English Morphology and Lexicology

English Morphology and Lexicology Shao Guangqing shaoguangqing@gmail.com www.windofspring.weebly.com

Introduction • 0.1 the nature and domain of English lexicology • 0.2 its relation to other disciplines • 0.3 methods of study

0.1 the nature and domain of English lexicology • Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, inquiring into the origins and meanings of words. • English lexicology aims at investigating and studying the morphological structures of English words, their semantic structures, relations, historical development, formation and usages.

0.2 its relation to other disciplines • English lexicology embraces other academic disciplines, such as • Morphology • Semantics • Etymology • Stylistics • Lexicography

Morphology • Morphology is the branch of grammar which studies the structure or forms of words, primarily through the use of morpheme construct. • This is also one of the major concerns of lexicology.

Semantics • Semantics is the study of meanings of different linguistic levels: lexis, syntax, utterance, discourse, etc. • But lexicology will focus on the lexical level.

Etymology • Etymology is traditionally used for the study of the origins and history of the form and meaning of words. • Modern English is derived from the languages of early Germanic tribes with a fairly small vocabulary. • We shall study how this small vocabulary has grown into a huge modern English vocabulary and explain the changes that have taken place in the forms and meanings of words.

Stylistics • Stylistics is the study of style. • It is concerned with the user’s choices of linguistic elements in a particular context for special effects. • But lexicology only concentrates on lexis, exploring the stylistic values of words.

Lexicography • Practical Lexicography is an academic discipline of compiling, writing, or editing dictionaries. • The analysis or description of the vocabulary of a particular language, and the meaning that links certain words to others in a dictionary, is known as Theoretical Lexicography.

0.3 methods of study • Synchronic vs. Diachronic • Current meaning: wife=a married woman, esp. in relation to her husband • Old meaning: housewife; midwife (=woman)

1. Basic concepts of words and vocabulary • 1.1 what is a word? • 1.2 sound and meaning • 1.3 sound and form • 1.4 vocabulary • 1.5 classification of words

1.1 what is a word? • (1) a minimal free form of a language; • (2) a sound unity; • (3) a unit of meaning; • (4) a form that can function alone in a sentence. • A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic function.

1.1 what is a word? • Words: simple vs. complex vs. compound • Simple words consist of a single free morpheme. • man; fine; long; spirit… • Complex words contain either two bound forms or a bound and a free form. • ex-clude; tele-vise; pesti-cide; … • tele-phone; manage-ment; mis-fortune...

1.1 what is a word? • Words: simple vs. complex vs. compound • Compound words usu. have two or more free forms as their immediate constituents. • greenhouse, blackmail; outside; … • stay-at-home; fly-by-night…

Compound words vs. grammatical structures • Compound words can not be divided by the insertion of intervening material between the two parts; but grammatical structures can be so divided. • a. She is a sweetheart. • b. She has a sweet heart. She has a sweeter heart than her sister. She has a sweet, kind heart.

Exception • Can you find out that this sentence is ambiguous? • She loves sweet potatoes. • Compound word: sweet potatoes= • Grammatical structure: sweet potatoes= • She loves sweet, fresh potatoes.

Exception • Can you find out that this sentence is ambiguous? • He is fond of sparkling water. • Compound word: sparkling water= • =carbonated water • Grammatical structure: sparkling water= • =ordinary water that sparkles • He is fond of brightly sparkling water.

1.2 sound and meaning • A word is symbolic. • The relation between sound and meaning is arbitrary. • There is no logical relationship between the sound and the meaning. • This relationship is also conventional. • People of the same speech community have agreed to refer to some meaning with certain cluster of sounds.

Arbitrariness 1

Arbitrariness 2

1.3 sound and form • 1. Be careful not to step on the thistle. • ['θɪs(ə)l] Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound like their meaning. • [,ɒnəmætə'piːə] • 2. 자동차가 고장 났어요. • 3. 我的车抛锚了。

1.3 sound and form • What can you learn from the following English illustration? • a: class; glass; sparkle; park • a: bag; fat • a: face; date • a: water • a: refusal; dental • a: teacher; reason

1.3 sound and form • What can you learn from the following French illustration? • a • rat; gaz; • passé; château; • tache; vase • table; rappeler • habite; appâte

1.3 sound and form • It is generally agreed that the written form of a natural language is the written record of the oral form. • Naturally, the written form should agree with the oral form. (like French) • This is fairly true of English in its earliest stage i.e. Old English. The speech of the time was represented more faithfully in writing than it is today.

