Lexicology

1.What is a lexicology? Lexicology definitions,Branches of lexicology, Position of

Lexicology within linguistics
What is a lexicology?

Lexicology is a specialty in linguistics dealing with the study of the lexicon. The term first appeared in
the 1820's, though obviously there were lexicologists before that.

Lexicology definitions

 Lexicology is the systematic historical (diachronic) and contemporary (synchronic) study of the
lexicon or vocabulary of a language.
 An area of language study concerned with the nature, meaning, history and use of words and
word elements and often also with the critical description of lexicography (McArthur 1992)
 That branch of knowledge which treats of words, their form, history, and meaning. (OED
online)
 1.) the study of the history and meaning of words. 2.) the analytical study of lexicography.
(Chambers 21st century dictionary, 1996)
 An area of language study concerned with nature, meaning, history and use of words and word
elements.(McArthur, 1992)
 Study of overall structure and history of vocabulary in a language. (Collins English Dictionary)
 A branch in linguistics concerned with the meaning and use of words. (Longman Dictionary of
Eng. Lang.)

Branches of lexicology

 General - the general study of words, irrespective of the specific features of any particular
language

 Special - the description of the vocabulary of a given language

 Historical - the study of the evolution of a vocabulary as well as of its elements. This branch
discusses the origin of words, their change and development.

 Descriptive - deals with the description of the vocabulary of a given language at a given stage
of its development.

Position of lexicology within linguistics

There is a slight problem with the placement of lexicology-it has no definite place within:

Theoretical linguistics: phonology, morphology,syntax,semantics, stylistics and pragmatics

Applied linguistics: education, methodology

Lexicology and other disciplines

1. Lexicology and Phonology

They seem not to be related; however, sound changes in words like pill bill, meat meal, affect the
meaning. These sound changes may occur anywhere in the word. Suprasegmental units affecting
meaning (export, export). Stress (blackboard, black board)

2. Lexicology and Syntax

Syntax gives us general rules for word-classes to behave. Lexicology is more specific because it studies
the meaning of words used. Syntactical rules are arbitrary from lexicological rules and meaning.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously (Chomsky)

3. Lexicology and Morphology

Construction of words and parts of words and distinction between different parts of words are all based
on morphological analysis. Morphology is relevant in word formation. From this perspective, we use
morphemes to form words. Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units.

4. Lexicology and Semantics

Lexicology is preoccupied with meaning.

(1) Pragmatic semantics (meaning of utterances in context)

(2) sentence semantics (meaning of sentences and relations between sentences) [John jumped out of the
third floor...]

(3) lexical semantics (meaning of words, internal relations within the word-stock)

2.History of English. The oldest history, Roman,Britain,Old English, Middle

English, Modern English.
The origin of English

 The 5000 or so languages of the world can be grouped into about 300 language families, on the
basis of similarities in their basic word stock and grammars.
 One of these families, the Indo-European, includes most of the languages of Europe, the Near
East, and North India. One branch of the Indo-European family is called Italic, from which
Latin, and later the Romance languages developed. Another is called Germanic, which had
three branches: North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. It is not certain, however,
whether North, East and West Germanic corresponded to actual languages.
 The North Germanic branch is the linguistic ancestor of modern Scandinavianlanguages, viz.
Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.
  The East Germanic branch developed into Gothic, but it eventually died out.
 TheWest Germanic branch in turn developed into modern German, Dutch,Frisian, and English.
Frisian, spoken in the north-west Netherlands and the island nearby known as Friesland, is
considered the closest relative of English. Both languages derive from Anglo-Frisian, just as
High and Low German derive from German.

The Oldest history

 The Pre-Celtic civilisation (3000 and 2000 BC)

The first people who left interesting prehistorical documents (Stonehenge is the best known)
were Iberians - people from the Mediterranean countries, they did not influence the further
development of language.

 The Celtic civilisation (6th - 2nd cts BC)

The Gaels and the Britons were the Celtic tribes, coming from North-western Germany, which
settled on the British Isles. The main spheres where the traces of their language are left are the
place names (Avon, Thames, London, Dover, etc.).

 Roman Britain (1 - 5 cts AD)

Britain as a Roman colony. Roman occupation made a lasting impression on British society.
They built cities (villas), public roads, theatres, public baths, public monuments. We can find a
few words in Modern English which have their origin in Latin from the times of the Great
Roman Empire (wall – vallum, street – via strata, chester – castra). Britain, as the most remote
of the Roman provinces was among the earliest to fall away.

