)

the causative connotation:

e.g.: to shiver (with cold, from a chill, because of the frost) - to shudder (with

fear, horror)

the connotation of attendant circumstances:

e.g.: to peep (at smb/smth through the hole, crack)

to peer (at smb/smth in darkness, through fog)

the connotation of attendant features:

e.g.: pretty - handsome - beautiful

the stylistic connotation:

e.g. snack, bite (coll.), snap (dial.), repast, refreshment, feast (formal) = meal

girlie (coll.), lass, lassie (dial.), bird, birdie, jane, fluff, skirt (slang),

maiden (poet.), damsel (archaic) = girl

THE DOMINANT SYNONYM

The verb “to look” has numerous synonyms, but it itself possesses the highest frequency of use compared to its synonyms and plays an important role in communication. Its role and position in relation to its synonyms is of some importance as it presents a kind of centre of the group of synonyms. This centre is called the dominant synonym.

It consists only of denotative component and has no connotations. It expresses the notion common to all synonyms of the group in the general way, without contributing any additional information as to the manner, intensity, duration:

e.g.: to surprise = to astonish, to amaze, to astound

to shout = to yell, to bellow, to roar

angry = furious, enraged

So the dominant synonym preserves the general sense of the utterance but loses a great deal in precision, expressiveness and colour.

Thus, its main features are:

high frequency of use;

broad combinability (various classes of words);

broad general meaning;

lack of connotations.

EUPHEMISMS

In every lge there are words, which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite. As the “offensive” referents, for which these words stand, must still be alluded to, they are often described in a roundabout way, by using substitutes called euphemisms. This device is dictated by social conventions, which are sometimes apt to be oversensitive, which see “indecency” where there is none and seek refinement in absurd avoidances and pretentiousness:

e.g.: “lavatory” produced many euphemisms = powder room, washroom, rest-room, retiring room, public comfort station, ladies' room, gentlemen's room, water - closet (W.C.), public conveniences, winsdor castle;

“pregnancy” is another topic for “delicate” references = in an interesting condition, in the family way, with a baby coming, big with child;

“trousers” had a great number of euphemistic equivalents = unmentionables, inexpressibles, indescribables, unwhisperables, you - mustn't -mention `ems, sit - upons.

There are words, which are easy targets for euphemistic substitution. These include words associated with drunkenness, which are very numerous:

e.g.: drink = intoxicated, under the influence (form.), tipsy, mellow, fresh, high, merry, flustered, overcome, full, drunk as a lord, drunk as an owl (coll.), boiled, soaked, tanked, fried, tight, stiff, pickled, three sheets to the wind, high as a kite, half - seas - over (slang).

Euphemisms may be used to express genuine concern not to hurt smb's feelings:

e.g.: a liar = a person who does not always strictly tells the truth;

a stupid man = not exactly brilliant.

All the euphemisms are used to avoid the so - called social taboos, their use is inspired by social conventions. Superstitious taboos gave rise to the use of other types of euphemisms. The reluctance to call things by their proper names is also typical of this type of euphemisms, but in this case it is based on a deeply - rooted fear. Superstitious taboos have their roots in the distant part of mankind, when people believed that there was a supernatural link between a name and the object or creature it represented. All the words, denoting evil spirits, dangerous animals or the power of nature, were taboos, they were referred to in a roundabout descriptive way:

e.g.: a dangerous animal = the one - lurking - in - the - wood;

a mortal disease = the black death.

Euphemisms are probably the oldest type of synonyms, for it is reasonable to assume that superstitions, which caused real fear called for the creation of euphemisms long before the need to describe things in their various aspects or subtle shades caused the appearance of synonyms.

The Christian religion also made certain words taboos:

e.g.: devil = the Prince of Darkness, the black one, the evil one, dickens, deuce,

Nick (coll.)

god = there are a number of substitutions traced in such phrases as “Good

Lord! By Heavens! Good Heavens! My goodness! Gracious me!”

