1 CHRONOLOGICAL DIVISION IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

Old English
The first — pre-written or pre-historical period. It is date from the 5th to the close
of the 7th c. It is the stage of tribal dialects of the West Germanic invaders
(Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians). The tribal dialects were used for oral
communication, there being no written form of English. The introduction of
Christianity into Saxon England brought more Latin words into the English
language.
The most famous is poem called "Beowulf". It is the oldest known English poem.
Experts say "Beowulf" was written in Britain more than one thousand years ago.
The name of the person who wrote it is unknown.
The second period It is date from the 8th c. till the end of the 11th. ; it can also be
called Written OE The tribal dialects gradually changed into local or regional
dialects. OE was a typical OG language, with a purely Germanic vocabulary, and
few foreign borrowings; As far as grammar is concerned, OE was "synthetic"
language with a well-developed system of morphological categories, especially in
the noun and adjective.
The third period, known as Early Middle English the year of the Norman
Conquest, and covers the 12th, 13th and half of the 14th c.
- The Old French was the language of the court, administration, and culture. Latin -
used for written language, especially of the Church.
- The English - the language of the lower class, was considered a vulgar tongue.
- the official language in England was French, it was also the dominant language
of literature
- The local dialects were mainly used for oral communication
- Towards the end of the period their literary prestige grew, as English began to
displace French in the sphere of writing, as well as in many other spheres.
- borrowings: the Scandinavian element in the North-Eastern area
The fourth period — from the later 14th c. till the end of the 15th Middle English
- time of English - literary language and the time of literary flourishing.
- The main dialect used in writing and literature was the mixed dialect of London.
- the written forms of the language developed and improved.
- the English vocabulary and to the increasing proportion of French loan-words in
English.
The fifth period — Early New English (16-17)
- the age of Shakespeare and Chaucer (Literary Renaissance).
- The first printed book in English was published in 1475
- the changes in the political and social structure, the progress of culture,
education, and literature.
- The growth of the vocabulary was a reflection of the progress of culture in the
new, bourgeois society, and of the wider horizons of man's activity.
- "period of lost endings"
The sixth period extends from the 17th c. to the close of the 18th c. New English
- the establishment of "norms", which can be defined as received standards
recognised as correct at the given period.
- The norms were fixed as rules of correct usage in the numerous dictionaries and
grammar-books published at the time and were spread through education and
writing.
- during this period the English language extended its area far beyond the borders
of the British Isles, first of all to North America
Sevent period— Late New English or Modern English. 19th and 20th c. The main
difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary.
Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors:
firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words;
secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface,
and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.
2 EVOLUTION OF THE NOMINAL PARTS OF SPEECH FROM OE TO NE
The OE noun had 2 gram categories: number (sing/ plural) and
case(nominative/genitive/dative/accusative). nouns distinguished 3 genders, but
this distinction was not a gram. Gender – Masculine, Feminine, Neuter.
In OE the nouns started to grouped into genders according to the suffix:
 -þu (F) – e.g. lenζþu (length);
 -ere (M) – e.g. fiscere (fisher).
Old English nouns are divided as either strong or weak and "minor," based on the
noun's stem and the endings that each noun takes in different grammatical cases.
A useful rule that nouns whose stems end with a consonant are strong, while nouns
whose stems end with a vowell (except for "u") are weak.
In ME the number of cases reduced to 2. The are only 2 cases in ME: Genitive and
Common case.
Together with the Genitive case noun phrases with the preposition ‘of’ were
widely used, the former was used with animate nouns, the latter with inanimate. In
the 11-12th centuries the category of gender was lost. It became lexical and was
defined with nouns denoting animate beings, while inanimate things were referred
to as ‘it’. As for the number the ending ‘-es’ became the most common marker.
The ending ‘-en’ was also used but less and less often. The number of nouns
having homonymous forms of the singular and plural reduced (horse, thing).
In NE the plural number marker ‘-es’, extended to more nouns and underwent
some phonetic changes. Other ways of building plural forms became exceptions:
oxen, children. Words having the same form in singular and plural only three
remained: sheep, deer, swine. Vowel gradation remained in a very small group of
words: man, tooth and several others. Some nouns had plural forms built in a
different way, but these were borrowed nouns which were not completely
assimilated and retained their original forms:
Lat: datum - data
The Genitive case in ME was expressed by the ending ‘-es’ which coincided with
the plural form. The possessive pronoun was put after the noun in the Common
case to show the meaning of possessiveness.
The sound [h] was often lost and the Genitive case sounded the same way as the
Common noun + possessive pronoun. In the second half of the 17th century the
apostrophe began to be used, probably, instead of the vowel and to distinguish it
from the plural form. In the 18th century the apostrophe became the regular marker
of the genitive case for plural too. Those nouns which had plural forms other than
with the ending ‘-es’, built the form of the Genitive case with the apostrophe and
the ending ‘-s’.
The Mod E noun consists of two sets:
1) those which have homonymous case forms;
2) and those which have distinctive case forms.