 Old English (600 - 1100)

The history of the English language begins after the Germanic tribes - Angles, Saxons and Jutes
invaded and settled the most part of the Celtic islands of Britain. They spoke Low German
dialects. The Old English speech was heterogeneous because of different Germanic tribes.

The first English literary language was based on the regional dialects used in West-Saxon
territory in the 10th century. But the Modern English is not derived from that Old English
literary language, because the Norman Conquest (1066, The Battle of Hastings) was the reason
of the complete disappearance of this first standard English.

There were very few manuscripts, 5-6 cent., runic alphabet was brought by Anglosaxons,
Roman missionaries brought first serious culture, glossaries of Latin words translated into OE.
Heroic poem Beowulf was created (only one copy) in 1000 AD. There were used very similar
letters, some letters were missing (j, v,f, q,x,z) Coinage (kennings) was very frequent.It is a
vivid figurative descriptions including compounds,e.g. banhus (bone house, person's body),
phrases and compounds, heofonrinces weard (guardian of heavenly kingdom).

 Middle English (1100 – 1500)

 The Battle of Hastings gave England a new ruling class. The Normans spoke French, while the
English speaking population preserved the language and tradition of the country.

Later the Normans in Britain began to speak English mixed with French words. So the
vocabulary of English local dialects was in that period enriched by a great number of words of
French origin. The period of Middle English may be characterised as a phase without
standardization with the strong influence of French.

At the end of this period English was regaining its former role as an official language. Geoffrey
Chaucer by his Canterbury Tales established the written London English as the base for a new
national literary Standard English. So-called Chaucery English was used as the new official
language.

 Modern English

The Modern English period started with the centralisation of the state under the Tudors, and
the strengthening of the political and economic unity of England. The beginning of the Modern
English period is the beginning of the English language as is spoken nowadays.

The influences in modern English period were based on industrial revolution, there was an
increase of the level in education, scientific theories were made for public, the academic
journals were printed

3. The Origin of English Words. Major and Minor Influences in English, Native
Vocabulary vs. Loan Vocabulary. Assimilation, Degrees of assimilation.
According to their origin English words are divided into:

1. Native words – words belonging to the original vocabulary. They are of:
a. Indo-European stock:
Mother, father, daughter, brother, sun, moon, eye, wolf, etc.;
b. Common Germanic stock:
Summer, winter, house, storm, hope, life, learn, hear, buy;
2. Loanwords – taken over (borrowed) from another language and modified in phonetic shape,
spelling, grammar or meaning according to the rules (standart) or the English language:
Restaurant, bungalow, casino, palace, bishop, mile, wine, ballet, barbecue, punch;
Sometimes it is difficult to tell a loanword from a native word: wine, street, cup (latin)

The source of loanwords is often dependent on historical factors (Roman invasion, the introduction of
Christianity, Danish and Norman conquests, colonization, etc.) and the necessity to name new things
(e.g.: inversions of foreign institutions) for which there are no native words. One of the requirements is
a contact with speakers of different languages. Borrowing depends also on wheather the languages are
cognate or not.
Sometimes only new meanings of words are borrowed – semantic loans: reasction, foot (lat.) pioneer;
or the foreign expression/word is translated part by part; - translation loans, calques: words or
expressions formed by the translation of each of the elements from another language, for example:

Gospel (OE: gospel from Greek: good news), loanword (from German Lehnwort), inferiority complex
(from German: wertingkeitskomplex), superman (ubermench), white night (from French: nuit blanche),
studena vojna (Engl. Cold war)

When speaking about borrowing diachronically, we have to distinguish between the sources of
borrowing of the language from which the word was taken and the origin of the borrowing, i.e. the
language to which the words may be traced, e.g.: paper – Fr.: papier – Lat.: papyrus – Gr.: papyros;
Slov.: chuligán – R: chuligan – Eng.: hooligan

Assimilation of loanwords

It is a partial or total adaption of a loanword to the graphical, phonetical and grammatical standard of
the receiving language. Modern English has a number of foreign words in different stages of
assimilation. The degree of assimilation depends on the length of time the word has been used:

