The Main Lexicological Problems

The Main Lexicological Problems

Syntagmatic: Linear relationship, sequence, construction, semantic structure. In semiotics syntagmatic analysis is analysis of syntax or surface structure (Syntagmatic structure), rather than paradigms as in paradigmatic analysis. This is often done through commutation tests

 

Paradigmatic: Relationships with other words in the vocabulary system, synonymy, antonym, and functional styles. Paradigmatic analysis is the analysis of paradigms embedded in the text rather than of the surface structure (syntax) of the text which is termed syntagmatic analysis. Paradigmatic analysis often uses commutation tests, i.e. analysis by substituting words of the same type or class to calibrate shifts in connotation. In semiotics, the commutation test is used to identify the value or significance of any of the signifiers used in the material to be analyzed.

 

Phraseology: In word groups characterized by stability of structure and transferred meaning.

In linguistics, phraseology describes the context in which a word is used. This often includes typical usages/sequences, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and multi-word units. Phraseological units are (according to Prof. Kunin A.V.) stable word-groups with partially or fully transferred meanings (e.g., "to kick the bucket").

According to Rosemarie Glaeser, a phraseological unit is a lexicalized, reproducible bilexemic or polylexemic word group in common use, which has relative syntactic and semantic stability, may be idiomatized, may carry connotations, and may have an emphatic or intensifying function in a text.

Lexicology as a system:

- Synchronically: at a given stage of its development.

- Diachronically: context of processes.

The adjective synchronic (composed from Greek elements syn "together" and chronos "time") means roughly "simultaneous", "at the same time". It is generally opposed to diachronic. It is used, for example, in:

· synchronic or descriptive linguistics, the study of a language at a specific point in time; as opposed to diachronic or historical linguistics which deals with how languages change over time.

· synchronic distinction or synchronic contrast, a distinction between two co-existing entities, e.g. between the English pronouns he and she. Opposed to a diachronic distinction, between two entities that existed in different epochs, e.g. between the archaic English verbal suffixes -eth and the modern ones -s / -es.

· synchronic process, in modern philosophy of mind, the facilitation of immediate conscious awareness in relatively brief time scales (such as 100 milliseconds).

 

The adjective diachronic (from Greek elements dia "through" and chronos "time") means "historically", "over time”. It is generally opposed to synchronic. It is used, for example, in:

· diachronic or historical linguistics, the study of how languages and language families change over time. Opposed to synchronic or descriptive linguistics, which studies a language at a specific point in time.

· diachronic distinction or diachronic contrast, between two entities that existed in different epochs, e.g. between the archaic English verbal suffixes -eth and the modern ones -s / -es. Opposed to a synchronic distinction, between two co-existing entities, e.g. between the English pronouns he and she.

· diachronic process, in modern philosophy of mind, a process that occurs over a long period of time.

Formal-Informal Language

1. Informal Language: Immediate, family, friends and it changes from situation to situation.

- Colloquial: Literary, colloquial words, shortenings, post-prepositional.

- Slang: Language of highly colloquial style.

- Dialect words: Variety of a language in district, local, regional forms of a language.

 

ETYMOLOGY OF ENGLISH WORDS

Native Elements

1. Indo-European
2. Germanic elements
3. English proper.

Barrowed Elements

1. Celtic (5^th-6^th AD).
2. Latin.

1^st group (1^st c BC),

2nd group (7^th c AD),

3^rd group-the Renaissance period.

1. Scandinavian (8^th-11^th c AD)
2. French

a) Norman (11^th-13^th c AD)

b) Parisian Renaissance

1. Greek (Renaissance)
2. Italian (Renaissance)
3. Spanish (Renaissance and later)
4. German
5. Indian
6. Russian and some other languages

 

Why are the words borrowed?

 

Words are borrowed;

1. To fill the vocabulary gap to that of the language lack of those objects with their names.

Ex; butter, cheese, plum, beet, potato, tomato.

2. To be able to express the same concept from the ather aspects, and to express the same phenomenan more colourfully. They contribute the synonyms to any language vacabulary they are barrowed.

Ex; Cordial-friendly, desire-wish, admire-adore-like-love. Even having the similarities they are not the same words exactly.

 

Do Borrowed Words Change or Do they Remain the Same?

 

Borrowed words naturally change and adjust themselves to the rules of the language to which they are borrowed. As the people adapt themselves to the societies where they live in.

Borrowed words adjust themselves to the vocabulary storage of the language they are transferred in three ways;

1. Phonetical adaptaion

2. Grammatical adaptation

3. Semantical adaptation

 

International Words.

