The characteristics of the word as the basic unit of language

syntagmatic relations, paradigmatic relations, a word, motivation, phonetic motivation,

morphological motivation, semantic motivation, folk etymology, colloquial words, slang, dialect

words, archaic and obsolete words, professional terminology, basic vocabulary.

given in the list below:

A. The smallest meaningful

units of the language are called … .
B. The biggest

units of morphology and the smallest units of syntax are … .
С. A set of elements associated and functioning together according to certain laws is termed … .
D. Contrastive relations of a lexical unit with all other units that can occur in the same context and be contrasted to it are known as … .

given in the list below:

E. When there is

a certain similarity between the sounds that make up words

and their meaning, the motivation is … .
P. Morphological motivation, when both the lexical meaning of the component morphemes and the meaning of the pattern are perfectly transparent, is called … .
G. Motivation based on the co-existence of direct and figurative meaning of the same word within the same synchronous system is termed … .
1) lexical system; 2) semantic; 3) paradigmaticс relations; 4) complete; 5) words; 6) phonetical; 7) morphemeв.

stylistically marked words in each particular situation?
In what situations

are informal words used?
What are the main kinds of informal

words? Give a brief description of each group.
What is the difference between colloquialisms and slang? What are their common features? Illustrate your answer with examples.
What are the main features of dialect words?
Where are formal words used?

in books? Which type of learned words, do you

think, is especially suitable for verbal communication? Which is least

suitable and even undesirable?
What are the principal characteristics of archaic words?
What are the controversial problems connected with professional terminology?
Do you think that students of English should learn terms? If so, for which branch or branches of knowledge?
What is understood by the basic vocabulary?
Which classes of stylistically marked words should be included in the students’ functional vocabulary?

term system (definition)

elements typical of this particular period
others that are

archaic and are dropping out of usage
some new phenomena,

neologisms

in the sentences
He got a letter.
He got

tired
He got to London.
He could not get the piano through

the door.

the word is analysed in its linear relationships with

neighbouring words in connected speech. In other words, the semantic

characteristics of the word are observed, described and studied on the basis of its typical contexts.

one subgroup of vocabulary items (e.g., verbs of motion,

of sense perception, sets of synonyms, etc.) that can occur

in the same context and be contrasted to one another. Paradigmatic relations are observed in the system of language.

in its relationships with other words in the vocabulary

system.
So, a word may be studied in comparison with

other words of similar meaning.

1 the job that a person does especially in

order to earn money. This word has many meanings (in

Oxford Dictionary – 14), many synonyms and idioms [`idiemz]: creative work творческая деятельность; public work общественные работы; his life`s work дело его жизни; dirty work (difficult, unpleasant) 1 чёрная работа; 2 грязное дело, подлость. Nice work! Отлично! Здорово! Saying (поговорка): All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

labour – 1 work, especially physical work: manual labour, a labour camp – исправительно-трудовой лагерь; 2 people who work: a shortage of labour; cheap labour; skilled labour – квалифицированные рабочие, Labour Party; labour relations; a labour of Sisyphus; Sisyphean labour [,sisi‘fi:en] сизифов труд; тяжёлый и бесплодный труд – of a task impossible to complete

e.g. to refuse v – to reject v
of

opposite meaning (e.g. busy adj – idle adj;
to accept

v – to reject v)

man n – chap n – bloke n –

guy n).
Man – chap (coll.) – парень, малый; a

good chap – славный малый; old chap – старина; chap – BrE, informal, becoming old-fashioned – used to talk about a man in a friendly way: He isn`t such a bad chap really.
Bloke (coll.) тип, парень: He seemed like a nice bloke.
Guy – coll. US – малый; tough guy железный малый; wise guy умник; guys (informal, especially US) a group of people of either sex: Come on, you guys!

