Words and expressions to the lecture
to indicate – указывать
monosemantic – однозначный
commonplace – обычное явление
plurality – многозначность, множество
polysemy – многозначность
exaggeration – преувеличение
revaluation – переоценка
extension – расширение
narrowing – сужения
comparison – сравнение
reverse – обратный
to determine – определять
consciousness – сознание
expanse – пространство
to differ – различаться
identical – тождественный
vice versa – наоборот
to split up – расщеплять
exhaustive – исчерпывающий
to oust – вытеснить
to restrict – ограничить
to yield – уступать
severe – строгий
Questions to the lecture
1. Into what two big groups does English vocabulary fall considered the meaning?
2. Into what major classes could nouns be divided?
3. What other semiotic subclasses do you know?
4. What is the percent of borrowed words in the English word-stock?
5. How could borrowed words be classified?
6. How could borrowed be classified as to the degree of assimilation?
7. What elements is the core of the English language?
8. What can you say about the Celtic elements in the English vocabulary?
9. What can you say about the Latin borrowings?
10. How did Greek words come into English?
11. What is the role of the Scandinavian elements in English?
12. What can do you say about the French elements?
Lecture 6
Word-building and Affixation in English
Word-building
We shall use the term of word-building in its wide sense meaning not only formation of words according to certain patterns and according to the principle of semantic and structural connection between the word as a whole and its components but all other forms of word-making. But then, naturally, we shall have to distinguish morphological and syntactical word-building.
Morphological word-building (characterized by a change in morphological structure) will include:
1) Affixation or forming new words by means of adding affixes, that is suffixes and prefixes, e.g. wonderful, enjoy, boredom.
2) Word-composition or joining two or more stems to form a new word, e.g. hogshead, Turkoman, Russo-Japanese, speedometer.
3) Shortening (sometimes referred to as contraction or slipping, i.e. making a new lexical unit by means of omitting a certain part of a longer word, e.g. amend-mend, fantasy—fancy, trigonometry—trig, military police—M. P., etc.
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4) Sound-gradation (sometimes referred to as sound-interchange) or forming a new word by means of changing a root sound, either consonant (e.g. excuse —excuse, voiced in the verb and devoiced in the noun) or vowel (e.g. brood—breed) or both (e.g. breathe—breath, live—life).
5) Semantic stress, or stress-interchange when a new word is created through a change of stress, e.g. 'present — pre'sent, 'conduct — con'duct, etc.
6) Reduplication or forming a new word by means of complete or partial repetition of the same stem (e.g. goody-goody, chin-chin, mishmash, criss-cross, chow-chow, hurdy-gurdy, etc.).
7) Back Formation or forming a word by means of discarding a suffix (to baby-sit from baby-sitter, to beg from beggar, etc.).
8) B1ending or forming a new word from the beginning of one word and the end of another (e.g. smog from smoke and fog, motel from motorist and hotel, etc.).
Syntactico-morphological word-building where both morphological and syntactical features of the word are changed will include.
1) Juxtapositional word-composition (e.g. snow-white, girl-friend).
2) Substantivization or incomplete transition from adjective to noun (e.g. the poor, the wounded, the rich).
3) Lexicalization of the plural in nouns (lines—poetry, colours—banner, pains—trying hard, etc.).
4) Conversion — an affixless word-making device by which we mean converting a noun into a verb (water—to water), an adjective into a noun (my native town —a native of the town), a verb into a noun (to swim — a swim) without any distinct ending.
Syntactical word-building where a combination of words is semantically and structurally isolated to form a word without any changes in the syntactico-semantic relations, e.g. white-thorn, maid-of-all-work, free-and-easy, free-thinker, man-at-arms, jack-in-the-box, etc. (sometimes referred to as sentence condensation).
There are two more types of word-making different from the above-mentioned. These will be found in a) imitative words created through sound imitation (this process is sometimes referred to as onomatopoeia (Gr. onyma -name, potein — to make), e.g. to bang, to hiss; b) acronyms, i.e. words made from the initial letters of some already existing words (e.g. radar — radio detection and ranging).
