Giáo trình tự vựng tiếng anh cơ bản (basic english lexicology) hoàng tất trường

lOMoARcPSD|16911414 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM NGOẠI NGỮ - HÀ NỘI HOÀNG TẤT TRƯỜNG TỪ VỰNG HỌC TIẾNG ANH CƠ BẢN BASIC ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY valueless -She’s very stingy! -No, she’s quite tight! -Oh, she’s so thrifty! girlishness 1993 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 PREFACE This material is intended for the 4th year students of the English Department in the Hanoi University of Foreign Language Teachers It can also be, as a matter of fact, used for English students in the later years in other universities since it only treats of the essential facts of lexicology in general and English lexicology in particular Having considered the level of our students’ knowledge of English, we have tried, as far as possible, to make this course not quite “theoretically theoretical” but “practically theoretical” English and Russian linguists look at the word from rather different angles thus describing it rather differently We have to combine those schools of thought in such a way that our students will have less difficulties in the study of this subject To help improve our students’ comprehension a certain amount of time is to be devoted to seminars for which specific topic have been selected They are required to all the exercises in the written form We benefited greatly from talks and discussions with our colleagues Let us here thank all of them for what they have directly or indirectly contributed Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 A INTRODUCTION I/ Lexicology, its subject matter and task Linguistic material is generally arranged into phonology, grammar and lexis (or vocabulary) These three distinct dimensions are the subject matter of the various linguistic branches The word “lexicology” originates from Greek and is composed of two parts: “lexis” meaning “word” and “logos” meaning “science, learning”, thus “lexicology” literally mean “the science or the study of the word” However, this is just a vague notion about the subject matter and task of lexicology since all the other branches of linguistic science also refer to the word As a branch of linguistic, lexicology has its specific sims and methods of scientific research, its essential task being the study and systematic description of the vocabulary of a given language By “vocabulary” or “lexis” is meant the sum total or the system of all the words that a language possesses and by “word” is meant dialectical unity of form and content, independent unit of language capable to form a sentence by itself (it should be noted here that an exact definition of the word has so far not been arrived at) Thus the subject matter of lexicology is the word, its structure, formation, meaning and history Apart from these lexicology also investigates set expressions hence phraseology and the art of compiling dictionaries hence lexicography Lexicology cannot exclude lexicography because the latter is a practical application of the former and lexicographers are inevitably guided in their work by the principle laid down by lexicologists Regional varieties of the word are dealt with in lexicology as well Take English for example, not only is there Britain English but there is American, Australian, Indian, Canadian English and so forth as English is extremely widely used in the world In the broad sense, lexicology can be said to consist of five essential branches: 1) Word structure and formation: Investigates all the problems concerning the structure of the word and the way it is formed 2) Semasiology (or semantics): Focuses on the meaning of the word chiefly the lexical meaning because the grammatical meaning is studied in grammar (This will be dealt with in part C) It discusses the type of meaning, the change and development of meaning, the grouping of words and so on 3) Phraseology: Goes into set (fixed) expressions which are reproduced in speech as ready – made units There may be standardized word combinations, idioms, proverbs etc from only two phrases to very long sayings In English there are such set expressions as “good heavens, diamond cuts diamond, no pains no gains; as strong as a horse, two heads are better than one, he who chatters to you will chatter of you and still others 4) Etymology: Refers to the history, the origin of words Etymologists divide the English vocabulary into two main layers: native words and borrowed words 5) Lexicography: Studies the problems related to dictionary compiling, they are the problems of the types of dictionary, the selection of words for each type, the arrangement of words and so on Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Lexicology approaches the words from different angles: general lexicology treats vocabulary in general and special lexicology treats the vocabulary of a given language Every special lexicology is based on the fundamental principles of general lexicology, which is a basic part of the general science of language Historical lexicology discusses the vocabulary in the diachronic aspect It studies the origin of words and their development, investigates the non-linguistic and linguistic forces modifying the structure of words, their meaning and usage It surveys the vocabulary as a system in its evolution, describing its change and development in the course of time Descriptive lexicology studies the vocabulary in the synchronic aspect, i.e at a given stage of its development.it deals with words in their morphological and sementical structures, investigating the interdependence between these two levels Yet it is important to note that, being a social phenomenon, language develops together with society The vocabulary of a language is always in a state of constant development Almost every new object or phenomenon in human society and activity, as soon as it appears, finds its place in the vocabulary As human society develops, a great many new words are needed to express new ideas, new conceptions and new wants The vocabulary can be said to be a mirror that reflects man’s character, mentality and activity Therefore, both the diachronic and synchronic approaches are to be combined Every linguistic survey has to strike a reasonable balance beween the two II/ The significance of lexicology: As mentioned above, vocabulary is one of the three main dimensions of language, so lexicology is theoretically valuable in that it forms the