государственный
институт народного
хозяйства Правительства РД»
Учебно-методический комплекс
по дисциплине
«Лексикология»
для специальности
«Перевод и переводоведение»
Махачкала – 2007
2
УДК 811.111ё373 (075.8)
ББК 81.3
РЕКОМЕНДОВАНО ОДОБРЕНО
К УТВЕРЖДЕНИЮ Советом факультета
Начальник департамента иностранных языков
по учебной работе, председатель ме- Председатель Совета
тодического совета ДГИНХ, Буяло Т.Г.
д.э.н., профессор Казаватова Н.Ю. 5 июня 2007г.
28 августа 2007г.
ОДОБРЕНО
кафедрой иностранных языков,
зав. кафедрой Рамазанова Л.А.
15 мая 2007г.
3
Содержание
1 Цели преподавания дисциплины 5
2 Задачи преподавания дисциплины 5
3 Рекомендации по изучению дисциплины 6
4 Требования к минимуму содержания дисциплины 7
5 Содержание теоретического материала (лекций) по 8
дисциплине
6 Содержание семинарских занятий по дисциплине 13
7 Лекционный материал по дисциплине 16
8 Задания для текущего контроля усвоения материала 70
8.1. Тесты
8.2. Упражнения для практических занятий
9 Задания для итогового контроля усвоения мате- 114
риала
9.1. Перечень экзаменационных вопросов по
дисциплине
9.2. Материалы итогового тестирования по дис-
циплине
10. Задания для самостоятельной работы студентов 118
10.1. Перечень вопросов по дисциплине для са-
мостоятельного изучения
10.2. Тематика рефератов и творческих работ сту-
дентов
11 . Информационное обеспечение дисциплины 120
11.1. Обеспеченность основной учебной литерату-
рой
11.2. Обеспеченность учебно-методической литера-
турой
4
Аннотация
Уметь:
- применять полученные теоретические знания на практике в
процессе межкультурной коммуникации;
- уметь работать с научной литературой;
7
№ Колич-во
Тема и план лекций
п/п часов
9
2
Lexicology as a science
1. 1. Lexicology as a science
2. The main lexicological problems
II Functional stylistics
1. Informal style 2
2.
2. Formal style
III Semasiology
1. Word meaning
3.
2. Lexical meaning. Notion
IV Homonyms
2
1. General information on
4 homonyms
2. Sources of homonyms
3. Classification of homonyms
V Synonyms 2
1.General information on
5 synonymy
2.Types of synonyms
3.Types of connotation
6 VI Antonyms 2
VII Polysemy
1. Lexical meaning and semantic structure of Eng-
7. 2
lish words
2. Meaning and context
10
8. 1. Affixation. Suffixation
2.Prefixation
IX Conversion
1. Conversion as a type of word building
9.
2. Substantivization of adjectives
3. «STONE WALL» COMBINATIONS.
X Composition 2
1. Ways of forming
10.
2. Compound words
3. Classifications of English compounds
2
XI Abbreviation
1.Graphical abbreviation
11.
2.Initial abbreviation
3.Abbreviation of word
XV Borrowings
1. Classification of borrowings according to degree
of assimilation
15. 2
2. Classification of borrowings according to the lan-
guage they were borrowed Romanic borrowings
3. Germanic borrowings
XVI Do Americans speak English or American?
1. General information on American English
16 2
2. Differences of spelling
3. Differences in pronunciation
XVII Lexicography
17 1. The main problems of lexicography 2
2. Classification of dictionaries
сту-
дентов
1. I Lexicology as a science 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Lexicology as a science
2. The main lexicological problems
2) Контрольные вопросы
2. II Functional stylistics 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Informal style
2. Formal style
2) Контрольные вопросы
3. III Semasiology 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Word meaning
2. Lexical meaning. Notion
2) Контрольные вопросы
4. IV Homonyms 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. General information on
homonyms
2. Sources of homonyms
3. Classification of homonyms
2) Контрольные вопросы
5. V Synonyms 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1.General information on
synonymy
2.Types of synonyms
3.Types of connotation
2) Контрольные вопросы
6. VI Antonyms 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1 General information on
antonyms
2 Classification of antonyms
2) Контрольные вопросы
13
7. VII Polysemy 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Lexical meaning and semantic structure of Eng-
lish words
2. Meaning and context
3. Development of new meanings
4. Transference based on resemblance
5. Transference based on contiguity
2) Контрольные вопросы
8. VIII Word- building 12 4 8
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Affixation. Suffixation
2.Prefixation
2) Контрольные вопросы
9. IX Conversion 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Conversion as a type of word building
2. Substantivization of adjectives
3. «STONE WALL» COMBINATIONS
2) Контрольные вопросы
10. X Composition 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1. Ways of forming
2. Compound words
3. Classifications of English compounds
2) Контрольные вопросы
11. XI Abbreviation 12 4 8
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1.Graphical abbreviation
2.Initial abbreviation
2) Контрольные вопросы
12. XII Secondary ways of word-building 8 2 6
1) Дискуссионные вопросы:
1.Stress interchange
2.Sound imitation
3.Back formation
14
Lexicology as a science
1. Lexicology as a science
1. Lexicology as a science
It’s one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one con-
cept, no matter how many components it possesses.
All that we discussed about the word can be summed up as follows:
Word- is a speech unit, used for the purposes of human communica-
tion, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing meaning and
characterized by formal and semantic unity.
Synopsis
Lexicology can study the development of the vocabulary, the origin
of words and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development
of their sound form and meaning. In this case it is called historical lexicol-
ogy.
Word- is a speech unit, used for the purposes of human communica-
tion, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing meaning and
characterized by formal and semantic unity.
One of the important objectives of lexicology is the study of the vo-
cabulary as a system. The vocabulary can be studied synchronically and
diachronically.
1. Lexicology branches
2. Links of Lexicology with other branches of linguistics
Lecture 2
Functional stylistics.
1. Informal style
2. Informal style
Functional style is defined as a system of expressive means, peculiar
to a specific sphere of communication. By the sphere of communication
we mean the circumstances attending the process of speech in each par-
ticular case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a
formal letter, an intimate letter, a speech in court, etc.
All these situations can be classified into two types:
-formal (lecture, speech in court)
-informal (an informal talk)
1. Informal style
Informal vocabulary is used in one’s close circle: family, relatives
and friends. One uses informal words at home or when he feels at home.
Informal style is free, easy, relaxed and familiar. But it should be pointed
out that informal talk of well- educated person differs from that of an igno-
rant or semi- educated one. Choice of words of adults differs from that of
teenagers; people from provinces use certain regional words and expres-
sions.
Consequently, the choice of words is determined not only by formal
or informal situation, but also by speaker’s educational and cultural back-
ground, age, occupation and regional characteristics.
Informal words are divided into 3 types:
· colloquial
· slang
· dialect words.
a) colloquial words
b) slang
c) Dialect words
20
Day /dai/
Rain /rain/
Face /fais/
Way /wai/
2. Formal style
Formal words fall into 2 main groups:
-words connected with professional communication
- learned words.
Learned words
These words are associated with the printed page. The term
«learned» includes words, used in scientific prose and official language.
To assist (to help)
To proceed (to go)
Approximately (about)
Inquire (ask)
Sufficient (enough)
The most interesting subdivision of learned words is words of fiction.
These words may be called «literary»:
Solitude (одиночество)
Sentiment (чувство)
Fascination (очарование)
21
Felicity (счастье)
Cordial (сердечный).
There is another subdivision of learned words- poetic words. They
stand close to words of fiction and have high, lofty and sometimes archaic
colouring:
Alas (увы)
Wroth (разгневанный)
Doth.
So, on the one hand, educated people in real life and modern fiction
use learned words, and their speech is quite rich. On the other hand, usage
of learned words in everyday speech seems ridiculous and absurd.
Archaic words
Synopsis
Functional style is defined as a system of expressive means, peculiar
to a specific sphere of communication. By the sphere of communication we
mean the circumstances attending the process of speech in each particular
case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a formal
letter, an intimate letter, a speech in court. All these situations can be clas-
sified into two types: formal and informal. Informal words are divided into
22
3 types: colloquial, slang, dialect words. Formal words fall into 2 main
groups: words connected with professional communication and learned
word.
1. Vulgarisms
2. Jargonisms
Lecture 3
Neologisms
In the sphere of medicine computers are also used and we have the
following neologisms: telemonitory unit / a telemonitory system for treat-
ing patience at a distance/.
With the development of social activities neologisms appeared as
well, e.g. youthquake - волнения среди молодежи, pussy-footer -
политик, идущий на компромисы, Euromarket, Eurodollar, Europarlia-
ment, Europol etc.
In the modern English society there is a tendency to social stratifica-
tion, as a result there are neologisms in this sphere as well, e.g. belonger -
представитель среднего класса, приверженец консервативных
взглядов. To this group we can also refer abbreviations of the type yuppie
/young urban professional people/, such as: muppie, gruppie, rumpie,
bluppie etc. People belonging to the lowest layer of the society are called
survivers, a little bit more prosperous are called sustainers, and those who
try to prosper in life and imitate those, they want to belong to, are called
emulators. Those who have prospered but are not belongers are called
achievers. All these layers of society are called VAL /Value and Life-
styles/.
The rich belong also to jet set that is those who can afford to travel
by jet planes all over the world enjoying their life. Sometimes they are
called «jet plane travellers».
During Margaret Thatcher’s rule the abbreviation PLU appeared
which means «People like us» by which snobbistic circles of society call
themselves. Nowadays /since 1989/ PLU was substituted by «one of us».
There are a lot of immigrants now in UK, in connection with which
neologisms partial and non-partial were formed. The word-group «welfare
mother» was formed to denote a non-working single mother living on
benefit.
