Лекции по "Лексикологии"

Secondly, it is difficult to accept interchangeability as a criterion of synonymy because the specific characteristic of synonyms is that they are not, can not and should not be interchangeable. Otherwise they become useless ballast in the vocabulary.

2. Sources of synonyms:

- borrowing. In English there are a lot of synonyms because there are many borrowings. After the word is borrowed it undergoes desynonymization because absolute synonyms are not necessary for the language. In this case one of the absolute synonyms, a native word or a borrowed word specializes in its meaning and we get non-absolute synonyms. For example: city – borrowed – town – native;

- abbreviation. In most cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style and the full form – to the neutral style. For example: examination – exam.

- formation of phrasal verbs. For example: to give up – to abandon, to cut down – to diminish.

3. Types of synonyms. The only existing classification of synonyms was established by V.V. Vinogradov. In his classification there are three types of synonyms: ideographic, stylistic, absolute. Ideographic synonyms are words conveying the same concept but differing in shades of meaning. Stylistic synonyms are synonyms differing in stylistic characteristics. Absolute synonyms are synonyms coinciding in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics.

Some aspects of this classification are open to question.

Firstly, absolute synonyms are rare in the vocabulary. The phenomenon of absolute synonymy is temporary because the vocabulary tends to abolish it by rejecting one of the absolute synonyms or by developing different characteristics in one or all of them. So, it is not necessary to include absolute synonyms in the classification because they are temporary exceptions.

Secondly, it was already said that the term shades of meaning is indefinite. Even more, there is no demarcation line between synonyms differing in their shades of meaning and in stylistic characteristics. There are a lot of synonyms which are distinguished by both shades of meaning and stylistic colouring. Thus, the subdivision of synonyms into ideographic and stylistic is questionable.

A more effective approach to the classification of synonyms may be based on the definition describing synonyms as words differing in connotations. Speaking about connotations we must remember that among connotations stylistic connotations stand apart. Firstly, some linguists do not regard stylistic characteristics as a connotative component of the semantic structure of the word. Secondly, stylistic connotations are subject to further classification: colloquial, slang, dialect, learned, poetic, terminological, archaic. Here we are dealing with stylistically marked words, but this time we approach stylistic characteristics from a different angle: from the point of view of differential features of synonyms. Some examples of stylistic synonyms: girl – girlie (coll.), lass, lassie (dial.), bird, birdie, jane, fluff, skirt (sl.), maiden (poet.), damsel (arch.).

Among stylistic synonyms it is possible to point out a special group of words which are called euphemisms. Euphemisms are words used to substitute some unpleasant, undelicate, impolite, rude or offensive words. For exemple: the word lavatory has such euphemisms as powder room, washroom, restroom, retiring room, cpmfort station, ladies’ room, water-closet, public conveniences. The word to die has the following substitutes: to pass away, to be taken, to depart this life, to close one’s eyes, to go the way of all flesh, to go West, to kick off, to check out, to kick the bucket, to take a ride, to hop the twig, to join the majority.

Some linguists speak about phraseological synonyms. These words are identical in their meanings and styles but different in their combinability with other words in the sentence. For example: to be late for a lecture but to miss the train, to visit museums but to attend lectures, teachers question their pupils but judges interrogate witnesses.

Some scientists point out to context-dependent synonyms. They are similar in meaning only under specific circumstances. For exemple: buy and get are not synonyms out of the context, but they are synonyms in the following example: I’ll go to the shop and buy some bread and I’ll go to the shop and get some bread.

4. Synonymic dominant.

In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning which can substitute any word in the group. Such words are called synonymic dominants. For example: the word red is the synonymic dominant in the group purple, scarlet, crimson.

5. Synonymy has its characteristic patterns in each language. The specific feature of English is the contrast between simple native words which are stylistically neutral, on the one hand, and literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Greko-Latin origin, on the other hand. For example^

Ask – question – interrogate

Gather – assemble – collect

End – finish – complete

Teaching – guidance – instruction.

