Moldova State University

Department of Foreign Languages

REPORT
“Classification Of Literary Vocabulary”

Project guide:
Pascaru D.

Student:
Parasca G.
Mark:

Chisinau, 2018
Content:
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………3
2. Layers of word stock……………………………………………………………………………….3
3. Groups of literary words………………………………………………………………………….4
3.1. Terms………………………………………………………………………………………………...5
3.2. Poetic words………………………………………………………………………………………7
3.3. Archaic words…………………………………………………………………………………….8
3.4. Barbarisms and foreignisms……………………………………………………………….9
3.5. Literary coinages and nonce-words (Neologisms)………………………………14
4. Exercises………………………………………………………………………………………………….16
5. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………….17

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 The word stock of any language may be presented as a system elements of which are
interconnected, interrelated and yet interdependent.
Vocabulaty-all the words that exist in a particular language.
Lexicology suggests many ways of classifying any vocabulary but for the purpose of
stylistic analysis we may represent the whole word stock of English language as the
domain divided into two major layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the
colloquial layer.
The literary and the colloquial layer contain a number of subgroups, all of which have a
certain property, characteristic of the layer on the whole, that is called an aspect. Thus
we say ‘the aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character, the aspect of
the colloquial layer is its lively spoken character. Both peculiarities make the first layer
more or less stable and the latter – unstable, fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is
its universal character which means that it is unrestricted in use.

The literary vocabulary consists of the words accepted as legitimate members of

the English vocabulary, without local or dialectal character.

The literary stratum of English vocabulary is used in both oral and written speech. Most
literary words are neutral. But there are certain groups of literary words whose bookish
character imbues them with a distinct coloring. They are frequently called “learned
words”. For example: emolument, joyance, gladsome, bellicose, judicial, etc

Common literary words are usually used in writing and in polished speech. One can
always tell a literary word from a colloquial one. The reason for this lies in certain
objective features of the literary layer of words, that is why literary unite always stand
in opposition to colloquial units, forming pairs of synonyms.

COLLOQUIAL LITERARY

Kid infant

Daddy parent

Chap associate

Go on proceed

Teenager youth/maiden

Make a move commence

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Many common literary words in modern English have a clear-cut bookish character:

concord
adversary
divergence
volition
calamity
susceptibility
sojourn

A lot of phraseological combinations also belong to the general literary stratum:

in accordance with
with regard to
by virtue of
to speak at great length
to draw a lesson
to lend assistance

Special literary words may be grouped under the following divisions:

 Terms
 Foreignisms and barbarisms
 Archaic and obsolete/obsolescent words
 Poetic words
 Neologisms

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 Terms
Learned words in English include not only scientific terms, but also special terms
in any branch of science, technique or art.
A term – is a word (word-combination) denoting a scientific concept.
Terms may be divided into three main groups depending on the character of their
etimology :
1. Terms formed from Greek, Latin, French, German or other foreign
sources:
botany, anatomy, schedule (Greek);
locomotive, chivalry, march, parliament, estate (Latin);
facade, renaissance, retreat, maneuver, squad, coup d’etat, cliché (French);
cobalt, zinc, quartz, sauerkraut (German).
2. Terms formed from the common word stock, by means of semantic
change:
tank, company (military.); wing (architecture); fading, jamming (radio).
3. Terms formed by means of special suffixes and prefixes:
ultra-violet, antidote, transplant

Any term taken separately has the following peculiarities:

It has no emotional value. It is usually monosemantic, at least in the given field of
science, technique or art. One of the essential characteristics of a term is its
highly conventional quality. It is very easily coined and accepted, new coinages
replacing outdated ones. This sensitivity to alteration appears mainly due to the
necessity of reflecting in language the cognitive process maintained by scholars in
analyzing different concepts and phenomena. One of the most striking features
of a term is its direct logical relevance to the system or set of terms used in a
particular science, discipline or art. A term is directly connected with the concept
it denotes; unlike other words it directs the mind to the essential quality of the
thing, phenomenon or action. Terms frequently convey a concept or a notion in a
concise form. They are mostly used in special works dealing with the notions of
some branch of science and thus belong to their style of scientific language.
They may be used with a stylistic purpose. In a story or novel terms may acquire a
certain expressive or emotional quality. They may enhance the realistic
background of the work. For example, in “Live with Lighting” by M.Wilson, the
author uses technical terms to give his readers a convincing portrayal of the work
of nuclear physicists.
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Terms must not be overused – in such case they hinder the reader’s
understanding when the writer is demonstrating his erudition. It has been
pointed out that those who are learning use far more complicated words than
those who are learned. In any language with the increase of general education
some terms are losing their original quality and are gradually passing into
common literary or even neutral vocabulary. This process is called de-
terminization. E.g.: radio, television, computer, network.