In connection with criminalization of towns in UK voluntary groups
of assisting the police were formed where dwellers of the neighbourhood
are joined. These groups are called «neighbourhood watch», «home
watch». Criminals wear «stocking masks» not to be recognized.
The higher society has neologisms in their speech, such as: dial-a-
meal, dial-a-taxi.
In the language of teen-agers there are such words as: Drugs! /OK/,
task /home composition /, brunch etc.
With the development of professional jargons a lot of words ending
in «speak» appeared in English, e.g. artspeak, sportspeak, medspeak, edu-
cation-speak, video-speak, cable-speak etc.
25
range weapon, x-rated /about films terribly vulgar and cruel/, Ameringlish
/American English/, tycoonography - a biography of a business tycoon.
There are also abbreviations of different types, such as resto, teen
/teenager/, dinky /dual income no kids yet/, ARC /AIDS-related condition,
infection with AIDS/, HIV / human immuno-deficiency virus/.
Quite a number of neologisms appear on the analogy with lexical
units existing in the language, e.g. snowmobile /automobile/, danceaholic
/alcoholic/, airtel /hotel/, cheeseburger /hamburger/, autocade / cavalcade/.
There are many neologisms formed by means of affixation, such as:
decompress, to disimprove, overhoused, educationalist, etc. Phraseological
neologisms can be subdivided into phraseological units with transferred
meanings, e.g. to buy into/ to become involved/, fudge and dudge
/avoidance of definite decisions/, and set non-idiomatic expressions, e.g.
electronic virus, Rubik’s cube, retail park, acid rain , etc.
Synopsis
New words, as a rule, appear in speech of an individual person who
wants to express his idea in some original way. This person is called
«originator». New lexical units are primarily used by university teachers,
newspaper reporters, by those who are connected with mass media.
Neologisms can be phonological, morphological and syntactic.
1. Professional terminology
2. Basic vocabulary
Lecture 4
27
Semasiology
1. Word meaning
2. Lexical meaning. Notion
1. Word meaning
The branch of lexicology which deals with the meaning is called se-
masiology.
Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and the
inner aspect (its meaning). Sound and meaning do not always constitute a
constant unit even in the same language. E.g. the word «temple» may de-
note «a part of a human head» and «a large church» In such cases we have
homonyms. One and the same word in different syntactical relations can
develop different meanings, e.g. the verb «treat» in sentences:
a) He treated my words as a joke.
b) The book treats of poetry.
c) They treated me to sweets.
d) He treats his son cruelly.
In all these sentences the verb «treat» has different meanings and we
can speak about polysemy.
On the other hand, one and the same meaning can be expressed by
different sound forms, e.g. «pilot», and «airman», «horror» and «terror».
In such cases we have synonyms.
Both the meaning and the sound can develop in the course of time
independently. E.g. the Old English /luvian/ is pronounced /l^v / (love) in
Modern English. On the other hand, «board» primarily means « a piece of
wood sawn thin» It has developed the meanings: a table, a board of a ship,
a stage, a council etc.
The term «notion» was introduced into lexicology from logics. A no-
tion denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in
their relations. Notions, as a rule, are international, especially with the na-
tions 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. E.g. the English verbs «go» and its
Russian equivalent «идти» has some meanings which coincide: to move
from place to place, to extend /the road goes to London/, to work /Is your
watch going? /. On the other hand, they have different meanings: in Rus-
sian we say: »Вот он идет», in English we use the verb «come» in this
case. In English we use the verb «go» in the combinations: «to go by bus»,
«to go by train» etc. In Russian in these cases we use the verb «ехать».
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. The Russian has two words for the
English «man»: « мужчина» and «человек». In English, however, «man»
cannot be applied to a female person. We say in Russian: «Она- хороший
человек». In English we use the word «person»/ She is a good person»/
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.
Synopsis
The branch of lexicology which deals with the meaning is called se-
masiology.
Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and
the inner aspect (its meaning). Sound and meaning do not always consti-
tute a constant unit even in the same language. 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. Inter-
jections express emotions but not notions.
Lecture 5
Polysemy
Synopsis
Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to
the proximity of notions which they express.
The branch of linguistics connected with the meaning of words is
called semasiology. The main problems of semasiology are: semantic de-
velopment of words, its classification, main features and types of lexical
meaning, polysemy, synonyms, antonyms, terminological systems. There
are 3 ways of development of new meanings: making new words, borrow-
ing new foreign words, applying a new meaning to an old word.
Lecture 6
Homonyms
E.g.
Lead - lead
Tear - tear
2. Sources of homonyms
The first source of homonyms is phonetic changes of words.
E.g. Knight and night were not homonyms in Old- English, because
the sound K was pronounced.
The second source of homonyms is borrowings.
E.g. Bank in the meaning of shore is a native English word, and bank
as a building where people keep money is an Italian borrowing.
The third source of homonyms is word-building, and the most impor-
tant type of it is conversion.
E.g. pale- to pale
Make- to make
Such homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling, but refer
to different parts of speech are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.
One more source of homonyms is shortenings.
E.g. fan (fanatic) - fan (веер)
Words which are made by sound- imitation can also form homo-
nyms:
E.g. bang (бах)-bang (челка)
Mew (мяу) - mews (дома в Лондоне с террасами)
There is also another source of homonyms, called split polysemy.
When a word breaks into several parts, two different meanings can
form homonyms.
E.g. board (доска) - board (группа, кружок)
Spring (весна)-spring (родник)
3. Classification of homonyms
The subdivision of homonyms into homonyms proper, homophones
and homographs is not all.
Professor Smirnitsky classified them into two large classes:
1) Full homonyms
2) Partial homonyms.
Full lexical homonyms are words of the same part of speech, identi-
cal in sound and spelling.
E.g. match (матч) – match (спички)
Ball (мяч) – ball (бал)
35
Synopsis
Homonyms- are words identical in sound and spelling, but different
in their meanings. Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling,
but refer to different parts of speech are called lexico-grammatical homo-
nyms.
Full lexical homonyms are words of the same part of speech, identi-
cal in sound and spelling. Simple lexico- grammatical partial homonyms –
are words which belong to the same part of speech, but they are common
only in one form. Complex lexico- grammatical partial homonyms- are
words of different parts of speech, not the same in spelling. 3. Partial lexi-
cal homonyms- are words of the same part of speech, which are identical
only in their main forms
Lecture 7
Synonyms
2. Types of synonyms
Academician Vinogradov suggests the following classification of
synonyms:
1. Ideographic (synonyms, having the same meaning, different in as-
pects).
To like- to love
37
3. Types of connotation.
1. The connotation of degree or intensity:
To surprise- to amaze- to astound
To satisfy- to please- to content
To shout- to roar
To like- to admire- to adore- to worship
2. The connotation of duration:
To stare- to glare- to gaze-
To glance - to peep - to peer.
3. The emotive connotation:
Alone- single- lonely- solitary
4. The evaluative connotation (it conveys speaker’s attitude):
Well-known- famous- notorious- celebrated
Sparkle- glitter
Her eyes sparkled with happiness.
His eyes glittered with anger.
5. The causative connotation:
To shiver (with cold, frost, chill).
To shudder (with fear, horror).
6. The connotation of manner:
To walk- to swagger- to stagger
(Different ways of walking).
To like- to admire- to love – to adore
(Different intensity of loving).
7. The connotation of attendant circumstances:
To peep at smb - to peer at smb.
To peep means to look through the hole, from half-closed door,
curtain, etc.
To peer means to look at smb in darkness, through the fog,
from great distance.
8. The connotation of attendant features:
Beautiful- pretty- handsome
Beautiful is associated with classical features and perfect fig-
ure.
38
Synopsis
Synonymy is one of the main problems of modern linguistics. Lin-
guists still dispute the existence of synonyms and their value and role.
Academician Vinogradov suggests the following classification of syno-
nyms:
1. Ideographic (synonyms, having the same meaning, different in as-
pects).
2. Stylistic (synonyms, differing in styles).
3. Absolute
1. Synonymic nests
2. Synonymic groups
3. Synonymic series
Lecture 8
39
Word building
1. Affixation. Suffixation
2. Prefixation
1. Affixation.
Suffixation.
2. Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to
the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are
more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the
41
nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words
and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are
proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes
used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met
in the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead) (cf over the table).
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical
meaning of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that
about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech
from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles :
1. Semantic classificatio:
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (non-
formals), un- (unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (de-
colonize), re- (revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter- (in-
terplanetary) , hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election),
over- (overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as: in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as: sym-, hyper- etc.
When we analyze such words as : adverb, accompany where we can
find the root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac- as prefixes
though they were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and
were borrowed from Romanic languages together with words. In such
cases we can treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as
simple words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such
as: contain, retain, detain and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see
that re-, de-, con- act as prefixes and -tain, -ceive can be understood as
roots. But in English these combinations of sounds have no lexical mean-
ing and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat such words as
simple words, others as derived ones.
There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by
some scientists, e.g. after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers
working on Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words.
British lexicographers treat such words as derived ones.
Synopsis
42
Lecture 9
Composition
1. Ways of forming
2. Compound words
3. Classifications of English compounds
1. Ways of forming
43
2. Compound words.
Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of
composition but also by means of:
a) reduplication, e.g. too-too, and also by means of reduplication
combined with sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,
b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to Mickey-mouse, can-do,
makeup etc,
c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to
bloodtransfuse, to fingerprint etc ,
d) analogy, e.g. lie-in ( on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone-in.