3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL LITERARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The formation of the national English language is considered to date from the
period between the 15th and 17th centuries. After that time the language continued
to change, yet, henceforth one can speak of the evolution of Standard English
instead of trading the similar or different trends in the history of its dialects. We
must mention at least two factors that led to this development: the unification of
the country and the progress of culture. Other historical events, such as the
increased foreign contacts, produced a more specific kind of influence on the
language: they affected the word stock. The 15th and 16th centuries saw striking
changes in the life of the country. Trade had extended beyond the local boundaries
and apart from farming and cattle breeding an important wool trade and industry
was carried on in the country-side. As the demand for wool and cloth rose, Britain
began to export woolen cloth produced by the first big enterprises, the
«manufactures». The changes in the economic and social conditions were
accompanied by the intermixture of people coming from different regions, the
growth of towns with a mixed population, and the strengthening of social ties
between the various regions. All these processes played an important role in the
unification of the English language. After the feudal Britain became a centralized
state. The rise of a new social class — the bourgeoisie gave an enormous stimulus
to the progress of learning, science, literature and art.
The first book in the English language was printed in the year 1476 by the first
English printer William Caxton. The sixteenth century was full of changes in
Europe. The Protestant churches developed, Europeans began to explore America,
Asia and Africa, and creativity and learning in all areas flowered. The English
language grew enormously in order to express a huge number of new ideas. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century Latin was the language of learning in all
Europe. However, with the growth of education, the invention of printing and the
new interest in learning, this began to change. More and more people wanted tо
read books by Roman and Greek writers, and in England they wanted to read them
in English. So these books were translated, and other books about learning were
written in English. Using English meant that a writer could reach a larger audience
New words were also added to English in other ways. People were adventurous
with language: they used verbs as nouns (laugh and scratch), or nouns as verbs, or
made adjectives from nouns (shady from shade). They put two words together
{chairman), or they added parts of words: un- to comfortable, for example. The
age of Queen Elizabeth I (Queen of England 1558-1603) was one of a great
flowering of literature. There were the poets Spenser and Sidney, and the writers of
plays Marlowe, Jonson, and, of course, William Shakespeare. Although printing
had introduced some regularity in spelling, in the sixteenth century spelling
remained very varied, even for personal names. For example, there are six known
examples of Shakespeare's name that he wrote himself, and in each one he spelt his
name differently. People invented their own spellings, which usually showed their
own pronunciation. Other variations were introduced to show that words came
from Latin. For example, the с was added in scissors to follow the Latin spelling,
cisorium. In the end, this freedom to change spellings led to confusion.
Dictionaries were not unknown in the seventeenth century, but they were Latin-
English ones. The first English dictionary, which appeared in 1604, was a
collection of about three thousand 'hard English words'. Similar collections
followed, and in the eighteenth century dictionary writers began trying to include
more everyday words, not just difficult ones. In 1755 Samuel Johnson produced A
Dictionary of the English Language, and it was successful.

4 EVOLUTION OF THE SOUND SYSTEM IN ME AND NE

The sound system of the English language has undergone profound changes in the
thousand years which have expired since the OE period. The changes affected the
pronunciation of words, the systems of vowel and consonant phonemes.

The sound changes are grouped into two main stages: Early ME changes, which
show the transition from Written OE to Late ME — the age of literary flourishing
and Early NE changes, which show the transition from ME to later NE — the
language of the 18th and 19th c.

Word Stress in Middle English and Early New English.

In Late ME poetry we find a variety of differently stressed words.

New accentual patterns are found in numerous ME loan-words from French.

Probably, when they first entered the English language they retained their original
stress — on the ultimate or pen-ultimate syllable. This kind of stress could not be
preserved for long.

Gradually, as the loan-words were assimilated, the word stress was moved closer
to the beginning of the word in line with the English (Germanic) system. This shift
is accounted for by what is known as the “recessive” tendency. In disyllabic
words the accent moved to the first syllable, so that the resulting pattern conformed
to the pattern of native words, e.g. ME vertu [ver’tju:] became NE virtue [‘v∂:t∫∂].

In words of three or more syllables the shift of the stress could be caused by the
recessive tendency and also by the “rhythmic” tendency, which required a regular
alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. Under the rhythmic tendency, a
secondary stress would arise at a distance of one syllable from the original stress.
This new stress was either preserved as a secondary stress or else became the only
or the principal stress of the word, e.g.

ME recommenden [reko'mend∂n]>NE recommend [,rek∂'mend]— ss'ss>,ss's;

+In many polysyllabic words both tendencies, the recessive and the rhythmic,
operated together and brought about several changes. For instance in
NE consolation [,kons∂’lei∫n] we find the results of the shift from the final to the
preceding syllable [lei] due to the recessive tendency and a secondary stress on the
first syllable. In NE possibility the rhythmic factor accounts both for the primary
and secondary stresses (the original position of the accent was on the last syllable).

+Sometimes the shifting of the word stress should be attributed not only to the
phonetic tendencies but also to certain morphological factors. Thus stress was not
shifted to the prefixes of many verbs borrowed or built in Late ME and in Early
NE, which accords with the OE rule: to keep verb prefixes unstressed, e.g.
ME accepten, engendren, presenten, NE accept, engender, present. Cf. NE
verbs befall, mistake, forget. Corresponding nouns sometimes, though not always,
received the stress on the first syllable: NE 'present n — pre'sent v; 'discord n
— dis'cord v. The latter pairs of words show that the role of word accentuation has
grown: word stress performs a phonological function as it distinguishes a verb
from a noun.

