Lexicology

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics. Its aims and tasks.

Links with other branches of linguistics.

Lexicology deals with meaning and use of words. Lexicography: compilation of dictionaries.
Areas of study in Lexicology:

▣ study of naming reality -onomasiology;

▣ study of proper names - onomastics;

▣ study of meaning - semantics or semasiology;

▣ history of words - etymology;

▣ word-formation - morphology;

▣ the study of multi-word expressions - phraseology, idiomatics.

Lexicology is connected with general linguistics, grammar, the history of language, phonetics,
stylistics etc
Grammar reflects the specific lexical meaning and the capacity of words to be combined in speech.
The lexical meaning of the word is frequently signaled by the grammatical context.
Connection with phonetics
The word cannot exist without its sound form, which is the object of study in phonology.

2. The problem of the definition of the word as a linguistic

phenomenon.
Words are meaningful units
WORD is a unit resulting from the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of
sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment.
A word is a semantic, grammatical and phonological unit.
The subject-matter of lexicology is the word, its meaning, morphemic structure, and history.
The tower of Babel/ Some meanings of words are confusing. They could be understandable only
through the concept and the general idea of the whole sentence.
Lexemes are headwords in dictionaries. Lexeme is an abstract word.

Lexical items are words stored in the speaker’s brain, i.e. the words we know.

A lexicon is the internalized store of words in the speaker’s brain.

3. External and internal structure of a word. The problem of
formal unity and semantic unity of the word.
 External structure (morphological)
post-impressionists:
prefixes post-, im-
root press
noun-forming suffixes -ion, -ist
grammatical suffix of plurality –s
 Internal structure (semantic)
The word’s meaning.
Internal structure is the word’s semantic structure
Semantics is the study of meanings.
This is the word’s main aspect, hence words serve the purposes of human communication due to
their meanings.
In 1883 the French philologist Michel Breal published an article where he argued that there ought
to be a science of meaning, which he called “la semantique” (Greek “sign”).
\\\\\ The word possesses both external (formal) unity and semantic unity.
Formal unity - inaccurately interpreted as indivisibility.
 internal structure of the word, or meaning, or the word’s semantic structure.
 semantics - the area of lexicology specialising in the semantic studies of the word.
Definition: Meaning is a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this
way endowing the word with the ability of denoting objects, qualities, actions and abstract
notions.
Semantic triangle:
There is no immediate relation between the word and the referent: it is established only
through the concept.
Words expressing an identical concept may have different semantic structures in different
languages.
e.g. a building of human habitation – «house» in English; «Дім» - both a building and a fixed
residence of family
 a blackbird a black bird

Formal  Single grammatical  Each constituent can acquire

unity framing: blackbirds grammatical forms of its own: the
 The first constituent blackest birds I've ever seen.
black cannot be  Other words can be inserted
grammatically changed between the components: a black
 Other words cannot be night bird.
inserted between the
components

Semantic  The word blackbird  Each of the meaningful words

unity conveys only one conveys a separate concept: bird
concept: the type of — a kind of living creature; black
bird. — a colour.

4. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic levels of the study of the

word’s semantic structure.
There are few approaches for studying the meaning: syntagmatic and paradigmatic levels.
On the syntagmatic level, the meaning of the word is analysed in its relationships with neighbouring
words in connected speech (on the basis of its typical contexts)

e.g. the meaning of get can be understood in the following contexts:

He got (become) tired. He got (receive) a letter. He got (arrive) to London.

  On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationships with other words in the
vocabulary system.

 e.g.a word is studied in comparison with other words of similar meaning (e.g. work, n. – labour,
n.; to refuse,v. – to reject, v. – to decline, v.)

 of opposite meaning (e.g. busy, adj. – idle, adj.; to accept, v. – to reject, v.)

of different stylistic characteristics (e.g. man, n. – chap, n. – bloke, n. – guy, n.)

5. Semantic structure of the word. Referential and

functional approaches to meaning. Types of meaning.
The branch of Linguistics which studies the meaning of different linguistic units is called Semantics. The part
of Lexicology which studies the meaning and the development of meaning of words is called Semasiology.

semantic structure is treated as a system of meanings, where there is nearly always one, primary meaning
holding a kind of dominance, conveying the concept in the most general way, whereas the others are
associated with special circumstances, aspects and instances of the same phenomenon. This primary
meaning, generally referred to as the main meaning, is the centre of the semantic structure of the word
holding it together. It is usually through the main meaning that the secondary, or derived meanings are
associated with one another.

Referential approach: meaning is connected with the referent (object of reality denoted by the word).

Meaning is based on the interdependence between words and objects. Meaning is an object or
phenomenon in the outside world that is referred to by a word.

Functional approach to meaning: Words are studied in context; a word is defined by its functioning
within a phrase or a sentence. So meaning is the function of a word in speech.

The meaning of a word though closely connected with the underlying concept is not identical with it.

Concept is a category of human cognition. Concept is the thought that singles out the most typical,
essential features of the object.

Types of meaning

Grammatical meaning -is the meaning of the whole class or a subclass.

This is the component of meaning expressed by inflectional endings, individual forms or some other
grammatical devices, e.g. word order.

“boys, houses, pens” - grammatical meaning of plurality.

The grammatical meaning of tense may be observed in verbs such as bought, traded, slept, delivered,
and understood

Lexical meaning

Lexical meaning reflects the concept and the basic properties of the thing (phenomenon, quality, state,
etc.) the word denotes. Lexical meaning is the individual meaning of the word (e.g. table)

go, goes, going, gone - the component denoting the process of movement.
6. The problem of polysemy.
Most words convey several concepts and thus possess the corresponding number of meanings.

A word having several meanings is called polysemantic.

Polysemy - ability of words to have more than one meaning.

Polysemy - not an anomaly.

Most English words are polysemantic.

Polysemy becomes important for enriching the vocabulary.

Factors influencing the frequency of Polysemy

Extralinguistic factors: The progress of civilization makes it necessary not only to form new words but to
add fresh meanings to old ones.

Linguistic factors: languages where derivation and composition are sparingly used (analytic languages) will
tend to fill gaps in vocabulary by adding new meanings to existing terms (synthetic languages use it less
frequently).

Causing misunderstanding - one of the “drawbacks” of polysemantic words.

Context is a powerful preventative against any misunderstanding of meanings.

7. Semantic structure of a polysemantic word.

Componential analysis of a word.
The semantic structure of the word must be analyzed on the definitional level, and here the semantic
structure is treated as a system of meanings, where there is nearly always one, primary meaning holding a
kind of dominance, conveying the concept in the most general way, whereas the others are associated with
special circumstances, aspects and instances of the same phenomenon. This primary meaning, generally
referred to as the main meaning, is the centre of the semantic structure of the word holding it together. It
is usually through the main meaning that the secondary, or derived meanings are associated with one
another.