Synopsis
Composition is the way of word building when a word is formed by
joining two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a
compound word depends upon: a) the unity of stress, b) solid or hyphen-
ated spelling, c) semantic unity, d) unity of morphological and syntactical
functioning. English compounds have the unity of morphological and syn-
tactical functioning. According to different aspects there are different clas-
sifications of compound words in Modern English.
Lecture 10
Conversion
2. Substantivization of adjectives
Some scientists (Yespersen,) refer substantivization of adjectives to
conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of
substantivization of adjectives we have quite different changes in the lan-
guage. Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening)
when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its se-
mantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is
shortened to «a grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivization the attrib-
ute takes the paradigm of a countable noun, e.g. a criminal, criminals, a
criminal’s (mistake) , criminals’ (mistakes). Such words are used in a sen-
48
Synopsis
Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building
system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation. Conversion
is the main way of forming verbs in Modern English. Verbs can be formed
from nouns of different semantic groups and have different meanings be-
cause of that. Nouns can also be formed by means of conversion from
verbs. Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening)
when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its
semantically weak noun. The problem whether adjectives can be formed by
means of conversion from nouns is the subject of many discussions. In
Modern English there are a lot of word combinations of the type.
Lecture 11
Abbreviation
1. Graphical abbreviation
2. Initial abbreviation
3. Abbreviation of words
1. Graphical abbreviations
Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening of words and
word-groups only in written speech while orally the corresponding full
forms are used. They are used for the economy of space and effort in writ-
ing.
51
2. Initial abbreviations
Initialisms are the bordering case between graphical and lexical ab-
breviations. When they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some
new offices they are closer to graphical abbreviations because orally full
forms are used, e.g. J.V. - joint venture. When they are used for some du-
ration of time they acquire the shortened form of pronouncing and become
closer to lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC is as a rule pronounced in the
shortened form.
In some cases the translation of initialisms is next to impossible
without using special dictionaries. Initialisms are denoted in different
52
ways. Very often they are expressed in the way they are pronounced in the
language of their origin, e.g. ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United
States) is given in Russian as АНЗУС, SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks) was for a long time used in Russian as СОЛТ, now a translation
variant is used (ОСВ -Договор об ограничении стратегических
вооружений). This type of initialisms borrowed into other languages is
preferable, e.g. UFO - НЛО.
There are three types of initialisms in English:
a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND etc
b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO,
UNO, NATO etc.
c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form,
such initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computer-based Labo-
ratory for Automated School System).
Some scientists unite groups b) and c) into one group which they call
acronyms.
3. Abbreviations of words
Abbreviation of words consists in clipping a part of a word. As a re-
sult we get a new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or the style
is different form the full form of the word. In such cases as »fantasy» and
«fancy», «fence» and «defence» we have different lexical meanings. In
such cases as «laboratory» and «lab», we have different styles.
Abbreviation does not change the part-of-speech meaning, as we
have it in the case of conversion or affixation, it produces words belonging
to the same part of speech as the primary word, e.g. prof is a noun and pro-
fessor is also a noun. Mostly nouns undergo abbreviation, but we can also
meet abbreviation of verbs, such as to rev from to revolve, to tab from to
tabulate etc. But mostly abbreviated forms of verbs are formed by means
of conversion from abbreviated nouns, e.g. to taxi, to vac etc. Adjectives
can be abbreviated but they are mostly used in school slang and are com-
bined with suffixation, e.g. comfy, dilly, etc. As a rule pronouns, numerals,
interjections. conjunctions are not abbreviated. The exceptions are: fif (fif-
teen), teen-ager, in one’s teens (aphaeresis from numerals from 13 to 19).
Lexical abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word
which is clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the be-
ginning of the word in most cases is the root and expresses the lexical
meaning of the word. This type of abbreviation is called apocope. Here we
can mention a group of words ending in «o», such as disco (discotheque),
53
Synopsis
1. Functions of abbreviations
2. Types of abbreviations
Lecture 12
1. Stress interchange
2. Sound imitation
3. Back formation
Sound interchange is the way of word-building when some sounds
are changed to form a new word. It is non-productive in Modern English,
it was productive in Old English and can be met in other Indo-European
languages.
The causes of sound interchange can be different. It can be the result
of Ancient Ablaut which cannot be explained by the phonetic laws during
the period of the language development known to scientists. E.g. to strike -
stroke, to sing - song etc. It can be also the result of Ancient Umlaut or
vowel mutation which is the result of palatalizing the root vowel because
of the front vowel in the syllable coming after the root (regressive assimi-
lation), e.g. hot - to heat (hotian), blood - to bleed (blodian) etc.
In many cases we have vowel and consonant interchange. In nouns
we have voiceless consonants and in verbs we have corresponding voiced
consonants because in Old English these consonants in nouns were at the
end of the word and in verbs in the intervocal position, e.g. bath - to bathe,
life - to live, breath - to breathe etc.
1. Stress interchange
2. Sound imitation
It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by imitating
different sounds. There are some semantic groups of words formed by
means of sound imitation
a) sounds produced by human beings, such as : to whisper, to giggle,
to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle etc.
b) sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, such as : to hiss, to
buzz, to bark, to moo, to twitter etc.
c) sounds produced by nature and objects, such as : to splash, to rus-
tle, to clatter, to bubble, to ding-dong, to tinkle etc.
The corresponding nouns are formed by means of conversion, e.g.
clang (of a bell), chatter (of children) etc.
3. Back formation
It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping
the final morpheme to form a new word. It is opposite to suffixation that is
why it is called back formation. At first it appeared in the language as a re-
sult of misunderstanding the structure of a borrowed word. Prof. Yartseva
explains this mistake by the influence of the whole system of the language
on separate words. E.g. it is typical of English to form nouns denoting the
agent of the action by adding the suffix -er to a verb stem (speak- speaker).
So when the French word «beggar» was borrowed into English the final
syllable «ar» was pronounced in the same way as the English -er and Eng-
lishmen formed the verb «to beg» by dropping the end of the noun. Other
examples of back formation are : to accreditate (from accreditation), to
56
Synopsis
Sound interchange is the way of word-building when some sounds
are changed to form a new word. It is non-productive in Modern English,
it was productive in Old English and can be met in other Indo-European
languages. Stress interchange can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of
Romanic origin : nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs on
the last syllable. Sound imitation is the way of word-building when a word
is formed by imitating different sounds. It is the way of word-building
when a word is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new
word. It is opposite to suffixation that is why it is called back formation.
1. Reduplication
Lecture 13
Phraseology
57
Synopsis
Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the
process of speech; they exist in the language as ready-made units. They
are compiled in special dictionaries. The same as words phraseological
units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it.
American and British lexicographers call such units «idioms». Phrase-
ological units can be classified according to the degree of motivation of
their meaning. This classification was suggested by acad. V.V. Vinogradov
for Russian phraseological units. He pointed out three types of phrase-
ological units: fusions, combinations and unities.
1. Phraseological synonyms
2. Phraseological antonyms
Lecture 14
Borrowings
Latin borrowings.
Among words of Romanic origin borrowed from Latin during the pe-
riod when the British Isles were a part of the Roman Empire, there are
such words as: street, port, wall etc. Many Latin and Greek words came
into English during the Adoption of Christianity in the 6-th century. At this
time the Latin alphabet was borrowed which ousted the Runic alphabet.
These borrowings are usually called classical borrowings. Here belong
Latin words: alter, cross, dean, and Greek words: church, angel, devil.
Latin and Greek borrowings appeared in English during the Middle
English period due to the Great Revival of Learning. These are mostly sci-
entific words because Latin was the language of science at the time. These
words were not used as frequently as the words of the Old English period,
therefore some of them were partly assimilated grammatically, e.g. for-
mula - formulae. Here also belong such words as: memorandum, mini-
mum, maximum, veto etc.
Classical borrowings continue to appear in Modern English as well.
Mostly they are words formed with the help of Latin and Greek mor-
phemes. There are quite a lot of them in medicine (appendicitis, aspirin),
in chemistry (acid, valency, alkali), in technique (engine, antenna, biplane,
airdrome), in politics (socialism, militarism), names of sciences (zoology,
physics). In philology most of terms are of Greek origin (homonym, archa-
ism, lexicography).
French borrowings
The influence of French on the English spelling.
The largest group of borrowings is French borrowings. Most of them
came into English during the Norman Conquest. French influenced not
only the vocabulary of English but also its spelling, because documents
were written by French scribes as the local population was mainly illiter-
ate, and the ruling class was French.
66
Italian borrowings.
Cultural and trade relations between Italy and England brought many
Italian words into English. The earliest Italian borrowing came into Eng-
lish in the 14-th century, it was the word «bank» /from the Italian «banko»
- «bench»/. Italian money-lenders and money-changers sat in the streets on
benches. When they suffered losses they turned over their benches, it was
called «banco rotta» from which the English word «bankrupt» originated.
In the 17-th century some geological terms were borrowed : volcano, gran-
ite, bronze, lava. At the same time some political terms were borrowed:
manifesto, bulletin.
But mostly Italian is famous by its influence in music and in all Indo-
European languages musical terms were borrowed from Italian : alto, bari-
tone, basso, tenor, falsetto, solo, duet, trio, quartet, quintet, opera, operette,
libretto, piano, violin.
67
Spanish borrowings.
3. Germanic borrowings
Scandinavian borrowings.
By the end of the Old English period English underwent a strong in-
fluence of Scandinavian due to the Scandinavian conquest of the British
Isles. Scandinavians belonged to the same group of peoples as Englishmen
and their languages had much in common. As the result of this conquest
there are about 700 borrowings from Scandinavian into English.
Scandinavians and Englishmen had the same way of life, their cul-
tural level was the same, they had much in common in their literature
therefore there were many words in these languages which were almost
identical, e.g.
