LEXICOLOGY

1. Approaches to English phraseological studies and classifications of phraseologisms.
Depending on the degree of their stability all word combinations are divided into:

- free (we can substitute for any word without causing any changes in other members of combination, e. g. to go quickly);
- semi-free (the freedom of substitution is limited to certain semantic groups. e. g. to go hospital, school);
- fixed word combinations/set expressions (no substitution, word order is fixed. ).
Phraseological unit is a word group with a fixed lexical composition and grammatical structure.
There are different approaches to studying and classifying phraseological units.

1. The classification of V. V. Vinogradov is synchronic and semantic. It is based upon the type of motivation. He distinguishes:
a) phraseological fusions, e. g. tit for tat. They represent the highest stage of blending, are not motivated nowadays, are specific for every language and cannot be literally translated;
b) phraseological unities, e. g. to know where a shoe pinches, to rise to the bait, etc. They are clearly motivated, some of them are easily translated and even international;
c) phraseological combinations, e. g. to meet the demands, to make friends. They are not only clearly motivated but also contain one component used in its direct meaning (demands, friends).

2. Larin’s classification is also semantic but diachronic.
He believes that each unit goes through three stages in its development. First it is a free word combination, then a motivated metaphoric phrase and then an idiom with lost motivation, e. g. to give a sack, to give a cold shoulder, to dance attendance on smb., etc.
Semantic classifications of Vinogradov and Larin are open to criticism since the degree of motivation may be different for different speakers depending on their knowledge of history, customs and traditions, level of education, etc. So they are subjective, not reliable enough.

3. N. Amosova’s approach is contextological. She defines phraseological units as units of fixed context characterized by a specific word-order and peculiar semantic relationship between the components. Phraseological units are divided into phrasemes and idioms. Phrasemes are always binary. One of their components has a phraseologically-bound meaning, the other serves as the determining context, e. g. small change, small hours, small talk. In idioms the new meaning is created by the whole, each element having its own meaning weakened or lost. Idioms may be motivated and demotivated.
4. Koonin’s classification is functional: depends on the functions phraseological units fulfil in communication. There may be:
a) nominating (e. g. a man of straw, a bull in a china shop);
b) nominative communicative (verbal), e. g. to go round the bush, to pull one’s leg, etc.;
c) communicative (sentences by form), e. g. Curiosity killed the cat;
d) interjectional, e. g. Good heavens, a pretty kettle of fish, etc.
Further classification depends on whether the units are changeable or not, what their structure is, etc.

2. Etymological analysis of the English vocabulary. Classification of borrowings.
The English vocabulary is divided into native words & borrowings.

Native words include:
- words of common Indo-European origin (words, common to all Indo-European languages);
- common Germanic words (words which are common to all Germanic languages);
- purely Anglo-Saxon words.
Native words denote elementary notions without which communication isn’t possible.

Borrowed words are classified depending on the sourceofborrowing (the language from which it was taken by the English language):
1) historically Celtic borrowings (bin, bard);
2) Latin borrowings (wall, street);
3) Greek (music, theatre);
4) Scandinavian (husband, sister, sky);
5) French (justice, table);
6) German (cobalt, rink);
7) Italian (bank, balcony);
8) Spanish (armada, paella);
9) Dutch (landscape);
10) Russian (samovar, Bolshevik);
11) Ukrainian (vareniki, Kazak).
According to the degreeofassimilation borrowed words are divided into:
1) completely assimilated;
Completely assimilated borrowings are usually old: street, husband, table. They follow all morphological, phonetic and spelling standards of English. They are frequently used and stylistically neutral and usually active in word formation.
2) partially assimilated;
Partially assimilated borrowings are further subdivided into groups depending on the aspect which the words are not assimilated in:
a) not assimilated semantically: denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they came: clothes(sombrero), titles and professions (shah, bei, toreador), food and drinks (pilaw, borsch, galushky), money (rouble), etc.
b) not assimilated grammatically, e. g. original plural forms of Greek and Latin borrowings: crisis – crises, criterion – criteria, stimulus – stimuli, datum – data, etc.
c) not assimilated phonetically: with the stress on the last syllable (police, routine), sounds and combinations that are not standard in English (bourgeois, prestige, memoir), the whole phonetic pattern is different, e. g. opera, soprano, confetti, etc.
d) not assimilated graphically: with diactric marks (café, cliché ), special digraphs (bouquet, brioche), some silent letters (ballet, corps).
Some words may have incomplete assimilation in more than one aspect.
3) unassimilated, or barbarisms.
Barbarisms are not assimilated in any way foreign words which are used by Englishmen in communication though they have native equivalents, e. g. ciao, Anno Domini, etc.