Semantic structure of a polysemantic (polysemic) word

2 levels of analysis

The semantic structure of a word should be investigated at 2 levels:

1) of different meanings

2) of semantic components within each separate meaning

On the 1st level, the semantic structure of a word is treated as a system of meanings
Meaning I holds dominance over the other meanings conveying the concept in the most general way;

It is the centre of the semantic structure;

through meaning I meaning II – V (secondary meanings) can be associated with one another;

BAR

I. Any kind of barrier to prevent people from passing

II. The profession of a lawyer; e.g. go to the Bar

III. (In a hotel) a counter or room where drinks are served; e.g. They went to the bar for a drink
meanings II and III have no logical links with one another whereas each is easily associated with meaning I

Not all polysemantic words have a central meaning.

2nd level of analysis of the semantic structure of the word – semantic components

Componential analysis

Componential analysis is a structural analysis of semantic components of each meaning of the word.

Dull, adj.

1.Uninteresting, monotonous, boring; e.g. a dull book, a dull film.

2.Slow in understanding, stupid; e.g. a dull student.

3.Not clear or bright; e.g. dull weather, a dull day, a dull colour.

4.Not loud or distinct; e.g. a dull sound.

5.Not sharp; e.g. a dull knife.

6.Not active; e.g. Trade is dull.

7.Seeing badly; e.g. dull eyes (arch).

8.Hearing badly; e.g. dull ears (arch).

8. Types of semantic components.

Denotation- dictionary definition.

Connotation- the deeper meaning, what we associate with the word.

The leading semantic component in the semantic structure of the word - denotative component (also, the
referential component).

Denotative component

 lonely ---------------------------- alone, without company

 notorious -------------------------------- widely known

 celebrated ------------------------------- widely known

 to glare ----------------------------------- to look

 to glance --------------------------------- to look

 to shiver ---------------------------------- to tremble

 to shudder ------------------------------- to tremble

Connotative component

connotations or connotative components - additional semantic components.

Denotative components Connotative components

 lonely ---------- alone, without company + melancholy, sad

  (Emotive connotation)

 notorious --------- widely known + for criminal acts or bad traits of character

 (Evaluative connotation, negative)

 celebrated ------------ widely known + for special achievements in science, art, etc.

 (Evaluative connotation, positive)

 to glare ---------------- to look + 1.steadily, lastingly; 2. in anger, rage

 (1.Connotation of duration; emotive)

 to glance --------------to look + briefly, passingly

 (Connotation of duration)

9. Prototypes.
What is a prototype?

A prototype is the most ‘characteristic instance’ of a category.

e. g. take the category “bird”. The most prototupical members are sparrows, parrots, owls and so on. And
less prototypical are penguins, flamingos , ostriches and so on.

The prototypical member- is the best member of a category. The one that first comes to mind when we
think of the category.

Prototypicality

 is the property characterizing the most prominent member of a category.

Categories have:

 prototypical members (e. g. kitchen chair),

 less prototypical or marginal members (e. g. armchair, wheelchair) and

 peripheral members (e. g. highchair).

The most central, prototypical sense, of a word is the most salient:

The one that comes to mind first.

The most frequent.

The most basic in its capacity to clarify the other senses.

Also there are semantic fields - A semantic field contains a group of words which are related in their
meaning.

 The semantic field of kinship terms: father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, etc.

 The semantic field of adjectives describing human emotional states: angry, sad, happy,
depressed, afraid, etc.

 The semantic field of drinking vessels: cup, mug, tumbler, wine glass, beer glass, etc.
10. Causes of development of new meanings. The process
of development and change of meaning.
Groups of causes:

Historical or extra-linguistic

Linguistic

a.Historical or extra-linguistic causes

Newly created objects, new concepts and phenomena must be named.

Ways for providing new names for created concepts:

1.making new words (wordbuilding)

2.borrowing foreign words

3. applying some old word to a new object or notion

b. Linguistic factors

The development of new meanings - caused through the influence of other words, mostly of synonyms.

Development of meaning - a new meaning and the one on the basis of which it is formed coexist in the
semantic structure of the word.

Change of meaning - the old meaning is completely replaced by the new one.

When the first textile factories appeared in England, the old word mill was applied to these early industrial
enterprises.

Then “mill” added a new meaning - “a building in which corn is ground into flour”.

The new meaning was “textile factory”

How do the new meanings develop ???

Inner mechanism of this process:

Mill = textile factory – both were powered by water

All cases of development or change of meaning are based on association!!!

Transference - the process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning).

11. Transference based on resemblance (similarity).

Linguistic metaphor.
1.A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects (phenomena, qualities, etc.) due to their
outward similarity.

2. Association may be built also between a concrete object and an abstract concept:

branch - subdivision of a tree or bush/a special field of science or art

star -“heavenly body” - “famous actor”

3. frequently found in slang. A red-headed boy is nicknamed carrot or ginger
 12. Transference based on contiguity. Linguistic
metonymy.
Linguistic metonymy - the association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects
and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty.

The two objects may be associated because:

1.they often appear in common situations

2.cause and effect

3.common function

4.material and an object made of it

China - “dishes made of porcelain”

A Matisse = a painting by Matisse

13. Broadening (or generalization) of meaning. Narrowing

(or specialization) of meaning.
Broadening is a type of semantic change by which the meaning of a word becomes broader or more
inclusive than its earlier meaning.

The opposite process is called semantic narrowing, with a word taking on a more restricted meaning than it
had before.

 Arrive (French borrowing) began its life in English as “to come to shore, to land”. In Modern English
- “to come” (e.g. to arrive in London, at a hotel, etc.).

 Girl – in Middle English “a small child of either sex” - “a small child of the female sex”, synonymous
to the noun woman

 Deer: any beast > a certain kind of animal

 Meat: any food > a certain food product

14. “Degeneration” (“degradation”) and “elevation” of

meaning.
 Elevation is the semantic change in the word which rises it from humble beginning to a
position of greater importance, e.g. minister in earlier times meant merely “a servant”.
 Degradation is the semantic change, by which a word comes to be used in a derogatory
sense, e.g. silly originally meant “happy”.
These terms are open to question because they imply that meanings can become “better” or “worse”
I. «Degeneration» of meaning
Knave: boy > swindler, scoundrel
Villain: farm-servant > base, vile person
Gossip: god parent > the one who talks scandals, etc.
II.”Elevation” of meaning.
Fond: foolish > loving, affectionate
Nice: foolish > fine, good.
15. Synonyms. Criteria of synonymy.
Synonym-a word or phrase that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or phrase in the
same language.

Synonyms are one of the language’s most important expressive means.

Principal function - represent the same phenomenon in different aspects, shades and variations.

The duality of synonyms is their most confusing feature: they are somewhat the same, and yet they are
most obviously different.

Synonyms reveal different aspects, shades and variations of the same phenomenon.