5. THE ROLE OF THE FOREIGN ELEMENT AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.
The Latin language continued to be used in England all through the OE and ME
periods in religious rituals, in legal documents, and in texts of a scientific and
philosophical character. After the Norman Conquest it was partly replaced by
official Anglo-Norman. The main spheres of the Latin language were the Church,
the law courts and academic activities.
Latin words were borrowed in all historical periods. In ME they were certainly less
numerous than borrowings from French; their proportion was high only in
religious texts translated from Latin.
Many classical borrowings came into Early NE through French due to continuous
contacts with France, for the French language had adopted many loan-words from
classical languages at the time of the Renaissance.
Early NE borrowings from classical languages have been assimilated by the
language: they do not contain any foreign, un-English, sounds and receive primary
and secondary stresses like other English words; the grammatical forms of
borrowed words are usually built in accordance with the regular rules of English
grammar, except for some recent borrowings which have preserved their forms:
datum – data, antenna – antennae

6. THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS AND VOWELS AS UNITS OF THE

PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM. THEIR ARTICULATORY TRANSITIONS IN
SPEECH.
Classificatory principles of English consonants
1) work of the vocal cords
- voiced(when the vocal cords are drawn together and vibrate) fortis
- voiceless(when the local cords are taken apart and don’t vibrate) lenis
2) active organ of speech and the place of obstruction
Labial : bilabial, labio-dental
Lingual : forelingual, medio-lingual, backlingual
Phatyngal(glottal)
3) manner of the production of noise and the type of obstruction
(all the consonants are divided first of all from the point of view closure
(закрытия)– which is formed in their articultion)
A complete consonants (occlusive consonants – nasal\stops)
An incomplete closure (constrictive consonants- sonorants\noise)
The combinations of two closures(occlusive-constrictive - noise)
4) the position of the soft palate
- nasal consonants
- oral consonants
Classificatory principles of vowels:
1. According to the position of the lips: rounded and unrounded.
2. According to the horizontal movement of the tongue : front , central , back.
Front – when the built of the tongue moves forwards it is usually the front
part of the tongue which is raised highest towards the hard palate: fully front and
front retrected (втянутой).
Central (mixed) – the central part of the tongue is raised highest
Back - when the bulk of the tongue moves back words it is usually the back
part of the tongue which is raised highest towards the soft palate : fully back and
back advanced.
3. According to the vertical movement of the tongue : high , mid ( half open) ,
low (open).
4.According to the degree of the tenseness traditionally long vowels are defined
as tence and short vowels are considered to be lex . When the muscles of the lips ,
tongue , cheeks and the back walls of the pharynx are tence , the vowels produced
can be characterized as “tense”.
5. According to the length vowels : long and short
Linguistic facrors:
1. Position of a vowel in the word.
2. Word accent: a vowel is longer in an accented syllable than in an
unaccented.
3. The number of syllables in a word.
1. In terms of the stability of articulation vowels fall into: monophthones,
diphthongoid , diphthongs.
The English monophthongs are pronounced with the more or less stable lip, tongue
and mouth wall position.
A Diphthongoids is a vowel which ends in a different element.
Diphthongs are based on the instability of the second element.
7. THE SYSTEM OF PHONOLOGICAL OPPOSITIONS IN ENGLISH.
A phoneme can only perform its distinctive function if it is opposed to another
phoneme in the same position. Such an opposition is called distinctive, or
phonological. There exist very interesting, but rather complicated classifications of
phonological oppositions, such as the one worked out by M. S. Trubetzkoy in his
book but, as it is applicable to an already established phonemic system, a different
classification is here proposed for an initial phonological analysis of a language.
This classification is based on the number of distinctive articulatory features
underlying the opposition.
Bilateral (одномерные) anil multilateral oppositions.
In bilateral oppositions p || b, t || d, к || g members of the opposition possess
common features which are characteristic only of the members of this opposition.
In multilateral oppositions features characterizing 2 members of the opposition
may be at the same time characteristic of other members of the system (din || pin)
d - oral, apical, plosive, fortis, stop. \
p - oral, bilabial, plosive, fortis, stop,
Multilateral oppositions may be homogenuous and heterogenuous.
Homogenuous oppositions are represented by series of bilateral oppositions: i: || i ||
e || £ || as. A set of determining features is also peculiar to other members of the
system. The extreme members of these oppositions are multilateral [i: ||
as]»between these members we can insert a series of bilateral oppositions.
Heterogenuos oppositions cannot admit a series of bilateral oppositions between
their extreme members.
Bilateral and multilateral oppositions may be proportional (symmetrical) and
isolated.
A proportional opposition a set of oppositions which correspond in the same
contrast: p : b, s : z, к : g, b : m, d : n, i|. -X -not lenis. In isolated oppositions (r : 1)
we shall not find the same relations between members of other oppositions. The
number of isolated oppositions in the phonological system prevails.
2. Characterizing oppositions as to the relations between the members of the
opposition N. S. Trubetskoy distinguishes:
a) Privative oppositions (one member of the opposition has a certain feature, the
other — has not). The first member is called the marked member. That member of
a bilateral opposition which is characterized by the presence of a relevant feature
which marks the opposition is marked by the presence of that feature. The second
member is the unmarked member of the opposition. In the opposition pin : bin /b/
is marked by the presence of lenis quality and absence of fortis quality.
b) Gradual oppositions possess the same feature in a different degree (e.g. the
difference in a degree of aperture (u : o, i : e). They may possess more than 2
members.
c) Equipollent oppositions (равнозначные) are the oppositions where both
members are equal logically; they are neither privative nor gradual (p : f, f: k). The
number of these oppositions is great.
3. Classification of oppositions with reference to the distinctive function of the
members of the opposition.
The oppositions are not always relevant. In some cases distinctive features relevant
in one position are non-relevant in another and have no distinctive function. In the
first case we deal with constant (permanent) opposition, in the second -
neutralized.
Пил : Бил — П || Б relevant in this position;
ДуБ : Пила — Б || П phonologically irrelevant
П || Б is actual not in every position.
8. PHONEME AND ALLOPHONE. TYPES OF ALLOPHONES.
The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of
speech sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish
the meaning of morphemes and words (by Shcherba + Vassilyev).
Allophones of the same phoneme, no matter how different their articulation may
be, function as the same linguistic unit. Phonemes differentiate words like tie and
die from each other, and to be able to hear and produce phonemic differences is
part of what it means to be a competent speaker of the language.
Allophones have no such function: they usually occur in different positions in the
word and hence cannot be opposed to each other to make meaningful distinctions.
For example the dark [ł] occurs following a vowel as in pill cold, but it is not found
before a vowel, whereas the clear [l] only occurs before a vowel, as in lip, like.
These two vowels cannot therefore contrast with each other in the way that [1]
contrasts with [r] in lip — rip or lake — rake, there are no pairs of words which
differ only in that one has [ł] and the other — [1].
Allophones of each phoneme possess a bundle (связка) of distinctive features, that
makes this phoneme functionally different from all other phonemes of the
language concerned. This functionally relevant bundle of articulatory features is
called the invariant of the phoneme.
The behavior of allophones in phonetic context, their ability to occur in certain
definite positions – distribution.
There are 3 types of distribution:
1. constrastive/parallel– in this position these types of distribution are typical: [n] –
[ŋ]
2. complementary – allophones of one and the same phoneme. Never in the same
position: [k] – [k] (aspirated – non-aspirated).
3. free variation – allophones of one and the same phoneme that allocate in the
same position. They aren’t able to differentiate the meaning: Good night with
glottal stop and without it.
9. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MNE STRUCTURE.
The English language is said to be more analytical than synthetical. Present day
English is characterized by certain poverty of inflections and in a great number of
cases by the absence of synthetic forms of word-changing. There are 2 different
ways of inflection synthetic (affixation, morphological alternation, suppletion) and
analytical. Suppletion - built from different roots to present the paradigm of a word
(good-better-the best)
Morphophonemic alternation – its vocalic or consonantal changes in the root of a
word (foot-feet))
Affixation – is the morphological process that consist of adding an affix( a bound
morpheme to morphological base)
English inflections are the same for all words of the class with few exceptions
(ending s is used with the majority of nouns). The number of productive suffixes is
very limited(s, ing, ed). The word order plays a very important role in expressing
gram relations in an English sentence. The order sub-pred-obj is the most
characteristic.
Possessing such a poorly developed system of word changing forms, ME widely
uses functional words (prepositions, conj, articles) for connecting words and
phrases and for expressing various gram meanings of words and their syntactic
functions in the sentence.