3. The phenomena of polysemy and homonymy. Sources of homonymy.
POLYSEMY
Splitting polysemy, e. g. board. It is difficult to establish exact criteria by which disintegration of polysemy could be detected. The knowledge of etymology and other languages will help to supply the missing links. The imprecision of the criteria is recorded in the data of different dictionaries which often contradict each other. E. g. board is represented as two homonyms in Muller’s dictionary, as three homonyms in Arakin’s dictionary and as one polysemantic word in Hornby’s dictionary.
Polysemantic word may have different antonyms when used in different meaning,
e. g. short – long, short- tall.
A polysemantic word can have antonyms in some meanings and no antonyms in some others,
e. g. criticism – praise, criticism – no antonyms.
HOMONYMY
Homonyms are words identical in sound and spelling or at least in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning and distribution. The term is derived from Greek, i. e. the same name combined with the difference of meaning, e. g. bank: 1) a shore, a river bank; 2) a financial institution; ball: 1) any spherical body; 2) a large dancing party.
Homonyms exist in many languages but in English this language phenomenon is especially frequent, mostly in monosyllabic words (nearly 90 % of homonyms).
There are several sources of homonymy.
1) Phonetic changes. In the course of the language development two or more words that were pronounced differently may develop identical sound form, e. g. knight-night, sea-see, write-right.
2) Borrowing. A borrowed word may duplicate in form a native word or another borrowing, e. g. write (native) – rite (Latin ritus), fair (adj, native) – fair (noun, French), bank (shore, native) - bank (institution, Italian).
3) Word-building:
a. conversion, e. g. pale-to pale, water –to water, comb-to comb;
b. shortening, e. g. fan – from fanatic, van – from vanguard and from caravan;
c. sound imitation, e. g. bang – to bang; mew –mew- mew.
Classifications. Homonyms are divided into
- homonyms proper (identical in both sound and spelling), e. g. ball, bank;
- homophones (identical in sound but different in spelling), e. g. piece-peace, knight-night, scent-sent-cent;
- homographs (the same in spelling but different in sound), e. g. to bow – bow, lead – to lead.
Another classification is based on thepart of speech homonyms belong to.
- If both homonyms belong to the same part of speech, they are lexical, e. g. to read – read, knight –night, to lie – to lie.
- Homonyms belonging to different parts of speech are called lexico-grammatical, e. g. left – left, eye –I, knows – nose.
The third classification is based on the similarity of the paradigms (grammatical forms each homonym possesses).
- E. g. match-matches: match – matches, such homonyms are called full.
- Homonyms that coincide in one or two members (not in all members) of their paradigms are called partial. E. g. to lie- lying-lied – lied: to lie-lying- lay-lain; left: to leave-leaving-left-left.