Even in modern times old superstitious fears still lurk behind the words associated with death and fatal diseases:

e.g.: to die = to pass away, to be taken to, to breathe one's last, to depart this life, to close one's eyes, to yield/give up the ghost, to go to the way of all flesh(form.), to go West, to kick off, to check out, to kick the bucket, to take a ride, to hop the twig (slang)

Mental diseases also cause the frequent use of euphemisms:

e.g.: a mad person = insane, mentally unstable, unbalanced (form.), unhinged, not (quite) right, not all there, off one's head, off one's rocker, wrong in the upper storey, having bats in one's belfry (coll.), cuckoo, nutty, off one's nut, loony (slang)

A great number of humorous substitutions, found in such groups of words, prove particularly tempting for writers, who use them for comical purposes:

e.g.: “What did I tell you!” cried Grandma Georgina. “He's round the twist! He's

bogged as a beetle! He's dotty as a dingbat! He's got rats in the roof!”

Thus, euphemisms are substitutes foe synonyms. Their use and very existence are caused either by social conventions or by certain psychological factors. Most of them have stylistic connotations in their semantic structures. In formal euphemisms connotations are solemn and delicately evasive, and in slang euphemisms connotations are rough and somewhat cynical, reflecting an attempt to laugh off an unpleasant fact.

ANTONYMY

Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech, identical in style, expressing contrary or contradictory notions.

V.N. Comissarov in his dictionary of antonyms classified them into two groups: absolute or root antonyms /late - early/ and derivational antonyms /to please - to displease/. Absolute antonyms have different roots and derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes. In most cases negative prefixes form antonyms / un-, dis-, non-/. Sometimes they are formed by means of suffixes -ful and -less.

The number of antonyms with the suffixes ful- and -less is not very large, and sometimes even if we have a word with one of these suffixes its antonym is formed not by substituting -ful by less-, e.g. «successful» -»unsuccessful», «selfless» - «selfish». The same is true about antonyms with negative prefixes, e.g. «to man» is not an antonym of the word «to unman», «to disappoint» is not an antonym of the word «to appoint».

The difference between derivational and root antonyms is not only in their structure, but in semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other, e.g. «active»- «inactive». Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant members of the group will be absolute antonyms, e.g. «ugly», «plain», «good-looking», «pretty», «beautiful», the antonyms are «ugly» and «beautiful».

Leonard Lipka in the book «Outline of English Lexicology» describes different types of oppositeness, and subdivides them into three types:

a) complementary, e.g. male -female, married -single,

b) antonyms, e.g. good -bad,

c) converseness, e.g. to buy - to sell.

In his classification he describes complimentarity in the following way: the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, and vice versa. «John is not married» implies that «John is single». The type of oppositeness is based on yes/no decision. Incompatibility only concerns pairs of lexical units.

Antonymy is the second class of oppositeness. It is distinguished from complimentarity by being based on different logical relationships. For pairs of antonyms like good/bad, big/small only the second one of the above mentioned relations of implication holds. The assertion containing one member implies the negation of the other, but not vice versa. «John is good» implies that «John is not bad», but «John is not good» does not imply that «John is bad». The negation of one term does not necessarily imply the assertion of the other.

An important linguistic difference from complementaries is that antonyms are always fully gradable, e.g. hot, warm, tepid, cold.

Converseness is mirror-image relations or functions, e.g. husband/wife, pupil/teacher, preceed/follow, above/below, before/after etc.

«John bought the car from Bill» implies that «Bill sold the car to John». Mirror-image sentences are in many ways similar to the relations between active and passive sentences. Also in the comparative form: »Y is smaller than X, then X is larger than Y».

L. Lipka also gives the type which he calls directional opposition up/down, consiquence opposition learn/know, antipodal opposition North/South, East/West, (it is based on contrary motion, in opposite directions.) The pairs come/go, arrive/depart involve motion in different directions. In the case up/down we have movement from a point P. In the case come/go we have movement from or to the speaker.

L. Lipka also points out non-binary contrast or many-member lexical sets. Here he points out serially ordered sets, such as scales /hot, warm, tepid, cool, cold/; colour words /black, grey, white/; ranks /marshal, general, colonel, major, captain/. There are gradable examination marks / excellent, good, average, fair, poor/. In such sets of words we can have outer and inner pairs of antonyms. He also points out cycles, such as units of time /spring, summer, autumn, winter/. In this case there are no «outermost» members.