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 Poetic words
Poetic words are words and phrases calculated to imbue ordinary concepts with a
poetic nuance. Their use is confined mainly to poetic style and by their very nature they
are monosemantic. Poetic words are rather insignificant in number. These are mostly
archaic words that very rarely used to produce an elevated effect of speech, their main
function being sustaining poetic atmosphere. Poetic tradition has kept alive such
ancient words and forms as yclept (past participle of the old verb clipian- to call), quoth
(past tense of cwe an – to speak); eftsoons - soon after, again.

Poetical words most frequently used in English poetry:

NOUNS : billow (wave), swain (lover, suitor), yeoman (peasant), main (sea), maid
(girl), dolour (grief), nuptials (marriage), vale (valley), steed horse)

ADJECTIVES: lone (lonely), dread (dreadful), lovesome (lovely), beauteous

(beautiful), clamant (noisy), direful (terrible), duteous (dutiful).

VERBS: Wax (grow), quath (said), list (listen), throw (believe), tarry (remain),
hearken (hear).

PRONOUNS: Thee, thou, thy, aught (anything), naught (nothing)

ADVERBS: scarce (scarcely), haply (perhaps), oft (often), whilom (formerly), of

yore (of ancient times), anon (soon)

CONJUNCTIONS: albeit (although), ere (before), e’er (ever), ‘neath (beneath), sith
(since)

PREPOSITIONS: anent (concerning), amidst, betwixt (between).

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 Archaic words

Archaic words – words which are no longer recognizable in

modern English though they were widely in use in Old English. Now they have
dropped out of language entirely or have changed tier appearance so much that
have become unrecognizable: e.g. throth – faith; bason – tub; descant – melody;
hippocras – wine with spices; fortalice – fortress; losel – a lazy fellow.
For example, the following passage from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in
the English of the fourteenth century, has recognizable elements but is different
enough from modern English to require a translation.

A Frere ther was, a wantowne and a merye,

A lymytour, a ful solempne man.
In alle the orders foure is noon that kan
So muche of daliaunce and fair language.
He hadde maad ful many a mariage
Of younge women at his owene cost.
Unto his ordre he was a noble post.

A Friar there was, wanton and merry,

A limiter (a friar limited to certain districts), a full solemn (very important) man.
In all the orders four there is none that knows
So much of dalliance (flirting) and fair (engaging) language.
He had made many a marriage
Of young women at his own cost.
Unto his order he was a noble post.

In this passage we can recognize several changes. Many words are spelled
differently today. In some cases, meaning has changed; full, for example, would
be translated today as very. What is less evident is that changes in pronunciation
have occurred. For example, the g in marriage (marriage) was pronounced zh, as
in French from which it was borrowed, whereas now it is pronounced like either g
in George.

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 Barbarisms and foreignisms

Barbarisms -are words of foreign origin which have not entirely become
assimilated into the English language. They bear the appearance of a borrowing
and are on the outskirts of the literary language. Most of barbarisms have
corresponding English synonyms: chic – stylish, bon mot – clever witty saying, ad
finitum – to infinity; beau monde – high society. It is very important stylistically to
distinguish between barbarisms and foreignisms. Barbarisms have already
become facts of English language and are given in the bodies of dictionaries,
while foreignisms though used for certain stylistic purposes do not belong to
English vocabulary, nor are they registered by dictionaries. Some foreign words
fulfill terminological function: ukas, udarnik, kolkhoz, solo, tenor, blitzkrig,
luftwaffe. Terminological borrowings have no synonyms, while barbarisms - on
the contrary have quite a few. Barbarisms can be labeled as a historical category
resulting from the development of foreignisms until they become naturalized and
merged into the native stock of words: conscious, retrograde, scientific,
methodical, penetrate, function, figurative, obscure - these words are now lawful
members of the common literary word stock. Foreignisms and barbarisms are
used with various functions: e.g. to supply local color, i.e. introduce language
elements that reflect the environment as a background to the narrative. By local
color we also man the devices used to describe the conditions of life the customs,
the morals, and the manners of a given country at a given period.
Another function of foreignisms is to build up a stylistic device of non-personal
direct speech or represented speech of a local inhabitant which helps to
reproduce his manner of speech and the environment as well. Foreignisms and
barbarisms are used in various styled but most often in publicist one. In fiction
they sometimes help to elevate the language, because words which we do not
understand have a peculiar charm. A hero may pronounce whole phrases in a
foreign language without translation, but frequently it is suffice to mention only
2-3- words to produce the effect of a whole utterance pronounced in a foreign
language.
The same effect is achieved by a slight distortion of an English word or a
morphological word form so that grammatical aspect of a changed word will bear
resemblance to the morphology of the foreign tongue.

