LEXICOLOGY

Unit 1

- lexicology (n): từ vựng học

- etymology (n): từ nguyên học

- morpheme (n): hình vị

- derive from (v): phái sinh từ, xuất phát từ

- morphology (n): hình thái học

- vertical axis (n): trục tung

- horizontal axis(n): trục hoành

- paradigmatic (adj): hệ biến hóa

- Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, the science of language.

Lexicology derives from the Greek:

+ lexis = speech, word

+ logia = the study of, a suffix derived from logos, amongst others
meaning speech, oration, discourse, quote, calculation, reason.

-> Lexicology = the study of words or vocabulary.

- Word is a meaningful unit of spoken language that can stand alone

and is not divisible into smaller units.

- Word is the smallest unit of language that can be used independently.

- The structural aspects of the word:

+ The word is one of the units of speech or writing that native
speakers of a language usally regard as the smallest isolable
meaningful element of the language.

+ A word = the smallest free form in a language.

It's a sound/combination sound/its representation in writing/priting

that symbolizes and communicate a meaning and may consist of
single morpheme/a combination of morphemes.

+ A morpheme = the smallest unit of meaning

- Why should we study words?

-> Each word may undergo a long process of changes, both in

appearance (its external structure - morphology) and content (its
external structure semantics). The more we study about the word, the
better more precisely we understand theme.

- What does lexicology deal with?

-> Lexicology deals with simple words, complex and compound

words, the meaningful units of language.

- What is lexicology in the study of the structure of language?

-> Lexicology is about words and their meanings. Phonology studies

the sounds in a language. Syntax looks at how words form sentences.
All three are parts of linguistics and they interact to shape our
understanding of language.
Unit 2

- What is etymology?

-> Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and
how their form and meaning have changed over time.

- What are its methods of study?

+ Philological research: tracing with the aid of older texts.

+ Study on dialectological data: finding clues about the earlier history

through dialects.

+ Comparative method: comparing related languages to detect words

derives form their ancestor language or borrowed from another
language.

+ Study of semantic change: making hypotheses about changes in the

meaning of particular words, then test them against the general
knowledge of semantic shifts.

- Etymology of English words:

+ Vocabulary of the English language is not homogeneous.

+ It consists of:

 Native stock of words abt 30-35%

 Borrowed stock of words 65-70%

- Where did the English words come from?

+ English derives from Old English (sometimes referred to as Anglo -
Saxon) - a West Germanic variety.

+ Its history started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes (the
Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes) during the 5th century AD.

+ At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language.

+ The Angles came from Ungallant and their language called Englisc
- from which the words England and English are derived.

+ English belongs to the Indo - European family of languages.

- polysematic (adj): nhiều nghĩa

Homework
1, What is meant by etymology?
-> Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and
how their form and meaning have changed over time.
2, What branch of the family of the Indo-European language does
the English language belong to?
-> English derives from Old English (sometimes referred to as
Anglo - Saxon) - a West Germanic variety.
3, Etymologically, how can English be an international language?
- Origins and Evolution: English originated from the Germanic
tribes, the Angles and Saxons, who invaded Britain around 450
AD. Over centuries, it has been influenced by Latin, French, Dutch,
and other languages.
- Renaissance Influence: The Renaissance (14th-17th centuries) was
a significant period when many new words from Latin and Greek
were borrowed and used in English.
- British Empire: The British Empire, which at its height covered a
quarter of the globe, played a crucial role in spreading English. It
became the language of commerce, science, and politics, and was
adopted as the official language by many countries.
4, What are the major stages in the historical development of the
English language?
-> The historical development of the English language can be
divided into three major stages:
- Old English (500-1100 AD): This period began with the arrival of
three Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) from the
Continent. They settled in the south and east of Britain, which was
then inhabited by the Celts.
- Middle English (1100-1500 AD): This phase saw more French
influence after the Norman Conquest in 1066 AD.
- Modern English (1500 AD - present): This phase started around
the late Middle Ages and continues to the present day. It is
characterized by the Great Vowel Shift, the Renaissance influence,
and the standardization of English spelling. Modern English can be
devided into 2 smaller stages:
+ Early Modern English (1500-1800 AD): This period is
characterized by the Great Vowel Shift, the Renaissance influence,
and the beginning of the standardization of English spelling.
+ Late Modern English (1800 AD - present): This period saw the
Industrial Revolution and the British Empire’s expansion, which
spread English globally. It also witnessed significant vocabulary
growth due to technological advancements and the influence of
other languages.
5, What are the main types of borrowings in the English language?
-> The English language has borrowed words from many other
languages, and these borrowings can be categorized into several
types:
- International Words: Words used in many languages, often related
to technology and culture.
- Etymological Doublets: Pairs of words in English from the same
root but have different forms or meanings.
- Translation Loans (Calques): Phrases borrowed by literal
translation.
- Hybrids: Words composed of elements from different languages.
6, What changes can borrowings in the English language go
through?
-> Borrowings in the English language can undergo several
changes:
- Phonetic assimilation: Borrowed words may undergo changes in
pronunciation to fit the phonetic patterns of English.
- Semantic assimilation: The meanings of borrowed words can shift
over time. For example, loanwords might adopt a slightly tweaked
meaning.
- Grammatical assimilation: Grammatical assimilation in English
borrowings involves the adaptation of borrowed words to English’s
grammatical norms, which can include changes in grammatical
categories, morphological structure, and conformation to English
standards, with the degree of assimilation varying among different
words.
7, What is the relationship between etymological and stylistic
characteristic of words?
-> The history of a word (etymology) can affect how it’s used in
writing or speaking (stylistic characteristics). For example, words
from French or Latin often sound more formal in English. Over
time, as words are used in different situations, their style can
change, and this is often linked to their origins. So, a word’s history
can shape its style and how it’s used.
8, Is the relationship between etymological and stylistic
characteristic of words a "universal" one?
-> The way a word’s history (etymology) affects its use (style) can
change depending on the language. For example, in English, words
from French or Latin often sound more formal. But this might not
be true for all languages. So, the link between a word’s history and
its style isn’t the same for every language.