It is often the case that some words are borrowed by several languages not just by one. Such words are usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of communication.

Many of them are Latin nad Greek origin. Most names of sciences, in art, political terms, tropical fruits, sports are international. Ex; Philisophy, chemistry, mathematics, biology, medicine, linguistics, atomic sputnik, television, radio, football, baseball, hockey, cricket, golf, cocoa, coffee, chocolate, coca-cola, banana, mango, communism, revolution, democracy.

It is very important to note that some international mainly borrowings are similar because of being in the same language family group. Ex; Eng-son, Geman-sohn, Russian-sın.

 

Etymological Doublets and Triplets.

Some native origin words may have phonetical and semantical similarities with the borrowed words. Ex; shirt-skirt, shrew-screw, canal-channel, captain-chieftan, cavalry-chivalry, hospita-hostel-hotel. Some shortened words have the similarities with the original words. Ex; f anatic-fan, defence-fence, sahadow-shade.

 

Translation – Loans

Some words are not borrowed exactly as they are to any language but they are translated into that language having the same function in meaning. Ex; first dancer-prima ballerina (from Ital), collectice farm-kolkhoz (from Russian) and etc.

 

Are Etymological and Stylistic Characteristics of Words at All Interrelated?

The answer to this question is positive. Etimolgically native origin words are mostly conversational words, they are more close in sence and wormer. Etimologically borrowed words are mostly learned words and drier. Ex; wish-desire, friendly-cordial, motherly-maternal, childish-infantile, sunny-solar, handy-manuel and etc.

How English Worsds Are Made.

Word Building

If considered structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units which are called morphemes. Morphemes do not occur as free forms but only as constituent parts of the words but they possess their own meanings.

All morphemes (words) are divided into two large classes: roots and affixes. Affixes are divided into again two.

a) Prefixes: They precede the roots in the structure of word. Ex; re-read, miss-pronounce.

b) Suffixes: They follow the roots. Ex; teach-er, cur-able, dic-tate.

Words which consist of roots and affixes are called derived words and the process of producing new words in this way is called derivation.

 

Main structural types of Modern English words are;

 

1. Root words

2. Derived words

3. Compounds

4. Shortenings

 

· The most productive ways of word building are conversion, derivation and composition.

• If we have a new word to some criteria then we call it- derived word. If we do not have new word after the process of affixation then we call it- inflected word.
• If we claim that we have a derived word we mean it has changed in these criteria.

- Semantically

- Morphologically

- Syntactically

- Phonetically

- In graphic

 

The major types of Modern English word-building;

 

1. Affixation: The process of affixation consists of in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme. These affixes can be both native and borrowings. We can further classify affixes as inflectional or derivational. Inflectional affixes depend on the function of a word in a sentence. For example, the inflectional affix ‘- s’ at the end of pot makes the word plural. The remaining affixes in English are derivational affixes, which change the form, function and/or meaning of words. Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive types. The productive affixes are used in deriving new words in particular period of time. The non-productive affixes are used in very frequently and commonly used derived words but are not mentioned derived words anymore.

a) Semantics of affixes: The affixes are admitted to be the smallest component of a word having meaning. Meanings of affixes are specific and considerably different from that of root words. So the affixes (especially noun forming and adverb forming affixes) affect the root words that they are added in manner, functionally and semantically.

2. Conversion: It is sometimes referred to be affix less way of word-building or even affix less derivation. Conversion is the process of making a new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech. The morphemic shape of the original word remains unchanged. But still it is mentioned to be a way of derivation because the function and meaning of the word changes after the process of conversation.

a) Semantics of affixes: The semantic of the word after the process of conversion changes in manner and function in sentence. This change occurs most of the time from verb to noun or vice-versa.

3. Composition: This type of word-building happens by combining two or more stems. Compounds are not homogenous in structure. There are three types of structures in compositional process.

· Neutral Compounds: combining the two stems without any linking elements. Blackbird, bedroom, tallboy. This type has also three subtypes. They are;

a) Simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affix less stems.

b) Derived compounds: They are the compounds which have affixes in their structure. Blue-eyed, lady-killer, newcomer.

c) Contracted Compounds: These words have a shortened stem in their structure. TV-set, V-day, FBI agent.

· Morphological compounds: This type words are few in number and non-productive. Handiwork, handicraft, Anglo-Saxon.

· Syntactic Compounds: Sentence like compounds having the similarities to that of a sentence. Lily-of-the-valley, good-for-nothing, mother-in-love, pick-me-up, whodunit.

a) Semantic aspect of compound words: Can the meaning of a compound word be regarded as the sum of its constituent meanings?

