Image. The structure of the image
The concept of image: reflection of life in accordance with the author’s vision.
The hierarchy of images: the macro-image – the micro-image.
The structure of the image: 1) the tenor, 2) the vehicle, 3) the ground for comparison, 4) the relationship between the tenor and the vehicle, 5) the technique of comparison as a type of trope, 6) grammatical and lexical peculiarities of comparison.
The functions of the image: cognitive, communicative, aesthetic, educational.
The concept of image: reflection of life in accordance with the author’s vision.
The structure of the image: 1) the tenor; 2) the vehicle; 3) the ground for comparison; 4) the relationship between the tenor and the vehicle; 5) the technique of comparison as a type of trope; 6) grammatical and lexical peculiarities of comparison. The functions of the image: cognitive, communicative, aesthetic, educational. All the images in a literary work constitute a hierarchical interrelation. At the top of this hierarchy is the macro-image – the literary work itself understood as the image … visioned and depicted by the author
There exist an erroneous belief that images are constituted only by personages. Arnold asserts that images may be connected also with weather, landscape, events, etc.
E.g. the rainy weather in Hemingway’s works; the snow in Frost’s poems.
Images may be static as well as dynamic. E.g. The eruption of … At the bottom of the hierarchy there is a word-image or a micro-image – simile, epithet, metaphor, etc.
They together with the other elements of the text build up character images, event images, landscape images, etc. Something seemed to break in Winterbone’s head. He felt he was going mad and sprang to his feet. The line of bullets smashed across his chest like a savage steel w…p. A convergence of stylistic divides which together The epithet savage strengthens the expressivity of the word; the alliteration of the sounds sh, z, s also participates in creating the expressive image by imitating the whispering sound of the line of bullets.In the structure of the image Arnold distinguishes the following elements: 1) the tenor;2) the vehicle; 3) the ground for comparison; 4) the relationship between the tenor and the vehicle; 5) the technique of comparison as a type of trope;6) grammatical and lexical peculiarities of comparison.In the above example the tenor is the line of bullets, the vehicle – a savage steel wape, 3 – the character of the action, the relationship between the tenor and the vehicle is not relevant here (both the modified and the modifier be the concrete notions), it’s relevant in a case where the difference btw the tenor and the vehicle is more obvious. E.g. in personification where an inanimate object is compared to human being, in metaphors an abstract notion can be compared to a concrete one of vice verse.
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Concerning the technique of comparison in the example under analysis it’s a simile. As for the peculiarities of comparison we can distinguish different morphological means of comparison such as suffixes –ish, -like, -some, -y. Lexical peculiarities may be expressed by different neologisms. E.g. while describing a dark moonless night Dylan Thomas uses such epithets as “Bible-black”, “crow-black”, “sloe-black” comparing the night with the black colours of the Bible, black feather of a crow and black berries of a sloe. The most striking image is achieved by the author when … standing much apart from each other. The more unexpected is the comparison the expressive is the image.
Arnold distinguishes the following functions of the image: cognitive, communicative, aesthetic, educational. Besides she mentions that images play an important role in highlighting the themes of a literary piece, in rendering emotional, evaluative and expressing attitude and very often they reflect some philosophical ideas.
Functional styles, functions of the language and stylistic functions.
The concept of function: the role these or those classes of words fulfill in the structure of the units of the higher order. The concept of a functional style: a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. Galperin’s classification of functional styles: the belles-lettres functional style, the publicistic functional style, the newspaper functional style, the scientific prose functional style, the official documents functional style. Jacobson’s language functions: the referential function; the metalinguistic function; the emotive function; the conative function; the phatic function; the poetic function. The concept of the stylistic function: the interrelation between the information of the second type and the structural elements of the text.
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The concept of a functional style: a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. (I.R. Galperin)
Galperin’s classification of functional styles: the belles-leteres functional style , the publicistic functional style, the newspaper functional style, the scientific prose functional style; the official documents functional style.Jacobson’s language functions: the referential function; the metalinguistic function; the emotive function; the conative function; the phatic function; the poetic (aesthetic) function. (лекции, только эту кл-цию без арнольд)
The British linguist Michael Holyday defines function as follows “the role these or those classes of words fulfill in the structure of the units of the higher order”. When we speak about functional styles we also distinguish the role of different sublang-s in the system of the whole lang or the role different lang means play in different spheres of discourse.