ON OE Modern E
syster sweoster sister
fiscr fisc fish
felagi felawe fellow
However there were also many words in the two languages which
were different, and some of them were borrowed into English , such nouns
as: bull, cake, egg, kid, knife, skirt, window etc, such adjectives as: flat, ill,
happy, low, odd, ugly, wrong, such verbs as : call, die, guess, get, give,
scream and many others.
68
German borrowings.
There are some 800 words borrowed from German into English.
Some of them have classical roots, e.g. in some geological terms, such as:
cobalt, bismuth, zink, quarts, gneiss, wolfram. There were also words de-
noting objects used in everyday life which were borrowed from German:
iceberg, lobby, rucksack, Kindergarten etc.
In the period of the Second World War the following words were
borrowed: Volkssturm, Luftwaffe, SS-man, Bundeswehr, gestapo, gas
chamber and many others. After the Second World War the following
words were borrowed: Berufsverbot, Volkswagen etc.
Holland borrowings.
Holland and England have constant interrelations for many centuries
and more than 2000 Holland borrowings were borrowed into English.
Most of them are nautical terms and were mainly borrowed in the 14-th
century, such as: freight, skipper, pump, keel, dock, reef, deck, leak and
many others.
Russian borrowings.
There were constant contacts between England and Russia and they
borrowed words from one language into the other. Among early Russian
borrowings there are mainly words connected with trade relations, such as:
rouble, copeck, pood, sterlet, vodka, sable, and also words relating to na-
ture, such as: taiga, tundra, steppe etc.
69
Synopsis
Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English
throughout its history. More than two thirds of the English vocabulary is
borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French, Ital-
ian, and Spanish).
The degree of assimilation of borrowings depends on the following
factors: a) from what group of languages the word was borrowed, if the
word belongs to the same group of languages to which the borrowing lan-
guage belongs it is assimilated easier, b) in what way the word is bor-
rowed: orally or in the written form, words borrowed orally are assimi-
lated quicker, c) how often the borrowing is used in the language, the
greater the frequency of its usage, the quicker it is assimilated, d) how
long the word lives in the language, the longer it lives, the more assimi-
lated it is.
Lecture 15
British and American English are two main variants of English. Be-
sides them there are: Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other
variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and vo-
cabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people liv-
ing in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned, some
scientists H.N. Menken, for example tried to prove that there is a separate
American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book called «The
American Language». But most scientists, American ones including, criti-
cized his point of view because differences between the two variants are
not systematic.
American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th
century when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic
coast of the American continent. The language which they brought from
England was the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth
the First.
In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names for
places, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the American
continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local
population - Indians, such as :»chipmuck»an American squirrel, «igloo»
Escimo dome-shaped hut, «skunk» a black and white striped animal with a
bushy tail, «squaw» an Indian woman, »wigwam» an American Indian
tent made of skins and bark etc.
Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America,
and English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words
from their languages, e.g. from French the words «bureau»a writing desk,
71
BE AE BE AE
passage hall cross-roads intersection
72
BE AE BE AE
parcel package elastic rubber band
reel of cot- spool of
carrier bag shopping bag
ton thread
BE AE BE AE
tin can sweets candy
sweet bis-
cookie dry biscuit crackers
cuit
sweet dessert chips french fries
minced meat ground beef
BE AE BE AE
fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- ups cuffs
tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat
run/in a stock-
ladder braces suspenders
ing/
poloneck turtleneck waistcoat vest
BE AE BE AE
staff
barrister lawyer faculty
/university/
post-
graduate chap, fellow guy
graduate
73
BE AE BE AE
boot trunk bumpers fenders
a car an auto to hire a car to rent a car
2. Differences of spelling.
The reform in the English spelling for American English was intro-
duced by the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who pub-
lished his first dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were
adopted in the English spelling are as follows:
a) the deletion of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor,
favor;
b) the deletion of the second consonant in words with double conso-
nants, e.g. traveller, wagon,
74
3. Differences in pronunciation
In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in
the combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE before fricatives and
combinations with fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is pro-
nounced / / e.g. class, dance, answer, fast etc.
There are some differences in the position of the stress:
BE AE BE AE
add`ress adress la`boratory `laboratory
re`cess `recess re`search `research
in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess `excess
Synopsis
British and American English are two main variants of English. Be-
sides them there are: Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and
other variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar
and vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between peo-
ple living in these countries.
Some scientists, H.N. Menken, for example tried to prove that there is
a separate American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book
75
called «The American Language». But most scientists, American ones in-
cluding, criticized his point of view because differences between the two
variants are not systematic.
Lecture 16
Lexicography
gin of English words. It was the first scientific dictionary, it was compiled
for philologists.
In 1775 an English scientist compiled a famous explanatory diction-
ary. Its author was Samuel Johnson. Every word in his dictionary was il-
lustrated by examples from English literature; the meanings of words were
clear from the contexts in which they were used. The dictionary was a
great success and it influenced the development of lexicography in all
countries. The dictionary influenced normalization of the English vocabu-
lary. But at the same time it helped to preserve the English spelling in its
conservative form.
In 1858 one of the members of the English philological society Dr.
Trench raised the question of compiling a dictionary including all the
words existing in the language. The philological society adopted the deci-
sion to compile the dictionary and the work started. More than a thousand
people took part in collecting examples, and 26 years later in 1884 the first
volume was published. It contained words beginning with «A» and «B».
The last volume was published in 1928 that is 70 years after the decision to
compile it was adopted. The dictionary was called NED and contained 12
volumes.
In 1933 the dictionary was republished under the title «The Oxford
English Dictionary», because the work on the dictionary was conducted in
Oxford. This dictionary contained 13 volumes. As the dictionary was very
large and terribly expensive scientists continued their work and compiled
shorter editions of the dictionary: «A Shorter Oxford Dictionary» consist-
ing of two volumes. It had the same number of entries, but far less exam-
ples from literature. They also compiled «A Concise Oxford Dictionary»
consisting of one volume and including only modern words and no exam-
ples from literature.
The American lexicography began to develop much later, at the end
of the 18-th century. The most famous American English dictionary was
compiled by Noah Webster. He was an active statesman and public man
and he published his first dictionary in 1806. He went on with his work on
the dictionary and in 1828 he published a two-volume dictionary. He tried
to simplify the English spelling and transcription. He introduced the al-
phabetical system of transcription where he used letters and combinations
of letters instead of transcription signs. He denoted vowels in closed sylla-
bles by the corresponding vowels, e.g. / a/, /e/, / i/, / o/, /u/. He denoted
vowels in the open syllable by the same letters, but with a dash above
them, e.g. / a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. He denoted vowels in the position before /r/
77
as the same letters with two dots above them, e.g. / a/, /o/ and by the l etter
«e» with two dots above it for the combinations «er», «ir», «ur» because
they are pronounced identically. The same tendency is preserved for other
sounds: /u:/ is denoted by /oo/, /y/ is used for the sound /j/ etc.
2. Classification of dictionaries
All dictionaries are divided into linguistic and encyclopaedic diction-
aries. Encyclopaedic dictionaries describe different objects, phenomena,
people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionaries describe vo-
cabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, their usage. Words are
usually given in the alphabetical order.
Linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and specialized . To
general dictionaries two most widely used dictionaries belong: explanatory
and translation dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include dictionaries of
synonyms, antonyms, collocations, word-frequency, neologisms, slang,
pronouncing, etymological, phrase logical and others.
All types of dictionaries can be unilingual (excepting translation
ones) if the explanation is given in the same language, bilingual if the ex-
planation is given in another language and also they can be polylingual.
There are a lot of explanatory dictionaries (NED, SOD, COD, NID,
N.G. Wyld’s «Universal Dictionary» and others). In explanatory dictionar-
ies the entry consists of the spelling, transcription, grammatical forms,
meanings, examples, phraseology. Pronunciation is given either by means
of the International Transcription System or in British Phonetic Notation
which is different in each large dictionary, e.g. /o:/ can be indicated as /
aw/, /or/, /oh/, /o/, etc.
Translation dictionaries give words and their equivalents in the other
language. There are English-Russian dictionaries by I.R. Galperin, by
Y.Apresyan and others. Among general dictionaries we can also mention
Learner’s dictionaries. They began to appear in the second half of the 20-
th century. The most famous is «The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary» by
A.S. Hornby. It is a unilingual dictionary based on COD, for advanced for-
eign learners and language teachers. It gives data about grammatical and
lexical valency of words. Specialized dictionaries of synonyms are also
widely used; one of them is «A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Syn-
onymous Expressions» by R.Soule. Another famous one is «Webster’s
Dictionary of Synonyms». These are unilingual dictionaries. The best
known bilingual dictionary of synonyms is «English Synonyms» compiled
by Y. Apresyan.
78
Synopsis
The theory and practice of compiling dictionaries is called lexicog-
raphy.
All dictionaries are divided into linguistic and encyclopaedic dic-
tionaries. Encyclopaedic dictionaries describe different objects, phenom-
ena, people and give some data about them. Linguistic dictionaries de-
scribe vocabulary units, their semantic structure, their origin, their usage.
Words are usually given in the alphabetical order.
Linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and specialized. To
general dictionaries two most widely used dictionaries belong: explana-
tory and translation dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include diction-
aries of synonyms, antonyms, collocations, word-frequency, neologisms,
slang, pronouncing, etymological, phrase logical and others.
