2020-10-12
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There are the following semantic groups of French borrowings:
a) words relating to government: administer, empire, state, government;
b) words relating to military affairs: army, war, banner, soldier, battle;
c) words relating to jury: advocate, petition, inquest, sentence, barrister;
d) words relating to fashion: luxury, coat, collar, lace, pleat, embroidery;
e) words relating to jewelry: topaz, emerald, ruby, pearl;
f) words relating to food and cooking: lunch, dinner, appetite, to roast, to stew.
Words were borrowed from French into English after 1650, mainly through French literature, but they were not as numerous and many of them are not completely assimilated. There are the following semantic groups of these borrowings:
a) words relating to literature and music: belle-lettres, conservatorie, brochure, nuance, piruette, vaudeville;
b) words relating to military affairs: corps, echelon, fuselage, manouvre;
c) words relating to buildings and furniture: entresol, chateau, bureau;
d) words relating to food and cooking: ragout, cuisine
23. Word meaning. Approaches to defining it.
The lexical meaning of a word is the realization of a notion by means of a definite language system. A word is a language unit, while a notion is a unit of thinking. A notion cannot exist without a word expressing it in the language, but there are words which do not express any notion but have a lexical meaning.
The term «notion» was introduced into lexicology from logics. A notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their relations. Notions, as a rule, are international, especially with the nations of the same cultural level. While meanings can be nationally limited. Grouping of meanings in the semantic structure of a word is determined by the whole system of every language.
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The number of meanings does not correspond to the number of words, neither does the number of notions. Their distribution in relation to words is peculiar in every language. Development of lexical meanings in any language is influenced by the whole network of ties and relations between words and other aspects of the language.
Approaches to defining Lex. Mng:
Referential approach:
Mng – is the info conveyed from the speaker to the listener. Mng remains stable if we have adequate translation from one L. to another.
There’s no direct connection between the sign & the mng. of the W. Real objects don’t belong to linguistic studies. Content is a unit of lexicology, mng. belongs to the language.The concepts are more or less the same for the humanity for a certain period of time. But they also change in time. The mngs. Are different in languages, but the concepts are more or less the same.
Criticism: it’s not easy to correctly guess the direct referent; some Ws have no referent at all; some objects have several different names. Functional approach:
Mng = W’s use
Wittgenstein: the number of usages = the number of mngs
EG: deep: see wound, sleep, purple
Operational approach:
Tries to define mng through its role in communication. Info conveyed from the speaker to the listener =>deals with sentenses => mng => info
This approach fails to draw a line between direst sense & implication of W.
24. Types, varieties and aspects of meaning.
Types;
1. primary (firs appeared in a L.) / secondary mng (historically derived from other primary mngs) eg: train шлейф, толпа, поезд
2. bound / free mngs
Bound mng: a W used in this mng in a limited number of contexts, it’s limited by the context
Lexically bound mng.: don’t exist in the real life (green flower)
Traditionally bound mng: clshes (to wage a compaign)
Phraseologically bound mngs: PHUs (white elephant)
Free mng. syncronical/diachronical
3. Central & minor mng in which the word is (not) used frequently
Varieties of lex. Mng:
1. Grammatical mng.
A mng. repeated by in similar gr. forms of Ws, should be studied in context (mng of plurality: -s)
2. Derivational mng.
A mng. which establishes semantic correlation between a simple W. and a derived W.
3. Lexical mng. Is the correlation bw sign and phenomenon
A mng. which establishes relations of the sound form & objects (phenomena of reality)
Aspects of lex. mng.:
All the mngs are connected but should be studied through history.
Denotational mng. is the core of the lex. mng. We look for it in the dictionnary. Some nouns are abstract, have no real denotation. => we talk about conceptional mngs (the object doesn’t exist: friendship)
Connotational mng: this aspect gives additional info about the attitude of the given lex. community to what is expressed in the W, it’s not individual. It’s restricted in a dictionary.