4. Synonyms and antonyms in Modern English. Classifications of them. Sources of synonymy.
Synonymy is one of the most controversial points in linguistics. Roughly we may say that when two or more different words are associated with the same or nearly the same denotative meaning, the words are synonyms. Sometimes criterion of interchangeability has been applied to definition of synonyms. Synonyms have been defined as words, which are interchangeable in at least some contexts without any considerable changes in denotative meaning. Those synonyms that seem to be interchangeable and are called total by Academician Vinogradov still differ in their distribution, use, etc. e. g. cosmonaut is used in reference to European spacemen and astronaut – to American ones. Or offer is followed by a noun while suggest – by a gerund. So the prevailing majority of synonyms are partial. Synonyms are united into synonymous rows. In each row there is one word, which presents a kind of center of the group of synonyms. Its semantic structure is usually simple. This is the dominant synonym characterized by:
1) high frequency of usage;
2) broad combinability;
3) broad general meaning;
4) lack of connotations.
E. g. in the row: to look-to stare-to glare-to gaze-to peer-to peep-to glance-to glimpse-etc. the dominant synonym is the word to look.
Synonyms can be classified as stylistic and ideographic. Stylistic synonyms differ in their stylistic connotations, e. g. father-parent-daddy; stomach-belly. Ideographic synonyms may differ in the following connotations:
1) degree or intensity, e. g. to like-to admire –to love – to adore- to worship; to surprise – to astonish- to amaze- to astound;
2) duration, e. g. to glance- to stare; to say – to talk;
3) manner, e. g. to stagger – to trot – to pace – to march, etc.;
4) cause, e. g. to shiver –to shudder; to blush – to redden;
5) emotive connotation, e. g. alone – lonely;
6) evaluative connotation, e. g. well-known – famous- celebrated- notorious, etc.
We can also single out contextual synonyms that are similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions, e. g Go and buy some bread – Go and get some bread.
I cannot stand it any longer – I cannot bear it any longer. These words are not synonyms outside the specified contexts.
Sources of synonymy.
1) Borrowings from other languages or from dialects and regional variants
e. g. to ask (native) – to question (French) – to interrogate (Latin)
girl – lass (Scottish), lake-loch (Scottish), wireless – radio (AmE);
2) Word-building:
a) conversion, e. g. a laugh (from to laugh) – laughter, to entame – to tame;
b) shortening, e. g. veteran –vet, refrigerator – fridge, to telephone – to phone;
3) Euphemisms, e. g. drunk – merry – elevated, lavatory – restroom, etc.;
4) Phraseology, e. g. naked – in one’s birthday suit; to die – to join the silent majority, to kick the bucket, etc.

Antonyms may be defined as two or more words of the same language belonging to the same part of speech and to the same semantic field, identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, associated and often used together so that their denotative meanings render contradictory or contrary notions.
Contradictory notions are mutually opposed and deny each other, e. g. alive – not dead, illiterate – not literate. Contrary notions are also mutually opposed but they are gradable, e. g. old and young are the most distant poles on the scale: young – middle-aged- elderly-old or hot-warm-cool-cold.
Classification of antonyms is based on the way they are built. Root words form absolute antonyms (having different roots), e. g. right-wrong, derivational antonyms are created by negative affixes added to the same root, e. g. happy-unhappy, helpful-helpless.
In derivational antonyms morphological motivation is clear, there is no necessity in contexts containing both members to prove the existence of derivational antonyms. The word unsuccessful presupposes the existence of the word successful. But the patterns, though typical are not universal. Morphologically similar formations may show different semantic relationships, e. g. disappoint is not the antonym to appoint, to unman (to deprive of human qualities) is not the antonym of man (to furnish with personnel).
Another type of antonyms is contextual antonyms, i. e. words, which are contrasted in actual speech and are not opposed outside certain contexts, e. g. Some people have much to live on but little to live for. On and for are antonyms in this context.

5. Stylistic differentiation of the English vocabulary.
All words are divided into stylistically neutral (basic vocabulary having no stylistic connotations) and stylistically marked.
Stylistically neutral words can be used in any styles and situations, every day, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, education, age group or geographical location. Their meanings are broad, general and direct. A lot of these words have synonyms, which are stylistically marked, e. g. child-infant-kid, continue – go on – proceed, begin – start- commence.
Stylistically marked words are limited in their use and include formal and informal vocabulary.
Formal vocabulary comprises:
1) official vocabulary used in documents, business transactions, diplomacy, etc. E. g. high contracting parties, hereinafternamed, etc.
2) learned words common to all fields of knowledge, e. g. synthesis, analysis, antithesis, etc.
3) words associated with professional communication, special terminology different for each branch of science or art, e. g. linguistic terms: inflection, euphemism, paradigm, phoneme, etc.
Informal words are traditionally divided into:
1) dialect words used within a certain territory, e. g. Cockney dialect;
2) colloquial words
3) slang.
Colloquial words serve for a comparatively wide sphere of communication.
They are further subdivided into:
a) literary colloquial words used in everyday conversational speech by both cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. It is widely reflected in fiction, especially in modern writers’ works. E. g. to have a bite, to have a snack, a bit of, a lot of, to start, to finish, to give up, to make up, turn up, flu, pram, fridge, zip, etc.
b) familiar colloquial words. There is no strict border between literary colloquial and familiar colloquial words. Yet the circle of speakers using familiar colloquial words is more limited – the young and the semi-educated. E. g. doc, hi, ta-ta, to pick up somebody, shut up, etc.
Slang is controversial as to its definition, characteristics and classifications. It is usually divided into general slang and special slang (e. g. teenager slang, university slang, football slang, etc. )
Slang consists either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Most of slang words are current words whose meanings have been metaphorically shifted and it is often accompanied with a course, jocular, cynical coloring, e. g. saucers (eyes), trap (mouth).
Slang should be differentiated from argot (criminal jargon). Slang words are clearly motivated, e. g. window-shopping, cradle-snatcher. Argot words do not show their motivation, their purpose is to hide the real meaning, to be comprehensible by a limited number of people.
A neologism is a newly created word or a phrase or a new meaning developed for an existing word, or a word borrowed from another language.
Neologisms are contrasted to words that dropped from the language (obsolete words) or survive only in special contexts (archaisms and historisms).
Archaisms are words that were once common but are now replaced by synonyms. Old words become rarely used and are mostly associated with poetic diction and historic novels.
Historisms are words denoting objects and phenomena which are things of the past and no longer exist.