Arnold says that the term functional style is quite appropriate as the specificity of each style results from the peculiarities of the functions of the lang in some particular sphere of discourse.
E.g. the main function of publicistic style is to influence the reader’s will, feelings, conscious, and so on, while the main function of a scientific style is to convey some intellectual information.
There is not any definite classification of stylistic functions, but most linguists distinguish characterological, descriptive, emotive and evaluative stylistic functions.
Arnold singles out the following peculiarities of the stylistic function:
1) accumulation – it consists at the fact that one and the same feeling can be rendered by several means simultaneously. 2) the stylistic function being closely connected with connotations, associations anв implications may be rendered both explicitly and implicitly;
3) its ability of irradiation – the feature contrary to the 1st one: a text may contain one or two high-flown words and sound elevated on the whole or vice verse – one or two vulgar words may irradiate coarseness to the whole text.
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The stylistic function must not be confused with a stylistic device. The latter comprise tropes and figures of speech. Tropes exist on thу lexical level of the speech, figures of speech – on the syntactical one, and the phonetic SD – on the phonetic level.
Jacobson claims that every speech event consist of 6 constitutive factors: addressor
MessageAddresseeContext(referent) CodeContact Each of this 6 factors determines different functions of language.
The orientation of the utterance towards the addressor determines its emotive function(oh,eh, ah – which are not aimed at the addressee) / towards the addressee determines the conative function of l-e/ towards the message- referential function / the context- referential function / code – metalingual function / contact phatic (Mmm, I see, well).
Stylistic meaning and the system of connotations. Stylistic context. (Types of information encoded in messages: the primary information; the secondary information: the concepts of denotation and connotation. The components of connotation emotive; expressive; evaluative; functional stylistic context. Defeated expectancy.)
I.V. Arnold points out that the information included in message may be of two types : The primary(basic) information and the secondary (pragmatic) - inf-on, associated with the the situation discourse and its participants.
The difference is most obvious on the lex-al level: words may have apart from their basic, contextual meaning-denotation, various additional co- meaning, known as connotation. Denotation conveys the inf-on of the first type, connotation of the second.
Arnold distinguishes 4 components of connotation: emotive , expressive, evaluative, functional stylistic. All the 4 components of connotation may be present in one unit, or they may appear in various combinations, or they may be totally absent (without connotation). Arnold gives a list of words to illustrate that: girl (no connotation, denotation only), maiden – (religion, poetry; sounds high flown), lass(ie) – sounds rustic., chick, baby(intimacy; familiarity). Babe – slang word, connote intimacy, approval, familiarity; young lady – in formal communication connotes social distance, in every day speech sounds ironic.
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· Denotationrefers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of itsdenotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles¡Khaving a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."
· Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotativemeanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.
