This document discusses several key linguistic concepts:
1) It describes language as a "system of systems" comprised of interdependent systems like phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics that combine to give the impression of simplicity.
2) It defines the word as the basic unit of language, consisting of morphemes and phonemes that combine to form a sound and have meaning.
3) It examines syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between words and how they define meanings through combination and contrast with other words.
This document discusses several key linguistic concepts:
1) It describes language as a "system of systems" comprised of interdependent systems like phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics that combine to give the impression of simplicity.
2) It defines the word as the basic unit of language, consisting of morphemes and phonemes that combine to form a sound and have meaning.
3) It examines syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between words and how they define meanings through combination and contrast with other words.
This document discusses several key linguistic concepts:
1) It describes language as a "system of systems" comprised of interdependent systems like phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics that combine to give the impression of simplicity.
2) It defines the word as the basic unit of language, consisting of morphemes and phonemes that combine to form a sound and have meaning.
3) It examines syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between words and how they define meanings through combination and contrast with other words.
1) Language is a "system of systems" because it consists of interdependent
systems that only become fully meaningful when combined. We cannot
think of spoken language without phonology, the individual sounds that make up words, but these sounds would be meaningless if they did not correspond to words that we understand as meaningful. Similarly, language would be incredibly limited if we had words but no way to pronounce them. In order for language to work, we need a way to say words (phonology), meaning attached to these words (morphology), an understanding of the meanings of words combine within a sentence (syntax), and an understanding of how greater, non-verbal context informs of the meaning of language (pragmatics). While it is easy to think of language as simple and automatic if you are fluent in a language, there are many different systems that all work in conjunction to give this effect. 2) The word may be described as the basic unit of language. Uniting meaning and form, it is composed of one or more morphemes, each consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation. For instance, in defining the word one must distinguish it from other linguistic units, such as the phoneme, the morpheme, or the word-group. In contrast with a definition, adescription aims at enumerating all the essential features of a notion. It has a sound form because it is a certain arrangement of phonemes; it has its morphological structure, being also a certain arrangement of morphemes; when used in actual speech, it may occur in different word forms, different syntactic functions and signal various meanings. The word is the smallest significant unit of a given language capable of functioning alone and characterised by positional mobility within a sentence, morphological uninterruptability and semantic integrity. All these criteria are necessary because they permit us to create a basis for the oppositions between the word and the phrase, the word and the phoneme, and the word and the morpheme: their common feature is that they are all units of the language, their difference lies in the fact that the phoneme is not significant, and a morpheme cannot be used as a complete utterance. 3) Relations between elements of lexical system Syntagmatic combinatorial relations, linear relations, define the meaning of the word when it is used in combination with other words in the flow of speech. Paradigmatic contrastive relations observed in the system of language. Paradigmatic relations define the word meaning through its interrelation with other members of the subgroup (lexico-semantic groups: verbs of motion, of sense perception, sets of synonyms, antonyms etc.) that can occur in the same context and can be contrasted to one another. 4) The relationship existing between elements of various levels is logically that of inclusion. Semanticists call it hyponymy. The term is of comparatively recent creation. J. Lyons stresses its importance as a constitutive principle in the organisation of the vocabulary of all languages. For example, the meaning of scarlet is “included” in the meaning of red. So scarlet is the hyponym of red, and its co-hyponym is crimson, as to red — it is the superordinate of both crimson and scarlet. Could every word have a superordinate in the vocabulary, the hierarchical organisation of the lexical system would have been ideal. As it is there is not always a superordinate term. There is, for instance, no superordinate term for all colours as the term coloured usually excludes white and black. F.R. Palmer gives several examples from the animal world. The word sheep is the superordinate for ram, ewe and lamb. The word dog is in a sense its own superordinate, because there is no special word for a male dog, although there is a special term for the female and for the little dog, i.e. bitch and pup. Superordinates are also called hyperonyms, this latter term is even more frequent. Some scholars treat this phenomenon as presupposition, because if we say that some stuff is scarlet it implies that it is red. One may also treat synonymy as a special case of hyponymy (see Ch. 10). 