Английский словарный состав как система. Омонимия. Синонимические и антонимические отношения в языке.

Комплексная цель: ввести понятие лексической системы, постоянно развивающейся и пополняющейся новыми словами, дать определение неологизмов историзмов, архаизмов, омонимов, рассмотреть источники их возникновения и классификацию, роль и назначение синонимов как выразительно-экспрессивных средств словарного состава современного английского языка. Определение синонимов, их классификации. Антонимы, их классификации. Различные группировки слов (ЛСГ, ЛГР, поля) Служебные и главные части речи. Определение тематических и идеографических групп, семантических и словообразовательных полей, терминологической системы.

Краткое содержание

Basing on the materialistic philosophy linguists of our country have come to a satisfactory solution that objective reality represents a very complicated system consisting of ob­jects and phenomena which are interrelated and inter­dependent; this system finds its reflection in language.

As referred to lexicology the term systemdenotes not merely the total of English words but also a set of elements associated and functioning together according to certain laws.

The vocabulary of a language is an adaptive system constantly adjusting itself to the changing requirements and conditions of human com­munication and cultural surroundings. It is continually developing by overcoming contradictions between its state and the new tasks and demands it has to meet.

The term systemdenotes a coherent homogeneous whole constituted by interdependent elements of the same order related in certain specific ways. Lexicology studies this whole by determining the properties of its elements, the different relationships of contrast and similarity existing between them within a language. It studies the ways in which they are influenced by extra-linguistic reality. The extra-linguistic relationships re­fer to the correlation of words with elements of objec­tive reality.

Academician V.V. Vinogradov proposed the term "lexico-semantic system" instead of the term "vocabu­lary system". The interdependence in the vocabulary results from a complex interaction of words in their lexical meanings and the grammatical features of the language. V.V. Vinogradov includes in the term "lexico-semantic system" both the sum total of words and phraseological units, semantic groupings and rela­tionships between words. The relations between ele­ments in the lexico-semantic system are shown in terms of sets, elements of sets, oppositions, differences, equivalences and positional values.

Equivalence is not identity. It is the relation between two elements based on the common feature due to which they belong to the same set.

A lexical distinctive feature is a feature capable of distinguishing a word in morphological form or meaning from a similar word or variant. Distinctive features and oppositions take different specific mani­festations on different linguistic levels: in phonology, morphology and lexicology. In our course we deal with lexical distinctive features and lexical oppositions.

A lexical opposition is the semantically relevant relationship of partial difference between two partially similar words. The features that the two contrasted words possess in common form the basis of a lexical opposition (e.g. pool, lake, sea, ocean - variation for size). Without a basis of similarity no comparison and no opposition are possible.

The presence of the same basis or combination of features in several words permits to group them into a subject of the vocabulary system termed "a lexical group". This term is used to denote a subset all the elements of which possess a particular feature forming the basis of the opposition. Every element of a subset is also an element of the vocabulary as a whole.

The term system as applied to vocabulary should not be taken rigidly.

The great merit of the field theories lies in their attempt to find linguistic characteristic features of se­mantic fields disclosing the systematic character of the vocabulary.

In general there are two basic principles of grouping words together according to the properties of their content side. They are:

1. To classify words proceeding from the basic types of semantic relations.

2. To group words together starting off with associations connecting the given words with other vocabulary units.

According to these principles of classifying linguistic units the following semantic classes (or categories) can be singled out: synonyms, lexical and terminological sets, lexico-semantic groups, semantic fields, antonyms.

Two or more words identical in sound form, spelling but different in meaning, distribution and in many cases in origin are called homonyms.The term is derived from Greek homos — 'similar' and onoma — 'name', and thus expresses the sameness of name combined with the difference in meaning. 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 most widely accepted classification of homonyms is that recognizing homonyms proper, homophones and homographs.

1. Homonyms properare words identical in their sound-form and spelling but different in meaning.

2. Homophonesare words of the same sound-form but of different spelling and meaning.

3. Homographsare words different in sound-form and in meaning but identical in spelling.

Synonymsare usually defined as words belonging to one part of speech, close in meaning and interchangeable at least in some contexts. Synonyms are characterized by either the semantic relations of equivalence or by the semantic relations of proximity.

The degree of semantic proximity is best of all estimated in terms of the aspects of meaning, i.e. the denotational, the connotational, and the pragmatic aspect.

The highest degree of proximity is observed in synonyms which have similar denotational aspects but differ either in the connotational (1) or the pragmatic (2) aspect of meaning.