Connotative meaning consists of four components: 1) emotive; 2) evaluative; 3) expressive; 4) stylistic. A word is always characterised by its denotative meaning but not necessarily by connotation. The four components may be all present at once, or in different combinations or they may not be found in the word at all. 1. Emotive connotations express various feelings or emotions. Emotions differ from feelings. Emotions like ./ay, disappointment, pleasure, anger, worry, surprise are more short-lived. Feelings imply a more stable state, or attitude, such as love, hatred, respect, pride, dignity, etc. The emotive component of meaning may be occasional or usual (i.e. inherent and adherent). It is important to distinguish words with emotive connotations from words, describing or naming emotions and feelings like anger or
fear, because the latter are a special vocabulary subgroup whose denotative meanings are emotions. They do not connote the speaker's state of mind or his emotional attitude to the subject of speech. Thus if a psychiatrist were to say You should be able to control feelings of anger, impatience and disappointment dealing with a child as a piece of advice to young parents the sentence would have no emotive power. It may be considered stylistically neutral. On the other hand an apparently neutral word like big will become charged with emotive connotation in a mother's proud description of her baby: He is a BIG boy already! 2. The evaluative component charges the word with negative, positive, ironic or other types of connotation conveying the speaker's attitude in relation to the object of speech. Very often this component is a part of the denotative meaning, which comes to the fore in a specific context. The verb to sneak means «to move silently and secretly, usu. for a bad purpose» (8). This dictionary definition makes the evaluative component bad quite explicit. Two derivatives a sneak and sneaky have both preserved a derogatory evaluative connotation. But the negative component disappears though in still another derivative sneakers (shoes with a soft sole). It shows that even words of the same root may either have or lack an evaluative component in their inner form. 3. Expressive connotation either increases or decreases the expres
siveness of the message. Many scholars hold that emotive and expressive components cannot be distinguished but Prof. I.A.Arnold maintains that emotive connotation always entails expressiveness but not vice versa. To prove her point she comments on the example by A. Hornby and R. Fowler with the word «thing» applied to a girl (4, p. ПЗ). When the word is used with an emotive adjective like «sweet» it becomes emotive itself: «She was a sweet little thing». But in other sentences like «She was a small thin delicate thing with spectacles», she argues, this is not true and the word «thing» is definitely expressive but not emotive. Another group of words that help create this expressive effect are the so-called «intensifiers», words like «absolutely, frightfully, really, quite», etc. 4. Finally there is stylistic connotation. A word possesses stylistic connotation if it belongs to a certain functional style or a specific layer of vocabulary (such as archaisms, barbarisms, slang, jargon, etc). Stylistic connotation is usually immediately recognizable. Yonder, slumber, thence immediately connote poetic or elevated writing. Words like price index or negotiate assets are indicative of business language. This detailed and systematic description of the connotative meaning of a word is suggested by the Leningrad school in the works of Prof. I. V. Arnold, Z. Y. Turayeva, and others.
Defeated expectancy
The essence of the notion is connected with the process of decoding by the reader of the literary text.
The linear organization of the text mentally prepares the reader for the consequential and logical development of ideas and unfolding of the events. The normal arrangement of the text both in form and content is based on its predictability which means that the appearance of any element in the text is prepared by the preceding arrangement and choice of elements, e.g. the subject of the sentence will normally be followed by the predicate, you can supply parts of certain set phrases or collocation after you see the first element, etc.
An example from Oscar Wilde’s play «The Importance of Being Earnest» perfectly illustrates how predictability of the structure plays a joke on the speaker who cannot extricate himself from the grip of the syntactical composition:
Miss Fairfax, ever since I met you I have admired you more than any girl... I have met... since I met you. (Wide)
The speaker is compelled to unravel the structure almost against his will, and the pauses show he is caught in the trap of the structure unable either to stop or say anything new. The clash between the perfectly rounded phrase and empty content creates a humorous effect.
Without predictability there would be no coherence and no decoding. At the same time stylistically distinctive features are often based on the deviation from the norm and predictability. An appearance of an unpredictable element may upset the process of decoding. Even though not completely unpredictable a stylistic device is still a low expectancy element and it is sure to catch the reader’s eye. The decoding process meets an obstacle, which is given the full force of the reader’s attention. Such concentration on this specific feature enables the author to effect his purpose.
Defeated expectancy may come up on any level of the language. It may be an unusual word against the background of otherwise lexically homogeneous text.
It may be an author’s coinage with an unusual suffix. Among devices that are based on this principle we can name pun, zeugma, paradox,oxymoron, irony, anti-climax, etc.
Defeated expectancy is particularly effective when the preceding narration has a high degree of orderly organized elements that create a maximum degree of predictability and logical arrangement of the contextual linguistic material.
Paradox is a fine example of defeated expectancy. The following example demonstrates how paradox works in such highly predictable cases as proverbs and phraseology. Everybody knows the proverb Marriages Are Made In Heaven.
Oscar Wilde, a renowned master of paradox, introduces an unexpected element and the phrase acquires an inverted implication Divorces are made in Heaven, The unexpected ironic connotation is enhanced by the fact that the substitute is actually the antonym of the original element. The reader is forced to make an effort at interpreting the new maxim so that it would make sense.