study of this dimension Lexicology is specially practically useful in foreign language teaching It helps stimulate a systematic approach to facts concerning vocabulary It is also valuable in building up students’ vocabulary by effectively selecting, grouping and analizing new words A clear understanding of the word forming system furnishes an instrument enabling students to guess and retain in their memory the meaning of: new words on the basic of their motivation or by comparing and constrasting them with the previously learnt elements and patterns Mistakes can be reduced by drawing students’ attention to the distributional features of words Lexicology also helps students distinguish between different styles of speech, spoken and written speech in particular thus making them more confident in contact with foreigners They can express more ideas within a limited vocabulary Lexicology imparts the essential skills of using various types of dictionaries and reference material and prepares for future independent work on the improvement of the learner’s stock of words With a good grasp of the theory of the word, teachers might be able to find out effective ways to test their students’ knowledge of vocabulary Apart from all that lexicology makes it possible for students to gain a better insight into various cultural aspects of the people speaking the language they are learning and even of their own as well They can, to some extent, see the interest, the beauty of language III/ Lexicology in its relation to phonology, grammar and stylistics: Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 One level of linguistic structure can’t be well treated in isolation from the other No part of a language can be sufficiently investigated without referring to all other parts The survey of words in lexicology is not to be separated from that of the other elements in the language system to which words belong since all those element are, in fact, interdependent and closely related Many phonological features take part in the conditioning of word unity and marking word limits Regarding English, there are two main phonological features associated with words, they are stress and juncture It is stress that often helps distinguish between compound words and free word groups such as “ ‘dancing ‘girl” and “ ‘dancing girl” or “ ‘black ‘leg” and “ ‘black-leg” It is juncture that enables us to realize the difference between word groups that are almost homonymous like “a nation” and “an Asian” and so on A shift of stress is also useful in making new words like “re’cord” (verb) and “ ‘record” (noun) The connection of lexicology with grammar is very important as well Seldom words occur in isolation They are produced in certain patterns showing the relations between the things they stand for thus possessing some grammatical meaning alongside with their lexical meaning These two types of meaning are usually interdependent: For instance, the functions of a link verb with a predicative expressed by an adjective cannot be fulfilled by all intransitive verbs but are usually just taken up by verbs of motion or perception: “run short, go wrong turn yellow, get angry” etc and many other similar combinations conveying the meaning of “become sth” On the other hand the grammatical form and function of the word affects its lexical meaning: “When halls and Baxter were going to realize everything it was already too late Coke was gone and so was their car” The same verb “go” here acquires definitely example is the varied meaning of the verb “boil” in the following: “The water is boiling, the water is being boiled, the water is boiled water” Word forming patterns give enough evidence to say that word-formation can be well assigned to both lexical and grammatical fields The lexicalization of a grammatical form is also worth mentioning A form that originally indicated grammatical meaning turns into a basis for a new lexical meaning, take such examples as nouns used in the plural having a special sense: spectacles, advices colours, customs etc The suffix –s in these words signals a new word with a completely new meaning Concrete nouns are sometimes used both as mass-nouns (uncountable nouns) and as thing-nouns (countable nouns) In the latter meaning they may well take the suffix of plurality (-s/-es) For instance "meat, butter, rice, fish, hair" etc are usually used in the singular but once used in the plural they mean different things In such cases, figurative meanings are sometimes found as well: "Fruits of labour" Very often grammar plays the crucial role in deciding the meaning of words We can rely on it to compare the various lexical meanings of the verb "make" in the following: "made in Japan; He made her his wife; That boy will make a good teacher; She made away with herself; The whole story is Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 made up; They sat up late to make up for the lost time; Early rising makes for good health; Someone has made off with my bike; Sorry, I can't make you out" Stylistics is no less significantly related to lexicology From quite a different angle, it also goes into a number of problems of lexicology They are the problems of meaning, synonymy and so forth The same words used in different styles may well bring about different meanings From standard, literary language may become substandard (nonstandard) and even quite vulgar: "Where's that chick from?" "It's bloody cold today"; "What the hell are you saying?” In conclusion, it goes without saying that all the levels of language are closely interconnected and can be said to overlap one another We separate them for convenience of study, not because they are separate IV/ Some general characteristics of the English language: The mixed character of the vocabulary is the most characteristic feature of English since its grammar and phonetic systems are very stable and not easily, influenced by other languages The composite nature of the English vocabulary is an undenisable fact As mentioned above, English words are devided into two main layers: native and borrowed The term "native" is used to indicate words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles from the continent in the 5th century by the Germanic tribes These words formed the foundation for the further development of the English vocabulary It is surprising to note that the present-day English vocabulary contains over 600.000 words, while in old English period it was composed of