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 For example, to render the speech of a German emigrant in the story “The Last
Leaf” O’Henry uses the following distorted words with a slight German
resemblance:
“Vass! Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey
drop off from a vine? Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der prain of
her…”
In publicistic style the use of barbarisms and foreign words is confined to coloring
the passage with a touch of authority, a person who uses so many foreign words
is considered to be a highly educated one.
It should be remembered that barbarisms and foreign words assume the
significance of a stylistic device only if they display a twofold meaning, function
or aspect, or their intention and perception are ambiguous.

This device may be likened to one used in painting by representatives of the

Dutch school who made their background almost indistinguishable in order that
the foreground elements might stand out distinctly and colourfully.
An example which is even more characteristic of the use of the local colour
function of foreign words is the following stanza from Byron's "Don Juan":

... more than poet's pen Can point, — "Cosi viaggino: Ricchil"
(Excuse a foreign slip-slop now and then,
If but to show I've travell'd: and what's travel
Unless it teaches one to quote and cavil?)
The poet himself calls the foreign words he has used 'slip-slop', i. e. twaddle,
something nonsensical.
Another function of barbarisms and foreign words is to build up the stylistic
device of non-personal direct speech or represented speech. The use of a word,
or a phrase, or a sentence in the reported speech of a local inhabitant helps to
reproduce his actual words, manner of speech and the environment as well. Thus
in James Aldridge's "The Sea Eagle" — "And the Cretans were very willing to feed
and hide the J Inglisi"—, the last word is intended to reproduce the actual speech
of the local people by introducing a word actually spoken by them, a word which
is very easily understood because of the root.

Generally such words are first introduced in the direct speech of a character and
then appear in the author's narrative as an element of reported speech.
Thus in the novel "The Sea Eagle" the word 'benzina' (=motor boat) is first
mentioned in the direct speech of a Cretan:
"It was a warship that sent out its benzina to catch us and look for guns."
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Later the author uses the same word but already in reported speech:
"He heard too the noise of a benzina engine starting."

Barbarisms and foreign words are used in various styles of language, but are most
often to be found in the style of belles-lettres and the publicistic style. In the
belles-lettres style, however, foreignisms are sometimes used not only as
separate units incorporated in the English narrative. The author makes his
character actually speak a foreign language, by putting a string of foreign words
into his mouth, words which to many readers may be quite unfamiliar. These
phrases or whole sentences are sometimes translated by the writer in a foot-note
or by explaining the foreign utterance in English in the text. But this is seldom
done.

Here is an example of the use of French by John Galsworthy:

"Revelation was alighting like a bird in his heart, singing: "Elle est ton revel Elle
est ton revel" ("In Chancery")

No translation is given, no interpretation. But something else must be pointed

out here. Foreign words and phrases may sometimes be used to exalt the
expression of the idea, to elevate the language. This is in some respect akin to
the function of elevation mentioned in the chapter on archaisms. Words which
we do not quite understand sometimes have a peculiar charm. This magic quality
in words, a quality not easily grasped, has long been observed and made use of in
various kinds of utterances, particularly in poetry and folklore.
But the introduction of foreign speech into the texture of the English language
hinders understanding and if constantly used becomes irritating. It may be
likened, in some respect, to jargon. Soames Forsyte, for example, calls it exactly
that.

"Epatant!" he heard one say.

"Jargon!" growled Soames to himself.