1. Completely (fully) assimilated words:

Wine, bishop, wall (Lat.), husband, gate, window (Scand), table, chair, finish, face (Fr.), cork
(Sp.)
2. Partially assimilated:
a. Loanwords not assimilated semantically because they denote objects and notions
peculiar to the country from which they come:
Sheik, sombrero, maharaja;
b. Loanwords not quite assimilated grammatically:
(e.g. Latin plural), bacillus – bacilli, nucleus – nuclei, formula – formulae, formulas,
genus – genera;
c. Loanwords not completely assimilated phonetically or orthographically:
Machine, bourgeois; café; tobacco; soprano;
3. Unassimilated:
Protégé, chauffeur, haute couture
In English the signs of loanwords are phonemes [v, dž, ž] vacuum, virus, regime, garage, jewe
(Fr);
Letters ph, kh, eau, philosophy, khahi, beau [b u]

Some words are used in different languages: video, republic, telephone, sport, etc. – they are labeled as
international words

4.Word formation processes in English: Derivation-prefixation,suffixation

Derivation
It is a kind of word-formation when a new word is formed by adding a derivational morpheme
(usually suffix or prefix) to the root.

It is a process of building new words by adding an established prefix or suffix to the existing
base.

In the study of affixation,it is important to take into consideration the following problems:

 Affixes have their own meaning-they may be:

 Polysemantic: -er :→ who does something: dancer,teacher
 → something does something: opener
 Homonymous: used to form same and different word class, e.g: -en: wooden,
strengthen etc.
 Synonymous, e.g.-hood,-ship :brotherhood,friendship
 Affixes and a base (root) constitute the meaning of the word, the base forming the
semantic centre or nucleus, and affixes playing a dependent role in the meaning of the
word
 Affixes maybe of different origin (Latin, French,Greek:-ette,-able,:cigarette,
comfortable)

There are two types of affixation:

1) Suffixation is a kind of word-formation when a new word is formed by adding a suffix

to the root.
2) Prefixation is a kind of word-formation when a new word is formed by adding a prefix
to the root.

Noun-forming suffixes

-age (passage, marriage, mileage…); -ance/-ence (assistance, predominance,

correspondence…); -dom (freedom, kingdom…)

-ee (employee, referee…); -eer/er (engineer, profiteer, manager…); -ess (manageress,

heiress…)

-ist (economist…)

-hood (adulthood, singlehood…)

-ing (building, meaning…)

-ion/-sion/-tion/-ition/-ation (production, conclusion, realisation…)

-ism (consumerism, perfectionism…)

-ment (agreement, investment…)

-ness (effectiveness…)

-ship (ownership…)

-ty/-ity (productivity, prosperity…)

-ure/-ture (procedure, expenditure…)

Adjective-forming suffixes

-able/-ible (manageable, permissible)

-al/-tal/-ial/-tial (economical, statistical)
-ant/-ent (redundant, dependent)
-ary (monetary, inflationary)
-ate/-ete (accurate, complete)
-ful (dutiful, powerful)
-ish (snobbish, reddish)
-ive (effective, extensive)
-less (effortless, powerless)
-like (businesslike, lifelike)
-ly (costly, orderly)
-ous/-ious (ambiguous, nutritious)
-some (troublesome, worrisome)
-y (sexy, worthy)

Verb-forming suffixes

-en (brighten, moisten)

-ify/-fy (intensify, qualify)
-ize/*-ise (rationalize, advertise, stabilize)

*‘ize’ is often used in American English (maximize) as an alternative spelling of ‘ise’ in

British English (maximise)

Prefixation

 prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the root; therefore the simple word and its
prefixed derivative usually belong to the same part of speech
 The group of class-changing prefixes is rather small, e.g.: be- (belittle, befriend), de-
(defrost, descale).

Negative prefixes
  give negative, reverse or opposite meaning

a- (apolitical, asexual)
de- (destabilise, declassify)
dis- (disenfranchise, disinvest)
il- (before l: illegal)/ im-(before p,b,m: imperceptible)/ in-(inadequate)/ ir-(before r:
irresponsible) non- (non-economic, non-profit)
un- (unacceptable, undemocratic)

Non-negative prefixes I

1) Degree, measures or size:

hyper- (hypercreative, hyperdevoted);
over- (overestimate, overcompensate); semi- (semiskilled, semi-annual); super- (super-
dominant, supercharged); ultra- (ultra-conservative, ultra-secret)
2) Repetition or possibility:
em-(before p,b,m)/en- (embark, enclose)
3) Time, place, order relation:
ex- (ex-employer, ex-tenant); inter- (inter-office, inter-government); post- (post-budget,
post-election); pre- (pre-delivery, pre-budget)