1. Yes, the meaning of a compound word can be regarded as the sum of its constituent meanings. Bedroom, working-man, classroom.

2. In this type one of the component or partially the whole compound has changed its meaning so the meaning compound word cannot be regarded as the sum of its component meanings. Blackbird, football.

3. The meaning of the compound word has changes completely therefore deducing or predicting the compound meaning from its components is impossible. Ladybird, tallboy, horse-marine, butterfingers.

* The second and third compounds are called idiomatic compounds.

4. Semi-affixes: in some derives words some affixes can carry the characteristics of both free stems and bound stems (affixes). So these kinds of new-built words also stand between the derived words and the compound words in their characteristics. These kinds of affixes are called semi-affixes. Water-proof, kiss-proof, bomb-proof, bullet-proof, fire-proof, sportsman, gentleman, seaman, policeman.

5. Shortening (Contraction): These kinds of words are produced in two ways. The first one is to make new word from its syllable of the original word. Phone-telephone, vac-vacation, ad-advertisement. The latter one is to make new word from the initial letters of word group. BBC, UNO, UN, USA.

 

Some minor types of modern word-building

1. Sound Imitation. Words that coined by this interesting type of word-building are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimate objects. Howl, cock-a-doodle-doo, quack, meow, moo, crow, cuckoo, fluffy, slip, shimmer, tingling.

2. Reduplication: - bye-bye, ging-gong, chit-chat.

3. Back-Formation: beggar - to beg, burglar- to burgle, cobbler – to cobble.

 

B. Semantical Aspect:

1. Correlation of the separate meaning of the constituent parts of the actual meaning of the compound. –Classroom, -bedroom are sum of their constituent parts’ meanings. Sleeping car, dancing-hall their meaning partially changed.

2. Meaning which are chanced:

- Football, - game.

- Lazy bone, - not bone but person.

- Chatterbox, - not box but person.

3. Completely different:

- Ladybird – insect

- Tallboy – is not a boy but furniture.

- Bluebottle – flower, insect.

 

• Semi-affixes: Water proof, bomb proof, noble man, gentle man, Scot land, mother land.

 

 

What is “Meaning”?

Among the word’s various characteristics, meaning is certainly the most important. The meanings of all the utterances of speech community are the total experiences of that community; arts, science, practical occupations, amusements, humor, personal and family life. Meaning is inner form semantic structure of word. Meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated. In this the word gets the ability of denoting the real objects, qualities, actions and notions. The complex and somewhat mysterious relationships between referent, concept and word are traditionally represented by the following triangle.

 

Thought or reference (concept)

 

Symbol (word) Referent (object)

 

In this shape the dotted line suggests that there is no immediate and direct relation between word and referent: it is established only through the concept. There is a hypothesis that concepts can only find their realization through word. The process of communication occurs like this, concepts (mental process) are converted into words (linguistic phenomena) and the reverse process: a heard or a printed word converted into a kind of mental picture. This process of communication hasn’t been understood and described yet but can be named sort of miracle.

 

Polysemy

Semantic Structure of the Word

It is a state of a word having more than one meaning. This shows that semantic structure of a word is not indissoluble unity. Polysemantic situation is, if the other meanings are evaluated properly and well, advantage for a language. Main reasons for this are: lack of enough words (symbols) for newly invented, met, discovered referent (objects, phenomena, and etc,.) and the limitation of humans’ speech organs to produce the sound combinations to be words (symbols).

When analyzing the semantic structure of polysemantic word there are two level;

1. Semantic structure of a word treated as system of meanings.

 

Fire, n.

Flame

I

 

II III IV V

An instance of destructive burning: A forest Fire

Burning material in stove, fire place, etc.; There is a fire in the next room. Acamp fire

The shooting of guns. To open-cease fire.

Strong feeling, passion, enthusiasm. A speech lacking fire

 

The above scheme suggest that meaning I holds a kind of dominance over the other meanings conveying the concept in the most general way. Meaning I (generally referred as to main meaning) presents the centre of the semantic structure of the word holding its other component meanings together.

There are two kinds of relations:

1. The relations between the main meaning and other component meanings, there can be direct association or may not.

2. The relation among the component meanings: there can be direct association or may not.

 

The above definitions show that semantic structure of a word is divisible and can be apart from each other in meaning and association. Therefore the semantic structure of a word should be investigated at both these levels: a) of different meanings, b) of semantic components within each separate meaning. For monosemantic words (words with one meaning) the first level is naturally excluded.

