GLOSSARУ

Absolute antonyms are root antonyms; they express contrary notions (beautiful -
ugly).
Acronym is shortening from the initial letters.
Affixation is the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to stems.
Affixes are non-root morphemes used for the formation of word-forms. They are
classified into prefixes and suffixes and possess a generalized lexical meaning
and the part-of-speech meaning.
Allomorph is a positional morpheme variant.
Antonyms are two or rarely more words belonging to the same part of speech,
identical in style and nearly identical in distribution the denotative meaning of
which render contrary or contradictory notions.
Aphesis is initial clipping (van < caravan)
Apocope is final clipping (gym < gymnasium)
Archaisms are obsolete words for existing objects. They are divided into lexical
(fair, slay) and grammatical (thou, thee, thy, hast, dost, shalt, wilt)
Assimilation is a partial or total conformation of a borrowed word to the
phonetical, grammatical and morphological standards of the receiving language
Barbarisms are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated
into English. Most of them have English synonyms but are preferred for certain
stylistic purposes (bon mot = a witty saying, de facto = in fact).
Blending (telescoping) is a special type of compounding by means of merging
parts of words into one new word (smog < smoke + fog).
Borrowing is 1) the process of adopting foreign words; 2) the result of this
process.
Bound morpheme jccurs only as a constituent part of a word.
Change of stress is a type of lexical opposition in which words are differentiated
due to a stress pattern: nouns are forestressed and verbs have a stress on the
second syllable ('recordn : re'cordv)
Comparative method studies the correspondences between languages that have a
common origin.
Complementary distribution takes place when two variants cant appear in the
same environment.
Complete morphemic segmentability is characteristic of words the morphemic
structure of which is transparent enough and their constituent morphemes recur
with the same meaning in a number of other words.
Compounding (word-composition) is a type of word-building in which new
words are produced by combining two or more stems.
Compound word consists of two or more stems.
Concatination is one of the two processes of semantic development of a word (the
central meaning stands at the beginning of a chain and all the secondary
meanings develop from the previous meaning).
Conceptual analysis is aimed at studying the associative connections of the
lexical item designating the concept.
Conditional morphemic segmentability characterizes words whose segmentation
into constituent morphemes is doubtful for semantic reasons.
Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending
on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose, in what contexts it may be
used. There are four main types of connotations: stylistic, emotional, evaluative,
expressive/intensifying.
Contextual method is based on the assumption that difference in meaning of
linguistic units is indicated by a difference in environment.
Contrastive method is aimed at finding out similarities and differences in both
related and non-related languages
Conversion is the process of coining new words without adding derivative
elements, through changes in the paradigm
Defective morphemic segmentability is the property of words whose component
morphemes seldom or never recur in other words.
Degradation (pejorative development) of meaning is the semantic process of the
pejorative development of the connotational aspect of the meaning of the word;
the word acquires some derogatory emotive charge (e.g.: the word boor was
originally used to denote ‘a villager’, but then acquired a derogatory,
contemptuous connotational meaning ‘a clumsy, ill-bred fellow, a rude person, a
scoundrel’).
Denotational antonyms are antonyms formed by negative affixes (un-, in-, non-,
dis-, pre-, post-, -ful, -less). They express contradictory notions, one of them
excludes the other (active - inactive).
Denotational meaning is that component of the lexical meaning which serves to
identify and name the notion and makes communication possible.
Derivational compounds are words in which components are joined together by
neans of compounding and affixation.
Derived word consists of a root and one or more affixes.
Descriptive method envisages making an inventory list of language units and
explaining the peculiarities of their structure and functioning in synchrony.
Dialectal words are words which remain beyond its literay bounderies; their use is
generally confined to a definite locality.
Dispheisms are vulgar substitutions of neutral words (to die – to go off the hooks,
to kick the bucket).
Distributional analysis is one of structural methods which is used to denote the
immediate lexical, grammatical and phonetical environment of a lexical unit.
Elevation (amelioration) of meaning is the semantic process of the improvement
of the connotational component of meaning (e.g.: the word minister originally
meant ‘a servant, an attendant’ and now it means ‘a civil servant of high rank’).