Traditional linguistics solved the problem with the 1. conceptual criterion and defined synonyms as words
of the same category of parts of speech conveying the same concept but different either in shades of
meaning or in stylistic characteristics.

2. Semantic criterion is used.

Synonyms are defined as words with the same denotation, but differing in connotations.

A group of synonyms is studied with help of their dictionary definitions (definitional analysis).

to stare ------- to look + steadily, lastingly + in surprise, curiosity, etc

to glare -------- to look + steadily, lastingly + in anger,rage, fury

to gaze ---------to look + steadily, lastingly + in tenderness, admiration, wonder

2. Synonyms are defined as words which are interchangeable at least in some contexts without any
considerable alteration in denotational meaning.

He glared at her (i.e. he looked at her in anger, rage, fury)

He gazed at her (i.e. he looked at her steadily and attentively; probably with admiration or interest).

He glanced at her (i.e. He looked at her briefly and turned away)

16. Classification of synonyms.

The only existing classification system for synonyms - by V.V. Vinogradov

Types of synonyms:

1. ideographic (words conveying the same concept by differing in shades of meaning),

2. stylistic (differing in stylistic characteristics)

3. absolute (coinciding in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics.

But this classification is highly criticized so there are also modern approach to the classification of
synonyms - based on the definition describing synonyms as words differing in connotations.

0. connotation of degree or intensity

surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound;

to satisfy – to please – to content – to gratify – to delight – to exalt;

II. connotation of duration

to flash (brief) – to blaze (lasting);

to shudder (brief) – to shiver (lasting);

to say (brief) – to speak, to talk (lasting).

III. emotive connotations – the nature of emotion is encoded in the meaning

alone – single – lonely – solitary

to tremble – to shiver – to shudder – to shake

IV. evaluative connotation conveys the speaker’s attitude towards the referent, labelling it as good or bad.

e.g. well-known – famous –notorious – celebrated

to produce – to create – to manufacture – to fabricate

V . causative connotation (cause is encoded)

one’s eyes sparkle with positive emotions and glitter with negative emotions

VI. connotation of manner

to stroll – to stride – to trot – to pace – to swagger – to stagger – to stumble

VII. connotation of attending circumstances

One peeps at smb.\smth. through a whole, crack or openening, a half-closed door, a curtain

VIII. connotation of attendant features :

e.g. pretty, handsome, beautiful

IX. Stylistic connotations

e.g. (Meal) Snack, bite (coll.), snap (dial.), repast, refreshment, feast (formal)

17. The dominant synonym.

All synonymic groups have a central word – dominant synonym.

Its semantic structure is simple: includes only the denotative component (no connotations!).

It expresses the notion in the most general way, without contributing any additional information as to the
manner, intensity, duration or any attending feature of the referent.

Its meaning is broad and generalized, so it may be substituted for any of its synonyms.

To surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound

To shout – to yell – to bellow – to roar

To shine – to flash – to blaze – to gleam – to glisten – to sparkle – to glitter – to

shimmer- to glimmer

18. Antonyms. Definition. General considerations.

Antonyms - words of the same category of parts of speech which have contrasting meanings

hot – cold, light – dark, happiness –sorrow, to accept – to reject, up – down

 a polysemantic word may have an antonym (or several antonyms) for each of its meanings:

dull : interesting, amusing, entertaining (deficient in interest)

clever, bright, capable (deficient in intellect)

Antonymy: words that are opposites in meaning\ hot& cold

Types:

Gradable-not absolute, question of degree

Hot&cold-small&big

Non-gradable:

Dead&alive-asleep&awake

Most antonyms are adjectives: high – low, wide – narrow, strong – weak, old – young, friendly – hostile.

Verbs take the second place: to lose – to find, to live – to die, to open – to close, to weep – to laugh.

Nouns are not rich in antonyms: friend – enemy, joy – grief, good – evil, heaven – earth, love – hatred.

19. Euphemisms.
Euphemism is a polite word or phrase used in place of one that may be too direct, unpleasant, or

embarrassing. Round-about way of description.

Pass away-die

Vertically challenged-short

Causes of appearance:

1. Social conventions/taboos- to die: to pass away, to be taken, to breathe one’s last; A mad person:
insane, mentally unstable, unbalanced,
2. 2. Psychological factors
Pregnant: in an interesting condition,

Drunk-intoxicated (form.), under the influence (form.)

20. Hyponyms. Meronyms.\

Hyponymy is a type of semantic paradigmatic relationship existing between two or more lexemes where a
more specific lexical item is semantically included in a more general lexical item.

We say that X is a kind of Y, e.g. a cat is a kind of animal, a rose is a kind of flower.

Cat is a hyponym of animal, and animal is a hyperonym (superordinate) of cat.

Words that are subsumed under the same hyperonym are called co-hyponyms. For instance, cat is a co-
hyponym of dog, bear, chicken, etc.

Meronymy is is a hierarchical relationship found in pairs of words where one member of the pair forms a
part of the second member of the pair.

e.g. a room is a part of the house, a finger is a part of the hand.

A set of lexemes subsumed under a holonym are refered to as co-meronyms, e.g. a roof is a co-meronym of
the words room, window, wall which are all parts of the house.
21. Homonymy. General considerations.
Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but
different in their meaning.

e.g. bank, n. – a shore

bank, n. – an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money

ball, n. – a sphere; any spherical body

ball, n. – a large dancing party

Identical forms of homonyms are accidental: homonyms coincided due to phonetic changes which they
suffered during their development.

Source of misunderstanding and jokes:

“A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit.”

fit, n. – perfectly fitting clothes

fit, n. – a nervous spasm

Types of Homonyms

Homonyms proper – identical in sound and spelling.

to lead v. – to go before, to show the way

lead n. – a heavy, rather softy metal

to tear v. – to pull apart or in pieces by force

tear n. – a drop of the fluid secreted by the eye

Homophones – identical in sound but different in spelling night, n. – knight, n.; piece, n. – peace, n.; scent,
n. – cent, n. – sent, v. (Past Ind. Past Part. of to send); rite, n. – to write, v. – right, adj.; sea, n. – to see. v. –
C (the name of a letter).

3. Homographs – identical in spelling but different in sound.

Wind-air rhat is moving
To wind(waind)- to turn sth

22. Sources of homonyms.

1. phonetic changes - two or more words which were pronounced differently may develop identical sound
forms.

e.g.night and knight: in OE K was pronounced (kniht)

in O.E. to write – writan; right – in OE reht, riht.

2. Borrowing-
A borrowed word due to its phonetic adaption duplicates in form either a native word or another
borrowing.

rite, n. - to write, v. – right, adj. the second and third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin
borrowing (< Lat. ritus).

In the pair bank, n. (“shore”) is a native word, and bank, n. (a financial institution”) is an Italian
borrowing.

3. Word-building-

The most important type is conversion.

comb, n. – to comb, v.

pale, adj. – to pale, v.

to make, v. – make, n.