79
а) фонема
б) слово
с) морфема
д) предложение
8. Раздел языкознания, изучающий звуковую сторону языка называ-
ется:
а) фонология
б) фонетика
с) морфология
д) фонематика
9. Наука о слове – это:
а) грамматика
б) лексикология
с) языкознание
д) лексикография
10. что такое «билингвизм»
а) способность человека использовать два языка
б) способность человека использовать два языка
с) способность человека использовать много языков
11. Раздел языкознания, описывающий процессы порождения речи,
способы соединения слов в словосочетания и предложения – это:
а) синтаксис
б) морфология
с) словообразование
12. «полисемия» - это:
а) Наличие у одного и того же слова нескольких значений
82
Functional stylistics.
1.T h e Flower Girl.... Now you are talking! I thought you'd come off
it when you saw a chance of getting back a bit of what you chucked at me
last night.1 (Confidentially.) You'd had a drop in, hadn't you?
2.L i z a. What call would a woman with that strength in her have to
die of influenza? What become of her new straw hat that should have
come to me? Somebody pinched it; and what I say is, them as pinched it
done her in.
Mrs. Eynsfordhill. What does doing her in mean?
H i g g i n s (hastily). Oh, that’s the new small talk. To do a person in
means to kill them.
3. Higgins. I've picked up a girl. Mrs. Higgins. Does that mean that
some girl has picked you up?
86
Higgins. Not at all. I don't mean a love affair. Mrs. Higgins. What a
pity!
A young man, Freddie by name, had invited a pretty young girl April
to a riverside picnic. April could not come and sent her little sister to keep
Freddie company.
It was naturally with something of a pang that Fred die tied the boat
up at their destination. ... The only living thing for miles around appeared
to be an elderly horse which was taking a snack on the river-bank. In other
words, if only April had been there and the kid hadn't, they would have
been alone together with no human eye to intrude upon their sacred soli-
tude. They could have read Tennyson to each other till they were blue in
the face, and not a squawk from a soul.
b. Write out the informal words and word-groups which occur in the
above passage and explain why you think the author uses so many of them.
III. Read the following jokes. Write out the informal words and word-
groups and say whether they are colloquial, slang or dialect.
ing to work just laying the foundation stone and when I've been coming
home at neet they've been putting the folk out for back rent."
2. A driver and his family had gathered bluebells, primrose roots,
budding twigs and so on from a country lane. Just before they piled into
the car to move off Father approached a farmer who was standing nearby
and asked: "Can we take this road to Sheffield?" The farmer eyed the car
and its contents sourly, then: "Aye, you mun as well, you've takken nigh
everything else around here."
IV. Make up a list of literary learned words selected from the follow-
ing.
2. To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into
the fair And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer Full in the smile
of the blue firmament. Who is more happy, when, with heart's content, Fa-
88
tigued he sinks into some pleasant lair of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
(J. Keats)
V. Read the following jokes. Look up the italicized words in the dic-
tionary (unless you know their meanings) and prove that they are pro-
fessional terms. State to which sphere of human activity they belong.
On what is the humour based in each of the jokes?
1. A sailor was called into the witness-box to give evidence.
"Well, sir," said the lawyer, "do you know the plain tiff and defen-
dant?"
"I don't know the drift of them words," answered the sailor.
"What! Not know the meaning of "plaintiff" and "defendant?" con-
tinued the lawyer. "A pretty fellow you to come here as a witness! Can you
tell me where on board the ship the man struck the other?"
"Abaft the binnacle," said the sailor.
"Abaft the binnacle?" said the lawyer. "What do you mean by that?"
"A pretty fellow you," responded the sailor, "to come here as a law-
yer, and don't know what "abaft the binnacle" means!"
2. "Where did the car hit him?" asked the coroner. "At the junction of
the dorsal and cervical verte brae," replied the medical witness.
The burly foreman rose from his seat.
"Man and boy, I've lived in these parts for fifty years," he protested
ponderously, "and I have never heard of the place."
3. The doctor's new secretary, a conscientious girl, was puzzled by an
entry in the doctor's notes on an emergency case: "Shot in the lumbar re-
89
gion," it read. After a moment she brightened and, in the interest of clarity,
typed into the record: "Shot in the woods".
English borrowings
Daughter, woman, room, land, cow, moon, sea, red, spring, three, I,
lady, always, goose, bear, fox, lord, tree, nose, birch, grey, old, glad, daisy,
heart, hand, night, to eat, to see, to make.
II. Read the following jokes. Explain the etymology of the italicized
words. If necessary consult a dictionary.
"Pardon me, madam," he said, "but I can't hear." "You are not sup-
posed to — this is a private conversation," she hit back.
3. Sonny: Father, what do they make asphalt roads of?
Father: That makes a thousand question you've asked today. Do give
me a little peace. What do you think would happen if I had asked my father
so many questions?
Sonny: You might have learnt how to answer some of mine.
III. Identify the period of the following Latin borrowings; point out
the structural and semantic peculiarities of the words from each pe-
riod.
Pen, hors d'oeuvre, ballet, beet, butter, skin, take, cup, police, dis-
tance, monk, garage, phenomenon, wine, large, justice, lesson, criterion,
91
nice, coup d'etat, sequence, gay, port, river, loose, autumn, low, uncle, law,
convenient, lunar, experiment, skirt, bishop, regime, eau-de-Cologne.
VI. Explain the etymology of the italicized words; identify the stage of
assimilation.
1. Obviously, chere madame, the thief would take care to recover the
money before he returned the dog.
2. Heyward went to the kitchen for a glass of milk.
3. It was a commercial coup d'etat which sent Suprana tional (bank)
shares soaring on the New York and Lodon marketsIV. State the origin of
the following etymological doublets. Compare their meanings and explain
why they are called "etymological doublets".
1.captain— chief tan, canal— channel, cart — chart.
2.shirt — skirt, shriek — screech, shrew — screw.
3.gaol — jail, corpse — corps, travel — travail.
4.shadow — shade, off — of, dike — ditch.
1.1 led Mars (a dog) into the shadow of the building and looked
around me. 2. "Unreliable", he said, "those fancy locks. Always getting
jammed, aren't they?" 3. The children hung on to her skirts and asked to
play with them. 4. Nurse Lawson had been sent to the hostel to clean
aprons for all of us. 5. When the four o'clock race at Nottingham was won
by Hal Adair, cool channels of sweat ran down my back and sides. 6. The
lunch was late because Steven had had an extra big clinic at his London
92
IX. What is the difference between the words in the following pairs?
Analyze the examples and prove that etymological and stylistic char-
acteristics of words are closely inter related.
Word - building
I. The italicized words in the following jokes and extracts are formed
by derivation. Write them out in two columns:
II. Explain the etymology and productivity of the affixes given below.
Say what parts of speech can be formed with their help.
-ness, -ous, -ly, -y, -dom, -ish, -tion, -ed, -en, -ess, -or, -er, -hood, -
less, -ate, -ing, -al, -ful, un-, re-, im (in)-, dis-, over-, ab-
III. Write out from the book you are reading all the words with the
adjective-forming suffix -ly and not less than 20 words with the ho-
monymous adverb-forming suffix. Say what these suffixes have in
common and in what way they are differentiated.
IV. Deduce the meanings of the following derivatives from the mean-
ings of their constituents. Explain your deduction. What are the mean-
ings of the affixes in the words under examination?
Reddish, adj.; overwrite, v.; irregular, adj.; illegal, adj.; retype, v.;
old-womanish, adj.; disrespectable, adj.; inexpensive, adj.; unladylike,
adj.; disorganize, v.; renew, v.; eatable, adj.; overdress, v.; disinfection, п.;
snobbish, adj.; handful, n.; tallish, adj.; sandy, adj.; breakable, adj.; under-
fed, adj.
V. In the following examples the italicized words are formed from the
same root by means of different affixes. Translate these derivatives
into Russian and explain the difference in meaning.
95
l. a)Sallie is the most amusing person in the world — and Julia Pen-
dleton the least so. b) Ann was wary, but amused. 2. a) He had a charming
smile, al most womanish in sweetness, b) I have kept up with you through
Miss Pittypat but she gave me no information that you had developed
womanly sweetness. 3. a) I have been having a delightful and entertaining
conversation with my old chum, Lord Wisbeach. b) Thanks for your invi-
tation. I'd be delighted to come. 4. a) Sally thinks everything is funny —
even flunking — and Julia is bored at everything. She never makes the
slightest effort to be pleasant, b) — Why are you going to America? — To
make my fortune, I hope. — How pleased your father will be if you do. 5.
a) Long before he reached the brownstone house... the first fine care less
rapture of his mad outbreak had passed from Jerry Mitchell, leaving nerv-
ous apprehension in its place, b) If your nephew has really succeeded in
his experiments you should be awfully careful.
1. The clerk was eyeing him expectantly. 2. Under the cover of that
protective din he was able to toy with a steaming dish which his waiter had
96
brought. 3. An aggressive man battled his way to Stout's side. 4. Just a few
yards from the front door of the bar there was an elderly woman comforta-
bly seated on a chair, holding a hose linked to a tap and watering the
pavement. 5. What are you doing here? — I'm tidying your room. 6. My
seat was in the middle of a row. I could not leave without inconveniencing
a great many people, so I remained. 7. How on earth do you remember to
milk the cows and give pigs their dinner? 8. In a few minutes Papa stalked
off, correctly booted and well mufflered. 9. "Then it's practically impossi-
ble to steal any diamonds?" asked Mrs. Blair with as keen an air of disap-
pointment as though she had been journeying there for the express pur-
pose. 10. Ten minutes later I was speeding along in the direction of Cape
Town.
VIII. Which of the two words in the following pairs is made by con-
version? Deduce the meanings and use them in constructing sentences
of your own.
IX. Read the following joke, explain the type of word- building in the
italicized words and say everything you can about the way they were
made.