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Affixation and composition are generally considered the most productive means of word-building and they seem to have been such in the course of the whole history of English.
Conversion and shortening come next, and these have become more productive lately than they used to be formerly.
All the other methods of word-building are much less productive and some of them dead, (e. g. sound-gradation, stress-interchange).
Affixation
Affixation is the creation of a word by modifying its root with an affix. As we have already noted, affixation or derivation has been productive at every period of the English language. However, this does not mean that the affixes remain unchanged all the time. In the course of language development some affixes were replaced by others, some became archaic, some changed their meanings.
Thus, for instance dis-, mis-, un-have replaced wan- (wanhap — mishap, wantrust — mistrust, wantruth — untruth), -ness has in many cases replaced-ship,-hood,-dom (as in gladship,etc.). But there are affixes which have been acting as productive at all times, present-day English including. These are the prefixes mis-, over-, under-, out-, up-,the adjective-forming suffixes -ed, -ful, -ish, -less, -y, the noun-forming suffixes -er, -ness, -ing, the adverb- forming suffixes -ly, -ward, -wards.
Once affixes were independent words. What is now a suffix was at some period of time a separate word, for example the modern suffix -dom was in Old English a separate word meaning "state, condition, sphere of action", the suffix -hood was also a word meaning "state, condition", -ship meant "to create, to shape", etc.
Today many affixes have got fused with the roots thus making the latter "bound morphemes" that is morphemes that "have no analogous words of the same form functioning in the language (e.g. probable, courage, village, loyal, document, possible, curious, dispute, prepare, remain, submit, etc.). This is mostly the case with words of foreign origin.
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Affixesthat are nolonger used in the formation of new words are called unproductive, others still active are called productive, e. g. the prefixes for-, be-, noun-forming suffixes -ty, -ster, -th the adjective suffixes -some, -ly, -ant are unproductive. Productive suffixes are capable of forming new words by adding them to old roots as well as to new ones, they have not lost their word-making power today and still contribute to the vocabulary enlargement.
The following suffixes are the most productive: -able, -ability, -ee, -er, -ly, -ing, -ism, -1st, -ish-, less, -fill, -ic, -ize, -al, -fy; -ship, -hood, -dom, -ses, -eer, -let, -age, -ary, -ment are -much less productive and such as -thor -ice for nouns, -en, -ern, -some, -ly for adjectives or -longfor adverbs are no longer used in the formation of new words.
Considered in origin suffixes are usually divided into:
Germanic: -dom, -th, -hood, -ly, -ness, -ship, -ward, -ful, -ing, -less, etc.
Romanic: -able, -ible, -age, -ation, -ary, -ment, -es; -ant, -we, -al, etc.
Greek: -ism, -1st, -ite, -ic.
They are further classified into noun-forming (e.g. -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship, -age, -ation, -ment, -er, -ing, -ee, -ism, -ist, -let,-eer, -th, etc.), adjective-forming (e.g. -full, -able, -ary, -less, -ese, -y, -ish, -ed, -ic, -al, etc.), verb-forming (e.g. -fy, -ise, -ize—American), etc.
Considered in meaning, suffixes may be classified as follows:
Noun-forming suffixes denoting:
a) "agent or doer": -er, -or;
b) political or scientific adherence: -ist, -ite, etc.;
c) the object of an action, the one to whom an act is done or on whom a right is conferred: -ee;
d) nationality: -ian, -ish, etc.;
e) abstract, concepts: -ance, -ence, -tion, -sion, -ion, -ation, -ment, -ness, -ing, etc.
Adjective-forming suffixes denoting:
a) capacity, fitness or worthiness to be acted upon, tending to, able to, liable to: -able, -ible;
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b) a certain (not great) degree of some quality: -ish;
c) the presence of quality: -ful, -ons;
d) the absence of quality: -less;
Adverb-forming suffixes: -ly (denoting the manner of action), -ward, -wards(course or direction to; motion or tendency toward).
