General Characteristics of Lexicology

1) Structural correlation between the stems of a compound word.

According to the structural correlation between the stems of a compound word linguists distinguish between syntactic and asyntactic compounds. In syntactic compounds the order of the components corresponds to the syntactical patterns of the English language. For example the compound black-eye «синяк» is built after the pattern Adj. stem + N stem which corresponds to the syntactical pattern Adj. + N (black pen, etc.); the compound pickpocket «карманный воришка» is built after the pattern V stem + N stem which corresponds to the syntactical pattern V + N (to pick flowers). In asyntactic compounds the order of the components does not correspond to the syntactical patterns of the English language. For example the compounds snow-white, world-famous are built after the pattern N stem + Adj. stem which does not correspond to the syntactical patterns of the English language. The order of the components in the English syntactical pattern is Adj. + N; the compound red-hot is built after the pattern Adj. stem + Adj. stem which does not correspond to the syntactical patterns of the English language.

2) Semantic relations between the stems of a compound word.

Linguists distinguish the following semantic relations between the stems of a compound word:

relations of purpose: safety-pin «английская булавка», rain-coat (coat against rain);

local relations (relations of place): sea-port, country-house;

relations of comparison: grass-green, red-hot;

temporal relations (relations of time): day-dream, night-mare, etc.

3) Motivation of compound words.

Motivation is the connection between the meaning and the structure of a unit. There are three degrees of motivation in compounds. According to the motivation degree compounds are grouped into three classes.

Motivated compounds. The meaning of a motivated compound can be understood from the meanings of its stems. For example frog-man «водолаз» can be explained as «a man resembling a frog».

Partially motivated compounds. The meaning of one of the stems could help guess the meaning of the compound word, e.g. white-horses «белые гребни морской волны» (they are really white, but they are not horses); jellyfish «медуза» (the substance really resembles jelly, but it is not a fish); jail-bird «арестант» (it is not a bird, but a person, though really kept in prison).

Totally non-motivated compounds are idiomatic, i.e. their meanings cannot be undestood from the meanings of their stems: butter-fingers (a реrson whose fingers cannot hold anything, cf. «руки-крюки»); lady-bird (it is neither a lady nor a bird); sweet-tooth «сладкоежка» (a реrson); sleepy-head «соня» (a person); high-rise «многоэтажное здание»; low-rise «низкое здание»; rubbernecks (tourists who can turn their necks to the right, to the left as if their necks were made of rubber).

10. Shortening of Words

Causes of Shortening.

Shortening is building new words by cutting off some part of the original words, e.g. laboratory > lab, sister > sis, professor > prof, telephone > phone, etc.

In the XX century shortening became extremely productive, e.g.: pop (< popular) music, vac (< vacuum cleaner), CD (< compact disk). There are two main reasons for it.

1. The first cause is extra-linguistic: the tempo of modern life has increased considerably.

2. The second cause is linguistic, i.e. monosyllabism characteristic of the English vocabulary. Shortened words are more like native words than their longer prototypes. There is a strong tendency to shorten even proper names (cf. Gorbachev > Gorby).

In Russian shortening is not so productive. Compound words with an abbreviated stem of the type H-bomb, V-day, A-level do not exist in Russian at all.

Shortened words and their long prototypes differ in stylistic colouring, cf. pop - popular, etc. The long prototype is usually bookish; its shortened stylistic synonym is used in army or in school jargon (maths from mathematics), in nursery speech (hankie/y from handkerchief).

Types of shortening.

There are two types of shortening: 1) clipping, 2) abbreviation.

1) Clipping.

Clippings are formed by reducing a few syllables to one or two, e.g. mackintosh > mac.

According to the position of the clipped part in the word three types of clipping are distinguished.

1. Final clipping. Final clipping is the most productive type of clipping as most often in clipping the final unstressed part is clipped, while the initial stressed part is left. In most of the English words the first syllable is stressed, e.g. 'microphone > mike.

Final clipping is often combined with affixation, e.g. telly from television set, goalie from goal-keeper.

Meaning of the clipping and its long prototype differ, cf. fanatic «фанатик» - fan «болельщик».

2. Initial clipping is less productive as fewer words have stress on the final syllable: violoncello < cello, violoncellist < cellist, helicopter < copter, etc.

Final and initial clipping are frequent in proper names: Ben from Benjamin, Tom from Thomas, Bella - from Isabella.

Final and initial clipping can be combined, e.g. frig from refrigerator, flu from influenza, etc.

3. Medial clipping is often caused by the rhythm of speech: ma'am, e'er, ne'er, o'er. Medial clippings are often used in poetry. Medial clippings from nouns in which grammatical (form-building) morpheme is retained prevail in colloquial speech: specs from spectacles, maths from mathematics, hols from holidays.

Clipping can result in homonymy of new words, cf. tec from technique and tec from detective.

Final clipping can be combined with ellipsis (omission of a word), e.g. vac from vacuum cleaner, zoo from zoological garden, pop from popular music. In these cases ellipsis of the second word in the phrase is combined with final clipping of the first word (adjective) and with substantivation of this adjective.