Etymological doublets (triplets) are two or three words of the same language
which were derived by different routes from the same basic word (e.g.: the verbs
drag and draw both came from OE dragan).
Etymology is the branch of linguistics which deals with the origin of a word.
Euphemisms are milder substitutions of unpleasant or offensive words or
expressions (to die – to pass away, stupid – simple-minded, drunk - merry).
Extension (broadening) of meaning is the semantic process of changing the
denotational meaning of the word which results in the application of the word to
a wider variety of referents (e.g.: the word ready originally meant ‘prepared for
ride’ and now the meaning is generalized).
Folk/false etymology is mistaken motivation.
Frame analysis is aimed at establishing frames – unified frameworks of
knowledge, cognitive models which represent knowledge.
Free morpheme coincides with the stem or a word-form.
Grammatical homonyms are homonymic word-forms differing in grammatical
meaning only (rowv [rqV] гребти rown [rqV] ряд).
Historical words are names of some objects, special relations, institutions,
customs, which are no longer in use (yeoman).
Homographs (heteronyms) are words identical in spelling but different in sound
and meaning (bown [baV] поклін – bown [bqV] лук)
Homonyms are words identical in sound-form or spelling, or both in sound-form
or spelling, but different in meaning.
Homophones are words identical in sound-form but different in spelling and
meaning (sunn [sAn] сонце – sonn [sAn] син).
Ideographic synonyms denote different shades of meaning or different degrees of
a given quality.
Immediate constituents (IC) analysis is aimed at revealing the hierarchial
structure of a polymorphic word.
Interchange is a type of lexical opposition in which words are differentiated due
to an alternation in the phonemic composition of the root.
International words are words borrowed from one language into several others
simultaneously or successively.
Jargonisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them
to preserve secrecy within one or another social group (grease = money).
Lexical homonyms are words identical in sound-form and spelling, belong to the
same part of speech; the difference is confined to the lexical meaning only (sealn
[sJl] тюлень – sealn [sJl] печатка, клеймо).
Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotiom by means of a definite
language system.
Lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary of a language
and the properties of words as the main units of language.
Lexico-grammatical homonyms (homoforms) are identical only in some of their
paradigm constituents, both lexical and grammatical meanings differ (sealn [sJl]
тюлень – seav [sJl] ставити печатку, клеймо).
Lexico-semantic variant of the word is one of the meanings of this word.
Metaphor is the transfer of meaning based on similarity.
Method is a planned way of analyzing linguistic data.
Method of componential analysis attempts to reduce meaning to its smallest
components. The semantic structure of a word is represented as a combination of
elementary senses.
Method of oppositional relations (Oppositional analysis) is one of structural
methods of analysis. It is based on opposition which is defined as a relationship
of partial difference between two partially similar elements of language.
Metonymy is the transfer of meaning based on contiguity.
Morpheme is the smallest indivisible two-facet language unit.
Motivation of meaning is the relationship between the morphemic or phonemic
composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning
on the other.
Narrowing (specialisation) of meaning is the semantic process of changing the
denotational meaning of the word which results in the restriction of the range of
referents (e.g.: the word wife originally meant ‘woman’ and now it means ‘a
married woman’).
Neologims are new words or new meanings of the word, the novelty of which is
still felt.
Onomasiology is the study of the principles and regularities of the signification of
things and notions by lexical and phraseological means of a given language.
Onomatopoeia is sound imitation, i. e. naming the action or object by more or less
exact reproduction or a sound associated with it.
Paronyms are words that are kindred both in sound-form and meaning and
therefore are often confused because of their phonetic and semantic proximity
though in fact they are different in meaning and usage (affect – effect, precede –
proceed).
Partial homonyms are words in which some word-forms are homonymous, but
the whole paradigm is not identical (sealn [sJl] тюлень – sealn [sJl] печатка,
клеймо).
Patterned homonyms are homonyms formed either by means of conversion or by
leveling of grammar inflexion (warmadj [wLm] теплий – warmv [wLm] гріти).
Perfect (full, absolute) homophones are homonyms identical both in
pronunciation and in spelling but different in meaning (bearn [bFq] ведмідь –
bearn [bFq] носити).
Poetic words are a set of words having poetic connotations. They have neutral
synonyms but their denotative meaning is more lofty and abstract (array –
clothes, main – sea, steed – horse, woe - sorrow).
