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with the negative or vica versa, e.g. not bad, no coward etc.
PHRASEOLOGY
The vocabulary of a language is enriched not only by words but also by
phraseological units. Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be
made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made
units. They are compiled in special dictionaries. The same as words
phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as
one part of it. American and British lexicographers call such units
«idioms». We can mention such dictionaries as: L.Smith «Words and Idioms»,
V.Collins «A Book of English Idioms» etc. In these dictionaries we can find
words, peculiar in their semantics (idiomatic), side by side with word-
groups and sentences. In these dictionaries they are arranged, as a rule,
into different semantic groups.
Phraseological units can be classified according to the ways they are
formed, according to the degree of the motivation of their meaning,
according to their structure and according to their part-of-speech meaning.
WAYS OF FORMING PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
A.V. Koonin classified phraseological units according to the way they are
formed. He pointed out primary and secondary ways of forming phraseological
units.
Primary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a unit is
formed on the basis of a free word-group :
a) Most productive in Modern English is the formation of phraseological
units by means of transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups,
e.g. in cosmic technique we can point out the following phrases: «launching
pad» in its terminological meaning is «стартовая площадка» , in its
transferred meaning - «отправной пункт», «to link up» - «cтыковаться,
стыковать космические корабли» in its tranformed meaning it means
-«знакомиться»;
b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups
by transforming their meaning, e.g. «granny farm» - «пансионат для
престарелых», «Troyan horse» - «компьюторная программа, преднамеренно
составленная для повреждения компьютера»;
c) phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration , e.g. «a
sad sack» - «несчастный случай», «culture vulture» - «человек,
интересующийся искусством», «fudge and nudge» - «уклончивость».
d) they can be formed by means of expressiveness, especially it is
characteristic for forming interjections, e.g. «My aunt!», « Hear, hear !»
etc
e) they can be formed by means of distorting a word group, e.g. «odds and
ends» was formed from «odd ends»,
f) they can be formed by using archaisms, e.g. «in brown study» means «in
gloomy meditation» where both components preserve their archaic meanings,
g) they can be formed by using a sentence in a different sphere of life,
e.g. «that cock won’t fight» can be used as a free word-group when it is
used in sports (cock fighting ), it becomes a phraseological unit when it
is used in everyday life, because it is used metaphorically,
h) they can be formed when we use some unreal image, e.g. «to have
butterflies in the stomach» - «испытывать волнение», «to have green
fingers» - »преуспевать как садовод-любитель» etc.
i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or polititions in
everyday life, e.g. «corridors of power» (Snow), «American dream» (Alby)
«locust years» (Churchil) , «the winds of change» (Mc Millan).
Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a
phraseological unit is formed on the basis of another phraseological unit;
they are:
a) conversion, e.g. «to vote with one’s feet» was converted into «vote
with one’s f eet»;
b) changing the grammar form, e.g. «Make hay while the sun shines» is
transferred into a verbal phrase - «to make hay while the sun shines»;
c) analogy, e.g. «Curiosity killed the cat» was transferred into «Care
killed the cat»;
d) contrast, e.g. «cold surgery» - «a planned before operation» was
formed by contrasting it with «acute surgery», «thin cat» - «a poor person»
was formed by contrasting it with «fat cat»;
e) shortening of proverbs or sayings e.g. from the proverb «You can’t
make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear» by means of clipping the middle of it
the phraseological unit «to make a sow’s ear» was formed with the meaning
«ошибаться».
f) borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either as
translation loans, e.g. « living space» (German), « to take the bull by the
horns» ( Latin) or by means of phonetic borrowings «meche blanche»
(French), «corpse d’elite» (French), «sotto voce» (Italian) etc.
Phonetic borrowings among phraseological units refer to the bookish style
and are not used very often.
SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Phraseological units can be classified according to the degree of
motivation of their meaning. This classification was suggested by acad.
V.V. Vinogradov for Russian phraseological units. He pointed out three
types of phraseological units:
a) fusions where the degree of motivation is very low, we cannot guess
the meaning of the whole from the meanings of its components, they are
highly idiomatic and cannot be translated word for word into other
languages, e.g. on Shank’s mare - (on foot), at sixes and sevens - (in a
mess) etc;
b) unities where the meaning of the whole can be guessed from the
meanings of its components, but it is transferred (metaphorical or
metonymical), e.g. to play the first fiddle ( to be a leader in something),
old salt (experienced sailor) etc;
c) collocations where words are combined in their original meaning but
their combinations are different in different languages, e.g. cash and
carry - (self-service shop), in a big way (in great degree) etc.
STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classification of
phraseological units, comparing them with words. He points out one-top
units which he compares with derived words because derived words have only
one root morpheme. He points out two-top units which he compares with
compound words because in compound words we usually have two root
morphemes.
Among one-top units he points out three structural types;
a) units of the type «to give up» (verb + postposition type), e.g. to art
up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to sandwich in etc.;
b) units of the type «to be tired» . Some of these units remind the
Passive Voice in their structure but they have different prepositons with
them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions «by» or
«with», e.g. to be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at etc.
There are also units in this type which remind free word-groups of the type
«to be young», e.g. to be akin to, to be aware of etc. The difference
between them is that the adjective «young» can be used as an attribute and
as a predicative in a sentence, while the nominal component in such units
can act only as a predicative. In these units the verb is the grammar
centre and the second component is the semantic centre;
c) prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are
equivalents of unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs ,
that is why they have no grammar centre, their semantic centre is the
nominal part, e.g. on the doorstep (quite near), on the nose (exactly), in
the course of, on the stroke of, in time, on the point of etc. In the
course of time such units can become words, e.g. tomorrow, instead etc.