10. THE ENGLISH NOUN, ITS SEMANTIC AND GRAMMATICAL

PECULIARITIES.
The noun is the central lexical unit of language. It is the main nominative unit
of speech. The noun as a part of speech has the categorial meaning of "substance"
or "thingness". Nouns name things, live beings, places, materials, processes, states,
abstract notion and qualities.
Semantically nouns fall into proper and common. Common nouns are
subdivided into countable and non-countable. Countable are subdivided into
concrete and abstract. Non-countable are subdivided into material and abstract.
Concrete nouns fall into 3 subclasses
1. Nouns denoting living beings
2. Nouns denoting inanimate objects
3. Collective nouns denoting a group of persons. These may be further
subdivided into
Nouns and noun phrases perform 10 grammatical functions in the English
language. There are
1. Subject, 2. Subject complement, 3. Direct object, 4. Object complement, 5.
Indirect object, 6. Prepositional addition, 7. Noun phrase modifier, 8.
Apposistive, 9. Adverbial and Determinative.

11. THE ENGLISH VERB, ITS SEMANTIC AND GRAMMATICAL

PROPERTIES.
The verb is the most complex part of speech. This is due to the central role it
performs in realizing predication - connection between the situation given in the
utterance and reality. The verb possesses a lot of grammatical categories.
Semantic features of the verb. The verb possesses the grammatical meaning of
verbiality - the ability to denote a process developing in time. This meaning is
inherent (присущий) not only in the verbs denoting processes, but also in those
denoting states, forms of existence (существование), evaluations (оценки), etc.
Syntactic features. The most universal syntactic feature of verbs is their ability to
be modified by adverbs. The second important syntactic criterion is the ability of
the verb to perform the syntactic function of the predicate.
The morphological features. The verb possesses (обладает, имеет) the following
grammatical categories: tense, aspect, voice, mood, person, number, and finitude.
The common categories for finite and non-finite forms are voice, aspect, temporal
correlation and finitude. The grammatical categories of the English verb find their
expression in both synthetical and analytical forms.
1. the category of finitude (конечности) dividing the verb into finite and non-finite
forms
2. The category of person serves to represent an action as associated by the speaker
with himself (a group of persons including himself, the person or persons
addressed, the person or persons not participating in the act of communication. the
categories of person (1st person::3rd person=I read::He reads)
3. The category of number shows whether the process is associated with one doer
or with more than one doer. The category of number is a two-member opposition:
singular and plural.
4. In traditional linguistics grammatical time is often represented as a three form
category consisting of the “linear” past, present and future forms. The meaning of
the category of tense is the relation of the action expressed by a finite verb to the
moment of speaking.
5. The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of
manner of action. It is realized through the opposition Continuous::Non
Continuous (Progressive::Non-Progressive).
6. The category of voice reflects the objective relations between the action itself
and the subject or object of the action: The category of voice is realized through
the opposition Active voice::Passive voice.
7. The category of mood expresses the relation of nominative content of the
sentence towards reality. (indicative, imperative, subjunctive)
8. Time correlation: non-perfect – perfect
Semantically verbs are divided into notional and semi-notional verbs. The majority
of English verbs are notional, i.e. possessing full lexical meaning.
Semi-notional and functional verbs have very general “faded” lexical meanings as
in be, have, become, seem, can, may, must, etc. or structural meaning as with do,
shall, will, where the meaning of “action” is almost obliterated. Semi-notional and
functional verbs are hardly isolatable. They are comparatively few in number but
they are of very frequent occurrence and include such groups as:
- auxiliaries
- link-verbs (copulas)
- modal verbs
- semi-notionalverbid introducer verbs (M.Y. Blokh’s classification)
Auxiliary verbs constitute grammatical elements of the categorial forms of the
verb: be, have, do, shall, will. They serve to build up analytical forms in the
conjugation of the English verb.
A link-verb is followed by a predicative or in other words it introduces the nominal
part of the predicate which is commonly expressed by a noun, an adjective, or a
phrase of a similar semantico-grammatical character. The linking function in the
purest form is, perhaps, expressed by the verb “be” – a pure link-verb. They can be
subdivided into 2 groups of verbs:
- those expressing perceptions (seem, appear, look, feel, taste)
- those expressing non-perceptional or “factual” link-verb connection (become, get,
grow, remain, keep).
In modern English an ever greater number of notional verbs are used with a linking
function, so that they may be called notional links:
e.g. The sun rose red. He came home sick and worn out. He lay asleep.
Modal verbs are characterized:
1) by their peculiar modal meanings; the meaning of “action, process” common to
all verbs is scarcely felt, being suppressed by the modal meanings: ability,
permission, doubt, supposition, necessity, etc. to perform an action denoted by a
notional verb;
2) by their peculiar combinability, which is also bilateral like that of link-verbs, but
unlike link-verbs which can attach different parts of speech, modal verbs are
followed only by infinitives;
3) by their syntactic function; having no non-finite forms, they are used only as
predicates.
Semi-notional verbid introducer verbs are distributed among the verbal sets: seem,
happen, turn out, try, manage, fail, begin, continue, stop.
12. NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE ENGLISH VERB, AND THEIR USE IN
PREDICATIVE COMPLEXES.
There are four non-finite forms of the verb in English: the Infinitive (to take), the
Gerund (taking), Participle I (taking), Participle II (taken) . Non-finite forms
denote a secondary action related to that expressed by the finite form of the verb-
predicate. Non-finite forms possess a double nature. The Infinitive and Gerund