5) The term motivation is used to denote the relationship existing between the phonemic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other. There are three main types of motivation: phonetical motivation, morphological motivation, and semantic motivation. When there is a certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those referred to by the sense, the motivation is phonetical. Examples are bang, buzz, cuckoo, giggle, gurgle, hiss, purr, whistle, etc. Here the sounds of a word are imitative of sounds in nature because what is referred to is a sound or at least, produces a characteristic sound (cuckoo). The morphological motivation may be quite regular. Thus, the prefix ex- means ‘former’ when added to human nouns: ex-filmstar, ex-president, ex-wife. Alongside with these cases there is a more general use of ex-: in borrowed words it is unstressed, and motivation is faded (expect, export, etc.). The derived word re-think is motivated in as much as its morphological structure suggests the idea of thinking again. Re- is one of the most common prefixes of the English language, it means ‘again’ and ‘back’ and is added to verbal stems or abstract deverbal noun stems, as in rebuild, reclaim, resell, resettlement. Here again these newer formations should be compared with older borrowings from Latin and French where re- is now unstressed, and the motivation faded. Compare re-cover ‘cover again’ and recover ‘get better’. In short: morphological motivation is especially obvious in newly coined words, or at least words created in the present century. Сf. detainee, maneuverable, prefabricated, racialist, self- propelling, vitaminize, etc. In older words, root words and morphemes motivation are established etymologically, if at all. From the examples given above it is clear that motivation is the way in which a given meaning is represented in the word. It reflects the type of nomination process chosen by the creator of the new word. Some scholars of the past used to call the phenomenon the inner word form. The third type of motivation is called semantic motivation. It is based on the co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word within the same synchronous system. Mouth continues to denote a part of the human face, and at the same time it can metaphorically apply to any opening or outlet: the mouth of a river, of a cave, of a furnace. Jacket is a short coat and a protective cover for a book, a phonograph record or an electric wire. Ermine is not only the name of a small animal, but also of its fur, and the office and rank of an English judge because in England ermine was worn by judges in court. In their direct meaning neither mouth nor ermine is motivated. As to compounds, their motivation is morphological if the meaning of the whole is based on the direct meaning of the components, and semantic if the combination of components is used figuratively. Thus, eyewash “a lotion for the eyes” or headache “pain in the head”, or watchdog “a dog kept for watching property” are all morphologically motivated. When some people recognize the motivation, whereas others do not, motivation is said to be faded. Sometimes in an attempt to find motivation for a borrowed word the speakers change its form so as to give it a connection with some well- known word. These cases of mistaken motivation received the name of folk etymology. 6) 1.Hissed - phonetic motivation (шикнув). 2.Hurrumphing - phonetic motivation (показово прокашляв). 3.Hooting - phonetic motivation (гудіння). 5.Giggled - phonetic motivation (хіхікати). 6.Croak out - phonetic motivation (пробормотіти). 7.Barked -phonetic motivation (гаркнув). 8.Squealing - semantic motivation/ phonetic motivation (пискнути). 9.Rattle - phonetic motivation (захріпив). 10.Blurted - phonetic motivation (випадково сказав). 11.Crowing/ mooing - phonetic motivation (кукурікати/ мяукати). 12.Cooed - phonetic motivation (воркував). 13.Meowing - phonetic motivation (мявкати). 14.Wasp-whine - phonetic motivation (гудіти). 7) 1.Hatless – без шапки 2.Microsleep/ macrosleep – недосип/пересип 3.Screamer – крикун 4.Puppyhood – юність 5.Pillowy – м`який 6.Shouldery – широкоплечий 7.Hollow-cheeked – впалі щічки 8.Untenanted – нежилий 9.Unfog – відтяти 10.Outthink – перевершити, перехітрити 11.Unspool – розмотиватися
3 examples of hyponymic relations:
1) Hypernym: see Hyponyms : stare, glimpse, gaze 2) Hypernym: tree Hyponyms: butternut, maple, cedar 3) Hypernym: animal Hyponyms: bobcat, aardvark, chipmunk