Seminar 1 in Lexicology

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Seminar One in Lexicology

Theoretical issues for discussion


1. Give definitions of the following terms: a native word, borrowing,
translation-loan, semantic loan, origin of borrowing, source of borrowing.
words of Indo-European stock
Native words
words of Common Germanic
stock
A native word is of Anglo-Saxon origin brought into English in the 5th century by
the Germanic tribes (the Angles, Saxons @ Jutes)
Borrowings (loan-words) are conditioned by direct linguistic contacts and
political, economic and cultural relationships between nations. A loan-word is
taken from another language and is modified in phonemic shape, spelling, meaning
or paradigm according to the standards of English.
Translation-loan(s) (калька) – are borrowings which are made up by means of
literally translating words and word combinations. EG: from the Russian language:
пятилетка – five-year plan. from German: Wunderkind – wonder child. from
Italian: prima ballerina – first dancer.
semantic loan (plural semantic loans) (linguistics) A process of borrowing
semantic meaning from another language, where the complete word in the
borrowing language already exists; the change is that its meaning is extended to
include another meaning its existing translation has in the lending language.
The term origin of borrowing denotes the language to which the word may be
traced. EG: the word “school is a Latin borrowing. (It comes from Latin) of Greek
origin.
Translation-loans – words and expressions formed from the material available in
English but according to foreign patterns (cf. Rus. стенная газета – wallpaper, Fr.
Cela va sans dire – ‘i t goes without saying’)
Semantic borrowing - a word acquires a new meaning, e.g. pioneer ‘first’ > ‘a
member of the young pioneer organization’ or preserves one of its meanings, e.g.
cannon < Fr (a polysemantic word) < Eng. only ‘gun’, Fr. sport ‘pleasures,
entertainment’ < Eng. sport only as ‘outdoor game and exercise’.
2. Name the ways of how loan words came/come into English.
Borrowings are due to such events:
the Roman invasion
the introduction of Christianity
the Danish and Norman conquests
active contacts with countries worldwide (in modern times)
3. Words of native origin and their characteristic features.
Features of native word-stock:
1) a wide range of lexical and grammatical valency;
2) high frequency value;
3) a developed polysemy;
4) are mostly monosyllabic;
5) show great world-building power;
6) enter a number of set expressions, e.g., "watch" is one of the 500 most frequent
English words:
Word-family: watch-dog, watcher, watchful, watch-out, watchword, etc.
Some set expressions: be on the watch, keep watch, watchful as a hawk.
A proverb: The watched pot never boils (сf. Ukr.‘ Хто над чайником стоїть, в
того вода не кипить’), (Rus.’ Когда ждешь, время долго тянется)‘
4. Etymological survey of the English vocabulary: native and foreign elements
in Modern English.
5. Assimilation of borrowings (types and degrees).
Assimilation is the process of changing the adopted word. It can be: phonetic,
grammatical, semantic.
Three types are distinguished:
1) phonetic (comprises changes in sound form and stress when /combinations of/
sounds alien to English conform to its norms): communique, café, coup d’ etat
- /e/>/ei/, Germ.spitz /jpits/>Eng./spits/. The degree of assimilation depends on the
period of borrowing - the earlier> the fuller assimilation (plate), later > as in
French (regime, valise);
2) grammatical (change in paradigm): Fr. finir-finisson, Eng. finishes, -ed, -ing,
but datum-data, criterion-criteria, crisis-crises etc.;
3) lexical, or semantic (narrowing of meaning – polysemantic > mono-semantic,
acquires specialization, generalization or new meaning). It is a process of acquiring
a currency not only in written but also in neutral and oral style of speech. Fr. cry,
dean, image were religious terms, later – everyday words. Besides, the borrowed
word begins to combine with native root and derivational morphemes and in this
way forms hybrids: table-cloth, simple-minded, battle-field – the 1st component is
Romanic, the 2nd – Germanic. In words by-product, outline – the 1st component
is Germanic and the 2nd – Romanic
Degrees of assimilation
1. Complete (undergo all types of assimilation, do not seem foreign): face,
husband, street, table, take etc.;

2. Partial (alien – lacks one type of assimilation) which are subdivided into:
a) not assimilated semantically – shah, rajah, rickshaw, sherbet etc. denoting
objects peculiar to the original country;
b) not assimilated grammatically – genius – genii, bacillus-bacilli, formula-
formulae, index-indices;
c) not assimilated phonetically – machine, tobacco, camouflage, bourgeois
d) not assimilated graphically – ballet, buffet, bouquet, cliché, nazi, naїve etc;

3. Not assimilated at all (barbarism)– ciao, addio, affiche ( for placard), ad libitum
(‘for pleasure’), bambino, tête- a-tête, Blitzkrig, bon mot etc.