have verb and noun features.
Participle I and Participle II have verb, adjective and adverb features. The main
verbal feature of the Infinitive and Participles is that they can be used as part of
analytical forms of the verb (is built, have come, etc.). The double nature of the
non-finite forms is expressed morphologically and syntactically. On the
morphological level the verb features of non-finite forms are manifested in their
grammatical categories.
The Infinitive has three grammatical categories: Time Correlation (Non-Perfect –
Perfect), Aspect (Non-Continuous – Continuous) and Voice (Active – Passive).
The Gerund and Participle I have two categories: Time Correlation (NonPerfect –
Perfect) and Voice (Active – Passive).
Participle II has no categories at all.
All non-finite forms lack the categories of person, number, mood, and tense. On
the syntactical level the verb features of non-finite forms are manifested in their
combinability . The non-finite forms except Participle II may take a direct object:
e.g. I like to meet my friend. I feel like meeting my friend. Seeing my friend off, I
went home.
The nominal features of the Infinitive and the Gerund are manifested on the
syntactical level, namely, in their syntactic functions and combinability The
Infinitive and the Gerund are used in the syntactic functions which are typical of
nouns: Subject: Getting to sleep on time is my problem. Object: I’d like to go to
the Crimea this summer.
The Gerund can have the left-hand combinability with Preposition and Ngenetive
case or Pronpossessive.: e.g. I am afraid of going to the mountains. She insisted on
her brother’s / his going to London.
Participles can be used in the function of an attribute, both in preposition and
postposition .E.g. He looked at the playing children. / He looked at the children
playing in the yard. Participles can perform the syntactical function of an adverbial
modifier of time: e.g. Having answered my questions he went out. When answered
he went out. Participles can have the left-hand combinability with Adverb: e.g. The
silence was very frightening. I never saw a woman so altered.
All non-finite forms cannot form a predicate by themselves, although they can
function as part of a simple or compound verbal predicate. In the sentence non-
finite forms can stand to other words in different relations, thus forming Infinitive,
Participial and Gerundial phrases, e.g. Every day I had to learn how to spell pages
of words. She showed no sign of having ever known me.
A peculiar property of non-finite forms is that they can have the subject of their
own though lacking agreement in person and number. It is this principle that the
predicative constructions with non-finite forms are based on. A predicative
construction is a two-member structure consisting of the nominal part expressed by
a Noun or Pronoun and the verbal part expressed by the non-finite form. The non-
finite form stands in predicative relation to the nominal part, thus forming the
secondary predication which is different from the primary predication and may be
called implicit. It is translated into Russian as a subordinate clause. The part of the
sentence expressed by a predicative construction is always complex.
13. ETYMOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY.
The term “etymology” comes from Greek and it means the study of the earliest
forms of the word. In every modern language there are native and borrowed words.
As for English language many scientist consider the foreign influence to be the
most important factor in the development of the Eng. language. There are more
borrowed words in English than in any other European language. So we speak of
the mixed character of the English vocabulary. It contains the native element and
the borrowed elements.
By the native element we mean words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the
British Isles from the continent in the 5th century by the Germanic tribes – the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
The term borrowing is used to denote the process of adopting words from other
languages and also the result of this process, the language material itself.
It has been studied that not only words, but word-building affixes were borrowed
into English (able, ment). Some word-groups were borrowed of their foreign form
(tet-a-tet).
The number of native words is rather small, about 30%. About 70% of words are
borrowed.
THE BORROWED ELEMENT:
Celtic, Latin, Scandinavian, French ,Greek (Renaissance)
Italian , Spanish, German, Indian, Russian and some other groups.
CHANNELS OF BORROWINGS
 through oral speech (by immediate contact between the peoples) in the early
periods of history. Words borrowed orally (e.g. L. inch, mill, street) are usually
short and they undergo more changes in the act of adoption.
 through written speech (by indirect contact through books, etc.). Written
borrowings (e. g. Fr. communique, belles-lettres, naïvete) preserve their spelling;
they are often rather İong and their assimilation is a long and laborious process.
CRITERIA OF BORROWINGS
Borrowings may be discovered through some peculiarities in pronunciation,
spelling, morphological and semantic structures.
 pronunciation and spelling psychology (Gr), soufflé (Fr)
 morphological (suffix) bacteria - PI from bacterium (Latin)
 lexical ricksha (Ind), pagoda (Chinese)
ASSIMILATION OF BORROWINGS
Assimilation is the process of adjustment words to the phonetic and lexico-
grammatical norms of the language.
Phonetic assimilation comprises substitution of native sounds and sound
combinations for strange ones and for familiar sounds used in a position strange to
the English language, as well as shift of stress.
Café (Fr), communiqué
Shift of stress - honour, reason
Grammatical assimilation finds expression in the change of grammatical
categories and paradigms of borrowed words, change of their morphological
structure and affixes.
E.g. virtuose (It) - virtuosi, virtuosos
Lexical assimilation includes different changes in semantic structure and the
formation of derivatives.
Cargo (polysemantic in Spanish) was adopted in the mn "the goods carried in a
ship".
THE DEGREE OF ASSIMILATION depends on the time of borrowing, the extent
to which the word is used in the language, the way of borrowing.
 Completely assimilated (article- Latin, table, chair - French)
 Partially assimilated (formula - formulae, phenomenon-phenomena)
 Barbarisms (coup d'état, affiche).