only 30.000 words It underwent and is nowadays still undergoing considerable changes: New words or new meaning of old words appear while some old words and meanings are no longer used or even drop out of the language completely However, in English, as in any other languages, there is always a layer of words which is considered most stable, most significant for communicative purposes This layer of words is called the basic stock of words The words making up the basic stock are usually the oldest and are mostly native words: Man, woman, hand, foot, house, door, sun, star, sat, drink, big, small and so on and so forth They denote the most common objects, actions, notions of everyday life thus being used most frequently The majority of these words are polysemantic and constitute the basis for the further developments of the vocabulary From them, a great number of new words have been formed: Hand; to hand; handicraft; handbag; handsaw; hand book; handout; red - handed and still others The basic stock of words may be said to consist of five groups which denote: 1- The most common objects and phenomens of nature: sky, earth, sun, star, moon, rain, wind, water, tree, etc 2- The names of human beings, parts of the body relatives: man, woman, mother, father, brother, sister, arm, foot etc 3- Men's dwelling, domestic animals: House, roof, dog, cat, pig, cow, sheep, etc 4- Actions in everyday life, labour tools, eat, drink, do, make, hammer, etc 5- Main qualities and properties: Big, small, good, bad, old, young, cold, hot, etc SEMINAR: TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION: Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 The subject matter of lexicology The task of lexicology Word and vocabulary The five principal branches of lexicology The types of lexicology Why lexicology is studied, its significance The relationship between phonology and lexicology The relationship between grammar and lexicology The relationship between stylistics and Lexicology 10 The growth of the English vocabulary and the reasons for that growth 11 The basic stock of words and its characteristics 12 The meaning of some essential terms: lexicology, vocabulary, diachronic, synchronic, semasiology, semantics, phraseology, stymology, lexicography B WORD STRUCTURE AND FORMATION I/ Word structure The word: As mentioned above, the term "word" appears to be a simple concept but in fact, it is extremely difficult to define Some linguists refer to semantics, some refer to phonology etc to define the word For instance, Palmer noted that a word is marked if not by "spaces" or "pauses", at least by some features of the sound system of the language, for example, stress and juncture in English And yet, in rapid spoken English, we sometimes can hardly find stress and juncture; we might say "whatchagonna do?" for what in writing would appear "what are you going to do?" Is "whatcha" one word or three and "gonna" one or two? So, let us, for the time being, accept the following definition which seems to be the most satisfactory: "A word is a dialectical unity of form and content, independent unit of language to form a sentence by itself, for example "book, bookish, unlucky, go, eat, lexicology, white-wash, kiss-me-quick" and so forth The morpheme: Looking at the words above, we can see that many of them are made up of various smaller meaningful elements: book +- ish = bookish; un -+ luck +- y = unlucky, etc These elements are called "morphemes" As they cannot be divided any further into meaningful parts, morphemes may be defined as the minimal meaningful language units A morpheme has its sound form and meaning but unlike a word, it is not independent and ocours in speech only as part of a word although a word may - consist of only one morpheme, is they coincide The types of morphemes and words: There are two main types of morphemes: The root morpheme and the affixational morpheme 3.1 The root morpheme is also called the lexical morpheme or simply the root Itis the primary element of the word and conveys its essential lexical meaning In the example above, we have the roots "book, luck, white, wash" etc The root remains after removing Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 all the other elements and cannot be analized any further So we can easily pick out the root in this "terrible looking" word set: phone phonic phonetic phoneme phinetical phonemic phonetics allophone phonetician telephone phonology telephonic phonological homophone phonologist enphony, etc Root morphemes are, in general, free morphemes because they can function independently Very few roots are bound morphemes, ie the morphemes that cannot function independently and have to be combined with other morphemes; for intance, clude in "conclude include ,, exclude", or terr- in "terror, terrorize, terrific, terrible" etc 3.2 The affixational morpheme is further divided into grammatical morpheme and derivational morpheme a) The grammatical morpheme is also called inflection or ending Used to create different forms of the same word it carries the grammatical meaning only and is, therefore, studied in grammar: -s in "books", - ed in "asked, studied" etc A complete set of forms of a word in an inflectional pattern is called "inflectional paradigm" It is the system of grammatical forms characteristic of a word, eg: girl, girl's, girls, girls' quick, quiker, quickest open, opens, opening, opened, opened b) The dericational morpheme carries both lexical and grammatical meaning Because of this dual nature it can be called lexico- grammatical morpheme e.g pre - ; un - ; re - ; ness; - ful;- ly Derivational morphemes are used to create new words and are, therefore, studied in lexicology Here we can speak about derivational paradigm It is the system of derivational forms characteristic of a word, e.g hope, hopeless, hopelessness, hopelessly It should be noted that derivational paradigm is a new concept When linguists mention "paradigm" they usually mean "inflectional paradigm" To clarify the types of morpheme, let consider the following chart: MORPHEME Root morpheme Affixational morpheme (-Mostly face-) (- All bound -) Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Free root Inflectional morpheme Bound root Derivational morpheme Prefix Suffix 3.3 The types of words: The concept of morpheme now allows us to classify words into three types: simple words, derived words and compound words A simple word is one that only consists of a root morpheme: "boy, girl, table, small, green, yellow, speak, follow, establish" A derived word is one chat consists of a root and one or more derivational morphemes: Teacher, "student, amusing, interested, antidisestablishmentarianism A compound word is one that has at least two roots, with or without derivational morphemes: Blackboard, ladykiller, happy - go - lucky, white-wash The following is the chart of words: WORD Simple word Derived word Compound word II/ WORD - FORMATION Word - formation is the process of building new words from the material already existing in the language according to certain structural and semantic patterns and formulae The subject matter of word-formation is of course not simple words but the ones that are analizable structurally and semantically, i.e derived" and compound words Thus, word formation goes into such words as "learner, mouthy, baby - sitter "but not" learn mouth, baby" and "sit" The following are the various principal ways of word - formation in English graded according to their productive degrees AFFIXATION AFFIXATION is the formation of new words with the help of affixes Affixes consist of prefixes and suffixes, therefore affixation is devided into prefixation and suffixation There are so - called semi - affixas but these are very few and will be dealt with in the lecture on compound words 1.1 PREFIXATION Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 a) Characteristic Features: (to) - (to) redo (to) like mm - (to) dislike (to) eat - (to) overeat (to) lave - - - (to) outlive happy - unhappy polite - impolite standard - substandard able - unable /(to) enable Looking at the examples above, we can see that prefixes rarely from new parts of speech and this is considered to be their distinctive feature as compared with suffixes There are some prefixes which coincide with words mostly prepositions and adverbs: over - ; out - ; up - 'etc These prefixes can be considered as homonymous to words b) Classification of prefixes Prefixes are classified in many ways, either according to their origin or meaning or function Let us now deal with the classification based on meaning since it is of great practical value in classroom teaching and learning In general, prefixes in English have three groups of meaning: the first has negative meaning, the second denotes reversal or repetision of an action, the third shows space and time relationship The table below helps illustrate our classification Prefixes Meaning un, dis -, non-, mis-, in(ill -, im-, ir-) Examples negation unlucky, dishonest, nonsense, misunderstand, incorrect, illegal, impolite, irregular un -, dis-, rereversal or repetition unlock, disconnect, redo, retell, replay pre-, post-, fore-, over-, space and time prewar, postwar, foresee, superrelationship oversleep, supermarket The prefix in-, as seen in the table, occurs in different phonemic shapes depending on the initial sound of the word it goes with The classification above is, of course, not quite satisfactory since the meanings of the prefixes in English vary greatly "MIS -" does not quite mean "negation" but "bad (ly) wrong (ly)" misuse, misbehaviour, etc We put them together for convenience of study only, not because their meanings are indentical Among the prefixes we can pick out such productive ones as "re -, non-, super-, pre-" while "in -, de -, a -" etc are quite nonproductive By "productive" is meant the great ability to be combined with other words to create new words 10 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 18 Analyse the vocabulary of following indicating the type and function of the stylistically coloured units a) "I felt for the fellow", he said "Poor son of a bitch I'm sorry I was bastardly!" b) The boy shouted "give it to me!" You rotten devil You know damn well it's not yours! I'll kick your big fat belly I swear I will" c) She's not an easy mark She's no damned fool She won't go on believing you 19 Rearrange these columns in a scientific, reasonable way: slow long enemy generous little sick lengthy short believe curt gifted dull ill hate foe selfish ungenerous love brief friend mate sluggishly mistrust fast trust open-handed mizerly like many disbelieve quickly slowly dislike well few fine much unselfish bright 20 Can you solve these riddles? Make further comments: a) She - What you like best? He – I love the letter after I beet b) What you hear in this dialogue? - “Does June like to join the march in April?” - “No, Vember or Gust may” Ork told Ber C, I C Y I O U D, “ I C U Q P N T I C U Q P N T 2” D PHRASEOLOGY I/ DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE: Definition: Phraseology is the study of set expressions called phraseological units: (to be) in high feather; (to be) as hungry as a hunter; good heavens; to kick the bucket Structural: features: The set expressions studied by phraseology may be completely or partially fixed In other words, they are either unchangeable or changeable expressions The grammatical structure and lexical components of a set expression are stable For example we cannot replace the components of “in high feather” with any other words without breaking up this set expression “High” cannot be replaced by “tall” nor “feather” 42 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 by “hair” and so on And yet, in semi-fixed expressions or for a stylistic effects, subtitutions is, of course, possible Instead of “two” in “to kill two birds with one stone”, one might say “I killed three birds with one stone” Semantic and stylistic features: As far as the semantic angle is concerned, set expressions may be motivated as well as non-motivated The meaning of non-motivated expressions is never a mere sun of the meanings of its components: To pull sb’s leg To give sb the sack Phraseological units are reproduced in speech as ready-made units and in many case can be replaced by words: To pull up sb’s leg = to tease To go to heaven = to die Cats and dogs = heavily (of rain) Like other languages, English has many set expressions that contain different figures of speech such as metaphor, metonymy, etc A dog in the manger (To be) all ears Based on alliteration and contrast, there are: Now or never To kill or to care Based on synonymy, there are: By leaps and bounds Proud and haughty Based on rhyme, there are: By hook or by crook Fair and squares II/ CLASSIFICATION: Classification based on motivation: 1.1 Phraseological fusions: are completely non-motivated set expressions They may be called “completely indiomatic” because the meaning of the whole unit is not a mere sum of the meanings of its components In other words, phraseological fusions cannot be literally translated into other languages: A nice kettle of fish To beat about the bush To give sb the sack 1.2 Phraseological unities: are partially motivated set expressions They can be called “partially idiomatic” because the meaning of the whole unit is not the sum of the meanings of it components but it is based on them We may deduce or guess the general meaning: 43 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 To fish in troubled waters To make one’s way in life All of a sudden However it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between phraseological fusions and phraseological unities because whether such and such units are motivated or not depends on the education and knowledge of the speaker as well 1.3 Phraseological combinations (standardized word combinations): are clearly motivated set expressions They contain one component used in its direct meaning In phraseological combinations, words retain their complete semantic independence despite their being limited in combinative power; As sweet as honey As bold as brass To win a victory (to gain a victory) To meet the demand (to meet the requirement) In fact, only phraseological fusions and unities are phraseological units proper while phraseological combinations are just phraseological collocations or traditional phrases They are included into lexicology since they are not quite free word groups but also limited in their combinative power and can be regarded as ready-made units Classification based on function: 1.1 Set expressions functioning like nouns: Skeleton in the cupboard A nice kettle of fish 1.2 Set expressions functioning like verbs: To pull sb’s legs To make eyes at … 1.3 Set expression functioning like adjectives: As meek as a lamb As quick as lightening Spick and span 1.4 Set expressions functioning like adverbs: (Selling) like hot cakes Once in a blue moon 1.5 Set expressions functioning like prepositions: In consequence of… In spite of… 1.6 Set expressions functioning like interjections: Damn it! Son of a bitch! A part from the units mentioned above, there are also the units that are syntactically shaped like sentences A great many of these are proverbs, idioms etc.: Two heads are better than one 44 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Take it easy! There is nothing more silly than a silly laugh As has been thoroughly dealt with in the chapter on word formation (II.2.4), the verbal collocations of the "give up" type are considered as compound verbs since they generally follow the criteria of compound words And yet some linguists also include them in phraseology They, therefore form a borderline case between compounding and phraseology III/ PROVERBS, IDIONS, QUOTATICNS, CLICHES AIND SAYTKGS Very often there arises the problem of distinguishing between proverbs, idioms, savings etc A perfect solution is hardly possible since there are many borderline cases between them but in general we can put them in separate group as follows: Proverbs: a proverb is a short saying expressing popular wisdom, a truth or a moral lesson in concise and imaginary way English and Vietnamese have many similar proverbs: He laughs best who laughs last Two heads are better than one No pain no gains Proverbs are also set expressions because their lexical components are constant and stable Their meaning is usually figurative and they are ready-made units as well Proverbs, therefore, must be studied together with other set expressions One more feature of proverbs is that they are often elliptical in their nature: (so) many men, (so) many minds Tit for tat Idioms: are difficult to define accurately They are also set expressions, short saying usually characterized by the fact that their meaning cannot easily be deduced from their components Besides, they are different from proverbs in that they are not “instructive, moral” in nature They are constructions peculiar to a language: Give way; in order to Kick the bucket Let the cat out of the bag Quotations: are also set expressions coming from literature and gradually becoming part and parcel of the language This means that many people using them may not know or may forget that they are quoting In English, most familiar quotation are from Shakepeare; Pope etc Give every man thy ear but few thy voice To err is human Fools rush in where angels fear to tread Cliché’s: are quotations or saying which are so frequently used that they have become hackneyed and stale As they are constantly and mechanically repeated, they have lost their expressiveness and are therefore better avoided: Stand shoulder to shoulder with… Pave the way to a bright new world 45 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Having dealt with the terms above it can be noted here that “saying, expressions or phraseological units” are general terms IV/ SET EXPRESSIONS VERSUS COMPOUND WORDS: It is sometimes extremely difficult to discriminate between set expression of 2-3 words and compound words especially compound nouns, for example, “red tape, hot head, air-line, put up with, cats and dogs (of rain) To solve the problem, linguists have tried to refer to the following criteria: - The divisibility of a set expression into separately structured elements - The structural integrity of a compound (in a compound, the process of intergrasion is much more advanced) - Derivational ability - The solid and hyphenated spelling of some compounds With the help of these criteria, “red tape, hot head, air-line “are fairly clearly compound words The criterion of derivation is the most useful From these words, there are other derived words such as “red tapist, red taperism, hot headed, air-line” etc “Cats and dogs” is more on the side of a set expression, a phrase than a word “Put up with” is a borderline case As analysed in the previous chapter on compounds, the words whose final elements are preposition-like adverbs should be considered to be compound words In this connection it is important to mention the fact that in the development of language many free word combinations, due to their increasing stability turn into set expressions and set expressions turn into compound words E ETYMOLYGY I/ BASIC ASSUMPTTION: As has been discussed in the first part (introduction) the mixed character of the vocabulary is the most characteristic feature of English