Among two-top units A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structural
types:
a) attributive-nominal such as: a month of Sundays, grey matter, a
millstone round one’s neck and many others. Units of this type are noun
equivalents and can be partly or perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic
units (phrasisms) sometimes the first component is idiomatic, e.g. high
road, in other cases the second component is idiomatic, e.g. first night.
In many cases both components are idiomatic, e.g. red tape, blind alley,
bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others.
b) verb-nominal phraseological units, e.g. to read between the lines , to
speak BBC, to sweep under the carpet etc. The grammar centre of such units
is the verb, the semantic centre in many cases is the nominal component,
e.g. to fall in love. In some units the verb is both the grammar and the
semantic centre, e.g. not to know the ropes. These units can be perfectly
idiomatic as well, e.g. to burn one’s boats,to vote with one’s feet, to
take to the cleaners’ etc.
Very close to such units are word-groups of the type to have a glance, to
have a smoke. These units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a
special syntactical combination, a kind of aspect.
c) phraseological repetitions, such as : now or never, part and parcel ,
country and western etc. Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g. ups and
downs , back and forth; often they are formed by means of alliteration, e.g
cakes and ale, as busy as a bee. Components in repetitions are joined by
means of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives
and have no grammar centre. They can also be partly or perfectly idiomatic,
e.g. cool as a cucumber (partly), bread and butter (perfectly).
Phraseological units the same as compound words can have more than two
tops (stems in compound words), e.g. to take a back seat, a peg to hang a
thing on, lock, stock and barrel, to be a shaddow of one’s own self, at
one’s own sweet will.
SYNTACTICAL CLASSIFICATION
OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
Phraseological units can be clasified as parts of speech. This
classification was suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following
groups:
a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g.
bullet train, latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets,
b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to
break the log-jam, to get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to
nose out , to make headlines,
c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose,
dull as lead ,
d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like
a dream , like a dog with two tails,
e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke
of ,
f) interjection phraseological units, e.g. «Catch me!», «Well, I never!»
etc.
In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents,
proverbs, sayings and quatations, e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes
him tick», » I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. «Too many
cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g.
«Where there is a will there is a way».
BORROWINGS
Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English
throughout its history More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are
borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French,
Italian, Spanish). Borrowed words are different from native ones by their
phonetic structure, by their morphological structure and also by their
grammatical forms. It is also characterisitic of borrowings to be non-
motivated semantically.
English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other
countries, that is why it is very rich in borrowings. The Roman invasion,
the adoption of Cristianity, Scandinavian and Norman conquests of the
British Isles, the development of British colonialism and trade and
cultural relations served to increase immensely the English vocabulary. The
majority of these borrowings are fully assimilated in English in their
pronunciation, grammar, spelling and can be hardly distinguished from
native words.
English continues to take in foreign words , but now the quantity of
borrowings is not so abundunt as it was before. All the more so, English
now has become a «giving» language, it has become Lingva franca of the
twentieth century.
Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria:
a) according to the aspect which is borrowed,
b) according to the degree of assimilation,
c) according to the language from which the word was borrowed.
(In this classification only the main languages from which words were
borrowed into English are described, such as Latin, French, Italian.
Spanish, German and Russian.)
CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS ACCORDING TO THE BORROWED ASPECT
There are the following groups: phonetic borrowings, translation loans,
semantic borrowings, morphemic borrowings.
Phonetic borrowings are most characteristic in all languages, they are
called loan words proper. Words are borrowed with their spelling,
pronunciation and meaning. Then they undergo assimilation, each sound in
the borrowed word is substituted by the corresponding sound of the
borrowing language. In some cases the spelling is changed. The structure of
the word can also be changed. The position of the stress is very often
influenced by the phonetic system of the borrowing language. The paradigm
of the word, and sometimes the meaning of the borrowed word are also
changed. Such words as: labour, travel, table, chair, people are phonetic
borrowings from French; apparatchik, nomenklatura, sputnik are phonetic
borrowings from Russian; bank, soprano, duet are phonetic borrowings from
Italian etc.
Translation loans are word-for-word (or morpheme-for-morpheme )
translations of some foreign words or expressions. In such cases the notion
is borrowed from a foreign language but it is expressed by native lexical
units, «to take the bull by the horns» (Latin), «fair sex» ( French),
«living space» (German) etc. Some translation loans appeared in English
from Latin already in the Old English period, e.g. Sunday (solis dies).
There are translation loans from the languages of Indians, such as: «pipe
of peace», «pale-faced», from German «masterpiece», «homesickness»,
«superman».
Semantic borrowings are such units when a new meaning of the unit
existing in the language is borrowed. It can happen when we have two
relative languages which have common words with different meanings, e.g.
there are semantic borrowings between Scandinavian and English, such as the
meaning «to live» for the word «to dwell’ which in Old English had the
meaning «to wander». Or else the meaning «дар» , «подарок» for the word
«gift» which in Old English had the meaning «выкуп за жену».
Semantic borrowing can appear when an English word was borrowed into some
other language, developed there a new meaning and this new meaning was
borrowed back into English, e.g. «brigade» was borrowed into Russian and
formed the meaning «a working collective«,»бригада». This meaning was
borrowed back into English as a Russian borrowing. The same is true of the
English word «pioneer».
Morphemic borrowings are borrowings of affixes which occur in the
language when many words with identical affixes are borrowed from one
language into another, so that the morphemic structure of borrowed words
becomes familiar to the people speaking the borrowing language, e.g. we can
find a lot of Romanic affixes in the English word-building system, that is
why there are a lot of words - hybrids in English where different morphemes
have different origin, e.g. «goddess», «beautiful» etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS ACCORDING TO THE DEGREE OF ASSIMILATION
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 language
belongs it is assimilated easier, b) in what way the word is borrowed:
orally or in the written form, words borrowed orally are assimilated
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 assimilated it
is.