Stylistic context, Amosova , - is the combination of words with its indicator that is syntactically connected with it. Context may be grammatical, lexical, stylistic.Gram-al context: Don’t trouble trouble until the trouble troubles you.the auxiliary don’t is the morphological indicator of the fist trouble, which shows that it is a verb in imperative mood, in the negative. Lex-al context – to (need ) socks, bricks, one’s eyebrows. The words socks, bricks, one’s eyebrowsone contextual indicator pointing out the meaning in which the verb to need is used in each of these combinations.
A theory of stylistic context was worked out by the Am-an linguist M. Riffetter. An encoder, that is to say the writer in order to communicate all he intends to the reader should overcome what is called the natural behavior of the reader, which he, Reffetter, characterizes as minimal decoding on the part of the reader.
This can be achieved by a verbal strategy based on surprise. The writer must encode in his message at the points where he thinks most important unpredictable ling-c elements, thus making the reader pay close attention to the message. A ling-c feature is seemed by Reffetter as unpredictable only if it occurs in a linguistic context.
We can define a ling-c context as a pattern broken by an unpredictable element. This contrasting factor being the styl-c device. Style is not the stream of stylistic devices but of bynory apposition whose pose can not be separated.
Reffetter illustrates it with the following example – Alexander Pope “Rape of the Lock”. Whether the Nymph shall stain her honour or her new brocade, or lose her heart or necklace at a ball.
Here the metaphorical meaning of the verb in the 2 contexts loose her honour or lose her heart. Makes the shift to its ordinary meaning unpredictable. And this imposes max-al decoding. I.V. Arnold points out some weal points of refetter’s theory – it doesn’t take into account the whole of the text, the importance of unpredictability is overestimated.It is an important feature but not an indispensable one. And besides the ability of the stylistic context to create adherent emotional colouring is overloaded.
Two approaches to stylistics. Stylistics of decoding. (The concepts of language as a system and stylistics of language in action. Charles Bally and Leo Spitzer’s contribution to stylistics. The main subdivision into stylistics of language in action resulting into the oppositions: Linguistic Stylistics and Literary Stylistics; Writer’s stylistics and reader’s stylistics. The concept of Decoding Stylistics.)
Nowadays exist 2 approaches - one of the deals with stylistics of lang-e as a system and other with styl-cs of l-e in action. The notions of stylistic language as a system and language in action should be considered in their unity but for theoretical purposes. They can be treated separately. All which appear in textbooks on grammar, lexicology, phonetics, stylistics, first appear in l-e in action. Only then they are classified, generalized and arranged as rules, systems, categories in l-e as a system.
The initiators of these 2 trends in St-cs where Charles Bally – a Fr.linguist and Leo Spitzer- an Austrian philologist.
Ch.Bally rejected the approach to st-cs as the art of writing well. That approach was normative and didactic, and still continues to live under the name of orthology. Bally’s st-cs was descriptive, not normative. He intended to develop stylistics of the language, not of literary words. Besides he tried to establish the st-c system of l-e.
Leo Spitzer’s approach was still different from Bally-s. He wanted to establish a correlation btw the st-c properties of an artistic text and psyche of the author.
These two attitudes affected the approaches of the following subdivisions:
1. Stylistic of language as a system (balley);
2. stylistics of language in action (spitzer)
St-cs of l-e as a system investigates different language subsystems, which are called functional styles expressive, emotive and evaluative properties of different l-e means.
St-cs of l-e in action deals with some real texts, analyzing how they convey the content not only following gr-al and-st-c norms of the l-e, but sometimes considerable deviating from them.
difference between them is that of theory and its application.
St-cs may be subdivided into linguistic and literary stylistics. Linguistic stylistics investigates expressive means of the l-e and literary st-cs – the peculiarities of the usage of expressive means by different authors, literary trends, genres.
Subdivision is more conventional than real, they may be condered as 2 aspects of the kind:
1. writer’s st-s:
2. reader’s stylistics
Writer’s st-cs deals with literary st-s, while reader’s has to deal with both linguistic and literary.