6. Meaning and its types. Semantic changes and their classification. Causes of semantic changes.
The meaning is not homogeneous. It is a system of systems:
1) It combines lexical and grammatical meanings, e. g. actress is a personal noun.
2) Lexical meaning includes denotative and connotative ones.
3) Denotative meaning is conceptual (what a word denotes), it is divided into semantic components called semes, e. g. Father is a male parent. Denotative components may be culturally predetermined (cf. winter in Siberia and in Australia, it is a season between autumn and spring but all other characteristics are different: duration, temperature, etc. ).
4) Connotative meanings express the speaker’s attitude to the subject of speech and may be as follows:
a. stylistic: chap, fellow, associate; child, infant, kid;
b. emotive: cool, awesome, terrific;
c. expressive: to trudge, to march, to gobble;
d. evaluative: clever, silly, good, bad(rational evaluation), scoundrel (emotional evaluation);
e. associative (a fir-tree – forest, New Year);
f. national and cultural (kilt – Scots);
g. pragmatic: Can you open the door?
5) A word may be polysemantic, i. e. it may have several interrelated denotative meanings:
a. One of the meanings is called primary, this is the meaning in which the word made its first appearance in the language, all the other meanings which developed later are called secondary, e. g. chair as a piece of furniture (primary), chair as the head of some meeting, conference or chair as a department (secondary meanings).
b. One of the meanings is central, others are peripheral. As a rule, primary and central meanings coincide but it is not necessarily so. In the course of language development a secondary meaning may become the central one ousting the primary meaning to the periphery, e. g. revolution: primary meaning is that of rotary movement, revolving, secondary – social change (now central).
c. Meaning can be direct and indirect (figurative, transferred), e. g. white collar, blue collar, smoke screen, etc.

Semantic changes and their causes.
1. Specialization, or narrowing of meaning, e. g. garage – a safe place, meat – any food;
    2. Generalization, or widening of meaning, e. g. arrive – to land at a shore;
3. Elevation of meaning (getting better, going higher), e. g. queen (in O. E. – woman);
4. Degradation of meaning (getting worse, lower), e. g. a spinster – a woman that spins wool;
5. Transference of meaning. The name of one thing is used to name some other things.
Transference is further subdivided into metaphor, metonymy and euphemism.
a. Transference of meaning based on likeness is called a metaphor. Metaphors can be based on likeness of form (a head of cabbage), of position (the foot of the mountain), function (Head of the Department), size, quantity (ocean of troubles, storm of applause), etc. Sometimes a combination of several features makes up the foundation for a metaphor (a leg of a table – function, position, shape). Metaphors may involve transition from proper names to common ones, e. g. a Don Juan, Apollo, Vandals, Hooligans.
b. Transference of meaning based on associations of contiguity (being together) is called metonymy. We can use the name of a container for the thing it contains (Will you have another cup? ), instrument for the agent (His pen knows no compromise), the place for the people who live or work there (Kharkov greets the guests. The Kremlin agrees to the treaty), the name of a person for the things s/he made (He reads Byron), the name of a part for the whole (Who’s the moustache? )
c. Transference of meaning dictated by social conventions, norms, rules of behavior is called euphemism. A word or a word combination is used instead of the other word that is offensive, rude, or taboo.
e. g. to die: to perish, to pass away, to join the silent majority, to meet one’s maker, to be with the angels, to cross the Great Divide, etc.