There are a few cases of suffixes becoming notional words: -isms, -ologies.
Suffixes and prefixes are not always clearly distinguished. Instances are not few when only a historian can easily analyse such words into morphemes. Examples of "dead" affixes are: -le, -er in verbs (twinkle, wrestle, nestle, clatter, flutter, blubber),-d, -en, -kin, -ock, -ing,—in nouns. The -dsuffix is preserved in such words as blood, thread, bread for the noun blood is historically connected with the verb to blow (OE blawan — to blow, to breathe), the noun thread — with the verb to throw (OE thrawan — to draw), bread — with to brew (OE breowan — to add yeast), etc.
Further examples of such affixes will be found in formations with the old diminutive suffixes -en, -kin, -ock where the diminutive meaning seems to be lost, e.g. maiden, chicken, bodkin, hillock, tussock, or, say, nouns with the suffix -ing, e.g. king, farthing, herring.
The same is true of such affixes as a-, for-, with-: the ME prefix a-(from the OE on) now occurs but in several verbs — to arise, to awake, to abide; for -no longer active in English, denoting "off", "away" used to have a negative meaning, sometimes indicates neglector refusal to do, e.g. forbear, forbid, forget, forgive, forsake, and the adj. forlorn (OE forleasan — to lose). The stress that falls upon the second syllable helps to see that those elements do not absolutely belong to the root; the old prefix with- meaning "against", "towards", "opposite" will be found in such verbs as to withhold, to withdraw, to withstand.
Compounding.The formation of compound words in English is characterized both by isomorphic and allomorphic features as well. Common are, first of all, two main ways of forming compounds in English: 1) by the juxtaposition (placement) of the determining and the determined parts and 2) with the help of the linking/interfixal o, e, s in English.
The largest group of compounds formed through the juxtaposition of free root/stem words in English constitute nouns. For example: aircraft, bath-house, fountain-pen, godmother, inkpot, lockout, mankind, motherland, note-book; adjectives: sky-blue, pitch-dark, social-economic, far-reaching, peace-loving and verbs: blackwash, ill-treat, take-off. Less numerous are adverbs. Cf. anywhere, nowadays, outside, somehow, sideways; pronouns: everybody, everything, herself, none, and numerals: one-fifths, twenty-one, two-thirds and others.
Pertaining mostly to English are compounds (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and some numerals) with prepositions and conjunctions used as connectors of different roots/stems often referred to as wholophrases. For example, nouns: commander-in-chief, cat-o '-nine-tails, bread-and-butter breakfast; adjectives: out-of-date, rough-and-ready; adverbs: rough-and-tumble; numerals: two and twenty, one hundred and ten.
Compounding with the help of the linking interfixal elements is far less productive in English than in Russian, and it is generally restricted to nouns and adjectives as a rule. Cf. the nouns Anglo-Saxondom, Anglo-Saxons, electro-kinetics, electro-therapy, gasometer, tradesfolk, tradespeople, violinocellist and the abjectives like Sino-American, Afro-Asian, Israeli-American, Iraqi-Iranian.
Abbreviation.As a word-forming means it represents a generally common type of word-formation in the contrasted languages, though it is not devoid of some national divergences either. Common and equally productive in both contrasted languages are the following types:
1. The so-called initial abbreviation, which presents cases like USA, UNO, BBC, TGWU, AFL-CIO, CNN, TV, SOS, IMF, EC, EEC, UK, UNESCO, OPEC (oil produсing and exporting countries), MP (member of parliament or military police), AIDS, SALT (Strategic Anns Limitation Talks), CAT and other acronyms.