Accordingly borrowings are subdivided into: completely assimilated,
partly assimilated and non-assimilated (barbarisms).
Completely assimilated borrowings are not felt as foreign words in the
language, cf the French word «sport» and the native word «start».
Completely assimilated verbs belong to regular verbs, e.g. correct
-corrected. Completely assimilated nouns form their plural by means of s-
inflexion, e.g. gate- gates. In completely assimilated French words the
stress has been shifted from the last syllable to the last but one.
Semantic assimilation of borrowed words depends on the words existing in
the borrowing language, as a rule, a borrowed word does not bring all its
meanings into the borrowing language, if it is polysemantic, e.g. the
Russian borrowing «sputnik» is used in English only in one of its meanings.
Partly assimilated borrowings are subdivided into the following groups:
a) borrowings non-assimilated semantically, because they denote objects and
notions peculiar to the country from the language of which they were
borrowed, e.g. sari, sombrero, taiga, kvass etc.
b) borrowings non-assimilated grammatically, e.g. nouns borrowed from
Latin and Greek retain their plural forms (bacillus - bacilli, phenomenon -
phenomena, datum -data, genius - genii etc.
c) borrowings non-assimilated phonetically. Here belong words with the
initial sounds /v/ and /z/, e.g. voice, zero. In native words these voiced
consonants are used only in the intervocal position as allophones of sounds
/f/ and /s/ ( loss - lose, life - live ). Some Scandinavian borrowings have
consonants and combinations of consonants which were not palatalized, e.g.
/sk/ in the words: sky, skate, ski etc (in native words we have the
palatalized sounds denoted by the digraph «sh», e.g. shirt); sounds /k/ and
/g/ before front vowels are not palatalized e.g. girl, get, give, kid,
kill, kettle. In native words we have palatalization , e.g. German, child.
Some French borrowings have retained their stress on the last syllable,
e.g. police, cartoon. Some French borrowings retain special combinations of
sounds, e.g. /a:3/ in the words : camouflage, bourgeois, some of them
retain the combination of sounds /wa:/ in the words: memoir, boulevard.
d) borrowings can be partly assimilated graphically, e.g. in Greak
borrowings «y» can be spelled in the middle of the word (symbol, synonym),
«ph» denotes the sound /f/ (phoneme, morpheme), «ch» denotes the sound
/k/(chemistry, chaos),«ps» denotes the sound /s/ (psychology).
Latin borrowings retain their polisyllabic structure, have double
consonants, as a rule, the final consonant of the prefix is assimilated
with the initial consonant of the stem, (accompany, affirmative).
French borrowings which came into English after 1650 retain their
spelling, e.g. consonants «p», «t», «s» are not pronounced at the end of
the word (buffet, coup, debris), Specifically French combination of letters
«eau» /ou/ can be found in the borrowings : beau, chateau, troussaeu. Some
of digraphs retain their French pronunciation: ‘ch’ is pronounced as /sh/,
e.g. chic, parachute, ‘qu’ is pronounced as /k/ e.g. bouquet, «ou» is
pronounced as /u:/, e.g. rouge; some letters retain their French
pronunciation, e.g. «i» is pronounced as /i:/, e,g, chic, machine; «g» is
pronounced as /3/, e.g. rouge.
Modern German borrowings also have some peculiarities in their spelling:
common nouns are spelled with a capital letter e.g. Autobahn, Lebensraum;
some vowels and digraphs retain their German pronunciation, e.g. «a» is
pronounced as /a:/ (Dictat), «u» is pronounced as /u:/ (Kuchen), «au» is
pronounced as /au/ (Hausfrau), «ei» is pronounced as /ai/ (Reich); some
consonants are also pronounced in the German way, e.g. «s» before a vowel
is pronounced as /z/ (Sitskrieg), «v» is pronounced as /f/ (Volkswagen),
«w» is pronounced as /v/ , «ch» is pronounced as /h/ (Kuchen).
Non-assimilated borrowings (barbarisms) are borrowings which are used by
Englishmen rather seldom and are non-assimilated, e.g. addio (Italian),
tete-a-tete (French), dolce vita (Italian), duende (Spanish), an homme a
femme (French), gonzo (Italian) etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS ACCORDING
TO THE LANGUAGE FROM WHICH THEY WERE BORROWED
ROMANIC BORROWINGS
Latin borrowings.
Among words of Romanic origin borrowed from Latin during the period 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, anthem.
Latin and Greek borrowings appeared in English during the Middle English
period due to the Great Revival of Learning. These are mostly scientific
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. formula
- formulae. Here also belong such words as: memorandum, minimum, 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 morphemes. 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, archaism,
lexicography).
French borrowings
The influence of French on the English spelling.
The largest group of borrowings are 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 illiterate, and the
ruling class was French. Runic letters remaining in English after the Latin
alphabet was borrowed were substituted by Latin letters and combinations of
letters, e.g. «v» was introduced for the voiced consonant /v/ instead of
«f» in the intervocal position /lufian - love/, the digraph «ch» was
introduced to denote the sound /ch/ instead of the letter «c» / chest/
before front vowels where it had been palatalized, the digraph «sh» was
introduced instead of the combination «sc» to denote the sound /sh/ /ship/,
the digraph «th» was introduced instead of the Runic letters «0» and « »
/this, thing/, the letter «y» was introduced instead of the Runic letter
«3» to denote the sound /j/ /yet/, the digraph «qu» substituted the
combination «cw» to denote the combination of sounds /kw/ /queen/, the
digraph «ou» was introduced to denote the sound /u:/ /house/ (The sound
/u:/ was later on diphthongized and is pronounced /au/ in native words and
fully assimilated borrowings). As it was difficult for French scribes to
copy English texts they substituted the letter «u» before «v», «m», «n» and
the digraph «th» by the letter «o» to escape the combination of many
vertical lines /«sunu» - «son», luvu» - «love»/.