According to the origin of words, English vocabulary is divided into two layers: native words and borrowed words Native words are those of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles in the 5th century by the Germanic tribes - the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes This layer takes up only 30% of the whole English vocabulary Borrowed words (also called loan words or borrowings) are words borrowed from other languages They may be completely or partially assimilated in the English vocabulary and takes up 70% of the total Borrowing proper are words whose sound-form and meaning are both borrowed Semantic borrowings are original English words that have borrowed new meanings due to the influence of related words in other languages For instance, English word "red" acquired the meaning "revolutionary" due to the influence of the French word "rouge' meaning "revolutionary" 46 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Translation loans are words and expressions formed from the material available in English but according to patterns from another language by way of literal translation The word "wall newspaper" is a translation loan from Russian It is necessary to distinguish between "source of borrowing" and "origin of borrowing" "Source of borrowing" is the language from which some word was borrowed into English "Origin of borrowing" is the language to which this word really belongs or can be traced The word "paper", for example, was borrowed from French but its origin is Greek II/ ASSIMILATION OF BORROWINGS: Assimilation is the conformation to the phonetical, graphical, grammatical and lexical rules of the receiving language According to the degree of motivation, there are two groups: completely assimilated words and partially assimilated words Completely assimilated words: are usually old borrowings "Most of them are frequent and stylistically neutral words They contribute greatly to word-formation in English For example: cheese, wine, street (Latin) husband, fellow, happy (Scandinavian) table, face, finish (French) A great number of completely assimilated words can hardly be distinguished from native words because all the words of this group follow all the phonetical, grammatical and lexical rules of the English language Partially assimilated words: 2.1 Semantically non-assimilated words: are words that denote objects, notions peculiar to the country from which they come: Kimono, sheik, pagoda, kangaroo 2.2 Grammatically non-assimilates words: are usually words that keep their original plural forms: crisis crises; index … indices; phenomenon…phenomena; formula…formulas 2.3 Phonetically partially assimilated words - with the tress on the final syllable; police; cartoon, machine, prestige - with alien sounds; bourgeois, regime, memoir - with the whole different pattern: potato, opera, tomato, confetti 2.4 Graphically partially assimilated words; café', oliche', fiance' corps, ballet… In Vietnamese, there are also very many assimilated borrowings: mùi xoa (from French), mít tinh (from English), sư phụ (from Chinese) III/ BARBARISMS (UNASSIMILATED BORROWINGS): 47 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Barbarisms are completely non- assimilated borrowed words They are used by the English in both oral and written forms but not assimilate in any way There are usually English equivalents for them: coup (or coup 𝜕's' tat) a sudden seizure of state power IV/ ETYMOLOGICAL DOUBLETS: Etymological doubles are two or more words of the same language derived by different routes from the same basic word Having undergone different changes they are, to some extent different in form, meaning and usage Canal-channel: hospital-hotel (Latin-French doublets): V/ INTERNATIONAL WORDS! International words are words that have identical or similar sound forms and meaning and are used in many languages In English and other European languages, they play an important role So numerous are scientific terms and words denoting abstract notions: atomic, antibiotic penicillin, concert, phenomena Many languages borrowed English words and these words have become international: meeting, film, club, nylon VI/ CLAUSES OF BORROWING: Non-linguistic cause: during the contacts between Britain and other countries, many words were borrowed into English These contacts may have been through business, invasions, conquests and so on French words take up 25% of the English vocabulary Linguistic causes: The appearance of now things, ideas, notions etc Led to the necessity to name them Normans and Romans, for instance, brought with them words like "street, cheese, court, army, state"etc It was also necessary to replace a word group denoting one object or idea by a single word: "the grounds of a school or college" was replaced by the Americanism "campus" Besides, it was necessary to enrich the expressive means of English Usually borrowings are due to the combination of both linguistic and nonlinguistic facters F LEXICOGRAPHY Lexicography is the science of dictionary compiling Closely connected with lexicology, it is regarded as a main branch of it Lexicography also investigates the form, meaning, usage and origin of words In English lexicography as well as general lexicography there are usually a number of problems to be solved Dictionaries may be unilingual, bilingual and multilingual I/ MAJOR PROBLEMS: In general, most lexicographers have difficulty in selecting head-words, arranging the vocabulary entry and deciding on its contents, classifying words semantically and functionally, and so forth 48 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Arranging a vocabulary entry, for example, is no easy matter The various meaning of a polysemantic word are difficult to differenciate Which is the most important meaning? Usually, lexicographers are guided by their own preference Some semantic counts have been achieved and have proved to be useful Apart from those problems there is another big one, that of definition Synonyms help explain meanings but there are no absolute synonyms, so no one synonym is sufficient for the purpose II/ TYPES OF ENGLISH DICTIONARIES: General dictionaries: 1.1 Explanatory dictionaries: Most explanatory dictionaries focus on the form, usage and meaning of words in present day English They are synchronic in dealing with words, "The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English" for example.