system
the biggest units of morphology
the smallest units

of syntax
can be separated in an utterance
can be

used in isolation as a complete utterance
is composed of one or more morphemes

are also meaningful units
can not be used independently
are always parts of words
cannot be divided into smaller meaningful words

difficult?
The simplest word has many different aspects:
a sound

form and morphological structure;
may occur in different word-forms, different

syntactic functions
signal various meanings

difficult?
the word is a sort of focus for the

problems of
phonology,
lexicology,
syntax,
morphology
sciences that have to

deal with language and speech, such as philosophy and psychology

as V.V. Vinogradov, A.I. Smirnitsky, O.S. Akhmanova, M.D. Stepanova,

A.A. Ufimtseva contributed to creating a word theory. It is

based upon the understanding of the relationship between word and thought, on the one hand, and language and society, on the other.

smallest unit of a given language capable of functioning

alone and characterised by positional mobility within a sentence, morphological

uninterruptability and semantic integritу.

by the association of a particular meaning with a

particular group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment.»

(A. Meillet. Linguistique historique et linguistique generate. Paris, 1926. V. 1. P. 30.)

to denote the relationship existing between the phonemic or

morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word, on the

one hand, and its meaning, on the other.

is the relationship between, morphemes.
e.g., «endless” is completely

motivated as both the lexical meaning of the component morphemes

and the meaning of the pattern are perfectly transparent.

the absence of the lexical meaning in the morpheme

«cran-«.
The words «matter», «repeat» are non-motivated because the connection

between the structure of the lexical unit and its meaning is completely conventional.

and figurative meaning of the same word within the

same synchronous system.
E.g., «mouth» denotes a part of a

human face and can be metaphorically applied to any opening: the mouth of a river, the mouth of a furnace, mouth of pipe.

if the meaning of the whole is based on

the direct meaning of the components (e.g., headache — pain

in the head), and semantic if the combination of components is used figuratively (headache — anything or anyone very annoying).

peculiar to a specific sphere of communication”.
(I.V. Arnold )
The

suitability or unsuitability of a word for each particular situation

depends on its stylistic characteristics or, in other words, on the functional style it represents.

to a specific sphere of communication.
By the sphere of

communication scholars mean the circumstances attending the process of speech

in each particular case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a formal letter, an intimate letter, a speech in court, etc.

of words)
people living in cities
the illiterate or the semi-educated

teenagers

people living in the provinces
(regional words and expressions)

by informal and formal situations

but by
speaker’s educational background
speaker’s

cultural background
age group
occupational and regional characteristics

and chum (приятель, дружок) are colloquial equivalents of friend;

girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age;

bite and snack (quick meal – перекусить) stand for meal;
hi, hello are informal greetings, and so long a form of parting;
start, go on, finish and be through (покончить)

shortenings are found among words of this type.
E.g.

pram, exam, fridge, flu, zip, movie.
Verbs with post-positional adverbs are

also numerous among colloquialisms:
E.g. put up, put over, make up, make out, turn up,

colloquial words (by the young and the semi-educated )E.g.

doc (for doctor), ta-ta (for good-bye), to kid smb.(for tease,

banter – подшутить), to pick up smb. (for make a quick and easy acquaintance), shut up (for keep silent).
Low colloquial (просторечие) (uncultivated people).

of a highly colloquial style, considered as below the

level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new

words or of current words employed in some special sense.”

whose meanings have been metaphorically shifted. Each slang metaphor

is rooted in a joke, but not in a kind

or amusing joke. This is the criterion for distinguishing slang from colloquialisms: most slang words are metaphors and jocular, often with a coarse, mocking, cynical colouring.

To be arresting,
To be striking
To be different

from others.
To demonstrate one’s spiritual independence and daring.
To

sound “modern” and “up-to-date”.

is a variety of a language which prevails in

a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase.

(e.g. the Lancashire, Dorsetshire, Norfolk dialects).

speech or slang
into the common stock (words which

are not stylistically marked)

a few of them even into

formal speech
into the literary language
e.g.Car, trolley, tram began as dialect words.

professional communication
associated with the printed page. It is

in this vocabulary stratum that poetry and fiction find their

main resources.

that are used in scientific prose and can be

identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour (e.g. comprise, experimental, heterogeneous,

homogeneous, conclusive, divergent, etc).

the official, bureaucratic language. They should be avoided in

speech and in print, e.g. assist (for help), endeavour (for

try), proceed (for go), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), inquire (for ask).