Non-negative prefixes II

1) Number and numeral relation: bi- (bilateral, bilingual); multi- (multi-dimensional,

multi-media); uni- (unilateral, unisex)
2) Attitude, counteraction: anti- (anti-EEC, antiestablishment); auto- (autodial,
autonomy); counter- (countercharge, counteroffer); pro- (pro-business, pro-liberal)
3) Pejoration: mis- (miscalculation, mismanage); pseudo- (pseudo-creativity, pseudo-
democratic)

Latin prefixes

magn- large, big, great

mal- bad, badly, wrong; ill; evil; abnormal, defective
medi- middle
non- nothing, not
omni- all, every
pro- before; for, in favor of; in front of; in place of
re- back, backward, again
semi- half, partly, twice
sub- under, below
ult- beyond, excessive, to an extreme degree
uni- one, single
ver- true, truth, real, truthfulness
via- way, road, path
 Class changing

a- ablaze, asleep

be- bewitch

en- enslave, enclose

un- untie

dis- disclose

Class maintaining

mini- minicomputer

step- stepmother

mal- malfunction

de- decapitate, deescalate

a- amoral, apolitical, atypical

fore- foreground, foreman

5.Compounding-types of compounds
Compound words can be studied from different points of view. Diachronically, compounding is a
process of building new words by combining at least two bases (roots). Synchronically, a compound
word is a word consisting of two or more bases. E.g: armchair, editor-in-chief etc.

Compound may be written as:

1. One word: fireman, bedroom

2. Hyphenated: tax-free, king-size
3. Separate words: flower pot

Compounds usually take the stress on the first element.(armchair, blackbird, silver-fish etc.)

Types of compounds

A. According to the correlation with free phrases (word groups), we distinguish compounds
with these structures:
 Adj+noun: madman, blackboard, blackbird
 Noun+ adj./participle: worldwide,snow-white duty-free
 Noun+noun: windmill,steamboat,toothache
  Adj.+adj./participle: bitter-sweet, Anglo-American, easy-going
 Verb+noun: pickpocket,cutthroat, playboy,
 Noun+verb: baby-sit, housekeep, day-dream
 Adverb+adj./participle: well-known, underdeveloped, everlasting
B. According to the structure or different ways of compounding, we distinguish:
 Simple compounds-consisting of simple base: bedroom,fireplace,workshop
 Derivational compounds- one base is derived: good-hearted, blue-eyed, loudspeaker,
goalkeeper
 Compounds with at least one clipped base: sci-fi, A-bomb, N-bomb
 Compounds with a compound base: aircraftman, superhighway
C. According to the type of relationship between components:
 Coordinative compounds: bitter-sweet, skyscraper, deaf-mute
 Reduplicativre:fifty-fifty, walkie-talkie
 Subordinative compounds: armchair, bedroom, blackbird
D. According to the word classes, we divide compounds into:
 Endocentric (nouns): one element determines the other (one semantic centre): bedroom,
shopwindow, airship
 Exocentric (no semantic centre):
a) Nouns: pickpocket, redskin
b) Adjectives:snow-white, hard-working, time consuming, short-sleeved
c) Verbs: blackmail, housekeep, nickname
d) Adverbs: downstairs,over-night
e) Prepositions: into,onto,within
f) Pronouns: somebody, anyone, myself
g) Conjunctions: whenever,however, nevertheless
E. Some linguistics also speak about:
 Rhyme-motivated compounds: hockey-pockey, brain-drain
 Ablaut motivated compounds: flip-flop, tick-tock

6. Conversion, Quantitative changes

The process of coining new words in a different word classes without adding derivative elements is
called conversion. As a result the two words are homonymous, though grammatically different. E.g.
face- to face, back-to back, answer-to answer etc.

This type of word formation is typical for Modern English. Conversion in present day English usually
involves monosyllabic words (of a simple morphological structure), conversion from derived words is
rare. It is the predominant method of English verb-derivation (word-formation). (It is the context that
shows whether a word is to be taken as a noun, verb or adjective).

The major types of conversion:

1. The formation of verbs from nouns:

saw - to saw, nurse - to nurse, hand - to hand; to phone, to wire, to mask, to mail;

- They are rarely formed from other parts of speech: dry - to dry, clean - to clean, down - to down, dirty
- to dirty, open - to open; to empty, to calm, to narrow, to up (prices.)