Not every word in a language can have antonyms. This type of opposition can be met in qualitative adjectives and their derivatives, e.g. beautiful- ugly, to beautify - to uglify, beauty - ugliness. It can be also met in words denoting feelings and states, e.g. respect - scorn, to respect - to scorn, respectful - scornful, to live - to die, alive - dead, life - death. It can be also met among words denoting direction in space and time, e.g. here - there, up - down, now - never, before - after, day - night, early - late etc.

If a word is polysemantic it can have several antonyms, e.g. the word «bright» has the antonyms «dim», «dull», «sad».

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech:

most antonyms are adjectives, it's natural as qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted:

e.g.: high - low, wide - narrow, strong - weak

verbs take the 2nd place (fewer in number):

e.g.: to lose - to find, to live - to die, to open - to close

nouns are not rich in antonyms:

e.g.: friend - enemy, joy - grief, good - evil, love - hatred

antonymic adverbs can be subdivided into:

HOMONYMS

Homonyms are words different in meaning but identical in sound or spelling, or both in sound and spelling.

Homonyms can appear in the language not only as the result of the split of polysemy, but also as the result of levelling of grammar inflexions, when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect, e.g. «care» from «caru» and «care» from «carian». They can be also formed by means of conversion, e.g. «to slim» from «slim», «to water» from «water». They can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem, e.g. «reader»/ a person who reads and a book for reading/.

Homonyms can also appear in the language accidentally, when two words coincide in their development, e.g. two native words can coincide in their outer aspects: «to bear» from «beran»/to carry/ and «bear» from «bera»/an animal/. A native word and a borrowing can coincide in their outer aspects, e.g. «fair» from Latin «feria» and «fair « from native «fager» /blond/. Two borrowings can coincide e.g. «base» from the French «base» /Latin basis/ and «base» /low/ from the Latin «bas» /Italian «basso»/.

Homonyms can develop through shortening of different words, e.g. «cab» from «cabriolet», «cabbage», «cabin».

Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling and sound forms and he pointed out three groups: perfect homonyms that is words identical in sound and spelling, such as: «school» - «êîñÿê ðûáû» and «øêîëà»; homographs, i.e. words with the same spelling but pronounced differently, e.g. «bow» -/bau/ - «ïîêëîí» and /bou/ - «ëóê»; homophones that is words pronounced identically but spelled differently, e.g. «night» - «íî÷ü» and «knight» - «ðûöàðü».

Another classification was suggested by A.I Smirnitsky. He added to Skeat's classification one more criterion: grammatical meaning. He subdivided the group of perfect homonyms in Skeat's classification into two types of homonyms: perfect (full) which are identical in their spelling, pronunciation and their grammar form, such as «spring» in the meanings: the season of the year, a leap, a source, and homoforms (partial) which coincide in their spelling and pronunciation but have different grammatical meaning, e.g. «reading» - Present Participle, Gerund, Verbal noun, to lobby - lobby.

full lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm:

e.g.: match - n., a game, a contest;

match - n., a short piece of wood for producing fire.

partial homonyms are subdivided into 3 groups:

simple lexico - grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form but it's never the same form:

e.g.: found - v.

found - v., the past form of “to find”

complex lexico - grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech, which have one identical form in their paradigms:

e.g.: rose - n.

rose - v., the past form of “to rise”;

maid - n. - made -v.

partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech, which are identical only in their corresponding form:

e.g.: to lie - v. (lay, laid) - to lie - v. (lied, lied)

to can - v. (canned) - can -v. (could)

A more detailed classification was given by I.V. Arnold. She classified only perfect homonyms and suggested four criteria of their classification: lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms and paradigms.

According to these criteria I.V. Arnold pointed out the following groups: a) 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»; b) 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; c) homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms, e.g. «light» / «lights»/, «light» / «lighter», «lightest»/; d) 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»).

In I. V. Arnold's classification there are also patterned homonyms, which, differing from other homonyms, have a common component in their lexical meanings. These are homonyms formed either by means of conversion, or by levelling of grammar inflexions. These homonyms are different in their grammar meanings, in their paradigms, identical in their basic forms, e.g. «warm» - «to warm». Here we can also have unchangeable patterned homonyms which have identical basic forms, different grammatical meanings, a common component in their lexical meanings, e.g. «before» an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition. There are also homonyms among unchangeable words which are different in their lexical and grammatical meanings, identical in their basic foms, e.g. «for» - «äëÿ» and «for» - «èáî».