Homonyms of this type, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of
parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

4. Shortening

E.g. fan, n. “an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer, etc.) is a shortening
produced from fanatic.

Latin borrowing fan,n.- an implement for waving to produce a cool air.

5. sound-imitation

e.g. bang, n. (“a loud, sudden, explosive noise”)

bang, n. (“a fringe of hair combed over the forehead”)

mew, n. (“the sound a cat makes”)

mew, n. (“a sea gull)

mew, n. (“ a pen in which poultry is fattened”)

mews (“small terraced houses in Central London”)

3.Split Polysemy

Homonyms may originate from a polysemantic word when the association of its meanings disappears.

The semantic structure of a polysemantic word presents a system with a central meaning or a component
of meaning.

If it disappears the association between the rest of the word’s meanings is lost and independent words
(homonyms) are created.

Board n – a long and thin piece of timber;

Board n – daily meals, especially as provided for pay, e.g. room and board;

Board n – an official group of persons who direct or supervise one activity, e.g. a board of directors.
23. Phraseology as a constituent part of lexicology.
Phraseological units. Characteristic features.
Phraseology is the branch of lexicology specializing in word-groups which are characterized by stability of
structure and transferred meaning, e.g. to take the bull by the horns, to see red

Phraseological unit, or idiom, or phraseme-Idioms can be characterized as multi-word prefabricated

combinations of at least two words which are more or less metaphorical (figurative). This means that the
meaning of an idiom is not a simple sum of the meanings of its individual parts.

Idioms are characterized by a double sense: the meanings of words build up a certain picture, but the
actual meaning of the whole unit has little or nothing to do with that picture:

A dark horse - is actually not a horse but a person about whom no one knows anything definite.

A bull in a china shop - a clumsy person.

A white elephant – it is a waste of money because it is completely useless.

Idioms may cause misunderstanding

- Little Johnnie (crying): Mummy, mummy, my auntie Jane is dead.

- Mother: Nonsense, child! She phoned me 5 minutes ago.

 Little Johnnie: But I heard Mrs. Brown say that her neighbours cut her dead.

To cut somebody dead - ‘rudely ignore somebody; pretend not to know or recognize him’.

Confusion in the use of terminology

 There are some other terms denoting similar linguistic phenomenon: set-expressions, setphrases,
phrases, fixed word-groups, collocations.

 The “freedom” of free word-groups is relative. Nothing is entirely “free” in speech and its linear
relationships are governed by requirements of logic and by the rules of grammar and
combinability.

A black-eyed girl but not of a black-eyed table.

The child was glad is correct, but a glad child is wrong.

Types of idioms

Proverbs – folk expressions with a sentence structure expressing general wisdom/truth, giving
advice/instruction or describing a cause-effect relation, e.g. a barking dog never bites, no news is good
news, spare the rod and spoil the child.

Sayings – folk expressions with a sentence structure merely stating a fact or describing a situation, e.g. talk
is cheap, patience is a virtue, misery loves company.

Phrasal verbs – multiword verbs consisting of a verb and an adverbial particle with metaphorical meaning,
e.g. put up (with), turn in

Binomials/trinomials – expressions consisting of two/three words separated by a comma and/or a

conjunction, e.g. pick and choose; alive and kicking; Adam and Eve, back and forth, bread and butter, cut
and paste, demand and supply, more or less, mother and child, now and then.
Similes – idiomatic comparisons whose purpose is to exaggerate or emphasize something, e.g. sleep like a
log, as light as a feather, as deaf as a post.

Social formulae or Pragmatic idioms – expressions having a distinct social function and often a vague
denotative meaning, e.g. Let me introduce my brother, Jack, to you.

Nice to meet you, Jack. (introductions)

Idioms proper – expressions that do not fit into any of the previous categories, e.g. right off the bat, piece
of cake

Characteristics of idioms

1.Compositeness – idioms are a type of multiword expression

2.Semantic opacity, or idiomaticity – the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of its constituents.

3.Grammatical inseparability – idioms function as single units.

In a free word group, each lexical item has an independent meaning and its own grammatical function. By
contrast, in an idiom, both lexical and grammatical meaning belong to the structure as a whole.

4.Lexical integrity – an idiom cannot be altered; no other word can be substituted, and the arrangement of
the words can rarely be modified.

While free word groups can be freely made up, according to the needs of communication, idioms are used
as ready-made units in which substitution is either impossible or very limited.

24. Free word combinations vs. phraseological word

combinations.
Free word-groups are so called not because of any absolute freedom in using them but simply because
they are each time built up a new in the speech process whereas idioms are used as ready-made units with
fixed and constant structures. There are two major criteria for distinguishing between phraseological units
and free word-groups. 1) structural; 2) semantic.

E.g. to go to school, to go by bus, to commit suicide.

Criteria for distinguishing between idioms and free word-groups

 Semantic - idioms convey a single concept:

A.Cambridge don: I’m told they are inviting more American professors to this university. Isn’t it rather
carrying coals to Newcastle?

(to take something to a place where it is already plentiful and not needed.)

B.This cargo ship is carrying coal to Liverpool.

 Structural

1.Restriction in substitution- no word can be substituted without destroying the idiom’s sense, , at the
same time in free word-groups substitution does not present any dangers and does not lead to any serious
consequences, all components can be changed; F: the ship (vessel) boat carries (transports, takes, brings)
coal to (any part).

2. Restriction in introducing any additional components into the structure of an idiom. In the
phraseological unit to carry coals to Newcastle no additional components can be introduced.
3. Grammatical invariability. Students make mistakes if they use in the following phraseological unit the
plural form of fault. F: to find fault with smb (we can’t say faults). It is a mistake in terms of the grammatical
invariability of phraseological units. F: from head to foot (feet is mistake).

(exceptions: build a castle/castles in the air, skeleton(-s) in the cupboard)

Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the
language as ready-made units. Phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as
one part of it. 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.

25. Problem of definition of phraseological units.

Phraseological units, or idioms, as they are called by most western scholars, represent what can probably
be described as the most picturesque, colourful and expressive part of the language's vocabulary.

In modern linguistics, there is considerable confusion about the terminology associated with these word-
groups. Opinions differ as to how phraseology should be defined, classified, described and analyzed. Most
Russian scholars use the term phraseological unit (фразеологическая единица) which was first introduced
by Academician V.V. Vinogradov. The term idiom widely used by western scholars has comparatively
recently found its way into Russian phraseology but is applied mostly to only a certain type of
phraseological unit.

There are some other terms denoting more or less the same linguistic phenomenon: set-expressions, set-
phrases, phrases, fixed word-groups, collocations, etc. The term set phrase implies that the basic criterion
of differentiation is stability, of the lexical componenets and grammatical structure of word-groups.

The term idiom generally implies that the essential feature of the linguistic units is idiomaticity or lack of
motivation.

The term word-equivalent stresses not only semantic but also functionul inseparability of certain word
groups, their aptness to function in speech as single words.