14. HOMONYMY IN ENGLISH: SOURCES OF HOMONYMY;

CLASSIFICATION OF ENGLISH HOMONYMS.
Homonyms are two or more words identical in sound form, spelling but different
in meaning, distribution and in many cases in origin. Modern English is rich in
homonymous words and word-forms. It is sometimes suggested that the abundance
of homonyms in Modern English is to be accounted for by the monosyllabic
structure of the commonly used English words.
The two main sources of homonymy are: 1) diverging meaning development of a
polysemantic word, and 2) converging sound development of two or more
different words.
The process of diverging meaning development can be observed when different
meanings of the same word move so far away from each other that they come to be
regarded as two separate units.
e.g. Modern English flower and flour which originally were one
word (ME. flour, cf. OFr. flour, flor, L. flos — florem) meaning ‘the flower’ and
‘the finest part of wheat’.
Convergent sound development leads to the coincidence of two or more words
which were phonetically distinct at an earlier date.
e.g. OE. ic and OE. еаzе have become identical in pronunciation (MnE. I [ai]
and eye [ai]).
A number of lexico-grammatical homonyms appeared as a result of convergent
sound development of the verb and the noun (cf. MnE. love — (to)
love and OE. lufu — lufian).
Words borrowed from other languages may through phonetic convergence become
homonymous.
ON. ras and Fr. race are homonymous in Modern English (cf. race1 [reis] —
‘running’ and race2 [reis] — ‘a distinct ethnical stock’)
The most widely accepted classification of homonyms is that recognizing
homonyms proper, homophones and homographs.
1. Homonyms proper are words identical in their sound-form and spelling but
different in meaning. Compare the words:
ball (n1) - a round object used in games
ball (n2) - a gathering of people for dancing
back (n1) - part of the body
back (adv) - away from the front.
2. Homophones are words of the same sound-form but of different spelling and
meaning. Compare the words:
- piece (n) [pis] part separated from smth.
- peace (n) [pis] a situation in which there is no war between countries or groups
- knight (n) [nart] in the past, a European soldier from a high social class who wore
a suit of armour (- a metal suit) and rode a horse
- night (n) [nart] the part of cach 24-hour period when it is dark
3. Homographs are words different in sound-form and in meaning but identical in
spelling. Compare the words:
- lead (1) [lid] the first position at a particular time đuring a race or competition
- lead (2) [led] a soft heavy grey metal