Lecture 7. 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».

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.

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 «ñòàðòîâàÿ ïëîùàäêà», in its transferred meaning - «îòïðàâíîé ïóíêò», «to link up» - «còûêîâàòüñÿ, ñòûêîâàòü êîñìè÷åñêèå êîðàáëè» in its tranformed meaning it means -«çíàêîìèòüñÿ»;

b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups by transforming their meaning, e.g. «granny farm» - «ïàíñèîíàò äëÿ ïðåñòàðåëûõ», «Troyan horse» - «êîìïüþòîðíàÿ ïðîãðàììà, ïðåäíàìåðåííî ñîñòàâëåííàÿ äëÿ ïîâðåæäåíèÿ êîìïüþòåðà»;

c) phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration , e.g. «a sad sack» - «íåñ÷àñòíûé ñëó÷àé», «culture vulture» - «÷åëîâåê, èíòåðåñóþùèéñÿ èñêóññòâîì», «fudge and nudge» - «óêëîí÷èâîñòü».

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» - «èñïûòûâàòü âîëíåíèå», «to have green fingers» - «ïðåóñïåâàòü êàê ñàäîâîä-ëþáèòåëü» 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 «îøèáàòüñÿ».

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.

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.

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 shadow of one's own self, at one's own sweet will.

Phraseological units can be classified 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 quotations, 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».

PROVERBS

PUs are a kind of ready - made blocks, which fit into the structure of a sentence performing a certain syntactical function:

e.g.: He liked her for she never put on airs. (the predicate)

He's a black sheep of the family. (the predicative)

Proverbs, if viewed structurally, are sentences and so cannot be used in the way, in which PUs are used.

If one compares proverbs and PUs in the semantic aspect, the difference seems to be more obvious. Proverbs can be best compared to minute fables, for they sum up the collective experience of the community. They moralize (Hell is paved with good intentions), give advice (Don't judge a dog by its bark), give warning (If you sing before breakfast, you will cry before night), admonish (Liars should have good memories), criticize (Everyone calls his own geese swans).

No PU ever does any of these things. They do not stand for whole statements as proverbs do but for a single concept. Their function in speech is purely nominative (denote objects), the function of proverbs in speech is communicative (impart information).

Pr Koonin includes proverbs in his classification and labels them as communicative PU. From his point of view, one of the main criteria of a PU is its stability. If the quotient of phraseological stability in a word - group isn't below the minimum, it means we are dealing with a PU. He also says that the criterion of nomination and communication cannot be applied here either as there are a considerable number of verbal PU, which are word - groups (i.e. nominative units), when the verb is used in the Active Voice, and sentences (i.e. communicative units), when used in the Passive Voice.

e.g.: to cross the Rubicon - the Rubicon is crossed;

to shed crocodile tears - crocodile tears are shed.

Thus, if one accepts nomination as a criterion of referring or not referring to a unit of phraseology, one faces the absurd conclusion that such word - groups, when used with the verb in the Active Voice, are PU and belong to the system of language, and when with the verbs in the Passive Voice, they are non - phraseological word - groups and do not belong to the system of language. Hence, there doesn't seem to exist any rigid or permanent border - line between PU and proverbs as the former rather often originate from the latter.

e.g.: the last straw < the last straw breaks the camel's back;

birds of a feather < birds of a feather flock together;

to catch a straw < a drowning man catches the straw.

Lecture 8. LEXICOGRAPHY

The theory and practice of compiling dictionaries is called lexicography. The history of compiling dictionaries for English comes as far back as the Old English period, where we can find glosses of religious books, interlinear translations from Latin into English. Regular bilingual dictionaries began to appear in the 15-th century (Anglo-Latin, Anglo-French, Anglo-German).

The first unilingual dictionary explaining difficult words appeared in 1604, the author was Robert Cawdry, a schoolmaster. He compiled his dictionary for schoolchildren. In 1721 an English scientist and writer Nathan Bailey published the first etymological dictionary which explained the origin of English words. It was the first scientific dictionary, it was compiled for philologists.