The confusion in the terminology reflects insufficiency of positive or wholly reliable criteria by which
phraseological units can be distinguished from free word-groups.

The essential features of phraseological units are: a) lack of semantic motivation;

b) lexical and grammatical stability.

As far as semantic motivation is concerned phraseological units vary from motivated (by simple addition of
denotational meaning) like a sight for sore eyes and to know the ropes, to partially motivated (when only
one of the words is used in figurative meaning) or to demotivated (completely non-motivated) like tit for
tat, red-tape.

Phraseological stability is based upon:

a) the stability of use;

b) the stability of meaning;

c) lexical stability;

d) syntactic stability;

e) rhythmic characteristics, rhyme and imagery.

Lexical and grammatical stability of phraseological units is displayed in the fact that no substitution of any
elements whatever is possible in the following stereotyped (unchangeable) set expressions, which differ in
many other respects: all the world and his wife, heads or tails, first night, to gild the pill, to hope for the
best, busy as a bee, fair and square, stuff and nonsense, time and again, to and fro

26. Different approaches to the classification of

phraseological units.
1. thematic principal (the oldest) - idioms are classified according to their sources of origin, i.e., sphere of
human activity, of natural phenomena etc.

body parts

1.If you are feeling nervous, you might say you have butterflies in your stomach

2.If something costs a lot, it costs an arm and a leg

3.If someone does not dance well or is clumsy, they have two left feet

2. etymological

The authors understand the term ‘etymology’ as the source of origin, ‘source’ referring to the particular
sphere of human activity, of life of nature, of natural phenomena, etc.

be all at sea – unable to understand

 in deep water – in trouble or danger

 sink or swim – to fail or succeed (e.g. It is a cese of sink or swim).

3. Semantic principle - based on the degree of semantic cohesion between the components of a PU.

Phraseological Combinations - partially changed meaning; the meaning of the unit can be easily
deduced.

e.g. good at something, gospel truth, to stick to one’s word

Phraseological Unities - completely changed meaning. However, the meaning of the unit can be
deduced from the meanings of the constituent parts

e.g. to sit on the fence (= in discussion, politics, etc. refrain from commiting oneself to either side); to
catch\clutch at a straw (= when in extreme danger, avail oneself of even the slightest chance of
rescue);

Phraseological Fusions- completely changed meaning but, in contrast to the unities their meaning
cannot be deduced from the meanings of the constituents:

to come a cropper (to come to disaster), neck and crop (entirely, altogether, thorougly,

5. structural principle

A.Verbal. E.g. to run for one’s (dear) life, to get (win) the upper hand, to make a song and dance about
smth; to sit pretty.

B.Substantive. E.g. dog’s life, cat-and-dog life, calf love, white lie, tall order, birds of a feather, red tape,
brown study.
 C.Adjectival. E.g. high and mighty, spick and span, brand new, safe and sound; (as) cool as a cucember,
nervous as a cat, weak as a kitten, good as gold (speaking about children), pretty as a picture, as large
as life, slippery as an eel, drunk as an owl, mad as a hare in March.

D.Adverbial.E.g. high and low (They searched him high and low), by hook or by crook (She decided that,
by hook or by crook, she must marry him), for love or money (He came to the conclusion that a really
good job couldn’t be found for love or money), in cold blood (The crime was said to be committed in
cold blood), in the dead of night, between the devil and the deep sea, to the bitter end.

E.Interjectional. E.g. By Jove! By George! goodness gracious! good Heavens!

27. Proverbs and sayings.

1. saying

A saying is a short, memorable phrase or expression commonly used in conversation or writing that
conveys an idea, a piece of advice, or a moral lesson. Sayings are often culturally rooted and can reflect
wisdom, common sense, or humor. They are used to communicate a message concisely and effectively,
promoting understanding and conveying a shared meaning among individuals. Sayings can encompass
proverbs, idioms, aphorisms, or other forms of figurative language.

 A rolling stone gathers no moss.

 An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
 Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise.

A proverb is a concise yet profound statement that is frequently quoted because it provides simple and
insightful advice or expresses a general truth about life. Perhaps you’ve heard of this commonly used
proverb:

Actions speak louder than words.

It means that “what you do is more important than what you say.”

Proverbs can be translated from other languages and cultures, and often use metaphorical or formulaic
language. For example, in the example above, actions don’t literally speak louder than words, as they can’t
talk.

Proverbs come from a variety of sources, including philosophers such as Confucius and Plato; and from
stories, songs, movies, literature, and more. Many sayings by Jesus and Shakespeare have become proverbs
but weren’t considered such when they were first created.

Characteristics of Proverbs

Short and simple

Catchy or rhythmic

Easy to remember

Timeless

Often metaphorical or figurative

 Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Don’t judge someone or something by their outward appearance alone.

The line between proverbs and idioms may be hard to define, In short, although proverbs employ figurative
language, they are more literal sayings that convey a general truth or piece of advice. Idioms, on the other
hand, have a figurative or metaphorical meaning that is different from the meaning of the words used.

For example, kick the bucket means “to die.” However, on their own, the words kick and bucket have
nothing to do with death. Similarly, the idiom break a leg has nothing to do with fracturing a bone in your
body, but is another way of saying “good luck.”

28. Word-Building. Structural analysis of words.

word-building : the act or process of forming words:

Words consist of Morphemes are Roots and Affixes( Prefixes Suffixes )

The most productive ways of word-building are conversion, composition and Derivation/affixation

Structural types of words

1.derived words or derivatives - consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes); produced by
affixation/derivation; (e.g. worker, lovely, warmly)

2.root words – consist of a root morpheme in its structure; produced by conversion (e.g. to hand, a hand;
to can, a can);

3.compound words - consist of two or more stems; produced by composition; (e.g. dining-room, blue-bell,
mother-in-law, good-for-nothing)

4.shortenings – produced by shortening; e.g. flu, pram, lab, M.P., V-day

29. Affixation - Native affixes. Productive and non-

productive affixes. Semantics of affixes.
 Affixation/derivation - coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root
morpheme.

Affixes can be native and borrowed

Native affixes

Noun- Forming

 -er worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.

 -ness coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc

 -ing feeling, meaning, singing, reading, etc

Adjective -Forming

 -ful careful, joyful, wonderful, sinful, skilful

 -less careless, sleepless, cloudless, senseless, etc.
 -y Cozy, tidy, merry, snowy, showy, etc.

Verb –Forming
 -en widen, redden, darken, sadden

Adverb –Forming
  -ly warmly, hardly, simply, carefully, coldly, etc

Affixes are not borrowed in the same way as words.

An affix is regarded as borrowed only after it has begun to take part in the word-making processes of that
language.