Borrowing of French words.
There are the following semantic groups of French borrowings:
a) words relating to government : administer, empire, state, government;
b) words relating to military affairs: army, war, banner, soldier,
battle;
c) words relating to jury: advocate, petition, inquest, sentence,
barrister;
d) words relating to fashion: luxury, coat, collar, lace, pleat,
embroidery;
e) words relating to jewelry: topaz, emerald, ruby, pearl ;
f) words relating to food and cooking: lunch, dinner, appetite, to roast,
to stew.
Words were borrowed from French into English after 1650, mainly through
French literature, but they were not as numerous and many of them are not
completely assimilated. There are the following semantic groups of these
borrowings:
a) words relating to literature and music: belle-lettres, conservatorie,
brochure, nuance, piruette, vaudeville;
b) words relating to military affairs: corps, echelon, fuselage,
manouvre;
c) words relating to buildings and furniture: entresol, chateau, bureau;
d) words relating to food and cooking: ragout, cuisine.
Italian borrowings.
Cultural and trade relations between Italy and England brought many
Italian words into English. The earliest Italian borrowing came into
English 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, granite, 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,
baritone, basso, tenor, falsetto, solo, duet, trio, quartet, quintet,
opera, operette, libretto, piano, violin.
Among the 20-th century Italian borrowings we can mention : gazette,
incognitto, autostrada, fiasco, fascist, diletante, grotesque, graffitto
etc.
Spanish borrowings.
Spanish borrowings came into English mainly through its American variant.
There are the following semantic groups of them:
a) trade terms: cargo, embargo;
b) names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, habanera,
guitar;
c) names of vegetables and fruit: tomato, potato, tobbaco, cocoa, banana,
ananas, apricot etc.
GERMANIC BORROWINGS
English belongs to the Germanic group of languages and there are
borrowings from Scandinavian, German and Holland languages, though their
number is much less than borrowings from Romanic languages.
Scandinavian borrowings.
By the end of the Old English period English underwent a strong influence
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 cultural
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.
Even some pronouns and connective words were borrowed which happens very
seldom, such as : same, both, till, fro, though, and pronominal forms with
«th»: they, them, their.
Scandinavian influenced the development of phrasal verbs which did not
exist in Old English, at the same time some prefixed verbs came out of
usage, e.g. ofniman, beniman. Phrasal verbs are now highly productive in
English /take off, give in etc/.
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 denoting
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.
Besides two main groups of borrowings (Romanic and Germanic) there are
also borrowings from a lot of other languages. We shall speak about Russian
borrowings, borrowings from the language which belongs to Slavoninc
languages.
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 nature,
such as: taiga, tundra, steppe etc.
There is also a large group of Russian borrowings which came into English
through Rushian literature of the 19-th century, such as : Narodnik,
moujik, duma, zemstvo. volost, ukase etc, and also words which were formed
in Russian with Latin roots, such as: nihilist, intelligenzia, Decembrist
etc.
After the Great October Revolution many new words appeared in Russian
connected with the new political system, new culture, and many of them were
borrowed into English, such as: collectivization. udarnik, Komsomol etc and
also translation loans, such as: shock worker, collective farm, five-year
plan etc.
One more group of Russian borrowings is connected with perestroika, such
as: glasnost, nomenklatura, apparatchik etc.
ETYMOLOGICAL DOUBLETS
Sometimes a word is borrowed twice from the same language. As the result,
we have two different words with different spellings and meanings but
historically they come back to one and the same word. Such words are called
etymological doublets. In English there are some groups of them:
Latino-French doublets.
Latin English from Latin English from French
uncia inch ounce
moneta mint money
camera camera chamber
Franco-French doublets
doublets borrowed from different dialects of French.
Norman Paris
canal channel
captain chieftain
catch chaise
Scandinavian-English doublets
Scandinavian English
skirt shirt
scabby shabby
There are also etymological doublets which were borrowed from the same
language during different historical periods, such as French doublets:
gentil - любезный, благородный, etymological doublets are: gentle - мягкий,
вежливый and genteel - благородный. From the French word gallant
etymological doublets are : ‘gallant - храбрый and ga’llant - галантный,
внимательный.
Sometimes etymological doublets are the result of borrowing different
grammatical forms of the same word, e.g. the Comparative degree of Latin
«super» was «superior» which was borrowed into English with the meaning
«high in some quality or rank». The Superlative degree (Latin «supremus»)in
English «supreme» with the meaning «outstanding», «prominent». So
«superior» and «supreme» are etymological doublets.
SEMASIOLOGY
The branch of lexicology which deals with the meaning is called
semasiology.
WORD - MEANING
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 denote
«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 / in Modern
English. On the other hand, «board» primariliy means « a piece of wood sawn
thin» It has developed the meanings: a table, a board of a ship, a stage, a
council etc.
LEXICAL MEANING - NOTION
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 exict without a word expressing it in the
language, but there are words which do not express any notion but have a
lexical meaning. Interjections express emotions but not notions, but they
have lexical meanings, e.g. Alas! /disappointment/, Oh,my buttons!
/surprise/ etc. There are also words which express both, notions and
emotions, e.g. girlie, a pig /when used metaphorically/.
