The word as the basic unit of the language.
The term word denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from association of a group of sounds with a meaning. This unit is used in grammatical functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance.
Word is a basic unit of a language, which associates with a particular group of sounds, particular meaning and has particular character. The word is the largest structural and semantic unit within the system. It is the smallest on syntactic and the largest on morphological level of analysis. The word is a two-facet unit (form\m-g). The word is a part of speech, they are synt. organized in the speech. The set of feat-s distinguishing: 1) the sense and significance of the word 2) its phonetic and graphic unity 3) lex-gr reference. The smallest significant unit of a given language capable of funct. Alone and char-ed be sem interprity, morph uninteruption and positional mobility between the sentence
Diachronic and synchronic approaches to the study of polysemy.
Polysemy. The word polysemy means plurality of meanings it exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic. Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions which they express. There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, such as most terms, /synonym, molecule, bronchites/, some pronouns /this, my, both/, numerals.
There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and concatination. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primmary meaning. E.g. in the word face the primary meaning denotes the front part of the human head Connected with the front position the meanings: the front part of a watch, the front part of a building, the front part of a playing card were formed.
Connected with the word face itself the meanings: expression of the face, outward appearance are formed. In cases of concatination secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. E.g. in the word crust the primary meaning hard outer part of bread developed a secondary meaning hard part of anything /a pie, a cake/, then the meaningharder layer over soft snow was developed, then a sullen gloomy person, then impudence were developed. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. It is called the split of polysemy.
Different meanings of 1 and same word are closely interrelated. Polysemy is a result of: 1. Shifts in application (adj. red); 2. Specialization (partner - basic meaning; type of relationship btw 2 or more people (business partner, partner in crime); 3. Metaphorical extension (fundamental feature of any l-ge) (hands of person ~ hands of clock). Polysemy has been complicated by tendency of words to pick up meanings from other dialects, l-ges and slang. New and old meanings become interrelated, form hierarchy. They have some common semantic features which preserve integrity of word.
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Borrowings. Types of borrowings.
Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English throughout its history. More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French, Italian, Spanish). Borrowed words are different from native ones by their phonetic structure, by the phonological structure and also by their grammatical forms. It is also characteristic of borrowings to be non-motivated semantically
English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other countries, that is why it is very rich in borrowings. The Roman invasion, the adoption of Christianity, Scandinavian and Norman conquests of the British Isles, the development of British colonialism and trade and cultural relations served to increase immensely the English vocabulary. The majority of these borrowings are fully assimilated in English in their pronunciation, grammar, spelling and can be hardly distinguished from native words.
Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria:
a) according to the aspect which is borrowed;
b) according to the degree of assimilation;
c) according to the language from which the word was borrowed. (In this classification only the main languages from which words were borrowed into English are described, such as Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Russian).
7. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in the language.
The meaning of the word is studied on two levels: paradigmatic and syntagmatic. on a paradigmatic level the word is studied in its relationships with other words in a vocabulary system. it may be studied with comparisons of other words of similar meaning (to look to stare), of opposite meaning (antonomy to except to reject, busy idle). words of different stylistic characteristics (man-fellow-guy). the main problems of paradigmatic studies are synonymy, antonimy and different functional styles. On the syntagmatic level the semantic structure of the word is analyzed through its lineal relationships with neighboutring words in the utterance (, ).
the modern approach to semantics is based on an assumption that the ino-form of the words presents a structure which is termed denotative() structure (denotational component) to glare to look to glance. connotational () component of the word is a motive or evaluative () (emotive it can also be a cause). the denotational component makes communication possible, the connotational component comprises () the stylistic reference and emotive charge.
