Transformational analysis in lexicological investigations may be defined as repatterning (representing, reorganization) of various distributional structures in order to discover difference or sameness of meaning of practically identical distributional patterns. As distributional patterns are in a number of cases polysemantic transformational procedures are of help not only in the analysis of semantic sameness / difference of the lexical units but also in the analysis of the factors that account for their polysemy. Word-groups of identical distributional structure when repatterned show that the semantic relations between words & consequently the meaning may be different.
Componental analysis.
In this analysis linguists proceed from the assumption that the smallest units of meaning are sememes or semes. e. g. In the lexical item woman several sememes may be singled out, such as human, not an animal, female, adult. The analysis of the word girl will show the following sememes: human, female, young. The last component of the two words differentiates them & makes impossible to mix up the words in the process of communication. It is classical form of revealing the work of componental analysis to apply them to the so called closed systems of vocabulary, for example, colour terms. The analysis as a rule was formalized only as far as the symbolic representation of meaning components it is concerned with.Each sememe in the terms of colours acquires or is given a certain letter (A, B, C, D ) & the meaning of the terms may be given in a formalized form. e. g. Red & scarlet will differ only in one component & that is intensity of colour & by the letter it may be illustrated as
Semantic classification of words
Two main principles:
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.
-- synonyms,
-- lexical and terminological sets,
-- lexico-semantic groups,
-- semantic fields,
-- antonyms
3. East Germanic languages.
East Germanic
The East Germanic subgroup was formed by the tribes who returned from Scandinavia at the beginning of our era. The most numerous and powerful of them were the Goths. They were among the first Teutons to leave the coast of the Baltic Sea and start on their great migrations. The Gothic language, now dead, has been preserved in written records of the 4th 6th c. The Goths were the first of the Teutons to become Christian. In the 4th c. Ulfilas, a West Gothic bishop, made a translation of the Gospel from Greek into Gothic using a modified form of the Greek alphabet. Parts of Ulfilas Gospels a manuscript of about two hundred pages have been preserved and are kept now in Sweden. It is written on red parchment with silver and golden letters and is known as the Silver Codex. It is one of the earliest texts in the languages of the Germanic group; it represents a form of language very close to PG and therefore throws light on the pre-written stages of history of all the languages of the Germanic group, including English. The other East Germanic languages, all of which are now dead, have left no written traces. Some of their tribal names have survived in place-names, which reveal the directions of their migrations. Bornholm and Burgundy go back to the East Germanic tribe of Burgundians; Andalusia is derived from the tribal name Vandals.
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1. The alphabets of the Germanic people.
Germanic tribes used three alphabets for their written records: the Runic Alphabet the Gothic Alphabet the Latin Alphabet
The Runic alphabet
The oldest of these alphabets (for the Germanic tribes) is the runic alphabet. It was created in the II - III centuries AD and was applied till the Late Middle Ages. The runic alphabet is a common Germanic script, it was used by all Germanic tribes, East Germanic, North Germanic, as well as West Germanic tribes. The runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet, not to be found in languages of other groups. Runic alphabet was used by various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. It was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianization by around AD 700 in central Europe and by around AD 1100 in Northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Northern Europe. Until the early 20th century runes were used in rural Sweden for decoration purposes. The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Runes (around 150 to 800 AD), also called Futhark; the Younger Runes (8001100), which was further subdivided into Danish and Swedish-Norwegian; and the Anglo-Saxon Runes (400 to 1100 AD). The name of the alphabet futhark or fuÞark originated from the first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, K. Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.
The Gothic alphabet The Gothic alphabet was invented around the middle of the 4th century AD by Bishop Ulfilas (311-383 AD), the religious leader of the Visigoths, to provide his people with a written language and a means of reading his translation of the Bible. It is based on the Greek alphabet, with some extra letters from the Latin and Runic alphabets. The alphabet consisted of 27 letters. The Gothic alphabet is preserved in a single written record of the Gothic language, known as Codex Argenteus. The Codex Argenteus, "Silver Codex", is a 6th century manuscript, originally containing bishop Ulfilas's 4th century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. Of the original 336 folios, 188 have been preserved, containing the translation of the greater part of the four gospels. It is written on red parchment with silver and golden letters. The decoration is limited to a few large, framed initials and, at the bottom of each page, a silver arcade which encloses the monograms of the four evangelists. In modern publications of the Gothic bible, mostly Latin transliteration is used.
The Latin Alphabet The Latin alphabet spread among Germanic tribes alongside their conversion into Christianity. The Roman Catholic church banned religious services in vernaculars, therefore in countries, where Christianity penetrated directly from Rome, religious services were conducted in the Latin language. At churches and monasteries special schools were founded were the language of instruction was the Latin language. The very first Germanic words written in the Latin script were place names and proper names. Later appeared glosses in manuscripts and with the spread of Christianity the Latin alphabet came to be used for writing in Germanic languages. The first written records in the Latin script appear from VII IX centuries in the West Germanic languages, while the North Germanic language start using Latin for their writings from XII XIII centuries as a result of later Christianization of Scandinavian countries. The Latin alphabet was created in the VIII VII centuries BC on the basis of Western Greek and Etruscan alphabets.
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The variety of the Latin alphabet, used by the Germanic tribes, was the variety of the Latin alphabet scriptura minusculis the Minuscule script, from which originated small letters of the Latin alphabet. The minuscule script is divided into two subtypes: 1. Insular Minuscule Script and 2. Continental Minuscule Script.