In 1775 an English scientist compiled a famous explanatory dictionary. Its author was Samuel Johnson. Every word in his dictionary was illustrated by examples from English literature, the meanings of words were clear from the contexts in which they were used. The dictionary was a great success and it influenced the development of lexicography in all countries. The dictionary influenced normalization of the English vocabulary. But at the same time it helped to preserve the English spelling in its conservative 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 dictionary and the work started. More than a thousand people took part in collecting examples, and 26 years later in 1884 the first volume was published. It contained words beginning with «A» and «B». The last volume was published in 1928 that is 70 years after the decision to compile it was adopted. The dictionary was called NED and contained 12 volumes.

In 1933 the dictionary was republished under the title «The Oxford English Dictionary», because the work on the dictionary was conducted in Oxford. This dictionary contained 13 volumes. As the dictionary was very large and terribly expensive scientists continued their work and compiled shorter editions of the dictionary: «A Shorter Oxford Dictionary» consisting of two volumes. It had the same number of entries, but far less examples from literature. They also compiled «A Concise Oxford Dictionary» consisting of one volume and including only modern words and no examples from literature.

The American lexicography began to develop much later, at the end of the 18-th century. The most famous American English dictionary was compiled by Noah Webster. He was an active statesman and public man and he published his first dictionary in 1806. He went on with his work on the dictionary and in 1828 he published a two-volume dictionary. He tried to simplify the English spelling and transcription. He introduced the alphabetical system of transcription where he used letters and combinations of letters instead of transcription signs. He denoted vowels in closed syllables by the corresponding vowels, e.g. [a], [e], [i], [o], [u]. He denoted vowels in 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/ as the same letters with two dots above them, e.g. [a], [o] and by the letter «e» the combinations «er», «ir», «ur» because they are pronounced identically. The same tendency is preserved for other sounds: [u:] is denoted by [oo], [y] is used for the sound [j].

Classification of dictionaries

All dictionaries are divided into linguistic and encyclopedic dictionaries. Encyclopedic dictionaries describe different objects, phenomena, people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionaries describe vocabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, their usage. Words are usually given in the alphabetical order.

Linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and specialized. To general dictionries two most widely used dictionaries belong: explanatory and translation dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include dictionaries 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 the explanation 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 the entry consists of the spelling, transcription, grammatical forms, meanings, examples, phraseology. Pronunciation is given either by means of the International Transcription System or in British Phonetic Notation which is different in each large dictionary.

Translation dictionaries give words and their equivalents in the other language. There are English-Russian dictionaries by I.R. Galperin, by Y.Apresyan and others.

Among general dictionaries we can also mention Learner'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 foreign learners and language teachers. It gives data about grammatical and lexical valency of words. Specialized dictionaries of synonyms are also widely used, one of them is «A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Synonymous Expressions» by R.Soule. Another famous one is «Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms». These are unilingual dictionaries. The best known bilingual dictionary of synonyms is «English Synonyms» compiled by Y. Apresyan.

In 1981 «The Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English» was compiled, where words are given in 14 semantic groups of everyday nature. Each word is defined in detail, its usage is explained and illustrated, synonyms, antonyms are presented also. It describes 15000 items, and can be referred to dictionaries of synonyms and to explanatory dictionaries.

Phraseological dictionaries describe idioms and colloquial phrases, proverbs. Some of them have examples from literature. Some lexicographers include not only word-groups but also anomalies among words. In «The Oxford Dicionary of English Proverbs» each proverb is illustrated by a lot of examples, there are stylistic references as well. The dictionary by Vizetelli gives definitions and illustrations, but different meanings of polisemantic units are not given. The most famous bilingual dictionary of phraseology was compiled by A.V. Koonin. It is one of the best phraseological dictionaries.

Etymological dictionaries trace present-day words to the oldest forms of these words and forms of these words in other languages. One of the best etymological 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» by Burchfield, «The Longman Register of New Words»/1990/, «Bloomsury Dictionary of New Words» /1996/.

Lecture 9. LOCAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH ON THE BRITISH ISLES

On the British Isles there are some local varieties of English which developed from Old English local dialects. There are six groups of them: Lowland /Scottish/, Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, Southern. These varieties are used in oral speech by the local population. Only the Scottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/.