Unit 3
- Word formation or word building is the process of creation of new
words from the resources of a particular language.

- Word structure: A word is a dialectical unity of form and content,

independent unit of language to form a sentence by itself.

- dialectical (adj) = logical (adj)

- whitewash (v): thanh minh

- Ways of creating new words:

+ New words are formed from existing words and part.

+ Words are borrowed form another language.

+ New words can be made up form scratch.

- Basic concepts:
+ Morpheme (a morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit; it is the
smallest component of word, or other linguistic unit, that has
meaning). Structurally, 2 types of morphemes are distinguished:

 Free morphemes can stand by themselves

 Bound morphemes cannot stand on their own, but need to be
attached to a free morpheme
 Teacher, artist, redo -> free morphemes/ -er, -ist, re- -> bound
morphemes
 Derivational morphemes: morphemes that derive new words or
that are used to create new words. Thus, in the examples above,
-er, -ist, re- are derivational morphemes
 + Root: a root, also the base form, is the basic part of word
which not be further analyzed without total loss of identity. It is
the part of the word left when all affixes are removed.
+ Stem: a stem is that part of the word to which
grammatical/inflectional affixes are added. A stem consists
minimally of a root, but may be analyzable into a root plus
derivational morphemes.
+ Base: Every form of which an affix can be added is a base.
Every root and every stem is thus a base.
+ Affix: is a collective term referring to a bound morpheme that
is joined before, after, or within a root or stem.
 Prefix is that occurs in the front of a root or a stem:
un/dis/re/in/…
 Suffix is that occurs at the end of a root or a stem:
ness/ment/tion/…
 Infix is that occurs inside of a root or a stem. Infixation is not a
morphological process in English.
+ Paradigm: is the system of grammatical forms of a word.
Ex: the verbal paradigm of learn: learns/learning/learned
- Types of words
+ Root words: words that have only a root morpheme in its
structure: chair, pen, tree, plant,…
+ Derived words: words that have a root and an affix: investor,
development,…
+ Compound words: words that have two or more stems:
mother-in-law, lady-in-waiting,…
+ Shortenings/contracted words: words that are formed by
contracting certain elements of an existing word or word group:
lab, phone, exam,…
- Major types of word formation
+ Affixation/Derivation: Derivation of affixation is the
formation of new words by adding affixes to other words or
morphemes.
Practice:
1.Identify the word formation process in each word: network/
sitcom/ hereafter/ brain-gain/ psycho/ savnav
network: This is a compound word, formed by joining two
words: net and work1.
sitcom: This is a blend word, formed by combining parts of two
words: situational and comedy.
hereafter: This is another compound word, formed by joining
two words: here and after.
brain-gain: This is a rhyming compound word, formed by
joining two words that rhyme: brain and gain.
psycho: This is a clipped word, formed by shortening a longer
word: psychopath or psychoanalysis.
savnav: This is also a clipped word, formed by shortening a
longer word: satellite navigation.
2. Form a new word from the following items, then identify the
kind of word-formation process involved in each case: 1. Gross
Domestic Product/ 2. information, entertainment/ 3. modulator,
demodulator/ 4. international, police
Gross Domestic Product: A possible new word is GDP, which is
an acronym formed by taking the initial letters of each word.
information, entertainment: A possible new word is
infotainment, which is a blend formed by combining parts of
two words: information and entertainment.
modulator, demodulator: A possible new word is modem, which
is also a blend formed by combining parts of two words:
modulator and demodulator.
international, police: A possible new word is Interpol, which is a
clipped word formed by shortening a longer word: international
police.
3. Identify the word formation process in each of these cases
1, humid -> humidifier: derivation
2, aerobics, marathon -> aerobathon: blending
3, act -> deactivate: derivation
4, curve, ball -> curve ball: compounding
5, perambulator -> pram: clipping
6, beef, buffalo -> beefalo: blending
7, random access memory -> ram: acronym/ shortening
8, megabyte -> meg: clipping
9, teleprinter, exchanger -> telex: blending
10, no, body -> nobody: compounding