Causes of semantic changes may include linguistic and extra-linguistic ones.
The latter are connected with social, political, economic, cultural and scientific development.
The former embrace differentiation of synonyms (e. g. time and tide), borrowings (hound and dog), preserving the old meaning in idioms (love token, token of respect), etc.

7. Derivation. Affixation. Classifications of affixes.
Affixation is a way of forming new words by adding derivational affixes to the stem. Derivational affixes are classified in a number of ways.
1. According to their position in a word affixes are divided into prefixes, which precede the root, suffixes, which follow the root, and infixes inserted into the root (historically n in stand is an infix).
2. According to the degree of productivity affixes are divided into productive that help to form new words nowadays and non-productive no longer used in word-formation at the present stage of language development, e. g. –lock (as in the word wedlock).
3. According to their origin affixes are divided into native and borrowed. Native affixes are those, which already existed in O. E. or were formed from O. E. words. A root morpheme in a compound word may gradually develop into a suffix and become a bound form no longer homonymous with any Modern English word. E. g. –dom (O. E. fate, power), -hood (O. E. state), etc. The most important native affixes are: -d, -dom, -ed, -en, -fold, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ish, -less, -like, -let, -lock, -ly, -ness, -red, -ship, -some, -teen, -ty, -th, -wise, -y.
Borrowed affixes are classified according to their origin: Latin (-able, -ible, -ant/ent), French (-age, -ance, -ence, -ancy, -ency, -ard, -ate), Greek (-ist, -ism, -ite), etc. Affixes are borrowed only if a large number of words with the same affix are borrowed, if both the meaning and the function of the affix are clear and if the structural pattern corresponds to the structural patterns already existing in the language. If all these conditions are fulfilled, the foreign affix may even become productive and combine with native stems or borrowed stems within the system of the English vocabulary. E. g. –able in laughable, unforgettable, unforgivable. The English words balustrade, brigade, cascade are borrowed from French but the English word blockade was coined by analogy from an English root with the borrowed suffix.
4. The next classification deals with suffixes and divides them according to the part of speech the words they form belong to:
1) noun-forming suffixes: -age (bondage, breakage), -ance/-ence (assistance, reference), -ant/-ent (desinfectant, student), -dom (freedom, kingdom), -hood (widowhood, sisterhood), -ee (nominee, trainee, employee), -er (teacher, writer), -ess (actress, lioness), -ing (building, moving), -ion (rebellion), -tion (creation), -ation (explanation), -ism (heroism, criticism), -ist (novelist), -ment (government), -ness (tenderness), -ship (scholarship), -ty (minority);
2) adjective-forming suffixes: -able (unbearable), -al (formal), -ant/ent (dependent), -ary (revolutionary), -ate/ete (accurate, complete), -ful (delightful), -an (African), -ish (reddish, childish), -ive (active), -less (useless), -ly (manly), -ous (curious), some (tiresome), -y (cloudy, dressy);
3) adverb-forming suffixes: -ly (coldly); -wards (northwards), -wise (likewise);
4) numeral-forming suffixes: -teen (fourteen), -ty (sixty), -th (seventh);
5) verb-forming suffixes: -ate (facilitate), -er (twitter), -en (shorten), -fy (terrify), -ize (specialize), -ish (establish).
5. As to their lexico-grammatical meanings suffixes can be further subdivided, for example, noun suffixes into:
a) suffixes of abstract nouns: -dom, -hood, -ion, -ism, -ment, -ness.
b) suffixes of personal nouns which are emotionally neutral: -an(grammarian), -ent (student), -ant (servant), -er (porter), -or (inspector), -ist (linguist), -ician (musician);
c) feminine suffixes as a subgroup of personal noun suffixes: -ess (actress, lioness, tigress, hostess), -ine (heroine), -ette (cosmonette);
d) derogatory suffixes of personal nouns: -ard (drunkard), -ster (gangster), -ton (simpleton);
e) diminutive suffixes (used to name both persons and things): -y/ie (hanky, daddy, auntie, nightie), -let(booklet), -ock(hillock), -ette (kitchenette).
In contrast to suffixes most prefixes do not radically change the basic lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem but just modify it. So the prefixed derivative and its prototype usually belong to the same part of speech. E. g. behave- misbehave, read – re-read, please – displease, grateful – ungrateful. Some prefixes are used with words of one part of speech only, others – with several parts of speech, e. g. re- with verbs and nouns, un- with adjectives, verbs and nouns. In some cases, however, prefixes may also change general lexico-grammatical meaning and form words belonging to a different part of speech as compared with the original word:
1) verb-forming prefixes be- (with adjective and noun stems), e. g. belittle, benumb, befriend, becloud, behead; en-/em- (with adjective and noun stems), e. g. encamp, enable, enslave, encase, embed;
2) adjective-forming prefixes pre-, post-, non-, anti- (with noun stems): pre-war, post-war, anti-war, non-party.
The meanings conveyed by prefixes are as follows:
1)negative or reversative: de-, dis-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, non-, un, anti-; e. g. decentralize, disagree, impatient, illiterate, irregular;
2) repetitive: re-; e. g. rearrange, remake, remarriage;
3) adverbial of size or degree: out-, over-, under-, super-; e. g. outdo, outnumber, overgrow, overfeed, underestimate, superman; 4) adverbial of manner: mis-; e. g. misbehave, mistake;
5) adverbial of time: post-, pre-; e. g. post-mortem, postgraduate, prepay, pre-war;
6) adverbial of place: trans-, sub-, in-, out-, a-; e. g. transatlantic, subway, input, output, aboard.

