Lexical meaning is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. The word-forms go, goes, went, going, gone possess different grammatical meanings of tense, person, number, but in each form they have one and the same semantic component denoting 'the process of movement'.
Lexical meaning is not indivisible, it may be analyzed in three components: denotational, connotational, and pragmatic.
Both lexical & grammatical meanings may cut the word meaning & neither can exist without the other.
#, information - semantically they are not identically because English word doesn't have the meaning of plurality.
In some parts of speech the prevailing component is grammatical.
#to be - linking verb
Aspects of lexical meaning
In the general framework lexical meaning can have several aspects:
-- the denotational aspect
-- the connotational aspect
-- the pragmatic aspect
I. Denotational aspect of lexical meaning is the part of lexical meaning which establishes correlation b/w the name & the object, phenomenon, process or characteristic feature of concrete reality which is denoted by the given word.
Through the denotational meaning bulk of information is conveyed in the process of communication. It expresses the notional content of a word.
II. Connotational aspect - it is a part of meaning which reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about.
Connotation conveys additional information in the process of communication
Speaker - is a key figure.
Connotation includes the following aspects:
emotive charge (diminishing, derogative suffixes)
#daddy, mommy
evaluation: positive/negative
#a group of people crowd
Emotions are not in the focus of the speaker.
intensity (expressiveness)
#I love you /I adore you
imagery
#to wade (to walk with an effort through the mud)
to wade through a book
III. Pragmatic aspect of the meaning - is the part of meaning that conveys the information on the situation of communication.
Focus is on the information, not on the speaker.
It falls into 4 closely interconnected subsections:
-- information on the "time & space" relationship of the participants.
Grammar helps us to understand' prepositions
#to come & go to borrow - to land
The Time element when related through the pragmatic aspect of meaning is fixed indirectly.
Indirect reference to time implies that the frequency of occurrence of words may change with time & in extreme cases words can be out of time or obsolete.
#frequently used words "to give, a day" - modern time
to behold, beholder - obsolete words, high style (emphasis the past)
-- information on the participant & the given language community
#They chucked a stone at the cops, & then they did a bunk with the loot. (pronounced by criminals)=
After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money. (more official language)
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Thus the language used may be indicative of the social status of a person, his age, profession or occupation.
The pragmatic aspect of the word can also convey information about the social system of the given social community: its ideology, religion, system of norms & customs.
-- information on the tenor(target audience) of discourse
The tenors of discourse reflect how the addresser interacts with addressee. Tenors are based on social or family roles of the participants of communication.
-- information on the register of communication
It implies the condition of communication. The register defines the general type of the situation of communication, grading the situation in formality.
-- formal
-- neutral
-- informal
3.Explain the Modern English pronunciation of the words from the historical point of: shower
before 950; Middle English shour (noun), Old English scūr; cognate withGerman Schauer, Old Norse skūr, Gothic skūra
Origin
before 900; Middle English shewere, Old English scēawere, derivative of scēawian to show, see -er1
Word Origin and History for shower
n.
Old English scur "a short fall of rain, storm, tempest; fall of missiles orblows; struggle, commotion; breeze," from West Germanic *skuraz (cf. OldNorse skur, Old Saxon and Old Frisian scur "fit of illness;" Old High German scur, German Schauer "shower, downpour;" Gothic skura, in skura windis "windstorm"), from PIE root *kew-(e)ro- "north, north wind" (cf. Latin caurus "northwest wind;" Old Church Slavonic severu "north, north wind;"Lithuanian šiaurus "raging, stormy," šiaurys "north wind," šiaure "north").
Of blood, tears, etc., from c.1400. Of meteors from 1835. Sense of "bath inwhich water is poured from above" first recorded 1851 (short for shower-bath, itself attested from 1803). Meaning "large number of gifts bestowedon a bride" (1904, American English colloquial) later was extended to theparty at which it happens (1926). Shower curtain attested from 1914.
"one who shows," Old English sceawere "spectator, watchtower, mirror,"agent noun; see show
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1.What are the phonetic characteristic features of the Proto Germanic language?
The following changes are known or presumed to have occurred in the history of Proto-Germanic in the wider sense from the end of Proto-Indo-European up to the point that Proto-Germanic began to break into mutually unintelligible dialects. The changes are listed roughly in chronological order, with changes that operate on the outcome of earlier ones appearing later in the list. The stages distinguished and the changes associated with each stage rely heavily on Ringe 2006, Chapter 3, "The development of Proto-Germanic". Ringe in turn summarizes standard concepts and terminology.