A successful old lawyer tells the following story about the beginning
of his professional life:
"I had just installed myself in my office, had put in a phone, when,
through the glass of my door I saw a shadow. It was doubtless my first cli-
ent to see me. Picture me, then, grabbing the nice, shiny receiver of my
new phone and plunging into an imaginary conversation. It ran something
like this:
'Yes, Mr. S!' I was saying as the stranger entered the office. 'I'll at-
tend to that corporation matter for you. Mr. J. had me on the phone this
morning and wanted me to settle a damage suit, but I had to put him off, as
I was too busy with other cases. But I'll manage to sand which your case in
between the others somehow. Yes. Yes. All right. Goodbye.'
Being sure, then, that I had duly impressed my prospective client, I
hung up the receiver and turned to him.
'Excuse me, sir,' the man said, 'but I'm from the telephone company.
I've come to connect your instrument.'"
Composition
I. Find compounds in the following jokes and extracts and write them
out in three columns: A. Neutral compounds. B. Morphological com-
pounds. C. Syntactic compounds.
98
1. Pat and Jack were in London for the first time. During a tour of the
shops in the West End they came to an expensive-looking barber's. "Ra-
zors!" exclaimed Pat. "You want one, don't you? There's a beauty there for
twenty-five bob,1 and there's another for thirty bob. Which would you
sooner have?" "A beard," said Jack, walking off.
2. The children were in the midst of a free-for-all.2 "Richard, who
started this?" asked the father as he came into the room. "Well, it all
started when David hit me back."
3. That night, as they cold-suppered together, Barmy cleared his
throat and looked across at Pongo with a sad sweet smile. "I mean to say,
it's no good worrying and trying to look ahead and plan and scheme and
weigh your every action, because you never can tell when doing such-and-
such won't make so-and-so happen — while, on the other hand, if you do
so-and-so it may just as easily lead to such-and-such."
4. When Conan Doyle arrived in Boston, he was at once recognized
by the cabman whose cab he engaged. When he was about to pay his fare,
the cabman said:
"If you please, sir, I should prefer a ticket to your lecture."
Conan Doyle laughed. "Tell me," he said, "how you knew who I was
and I'll give you tickets for your whole family."
"Thank you, sir," was the answer. "On the side of your traveling-bag
is your name."
5. An old tramp sailed up to the back door of a little English tavern
called The George and Dragon and beckoned to the landlady.
"I've had nothing to eat for three days," he said. "Would you spare an
old man a bite of dinner?"
99
"I should say not, you good-for-nothing loafer," said the landlady and
slammed the door in his face.
The tramp's face reappeared at the kitchen window. "I was just won-
derin'," he said, "if I could 'ave a word or two with George."
II. Identify the neutral compounds in the word combinations given be-
low and write them out in 3 columns: A. Simple neutral compounds.
B. Neutral derived com pounds. С Neutral contracted compounds.
IV. Arrange the compounds given below into two groups: A. Idio-
matic. B. Non-idiomatic. Say whether the semantic change within
idiomatic compounds is partial or total. Consult the dictionary if nec-
essary.
VI. Say whether the following lexical units are word- groups or com-
pounds. Apply the criteria outlined in the foregoing text to motivate
your answer.
Polysemy.
1.1 walked into Hyde Park, fell flat upon the grass and almost imme-
diately fell asleep. 2. a) 'Hello', I said, and thrust my hand through the bars,
whereon the dog became silent and licked me prodigiously, b) At the end
of the long bar, leaning against the counter was a slim pale individual
wearing a red bow-tie. 3. a) I began to search the flat, looking in drawers
102
and boxes to see if I could find a key. b) I tumbled with a sort of splash
upon the keys of a ghostly piano, c) Now the orchestra is playing yellow
cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher, d) Someone
with a positive manner, perhaps a detective, used the expression 'madman'
as he bent over Welson's body that afternoon, and the authority of his
voice set the key for the newspaper re port next morning. 4. a) Her mouth
opened crookedly half an inch, and she shot a few words at one like peb-
bles, b) Would you like me to come to the mouth of the river with you? 5.
a) I sat down for a few minutes with my head in my hands, until I heard
the phone taken up inside and the butler's voice calling a taxi, b) The min-
ute hand of the electric clock jumped on to figure twelve, and, simultane-
ously, the steeple of St. Mary's whose vicar always kept his clock by the
wireless began its feeble imitation of Big Ben.
III. Copy out the following pairs of words grouping together the
ones which represent the same meaning of each word. Explain the dif-
ferent meanings and the different us ages, giving reasons for your an-
swer. Use dictionaries if necessary.
smart, adj.
smart clothes, a smart answer, a smart house, a smart garden, a smart
repartee, a smart officer, a smart blow, a smart punishment
stubborn, adj.
a stubborn child, a stubborn look, a stubborn horse, stubborn resis-
tance, a stubborn fighting, a stubborn cough, stubborn depression
sound, adj.
103
1. "Where have you been for the last four years?" "At college taking
medicine."
"And did you finally get well?"
2. "Doctor, what should a woman take when she is run down?"
"The license number, madame, the license number."
3.Proctor (exceedingly angry): So you confess that this unfortunate
Freshman was carried to this frog pond and drenched. Now what part did
you take in this disgraceful affair?
Sophomore (meekly): The right leg, sir.
III. Explain the basis for the following jokes. Use the dictionary when
in doubt.
104
IV. Read the following jokes. Analyze the collocability of the italicized
words and state its relationship with the meaning.
1. L a d у (at party): Where is that pretty maid who was passing our
cocktails a while ago?
Hostess: Oh, you are looking for a drink? Lady: No, I'm looking for
my husband.
2. P e g g у: I want to help you, Dad. I shall get the dress-maker to
teach me to cut out gowns.
105
Dad: I don't want you to go that far, Peg, but you might cut out ciga-
rettes, and taxi bills.
3. There are cynics who claim that movies would be better if they
shot less films and more actors.
II. Read the following extract and explain the semantic processes by
which the italicized words acquired their meanings
III. Read the following extract and criticize the author's treatment of
the examples. Provide your own explanations.
walked nonchalantly past Hugo's house on the other side they were already
carrying out the Renoirs.
Homonyms
1. "Mine is a long and a sad tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice,
and sighing. "It is a long tail, certainly," said Alice, looking down with
wonder at the Mouse's tail; "but why do you call it sad?" 2. a) My seat was
in the middle of a row. b) "I say, you haven't had a row with Corky, have
you?" 3. a) Our Institute football team got a challenge to a match from the
University team and we accepted it. b) Somebody struck a match so that
we could see each other. 4. a) It was nearly December but the California
sun made a summer morning of the season, b) On the way home Crane no
longer drove like a nervous old maid. 5. a) She loved to dance and had
every right to expect the boy she was seeing almost every night in the
week to take her dancing at least once on the weekend, b) "That's right,"
she said. 6. a) Do you always forget to wind up your watch? b) Crane had
an old Ford without a top and it rattled so much and the wind made so
much noise. 7. a) In Brittany there was once a knight called Eliduc. b) She
looked up through the window at the night. 8. a) He had a funny round
face, b) — How does your house face? — It faces the South. 9. a) So he
didn't shake his hand because he didn't shake cowards' hands, see, and
somebody else was elected captain, b) Mel's plane had been shot down
into the sea. 10. a) He was a lean, wiry Yankee who knew which side his
108
experimental bread was buttered on. b) He had a wife of excellent and in-
fluential family, as finely bred as she was faithful to him.
1. "Are your father and mother in?" asked the visitor of the small boy
who opened the door.
"They was in," said the child, "but they is out." "They was in. They is
out. Where's your grammar?" "She's gone upstairs," said the boy, "for a
nap."
2. "Yes, Miss Janes, it's true my husband has left his job. He thought
it was better for him to enlist rather than to be called up. Anyway, he has
burned his bridges behind him."
"Oh, well, I shouldn't worry about that. They'll pro vide him with a
uniform in the Army," commented the neighbour.
3. "I got sick last night eating eggs." "Too bad."
"No, only one."
4. Husband and wife were enjoying a quiet evening by their fireside,
he deep in a book and she in a cross word puzzle. Suddenly she questioned
him:'
"Darling, what is a female sheep?"
"Ewe [ju:]," he replied. His further explanation hard ly soothed her.
5. "I spent last summer in a very pretty city in Switzerland."
"Berne?"
"No, I almost froze."
109
III. a. Find the homonyms proper for the following words; give their
Russian equivalents.
Heir, dye, cent, tale, sea, week, peace, sun, meat, steel, knight, sum,
coarse, write, sight, hare.
1. a) He should give the ball in your honour as the bride, b) The boy
was playing with a ball. 2. a) He wished he could explain about his left ear.
110
b) He left the sentence unfinished. 3. a) I wish you could stop lying. b) The
yellow mouse was still dead, lying as it had fallen in the crystal clear liq-
uid. 4. a) This time, he turned on the light, b) He wore $ 300 suits with
light ties and he was a man you would instinctively trust anywhere.
1. a) Eliduc's overlord was the king of Brittany, who was very fond
of the knight, b) "I haven't slept a wink all night, my eyes just wouldn't
111
shut." 2. a) The tiger did not spring, and so I am still alive, b) It was in a
saloon in Savannah, on a hot night in spring. 3. a) She left her fan at home,
b) John is a football fan. 4. a) "My lady, ... send him a belt or a ribbon —
or a ring. So see if it pleases him." b) Eliduc rode to the sea. 5. a) The
Thames in London is now only beautiful from certain viewpoints — from
Waterloo Bridge at dawn and at night from Cardinal's Wharf on the South
Bank. b) Perhaps the most wide-spread pleasure is the spectacle of the City
itself, its people, the bank messengers in their pink frock coats and top
hats. 6. a) The young page gave her good advice: no need to give up hope
so soon, b) The verb to knead means to mix and make into a mass, with the
hands or by machinery, especially, mix flour and water into dough for
making bread. 7. a) Ads in America are ubiquitous. They fill the newspa-
pers and cover the walls, they are on menu cards and in your daily post, b)
"Is that enough?" asked Fortune. "Just a few more, add a few more," said
the man. 8. a) The teacher told her pupils to write a composition about the
last football match, b) Give me a match, please. 9. a) I can answer that
question, b) He had no answer. 10. a) Does he really love me? b) Never
trust a great man's love.