In terms of information theory, writer’s st-cs may be called the stylistics of the encoder and readers stylistics – st-cs of the decoder. The subdivision becomes possible because the reader’s understanding of some lit-ry work may be to some extent different from what has been intended by the author. Because the reader’s st-cs concentrate not the intentions of the author but the results of literary activities.
The problem connected with the adequate perception of the message without any information losses or deformations is the concern of decoding stylistics.
One of the fundamental concepts of decoding stylistics is foregrounding. The essence of this concept consists in the following. Foregrounding means a specific role that some language items play in a certain context when the reader’s attention cannot but be drawn to item. In a literary text such items become stylistically marked features that build up its stylistic function.
There are certain modes of language use and arrangement to achieve the effect of foregrounding. It may be based on various types of deviation or redundancy or unexpected combination of language units, etc.
However decoding stylistics laid down a few principal methods that ensure the effect of foregrounding in a literary text. Among them we can name convergence of expressive means, irradiation, defeated expectancy, coupling, semantic fields, semi-marked structures.
Convergence as the term implies a combination or accumulation of stylistic devices promoting the same idea, emotion or motive. A stylistic device is not attached to this or that stylistic effect. Therefore a hyperbole, for instance, may provide any number of effects: tragic, comical, pathetic or grotesque. Inversion may give the narration a highly elevated tone or an ironic ring of parody.
Coupling is another technique that helps in decoding the message implied in a literary work. While convergence and defeated expectancy both focus the reader’s attention on the particularly significant parts of the text coupling deals with the arrangement of textual elements that provide the unity and cohesion of the whole structure.
Semantic field is a method of decoding stylistics closely connected with coupling. It identifies lexical elements in text segments and the whole work that provide its thematic and compositional cohesion. To reveal this sort of cohesion decoding must carefully observe not only lexical and synonymous repetition but semantic affinity which finds expression in cases of lexico-semantic variants, connotations and associations aroused by a specific use or distribution of lexical units, thematic pertinence of seemingly unrelated words.
Semi-marked structures are a variety of defeated expectancy associated with the deviation from the grammatical and lexical norm. It’s an extreme case of defeated expectancy much stronger than low expectancy encountered in a paradox or anti-climax, the unpredictable element is used contrary to the norm so it produces a very strong emphatic impact.
The first consonant shift.
Indo-European family of languages and its Germanic branch. Specific properties of the Germanic languages. The first consonant shift as the illustration of the specifically Germanic properties in the sphere of sound system. Three categories of correspondences between non-Germanic and Germanic consonants.
All lang-s which are spoken in the world are very numerous that is why he first problem is the classification of lang-s. They may be classified acc to different approaches. And when dealing with the history of the lang it’s very convenient to classify lang-s by the genealogical principle.
The genealogical classification divides lang-s into big classes which are called families. Each family is further subdivided into branches. Branches may fall into groups and groups split into lang-s.
The Eng lang belongs to the so-called Germanic branch. It’s separated from the other Indo-European lang-s due to some specific properties which were acquired by the Germanic lang-s in the course of their development. These features on the one hand unite all the Germanic lang-s into one branch and on the other hand they distinguish the Germanic lang-s from non-Germanic ones.
The peculiar features of the Germanic lang-s may be found in all the spheres of the lang: its grammar, its vocabulary, its sound system.
As far as the sound system is concerned the specifically Germanic features may be best of all illustrated by the phenomenon which is called the first consonant shift.
This phenomenon was discovered by the Danish scholar Rasmus Rusk and later on it was fully described by the German linguist Jacob Grimm. That’s why it is also called the Grimm’s law.
The Grimm’s law states the correspondences btw the consonants of all the Germanic lang-s and non-Germanic ones. Acc to this law some consonants of non-Germanicс Indo-European lang-s underwent certain changes in Proto-Germanic parent lang and appeared later in the Germanic lang-s as quite different sounds.
The Grimm’s law falls into 3 groups:
1) Indo-European non-Germanic voiceless stops p, t, k correspond to the Germanic voiceless fricatives f, ө, x (h).