passages of fiction. These words, which may be called

‘literary’, also have a particular flavour of their own, usually

described as ‘refined’. They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance language and, though fully adapted to the English phonetic system, some of them continue to sound singularly foreign.

friends in youth;
But wispering tongues can poison truth
And constancy

(постоянство) lives in realms (царства) above;
And life is thorny; and

youth is vain…

words are mainly associated with the printed page, this

is not exclusively so. Any educated English-speaking individual is sure

to use many learned words not only in his formal letters and professional communication but also in his everyday speech. Educated people in both modern fiction and real life use learned words quite naturally and their speech is richer for it.

for stylistic purposes. When a character in a book

or in a play uses too many learned words, the

obvious inappropriateness of his speech in an informal situation produces a comic effect.

suitable only for comic purposes, would be quite wrong.

It is in this vocabulary stratum that writers and poets

find their most vivid paints and colours, and not only their humorous effects.

these words should be carefully selected and “activized” to

become part of the students’ functional vocabulary.
Without knowing some learned

words, it is even impossible to read fiction (not to mention scientific articles) or to listen to lectures in the foreign language.

no longer used words;
obsolete – no longer used

because something new was invented. Obsolete words have completely gone

out of use.

words are already partly or fully out of circulation.

They are used in historical novels and in poetry which

is rather conservative in its choice of words.
Thou [θаu] – (ты) and thy [ðai] – (твой), aye [ai] – (‘yes’) and nay [nei] – (‘no’) are certainly archaic and long since rejected by common usage, yet poets use them even today.

but it should be taken in consideration that what

appear to us today as archaisms in the works of

Shakespeare, are in fact examples of everyday language of Shakespeare`s time.
Further examples of archaisms are: morn (for morning), eve (for evening), errant (for wandering, e.g. errant knights), etc.

or a word-group which is specifically employed by a

particular branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to

convey a concept peculiar to his particular activity.

terms;
court, lawyer, civil law are legal terms; and

top manager, creative team, motivation are used in management. Bilingual,

interdental, labialization, palatalization, glottal stop, descending scale are terms of theoretical phonetics.

term loses its terminological status
It is quite natural

that under circumstances numerous terms pass into general usage without

losing connection with their specific fields.

are only those words which have retained their exclusiveness

and are not known or recognized outside their specific sphere.

From this point of view, words associated with the medical sphere, such as unit (доза лекарственного препарата), theatre (операционная), contact (носитель инфекции) are no longer medical terms as they are in more or less common usage.

according to which any terminological system is supposed to

include all the words and word-groups conveying concept peculiar to

a particular branch of knowledge, regardless of their exclusiveness. It would be wrong to regard a term as something “special” and standing apart.

“ideal” term should be monosemantic (i.e. it should have

only one meaning). Polysemantic terms may lead to misunderstanding, and

that is a serious shortcoming in professional communication. This requirement seems quite reasonable, yet facts of the language do not meet it. There are numerous polysemantic terms.

systems. There are scholars who insist that terms should

not have synonyms because, consequently, scientists and other specialists would

name the same objects and phenomena in their field by different terms and would not be able to come to any agreement. This may be true. But, in fact, terms do possess synonyms.

kinds of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal

and written communication
are used every day, everywhere and by

everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, educational level, age group or geographical location.

possible as they denote objects and phenomena of everyday

importance (e.g. house, bread, summer, child, mother, difficult, to go,

etc.).
is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and living core.

only by their stylistic neutrality but, also, by lack

of other connotations (i.e. attendant meanings). Their meanings are broad,

general and directly convey the concept, without supplying any additional information.

merely ‘to move from place to place on foot’

whereas in the meanings of its synonyms to stride (шагать),

to stroll (прогуливаться), to trot (семенить, бежать вприпрыжку), to stagger – to sway while walking (идти шатаясь) and others, some additional information is encoded as they each describe a different manner of walking, a different gait, tempo, purpose or lack of purpose.

1.start, get started 2.go on, get on 3.finish, be

through, be over 4.kid, brat, bairn (dial.),
Formal 1.commence 2.proceed 3.

terminate 4.infant, babe

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