1. The difference in connotation may be illustrated by the words famous meaning 'known widely, having fame' and the word notorious which is defined as 'widely known because of smth. bad, for example for being criminal, violent, immoral'. Thus, the word famous implies a positive emotive evaluation, and the word notorious — negative.

2.The difference in the pragmatic value of words is found in a far greater number of words than the difference in the connotational aspect. It can be observed in synonymic pairs consisting of a native and a borrowed word. In most cases the native word is more informal, whereas the foreign word has a learned or abstract air: brotherly —fraternal.

Taking into account the difference of synonyms by the three aspects of their meaning they may be classified into stylistic, ideographic and ideographic-stylistic synonyms.

Stylistic synonymyimplies no interchangeability in context because the underlying situations are different, e.g. children — infants, dad — father.

Ideographic synonymypresents a still lower degree of semantic proximity and is observed when the connotational and the pragmatic aspects are similar, but there are certain differences in the denotational aspect of meaning of two words, e.g. forest — wood, apartment —flat, shape — form.

Ideographic-stylistic synonymyis characterized by the lowest degree of semantic proximity. This type of synonyms includes synonyms which differ both in the denotational and the connotational and/or the pragmatic aspects of meaning, e.g. ask — inquire, expect — anticipate.

Each synonymic group comprises a dominant element. This synonymic dominantis the most general term potentially containing the specific features rendered by all the other members of the synonymic group. In the series leave — depart — quit — retire — clear out the verb leave, being general and both stylistically and emotionally neutral, can stand for each of the other four terms. The other four can replace leave only when some specific semantic component prevails over the general notion.

Words denoting different things correlated on extralinguistic grounds form lexical sets(предметные или тематические группы). Depending on the type of the notional area lexical sets may acquire a more specialized character, e.g. names of 'musical instruments': piano, organ, violin, drum; names of parts of the car mechanism': radiator, motor, handbrake, wheels. Such classes of words are called terminological sets(терминологические группы).

Words describing different sides of one and the same general notion are united in a lexico-semantic groupif

a)the underlying notion is not too generalized and all-embracing, like the notions of 'time', 'space', 'life', 'process', etc.;

b)the reference to the underlying notion is not just an implication in the meaning of the lexical unit but forms an essential part in its semantics.

Thus, it is possible to single out the lexico-semantic group of names of 'colours' consisting of the words pink, red, black, green, white; the lexico-semantic group of verbs denoting 'physical movement' — to go, to turn, to run; or 'destruction' — to ruin, to destroy, to explode, to kill; etc.

If the underlying notion is broad enough to include almost all-embracing sections of vocabulary we deal with semantic fields.For example, the words cosmonaut (п.), spacious (adj.), to orbit (v.) belong to the semantic field of 'space'. The members of the semantic fields are joined together by some common semantic component, i. e. the component common to all the members of the semantic field, which is sometimes described as the common denominator of meaning.

The starting point of the theory of semantic fields and lexico-semantic groups was J. Trier's work (a German linguist; the beginning of the 20th century) on intellectual terms in Old and Middle High German. J.Trier showed that they form an interdependent lexical sphere where the significance of each unit is determined by its neighbours. The semantic areas of the units limit one another and cover up the whole sphere.

Antonyms— a class of words grouped together on the basis of the semantic relations of opposition. Antonyms are words belonging to one part of speech sharing certain common semantic characteristics and in this respect they are similar to such semantic classes as synonyms, lexical sets, lexico-semantic groups. There exist different classifications of antonyms.

Structurally, antonyms can be divided into antonyms of the same root (1), e.g. to do — to undo, cheerful — cheerless; and antonyms of different roots (2), e.g. day — night, rich — poor.

Semantically, antonyms may be classified into contradictories, contraries and incompatibles.

1. Contradictoriesrepresent the type of semantic relations that exist between pairs like, for example, dead — alive, single — married. Contradictory antonyms are mutually opposed, they deny one another. Contradictories form a privative binary opposition, they are members of two-term sets.

2. Contrariesare antonyms that can be arranged into a series according to the increasing difference in one of their qualities. The most distant elements of this series will be classified as contrary notions. Contraries are gradable antonyms,they are polar members of a gradual opposition which may have intermediate elements. This may be observed in cold — hot and cool — warm which are intermediate members.

3. Incompatiblesare antonyms which are characterized by the relations of exclusion. Semantic relations of incompatibility exist among antonyms with a common component of meaning and may be described as the reverse of hyponymy. For example, to say morning is to say not afternoon, not evening, not night.

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