The term «notion» was introduced into lexicology from logics. A notion
denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their
relations. Notions, as a rule, are international, especially with the
nations of the same cultural level. While meanings can be nationally
limited. Grouping of meanings in the semantic structure of a word is
determined by the whole system of every language. E.g. the English verb
«go» and its Russian equivalent «идти» have 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
Russian 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.
POLYSEMY
The word «polysemy» means «plurality of meanings» it exists only in the
language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called
polysemantic.
Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the
proximity of notions which they express. E.g. the word «blanket» has the
following meanings: a woolen covering used on beds, a covering for keeping
a horse warm, a covering of any kind /a blanket of snow/, covering all or
most cases /used attributively/, e.g. we can say «a blanket insurance
policy».
There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, such as most
terms, /synonym, molecule, bronchites/, some pronouns /this, my, both/,
numerals.
There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation
and concatination. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the
centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each
secondary meaning can be traced to the primmary meaning. E.g. in the word
«face» the primary meaning denotes «the front part of the human head»
Connected with the front position the meanings: the front part of a watch,
the front part of a building, the front part of a playing card were formed.
Connected with the word «face» itself the meanings : expression of the
face, outward appearance are formed.
In cases of concatination secondary meanings of a word develop like a
chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary
one. E.g. in the word «crust» the primary meaning «hard outer part of
bread» developed a secondary meaning «hard part of anything /a pie, a
cake/», then the meaning »harder layer over soft snow» was developed, then
«a sullen gloomy person», then «impudence» were developed. Here the last
meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms
appear in the language. It is called the split of polysemy.
In most cases in the semantic development of a word both ways of semantic
development are combined.
HOMONYMS
Homonyms are words different in meaning but identical in sound or
spelling, or both in sound and spelling.
Homonyms can appear in the language not only as the result of the split
of polysemy, but also as the result of levelling of grammar inflexions,
when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect, e.g.
«care» from «caru» and «care» from «carian». They can be also formed by
means of conversion, e.g. «to slim» from «slim», «to water» from «water».
They can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem,
e.g. «reader»/ a person who reads and a book for reading/.
Homonyms can also appear in the language accidentally, when two words
coincide in their development, e.g. two native words can coincide in their
outer aspects: «to bear» from «beran»/to carry/ and «bear» from «bera»/an
animal/. A native word and a borrowing can coincide in their outer aspects,
e.g. «fair» from Latin «feria» and «fair « from native «fager» /blond/. Two
borrowings can coincide e.g. «base» from the French «base» /Latin basis/
and «base» /low/ from the Latin «bas» /Italian «basso»/.
Homonyms can develop through shortening of different words, e.g. «cab»
from «cabriolet», «cabbage», «cabin».
Classifications of homonyms.
Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling and sound
forms and he pointed out three groups: perfect homonyms that is words
identical in sound and spelling, such as : «school» - «косяк рыбы» and
«школа» ; homographs, that is words with the same spelling but pronounced
differently, e.g. «bow» -/bau/ - «поклон» and /bou/ - «лук»; homophones
that is words pronounced identically but spelled differently, e.g. «night»
- «ночь» and «knight» - «рыцарь».
Another classification was suggested by A.I Smirnitsky. He added to
Skeat’s classification one more criterion: grammatical meaning. He
subdivided the group of perfect homonyms in Skeat’s classification into two
types of homonyms: perfect which are identical in their spelling,
pronunciation and their grammar form, such as :»spring» in the meanings:
the season of the year, a leap, a source, and homoforms which coincide in
their spelling and pronunciation but have different grammatical meaning,
e.g. «reading» - Present Participle, Gerund, Verbal noun., to lobby - lobby
.
A more detailed classification was given by I.V. Arnold. She classified
only perfect homonyms and suggested four criteria of their classification:
lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms and paradigms.
According to these criteria I.V. Arnold pointed out the following groups:
a) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and
paradigms and different in their lexical meanings, e.g. «board» in the
meanings «a council» and « a piece of wood sawn thin»; b) homonyms
identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms, different in their
lexical meanings and paradigms, e.g. to lie - lied - lied, and to lie - lay
- lain; c) homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical
meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms, e.g. «light» /
«lights»/, «light» / «lighter», «lightest»/; d) homonyms different in their
lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, in their basic forms and paradigms,
but coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms, e.g. «a bit» and
«bit» (from « to bite»).
In I. V. Arnold’s classification there are also patterned homonyms,
which, differing from other homonyms, have a common component in their
lexical meanings. These are homonyms formed either by means of conversion,
or by levelling of grammar inflexions. These homonyms are different in
their grammar meanings, in their paradigms, identical in their basic forms,
e.g. «warm» - «to warm». Here we can also have unchangeable patterned
homonyms which have identical basic forms, different grammatical meanings,
a common component in their lexical meanings, e.g. «before» an adverb, a
conjunction, a preposition. There are also homonyms among unchangeable
words which are different in their lexical and grammatical meanings,
identical in their basic foms, e.g. « for» - «для» and «for» - «ибо».
SYNONYMS
Synonyms are words different in their outer aspects, but identical or
similar in their inner aspects. In English there are a lot of synonyms,
because there are many borrowings, e.g. hearty / native/ - cordial/
borrowing/. After a word is borrowed it undergoes desynonymization, because
absolute synonyms are unnecessary for a language. However, there are some
absolute synonyms in the language, which have exactly the same meaning and
belong to the same style, e.g. to moan, to groan; homeland, motherland etc.
In cases of desynonymization one of the absolute synonyms can
specialize in its meaning and we get semantic synonyms, e.g. «city»
/borrowed/, «town» /native/. The French borrowing «city» is specialized. In
other cases native words can be specialized in their meanings, e.g. «stool»
/native/, «chair» /French/.