8. Compounding. Classifications of compound words.
Compounding is a way of forming new words by joining together two or more stems that occur in the language as free forms (separate words). There are several classifications of compound words.
According to the way the stems are joined we distinguish:
1) compounds made by juxtaposition without any connecting elements, e. g. heartache, heart-beat, heart-burn, heart-attack;
2) compounds with a vowel or a consonant as a linking element between the stems, e. g. speedometer, handicraft, craftsman;
3) compounds with linking elements represented by prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns: son-in-law, up-to-date, hide-and-seek, forget-me-not.
According to the structure of stems we distinguish:
1) compounds consisting of simple stems, e. g. film-star, sun-beam;
2) compounds in which at least one of the stems is a derivative, e. g. chain-smoker, mill-owner;
3) compounds in which at least one of the stems is clipped (shortened), e. g. math-mistress, lab-test;
4) compounds in which at least one of the stems is a compound by itself, e. g. wastepaper-basket.
According to the relations between the stems compounds are divided into endocentric and exocentric. In endocentric compounds one of the stems is the main and the other describes, characterizes it, serves to differentiate it from similar ones, e. g. a sun-beam (not moon-beam or torch-beam), text-book (not exercise-book or note-book or reference book). The main component is also grammatically the most important part which undergoes morphological changes: sunbeams, brothers-in-law, textbooks. In exocentric compounds we cannot distinguish the main stem, the status of stems is equal, e. g. a killjoy.
According to their conformity to current grammatical patterns of the language, compounds are divided into syntactic, which conform to the patterns and may be transformed into corresponding word combinations, and asyntactic, which do not, e. g. syntactic: a sea-shore (a shore of the sea), bookselling (selling books), a bookbinder (a person who binds books). Asyntactic: babysitting (not sitting babies), bookmaker (not a person who makes books).
According to the degree of their motivation, compounds are divided into idiomatic and non-idiomatic. Idiomatic compounds are different in meaning from the corresponding word combinations, e. g. a blackboard is not necessarily black and may be not a board at all being made of plastic, linoleum, etc. In non-idiomatic compounds the meaning is equal to the sum of the meanings of its components, e. g. text-book, seagull.