15. THE PROBLEM OF SEMANTIC CHANGE IN ENGLISH: ITS CAUSES,

NATURE AND RESULTS.
The factors accounting for semantic changes may be subdivided into two main
groups: (1) extralinguistic causes and (2) linguistic cases.
Extralinguistic causes are various changes in the life of the speech community
(changes in economic and social structure).
Purely linguistic causes are factors acting within the language system.
Ellipsis is a phrase made up of 2 words one of these is omitted and its meaning is
transferred to its partner.
E.g. to stone in OE meant `to die` and was habitually used in collocation with the
word hunger. In the 16 century the verb to starve meant `to die of hunger`.
Another linguistic cause is discrimination of synonyms which can be illustrated by
the semantic development of a number of words. In OE the word land and `solid
part of earth`s surface` and `the territory of a nation`. In the ME the word country
borrowed the second meaning.
Fixed context may be regarded as another linguistic factor in semantic change. The
word token, when brought into competition with the word sign, became restricted
in use to a number of set expressions, such as love token and also became
specialized in meaning.
16. SEMANTIC SIMILARITY AND POLARITY OF WORDS WITHIN THE
LEXICAL SYSTEM OF MODERN ENGLISH (SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS).
1. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes of linguistic structure represent the way
vocabulary is organised.
Syntagmatic relations define the word-meaning in the flow of speech in various
contexts.
Paradigmatic relations define the word-meaning through its interrelation with other
members within one of the subgroups of vocabulary units.
2. On the syntagmatic axis the word-meaning is dependent on different types of
contexts. Linguistic context is the minimal stretch of speech necessary to
determine individual meanings.
3. Linguistic (verbal) contexts comprise lexical and grammatical contexts and
are opposed to extra-linguistic (non-verbal) contexts. In extra-linguistic contexts
the meaning of the word is determined not only by linguistic factors but also by the
actual speech situation in which the word is used.
4. The semantic structure of polysemantic words is not homogeneous as far as
the status of individual meanings is concerned. A certain meaning (or meanings) is
representative of the word taken in isolation, others are perceived only in various
contexts.
5. Classification of vocabulary into thematic groups is based on common
contextual associations. Contextual associations are formed as a result of regular
co-occurrence of words in similar, repeatedly used contexts within the framework
of sentences.
6. The main criterion underlying semantic classification of vocabulary items on
the paradigmatic axis is the type of meaning relationship between words.
The criterion of common concept serves to classify words into semantic fields and
lexico-semantic groups.
Semantic relationship of inclusion is the main feature of hyponymic hierarchical
structure Semantic similarity and semantic contrast is the type of relationship
which underlies the classification of lexical items into synonymic and antonymic
series.
7. Synonymy and antonymy are correlative and sometimes overlapping
notions. Synonymous relationship of the denotational meaning is in many cases
combined with the difference in the connotational (mainly stylistic) component.
8. It is suggested that the term synonyms should be used to describe words
different in sound-form but similar in their denotational meaning and
interchangeable at least in some contexts.
The term antоnуms is to be applied to words different in sound-form characterised
by different types of semantic contrast of the denotational meaning and
interchangeable at least in some contexts.