One of the best known dialects of British English is the dialect of London - Cockney. Some peculiarities of this dialect can be seen in the first act of «Pigmalion» by B. Shaw, such as:

interchange of [v] and [w]: e.g.: wery vell;

interchange of [f] and [?], [v] and [?]: e. g.: fing /thing/, fa:ve / father/;

interchange of [h] and [-], e.g. 'eart = heart, hart = art;

substituting the diphthong [ai] by [ei]: e.g. «day» is pronounced [dai];

substituting [au] by [a:]: e.g. «house» is pronounced [ha:s],«now« [na:];

substituting [ou] by [o:]: e.g. «don't» is pronounced [do:nt]

Another feature of Cockney is rhyming slang: «hat» is «tit for tat», «wife» is «trouble and strife», «head» is «loaf of bread» etc. There are also such words as «tanner» /sixpence/, «peckish»/hungry/.

Peter Wain in the «Education Guardian» writes about accents spoken by University teachers: «It is a variety of Southern English RP which is different from Daniel Jones's description. The English, public school leavers speak, is called «marked RP», it has some characteristic features: the vowels are more central than in English taught abroad, e.g. «bleck het» for «black hat», some diphthongs are also different, e.g. «house» is pronounced [hais]. There is less aspiration in [p], [b], [t], [d].

The American English is practically uniform all over the country, because of the constant transfer of people from one part of the country to the other. 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» in the words: «bird», «girl» «ear» in the word «learn» is pronoinced as [oi] e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/. In the words «duty», «tune» /j/ is not pronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

British and American English are two main variants of English. Besides them there are : Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people living in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned, some scientists /H.N. Menken, for example/ tried to prove that there is a separate 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 variants are not systematic.

American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th century when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. The language which they brought from England was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First.

In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names for places, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the American continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local population - Indians, such as: »chipmuck»/an American squirrel/, «igloo» /Escimo dome-shaped hut/, «skunk» /a black and white striped animal with a bushy tail/, «squaw» /an Indian woman/, «wigwam» /an American Indian tent made of skins and bark/ etc.

Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, and English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words from their 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» /a beetle-like insect/, «lasso» /a noosed rope for catching cattle/ were borrowed.

Present-day New York stems from the Dutch colony New Amsterdam, and Dutch also influenced English. Such words as: «boss», «dope», «sleigh» were borrowed .

The second period of American English history begins in the 19-th century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When large groups of immigrants from the same country came to America some of their words were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style of cooking which became widely spread and such words as: «pizza», «spaghetti» came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers the following words were borrowed into English: «delicatessen», «lager», «hamburger», «noodle», «schnitzel» and many others.

During the second period of American English history there appeared quite a number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due to the new poitical system, liberation of America from the British colonialism, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due to these events: the United States of America, assembly, caucus, congress, Senate, congressman, President, senator, precinct, Vice-President and many others. Besides these political terms many other words were coined in American 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 the usage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BE requres «on» /I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there is no preposition /I start my vacation Friday/. In BE we use «by day», «by night»/«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 to five», 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 with somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE - «different from someting».

There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the same notions, e.g. BE - «trousers», AE -«pants»; in BE «pants» are «òðóñû» which in AE is «shorts». While in BE «shorts» are outwear. This can lead to misunderstanding. 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 torch flashlight

parcel package elastic rubber band

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 biscuit crackers

sweet dessert chips french fries

minced meat ground beef

Some words denoting personal items:

BE AE BE AE

fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- ups cuffs

tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat

ladder run/in a stocking/ braces suspenders

poloneck turtleneck waistcoat vest

Some words denoting people:

BE AE BE AE

barrister lawyer staff /university/ faculty

post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy

caretaker janitor constable patrolman

shopassistant shopperson bobby cop

If we speak about cars there are also some differences:

BE AE BE AE

boot trunk bumpers fenders

a car an auto to hire a car to rent a car

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 not controlled by the local education authorities. AE «public school» is a free local authority school. BE «elementary school» is AE «grade school» BE «secondary school» is AE «high school». In BE « a pupil leaves a secondary school», in AE «a student graduates from a high school» In BE you can graduate from a university or college of education, graduating entails getting a degree.

A British university student takes three years known as the first, the second and the third years. An American student takes four years, known as freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying a British student takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors in a subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in one main subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An American student earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses in studies, 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 introduced by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the English 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 the combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound [o] corresponds to the AE [^], e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as [a:], in AE it is pronounced [?] 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]

But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a proof that British and American are different languages.

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