9. Shortening. Classifications of shortened words. Abbreviations. Minor types of word-building.
Shortening is a way of forming new words by clipping a part of their prototypes. The remaining part does not usually change phonetically so it is sometimes necessary to change the spelling: mike (from microphone), trank (from tranquilizer), dub (from double). The change of meaning may also take place:
a) shortened words are usually colloquial while their prototypes may be neutral (e. g. bike, mike, doc);
b) shortened words are as a rule monosemantic while their prototypes may be polysemantic
(e. g. to double has several meanings: 1) to increase twofold; 2) to multiply by two; 3) to add the same note in the lower or higher octave; 4) to make another soundtrack of a film in a different language. The shortened word to dub retains only the fourth meaning).
The correlation of a shortened word and its prototype may be as follows:
a) the curtailed form is a lexical variant or a synonym differing from the prototype stylistically or emotionally (e. g. exam: examination, doc: doctor);
b) the connection can be established only etymologically, e. g. fan: fanatic, fancy: fantasy.
Unlike conversion shortening produces new words belonging to the same part of speech as their prototypes. The bulk of shortened words is constituted by nouns. Verbs are hardly ever shortened (e. g. to rev from revolve). Shortened adjectives are few and mostly reveal a combined effect of shortening and affixation, e. g. comfy from comfortable, mizzy from miserable.
Shortened words are often homonymous with other shortened words, e. g. van (the short for caravan and for vanguard), gym (gymnastics and gymnasium), vet (veterinary and veteran).
Classification of shortened words is based on the position of the clipped part. We distinguish:
1) final clipping (the end is cut off, the beginning of the prototype is retained), e. g. ad (advertisement), ed (editor), coke (coca-cola);
2) initial clipping (the final part of the prototype is retained), e. g. story (history), phone (telephone), drome (airdrome);
3) final and initial clipping combined, e. g. fridge (refrigerator), tec (detective), flu (influenza);
4) medial clipping (the central part of a word falls out), e. g. specs (spectacles), ma’am (madam), maths (mathematics), fancy (fantasy).
Shortened words are opposed to shortened phrases, which result from a combined effect of clipping, ellipsis and substantivization, e. g. weekly (weekly paper), finals (final exams), pub (public house).
A special case of shortened words are fusions, or blends, or telescopic words. They result from shortening and compounding of clipped stems. The patterns may be:
a) initial element of the first stem + the second stem
e. g. paratroops (parachute troops), automaniac (automobile maniac);
b) the first stem + the final element of the second stem
e. g. slimnastics (slim + gymnastics), popcert (popular concert), videot (video + idiot);
c) the initial element of the first stem + the final element of the second stem,
e. g. smog (smoke + fog), weddiversary (wedding anniversary), bit (binary digit).
Abbreviations are words formed by initial letters of some other words. Depending on the way they are read abbreviations are divided into:
a) those preserving alphabetical reading, e. g. BBC, SOS, TV;
b) acronyms read as though they were ordinary English words, e. g. UNO, NATO, NOW.
A specific group is represented by Latin abbreviations which may be read:
a) alphabetically, e. g. a. m., p. m.
b) as corresponding Latin words, e. g. - exampli gratia, p. m. – post meridium, a. m. - ante meridium.
c) as corresponding English words, e. g. - for example, a. m. – in the morning, p. m. - in the afternoon.
Minor types of word-building.
1. Sound interchange.
It is a way of forming new words by changing some sound(s) in the root, e. g. food: feed, life: live, speak: speech. It can be combined with affixation, e. g. strong: strength or with affixation and shift of stress, e. g. democrat: democracy.
2. Distinctive stress.
It is a way of coining new words by changing the place of stress, e. g. import (n, v), conduct (n, v), research (n, v in AmE).
3. Sound imitation.
It is a way of forming new words by imitating sounds associated with the objects or actions the words denote, e. g. to splash, to giggle, to buzz, whisper, cuckoo, etc.
4. Back formation.
It is a way of coining new words by cutting a supposed or real suffix from existing words, e. g. to butle (from butler), to beg (from beggar), to housekeep (from house-keeper), etc.

10. Morphological structure of English words. Types of morphemes. Classification of English words as to their structure and the way of building.
Word is the principal and basic unit of the language system, the largest on the morphologic and the smallest on the syntactic plane of linguistic analysis. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of form.

The word performs the following functions:
1) denotational (denotes things, qualities, actions, etc);
2) generalizing function (e. g. tree, house, animal);
3) emotive function (expresses our feelings and emotions);
4) structural function (performs a certain syntactic function, is a part of a sentence).

