Lecture 3 Flashcards
ROOT
- The ultimate irreducible element
- The constituent common to all cognate forms
- The element that remains after removing all inflectional endings
STEM:
- A root + a morpheme (which marks a change in the root)
2. E.g.: ‘bound’ is the stem in ‘boundary/boundless/ness’.
BASE can be:
- The root of a word (‘bind’ in ‘binding’) 2. The stem of a word (‘bound’ in ‘bounded’,
‘boundless/ness’)3. A combination of root or stem + derivational affixes (e.g. ‘boundless’ in ‘boundlessness’)
They preserve the grammatical class of the free morpheme to which they are attached, e.g. driver (noun) – drivers (noun).
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
They may change the grammatical class of the free morpheme to which they are attached, e.g. drive (verb) – driver (noun)
DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES
‘A speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use’
the word
‘A sound or combination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or of a combination of morphemes’
the word
the word
‘One of the units of speech or writing, that native speakers of a language usually
regard as the smallest isolable meaningful element of the language, although linguists would analyze these into morphemes’
is the main unit lexicology operates with
the word
the basic linguistic unit of speech
the word
consists of one or more morphemes
the word
made of a speech sound/series of them (which have the function of phonemes)
the word
made of a single base with different inflectional elements
the word
cannot be divided into smaller units that can be used independently
the word
can fulfill a syntactic function on its own
the word
has at least one notional meaning
the word
the word can be defined by taking into account:
- its phonemic status
- its morphological status (a unit of several morphemes/or a homonym to 1 morpheme)
- its syntactic status (capable to fulfill a syntactic function on its own)
- its semantic status (a unit that has lexical meaning)
The orthographic word:
- the word described/understood in terms of alphabetic writing;
- it is a visual sign with space around it; it may/may not have a standard form; e.g.: colour/color; merry was once spelled myry, myrie, mery.
The phonological word:
the word described/understood in terms of sound;
e.g. a notion/an ocean; Snow good a tall/It’s no good at all.
The morphological word
the word described/understood in terms of form
The lexical word (aka lexeme, full word, lexical item, content word):
the word understood in terms of content (it relates to things, actions, states); in structure these words are simple (cat) or composite (blackbird, put up with, Parkinson’s disease)
The grammatical word (aka function word, form word): the word in terms of syntactic function;
- it helps to link lexical words;
- they have their own semantic systems: up and down relate to position, direction, space, time;
- before in before the war means the same as pre- in prewar;
- they can also function as affixes: shegoat, yes-man;
e.g.: conjunctions, determiners, pronouns, interjections
the word understood in terms of naming; these words establish special/unique
reference; these words are lexical; usually not listed in dictionaries.
E.g.: John (simple); Smithsonian(complex); Raging Bull (motivated).
The onomastic word:
The lexicographical word
the word understood in terms of dictionaries.
The translinguistic word:
the word understood in terms of distinct languages in which versions of the same form exist: reality, realite, realidad, realitate, realitas.
buzz word
a word used more to impress than inform: power breakfast
teapot
compound word
terms based on –ism
Americanism
terms based on –onym
(antonym, synonym)
Terms that relate to form more than to meaning
abbreviation, acronym, blend
(palindrome –madam, stunt word – yuppie, Mc Yuppie)
Terms that relate to social usage
it is a word coined on a specific occasion; many are creations of individual writers, e.g. G.B.Shaw coined the word ‘bardolatry’ (worship of Shakespeare). Sometimes these words are used for jocular-sounding words, e.g. nepotocracy, bananaphobia.
Nonce words
the term refers to words that have developed from a common ancestor, e.g. mother (En) is cognate with Mutter (Ge), English is cognate with German;
mama (Ro), madre (Sp)
Cognate words
False cognates/friends
a word that has the same or similar form in two or more languages, but different
meanings in each: (Fr) sympathique (nice, pleasant) – (It) simpatico – (En) sympathetic (compassionate, concerned); (En) cold –(Ge) kalt –(Sp)/(It) caldo (hot).
There are false friends inside a language: actual (real), present (gift), chemist (one who prepares and sells medical goods), comfort (well-being; but consolation),
concert (musical entertainment; but harmony, agreement), intelligence (intellect; but news, information).
the term refers to two words which are historically from the same source; these words are somehow different in form; these words may be used in different senses. E.g.: human-humane, mood-mode, frail-fragile (from L. fragilis), moral-morale, balm-balsam. We can also identify triplets: hotel-hostelhospital
Doublets
International words
these are words easily understood without being deliberately learned; they are
words that are known at least in some languages; they are not words that circulate through all languages.
Their origin: La, Gr, Fr, It, Sp.
the term refers to a word/expression which in form or use affect/offend against/influence contemporary standards of correctness and especially purity in a language; they are usually treated as neologisms, being non-naturalized.
Barbarism Gr. barbar (foreign)
Latin: ab initio (from the beginning), ad libitum (according to one’s will), alter idem (exactly the same),
carpe diem (sieze the day), sine die (without date), ad nauseam (to the pint of disgust).
French: coup de grace (a finishing blow) mal de mer (sea sickness), femme fatale.
Italian: dolce far niente (pleasant idleness)
REtain – REceive – Rewrite => ‘tain’ and ‘ceive’
do not have a meaning on their on, so they are not free morphemes; they are called pseudo-morphemes (morpheme false)