The introduction of actual foreign words in an utterance is not, to our mind, a

special stylistic device, inasmuch as it is not a conscious and intentional literary
use of the facts of the English language. However, foreign words, being alien to
the texture of the language in which the work is written, always arrest the
attention of the reader and therefore have a definite stylistic function.
Sometimes the skilful use of one or two foreign words will be sufficient to creаtе
the impression of an utterance" made in a foreign language.
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 Thus in the following example:
"Deutsche Soldaten—a little while ago, you received a sample of American n
strength." (Stefan Heym, "The Crusaders")
The two words 'Deutsche Soldaten' are sufficient to create the impression that
the actual speech was made in German, as in real life it would have been.
The same effect is sometimes achieved by the slight distortion of an English
word, or a distortion of English grammar in such a way that the morphological
aspect of the distortion will bear a resemblance to the morphology of the foreign
tongue, for example:
"He look at Miss Forsyte so funny sometimes. I tell him all my story; he so
sympatisch." (Galsworthy)
Barbarisms have still another function when used in the belles-lettres style. We
may call it an "exactifying" function. Words of foreign origin generally have a
more or less monosemantic value.
In other words, they do not tend to develop new meanings. The English So long,
for example, due to its conventional usage has lost its primary meaning. It. has
become a formal phrase of parting. Not so with the French "Au revoir." When
used in English as a formal sign of parting it will either carry the exact meaning of
the words it is composed of, viz. 'See you again soon', or have another stylistic
function. Here is an example:

"She had said 'Au revoir!' Not good-bye!" (Galsworthy)

The formal and conventional salutation at parting has become a meaningful

sentence set against another formal salutation at parting which, in its turn, is
revived by the process to its former significance of "God be with you," i. e. a
salutation used when parting for some time.
In publicistic style the use of barbarisms and foreign words is mainly confined to
colouring the passage on the problem in question with a touch of authority.
A person who uses so many foreign words and phrases is obviously a very
educated person, the reader thinks, and therefore a "man who knows." Here are
some examples of the use of barbarisms in the publicistic style:

"Yet en passant I would like to ask here (and answer) what did Rockefeller think
of Labour..." (Dreiser, "Essays and Articles")

"Civilization" — as they knew it — still depended upon making profits ad

infinitum." (Ibid.)
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We may remark in passing that Dreiser was particularly fond of using barbarisms
not only in his essays and articles but in his novels and stories as well. And this
brings us to another question.
Is the use of barbarisms and foreign words a matter of individual preference of
expression, a certain idiosyncrasy of this or that writer? Or is there a definite
norm regulating the usage of this means of expression in different styles of
speech? The reader is invited to make his own observations and inferences on
the matter.
Barbarisms assume the significance of a stylistic device if they display a kind of
interaction between different meanings, or functions, or aspects. When a word
which we consider a barbarism is used so as to evoke a twofold application we
are confronted with an SD.
In the example given above — "She had said 'au revoir!' Not goodbye!" the 'au
revoir' will be understood by the reader because of its frequent use in some
circles of English society. However, it is to be understood literally here, i. e. 'So
long' or 'until we see each other again.' The twofold perception secures the
desired effect. Set against the English 'Good-bye' which is generally used when
people part for an indefinite time, the barbarism loses its formal character and
re-establishes its etymological meaning. Consequently, here again we see the
clearly cut twofold application of the language unit, the indispensable
requirement for a stylistic device.