E.g. приятель – friend
Пена – foam
Терновник – thorn
2) Indo-European non-Germanic voiced stops b, d, g correspond to the Germanic voiceless stops p, t, k.
E.g. бледный – pale decen (L) – ten иго - yoke
Слабый – sleep
Болото – pool
3) Indo-European non-Germanic voiced aspirated stops bh, dh, gh correspond to the Germanic voiced non-aspirated stops b, d, g.
It should be noted that aspirated consonants cooperate all Indo-European lang-s in old times. But eventually these sounds were lost practically in all the lang-s that is why the third group of the Grimm’s law cannot be illustrated by many examples. Some of them may be found in Sanskrit.
E.g. vidhava – widow
bhratar – brother
medhu – mead
The Germanic Consonant Shift (also known as the First Sound Shift or Grimm's Law) occurred in five steps. Step 3 is called Verner's Law. Each step was completed before the next began, so there was no overlapping or repetition of the changes.
The shift is described here in articulatory terms, showing the development of each sound.
STEP 1: All aspirated voiced stops became the corresponding voiced fricatives:
bh >B dh >D gh >Ä gWh>ÄW
STEP 2: Voiceless stops became the corresponding voiceless fricatives (except when they followed
another voiceless fricative):
p >f t >¹ k >x(h) kW > xW
STEP 3: Voiceless fricatives became voiced (when they were in a voiced environment and the IndoEuropean stress was not on the preceding syllable):
f>f ¹>¹ x >x xW >hW s >s
STEP 4: All voiced stops became unvoiced:
b >p d >t g >k gW >k|qu
STEP 5: Voiced fricatives sometimes became the corresponding voiced stops (the exact conditions depended on the sound, the environment, and the dialect):
B>b D > d Ä> g ÄW >gW
In this same step, the voiced fricative z became an r-like sound that was spelled with a distinctive letter (transliterated a) in the early runic inscriptions of North Germanic; it later merged with the r inherited from Indo-European.
The IE obstruent system after each step in the Shift. (The labiovelars, kw, gw, gwh, have been omitted for simplicity's sake.)
*Sounds in parentheses occurred in limited environments.
In each of the following pairs, the first item is a reconstructed Indo-European root and the second is a related English word. The English word may be based on a form with affixes added to the root or may involve a change in vowel, but the Indo-European consonants correspond regularly with those in the root of the English word. No exceptions and no examples of Verner's Law (step 3 of the Shift) are involved.
| *bha- 'speak'/ ban | *magh- 'can'/ (OE) magan 'may' |
| *dheu- 'flow' dew | wegh- 'go'/ (OE) weigh 'way' |
| *ghans- / goose | *plou- flow |
| *bend- 'protruding point' pen | *aug- 'increase' / eke |
| *de-/ to | *kel- 'cover' shell |
| *gel- cool | *leb- / lip |
| *pan- few | *dem- 'build' timber |
| *tr- 'cross over' trough | *bhlo- bloom |
| *kan- 'sing' hen | *dho- 'set, put' do |
| *angh- 'tight' anger | *turn- 'swollen' thumb |
| *bher- bear | *tong- 'feel' tank |
| *koimo- home, home on the range | *pet- 'fly' feather |
| *pa- / food | *treud- 'squeeze' treat |
| *swad / sweet | *bhreg- / break |
| *gl- 'ball' clue | *bheid- 'split' bite |
| *dhren- drone | *dhragh drag |
| *Iab- / lap 'lick' | *grebh- 'scratch' grab |
| pulo- 'rotten' foul | *porko- / (OE) fear ‘small pig' |
| *wadh- 'pledge'/ wed | *kwerp- 'turn about'/ wharf |
| *wab- / weep | *ghreib- grip |
In the following examples, the Indo-European stress was on some syllable other than the first; consequently Verner's Law (step 3 of the Consonant Shift) applies.
