Denotational and Connotational Meaning

The lexical meaning is not homogeneous either, it consists of:

- denotational meaning (semes) - component of the lexical meaning that
makes communication possible; the basis of the lexical meaning is some no­
tion;

- connotational meaning which is divided into emotive charge and stylis­
tic reference. The emotive charge shows the amount of emotion which a word
possesses; it is one of the objective features proper to words as linguistic units
and it forms part of the connotational component of meaning. Emotive charge
is clearly seen in emotional words denoting different emotions and feelings,
e.g.: love, hatred, despair, joy, grief, etc.

Besides it can be seen in some groups of synonyms, e.g.: large, big, tre­mendous; like, love, worship; girl, girlie. There is difference in the emotive charge of the members of these sets.

25

The emotive charge varies in different parts of speech. In some of them, e.g. in interjections which all don't name anything but express feelings of a speaker, the emotive charge prevails, e.g.:

Alas! - the feeling of sadness,

gosh - the feeling of surprise,

ah, oh, dear me - a general feeling.

In conjunctions it practically does not exist.

Not all the words have emotive charge, e.g.: table, pen, window.

Emotive charge should not be confused with emotive implication which the words may get in speech. Unlike the emotive charge the emotive implica­tion of the word largely depends on the individual experiences of the speaker. Subjective words devoid of any emotional element may possess in the case of individual speakers strong emotive implication, e.g.: a cigarette, exam, hospi­tal, lexicology, football.

LEXICAL MEANING: STYLISTIC REFERENCE

1. Stylistic reference

2. Functional style of speech.

3. Division of vocabulary into different layers.

4. Formal vocabulary.

5. Informal vocabulary.

Stylistic Reference

Stylistic reference and emotive charge of words are closely connected and to a certain degree interdependent. As a rule, stylistically coloured words, i.e. words belonging to all stylistic layers except the neutral style are observed to possess a considerable emotive charge. This can be proved by comparing sty­listically coloured words with their neutral synonyms. The colloquial words daddy, mummy are more emotional than the neutral father, mother. The slang words mum, bob are more expressive than their neutral synonyms silent, shil­ ling; the poetic yon and steed carry a heavier emotive charge than their neutral synonyms there and horse.

Functional Style of Speech

In a highly developed language like English or Russian the same idea may be expressed differently in different situations. This difference depends on the style of speech. In general, the style means the collective characteristics of writing, diction, or any artistic expression and the way of presenting things.

26

Linguistically, a functional style may be defined as a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication.

The lexicological treatment of style is based on the principle of ^lexical oppositions. The basis of opposition is created by the similarity of denotational meaning, the distinctive feature is the stylistic reference. The broadest binary division is into formal and informal (colloquial) English.

Division of Vocabulary into Different Layers

Stylistically words can be subdivided into formal, neutral and informal layers. The formal and informal layers contain a number of subgroups. The main aspect of the formal layer is its bookish characher, which makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the informal layer is its lively spoken charac­ter. It is this that makes it unstable. The aspect of the neutral layer is its univer­sal character: it can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity.

Both formal and informal words have their upper and lower ranges. The lower range of bookish words approaches the neutral layer and has a tendency to pass into that layer. The same may be said of the upper range of the infor­mal layer: it can very easily pass into the neutral layer. The lines of demarca­tion between informal and neutral, on the one hand, and bookish and neutral, on the other hand, are blurred. Neutral words, which form the bulk of the Eng­lish vocabulary, are used in both literary and colloquial language.

Formal Vocabulary

Literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech:

1. common literary words (learned words) - mostly polysemantic, used in
books of elevated style and in books on science, e.g.: calamity, proceed, en­
deavour, farewell, to behold;

2. terms - words associated with a definite branch of science, used mostly in scientific works, but which may appear in newspaper, publicistic and belles-letters style; they are usually monosemantic, e.g.: terms of chemistry - oxygen, hydrogen, acid; terms of medicine - penicillin, influenza; physics - nucleus; art - renaissance, gargoyle. With the increase of general education many
words, once terms, have passed into the common literary, e.g.: TV, radio, loan;

3. officialese and journalese - words used in mass media to describe oc­
currences of political life, e.g.: memorandum, voting;

4. poetic words and archaisms, e.g.: ere - before; mere -lake; yon - there; nay - no; steed - horse; warrior - soldier; welkin - sky;

5. barbarisms and foreign words. Barbarisms - words of foreign origin
not entirely assimilated into English. They have an appearance and pronuncia-

27

tion of their native language, e.g.: au revoir; maitre d'hotel; achtung; bitte; basta; voila (here). Barbarisms are words which have become facts of the Eng­lish language and are registered in dictionaries. Foreign words do not belong to English, are not registered in dictionaries. In printed works they are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature. Barbarisms, on the contrary are not made conspicuous in the text.

Informal Vocabulary

The informal part is traditionally subdivided into literary colloquial (cul­tivated speech), familiar colloquial, low colloquial (illiterate speech). Literary colloquial is used by educated people in classical literature in the course of ordinary conversation or when writing letters to intimate friends. Familiar col­loquial is more emotional and much more free and careless than literary collo­quial. It is also characterised by a great number of jocular words, ironical ex­pressions and nonce-words.

Low colloquial is illiterate popular speech. It includes:

1. slang-words that are regarded as violation of the norms of Standard
English, e.g.: dirt (money), dotty (mad), the cat's pyjamas (the correct thing),
bread-basket (stomach), governor (father), sleeper (a course of lectures), faky
(suspicious). Slang is easily understood by the English-speaking people and is
only regarded as something not quite regular;

2. jargonisms (argot) - words marked by their use within a particular so­
cial group and having a secret character. Jargonisms are usually old words
with entirely new meaning imposed on them, e.g.: to асе (универс.) - полу­
чить высшую оценку на экзамене, six (студ.) - уборная, sneak (шк.) - ябе­
да, Charley - лопух; heavy cream - толстушка; horse - героин; bread -
деньги; acid - наркотик; bin - сумасшедший дом; out-of-sight - классный,
потрясный, клёвый; cold turkey - голая правда;

3. professionalisms - words used in a definite trade, profession. They
commonly designate some working process, tools, instruments: tin-fish - sub­
marine; outer - a knockout blow; egg - bomb;

4. dialectical words are those which in the process of integration of the
English national language remained beyond its literary boundaries, and their
use is generally confined to a definite locality, e.g.: kirk - церковь; firth -
устье реки; naething; eneugh; maister;

5. vulgarisms - coarse words that are not generally used in public. There
are different degrees of vulgar words. Some of them should not even be fixed
in common dictionaries. They are euphemistically called «four-letter» words.
A lesser degree of vulgarisms is presented by words like damn, bloody, son of
a bitch, to hell and others: rabbit!- черт подери!; rat (you)! - пропади ты
пропадом!

28

6. spontaneous colloquial coinages. Only some of them are fixed in dic­tionaries; most of them disappear from the language leaving no trace, e.g.: newspaperdom; allrighmik - соглашатель; touch-me-not-edness. The mean­ing of literary coinages can easily be grasped by the reader because of the use of the productive means of word-building, and also from the context.

CHANGE OF MEANING

1. Change of meaning as a linguistic phenomenon.

2. Causes of semantic change.

3. Nature of semantic change: metaphor and metonymy.

4. Results of change of meaning.

---

Дата добавления: 2019-09-13; просмотров: 2247; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!

Поделиться с друзьями:

---

---

Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!