II. Types of meaning.

The meaning is not homogeneous. It is a system of systems:

1). It combines lexical and grammatical meanings, e.g. actress is a personal noun.

2). Lexical meaning includes denotative and connotative ones.

3). Denotative meaning is conceptual (what a word denotes), it is divided into semantic

components called semes, e.g. Father is a male parent. Denotative components may

be culturally predetermined (cf. winter in Siberia and in Australia, it is a season

between autumn and spring but all other characteristics are different: duration,

temperature, etc.).

4). Connotative meanings express the speaker’s attitude to the subject of speech and may

be as follows:

a) stylistic: chap, fellow, associate; child, infant, kid;

b) emotive: cool, awesome, terrific;

c) expressive: to trudge, to march, to gobble;

d) evaluative: clever, silly, good, bad(rational evaluation), scoundrel (emotional evaluation);

e) associative (a fir-tree – forest, New Year);

f) national and cultural (kilt – Scots);

g) pragmatic: Can you open the door?

5). A word may be polysemantic, i.e. it may have several interrelated denotative

meanings:

a) One of the meanings is called primary, this is the meaning in which the word made its first appearance in the language, all the other meanings which developed later are called secondary, e.g. chair as a piece of furniture (primary), chair as the head of some meeting, conference or chair as a department (secondary meanings).

b) One of the meanings is central, others are peripheral. As a rule, primary and central meanings coincide but it is not necessarily so. In the course of language development a secondary meaning may become the central one ousting the primary meaning to the periphery, e.g. revolution: primary meaning is that of rotary movement, revolving, secondary – social change (now central).

c) Meaning can be direct and indirect (figurative, transferred), e.g. white collar, blue collar, smoke screen, etc.

III. Semantic changes and their causes.

1.Specialization, or narrowing of meaning

e.g. garage – a safe place

meat – any food

2.Generalization, or widening of meaning

e.g. ready (in O.E. – ready for a ride, now – ready for any activity)

arrive – to land at a shore

3.Elevation of meaning (getting better, going higher)

e.g. queen (in O.E. – woman)

knight (in O.E. – young servant).

4.Degradation of meaning (getting worse, lower)

e.g. a spinster – a woman that spins wool

idiot – a private person

5. Transference of meaning. The name of one thing is used to name some other things.

Transference is further subdivided into metaphor, metonymy and euphemism.

a) Transference of meaning based on likeness is called a metaphor. Metaphors can be based on likeness of form (a head of cabbage), of position (the foot of the mountain), function (Head of the Department), size, quantity (ocean of troubles, storm of applause),etc. Sometimes a combination of several features makes up the foundation for a metaphor (a leg of a table – function, position, shape). Metaphors may involve transition from proper names to common ones, e.g. a Don Juan, Apollo, Vandals, Hooligans.

b) Transference of meaning based on associations of contiguity (being together) is called metonymy. We can use the name of a container for the thing it contains (Will you have another cup?), instrument for the agent (His pen knows no compromise), the place for the people who live or work there (Kharkiv greets the guests. The Kremlin agrees to the treaty), the name of a person for the things s/he made (He reads Byron), the name of a part for the whole (Who’s the moustache?)

c) Transference of meaning dictated by social conventions, norms, rules of behavior. A word or a word combination is used instead of the other word that is offensive, rude, or taboo.

e.g. to die: to perish, to pass away, to join the silent majority, to meet one’s maker, to be with the angels, to cross the Great Divide, etc.

toilet: WC, bathroom, the necessary facilities, powder room, ladies/ gents, public conveniences, cloakroom, throne room, porcelain collection, Windsor Castle, etc.

Causes of semantic changes may include linguistic and extra-linguistic ones.

The latter are connected with social, political, economic, cultural and scientific development.

e.g. computer, space, feedback, bikini, villain, boor, etc.

The former embrace differentiation of synonyms (e.g. time and tide), borrowings (hound and dog), preserving the old meaning in idioms (love token, token of respect), etc.

LECTURE 2.