Sometimes one of the absolute synonyms is specialized in its usage and we
get stylistic synonyms, e.g. «to begin»/ native/, «to commence»
/borrowing/. Here the French word is specialized. In some cases the native
word is specialized, e.g. «welkin» /bookish/, «sky» /neutral/.
Stylistic synonyms can also appear by means of abbreviation. In most
cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style, and the full
form to the neutral style, e.g. «examination’, «exam».
Among stylistic synonyms we can point out a special group of words which
are called euphemisms. These are words used to substitute some unpleasant
or offensive words, e.g «the late» instead of «dead», «to perspire» instead
of «to sweat» etc.
There are also phraseological synonyms, these words are identical in
their meanings and styles but different in their combining with other words
in the sentence, e.g. «to be late for a lecture» but «to miss the train»,
«to visit museums» but «to attend lectures» etc.
In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning,
which can substitute any word in the group, e.g. «piece» is the synonymic
dominant in the group «slice», «lump», «morsel». The verb « to look at» is
the synonymic dominant in the group «to stare», «to glance», «to peep». The
adjective «red’ is the synonymic dominant in the group «purple», «scarlet»,
«crimson».
When speaking about the sources of synonyms, besides desynonymization and
abbreviation, we can also mention the formation of phrasal verbs, e.g. «to
give up» - «to abandon», «to cut down» - «to diminish».
ANTONYMS
Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech, identical in
style, expressing contrary or contradictory notions.
V.N. Comissarov in his dictionary of antonyms classified them into two
groups : absolute or root antonyms /»late» - «early»/ and derivational
antonyms / «to please’ - «to displease»/ . Absolute antonyms have different
roots and derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes.
In most cases negative prefixes form antonyms / un-, dis-, non-/. Sometimes
they are formed by means of suffixes -ful and -less.
The number of antonyms with the suffixes ful- and -less is not very
large, and sometimes even if we have a word with one of these suffixes its
antonym is formed not by substituting -ful by less-, e.g. «successful»
-»unsuccessful», «selfless» - «selfish». The same is true about antonyms
with negative prefixes, e.g. «to man» is not an antonym of the word «to
unman», «to disappoint» is not an antonym of the word «to appoint».
The difference between derivational and root antonyms is not only in
their structure, but in semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express
contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other, e.g. «active»-
«inactive». Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can
be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant members
of the group will be absolute antonyms, e.g. «ugly» , «plain», «good-
looking», «pretty», «beautiful», the antonyms are «ugly» and «beautiful».
Leonard Lipka in the book «Outline of English Lexicology» describes
different types of oppositeness, and subdivides them into three types:
a) complementary, e.g. male -female, married -single,
b) antonyms, e.g. good -bad,
c) converseness, e.g. to buy - to sell.
In his classification he describes complimentarity in the following way:
the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, and vice versa.
«John is not married» implies that «John is single». The type of
oppositeness is based on yes/no decision. Incompatibility only concerns
pairs of lexical units.
Antonymy is the second class of oppositeness. It is distinguished from
complimentarity by being based on different logical relationships. For
pairs of antonyms like good/bad, big/small only the second one of the above
mentioned relations of implication holds. The assertion containing one
member implies the negation of the other, but not vice versa. «John is
good» implies that «John is not bad», but «John is not good» does not imply
that «John is bad». The negation of one term does not necessarily implies
the assertion of the other.
An important linguistic difference from complementaries is that antonyms
are always fully gradable, e.g. hot, warm, tepid, cold.
Converseness is mirror-image relations or functions, e.g. husband/wife,
pupil/teacher, preceed/follow, above/below, before/after etc.
«John bought the car from Bill» implies that «Bill sold the car to John».
Mirror-image sentences are in many ways similar to the relations between
active and passive sentences. Also in the comparative form: »Y is smaller
than X, then X is larger than Y».
L. Lipka also gives the type which he calls directional opposition
up/down, consiquence opposition learn/know, antipodal opposition
North/South, East/West, ( it is based on contrary motion, in opposite
directions.) The pairs come/go, arrive/depart involve motion in different
directions. In the case up/down we have movement from a point P. In the
case come/go we have movement from or to the speaker.
L. Lipka also points out non-binary contrast or many-member lexical sets.
Here he points out serially ordered sets, such as scales / hot, warm,
tepid, cool, cold/ ; colour words / black, grey, white/ ; ranks /marshal,
general, colonel, major, captain etc./ There are gradable examination marks
/ excellent, good, average, fair, poor/. In such sets of words we can have
outer and inner pairs of antonyms. He also points out cycles, such as units
of time /spring, summer, autumn, winter/ . In this case there are no
«outermost» members.
Not every word in a language can have antonyms. This type of opposition
can be met in qualitative adjectives and their derivatives, e.g. beautiful-
ugly, to beautify - to uglify, beauty - ugliness. It can be also met in
words denoting feelings and states, e.g. respect - scorn, to respect - to
scorn, respectful - scornful, to live - to die, alive - dead, life - death.
It can be also met among words denoting direction in space and time, e.g.
here - there, up - down , now - never, before - after, day - night, early -
late etc.
If a word is polysemantic it can have several antonyms, e.g. the word
«bright» has the antonyms «dim», «dull», «sad».
LOCAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
ON THE BRITISH ISLES
On the British Isles there are some local varieties of English which
developed from Old English local dialects. There are six groups of them:
Lowland /Scottish/ , Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, Southern. These
varieties are used in oral speech by the local population. Only the
Scottish dialect has its own literature /R. Berns/.