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 Literary Coinages and Nonce-Words (Neologisms)
In the dictionaries the word neologism is usually defined as “a new word or a new
meaning for an established word”. But this definition is rather vague because nobody
knows for a how long period of time a word still remains new since after it was
registered in the dictionary it can no longer be considered a neologism. But there are
words coined to be used at the moment of speech, to serve the occasion. Sometimes
especially with writers such inventions may be very durative and lucky, they may be
established in the language as synonyms or substitutes for the old words. Strangely
enough the once new words, coined in 19th century by Belinsky, are now absolutely
usual and ordinary words: субъект, объект, тип, прогресс, пролетариат etc.The first
type of newly coined words is connected with the need to designate new concepts
resulting from the development of science – terminological coinages. For example, with
the dissemination of computer technologies the terms connected with computering
have become commonly used – they can be founding the Internet on the site entitled
WWWebster: multislacking (playing at the computer when one should be working) and
open source (the source code of software programs available to all), emoticom (
Emotional Smileys ).
New words are mainly coined according to the productive models of word-building in
the given language – but in the literary style they may sometimes be built with the help
of means which have gone out of use or which are in the process of going out. It often
happens that the sensitive reader finds a new coinage almost revolting but if used
successfully it may be repeated but other writers and remain in the language.
When the word is borrowed it sounds and means just as it does in the native language.
When it remains in a different language for a long period of time it undergoes changes
according to the laws of this language and becomes finally “naturalized” or
“assimilated”. This process is very slow. But the greater and the deeper assimilation the
more general and more common the word becomes. American English nowadays is
especially rich in new words of all kinds and sometimes it causes a great protest among
scholars and laymen.
The fate of literary coinages depends on the number of rival synonyms already existing
in the vocabulary of the language as well as on the shade of meaning it expresses. Most
of the literary coinages are built by affixation and word-compounding, and thus they are
unexpected, even sensational. Strangely enough, conversion, most productive and
popular means of word building in modern language is less effective just because it is
too organic. But nevertheless, conversion, derivation (affixation), change of meaning
can be considered as the main means of word- building in the process of coining new
words.
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There seems to be something irresistibly droll about words in -ee which leads journalists
and other writers to constantly create new ones.
Dozens of new words are generated each year, most of them destined to be used once
and never seen again. Here are some examples, mainly extracted from the British
newspapers The Guardian and The Independent on Sunday over the past couple of
years: arrestee, assaultee, auditee, auditionee, awardee, biographee, callee, contactee,
contractee, counsellee, dedicatee, defrostee, detachee, electee, explodee, extraditee,
fixee, flirtee, floggee, forgee, hittee, interactee, introducee, investee, lapsee, mentee,
murderee, outee, ownee, phonee, pickee, rapee, releasee, rescuee, sackee, shortlistee,
slippee, spinee, staree, tagee, ticklee, trampolee.
Most of these new words denote some person who is the passive recipient of the action
concerned or is the one to whom something is done (for example, an extraditee is a
person who is extradited; a murderee is the person who has been murdered).

Among other productive affixes one should mention:

-er – orbiter, spacecraft designed to orbit a celestial body; lander; missiler – person
skilled in controlling missiles.

-ize – detribalize; accessorize, moisturize; plagiarize, villagize.

anti – anti-novelist; anti-hero; anti-world; anti-emotion; anti-trend.

-dom – gangdom; freckledom; musicdom; stardom.

-ship – showmanship; brinkmanship; lifemanship; mitressmanship; supermanship;

lipmanship. The word man is here gradually growing into a half-suffix of a complex
manship with the meaning of “ability to do something better than another person”.

In modern English new words are also coined by contractions or abbreviations which
should be distinguished from initialisms, a sequence of the first letters of a series of
words, each pronounced separately. Lexicographers make a careful distinction between
these and the two other types of shortenings. An acronym is a word group created in a
similar way to an initialism but which is pronounced as a word. So HIV is an initialism,
but AIDS is an acronym. An abbreviation is any contraction of a word or phrase, but it's
applied particularly to contractions such as ex: signs for units of measurement, such as
kg, are technically not abbreviations but symbols, though they commonly use alphabetic
characters for ease of reproduction, and they never include stops. But some people just
call them all abbreviations, though there's a tendency to use acronym instead, as being
a more important-sounding word.
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 Exercises:
1) From which language these terms came in English( German, Latin,French,Greek)

anatomy, estate, zinc, cliché, botany, facade, renaissance,

schedule, cobalt, squad, coup d’etat, chivalry, march, parliament.

2) What do these poetic words mean?

billow, main, nuptials, steed, clamant, direful, throw, tarry,

wax, naught, anon, oft, haply, e’er , sith, betwixt.

3) What are English synonyms for these barbarisms?

chic
bon mot
ad finitum
beau monde

4) Which of the following words are acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations?

USA, HIV, AIDA, kg, Mr.,UNESCO,NATO, DVD,NASA,sec.,Gestapo.

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 Bibliography:
1. http://pereklad.nmu.org.ua/ua/LECTURE%202.pdf
2. A course in modern English lexicology R. Ginzburg ,S.. Khidekel,G.Y.Knyazeva, A.
Sankin
3. Смирницкий А.И. “Лексикология английского языка”
4. “Lexical Structure, Word Semantics & Word-formation” Leonhard Lipka
5. A Course in Modern English Lexicology (Hardcover) R.S. Ginzburg

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