PHRASEOLOGY

1. Set expressions, their features and origin.
2. Classification of phraseological units.

1. Set expressions, their features and origin.

Set expressions are stable ready-made units with fixed integrate structure. They are contrasted to free phrases and semi-fixed combinations. A free phrase permits substitution of any of its elements without any semantic change in the other element, e.g. to go early: to work, get up, move, etc. early: to go late, quickly, down, etc.

In semi-fixed combinations there are some boundaries for the substitution, e.g. go to school (market, college, court, etc.) is used only with nouns of places where definite actions are performed.

Features that make set expressions stable:

1) euphonic;

2) imaginative;

3) connotative.

Euphonic: rhythm, rhyme, alliteration,e.g. safe and sound, stuff and nonsense, by hook or by crook.

Semantic stylistic features: simile, contrast, metaphor, synonymy, antonymy, e.g. as like as two peas, as old as hills, more or less, from beginning to end, a lame duck, arms race, to swallow a pill, proud and hauty.

A bit of expressions are connected with different spheres of people’s life, nature, etc.

1) nature, e.g. out of the blue, as welcome as snow in May, to rain cats and dogs, etc.

2) agriculture, e.g. plough the sand, reap a rich harvest, sow wild oats, etc.

3) sports, e.g. fair play, to kick a goal, etc.

4) mythology, e.g. the apple of discord, Achilles’ heel, etc.

5) the Bible, e.g. Solomon’s judgement, forbidden fruit, etc.

6) folklore, e.g. peeping Tom, Calamity Jane, etc.

7) literature, e.g. to fight the windmills, a green-eyed monster, etc.

1. Classification of phraseological units.

There are different approaches to studying and classifying phraseological units.

1. The classification of V.V.Vinogradov is synchronic and semantic. It is based upon the type of motivation. He distinguishes:

a) phraseological fusions, e.g. tit for tat. They represent the highest stage of blending, are not motivated nowadays, are specific for every language and cannot be literally translated;

b) phraseological unities, e.g. to know where a shoe pinches, to rise to the bait, etc. They are clearly motivated, some of them are easily translated and even international;

c) phraseological combinations, e.g. to meet the demands, to make friends. They are not only clearly motivated but also contain one component used in its direct meaning (demands, friends).

2.Larin’s classification is also semantic but diachronic. He believes that each unit goes through three stages in its development. First it is a free word combination, then a motivated metaphoric phrase and then an idiom with lost motivation, e.g. to give a sack, to give a cold shoulder, to dance attendance on smb., etc.

Semantic classifications of Vinogradov and Larin are open to criticism since the degree of motivation may be different for different speakers depending on their knowledge of history, customs and traditions, level of education, etc. So they are subjective, not reliable enough.

1. N.Amosova’s approach is contextological. She defines phraseological units as units of fixed context characterized by a specific word-order and peculiar semantic relationship between the components. Phraseological units are divided into phrasemes and idioms. Phrasemes are always binary. One of their components has a phraseologically bound meaning, the other serves as the determining context, e.g. small change, small hours, small talk. In idioms the new meaning is created by the whole, each element having its own meaning weakened or lost. Idioms may be motivated and demotivated.
2. Koonin’s classification is functional: depends on the functions phraseological units fulfil in communication. There may be: a) nominating (e.g. a man of straw, a bull in a china shop); b) nominative communicative (verbal), e.g. to go round the bush, to pull one’s leg, etc.; c) communicative (sentences by form), e.g. Curiosity killed the cat; d) interjectional, e.g. Good heavens, a pretty kettle of fish, etc. Further classification depends on whether the units are changeable or unchangeable, what their structure is, etc.

LECTURES 3-5.

WORD-BUILDING. STRUCTURE OF WORDS.

OUTLINE

1. Structural types of words.

2. Affixation. Classification of affixes. Suffixes and prefixes.

3. Conversion (zero derivation).

4. Compounding. Classification of compounds. Criteria of compounding. Borderline cases (semi-affixes).

5. Shortening.

6. Abbreviations.

7. Minor types of word-building.

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