One of the best known dialects of British English is the dialect of
London - Cockney. Some peculiarities of this dialect can be seen in the
first act of «Pigmalion» by B. Shaw, such as : interchange of /v/ and /w/
e.g. wery vell; interchange of /f/ and /0/ , /v/ and / /, e. g/ fing
/thing/ and fa:ve / father/; interchange of /h/ and /-/ , e.g. «’eart» for
«heart» and «hart» for «art; substituting the diphthong /ai/ by /ei/ e.g.
«day» is pronounced /dai/; substituting /au/ by /a:/ , e.g. «house» is
pronounced /ha:s/,«now« /na:/ ; substituting /ou/ by /o:/ e.g. «don’t» is
pronounced /do:nt/ or substituting it by / / in unstressed positions, e.g.
«window» is pronounced /wind /.
Another feature of Cockney is rhyming slang: «hat» is «tit for tat»,
«wife» is «trouble and strife», «head» is «loaf of bread» etc. There are
also such words as «tanner» /sixpence/, «peckish»/hungry/.
Peter Wain in the «Education Guardian» writes about accents spoken by
University teachers: «It is a variety of Southern English RP which is
different from Daniel Jones’s description. The English, public school
leavers speak, is called «marked RP», it has some characteristic features :
the vowels are more central than in English taught abroad, e.g. «bleck
het»/for «black hat»/, some diphthongs are also different, e.g. «house» is
pronounced /hais/. There is less aspiration in /p/, /b/, /t/ /d/.
The American English is practically uniform all over the country, because
of the constant transfer of people from one part of the country to the
other. However, some peculiarities in New York dialect can be pointed out,
such as: there is no distinction between / / and /a: / in words: «ask»,
«dance» «sand» «bad», both phonemes are possible. The combination «ir» in
the words: «bird», «girl» «ear» in the word «learn» is pronoinced as /oi/
e.g. /boid/, /goil/, /loin/.In the words «duty’, «tune» /j/ is not
pronounced /du:ti/, /tu:n/.
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
British and American English are two main variants of English. Besides
them there are : Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand and other
variants. They have some peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary, but they are easily used for communication between people
living in these countries. As far as the American English is concerned,
some scientists /H.N. Menken, for example/ tried to prove that there is a
separate American language. In 1919 H.N. Menken published a book called
«The American Language». But most scientists, American ones including,
criticized his point of view because differences between the two variants
are not systematic.
American English begins its history at the beginning of the 17-th century
when first English-speaking settlers began to settle on the Atlantic coast
of the American continent. The language which they brought from England was
the language spoken in England during the reign of Elizabeth the First.
In the earliest period the task of Englishmen was to find names for
places, animals, plants, customs which they came across on the American
continent. They took some of names from languages spoken by the local
population - Indians, such as :»chipmuck»/an American squirrel/, «igloo»
/Escimo dome-shaped hut/, «skunk» / a black and white striped animal with a
bushy tail/, «squaw» / an Indian woman/, »wigwam» /an American Indian tent
made of skins and bark/ etc.
Besides Englishmen, settlers from other countries came to America, and
English-speaking settlers mixed with them and borrowed some words from
their languages, e.g. from French the words «bureau»/a writing desk/,
«cache» /a hiding place for treasure, provision/, «depot’/ a store-house/,
«pumpkin»/a plant bearing large edible fruit/. From Spanish such words as:
»adobe» / unburnt sun-dried brick/, »bananza» /prosperity/, «cockroach» /a
beetle-like insect/, «lasso» / a noosed rope for catching cattle/ were
borrowed.
Present-day New York stems from the Dutch colony New Amsterdam, and
Dutch also influenced English. Such words as: «boss», «dope», «sleigh»
were borrowed .
The second period of American English history begins in the 19-th
century. Immigrants continued to come from Europe to America. When large
groups of immigrants from the same country came to America some of their
words were borrowed into English. Italians brought with them a style of
cooking which became widely spread and such words as: «pizza», «spaghetti»
came into English. From the great number of German-speaking settlers the
following words were borrowed into English: «delicatessen», «lager»,
«hamburger», «noodle», «schnitzel» and many others.
During the second period of American English history there appeared quite
a number of words and word-groups which were formed in the language due to
the new poitical system, liberation of America from the British
colonialism, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due to
these events: the United States of America , assembly, caucus, congress,
Senate, congressman, President, senator, precinct, Vice-President and many
others. Besides these political terms many other words were coined in
American English in the 19-th century: to antagonize, to demoralize,
influential, department store, telegram, telephone and many others.
There are some differences between British and American English in the
usage of prepositions, such as prepositions with dates, days of the week BE
requres «on» / I start my holiday on Friday/, in American English there is
no preposition / I start my vacation Friday/. In Be we use «by day», «by
night»/»at night», in AE the corresponding forms are «days» and «nights».
In BE we say «at home» , in AE - «home» is used. In BE we say «a quarter to
five», in AE «a quarter of five». In BE we say «in the street», in AE - «on
the street». In BE we say «to chat to somebody», in AE «to chat with
somebody». In BE we say «different to something», in AE - «different from
someting».