Polysemy is plurality of meanings of a word.
Phraseological combinations are clearly motivated word-groups with a partially
changed meaning (to make a mistake).
Phraseological fusions are demotivated word-groups with a completely changed
meaning (at sixes and sevens = in confusion).
Phraseological synonyms are synonyms which differ in valency. The difference
in distribution may be morphological (many - much), syntactical (bare – naked,
bare in reference to persons is used only predicatively while naked occurs both
predicatively and attributively) and lexical (begin – commence, begin is
generalized in its lexical meaning and becomes a semi-auxiliary when used with
an infinitive).
Phraseological unities are partially motivated word-groups with a completely
changed meaning (to lose one’s head = to be at a loss).
Phraseological units (set-phrases) are non-motivated ready-made units which
cannot be freely made up in speech.
Prefix is an affixational morpheme which precedes the root-morpheme (див. тж
affix).
Professionalisms are the words used in a definite trade by people connected by
common interests both at home and at home (tin-fish = submarine).
Proverb is a short familiar epigrammic saying expressing popular wisdom in a
concise way.
Pseudo-morpheme (quasi-morpheme) are morphemes which have only a
differential or distributional meaning, e.g retain, contain.
Radiation is one of the two processes of semantic development of a word (the
primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of
it like rays).
Reversion (back-formation) is inferring of a short word from a long one (e,g. to
baby-sit f< baby-sitter).
Root-morpheme is the lexical nucleus of a word, it has an individual meaning
shared by no other morpheme of the language.
Semantic borrowing is the appearance of a new meaning due to the influence of a
related word in another language (e.g.: the word bureau entered political
vocabulary under the influence of Russian: political bureau)
Semantic structure (semantic paradigm) of a word is all the lexico-semantic
variants of this word taken together.
Semasiology is the branch of linguistics whose subject-matter is the study of word-
meaning and the classification of changes in the signification of words.
Semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes can function in a morphemic sequence both
as an affix and as a free morpheme.
Shortening (clipping, curtailment) is the reduction of a word to one of its parts.
Simple word consists only of a root morpheme.
Slang words are expressive, mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names
for some things that are frequent topics of discourse (cock-eyed = drunk).
Statistical analysis embraces such statistical methods as chi-square (x2),
contingency coefficient, correlation analysis, coefficient of concordance, etc.
application of which make the investigation more rigorous.
Stylistic synonyms are synonyms which differ not so much in meaning but in
emotive and stylistic sphere of application.
Suffix is an affixational morpheme which follows the root-morpheme (див. тж
affix).
Suffixation is the formation of words by adding derivational suffixes to stems.
Syncope is medial clipping (maths < mathematics)
Synecdoche is a kind of metonymy when the part is used for the whole, or vice
versa.
Synonymic dominant is the most general term containing the specific features
rendered by all the other members of the synonymic group.
Synonyms are two or more words of the same language, belonging to the same
part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical
denotational meanings, interchangeable, at least in some contexts, without any
considerable alteration in denotational neaning, but differing in morphemic
composition, phonemic shape, shades of meaning, connotations, style, valency
and idiomatic use.
Terms are special words which express certain concepts of science, engineering,
politics, diplomacy, philosophy, linguistics, etc. They are the names of different
phenomena, processes, qualities peculiar to a certain branch of science, art, etc.
Transformational analysis is repatterning of distributional structures in order to
discover difference or sameness of meaning of practically identical distributional
patterns.
Translation-loans (calques) are words and expressions formed from the material
available in the language after the patterns characteristic of the given language,
but under the influence of some foreign words (e.g.: mother tongue < Lat. lingua
maternal).
Vocabulary is the system formed by the sum total of all the words, word-groups
and phraseological units.
Vulgarisms are expletive and swear words of an abusive character (damn, etc. and
the so-called four-letter words).
Word is the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a
given meaning with a given group of sounds susceptible of a given grammatical
employment.
Word-formation is the system of derivative types of words and the process of
creating new words from the material available in the language after certain
structural and semantic formulas and patterns.
Zoosemy is a case of metaphor when names of animals, birds or insects are used
metaphorically.