2. The formation of nouns from verbs:

to break - break, to walk - walk, to step - step, an answer, taste.

- They are rarely formed from other parts of speech: American - an American, black - a black, cold -
cold.

3. The formation of adjectives (mostly used attributively) from nouns:

an orange - an orange car, secret - secret agent

Nouns may be also derived/rom phrasal verbs (called also phrasal derivation): to make up - a make-up,
to pull over - pullover, to black (sth out - a blackout; breakdown, getaway, build-up, comeback,
hangup, put-down.

Conversion may be:

a. full: a hand - to hand, call - to call, brake - to brake, to run – a run, calm - to calm, to go - go;

b. partial: to smoke - to have a smoke

Quantitative changes

These are basic types of quantitative changes:

A. Shortening

Shortening is a process in which part of the original word is taken away. We distinguish between
shortening of words in written speech and in oral speech:

1) Shortening of spoken words - Clipping (or lexical abbreviation/shortening,

curtailment)

- cutting off one or more syllables of a word. Word clipping is typical for nouns in modern English,
e.g: van (caravan), fan (fanatic), gym (gymnastics, gymnasium), bus (omnibus), permanent wave), Sam
(Samuel)

We distinguish the following types of lexical abbreviation:

- final clipping (words that have been shortened at the end- apocope [spokspi]): lab, ad, gym, mac,
photo, exam, taxi
- initial clipping (words that have been shortened at the beginning- cello (violoncello), phone
(telephone),

bus, plane, van (caravan);

- medial clipping (words in which some syllables or soundshave been omitted from the middle :fancy
(fantasy), specs, maths, pants (pantaloons), binocs(binoculars);words that have been clipped at both
ends: flu (influenza), tec(detective), fridge (refrigerator), shrink (head-shrinker), Liz(Elizabeth).

2) Graphical abbreviation -Acronymy

Graphical abbreviation is restricted in use to written speech. Words formed from the initial letters or
parts of the words are called acronyms - signs representing words: Oct, R.S.V.P. Rd, St, Dr, Mr. We
distinguish these acronyms:

a/ read as ordinary word (spelling pronunciation): UNESCO, UNO, RAF, radar (radio detection
and ranging), laser (light amplification by stimulated emission), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome)

b/ initial abbreviations with alphabetic reading: VIP, TV, MP, SOS, MA, FBI, CIA, do, HP.

B. Blending

A similar process combined with fusing two different words is called blending. It is a compounding by
means of clipped words.
E.g.: smog (smoke + fog), telecast (television + broadcast), positron (positive + electron), tranceiver
(transmitter + receiver)

C. Backformation

The formation of a simpler word from a structurally complex one, or the derivation of new words by
substracting a real or supposed affix from existing words.
E.g. typewrite (typewriter), beg (beggar), burgle (burglar), edit (editor),televise (television), automate
(automation), difficult (difficulty),baby-sit, house-break, house-keep, to laze, to broke (broker)

7.Semantics – Semantic Change. Polysemy. Specialization and Generalization of

Meaning.
Polysemy is the term used to describe a single word with several different but closely related meanings
Monosematic words – words having only one meaning – are comparatively rare in occurance; they are
usually technical, scientific terms, e.g.: noun, phoneme, vowel, molecule, hydrogene

A word that has more than one meaning in the language is called polysemantic (polysemous)

The majority of words are polysemantic e.g.: “head” may have these meanings:

1) A part of the body

2) The end where the head rests: at the head of the bed/grave
3) The mind or brain: his heart rules his head
4) A headache
5) Sb. Who is in control of something
6) Thing like a head in form or position: head of a cabbage, head of a pin…

The same can be said of the words: crown, eye, hand, face, board

However words are polysematic only in the language. In actual utterance (speech) they
occur only in one meaning, and it is the context that makes the concrete meaning of the
word clear” It cost him his head. That horse won by a head. At the head of the page. The
head of a school.

Polysemy may be viewed synchronically and diachronically:

a) Synchronically we study and understand polysemy as the coexistence of various meanings

of the same word at a certain period. We are interested if the meanings are equally
representative, or which meaning can be clear in isolation and which can be clear only in
certain contexts. All of the interrelated possible meanings, shades of meanings, emotional
coloring, and stylistic peculiarities of the polysemantic word in a language form its semantic
structure which is rarely identical in different languages i.e. there is no guarantee that it will
denote the same set of things on another language
b) Diachronically, polysemy is connected with changes in the semantic structure of individual
words. As the word may retain its previous meaning, and at the same time acquire new
one(s), we are concerned here with the relationship between the old and new meanings, i.e.
between primary and derived meaning; for example: “head” (as a part of the body) – is the
primary meaning; “head” in “at the head of the army” – derived meaning; similarly: fowl –
originally vtak, now hydina.