Productivity of affixes
 Productive affixes
Take part in deriving new words in modern language
Prefixex de-, re-, pre-, non-, un-, anti-
Suffixes:
Verb -ize\ ise, -ate
Noun er\or, -ing, - ness, -ation, -ee, -ism, -ist, -ry, -ics,
Adjective able, - ic, -ish, -ed, -less, -y
Adverb ly

 Non-productive affixes are not used very often

Noun -th, -hood, -ship
Verb - en
Adjective - ful, - some, -en, -ous

The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called
nonce-words, i.e. words coined and used only for this particular occasion.
Productivity of affixes and frequency – not the same.
Semantics of Affixes
Morpheme is the smallest indivisible component of the word possessing a meaning of its own.

Meanings of affixes differ from those of root morphemes.

Affixes have generalized meanings and refer the concept to a certain category.

–er – occupation: painter, engineer

Meaning of a derived word is not always a sum of the meanings of its morphemes: meaning of root
morheme influences the meaning of affix and vice versa.
Examples: suffix -y

Suffix -Y – characterised by or inclined to the substance or action of the root

brainy (inform) – intelligent, intellectual, i.e. characterized by brains

catty – quietly and slyly malicious, spiteful, i.e. characterized by features ascribed to a cat

chatty – given to chat, inclined to chat

dressy (inform) – showy in dress, i.e. inclined to dress well or to be overdressed

The semantic distinctions of words produced from the same root by means of different suffixes
are also of considerable interest:

Womanly (complimentary about women)

womanish (an effeminate man, implies criticism).
 Flowery is applied to speech or a style;
flowered - decorated with a pattern of flowers;
flowering - blossoming (e.g. flowering bushes or shrubs.

Starry means “resembling stars” (e.g.starry eyes)

starred “ covered or decorated with stars” (e.g. starred skies)

Reddened and shortened imply the result of an action;

shortish and reddish - insufficiency of quality.

30. Conversion as a way of forming new words.

 Conversion is an affixless way of word-building.

 Conversion consists in making a new word by changing the category of a part of speech.

nurse, n. > to nurse, v.

Conversion is controversial: not a word-building act, but as a mere functional change (H.Sweet).

Hand me that book – hand is not a verb, but a noun used in a verbal syntactical function, that is, hand (me)
and hands (in She has small hands) are not two different words but one.

Arguments for conversion as word-building

1. semantic change: e.g. hand > to hand, face > to face, to go> a go, to make > a make

2. converted units develop a paradigm of their new category of part of speech

3. dictionaries present converted pairs as homonyms

Factors encouraging Conversion

 The analytical structure of Modern English greatly facilitates processes of making words of one
category of parts of speech from words of another.

 Simplicity of English paradigms.

 Numerous one-syllable words.

Conversion is a convenient and “easy” way of enriching the vocabulary.

There are numerous pairs of words (e.g. love – to love, work - to work , drink – to drink) which did not occur
due to conversion but coincided as a result of certain historical processes (dropping of endings,
simplification of stems).
31. Composition as a way of forming new words.
In composition new words are produced by combining two or more stems.

Types of word composition

Composition

Neutral Morphological Syntactic

Simple Derived Contracted

in neutral compounds the process of compounding is realized without any linking elements

Subtypes of neutral compounds

1. Simple neutral consist of simple affixless stems: blackbird, shop-window, sunflower, bedroom.

2. Derived compounds have affixes: absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, lady-

killer, film-goer, music-lover, honey-mooner.

3. Contracted compounds have a shortened (contracted) stem: TV-set (-program, -show, - canal, etc., V-
day (Victory Day), G-man (Government man “FBI agent”), H-bag (handbag), T-shirt.

2. Morphological compounds are few;

 non-productive;

 two stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, e.g. Anglo-Saxon, Franco-Prussian,
handiwork, handicraft, craftsmanship, spokesman, statesman.

3. Syntactic compounds are formed from segments of speech, preserving articles, prepositions, adverbs,

e.g. lily-of-the-valley, Jack-of-all-trades, good-for-nothing, mother-in-law, sit-at-home, pick-me-up,

know-all, know-nothing, go-between, get-together, whodunit.

32. Composition. Structural aspects.

In composition new words are produced by combining two or more stems.

Types of word composition

Composition

Neutral Morphological Syntactic

Simple Derived Contracted

in neutral compounds the process of compounding is realized without any linking elements

Subtypes of neutral compounds

1. Simple neutral consist of simple affixless stems: blackbird, shop-window, sunflower, bedroom.

2. Derived compounds have affixes: absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, lady-

killer, film-goer, music-lover, honey-mooner.

3. Contracted compounds have a shortened (contracted) stem: TV-set (-program, -show, - canal, etc., V-
day (Victory Day), G-man (Government man “FBI agent”), H-bag (handbag), T-shirt.

2. Morphological compounds are few;

 non-productive;
  two stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, e.g. Anglo-Saxon, Franco-Prussian,
handiwork, handicraft, craftsmanship, spokesman, statesman.

3. Syntactic compounds are formed from segments of speech, preserving articles, prepositions, adverbs,

e.g. lily-of-the-valley, Jack-of-all-trades, good-for-nothing, mother-in-law, sit-at-home, pick-me-up,

know-all, know-nothing, go-between, get-together, whodunit.

33. Semantic aspects of compound words.

Classification of compounds based on the degree of semantic cohesion:

1) compounds whose meanings is the sum of their constituent meanings: bedroom, working-man, evening-
gown, dining-room

2) one of the components (or both) has changed its meaning: a blackboard, football, chatterbox, lady-killer -
idiomatic compounds

3) deducing the meaning is impossible: horse-marine, butter-fingers, wall-flower, whodunit, straphanger -

idiomatic compounds

34. Criteria for composition.

Graphic criterion – (spelt as one unit) not always reliable!

The spelling of many compounds can be varied even within the same book.

Semantic criterion – words possess a higher degree of semantic cohesion than a word-group: tallboy does
not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture.

The word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts:

1.a young male person; 2.big in size, the word tallboy expresses one concept.

Yet, phraseological units also convey a single concept.

Phonetic criterion (compounds have a single stress). The criterion does not apply to compound adjectives

‘slowcoach, ‘blackbird, ‘tallboy, but: ‘blue-‘eyed, ‘absent-‘minded, ‘ill-‘mannered.

Morphological and syntactic criteria can also be applied to compound words in order to distinguish them
from word-groups

In the word-group a tall boy each of the constituents is open to grammatical changes: They were the tallest
boys in their form.

Between the constituent parts of the word-group other words can be inserted: a tall handsome boy. The
compound tallboy – is not subjected to such changes.

Conclusion: only several criteria (semantic, morphological, syntactic, phonetic, graphic) can classify a lexical
unit as either a compound word or a word group.
35. Minor ways of word-building. Semi-affixes.
The minor types of word-formation comprise shortening, sound imitation, reduplication, , back-
formation,semi-affixes, ,blending, coinage acronymy.

A component, standing between a stem and an affix, is a semi-affix.