Among English explanatory dictionaries, the diachronic ones aro "Webster's New International Dictionary", "Shorter Oxford Dictionary on Historical Principles" etc Explanatory dictionaries are also called unilingual dictionaries 1.2 Bilingual dictionaries (translation dictiona-ries) Bilingual dictionaries are like word-books containing vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in another language Many bilingual dictionaries have been compiled in ' Vietnam So far, they different in side, scope and aim 1.3 Learner's dictionaries: There are the dictionaries specially compiled for English language learners at different stages of advancement “The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English” by A.S Horaby (etal) is an extremely useful one compiled to meet the needs of advanced Yoreign learners of English as well as teachers of English In Vietnam there are also English-Vietnamese dictionaries for specific learners Learner's dictionaries may be unilingual or bilingual Specialized dictionaries: Specialized dictionaries aim at covering only a certain specific part of the vocabulary (synonyms antonyms, terms, phraseology, etc) or at providing information about one particular aspect (pronunciation, etymology, etc.) They are subdivided into - Technical dictionaries - Phraseological dictionaries - Pronouncing dictionaries - Etymological dictionaries - Usage dictionaries - Dictionaries of word frequency - Dictionaries of cojlocations - Dictionaries of synonyms Apart from these, there are many other subtypes of dictionaries 49 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Specialized dictionaries may be unilingual and bilingual as well Mention should be made of the types called linguistic and non-linguistic dictionaries The ones that have been discussed so far are linguistic By “and non-linguistic dictionaries” is meant the dictionaries that give information on all the branches of knowledge—the encyclopaedias These not deal with words but chiefly with facts and concepts G MAIN VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY The English language has spread over large territories for many centuries due to historical and economical reasons It is not only the official language of the U.K but also of the U.S.A, Australia, New Zealand, vast areas of India, Canada and many other countries Some peoples in Asia, Africa etc Speak both their mother tongue and English as official languages They can be called bilingual peoples English is, therefore, composed of various variants and dialects II/ STANDARD ENLISH VARIANTS AND DIALECTS IN THE U K: Standard English is the official language of the U.K It is used by the press, the radio, the television and by educated people in general It is taught at school, colleges, universities and so on Its vocabulary is contrasted to that of dialects The varieties that have a literary form are called variants Dialects possess no literary forms In Great Britain there are two variants: Scottish English and Irish English The five main groups of dialects are: Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Midland Cockney-the dialect of London—is the best known Southern dialect Used by uneducated people, Cockney is rather different from standard English in all aspects of language, from pronunciation to grammar and lexis but generally speaking the main difference is the accent II/ TEE AMERICAN VARIANIE (AWERICAN ENGLISH) American English, one of the main English variants, is spoken in the U.S.A American English is by no means a dialect since it has a literary normalized form called standard American It is quite unreasonable to regard it as a separate language as some American writers claimed Obviously American English and British English have the same phonetical and grammatical and systems, the same ways and means of word-formation and so on However since America and Britain are so far away from each other there are, of couraer, some distinct differences in all language dimensions especially in vocabulary Differences in spelling American people try to make the spelling of Latin and Greek words easier and simplify long words: Centre center Theatre theater Honour honor 50 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 Favour favor Traveler traveler Jewellery jewelry Through thru Americanisms: are words and expressions used only in the U.S.A, for example: Junior high school, drive-in (a Cinema where you can see a film without getting out of your car) Such words and expressions have no equivalents is British English because what they donote is not present in Britain However some Americanisms have now entered into the British word stock and are no longer Americanisms Besides, there are a great many American words that exist with exact British English equivalents: British English American English Biscuit……….cookie Sweet……… candy Lorry…………truck Pavement……….sidewalk Luggage…………baggage Break……… intermission (also: break) Autumn……….fall (also: autumn) Differences in word – formation: Conversion is very widely used in American English which forms verbs from all parts of speech: to room, to clerk, to railroad and so on Two—word verbs are so numerous hence the great creation of nouns from them: To mix in … (a) mix-in To hold up … (a) hold-up To break even … (a) break-even Some affixes are more productive in American English than British English: Dom: moviedom, gangsterdom ster: shyster, roaster super: supergangster , superspy, superman , superdog There is a stronger trend to use shortenings in American English New coinages are corsti-nuously appearing in the press, advertisements and and so on III/ AUSTRALIAN, INDIAN AND CANADIAN VARIANTS Australian, Indian and Canadian English, each has developed a literature of its own They all have peculiar characteristics in all the dimension of language Many Australian words are adopted into English These new words denote new things and phenomena on the new land: Kangaroo, boomerang etc Books on Australian English have been written, "Aussie English", for example The words that are typical of Australian can be called Australianisms A great number of Australianisms have been registered in dictionaries as 51 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 distinguished from British English Many Australians are proud of and interested in their own pronunciation and vocabulary, which is quite reasonable The Australian accent is, as a matter of fact, no less interesting than the British accent Like Australian English, Indian and Canadian English also have a special