 

Meaning and context

Polysemantic circumstance van most probably cause the misunderstanding. To be able to avoid it context is the most powerful preventative against any misunderstanding of meanings. Current research semantics is largely based on the assumption that one of the more promising methods of investigating the semantic structure of a word is by studying the word’s linear relationships with other words in typical contexts, i.e. its combinability or collocability. E.g., adjective-noun, noun-linkingverb + adjective, verb + noun. But there are still some confusing word combinations like a sad voice, a sad story, a sad night. We are supposed to use Denotative Component, Connotative Component to come over the problem of misunderstanding.

 

Broadening of Meaning

Arrive – to come to shore, in the past, - to come to hotel, station, town, village city, country, now

Bird – the young of a bird only, in the past, for almost all kinds of flying species of animals. now

 

Narrowing of Meaning

Deer – any beast, in the past, - a certain kind of beast, now

Meat – any food, - a certain food product. Now

Degradation of Meaning

Knave – boy, in the past, - swindler, scoundrel. now

Villain – farm-servant, in the past -base, vile person. now

Gossip - god parent, in the past – the one who talks after other people. Now

Elevation of Meaning

Knight – manservant, in the past, - noble, courageous man.

Marshal – manservant attending horses, in the past, - the highest rank in the army.

Lady – mistress of the house, married woman, in the past, - wife or daughter of b

 

 

Homonyms: In linguistics, a homonym is one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings, usually as a result of the two words having different origins. The state of being a homonym is called homonymy.

The word "homonym" comes from the conjunction of the Greek prefix homo- (ὁμο-), meaning "same", and suffix -ṓnymos (-ώνυμος), meaning "name". Thus, it refers to two or more distinct concepts sharing the "same name" or signifier. The term is potentially ambiguous because there are a number of ways that two meanings can share the "same name"; thus it may be used in different ways by different speakers. In particular, some sources only require that homonyms share the same spelling or the same pronunciation (in addition to having different meanings), though these are the definitions that most other sources give for homographs and homophones respectively. There is similar disagreement about the definition of some of the related terms described below. This article explains what appear to be the "standard" meanings, and variant definitions are then summarized.

Examples of homonyms are stalk (which as a noun can mean part of a plant, and, as a verb, to follow/harass a person), bear (animal) and bear (carry), left (opposite of right) and left (past tense of leave). Some sources also consider the following trio of words to be homonyms, but others designate them as "only" homophones: to, too and two (actually, to, to, too, too and two, being "for the purpose of" as in "to make it easier", the opposite of "from", also, excessively, and "2", respectively).

Some sources state that homonym meanings must be unrelated in origin (rather than just different). Thus right (correct) and right (opposed to left) would be polysemous and not homonymous.

 

 

Synonyms: Synonyms are different words (or sometimes phrases) with identical or very similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn (σύν) ("with") and onoma (ὄνομα) ("name"). The words car and automobile are synonyms. Similarly, if we talk about a long time or an extended time, long and extended become synonyms. In the figurative sense, two words are often said to be synonymous if they have the same connotation:

"a widespread impression that … Hollywood was synonymous with immorality" (Doris Kearns Goodwin)

Synonyms can be any part of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions), as long as both members of the pair are the same part of speech. More examples of English synonyms are:

• student and pupil (noun)
• petty crime and misdemeanor (noun)
• buy and purchase (verb)
• sick and ill (adjective)
• quickly and speedily (adverb)
• on and upon (preposition)

Note that synonyms are defined with respect to certain senses of words; for instance, pupil as the "aperture in the iris of the eye" is not synonymous with student. Similarly, he expired means the same as he died, yet my passport has expired cannot be replaced by my passport has died.

In English, many synonyms evolved from the parallel use, in the early medieval period, of Norman French (from Latin) and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words, often with some words being used principally by the Saxon peasantry ("folk", "freedom", "bowman") and their synonyms by the Norman nobility ("people", "liberty", "archer").

 

 

Antonyms: In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male: female, long: short, up: down, and precede: follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not the other pair member. For example, something that is long entails that it is not short. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members in a set of opposites. The relationship between opposites is known as opposition. A member of a pair of opposites can generally be determined by the question What is the opposite of X?

The term antonym (and the related antonymy) has also been commonly used as a term that is synonymous with opposite; however, the term also has other more restricted meanings. One usage has antonym referring to both gradable opposites, such as long: short, and (non-gradable) complementary opposites, such as male: female, while opposites of the types up: down and precede: follow are excluded from the definition. A third usage (particularly that of the influential Lyons 1968, 1977) defines the term antonym as referring to only gradable opposites (the long: short type) while the other types are referred to with different terms. Therefore, as Crystal (2003) warns, the terms antonymy and antonym should be regarded with care. In this article, the usage of Lyons (1963, 1977) and Cruse (1986, 2004) will be followed where antonym is restricted to gradable opposites and opposite is used as the general term referring to any of the subtypes discussed below.