8. Other types of semantic change

Metaphor
There are few definitions :
  A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that denotes a certain object or idea
is applied to another word or phrase to imply some similarity between them.

 Metaphor is when you use two nouns and compare or contrast them to one another. Unlike
simile, you don't use "like" or "as" in the comparison.

 Metaphor is a comparison that shows how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar
in one important way. Metaphor is a way to describe something.

 Metaphor is the concept of understanding one thing in terms of another. A metaphor is a figure
of speech that constructs an analogy between two things or ideas; the analogy is conveyed by
the use of a metaphorical word in place of some other word.

 It is a transfer of the name of one object to another (and different one) based on association of
similarity. There are some types of similarity:

 Similarity of behaviour: a fox (= a cunning person), a Don Juan.

 Similarity of shape: a head of a cabbage.

 Similarity of function: the key to the mystery.

 Similarity of position: foot of a mountain.

 Transfer from the concrete to abstract: to catch an idea.

Basic types of metaphor are:

Common metaphor

a) A dead metaphor: is one in which the sense of a transferred image is absent. E.g.: "to grasp a
concept" and "to gather what you've understood" use physical action as a metaphor for
understanding.

b) An extended metaphor : (conceit), establishes a principal subject (comparison) and subsidiary

subjects (comparisons). The“ As You Like It“ quotation is a good example, the world is
described as a stage, and then men and women are subsidiary subjects further described in the
same context.

c) A mixed metaphor is one that leaps from one identification to a second identification
inconsistent with the first. Example: "If we can hit that bullseye then the rest of the dominoes
will fall like a house of cards...

Uncommon metaphor
 a) A complex metaphor is one which mounts one identification on another. Example: "That
throws some light on the question." Throwing light is a metaphor: there is no actual light, and a
question is not the sort of thing that can be lit up.

b) A compound or loose metaphor is one that catches the mind with several points of similarity.
Example: "He has the wild stag's foot." This phrase suggests grace and speed as well as daring.

c) An implicit metaphor is one in which the tenor is not specified but implied. Example: "Shut
your trap!" Here, the mouth of the listener is the unspecified tenor.

Speakers and writers use metaphors for several reasons:

 Metaphors can help readers or listeners to better understand something about the object or idea
to which the metaphor is being applied.

 Metaphors can make speaking and writing more lively and interesting.

 Metaphors can communicate a great deal of meaning with just a word or a phrase.

 Metaphors, because they imply rather than directly state relationships, can get listeners and
readers to think about what they are hearing or reading.

Metonymy

It is the association of contiguity. Metonymy can stand for:

 Symbol for thing symbolised: the crown (monarchy)

 Material for article: glass, iron, copper

 A part for the whole (pars pro toto): I want to have a word with you.

 The whole for the part (totum pro parte): Slovakia won the match.

 Common names from proper names: volt, wellingtons

 The place of establishment for its policy: the Kremlin

 Goods from the geographical names: bikini, tweed

Hyperbole

 is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech

  it may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be
taken literally

 hyperboles are exaggerations to create emphasis or effect

 as a literary device, hyperbole is often used in poetry, and is frequently encountered in casual
speech

Examples :

The bag weighed a ton. (hyperbole helps to make the point that the bag was very heavy, although it is
not probable that it would actually weigh a ton)

A thousand thanks! (we are very thankful to somebody for something)

Litotes

 are a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetorical effect when an idea is
expressed by a denial of its opposite, principally via double negatives. For example, rather than
saying that something is attractive (or even very attractive), one might merely say it is "not
unattractive."

 litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis

 the interpretation of negation may depend on context, including cultural context

 in speech, it may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad"
can be said in such a way as to mean anything from "mediocre" to "excellent."

 the use of litotes appeals specifically to certain cultures including the northern Europeans and is
popular in English, Russian, and French

 they are features of Old English poetry and of the Icelandic sagas and are a means of much
stoical restraint

Other examples: You are not wrong (You are right), She is not as young as she was ( She is old)

Euphemism

 is a substitution for an expression that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the
receiver, using instead an agreeable or less offensive expression, or to make it less troublesome
for the speaker

Examples: pass away (die), good fashion sense (male homosexuality), peer homework help (cheating),
mature (old), acting like rabbits (having sex with)
9.Synonymy. Synonynic dominant. Distinction between synonyms. Contextual
synonyms. Sources of synonymy.