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Emotive charge: (ex. Daddy/dad/father) It’s the stylistic reference. Some Ws are neutral, others are stylistically marked (dac)
Pragmatic aspest: often describes the situation in which the W is used.
25.The fundamental features of word meaning.
- relative stability
The meanings don’t change during long periods of time. The cincepts remain more or less the same for a long time, so their meanings remain more or less the same
- relative flexibility
There are some changes in people’s way of life, new objects appear, other objects are not used any more. So people use the existing names for new concepts – new meanings appear.
1. Meaning correlates with sign, referent, concept.
Concepts are more or less similar across the languages. But languages construe situations differently:
businesswoman
a) work + household activity
b) muscular behavior
ходить по магазинам
a) responsibility, job
шоппинг
a) leisure, pleasant activity
Concepts may be packed in different ws:
Ex. dog – an animal kept as a pet; not attractive woman; smb. who gives information to police; sth that is of bad quality.
Concepts may be different through the country.
Sometimes – no concepts (suchi)
There can be concepts but they can have no name.
Types of concepts:
- gestal (image)
- image schema – generalized idea of sth.
over – general scheme
Frame – typical situation in which a concept has some features. It has slots that are filled with information.
Scenario – a frame in dynamic examination.
2. Meaning appears through stages.
Nomination is only possible for humans.
Ways of naming:
1. inventing a new word
chav – chaep and vulgar
2. to borrow (names of food)
3. derivation
4. semantic derivation – to give a word another meaning (mouse, files, zip up)
3. Meaning is revealed through relations with other ws.
Semantic paradigm
The concept may be one, but there can be a lot of ws.
Ex. To move on the surface of the water:
swim
drift
float They are used in different situations. We should know distribution.
sail
navigate
4. Distribution/ context – syntagmatical relations
Distribution – total of possible surroundings of a word.
There – functional approach (Ludwig Wittgenstein): meaning is use, the importance of context is overemphasized.
But:
- in the dictionaries ws are defined even before we use them
- in polysemantic ws all the meanings are somehow connected
5. Meaning is social and individual
L. belongs to people and they change the meaning
ugly = aesthetically challenged
X-tree = multicultural tree
Meaning is individual: you mean sth what you mean. A lot of things are subjective.
Lexical meaning – stable meaning
6. Meaning is stretchable
relative stability
The mngs don’t change during long periods of time. The concepts remain more or less the same for a long time, so their mngs remain more or less the same.
relative flexibility
In time some there are some changes in people’s way of life, new objects appear, other objects (& concepts) are used no more. So people use the existing names for new concepts => new mngs appear. Usually the old and the new mng have smth in common, some feature unites them.
26.Polysemy. Its sources. Polysemy and homonymy. Sources of homonyms.
Classification of homonyms.
The word «polysemy» means «plurality of meanings» it exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic.
Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions which they express.
There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, such as most terms.
There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and concatenation. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primmary meaning. (in the word «face»^ the primary meaning denotes «the front part of the human head» => the front part of a watch, the front part of a building, the front part of a playing card were formed. => expression of the face, outward appearance are formed.
In cases of concatination secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. (in the word «crust» - «hard outer part of bread» => «hard part of anything /a pie, a cake/» => “harder layer over soft snow” => «a sullen gloomy person» => «impudence. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. It is called the split of polysemy.
In most cases in the semantic development of a word both ways of semantic development are combined.
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.». They can be also formed by means of conversion, with the help of the same suffix from the same stem. 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. Homonyms can develop through shortening of different words.
Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling and sound forms and he pointed out three groups:
1. perfect homonyms that is words identical in sound and spelling
2. homographs, that is words with the same spelling but pronounced differently
3. homophones that is words pronounced identically but spelled differently
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.
a) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms and different in their lexical meanings
b) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms, different in their lexical meanings and paradigms
c) homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms
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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 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»,
27. The main types of semantic relations between mngs.
Word is connected with other words in terms of paradigm = paradigmatic relations.
