Lexicology of the English Language

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-

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