Synonyms, in a narrow sense, are defined as words identical in meaning. Relatively rare are examples
when the two or more words- perfect (absolute, complete) synonyms- are interchangeable in any given
context without any change of meaning. Occasionally they can be found in special terminology.
(fricatives, phonemics, nouns, semantics.)

In addition to context, there are usually stylistic, emotional or other differences. We can divide the
meaning of words into: denotational and connotational.

Denotational meaning

We can speak about similarity or identity of denotational meaning, and may be interchangeable at least
in some contexts. (e.g. She bore/carried her head high.)

A common denotational meaning associates words into synonymic pairs and series: ask, question,
interrogate; skinny, slim, thin; fat, obese, overweight

Connotational meaning

Synonyms often differ in connotational meaning and collocations (ability to combine). It means that
they are group of words that share a general sense , but on closer inspection reveal stylistic, conceptual
differences and may be interchangeable only in a limitednumber of contexts.

For example: I think/believe he will be here soon. But only: I believe in Father Christmas.

Stylistic synonyms

If the difference in the meaning of synonymic words concerns stylistic and emotional colouring
(words expressing attitudinal and emotional factors, i.e. used in different situations, and having various
degrees of expressivity) they are termed as stylistic synonyms, groups of words having identical
denotation but a different connotation.

Examples: spinster - single woman; policeman - cop; morning - morrow, mother - mum; seek - look
for; die - kick the bucket; fag -cigarette; comely (Br) - good-looking, father - daddy; brainy -
intelligent, nag - horse.

Ideographic synonyms

If they differ in the shades of meaning (and the emotion), we speak of ideographic synonyms.

Examples: stout, fat, plump, strange

The words may be different in degree: adore- love, astonishment-surprice, furious-angry

Sometimes words with similar mmeanings are used in different grammatical patterns: rob a bank/sb-
steal sth from, answer a letter-reply to a letter

Sources of synonymy

English, due to its numerous borrowings from foreign sources, is quite rich in synonyms. Words of
native origin are usually simpler and less formal than their borrowed counterparts (ask, question). Most
English synonyms form:
a) a double scale pattern , native word - loan-word : come - arrive; help – aid
b) a triple scale pattern, native word - French word - Latin or Greek word:begin - commence -
initiate; end -finish- conclude; ask – question - interrogate; belly - stomach - abdomen; leave -
depart - quit.
Exceptions occur when a loanword is simpler. For example:"dale" is a native word, less frequently
used than "valley" – its counterpart a loanword. The same is true of deed' and"act", and "fair" and
"beautiful".
Other sources of English synonyms are:
1) interborrowing of words among different varieties of English: can - tin (Am. - Brit.), okay -
all right, girl - lass (Scot);
2) creation of different words for the same thing by means of compounding, affixation,
shortening etc. (the result of word-building): arrangement - layout, popular - pop;
3) semantic change: servant - domestic, die - pass away;
12. Set expressions.Classification of set expressions according to the function. Set
phrases. Proverbs. Similes. Familiar quotations.Collocations
Set expressions (fixed expressions, idioms)

 the word-groups consisting of two or more words, combination of which is integrated as one
unit with specialised non-literal meaning of the whole, e.g. to sleep like a log, Can a leopard
change its spots?, to be busy as a bee.

Classification according to the function

1) set expressions functioning like nouns, e.g. white elephant, a skeleton in the cupboard, brains
trust, dog days

2) set expressions functioning like verbs

 Special group – phrasal verbs, e.g. the cap fits , to bark up the wrong tree, to keep up
with the Jonses; to give up, to make (sth) up, to put (sb) up

3) set expressions functioning like adjectives: a lot of them are similes - expressions of
comparison, e.g. like a bull in a china shop, as old as the hills, as mad as a hatter

4) set expressions functioning like adverbs: e.g. once in a blue moon, time and again, to drink like
a fish
 5) set expressions functioning like interjections: e.g. Bless (one’s) soul!, God bless me!, Hang it
(all)!

