Зміна значення (метафора, метонімія, обмеження, специалізація, розширення, узагальнення, втрата значення).

The relationship between the structure and meaning is called MOTIVATION. From this point of view all the words may be classified into:

- motivated,

- non – motivated.

Motivation may be of two types:

- morphological,

- phonetical.

Morphological M. Is the relationship between the morphemes. The degree of M.M. may be different from complete morpheme to lack of morpfeme.

One – morpfeme words are non – motivated: table, wall.

A word is completely motivated when the lexical meaning of the word and the meaning of the structural pattern is perfectly transperent: endless, woman – like.

A word is considered partialy motivated when obe of the morphemes (a root one) has the lexical meaning: black barry, news paper.

 

Change of meaning may be:

- metaphor,

- metonymy,

- narrowing of meaning,

- specialization,

- extantion,

- generalisation,

- degradation.

 

All these types may be based on the difference between concepts or reference in the real word, on the type of psycological association, on the evaluation of the meaning or some other feature.

EXTANTION OF MEANING gives the new concept wider then that of the original one:

A pioner – a soldier, a pioner of Kosmos; Lord – supreme male ruler, God Christ, nobleman, husband.

In the process of EM the word can aquire a figurative meaning: a sharp knife – a sharp tongue, warm days – warm words.

NARROWING OF MEANING happens when a word passes from general usage and into some special sphere of communication: a woman – a wife – married woman., a bread – a small piece of... – a fragment.

Another words of wide usage is restricted and comes to be used only in a special sense: the foot of a man – the part forming the lower end of the leg, the foot of a hill – lying at a range of mountains, the foot of a bed – lower end of a bed; the neck of a girl – the part of a body connects the head and the shoulders, the neck of a bottle – to be in form of the neck.

SPECIALIZATION OF MEANING – usage of the word with the new meaning in the specialized vocabulery of some limited group within the speech community: OE deor – wild beast – ME deer.

GENERALIZATION OF MEANING takes place if the word with the extenbeb meaning passe s from the specialized vocabulary into common use.: a pirate – one who robs on the sea, anyone who robs with violence.

S. and G. are based on comparing of logical notions expressed by the meaning of the words: similarity or contiguity. These types are known in linguistics as figures of speech and are called METAPHORS and METONYMY.

METAPHORS are transfers of name based on the assosiation of similarity. It’s an effective semantic way contributing much to expressive power of language. It describes likeness of one thing to another: a woman – a peach, a cat, a bitch.

A M. is called PERSONAL when it’s an unanimated object or abstract notion if they were living beings: the childhood of Earth, the anger of the tempest.

An American linguist H.Paul points out that M. may be based on the following types of similarity:

1. similarity of shape: head of cabbage, teeth of sour.
2. -//- of function: the head of the school, the key of happiness.
3. -//- of position: foot of a mountain, mouth of the river.
4. -//- of duration of space and time and distance: long speech, short time.
5. -//- of transition of proper into common ones: a Don Juan, he’s a Ivanov.

M. is one of the way of enriching of vocabulery. It’s a stylistic device.

METONYMY – a shift of names between the objects that are known to be in some way or other connecting in reality: I’m reading Pushkin.

The simpliest case of M. is SYNECHDOCY which means given the part for the whole. There are different ways of S.:

1. the sign for the thing signified: from childhood to death,
2. the instrument of the agent: the best pens of the day,
3. the containor for the object contained: the kettle is boiling,
4. the names of various organs: an ear for music,
5. the concrete is substituted for the abstract: ther’s a mixter of the tiger and the ape in the character of Frenchman,
6. the abstract is substituted for the concrete: the authorities forbid the demonstration,
7. the material is substituted for the thing made: she likes silver,
8. common names maybe derived from proper names: Sandwich, Walt, Bikini,
9. political vocabulary when the place is used not only for the building itself but also for its policy: Pentangon, the White House,
10. geographical names turning into common names to call the goods exported: Chine, Twid, Boston.

M. is also the sourse of enrichening of the vocabulery.

EVALUATION and DEGRADATION of meaning are such changes which depend on the social attitude to the object named connected with the social imagination and emotive top.

EVALUATION the semantic change in the word which rises it from humble brginning to a position of greater importance: minister – servant, marshal – horse servant.

DEGRADATION the semantic change by which for one reason or another a word falls into disrepute or aquires some derogatory emotive charge:

 

18. Непродуктивні засоби словотворення.

 

NON-productive ways of word-formation is a process of communication in which words and word-groups can be shoterened. In Modern English many shoterened words are found, because of the tempo of life.

The shoterning of words consists in substituting a part of whole. There’re two main types of shoternings:

1/ common – graphical,

2/ lexical.

Graphical abbreviations are created in written speech: NATO, USA, USSR.

Lexical abbreviations are formed in oral speech. All of them have synonyms which represent their full forms: sis – doc – sister-doctor, broth – brother, lab- laboratory. The oldest group of abbreviation is of Latin origin: p.m., a.m., e.o.

Thre’re also graphical abbreviations where in the spelling they have the word- forms which semantic groups represent different meanings;

a) days of week: Mon, Tue, Wed;

b) names of months: Sep, Apr;

c) names of countres, states: USA, UK, FL;

d) names of addresses: MR, Mrs;

e) military ranks: cap – captain, col – cornel;

f) scientific degrees: Bar of Arts;

g) units of time, length: ft- foot, sec- second, in- inch.

Grapfical abbreviations are restricted in use and scientifically social kinds of the text are letters and books.

Lexical shortenings are shoterened words which are always used as independent lexical units with their phonetic shape and a semantic structure.

They’re devided into:

- clipping,

- blending.

Clipping consists of cutting off one or several syllables of a word of the unsterssed syllables: Alf- Alfred.

Many proper words are shotened in colloqual speech: Dan – Daniel.

But sometimes there’s the unstressed syllables: phone – telephone, plain – airplain.

Usually clipping is classified into several times depending on which part of the word is clipped:

a) apocope – the words are shoterened at the end: gent – gentlemen,

ad – advertisment,

auto – automobile.

b) aphaeresis – the word are shoterened at the beginning: bus – trolley – bus,

tween – between,

brolly – umbrella.

c) syncope – syllables or sounds have been omitted from the middle: fantasy – fancy,

exercises – ex.,

math – mathmatics.

d) words that have clipped both at the beginning and at the end: tec – detective,

flue – influenza.

Blending is the method of merging of the words into one new word. It’s the process of shoterning of two compaund words:

Smoke+fog=smog,

Cinema+panarama= cinerama,

Breakfast+lunch=brunch,

Video+idiot=videot.

Onomatopoeia – words which are called echo-words or literary they mean made – making words: chatter, smash, clamp. Some words are formed by repetition by one or several sounds: pom – pom, tip-top, tic-tac.

Back – formation /regression / - the inferring of a short word from a long one: to edit – editor, to beg – begger.

Sentence – condensation – the formation of new words by substantivizing the whole locutions: merry – go – round, forget – me – not.

Sound and stress interchange is the gradation of sounds occupying one and the same place in the same morpheme in variouse cases of its occurence.

It falls into two groups:

1/ vowel interchange by which we distinguish different parts of speech: full – to fill,

food – to feed,

blood – to bleed.

2/ constant interchange of the consonants: use – to use,

house – to house,

advice – to advise.

There’re some particular cases of consonant interchange:

1) k –ch: to speak – speech, to break – breech.

2) c- d, t: importance – important.