Thus, synonymy in English is closely connected with borrowing words from other languages.

6. Antonyms. We use the term antonyms to indicate words of the same part of speech, identical in style which express contrary or contradictory notions. For example: hot – cold, up – down, happiness – sorrow.

Not so many years ago antonymy was not universally accepted as a linguistic problem. The opposition within antonymic pairs was regarded as purely logical and finding no reflection in the semantic structures of these words. Nowadays most linguists agree that in the semantic structures of all words which regularly occur in antonymic pairs, a special antonymic connotation can be singled out.

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the words of different parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted. For example: strong – weak, old – young. Verbs take the second place. For example: to open – to close, to live – to die. Nouns are not rich in antonyms. For example: friend – enemy, love – hatred. There are also antonimic adverbs. For example: here – there, loudly – softly.

From the semantic point of view antonyms may be met in qualitative adjectives and their derivatives: beautiful – ugly, to beautify –  to uglify, beauty – ugliness. They can also be met in words denoting feelings and states: respect – scorn, alive – dead, life – death. Antonyms can be met among words denoting direction in space and time: now – never, day – night. If a word is polysemantic, it can have several antonyms. For example: the word bright has the antonyms dim, dull, sad.

Together with synonyms, antonyms represent important expressive means of the language. Authors use antonyms as a stylistic device of contrast.

V.N. Comissarov in his dictionary of antonyms classified them into two groups: 1) absolute or root antonyms. For exemple: late or early; 2) derivational antonyms. For example: to please – to displease, professional – non-professional.

Absolute antonyms have different roots, derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes.

In most cases derivational antonyms are formed with the help of negative prefixes un-, dis-, non-. Sometimes they are formed by means of antonymous suffixes –ful and –less: painful, painless.

The difference between derivational and root antonyms is not only in their morphemic structure but in their semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other. For example: 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. For example: in the chain ugly – plain – good-looking – pretty – beautiful, the absolute antonyms are ugly and beautiful.

Leonard Lipka in the book Outline of English Lexicology described different types of oppositeness, and subdivided them into three types: a) complementarity, b) antonyms, c) conversness.

He understands complementarity in the following way: the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, and vice versa. For example: John is not married implies that John is single. Complementarity is based on yes / no decision. Complementarity concerns pairs of words.

Antonymy is distinguished from complementarity by being based on different logical relationship. The negation of one does not implies the assertion of the other. For example: John is good implies that John is not bad. But John is not good does not imply that John is bad. Antonyms are not pairs of words. They are fully gradable. For example: hot – warm – tepid – cold.

Conversness is mirror-image relations of words. For example: husband / wife, before / after, pupil / teacher.

Besides, L. Lipka speaks about some types of oppositions. He gives  directional opposions (up / down), consequence opposition (learn / know), antipodal opposition (North / South).

L. Lipka also points out many-member lexical sets such as temperature scales (hot, warm, cool, cold), colour words (black, grey, white), military ranks (marshal, general, colonel, major, captain). In these sets of words we can have outer and inner pairs of antonyms.

The problem of antonymy is not solved yet.

 

Lecture # 10

VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Plan

 

1. Local dialects.

a) Cockney.

b) Accent spoken by University teachers.

2. British and American English

 

 

1. 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/.

 

2. 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 in the 17-th century when first English-speaking settlers began to appear 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: 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 were borrowed such words as: «adobe» / unburnt sun-dried brick/, «bananza» /prosperity/, «cockroach» /a beetle-like insect/, «lasso» / a noosed rope for  catching cattle/.       

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 colonies, its independence. The following lexical units appeared due to these events: the United States of America, assembly, congress, Senate, congressman, President, senator, 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: 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 apartment                        

flyover       overpass                                        zebra crossing  Pxing

pavement    sidewalk                                       underground  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