Synonyms
1. a) While Kitty chatted gaily with her neighbours she watched Wal-
ter, b) Ashenden knew that R. had not sent for him to talk about weather
and crops, c) As he spoke he rose from the bed. d) He is said to be honest,
e) He'll tell you all about himself, f) If you wish to con verse with me de-
fine your terms. 2. a) She felt on a sudden a cold chill pass through her
limbs and she shivered, b) Her lips trembled so that she could hardly frame
the words, c) I was shaking like a leaf when I came here, d) He shuddered
with disgust. 3. a) He gave his wrist-watch a glance, b) Tommy gave her a
look out of the corner of his eye. c) But her abstract gaze scarcely noticed
the blue sea and the crowded shipping in the harbour, d) Let me have just
one peep at the letter. 4. a) Bessie gets up and walks towards the window,
b) He did nothing from morning till night but wander at random, c) I saw a
man strolling along, d) The men sauntered over to the next room. 5. a) I
began to meditate upon writer's life, b) You had better reflect a little, c)
The more he thought of it the less he liked the idea, d) I'm sure that a little
walk will keep you from breeding. 6. a) The next witness was Dr. Burnett,
113
a thin middle-aged man. b) The woman was tall with reddish curly hair
and held a scarlet kimono round her slender figure, c) The girl was slim
and dark, d) Studying him, Mrs. Page saw a spare young man with high
cheekbones and blue eyes. 7. a) There was a fat woman, who gasped when
she talked, b) She came in like a ship at full sail, an imposing creature, tall
and stout, c) She was twenty-seven perhaps, plump, and in a coarse fash-
ion pretty, d) He was a person of perhaps forty, red-faced, cheerful, thick.
8. a) Strange, unstable woman. It was rather embarrassing that she would
cry in a public gallery. b) It was a life that perhaps formed queer charac-
ters. c) I thought it odd that they should allow her to dance quite quietly in
Berlin, d) it is a veritable picture of an old country inn with low, quaint
rooms and latticed windows.
II. Give as many synonyms for the italicized words in the following
jokes as you can. If you do not know any of them consult the diction-
aries.1 Revise Ch. 10.
"I hear there's a new baby over at your house, William," said the
teacher. "I don't think he's new," re plied William. "The way he cries
shows he's had lots of experience."
A little boy who had been used to receiving his old brother's old toys
and clothes remarked: "Ma, will I have to marry his widow when he dies?"
A celebrated lawyer once said that the three most troublesome clients
he ever had were a young lady who wanted to be married, a married
114
woman who wanted a divorce, and an old maid who didn't know what she
wanted.
В о s s: You are twenty minutes late again. Don't you know what
time we start to work at this office? New Employee: No, sir, they are al-
ways at it when I get here.
Husband (shouting upstairs to his wife): For last time, Mary, are you
coming? Wife: Haven't I been telling you for the last hour that I'll be down
in a minute.
1.Old means having lived a long time, far advanced in years; elderly
means approaching old age, between middle and old age, past middle age,
but hardly old; aged is somewhat old, implies greater age than elderly; an-
cient is so old as to seem to belong to a past age.
2.To create means to make an object which was not previously in ex-
istence, to bring into existence by inspiration or the like; to manufacture is
to make by labour, often by machinery, especially on a large scale by some
industrial process; to produce is to work up from raw material and turn it
into economically useful and marketable goods.
115
IV. Consult the diagram on p. 189 and using the definitions of the fol-
lowing synonyms and the explanation given in the English-Russian
Synonymic Dictionary1 prove that synonyms possess a dual nature.
Draw the diagrams of meanings to illustrate your answer as in Exer-
cise IV.
1. a)At the little lady's command they all three smiled, b) George, on
hearing the story grinned. 2. a) Forsyte — the best palate in London. The
palate that in a sense had made his fortune — the fortunes of the cele-
brated tea men, Forsyte and Treffry... b) June, of course, had not seen this,
but, though not yet nine teen, she was notorious. 3. a) Noticing that they
were no longer alone, he turned and again began examining the lustre, b)
116
June had gone. James had said he would be lonely. 4. a) The child was
shivering with cold, b) The man shuddered with disgust. 5. a) I am sur-
prised at you. b) He was astonished at the woman's determination. 6. a) It's
impolite to stare at people like that, b) The little boys stood glaring at each
other ready to start a fight, c) The lovers stood gazing into each other's
eyes. 7. a) They produce great amounts of wine but this is not all they pro-
duce in that part, b) The story was fabricated from beginning to end. 8. a)
On hearing from Bosinney that his limit of twelve thousand pounds would
be exceeded by something like four hundred, he had grown white with an-
ger, b) "It's a damned shame," Andrew burst out, forgetting himself in a
sudden rush of indignation. 9. a) He was an aged man, but not yet old. b)
He was an elderly man at the time of his marriage. 10. The distance be-
tween the Earth and the Sun may be said to be immense; the distance be-
tween the poles is vast.
VII. Say why the italicized synonyms in the examples given below are
not interchangeable.
117
1. a) The little boys stood glaring at each other ready to start a fight,
b) The Greek myth runs that Narcissus gazed at his own reflection in the
water until he fell in love with it and died. 2. a) She is a very pretty Ameri-
can girl of twenty-two, with fair hair and blue eyes. b) She was a tall,
blonde woman, slender, and stately and beautiful. 3. a) You don't know
what a shock it was, Constance. I was knocked endways. I'd been brooding
over it ever since till I was afraid I should go mad. b) She'd evidently had
time to reflect because when I came again she asked me quite calmly what
it was exactly that I proposed. 4. a) She began to sob hysterically, b)
Mortimer looks from Marie Louise who is quietly weeping to Constance
with the utmost bewilderment. 5. a) You only want a car so that you can be
independent of me. b) She longed with all her heart for him to take her in
his arms so that she could lay her head on his breast. 6. a) People turned in
the street and stared at her with open mouths, b) R. got up and strolled
slowly about the room and when he passed the windows as though in idle
curiosity, peeped through the heavy crep curtains that covered them, and
then returning to his chair once more comfortably put his feet up. 7. a) He
was puzzled at the letter, b) I was astonished at seeing him so changed.
VIII. Classify the following synonyms in two columns accord ing to: a)
degree (intensity) of the referent; b) brief or lengthy duration of the
referent.
1."Why is it, Bob," asked George of a very stout friend, "that you fat
fellows are always good-natured?" "We have to be," answered Bob. "You
see, we can't either fight or run."
2.A teacher was giving a lesson on the weather idiosyncrasies of
March. "What is it," she asked, "that comes in like a lion and goes out like
a lamb?" And little Julia, in the back row, replied: "Father."
3."Just why do you want a married man to work for you, rather, than
119
a bachelor?" asked the curious chap. "Well," sighed the boss, "the married
men don't get so upset if I yell at them."
4.A kind-hearted English Vicar one day observed an old woman la-
boriously pushing a perambulator up a steep hill. He volunteered his assis-
tance and when they reached the top of the hill, said, in answer to her
thanks: "Oh, it's nothing at all. I'm delighted to do it. But as a little reward,
may I kiss the baby?" "Baby? Lord bless you, sir, it ain't no baby, it's the
old man's beer."
5."The cheek of that red cap! He glared at me as if I hadn't my pass."
"And what did you do?" "I glared back as if I had."
III. Find the dominant synonyms for the following italicized words
and prove that they can be used as substitutes. Are they interchange-
able? What is lost if we make the substitution?
IV. Find the euphemistic substitutes for the following words: die,
drunk, prison, mad, liar, devil, lavatory, god, eat, pregnant, stupid. Write
120
them out into two columns: A. euphemistic substitutes for social taboos. B.
euphemistic substitutes for superstitious taboos.
Good, adj.; deep, adj.; narrow, adj., clever, adj.; young, adj.; to love,
v.; to reject, v.; to give, v.; strong, adj.; to laugh, v.; joy, п.; evil, п.; up,
adv., slowly, adj.; black, adj.; sad, adj.; to die, v.; to open, v.; clean, adj.;
darkness, п.; big, adj.
VII. Find antonyms in the following jokes and extracts and describe
the resultant stylistic effect.
(After G. С Thornley)1
122
Phraseological units
II. Substitute phraseological units with the noun "heart" for the itali-
cized words. What is the difference between the two sentences?
1. He is not a man who shows his feelings openly. 2. She may seem
cold but she has true, kind feelings. 3.1 learned that piece of poetry by
memory. 4. When I think about my examination tomorrow I feel in de-
spair. 5. When I heard that strange cry in the darkness I was terribly
afraid. 6. It was the job I liked very much. 7.1 didn't win the prize but I'm
not discouraged.
III. Show that you understand the meaning of the follow ing phrase-
ological units by using each of them in a sentence.
1. Between the devil and the deep sea; 2. to have one's heart in one's
boots; 3. to have one's heart in the right place; 4. to wear one's heart on
one's sleeve; 5. in the blues; 6. once in a blue moon; 7. to swear black is
white; 8. out of the blue; 9. to talk till all is blue; 10. to talk oneself blue in
the face.