2. Which of the following expressions are compound nouns?

1, 100 degrees centigrade is the boiling point
2, Fetch some boiling water for our tea
3, Could I borrow a frying pan?
4, Yesterday I bought a new pair of running shoes
5, I often fish in that running stream
6, My English professor is a walking dictionary
7, After the voicanic eruption, everything was covered with
boiling lava
8, I need some writing paper, please
9, I spent the whole day writing a paper for my history class
10, Put it away, it is not drinking water

3, Give the original words from which these clipped words were
formed

Ad Advertisement Memo Memorandum

Gas Gasoline Coon Raccoon
Taxi Taxicab Typo Typographical
error
Cab Taxicab/ Plane Aeroplane
Cabriolet
Frat Fraternity Gym gymnasium
5.
1, happening + circumstances -> happenstances
2, automobile + omnibus -> autobus
3, cable + telegram -> cablegram
4, news + broadcast -> newscast
5, belgium + netherlands + luxemburg -> Benelux

6. Write the words form which the following back-formations

are formed
1, bootleg -> bootlegger
2, coronate -> coronation
3, resurrect -> resurrection
4, laze -> lazy
5, reminisce -> reminiscence
6, orate -> oration
7, paratroop -> paratrooper

Practice 1 Identify the semantic features in each of the following

words
1. aunt [+human], [+female], [+skinship], [+adult]
2. chick [+animate], [+bird], [+fowl], [-mature]
3. bachelor [+human], [+male], [+mature], [+educational]
4. actress [+human], [+female], [+professional]
5. plod [-human], [+action], [+slowly], [+labouriously]
6. owe [+state], [+be in debt], [+obligation/duty], [+pay/repay]

P2 Fine homophone
1, beech = beach
2, knight = night
3, bore = boar/ boor
4, nose = knows
5, leak = leek
6, cruise = cruse/ crews
7, dear = deer
8, draft = draught
9, made = maid
10, rain = reign/ reinr

Match synonyms
Produced from = made from -> được sản xuất từ
Which is native to = which originates from -> có nguồn gốc từ
Mentioned = stated -> được đề cập
Several = a number of -> một vài, một số
Added to = mixed with -> được trộn với
Indicating = a sign of -> dấu hiệu hiểu thị
Attending = participating in -> tham dự
Pleasant scent = a sweet smell -> mùi hương dễ chịu
Primary = main -> chủ yếu
Particularly = especially -> đặc biệt
Impress = leave a mark on -> gây ấn tượng
A sign of the wealth at his or her disposal = an indication of how
wealthy an individual is -> một dấu hiệu cho thấy sự giàu có mà
họ có thể tùy ý sử dụng
Was also reported to have health benefits = was also said to be
beneficial to well-being -> được cho là có lợi cho sức khỏe
Was thought to cure various ailments = was believed to heal
different illnesses -> được cho là có thể chữa nhiều loại bệnh
khác nhau

Match synonyms
The lifestyle = the way of living -> lối sống
This led to a growth in demand = this resulted in an increased
need for -> dẫn đến sự tăng lên của nhu cầu
Closely guarded the secret = kept in under wraps -> bảo vệ bí
mật một cách kỹ lưỡng
Rivals = competitors -> đối thủ
Via = through -> qua
Reached = arrived at -> tới
Purchase their supply = buy their stock of -> mua nguồn cung
Quantities = amounts -> lượng
Monopoly = cartel -> độc quyền
Set the price of cinnamon exorbitantly high = set an excessively
high cost -> định giá quế cao cắt cổ
Coupled with = together with -> cùng với
Spurred the search for = prompted them to look for -> thúc đẩy
việc tìm kiếm
Eager to take part in = keen to get involved in -> háo hức tham
gia

1, cost an arm and a leg

2, a blessing in disguise
3, it's a small world
4, over the moon
5, a drop in the ocean
6, action speak louder than words
7, chip on his shoulder
8, a piece of cake
9, once in blue moon
10, jumping the gun