It’s a root morpheme which functions as a derivational affix

kissproof, foolproof

Words with -proof stand between compounds and derived words.

-proof - preserves semantic associations with the free form –proof. Its generelized meaning is approaching
that of a suffix.

–man :sportsman, gentleman, salesman,fisherman, countryman, statesman, policeman, chairman

–land - Scotland, fatherland, wonderland

-like - ladylike, unladylike, businesslike, starlike, flowerlike

36. Shortening (Contraction).

Shortening – any form of a word that is “shortened”

A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group,
created by omission of internal letters and sounds.

let us let's informal, as in "Let's do this."

I am I'm
Am not is not --- ain’t

 produced in two ways:

1. Clipping - dropping (clipping) of a part of a word. Either beginning or ending is lost, or both phone -
telephone, fence – defense, hols- holidays, vac- vacation, props - properties, ad –advertisement; flu -
influenza, fridge - refrigerator.

2. Acronym - a new word is made from the initial letters of a word group: U.N.O. (United Nations
Organization), B.B.C. (British Broadcasting Corporation), M.P (Member of Parliament), CD (compact disk).
They are found not only among formal words, but also among colloquialisms and slang. g.f. – girl-friend

37. Sound-Imitation (Onomatopoeia).

Words are coined by imitating different kinds of sounds made by animals, birds, insects, inanimate objects.

Sounds produced by animals are represented differently in different languages.

Some names of animals, birds and insects are produced by sound-imitation: crow, cuckoo, humming-bird,
cricket.

Words are coined by imitating different kinds of sounds made by animals, birds, insects, inanimate objects.
Sounds produced by animals are represented differently in different languages.

Some names of animals, birds and insects are produced by sound-imitation: crow, cuckoo, humming-bird,
cricket.

38. Reduplication. Back-formation (Reversion)

new words are made by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes (bye-bye) or with a
variation of the root-vowel or consonant (pingpong, chit-chat).

facilitated by the vast number of monosyllables.

represent informal groups: colloqualisms and slang. walkie-talkie, riff-raff (worthless and disreputable
element of society), chi-chi (for chic), dilly-dallying (wasting time, doing nothing), shilly-shallying
(irresolution, indecision).

5. Backformation (Reversion)

to beg - made from the French beggar, to burgle from burglar, to cobble from cobbler.

One regular source of backformed verbs in English is based on the common pattern worker – work. The
assumption was that if there is a noun ending in -er, then we can create a verb for what that noun-er does.

That is why it received the name of backformation.

to butle from butler, to baby-sit from baby-sitter, to blood-transfuse from blood-transfusion, to fingerprint
from finger printing.

39. Blending. Coinage.

Blending - combination of two words to produce a single new word.

beginning of one word is joined to the end of the other word.

smoke and fog - smog.

smaze (smoke þ haze)

In Hawaii, near the active volcano, they have problems with vog.

brunch (breakfast/lunch), motel (motor/hotel), telecast (television/broadcast) and the Chunnel

(Channel/tunnel), connecting England and France.

7. Coinage

The invention of totally new terms, or coinage, is not very common in English.

Sources: trade names for commercial products that become general terms, e.g. aspirin, nylon, vaseline,
zipper, kleenex, teflon, xerox.

coinages tend to become everyday words in the language: e.g. Google

New words based on the name of a person or a place are called eponyms.
America-Amerigo Vespucci

Sandwich-named after the Earl of Sandwich

August and Ceasar salad - Augustus Caesar

40. Etymological peculiarities of the vocabulary of Modern

English: general remarks, the native wordstock VS the
foreign element. Assimilation of borrowings.
An important feature of Eng is its origin. Acc to it the Eng word-stock may be divided into 3 main
groups:

 native words;
 borrowings;

The origin of English words. As to the origin English words may be classified into two large sets: native and
borrowed words. A native word is a word which belongs to the original English word stock, as known from
the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period. A borrowed word or a borrowing is a word
taken over from another language and assimilated in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning, or at
least in some of these aspects, according to the standards of the English language.

Native words being only30 percent of the English vocabulary

Native words comprise Indo-European, Common Germanic and English Proper.

The oldest layer of words in English are those of Indo-European origin, Having common roots in all or
most languages ??of Indo-European group. They denote elementary concepts without which no human
communication is possible. There are several semantic groups in them:

1. Words denoting kinship, e.g. father (Vater, pater, padre), mother (Mutter, мати), son (Sohn, син),
daughter (Tochter, дочка), brother (Bruder, брат);

2. Words denoting parts of human body, e.g. foot (п'ядь), nose, lip, heart (серце), ear, tooth, eye;

3. Words denoting animals, e.g. cow, swine, goose, wolf (Wolf, вовк);

4. Words denoting plants, e.g. tree, birch (береза), corn (зерно);

5. Words denoting time of day, e.g. day, night;

6. Words denoting heavenly bodies and phenomena of nature, e.g. sun (die Sohne, сонце), moon, star,
water (Wasser, вода), wind, wood, hill, stone;

A much larger group of native vocabulary are Common Germanic words (German, Norwegian,
Dutch, Icelandic). They represent words of roots common to all or most Germanic languages. Some
of the main semantic groups are the same as in words of Indo-European origin:

1. Words denoting parts of human body, e.g. head, hand, arm, finger, bone;

2. Words denoting plants, e.g. oak, fir, grass;

3. Words denoting animals, e.g. bear, fox, calf;

4. Words denoting natural phenomena, e.g. rain, frost, storm, flood, ice;
5. Words denoting periods of time and seasons of the year, e.g. time, week, winter, spring, summer;

6. Words denoting landscape features, e.g. sea, land, ground, earth;

English Proper words in contrast to Indo-European and Common Germanic words can be
approximately dated, words of this group appeared in the English language not earlier than the
5th century, they are specifically English having no cognates in other languages. Some examples of
English Proper words are: Bird, boy, girl, lord, lady, woman, daisy, always. The English Proper
element also contains all the later formations, i.e. words which were made after the 5 th century
according to English word-building patterns both from native and borrowed morphemes, e.g.
'beautiful'Built from the French borrowed root and the native suffix belongs to the English Proper
words. It is natural that the number of such words is immense.

Most of the native words have undergone great changes in their semantic structure and as a result
are nowadays polysemantic, e.g. the word 'finger' denotes not only a part of a hand as in Old
English but also 1) the part of a glove covering one of the fingers; 2) a finger-like part in various
machines; 3) a hand of a clock; 4) an index; 5) a unit of measurement. Most of words of the native
origin are highly polysemantic.

Assimilation is the process of changing the adopted word. The process of assimilation of borrowings
includes changes in sound form, graphical and morphological structure, grammar characteristics, meaning,
and usage.