Phrases, Proverbs, Quotations

Set phrases

 a set phrase or fixed phrase is a phrase whose parts are fixed, even if the phrase could be
changed without harming the literal meaning
 a set phrase is a culturally accepted phrase
 a set phrase does not necessarily have any literal meaning in and of itself
 set phrases may function as idioms (e.g. red herring) or as words with a unique referent (e.g.
Red Sea)
 e.g. Tell it to the horse marines. His bark is worse than his bite
 other examples: Thank you (There is an implied "I" that is almost never used with the set
phrase) ; You're welcome (Note that while 'You are welcome' would have the same literal
meaning, it is very rarely used in the same way)

Proverbs
 wise sayings, often warnings, which have been passed from generation to generation
 their advice will never be out of date (adages)
 e.g. It’s no use crying over spilt milk. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
 other examples: Honesty is the best policy; All's well that ends well; One is never too old to
learn

Familiar quotations
 is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted
expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is
indicated by (punctuated with) quotation marks
 e.g. Shakespeare: “Frailty, thy name is woman.” ; Caesar: “The die is cast.”
Collocations
 are words, which can usually be combined (collocated) only with certain words
 if we want to master a language properly we should know what words of the language are most
likely to occur together – what are the typical collocations
 e. g. the noun rain may be collocated with adjectives: driving, heavy, pouring, soaking,
torrential, freezing, intermittent, light, steady
Classification of collocations
 a noun + a verb
e.g. alarms go off (ring, sound), blizzards rage
 an adverb + an adjective
e.g. strictly accurate, sound asleep, keenly (very much) aware
  a verb + an adverb
e.g. amuse thoroughly, argue heatedly, appreciate sincerely
 a unit associated with a noun
e.g. a pack of dogs, a pride of lions, a school of whales, a lump of sugar, a drop of oil

13. Newspaper English. Principles of newspaper English. Punning.Anagrams

Newspaper English
 the vocabulary of newspapers is very special and it requires a high level of language command
 there are several principles that make newspaper English so typical
 they all follow the main idea: economical, condensed and attractive language
Newspaper headlines

 using as few words as possible. Grammar words often left out, e.g. Turkish Minister Quits in
Car Crash Scandal
 a simple form of the verb is used, e.g. Pepsi To Test New Colours, Cities Seek Restitution
 the infinitive is used - something is going to happen, e.g. USD 20 Million to Be Invested in
Office Centre
 words are usually shorter and sound more dramatic than ordinary English words (abbreviations)

Principles of Newspaper English

The main principle is to attract attention by:
 playing with words, punning (humorous use of words) or making anagrams from the names of
famous people (rearranging the letters to spell something else), e.g. Wild Ant, Yes? = Walt
Disney (Disney’s new animal theme park opens) James’ Romance = James Cameron (Director
of “Titanic” romantic story)
 new words with vague etymology invented by journalists, e.g. venditation = the act of setting
forth ostentatiously
 examples of attractive headlines:

KEY WITNESS DEATH THREAT = person who saw the crime is in danger.
STAR WEDS = marriage of a famous actor/actress

PM BACKS PEACE PLAN = Prime Minister supports the end of war

QUEEN’S GEMS RIDDLE = royal jewels have been stolen

POLL PROBES SPENDING HABITS = public opinion survey investigates spending habits

Anagrams

 is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new
word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal
point = I'm a dot in place
 someone who creates anagrams is called an anagrammatist
  the original word or phrase is known as the subject of the anagram
 any word or phrase that exactly reproduces the letters in another order is an anagram
 the goal of serious or skilled anagrammatists is to produce anagrams that in some way reflect or
comment on the subject
 an anagram may be a synonym or antonym of its subject, a parody, a criticism, or praise; e.g.
George Bush = He bugs Gore; Madonna Louise Ciccone = Occasional nude income or One cool
dance musician; William Shakespeare = I am a weakish speller, Roger Meddows-Taylor =
Great words or melody

Punning

 is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings
of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect
 these ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic, homographic,
metonymic, or metaphorical language
 a pun uses a correct expression that alludes to another (sometimes correct but more often
absurdly humorous) expression
 Henri Bergson defined a pun as a sentence or utterance in which "two different sets of ideas are
expressed, and we are confronted with only one series of words"
 puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, given that their usage and meaning
are entirely local to a particular language and its culture
 puns are used to create humor and sometimes require a large vocabulary to understand
 puns have long been used by comedy writers, such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and
George Carlin