Many English shortenings originate from colloquialisms and jargonisms, as it is the case with such nouns as bike (bicycle), dub (double), bod (body, fellow), demo (demonstration), doc (doctor), envo (envoy), info (information data), op (opportunity), to up (increase), to ink (authorize, sign), fridge (refrigerator), mike (microphone), pop (popular as in pop-music), profie (a professional), prof (professor), telly (TV), trunk (tranquilizer), vac (vacuum cleaner), van (railway carriage), vet (veteran), lab (laboratory), coop (co-operation), exam, prep (preparation), ec/ecco (economics), pro (professional), math (mathematics), trig (trigonometry) and others.
2. Partial abbreviation of words is generally rare in English. It is observed in English in such examples as Colo (Colorado), Indi (Indiana), Okla (Oklahoma), Canwood Canadian Woods), Irricanal (Irrigation Canal), and some other geographical names like these.
3. Combined abbreviation is also less wide-spread in English than in Russian. Cf. CONUS (Continental US), COSPAR (Committee on Space Research), INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization), COMECON (Council of Mutual Economic Assitance/Aid). This way of partial plus/and initial abbreviation is very productive in Russian, for example: міськвно (міський відділ народної освіти)б облвно, райвно, облсу (обласне статистичне управління), etc.
Apart from the aforementioned, there exist some other ways (both productive and non-productive) of word-formation in English. They are as follows:
1. Blending, which is a rather productive type of compounding in English. Blends or “telescoped” words are formed by confrontation of two or even more truncated words or roots of words, for example: avia(tion)+(elect)onics > avionics; fan (tasy) + (maga)zine > fanzine; mo(torist) + (ho)tel > motel; sm(ock) + (f)og > smog, meri(t) + (aris)tocracy > meritocracy; fl(y) + (h)urry > flurry, etc.
There exist some ways of making blends or types of blending in English. The main of them are as follows:
1. Blends which are made up from the initial part of the first word or word-group and the complete second word consisting of a root morpheme or a stem only: cinem(a) + actress = cinematress, para(litic gas) + bomb = parabomb, super(sonic) + jet = superjet, para (chute) + glider = paraglider, bas(ket) + cart = bascart, etc.
2. By combining the root morpheme/stem of the first word and the stem of the trancated initial part of the second word: hay + (si)lage – haylage, pay + (pa)triotism = paytriotism, sea + (heli)copter = seacopter, motor + (caval)cade = motorcade, etc.
3. By combining blends of the initial stem and the final part of the second word:
man + (En)glish = Manglish, radio + (elec)trician = rediotrician, cinema + (m)agnate = cinemagnate, book + advertising = bookvertizing, etc.
2. Back-formation (reversion) is a rather productive type of word-formation in English, when many short words are inferred from longer words. It is in this way that verbs are derived from nouns: own < owning, beg < beggar, brag < bragging, broke < broker, edit < editor, hawk < hawker, kittle < kittling, infract < infraction, catalyze < catalysis, emplace < emplacement, reminisce < reminiscence, etc.
English compound verbs are often formed by back formation from compound nouns: to air-condition < air conditioning, to baby-sit < baby sitter, to house-clean < house-cleaner, to house-keep < house-keeping, etc.
3. Reduplication is a common means of compounding in English. Cf. fifty-fifty, goody-goody, hush-hush (secret), pooh-pooh, so-so.
Note. Pertaining to English only are also compounds with post-positives like camp-out (sleep in open air, not in tent), look-in (n) a quick look, look-out (n) vigilance, observation; sit-in/sit-ins (demonstration, strike without leaving the premises); walk-on (mute, dumb performer), walk-out (general strike), walk-in (a) having a separate entrance (apartment without a lift).
4. Accentual word-formation. This way of word-formation is isomorphic in the morphological system of both languages. Nevertheless, words thus formed in English generally change both their lexico-grammatical (morphological) nature and meaning. Cf. 'accent (n) - ac'cent (v), 'conduct (n) – con'duct (v), 'export (n) – ex'port (v), 'permit (n) – per'mit (v), thought 'mankind (n) – man'kind (n), but: 'comment (v) – 'comment (n), ex'cluse (v), ex'cuse (n), re'port (v) ,re'port (n), etc.
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