Euphemism: A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener,^[1] or to make it less troublesome for the speaker, as in the case of doublespeak. The deployment of euphemisms is a central aspect within the public application of political correctness.

It may also substitute a description of something or someone to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse

Phraseology: appeared in the domain of lexicology and is undergoing the process of segregating as a separate branch of linguistics. The reason is clear – lexicology deals with words and their meanings, whereas phraseology studies such collocations of words (phraseologisms, phraseological units, idioms), where the meaning of the whole collocation is different from the simple sum of literal meanings of the words, comprising a phraseological unit. F.e. ‘Dutch auction’ is not an auction taking place in Netherlands. The meaning of this phraseological unit refers to any auction, where instead of rising, the prices fall (compare “Dutch comfort”, “Dutch courage”, “Dutch treat” reflecting complicated historical factors). Phraseological units are (according to Prof. Kunin A.V.) stable word-groups with partially or fully transferred meanings ("to kick the bucket", “Greek gift”, “drink till all's blue”, “drunk as a fiddler (drunk as a lord, as a boiled owl)”, “as mad as a hatter (as a march hare)”).

According to Rosemarie Gläser, a phraseological unit is a lexicalized, reproducible bilexemic or polylexemic word group in common use, which has relative syntactic and semantic stability, may be idiomatized, may carry connotations, and may have an emphatic or intensifying function in a text [Gläser 1998: 125].

The Main Lexicological Problems

Syntagmatic: Linear relationship, sequence, construction, semantic structure. In semiotics syntagmatic analysis is analysis of syntax or surface structure (Syntagmatic structure), rather than paradigms as in paradigmatic analysis. This is often done through commutation tests

 

Paradigmatic: Relationships with other words in the vocabulary system, synonymy, antonym, and functional styles. Paradigmatic analysis is the analysis of paradigms embedded in the text rather than of the surface structure (syntax) of the text which is termed syntagmatic analysis. Paradigmatic analysis often uses commutation tests, i.e. analysis by substituting words of the same type or class to calibrate shifts in connotation. In semiotics, the commutation test is used to identify the value or significance of any of the signifiers used in the material to be analyzed.

 

Phraseology: In word groups characterized by stability of structure and transferred meaning.

In linguistics, phraseology describes the context in which a word is used. This often includes typical usages/sequences, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and multi-word units. Phraseological units are (according to Prof. Kunin A.V.) stable word-groups with partially or fully transferred meanings (e.g., "to kick the bucket").

According to Rosemarie Glaeser, a phraseological unit is a lexicalized, reproducible bilexemic or polylexemic word group in common use, which has relative syntactic and semantic stability, may be idiomatized, may carry connotations, and may have an emphatic or intensifying function in a text.

Lexicology as a system:

- Synchronically: at a given stage of its development.

- Diachronically: context of processes.

The adjective synchronic (composed from Greek elements syn "together" and chronos "time") means roughly "simultaneous", "at the same time". It is generally opposed to diachronic. It is used, for example, in:

· synchronic or descriptive linguistics, the study of a language at a specific point in time; as opposed to diachronic or historical linguistics which deals with how languages change over time.

· synchronic distinction or synchronic contrast, a distinction between two co-existing entities, e.g. between the English pronouns he and she. Opposed to a diachronic distinction, between two entities that existed in different epochs, e.g. between the archaic English verbal suffixes -eth and the modern ones -s / -es.

· synchronic process, in modern philosophy of mind, the facilitation of immediate conscious awareness in relatively brief time scales (such as 100 milliseconds).

 

The adjective diachronic (from Greek elements dia "through" and chronos "time") means "historically", "over time”. It is generally opposed to synchronic. It is used, for example, in:

· diachronic or historical linguistics, the study of how languages and language families change over time. Opposed to synchronic or descriptive linguistics, which studies a language at a specific point in time.

· diachronic distinction or diachronic contrast, between two entities that existed in different epochs, e.g. between the archaic English verbal suffixes -eth and the modern ones -s / -es. Opposed to a synchronic distinction, between two co-existing entities, e.g. between the English pronouns he and she.

· diachronic process, in modern philosophy of mind, a process that occurs over a long period of time.

Formal-Informal Language

1. Informal Language: Immediate, family, friends and it changes from situation to situation.

- Colloquial: Literary, colloquial words, shortenings, post-prepositional.

- Slang: Language of highly colloquial style.

- Dialect words: Variety of a language in district, local, regional forms of a language.