literature of their own They possess peculiarities in phonetics, grammar and lexis They have special words denoting things typical of the countries In short, it can be said that there is no single standard English, no single "correct" English American, Australian, Indian English and so on have already developed their own standards SEMINAR Topics: Characteristic feature of set expressions Classification of set expressions according to semantic motivation Classification of set expressions according to function The differences between proverbs, idioms, quotations, cliches and sayings The frequencies of set expressions in communication (how often are they used?) Assimilation of borrowed words: examples of assimilated words in English and Vietnamese Types of English dictionaries Variants of standard English in the U.K American English 10 The present concept of "standard, correct" English EXERCISES Distinguish between set expressions and free word groups in the following Explain your choice: He fell in love; He fell in the pond There were cats and dogs in the rain; it rained cats and dogs No pains no gains; No word no bread They smell like hot cake; They sell like hot cakes "Your brother's as strong as horse No, he's as strong as a tiger, I think" Group the following set expressions according to their functions: as meek as a lamb (to) take the upper hand like mad (to) let the cat cut of the bag as dumb as a fish practice makes perfect 52 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 (to) drop a hint a piece of cake an idle brain is the devil's workshop son of a bitch true coral needs no painter's brush group all, lose all a pack of lies (the) cheapest is the dearest What are the origins of the following compound words: Fence-sitter; bird-in-the-hand; hand-to-mouth (existence); pie-in-the-sky; stringpulling, leg -pull Which of the phrases below are set expressions? Explain your choice: Many thanks Thank you Thank you very much indeed! Is "After you?" (when you want to invite sb to come in/go out etc before you) set or free expression or a compound? Which criteria can you refer to? Explain these puns: a) Mother (to grown-up child): Don't let others know It's the skeleton in the cupboard Small child (on hearing that): Why don't you throw it away, mum and sis? b) Small child: Why is he so sad, mum? Mother: He's been given the sack Small child: What there in the sack? Mother (bursts out into laughing, knowing her answer was silly): It's an empty one, love No sweets, no chocolate inside Complete the dialogue below: Barbara: (suddenly talked about the film-show she and Christine had been to the previous evening) Last night, I was so annoyed by the people who talked behind my back Christine: (surprised) Who? What did they say? Barbara: (laughed) Oh, No I Christine: (also laughed) well, I thought Comment on these borrowings in terms of assimilation: stratum, neucleus, criterion, bouquet State the types of the dictionaries you/your friends are using Which dictionary (as far as you know) is the best? Why? 10 Which of the spelling norms below are American? marvelous; catalog; acknowledgement; judgment; cheque; programme; check; program 11 Which are you likely to think is the writer of the following: "I had the honor to see the very center of the White House" 53 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 12 a) look at the picture of the sandwichman in ex 16 (Part C-Semasiology), which country you think this city is in? why? b) Which persons British and which is American in these pictures? SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR GRADUATION PAPERS: The English prefix (or: Prefixation in English) The English suffix (or: suffixation in English) The prefixes of negation in English The prefixes of reversal or repetition in English The prefixes of space and time relationship in English The productive prefixes in English The prefixes "in" and "un" The productive suffixes in English English noun-suffixes 10 English adjective-suffixes 11 English verb-suffixes 12 The suffixes “-er, -or, -ee, -ese, -ian, -ist" 13 The suffixes “-ing, -ed" 14 The suffixes "-able, -al, -ial" 15 English word-composition 16 English compound, nouns 17 English compound adjectives 18 English compound verbs 19 Semi-affixes (affixal words) in English 20 English compounds formed by "prepositional adverbs" 21 English derivational compounds 22 Shortening in English 23 Conversion in English 24 Sound imitation in the English vocabulary 25 Metaphor and metonymy-based words 26 Motivation of English words 27 The stylistic aspect of English vocabulary 28 The standard layer of English vocabulary 29 English homonymous 30 English synonyms 31 English antonyms 32 Figures of speech in the English language 33 Metaphor in the English language 34 Metonymy in the English language 35 Semantic ambiguity in English 36 English phraseology 37 The types of phraseological units in English 38 English borrowing 54 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 39 The main varieties of the English vocabulary 40 American English 55 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|16911414 REFERENCES - An trushina G.3 et al 1985 English Lexicology Moscow Higher School Publishing House - Arnold I.V 1986 The English word Moscow Higher School Publishing House - Corder S.Pit 1975 Introducing Applied Linguitics Penguin Education - Du- Nguyen 1970 Kieu, Nha xuat ban Van hoc - Fromkin V et al 1984 An Introduction to Language Australian Edition Holt, Rinhart and Winston - Galperin J 1971 Stylistics Moscow Higher School Publishing House - Ginzburg R.S et al 1966 A Cource in Modern English Lexicology Moscow Higher School Publishing House - Lyons J 1974 Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics Cambridge University Press - Hornby A.S 1986 Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English Oxford University Press - Mednikova E.M 1978 Seminars in English Lexicology Moscow Higher School Publishing House - Pocheptsov G.G 1981 Language and Humour Kiev Hougher School Publishing House - Raevska H.M 1971 English Lexicology Kiev Higher School Publishing House Truong Hoang Tat 1985 Towards Teaching English Vocabulary to Vietnamese Tertiary Students (Thesis) Canberra College of Advanced Education - Truong- Hoang Tat, 1985, Canberra by Night Ccaearian (C C A E) - Zatsney Y.A 1978 The Essentials of English Lexicology Hanoi University of Foreign Language Teachers 56 Downloaded by Nguynhavy Ha Vy (Ntkphuong205@gmail.com)