1.3 sound and form • However, with the development of the language, more and more differences occur between sound and form.

Reasons for “Sound≠Form” • 1. The internal reason is that the English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, which does not have a separate letter to represent each sound in the language so that some letters must do double duty or work together in combination.

Reasons for “Sound≠Form” • 2. Another reason is that the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling over the years, and in some cases the two have drawn far apart.

Reasons for “Sound≠Form” • 3. A third reason is that some of the differences were created by the early scribes. • Before printing was brought to England, everything was written by hand. • One problem was that letters such as i, u, v, m, w, and n looked all alike. • To solve this problem, they changed the letter u to o when it came before m, n, or v.

sum →some cum →come wuman →woman wunder →wonder munk →monk liv →live hav →have du →due tru →true No English word is ended by v or u. In the late 1500, printing helped freeze the spelling of words. Dictionaries did their share in stopping spelling changes. Sounds continued to change as usual, thus bringing more differences.

Reasons for “Sound≠Form” • 4. Finally comes the borrowing, which is an important channel of enriching the English vocabulary. • stimulus (L); dénouement (F); fiesta (Sp); eureka (Gr); kimono (Jap) • hymn | hymnal condemn | condemnation bomb | bombard

1.4 vocabulary • The word “vocabulary” is used in different senses: • The total number of words in a language • All the words used in a particular historical period • All the words of a given dialect, a given book, or a given discipline • All the words possessed by an individual person • Present-day English vocabulary: over 1,000,000

1.5 classification of words • 1.5.1 basic word stock vs. nonbasic vocabulary • 1.5.2 content words vs. functional words • 1.5.3 native words vs. borrowed words

1.5.1 basic word stock vs. nonbasic vocabulary • basic word stock • 1. all national character • 2. (relative) stability • 3. productivity • 4. polysemy • 5. collocability

1.5.1 basic word stock vs. nonbasic vocabulary • nonbasic vocabulary • 1. terminology • 2. jargon • 3. slang • 4. argot • 5. dialectal words • 6. archaisms • 7. neologisms

1.5.2 content words and functional words • Content (notional) words • Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals • Numerous; the number is ever growing • Functional (empty/form) words • Prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, articles • Limited; the number remain stable

1.5.2 content words and functional words • However, functional words do far more work of expression in English on average than content words. • [1] It is fun to play with children. • [2] It is certain that they have forgotten the address. • [3] The more I see the film, the more I like it.

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • Native words (Anglo-Saxon words) • 1. neutral in style • begin (E) ----commence (F) • brotherly (E) ----fraternal (F) • kingly (E) ----royal (F) ----regal (L) • rise (E)----mount (F) ----ascend (L)

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • Native words (Anglo-Saxon words) • 2. frequent in use • The percentage of native words in use runs usually as high as 70 to 90 percent.

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • borrowed words (loan words) • 80%; cosmopolitan vocabulary • 1. denizens • Words borrowed early in the past, and now are well assimilated into the English language. • port ← portus (L); cup ← cuppa (L) • shift ← skipta (ON); shirt ← skyrta (ON) • change ← changier (F); pork ←porc (F)

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • borrowed words (loan words) • 2. Aliens • Borrowed words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling. • décor (F); blitzkrieg (G); kowtow (CH) • bazaar (Persian); emir (Arab) • rajar (Hindi); status quo (L) • intermezzo (IT)

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • borrowed words (loan words) • 3. translation-loans • Words translated according to the meaning • Words translated according to the sound

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • borrowed words (loan words) • 3. translation-loans • Words translated according to the meaning • mother tongue ←lingua materna (L) • long time no see ←haojiumeijian (CH) • Surplus value ←Mehrwert (G) • masterpiece ←Meisterstuck (G) • Black humour ←humour noir (F)

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • borrowed words (loan words) • 3. translation-loans • Words translated according to the sound • kulak ←kyrak (Russ) =rich peasants • ketchup ←ke-tsiap (CH dialect) • lama ←lama (Tibetan) =Tibetan monk • tea ←t’e (CH dialect)

1.5.3 native words and borrowed words • borrowed words (loan words) • 4. semantic-loans • Words borrowed with reference to the meaning. • dream –modern meaning from the Norse • pioneer –”a member of the Young Pioneer” from Russan • dumb –”stupid” from German (dumm) • fresh –”impertinent, sassy, cheeky” from German (frech)

Homework • Exercises on page 20-22

THANK YOU

English Morphology and Lexicology