6. Etymological doublets, hybrids.


the borrowed word begins to combine with native root and derivational
morphemes and in this way forms hybrids: table-cloth, simple-minded, battle-field
– the 1st component is Romanic, the 2nd – Germanic. In words by-product,
outline – the 1st component is Germanic and the 2nd – Romanic
These are two or more words different in form but which go back, by different
ways, to the same original word. In many cases one and the same word was
borrowed twice either from the same language at different periods of time or from
different languages. This accounts for the existence of canal (Lat.) – channel
(Fr.),balsam (Gr.) – balm (Fr.), skirt (Sc.) – shirt (Eng.). They differ to a certain
degree in form, meaning and current use. In doublets whole and hale we find
traces of OE dialects (‘healthy’, ‘free of disease’ - both > OE hāl, drag – draw both
come from OE dragan).
Etymological doublets are divided into 4 groups:
Scandinavian-English doublets skirt - shirt, screech – shriek, scar-share, scabby-
shabby - from OE and Scandinavian;
Latin doublets (Lat. discus – OE disc )
Native doublets ( dish < ME dish < OE disc);
Miscellaneous doublets ( Parisian Fr. chase and of OFr. origin catch, chieftan-
captain, guard-ward, gage-wage (‘a stake’, ‘bet’). The total number ~ 1500
7. International words.
In linguistics, an internationalism or international word is a loanword that
occurs in several languages (that is, translingually) with the same or at least
similar meaning and etymology.
Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are
international, e. g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology,
medicine, linguistics, lexicology. There are also numerous terms of art in this
group: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy, artist, primadonna.
It is quite natural that political terms frequently occur in the international group of
borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-
militarism.
20th c. scientific and technological advances brought a great number of new
international words: atomic, antibiotic, radio, television, sputnik. The latter is a
Russian borrowing, and it became an international word (meaning a man-made
satellite) in 1961, immediately after the first space flight by Yury Gagarin.
The English language also contributed a considerable number of international
words to world languages. Among them the sports terms occupy a prominent
position: football, volley-ball, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, etc.
Fruits and foodstuffs imported from exotic countries often transport their names
too and, being simultaneously imported to many countries, become international:
coffee, cocoa, chocolate, coca-cola, banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit.
Tasks and exercises
Ex.1a. Subdivide the following words of native origin into
a) Indo-European, daughter , , moon, three, I, ,goose, tree, nose, birch, heart,
old, land, cow, red, bear, fox, eat, see, make
b) Germanic , room, spring, bear, , hand, , sea,
c) English proper., , always, lord, , Woman, lady, daisy,
Consult a dictionary if need be.
Daughter, woman, room, land, cow, moon, sea, red, spring, three, I, lady,
always, goose, bear, fox, lord, tree, nose, birch, grey, old, daisy, heart, hand,
eat, see, make.
Ex. 1b. Explain the origin of the of the following words: operetta,( Italy)
machine(French) , vanilla9(Spanish), waltz(German), skipper(Middle Dutch),
algebra(Arabic), chocolate(Spanish), telephone(Greek0, kangaroo(Australian),
tobacco(Spanish), chauffeur(French), violin(Italian), sky(Scandanavian),
sentiment.(French)
Ex. 2. Find English words of Indo-European origin cognate to the following
German and Ukrainian words.
Vater, батько; father Mutter, мати; mother Bruder, брат;brother Sohn, син;son
Tocher, дочка; daughter Funf, п’ть;five Nase, ніс;nose Herz, серце; heart Kuh,
корова; cow Schwein, свиня; pig Gans, гуска; goose Birke, береза; birchTag,
день; day Nacht, ніч;night Sonne, сонце;sun ich, я; I stehen, стояти;stay
sitzen, сидіти.sit
Ex. 3. Find native words in the extract below.
The road of the pass was hard and smooth and not yet dusty in the early
morning. Below were the hills with oak and chestnut trees, and far away below
was the sea. On the other side were snowy mountains (E. Hemingway)
Ex. 4. The following are loan translations (calques). What do they actually
mean in English? How and when are they used?
The moment of truth( момент істини) (Sp. el momento de la verdad); with a
grain of salt( with distrust з недовірою) (L. Cum grano salis); famous
case(відомий випадок) (Fr. cause celebre); master people народний
майстер(Ger. herrenvolk); underground movement( підпільний рух) (Fr., L.
movement souterrain); that goes without saying ( саме собою зрозуміле) (Fr.
cela va sans dire).
Ex. 5. Arrange the following borrowings into two groups: 1) old Celtic
borrowings, 2) modern Celtic borrowings.
Bannock, old old bin,old brock old , brogue, old budget modern, career,modern
clanold, claymore, modern crag old dun, old flannel, old mackintosh, plaid,
shamrock modern , tunnel, whisky.modern
Ex. 6. Analyse the following words from the point of view of the type and
degree of assimilation. State which words are:
a) completely assimilated, city, table, wall, cup
b) partially assimilated, prima-doona, ox, school, street, they, century, reduce,
expect
c) unassimilated: caftan, etc, mazurka, stimulus, present,
prima-donna, ox, caftan, city, school, etc., mazurka, table, street, they,
century, wall, stimulus, , reduce, cup, present, expect.
Ex. 7. Comment on the different formation of the etymological doublets and on
the difference in meaning, if any:
balm – balsam, suit – suite, бальзам – бальзам, костюм – сюїта,
senior – sir, legal – loyal , старший – сер, законний – лояльний
skirt – shirt, emerald - smaragdus, спідниця – сорочка, смарагд - смарагдус,
major – mayor, pauper – poor, основний-мер, бідний
of – off, history – story.
Ex. 8. Comment on the etymology of the following hybrids:
Answerable, artless, avidly, blackmail, breakage, clearness, countless,
courtship, disburden, dukedom, falsehood, joyful, recall, relationship,
unbutton, usable.
Ex. 9. Provide as many examples of the international words as you can.
Alcohol, aluminum, automobile, bank, bar, beer, chemist, check, chocolate,
chorus, cigarette, cocktail, club, coffee, dance, dynamite, gas, Google, hotel,
hygiene, influenza, informatics, intelligence, Internet, jeans, kiosk, lava,
malaria, mania, marijuana, museum, nickel, orchestra, park, passport, patent,
piano, ...

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