1. I'm feeling rather miserable today. 2. He spends all his time on bu-
reaucratic routine. 3. A thing like that happens very rarely. 4. You can
talk till you are tired of it but I shan't believe you. 5. The news was a great
shock to me. It came quite unexpectedly. 6.1 won't believe it unless I see it
in writing. 7. You can never believe what he says, he will swear anything
if it suits his purpose.
1."Now, my little boys and girls," said the teacher. "I want you to be
very still — so still that you can hear a pin drop." For a minute all was
still, and then a little boy shrieked out: "Let her drop."
2."You must be pretty strong," said Willie, aged six to the young
widow who had come to call on his mother.
"Strong? What makes you think so?" "Daddy said you can wrap any
man in town around your little finger."
3. T о m: What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Tim: Polish them!
4. Little Girl: Oh, Mr. Sprawler, do put on your skates and show me
the funny figures you can make.
Mr. Sprawler: My dear child, I'm only a begin ner. I can't make any
figures.
Little Girl: But Mother said you were skating yesterday and cut a ri-
diculous figure.
124
VI. Read the following jokes. Explain why the italicized groups of
words are not phraseological units.
Warning
Great Discovery
A scientist rushed into the ops room of the space mission control cen-
tre: "You know that new gigantic computer which was to be the brain of
the project? We have just made a great discovery!"
"What discovery?"
"It doesn't work!"
To catch at a straw; a big bug; the last drop; to build a castle in the
air; to weather the storm; to get the up per hand; to run for one's life; to do
wonders; to run a risk; just the other way about.
Нет худа без добра. В гостях хорошо, а дома лучше. С глаз до-
лой, из сердца вон. Дуракам закон не писан. Он пороху не выдумает.
Слезами горю не по можешь. Поспешишь — людей насмешишь.
Взялся за гуж, не говори, что не дюж.
XI. Give the proverbs from which the following phraseological units
have developed.
If you feel under the weather, you don't feel very well, and if you
make heavy weather of something, you make it more difficult than it needs
to be. Someone with a sunny disposition is always cheerful and happy, but
a person with his head in the clouds does not pay much attention to what is
going on around him. To have a place in the sun is to enjoy a favourable
position, and to go everywhere under the sun is to travel all over the world.
Someone who is under a cloud is in disgrace or under suspicion, and a per-
son who is snowed under with work is overwhelmed with it. When you
break the ice, you get to know someone better, but if you cut no ice with
someone, you have no effect on them. To keep something on ice or in cold
storage is to reserve it for the future, and to skate on thin ice is to be in a
dangerous or risky situation. If some thing is in the wind, it is being se-
cretly planned, and if you have the wind up, you became frightened. To
throw caution to the winds is to abandon it and act recklessly, but to see
how the wind blows is to find out how people are thinking before you act.
If you take the wind out of someone's sails, you gain the advantage over
him or her by saying or doing something first. To save something for a
rainy day is to put some money aside for when it is needed. To do some-
thing come rain or shine is to do it whatever the circumstances. Finally,
everyone knows that it never rains but it pours, that problems and difficul-
ties always come together. But every cloud has a silver lining — every
misfortune has a good side.
127
II. a. Read the following text. Compile a list of the phraseological units
used in it.1 Classify them according to Academician Vinogradov's clas-
sification system for phraseological units.
1. If I pay my rent, I won't have any money to buy food. I'm between.
2. It's no use grumbling about your problems — we're all . 3. He's sold his
house and his business to go to Australia, so he's really. 4. She prefers not
to rely on anyone else, she likes to 5. They didn't know whether to get
married or not, but they finally. 6. You can't expect everything to go right
all the time, you must learn to. to take the rough with the smooth; between
the devil and the deep sea; to take the plunge; in the same boat; to paddle
one's own canoe; to burn one's boats
A. as black as B. as a lion
as green as a lamb
as cold as a mouse
as white as a cat
as old as a kitten
as changeable as an eel
as safe as an owl
as brown as a wolf
as clean as a cricket
as dull as a bee
V. Complete the following sentences, using the words from the list be-
low. Translate the phraseological units into Russian.
129
1. She was so embarrassed that she went as red as a . 2.1 can carry
the suitcase easily, it's as light as a . 3. The room is as warm as . 4. My sis-
ter does so many things that she's always as busy as a . 5. He is as proud as
a of his new car. 6. It's as cold as in that office. 7. Once he's made up his
mind, he'll never change it, he's as stubborn as a . 8. She was so frightened
that her face went as white as a . 9. The postman always calls at 8 o'clock,
he's as regular as . 10. However much he eats, he's always as thin as a . ice,
beetroot, mule, feather, sheet, toast, clockwork, bee, rail, peacock
VI. In the examples given below identify the phraseological units and
classify them on the semantic principle.
American English.
130
I. Read the following extract and give more examples il lustrating the
same group of Americanisms. What do we call this group?
II. Read the following extract. What are the three possible ways of
creating names for new species of plants and animals and new features
of the landscape? Give more examples of the same. What do we call
this group of Americanisms?
Q:... I think that this time we ought to give some attention to those
parts of the language where the differences in the vocabulary are much
more noticeable.
M: Yes, we should. First, there are what we might call the 'realia' —
the real things — the actual things between the American and British va-
rieties of English.
We refer to in the two varieties of the language. For ex ample, the
flora and fauna — that is to say the plants and animals of England and of
131
the United States are by no means the same, nor is the landscape, the to-
pography.
Q: All this must have created a big problem for those early settlers,
mustn't it?
M: It surely did. From the very moment they set foot on American
soil, they had to supply names for these new species of plants and animals,
the new features of landscape that they encountered. At times they made
up new words such as mockingbird, rattlesnake, egg plant. And then occa-
sionally they used perfectly familiar terms but to refer to different things.
In the United States, for example, the robin is a rather large bird, a type of
thrush.
Q: Yes, whereas with us it is a tiny little red-breasted bird.
M: And a warbler, isn't it?
Q: Yes.
M: It sings. Corn is what you call maize. We never use it for grain in
general, or for wheat in particular.
Q: Or oats. Well, wouldn't foreign borrowings also be important in a
situation like this?
M: Oh, they were indeed. A good many words, for ex ample, were
adopted from the American Indian languages — hickory, a kind of tree,
squash, a vegetable; moccasin, a kind of footwear. We got caribou and
prairie from the early French settlers. The Spanish gave us canyon and
bronco.
III. Read the following passage. Draw up a list of terms de noting the
University teaching staff in Great Britain and in the USA. What are
the corresponding Russian terms?
VIII. Translate the following words giving both the British and
American variant.
IX. Give the synonyms for the following American shorten ings. De-
scribe the words from the stylistic point of view.
Gym, mo, circs, auto, perm, cert, n. g., b. f., g. m., dorm.
134
X. Look through the following list of words and state what spelling
norms are accepted in the USA and Great Britain so far as the given
words are concerned.
1. favour — favor 2. defence — defense honour — honor practice —
practice colour — color offence — offense 3. centre — center 4. marvel-
lous — marvelous metre — meter woollen — woolen fibre — fiber jewel-
lery — jewelry 5. to enfold — to infold 6. cheque — check to encrust —
to incrust catalogue-catalog to empanel — to impanel programme — pro-
gram 7. Judgement — judgment abridgement — abridgment acknowl-
edgement — acknowledgment
XI. Write the following words according to the British norms of spell-
ing.
Judgment, practice, instill, color, flavor, check, program, woolen,
humor, theater.
XII. Write the following words according to the American norms of
spelling.
Honour, labour, centre, metre, defence, offence, catalogue, abridge-
ment, gramm, enfold, marvellous.
13.What are the two major criteria for distinguishing between phraseologi-
cal units and free word- groups?
14.How do proverbs differ from phraseological units?
15.Can proverbs be regarded as a subdivision of phraseological
units? Give reasons for your answer.
16.To which parts of speech do most antonyms be long? How do you
account for this?
17.Discuss the merits of Professor A. V. Koonin's system for the
classification of phraseological units. What is it based on? Do you find any
points in the classification system which are open to question?
18.Why can't homonyms be regarded as expressive means of the lan-
guage?
19.What are the distinctive features of the classification of homo-
nyms suggested by Professor A. I. Smirnitsky
20.What types of transference can you name?
21.What are the main sources of homonyms? Illustrate your answer
with examples.
22.What is the essential difference between homonymy and polysemy?
What do they have in common? Illustrate your answer with examples
23.What minor processes of word-building do you know? Describe
them and illustrate your answer with examples.
24.What are the two processes of making shortenings? Explain the
productivity of this way of word- building and stylistic characteristics of
shortened words. Give examples.
25. What types of synonyms were defined in Academician V. V. Vi-
nogradov's classification system? Which aspects of this classification are
139
open to question?
26.What is the modern approach to classifying synonyms? Illustrate
this classification with examples.
27. What are the principal productive ways of word- building in
English?
28. What are the main kinds of informal words? Give a brief de-
scription of each group.
29. Where are formal words used?
30. What are the principal characteristics of archaic words?
1. Lexicology branches
2. Links of Lexicology with other branches of linguistics
3. Vulgarisms
4. Jargonisms
5. Professional terminology
6. Basic vocabulary
7. Meaning and context
8. Polysemy and homonyms
9. Distinction between homonymy and Polysemy
10. Homonymic nests, groups and series
11. Synonymic nests
12. Synonymic groups
13. Synonymic series
140
1940
7 Ogden C.K., Richards Meaning of meaning Ldn, 1980
L.E
8 Partridge E. The words of words Ldn, 1948
9 Pei M. The study of language Ldn, 1956
10 Rayevskaya N.M. English lexicology Kiev , 1957
11 Smith L.P. English idioms Ldn, 1922