17. MAJOR AND MINOR WAYS OF WORD-FORMATION IN MODERN

ENGLISH.
Word-building is one of the main ways of enriching vocabulary.
There are four main ways of word-building in modern English: affixation,
conversion, composition.
Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the
history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of
speech. It is divided into suffixation and prefixation.
Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes. e.g. educate v –
educatee n.
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem e.g.
happy- unhappy, head – overhead.
Composition is the production of a new word by means of uniting 2 or more stems
which occur (происходят) in the lang-ge as free forms (bluebells, ice-cream)
Conversion (It is when a certain stem is used for the formation of a categorically
different word without a derivative element being added( fall - to fall).
There are also some minor types of word-formation.
Shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word. The letter
may lose its beginning (phone from telephone), its ending (hols from holidays) or
both the beginning and ending (flu from influenza).
Acronymy is the formation of a word from the initial letters of a word group:
U.N.O., B.B.C., M.P. This type is called initial shortenings (acronyms). They are
found not only among formal words but also among colloquialisms and slang:
a.s.a.p.
Sound interchange is the formation of a word due to an alteration (изменение) in
the phonemic composition of its root: 1.vowel interchange food-to feed. 2.
consonant int-ge advice-to advise.
Distinctive stress is the formation of a word by means of the shift of the stress in
the source word, e.g. absent - to ab`sent.
Sound imitation is the way of word-building when a word is built by imitating
different sounds:
a) sounds produced by human beings: to whisper, to mumble (шептать,
бормотать);
b) sounds produced by animals, birds, insects: to moo, to hiss, to buzz (мычать,
шипеть, жужжать);
c) sounds produced by nature and objects: to splash, to bubble, to clatter
(брызгать, пускать пузыри, стучать).
Blending (смеси) are words formed from a word-group or two synonyms, e.g.
telecast television broadcast.
Back-formation is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping
the final morpheme to form a new word, e.g. to bach (from bachelor), to televise
(from television).
18. ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY: STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC
PECULIARITIES OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS; DIFFERENT
APPROACHES TO THEIR CLASSIFICATION.
Phraseological unit is a huge group of words with a complete specialization of the
meaning of its components.
Phraseological units can be classified as parts of speech. This classification was
suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following groups:
a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet
train, latchkey child, redbrick university,
b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to break the log-
jam, to get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to nose out , to make
headlines,
c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead,
d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like a dream ,
like a dog with two tails,
e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke of ,
f) interjection phraseological units, e.g. «Catch me!», «Well, I never!» etc.
Types of phraseological units according to Smirnitsky
1) One-summit phraseological unit is composed of a notional and a form word
“by heart”
2) Many-summit phraseological unit is composed of 2 or more notional words
and form words
SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS
The semantic structure of phraseological units is formed by semantic ultimate
constituents called macrocomponents of meaning. There are the following
principal macrocomponents in the semantic structure of phraseological units:
1. Descriptive macrocomponent (contains the information about the objective
reality, it is the procedure connected with categorization).
2. Motivational macrocomponent (correlates with the notion of the inner form of a
phras. unit, which may be viewed as the motif of transference, the image-forming
base, the associative-imaginary complex).
3. Emotive macrocomponent (that is the contents of subjective modality expressing
feeling-relation to what is denoted by a phr. unit within the range of
approval/dispproval).
4. Stylistic macrocomponent (that points to the communicative register in which a
phr. unit is used and to the social-role relationships between the participants of
communication).
6. Grammatical macrocomponent (that contains the information about all possible
morphological and syntactic changes of a phraseological unit).
7. Gender macrocomponent (that may be expressed explicitly (явно)).
19 LEXICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES
A stylistic device – a pattern according to which the peculiarities of the language
may be materialized.
Metaphor which have the logical association of similarity between 2 objects. The
metaphor makes the reader to have a new fresh look at the object.
Stylistic metaphors can be classified semantically and structurally.
Semantically: In genuine metaphor the clash of two meanings results into
something imaginary. Genuine metaphor is to be found in poetry and emotive
prose. In dead (trite) metaphor it’s vaguely (едва заметно)
Structurally metaphors can be classified as simple (realized in one word and
creating one image) and sustained (развернутая) (realized in a number of a
logically connected words sentences)
Metonymy – the relation between the dictionary and contextual meaning, based on
contiguity (nearness) of objects or phenomena.
Synecdoche – type of metonymy, which is based on the relations between the part
and the whole, is often viewed independently.
Personification – a lsd which is observed the relations or likeness between
inanimate and animate objects.
Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic
relation being, on the one hand, literal, and on the other, transferred.
Pun - a stylistic device based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of a
word or phrase.
Irony – a stylistic device based on the simultaneous realization of two logical
meanings, dictionary and contextual.
Irony can be:
 Verbal - is always possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual
meaning is quite opposite to its dictionary meaning.
 Sustained - the effect of irony in such cases is created by a number of
statements, by the whole of the text.
Irony should not be confused with humour, as humour always causes laughter.
Irony may express irritation, displeasure, pity or regret, as in the sentence "How
clever of you!".
Antonomasia – a lexical stylistic device in which a proper name is used instead of
a common noun or vice versa. E.g. "Her mother is perfectly unbearable. Never met
such a Gorgon" (O.W.)
Epithet – a stylistic device which gives an attributive characterization of a person
or object, phenomenon.
Epithets are divided into:
  Simple – ordinary adjectives.
 Compound – compound adjectives – cloud-shapen giant.
 Phrase (sentence)
 Reversed epithets – is composed of two nouns linked in an of-phrase( the toy
of the girl - the toy belonging to the girl).
Hyperbole – which emphasis is achieved through exaggeration.
Understatement – a lsd which are intentionally underrates the size or sharp.
Oxymoron – a combination of two words in which the meanings of the two clash,
because they are opposite in sense.

20 SYNTACTICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

Asyndeton – a stylistic device based on the deliberate omission of some parts of
the sentence structure, namely, the conjunctions and connective elements.
Repetition is used to make a direct emotional impact on the listener. Repetition is
a recurrence of the same word, word-combination, phrase or a sentence two or
more times.
Polysyndeton – this is a special way of connecting words, phrases or sentences by
means of conjunctions and prepositions before each component part. The repetition
of conjunctions makes the utterance more rhythmical, so that prose may look like
verse.
Detachment – a device used by writers to make the reader pay special attention to
some parts of the sentence.
Chiasmus – the repeated parts of the sentence come in the reversed order. Its main
function is to attach a new additional content to the utterance, fixing the
addressee's attention on the fact, thus making it prominent.
Rhetorical question – a specific interrogative construction which is a question in
form, but remains a statement semantically. The rhetorical question does not
demand any information because the answer to it is in the question itself.
Suspence – a stylistic device which consists of the elements which hold the
readers attention.
Antithesis – a stylistic device consisting in an opposition or contrast of ideas
expressed by parallelism of contrasted words placed at the beginning and at the
end of a syntactical unit.
Parallelism – a syntactical stylistic devices based upon a recurrence of
syntactically identical sequences which lexically are completely or partially
different.