There are also units of vocabulary which are different while denoting the
same notions, e.g. BE - «trousers», AE -«pants»; in BE «pants» are «трусы»
which in AE is «shorts». While in BE «shorts» are outwear. This can lead to
misunderstanding. There are some differences in names of places:
BE AE BE AE
passage hall cross-roads intersection
pillar box mail-box the cinema the movies
studio, bed-sitter one-room appartment
flyover overpass zebra crossing Pxing
pavement sidewalk tube, uderground subway
tram streetcar flat apartment
surgery doctor’s office lift elevator
Some names of useful objects:
BE AE BE AE
biro ballpoint rubber eraser
tap faucet torch flashlight
parcel package elastic rubber band
carrier bag shopping bag reel of cotton spool of thread
Some words connected with food:
BE AE BE AE
tin can sweets candy
sweet biscuit cookie dry biscuit crackers
sweet dessert chips french fries
minced meat ground beef
Some words denoting personal items:
BE AE BE AE
fringe bangs/of hair/ turn- ups cuffs
tights pantyhose mackintosh raincoat
ladder run/in a stocking/ braces suspenders
poloneck turtleneck waistcoat vest
Some words denoting people:
BE AE BE AE
barrister, lawyer, staff /university/ faculty
post-graduate graduate chap, fellow guy
caretaker janitor constable patrolman
shopassistant shopperson bobby cop
If we speak about cars there are also some differences:
BE AE BE AE
boot trunk bumpers fenders
a car, an auto, to hire a car to rent a car
Differences in the organization of education lead to different terms. BE
«public school» is in fact a private school. It is a fee-paying school not
controlled by the local education authorities. AE «public school» is a free
local authority school. BE «elementary school» is AE «grade school» BE
«secondary school» is AE «high school». In BE « a pupil leaves a secondary
school», in AE «a student graduates from a high school» In BE you can
graduate from a university or college of education, graduating entails
getting a degree.
A British university student takes three years known as the first, the
second and the third years. An American student takes four years, known as
freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. While studying a British
student takes a main and subsidiary subjects. An American student majors in
a subject and also takes electives. A British student specializes in one
main subject, with one subsidiary to get his honours degree. An American
student earns credits for successfully completing a number of courses in
studies, and has to reach the total of 36 credits to receive a degree.
Differences of spelling.
The reform in the English spelling for American English was introduced by
the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster who published his first
dictionary in 1806. Those of his proposals which were adopted in the
English spelling are as follows:
a) the delition of the letter «u» in words ending in «our», e.g. honor,
favor;
b) the delition of the second consonant in words with double consonants,
e.g. traveler, wagon,
c) the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g.
theater, center,
d) the delition of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g.
catalog, program,
e) the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g.
defense, offense,
d) delition of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.
Differences in pronunciation
In American English we have r-coloured fully articulated vowels, in the
combinations: ar, er, ir, or, ur, our etc. In BE the sound / / corresponds
to the AE /^/, e.g. «not». In BE before fricatives and combinations with
fricatives «a» is pronounced as /a:/, in AE it is pronounced / / e.g.
class, dance, answer, fast etc.
There are some differences in the position of the stress:
BE AE BE AE
add`ress adress la`boratory `laboratory
re`cess `recess re`search `research
in`quiry `inquiry ex`cess `excess
Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation, e.g.
BE AE BE AE
/`fju:tail/ /`fju:t l/ /`dousail / /dos l/
/kla:k/ /kl rk/ /`fig / /figyer/
/ `le3 / / li:3 r/ /lef`ten nt/ /lu:tenant/
/ nai / /ni: r/ /shedju:l/ /skedyu:l/
But these differences in pronunciation do not prevent Englishmen and
American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a
proof that British and American are different languages.
Words can be classified according to the period of their life in the
language. The number of new words in a language is always larger than the
number of words which come out of active usage. Accordingly we can have
archaisms, that is words which have come out of active usage, and
neologisms, that is words which have recently appeared in the language.
ARCHAISMS
Archaisms are words which are no longer used in everyday speech, which
have been ousted by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but
they are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity.
Most of these words are lexical archaisms and they are stylistic synonyms
of words which ousted them from the neutral style. Some of them are: steed
/horse/, slay /kill/, behold /see/, perchance /perhaps/, woe /sorrow/ etc.
Sometimes a lexical archaism begins a new life, getting a new meaning,
then the old meaning becomes a semantic archaism, e.g. «fair» in the
meaning «beautiful» is a semantic archaism, but in the meaning «blond» it
belongs to the neutral style.
Sometimes the root of the word remains and the affix is changed, then
the old affix is considered to be a morphemic archaism, e.g. «beautious»
/»ous» was substituted by «ful»/, «bepaint» / «be» was dropped/, «darksome»
/»some» was dropped/, «oft» / «en» was added/. etc.
NEOLOGISMS
At the present moment English is developing very swiftly and there is so
called «neology blowup». R. Berchfield who worked at compiling a four-
volume supplement to NED says that averagely 800 neologisms appear every
year in Modern English. It has also become a language-giver recently,
especially with the development of computerization.
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
«originater». New lexical units are primarily used by university teachers,
newspaper reporters, by those who are connected with mass media.
Neologisms can develop in three main ways: a lexical unit existing in the
language can change its meaning to denote a new object or phenomenon. In
such cases we have semantic neologisms, e.g. the word «umbrella» developed
the meanings: «авиационное прикрытие», »политическое прикрытие». A new
lexical unit can develop in the language to denote an object or phenomenon
which already has some lexical unit to denote it. In such cases we have
transnomination, e.g. the word «slum» was first substituted by the word
«ghetto» then by the word-group «inner town». A new lexical unit can be
introduced to denote a new object or phenomenon. In this case we have «a
proper neologism», many of them are cases of new terminology.
Here we can point out several semantic groups when we analize the group
of neologisms connected with computerization, and here we can mention words
used:
a) to denote different types of computers, e.g. PC, super-computer, multi-
user, neurocomputer / analogue of a human brain/;
b) to denote parts of computers, e.g. hardware, software, monitor,
screen, data, vapourware / experimental samples of computers for
exhibition, not for production/;
c) to denote computer languages, e.g. BASIC, Algol FORTRAN etc;
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