Assimilation of borrowings denotes a partial or total conformation to the standards of the Eng lang.
Borrowings can be:

 fully assimilated: E.g. Latin – cheese, butter, French – chair, face;

 partially assimilated – here belong words not assimilated grammatically: (datum – data); not
assimilated phonetically (ballet, communiqué); not assimilated semantically (words denoting
foreign clothing – sari, rajah, shah; foreign food - pilau )
 non-assimilated or barbarisms: E.g. adieu, ciao.

41. The etymology of English words. Brief historical survey.

In the 1st century B.C., sophisticated Romans conquered Britain with Julius Caesar leading
invasions in 55 BC. Roman rule lasted over 300 years, ending in A.D. 407 when northern European
tribes pressured Rome.

During this era, Germanic tribes on the continent, labeled "barbarians" by Romans, engaged in wars
but eventually had peaceful contact. Trade flourished, introducing the Germanic people to new
foods and knowledge. Romans taught them butter and cheese making, and Latin words were
adopted for these items. Additionally, Romans introduced new fruits and vegetables to the
Germanic tribes, reflected in Latin names like cherry (cerasum), pear (pirum), plum (prunus), pea
(pisum), beet (beta), pepper (piper), plant (planta). Other Latin borrowings include cup (cuppa),
kitchen (coquina), mill (molina), port (portus), wine (vinum).

In the 5th century A.D., Germanic tribes like the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrated to the British
Isles, There they were confronted by the Celts, the original inhabitants of these isles. The Celts
defended but eventually retreated. The conquerors assimilated Celtic words, especially in place
names. Although the Germanic tribes occupied the land, many names for parts of their territory
remained Celtic. The name of the English capital, London, originates from Celtic Llyn (river) + dun
(fortified hill), meaning "fortress on the hill over the river." Latin words like street (strata via) and
wall (vallum) entered Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic.

In the 7th century A.D., England underwent Christianization, and church Latin influenced
language. New Latin borrowings now centered on church-related terms, such as priest (presbyter),
bishop (episcopus), monk (monachus), nun (nonna), and candle (candela). Educational terms like
school (schola) and scholar (scholaris) were borrowed, reflecting the influence of church schools
and clergy as the first teachers in England. The word magister (magister) was also borrowed and
has Greek origins.

From the late 8th century to the mid-11th century, England faced numerous Scandinavian invasions,
leaving a lasting impact on the English vocabulary. Some early Scandinavian borrowings include
words like call, take, cast, die, law, husband, window, loose, low, and weak. Recognizable
Scandinavian borrowings often feature the initial sk combination, as seen in words like sky, skin,
ski, and skirt.

Certain English words underwent semantic changes influenced by their Scandinavian counterparts.
For instance, Old English bread, originally meaning "piece," took on its modern meaning through
association with the Scandinavian braud. Similarly, the Old English dream, meaning "joy,"
absorbed the meaning of the Scandinavian draumr.

In 1066, the Norman Conquest, marked by the Battle of Hastings, introduced a bi-lingual era in
England. Norman French borrowings deeply impacted the English vocabulary over the following
two centuries. Some examples include administrative words like state, government, parliament,
council, and power; legal terms like court, judge, justice, crime, and prison; military terms like
army, war, soldier, officer, battle, and enemy; and everyday life words like table, plate, saucer,
dinner, supper, river, autumn, and uncle.

During the Renaissance period, England experienced a surge in Latin and Greek borrowings, mostly
abstract words and scientific or artistic terms. Greek words like atom, cycle, ethics, and esthete, and
Latin words like major, minor, moderate, intelligent, permanent, to elect, and to create, became part
of the English vocabulary.

The Renaissance also brought cultural contacts, leading to new words entering English from other
European languages. French borrowings from the Parisian dialect included words like regime,
routine, machine, police, ballet, matinee, scene, technique, and bourgeois. Italian contributed words
like piano, violin, opera, alarm, colonel, and more.

42. Words of native origin.

According to the origin, the word-stock of English may be subdivided into two main sets – native and
borrowed (loanwords). Native Words A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock, as
known from the Old English period. The native words are further subdivided into those of the Indo-
European stock and those of Common Germanic origin. The words of Indo-European origin are mainly
terms of kinship (e.g. father, mother, son), terms from nature (e.g. sun, moon, water, tree), names of
animals and birds, (e.g. bull, cat, wolf), parts of the human body (e.g. arm, eye, foot), most frequent verbs
(e.g. come, sit, stand) and others. A bigger part of the native vocabulary is formed by words of the Common
Germanic stock. These words have parallels in German, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic, etc. The number of
semantic groups is bigger than those of Indo-European origin. Their character is mainly general. E.g.:
summer, winter, rain, bridge, house, shop, shirt, shoe, life, need, to bake, to buy, to learn, to make, to see,
and many others. Native words constitute about 80 % of the 500 most frequent words in English. They may
be characterized by a high lexical and grammatical valency (ability to combine with other words), high
frequency and developed polysemy. They are often monosyllabic, have great wordbuilding power and
enter a number of set expressions.

Most of the native words have undergone great changes in their semantic structure, and as a result are
nowadays polysemantic, e.g. the word finger does not only denote a part of a hand as in Old English, but
also 1) the part of a glove covering one of the fingers, 2) a finger-like part in various machines, 3) a hand of
a clock, 4) an index, 5) a unit of measurement. Highly polysemantic are the words man, head, hand, go, etc.

43. The foreign component in the English vocabulary.

The English vocabulary has been significantly influenced by various languages and cultures
throughout its history. This foreign component has enriched and diversified the language. Here are
some key periods and language influences on the English vocabulary:

1. Old English (450-1150):

o Germanic Influence: English originated from Germanic languages, with strong
influences from Old Norse due to Viking invasions. Words like sky, skin, and skirt
have Scandinavian origins.
2. Middle English (1150-1500):
o Norman Conquest (1066): The Norman Conquest introduced a large number of
French words, especially in administrative, legal, military, and everyday life
domains. Examples include state, government, justice, army, table, and dinner.
3. Renaissance (14th-17th centuries):
o Latin and Greek Borrowings: The Renaissance period witnessed a revival of
interest in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. This led to a significant influx of
Latin and Greek words into English, especially in scientific, artistic, and abstract
domains. Examples include major, minor, philosophy (Greek), and phenomenon.
o Cultural Contacts: English absorbed words from other European languages, such as
French and Italian. Parisian borrowings in English include regime, routine, and
ballet, while Italian contributions include piano, opera, and alarm.
4. Scandinavian Influences (8th-11th centuries):
o Viking Invasions: Scandinavian invasions left traces in English vocabulary, with
words like call, take, die, and window having Norse origins.
5. Modern English (17th century-present):
o Global Influences: English continued to evolve with contributions from various
languages due to exploration, trade, and cultural exchanges. Words from languages
such as Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, and Hindi entered the English vocabulary.
o Technological Advances: The rapid development of technology and science in the
20th and 21st centuries introduced a plethora of new terms, many of which were
borrowed from languages like Latin and Greek, as well as coined or adapted to suit
English phonetics and structures.