The word is the smallest meaningful unit possessing the following features:
1) isolatability, i. e. ability of a word to function in communication alone, to make a sentence, e. g. ‘Help! ’ This distinguishes a word from another meaningful unit – a morpheme, which cannot be used in isolation. It can function only as a part of a word.
2) indivisibility, i. e. a word cannot be further divided without breaking its meaning. Cf. asleep – a (sound) sleep, alive – a (quiet) life.
3) positional mobility, i. e. a word can change its position in a sentence. E. g. Suddenly they came up to a house. They came up to a house suddenly. Up to a house they suddenly came.

The word is a two-facet unit combining meaning and form. The relationship between the two is denoted by the term motivation. If the connection between the meaning of a word and its form is clear and the form helps us to understand the meaning, the word is considered motivated. If the connection is conventional, the word is said to be non-motivated at the present stage of language development. There are three types of motivation:
1) Phonetic, the sound form of the word helps us to understand its meaning, e. g. bang, bump, hiss, cuckoo, etc.
2) Morphological, the morphemic composition of a word helps to understand its meaning, e. g. ex+ noun = former …; re+ verb = do again; verb+er = agent, doer of the action.
3) Figurative meaning of a word becomes clear through its direct meaning, e. g. the leg of the table, the foot of the mountain, the eye of the needle.
Classifications.
According to their function and meaning affixes are divided into lexical (derivational) and grammatical (functional). Grammatical ones help to form grammar forms of the same lexeme & also called endings. Lexical affixes serve to form new words. If a word is stripped of a functional affix what remains is called a stem. If a stem is homonymous to the word it’s called a simple stem.
According to the number of morphemes words can be classified into monomorphic (consist of 1 root morpheme: dog, small) and polymorphic (at least 2 root morphemes: pen-holder).
According to the stem and the type of formation, words are divided into:
1) simple words;
2) derivatives (root + 1, 2 affixes);
3) compounds (2 or more roots)      ;
4) derivational compounds (heart-shaped);
5) shortened words;
6) abbreviations.

11. American English. The main differences between British and American English in the sphere of vocabulary.
           AmE is the variety of language spoken in the USA. It has a standard which comprises the most noticeable features of the variety as different from BrE including accent, grammar, vocabulary and spelling. The variant is called standard American.
           English was imported into America at the beginning of the XVII century. The first settlers spoke the Southern variety of BrE and mostly lived on the North-Eastern coast. Their accent is still preserved in the New England. By the end of the XVIII century AmE was so different from BrE that the term “Americanism” was introduced by American linguists.
           Americanisms are mostly features of vocabulary that developed in AmE. There are 3 types:
1) words that are used in AmE only (e. g. wrench, skillet);
2) words that appeared in AmE but came into use in other varieties;
3) words that exist both in BrE and AmE but have different meanings (e. g. subway).
           The first period of AmE development is from the beginning of the XVII century up to 1790 (Colonial period). The main reason for English to develop new vocabulary in the first period was a great number of new cultural, natural and social concepts people needed words for. This resulted in extensive borrowing from the Native American languages as well as from the languages of other European immigrants who were also working in America. Second period – 1790-1860 – time of expansion to the west and to the south where there were a lot of Spanish speakers, which was the greatest influence of that time. Third period – 1860 up to now – 2 major influences:
1) ethnical variety of immigrants has constantly been increasing and AmE has borrowed and is still borrowing words from Slavonic, Oriental and other languages;
2) technological advancement.
           American spelling differs from BrE spelling largely due to one man – Noah Webster. In 1783 he wrote the American spelling book in which he wanted to simplify the spelling, standardize it and thus to promote AmE as intentionally different from BrE.
           The characteristic features of Standard AmE pronunciation are:
1) sound [ɹ ] is heard whenever there is letter “r”;
2) short sound [o] is not rounded;
3) in words like grass (e. g. class, dance, laugh, can’t, fast) wide [æ ] is heard;
4) in words like suit (e. g. Tuesday, duke, due) [u] is pronounced instead of [ju];
           American vocabulary has about 6000 units which are different from BrE (Americanisms of 1 and 2 type). Some words have preserved the original meanings (e. g. skunk); others had developed more modern meanings associated with the present-day life (e. g. “caucus” used to be a Native American gathering, now it means a political meeting).

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