| *kaput (Goth.) haufi¹ 'head' | *sep(t)m- / (Goth.) sif(¹)un (sibun) 'seven' |
| *plotu- flood | *kluto- / (OE) hlu¹ 'loud' |
| *konk- hank | *duka- / (OE) tohian 'tow' |
| *wes- 'dwell'/ were | *sauso- 'dry' / season |
The Indo-European consonants that underwent no change in Germanic:
| *lem- 'break'/ (OE) lama 'lame' (l-m) | *newo- 'new'/ (OE) neowe 'new' (n-w) |
| *ma- 'damp'/ (OE) mo-r 'moor' (m) | *wel- 'whish' / (OE) wel 'well' (w-l) |
| *mel- 'soft' / (OE) mel-tan 'melt' (m-l) | *wen- 'strive'/ (OE) winnan 'win' (w-n) |
| *mer- 'harm'/ (OE) mare 'nightmare' (m-r) | *wir- 'man'/ (OE) wer 'man' (w-r) |
| *nas- 'nose' / (OE) nosu 'nose' (n-s) | * yero- 'year' / (ModE) year (y-r) |
ie:nasals, *m, *n; liquids, *l, *r; and semivowels, *w, *j (y).
Laws of language development. ( The evolutioning character of language. Driving force of language development: internal and external factors. General and specific laws of language development. the law of assimilation, the law of analogy, the law of simplification).
Language as well as any social phenomenon cannot be static. All its branches including vocabulary, gramm. structure and phonetic system. All its spheres including its grammar, phonetic system, its vocabulary are subject to gradual but persistent alterations. All these alterations are caused by certain driving force which may be found both inside the language (internal factors of language development) and outside (external factors of the language development). Thet are also called linguistic and extra-linguisticfactors of language evolution. The extra-linguistic factors are migrations of peoples, war conflicts, cultural contacts, economic and political ties and so on.
All these events bring peoples together and make their languages interrelate with each other influencing this or that branch of a language. As for linguistic factors of language evolution, they are hidden in the language itself and are displayed in different laws and regularities. Such laws are numerous and may be divided into 2 groups:
· general;
· special..
The general laws of lang development are the laws which spread their action on each sphere of the lang at different periods of language development and even on different languages.
The special laws – their actions are restricted to certain branch of the language, such as vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, semantic structure, writing and so on.
As I have already mentioned these laws are rather numerous and I’m going to tell about 3 of them.
The law of assimilation is displayed in the tendency of a certain lang unit which is inconvenient to be uttered under certain conditions to adjust itself to these conditions by means of this or that change.
E.g. individuale (Fr) – individual (Eng); actual – when they were borrowed from French in the 13th century, they were pronounced to the French habits (индивидуаль, актуаль).
French pronunciation had the sound clusters [tj; dj] which were not habitual for the English language of those times. In other words they were inconvenient to be pronounced. Thus, the language adjusted these words to the Eng speaking habits making them change their pronunciation to [тч, дж] and today these words like many others of this kind are pronounced as (individual, actual).
The law of assimilation belongs to the specific words of language development and restricted to the sphere of Phonetics.
As for general laws, they may be illustrated, for instance, by the law of analogy.
The law of analogy is displayed in tendency of larger groups of lang units to absorb smaller ones and to make the latter follow the patterns of the absorbing group. It may be best of all illustrated by the development of plural within the history of Eng.
The Old Eng lang had several ways of building plural of nouns. But the words which made use of this or that way were unevenly distributed in these groups. The most numerous among these groups and the most influential was the group of nouns which built plural by means of –as which gradually changed into –es, s. The biggest as it was this group of nouns was the most influential and eventually it absorbed all the other nouns of the Eng language and made them build their pl-s in accordance with pattern of the absorbing group. Today this group is practically the only one in the Eng lang with a few exceptions.(star/s - steoran)
(OE) Name – namen
The law of simplification is displayed in the tendency of complicated lang units to rearrange their structure in a more simple words. Thus, many words which are known today as simple ones such as lord, lark, fellow, daisy, woman were compound nouns in the old eng period.
E.g. colour – color, through – thru - написание
Have/has been – was – грамматика
Lord < hlaforde < hlafweard – словообразование (meaning bread and keeper)
woman - wifman (wife, man)
Centre – center, theatre – theater.
To conclude my answer I’d like to mention once again that these are only 3 laws of language development and as a matter of fact they are very and very numerous.
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