Blending is a type of word-building in which one word (a blend, or a portmanteau word «слово-портмоне») is formed from two words; one of the words is clipped and two meanings are packed in one word, e.g. breakfast + lunch form brunch, smoke + fog form smog, etc.

Blends are used in army jargon, school jargon, in nursery speech.

Abbreviation.

Abbreviations UK, GB, CIS and the like are made up by initial letters of a few words. There are two kinds of abbreviations: lexical and graphical abbreviations.

1. Abbreviations with alphabetical reading of the letters and abbreviations read as words constitute a group of lexical abbreviations. Lexical abbreviations with alphabetical reading of the letters (USA, BBC, ITV, GI, etc.) have a less official colouring than their long prototypes, cf. prime minister - PM; physical education - PE; ear, nose, throat practitioner - ENT-practitioner.

Lexical abbreviations UNO, NATO, AIDS, etc. are read as words.

Lexical abbreviations make a good basis for further word-formation, e.g. MC (master of ceremonies) > to emcee, OK > to okay.

2. Graphical abbreviations are used only in writing: M. for Moscow; L. for London; etc. for and so on (< Latin et cetera); e.g. for for example (< Latin exempli gratia); Sat. for Saturday; sat. for satisfactory.

Sound interchange is building a new word through a change in the phonetic structure of the stem.

Sound interchange builds verbs from nouns: food > to feed; nouns from verbs: to speak > speech, to sing > a song.

There are two kinds of sound interchange: vowel interchange (to tell - a tale) and consonant interchange (breath > to breathe [T - D]).

Vowel interchange can be combined with affixation, e.g. strong - strength, deep - depth.

Consonant interchange is often represented by the interchange of voiced and voiceless consonants, e.g. [z - s]: to advise - advice, to excuse - excuse, to use - use.

Consonant and vowel interchange can be combined: live - life, bathe - bath.

2. Stress interchange.

Stress interchange often derives verbs from nouns, e.g. 'import - to im'port. Stress interchange often combines with sound interchange, e.g. pro'nounce - pronunci'ation.

3. Sound imitation.

Sound imitation builds new words which denote the sounds produced by people (chatter, giggle), animals (mew, howl, cuckoo), water (bubble, splash), objects (e.g. metal objects - clink «звон монет»), etc.

Backformation.

Backformation (backderivation) is building new words by cutting off the supposed affix from the supposed stem due to the wrong derivational analysis of the original word in analogy with English derivatives.

There are two kinds of backformation. 1) A borrowed word was misinterpreted. For example the word beggar borrowed from old French was analysed in analogy with English derivatives (work-er, teach-er, etc.). Due to this the final part of the French word was supposed to be a suffix and it was cut off. This is how the verb to beg appeared in the English language.

2) A compound word built by juxtaposition of two stems (a root stem and a derived stem) was wrongly interpreted in analogy with derivational compounds. For example the word typewriter «печатная машинка» was wrongly interpreted as a derivational compound built by adding the suffix - er to the supposed compound stem typewrite. The suffix was cut off from the supposed stem. As a result the compound verb to typewrite was built.

Word meaning is studied by semasiology. The term «semasiology» consists of two parts borrowed from Greek: «sema» (sign) and «logos» (learning). Semasiology studies the meaning of words, morphemes.

The meaning of words, affixes presents a semantic structure. Word meaning includes: 1) lexical meaning which indicates the concept and the referent; 2) grammatical meaning which expresses the relationships between words in speech. The lexical and the grammatical meanings of a word are very closely connected. In some words the change of the grammatical meaning leads to the change of their lexical meaning, cf. picture - pictures «кино», colour - colours «флаг», look - looks «внешность», arm - arms «оружие», work - works «завод, механизм», drop - drops «лекарство», cheer - Cheers! «Будем здоровы!», etc.

To analyse the lexical meaning of a word we must study the semantic structure of this word and the semes that make its meaning. The study of the semes is componential analysis (See: Гольдберг В.Б. Контрастивный анализ…: 12-13). Semes can be obligatory, optional, individually and nationally determined, etc.

Semantic structure is nationally determined. Componential analysis displays difference in the semantic structure of the correlating English and Russian words, cf. girl - «девочка», «девушка»; student - «ученик», «студент», «аспирант»; finger, thumb, toe - «палец»; peel, scrape, shell, scale - «очищать»; strawberries - «земляника», «клубника»; town, city - «город», etc.

Elements of word lexical meaning. The principal macrocomponents of the lexical meaning are denotational meaning and connotational meaning. Denotational meaning is the element of the word meaning that denotes an object or phenomenon. Many words not only denote an object but in addition indicate the speaker's attitude to this object, e.g. daddy, mummy, hanky. Such words in addition to denotational meaning possess connotational meaning («созначение»). So connotational meaning is the element of the word meaning that indicates the speaker's attitude to the object or phenomenon. The connotational meaning includes: 1) emotive charge («эмоциональная нагрузка»), e.g. beautiful, ugly; 2) stylistic reference («cтилистическая отнесенность»), cf. neutral words: door, table and colloquial words: kid, daddy, neutral and bookish words: woman - female.

Denotational meaning is always present in the meaning of a word, while connotational meaning is not always present in word meaning, e.g. table, door, chair possess only denotational meaning.

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