A paradigm is a system of relations between words in a language. It may be in grammar (to go-going-gone). Semantic paradigm:
a) дерево – tree; деревянный стол – a table made of wood.
b) a human eye can see 7 million colures, but we can’t name them all, even painters, can’t do it. We can only feel the difference. But still there are different names for colours in different languages.
c) рука – arm; hand
d) sibling = братья и сестры; grandparents = бабушка и дедушка
е) swimming = horizontal movement on the surface of the water
floating
sail
drifting
navigating
a man, a dog = swim
a ship = pour
a boat = sail
smth death/passive = drift
smth not sinkable (wood) = float
to lay a course (быть штурманом) = to navigate
28.The principle semantic processes.
It is necessary to discriminate between
1) the causes of semantic change (WHY the W changed its M)
2) the results (WHAT was changed+!‼denotational components)&
the nature of the process of the change of M (HOW various changes of M were brought about)
1.Causes:
Linguistics causes:
Linguistic restrictions:
1. Inner structure of the Eng W-stock
All Ws in a L form Wgroups & sentences if Wcombinations don’t violate the syntax (+grammar) of the L
ý A child smiles – a smiles child
ý lift à x clever at mathematics
raise à a question mathematics at clever
The restrictions of Lex V may manifest itselves in the Lex-l M-ings of the polysemantic members of Wgroups
ý heavy food, meals, supper but heavy cheese, sausage
– dif to digest
+ Ws make Wgroups in speech if their semantical structures are compatible (сочетаемы)
extralinguistic changes in the life of the speech community, in economic & social structure
Soundform is retained, meaning is changed.
ý Car ultimately goes back to Latin carrus which meant “a four-wheeled wagon”
Now denotes “a motor-car”, “a railway carriage(USA)”, “”that portion of an airship, or baloon which is intended to carry personnel, cargo or equipment
linguistic factors acting within the L system
1. ellipsis (one word is omited)
ý Starve Old Eng “to die”ànow “to die of hunger”
usually used (ME) sterven of hunger
2. discrimination of synonyms (semantic deelopment)
ý land Old Eng both “solid part of earth’s surface” now mainly the 1st M
‘the territory of a nation’àcountry
the M is constantly changing.
The change of M has 2. results:
(Semantic changes in the denotational component may bring about)
Changes in the denotational M
the extention ( application of the word to a wider variety of referents )
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ý arrive in old Eng was ‘to come by sea’
the restriction of M = narrowing
ý hound was ‘a dog of any breed’ à ‘a dog used in the chase’
deer old Eng ‘a beast’ à олень
specialisation – the W with the new M comes to be used in the specialized
vocabulary of some limited group within the speech commumity
ý to glide ‘to move gently & smoothly’(restr+spec) à ‘to fly with no engine’(a glider)
desemantisation – some features of hte M are lost
ýawful –dreadful à awfully need smth – ‘awfully’ is only an intensifier
generalization – the W with the specialized M passes from the specialized vocabulary into common use
ý camp was a military term ‘the place where troops are lodged in tents’à (ext+gen) ‘temporary quarters’ (of travellers..)
the change in the connotational component may result in
ü deterioration =degradation – T pejorative development of M
the acquisition by the W of some derogatory emotive charge ['pi:dʒ(∂)r∂tiv]
ý boor was ‘a villager, a peasant’ à ‘a clumsy, ill-bred fellow’
idiot ‘uneducated person’ à now a curse W
ü amelioration = elevation – T ameliorative [∂'mi:lj∂r∂tiv] development of M – T attitude to T referent is changed – T improvement of T connotational component of M
ý minister ‘a servant, an attendant’ à ‘a civil servant of higher rank’
liberal – in the past ‘with loose morale’ à now ‘open mind’
