1 Structurally, how many types of word can be found in the English language? Structurally, there are 4 types of words + Root words (Words have only a root morpheme in its structure) Eg house, book, de.
Trang 11 Structurally, how many types of word can be found in the English language?
Structurally, there are 4 types of words:
+ Root words (Words have only a root morpheme in its structure)
Eg: house, book, desk, plant, etc
+ Derived words (Words consist of a root and an affix or several affixes)
Eg: teacher, careless, etc
+ Compound words (Words consist of two or more stems)
Eg: mother-in-law, fanclub, etc
+ Shortenings/contracted words: (Words formed by contracting one/a certain element of an existing word or word group
Eg: MP, CIA, UNICEF, gym, etc
2 What is affixation?
Affixation is a way of word-building in which a new word is formed by adding an affix or several affixes to a/some root morpheme/morphemes
Eg:
art → artist
to care → careless (adj) → careness (n)
careful (adj) → carefully (adv)
3 What is conversion?
Conversion is a process by which a word belonging to one word class is transferred
to another word class without any morphemic change
Advs Ns: ups and downs
Conjunctions Ns: ifs
Adjs Ns: a native
Vs Ns: the walk
Adjs Vs: green, yellow
Ns Vs: access, eye
4 What is composition? How many types can compounds be classified into?
Composition/compounding: formation of new words by combining two or more
existing words
Trang 2Structurally, compounds can be divided into: neutral, morphological, & syntactic
compounds
Neutral compounds (formed by combining 2 stems without using any linking
elements):
- Simple neutral compounds (components are root words):
Eg.: house-boat, blackboard, table-tennis
- Derivational compounds (1 or more components are derived words):
Eg: clear-sighted, stage-artist, eye-opener
- Contracted compounds (1 component is a contracted word):
Eg: CIA – agent, H-bomb
Morphological compounds: formed by combining 2 stems with the help of a
linking vowel or consonant:
E.g: sportsman, handicraft
Syntactic compounds: are chunks/strings of words formed from segments of
speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech:
E.g: lady-in-waiting, know-all
Semantically, compounds can be classified into: non-idiomatic & idiomatic
compounds
Non-idiomatic compounds: whose meanings can be regarded as the sum of the
meanings of their components:
Eg: school-bag, toy-car
Idiomatic compounds: whose meanings do not correspond to the meanings of their
components:
Eg.: greengrocer, money-under-the-table, butter-fly
5 What is shortening? Clipping? Blending? Abbriviation?
Shortening: formation of new words by contracting certain elements of existing
words or word groups:
Clipping: excluding certain part of the existing word:
- Initial clipping: violoncello - cello
- Final clipping: laboratory - lab
- Initial-final clipping: detective - tec
Trang 3- Medial clipping: mathematics – maths
Abbreviations: the process in which a word is formed from the initials of the word
groups
E.g: UNO (United Nations Organization)
Blending: merging parts of existing words into one to form a new word
E.g: camera + recorder = camcorder
6 What are the main types of transference?
Two main types of transference are:
Metaphor: is the transference based on resemblance or similarity between two
things (phenomena, qualities, etc.)
• Patterns of metaphor:
- Appearance: eye - part of human body → eye of the potato.
- Position: foot - part of human body → foot of the mountain.
- Function: key - to the door → key to the exercise.
- Quality, characteristic: star - celestial body → movie star, pop star.
fox - kind of animal → foxy
Metonymy: Transference based on understood association (contiguity) or
relatedness, name of one thing is replaced with another associated with it
Patterns of metonymy:
- Container for contained: glasses/bottles
- Possessor for possessed/attribute: hand
- Geographical names for products: bordeaux, cognac
- Names of inventors for inventions: mackintosh
- Materials for products: glass, silver
- Represented entity for representative: the Kremlin, the White House
- Whole for part: the village, the city
- Part for whole: roof
7 What is specialization? Generalization? Degeneration? Elevation?
Generalization is the extension of semantic capacity of a word during its historical
development process The meaning of a word becomes more general than its historical earlier form
Eg: camp - military barracks → any place where people can stay for holiday
Trang 4Specialization is the restriction of semantic capacity of a word during its historical
development process The meaning of a word becomes less general than its earlier historical form
Eg: queen - any wife → wife of King
meat - any food in Old English → flesh taken from any animal for food
Degeneration is the acquisition of less emotive, less pleasant meaning of a word
during its historical development process The meaning of a word becomes less positive or less favorable
Eg: cunning - knowing, skillful → clever at deceiving people
Elevation is the acquisition of more emotive, more pleasant meaning of a word
during its historical development process The meaning of a word becomes more positive or more favorable
Eg: nice (ignorant) foolish delightful, pleasant
8 What is homonym? Traditionally, how many types can homonym be classified into?
Homonyms: words that are the same in pronunciation & spelling, or at least in one
of these aspects, but different in their meanings
Traditionally, homonyms can be classified into 3 types:
+ Homonyms proper: Words that are the same in sound and spelling.
Eg: Marriage is not a word but a sentence
+ Homophones: Words that are the same in sound but different in spelling.
Eg: I’ve never seen such a beautiful scene
+ Homographs: words that are the same in spelling but different in sound.
Eg: Record:
(n) facts known about a person’s past
(v) to officially state
9 According to Smirnitsky, how many types can homonym be classified into?
Full homonyms (full lexical homonyms): words which have the same category of
parts of speech and paradigm
E.g: ball (n) a gathering of people for dancing
ball (n) a round object used in games
Partial homonyms:
Trang 5Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms: words which belong to the same
category of parts of speech Their paradigms have 1 identical form, but it’s never the same form
E.g: to fell (v) – fell (v) as P1 of fall
Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms: words of different categories of
parts of speech
E.g: way (n) – weigh (v)
right (n) – right (adj)
Partial lexical homonyms: words of the same category of parts of speech which are
identical only in their corresponding forms
E.g: to lie (lay, lain)
to lie (lied, lied)
10 What are synonyms? How many types can synonyms can be classified into?
Words belong to the same part of speech and possess one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts
Ideographic synonyms: words conveying the same notion but different in shades
of meaning
E.g: lonely - alone
Stylistic synonyms: words conveying the same notion but different in stylistic
characteristics
E.g: build - construct
Absolute/perfect/complete synonyms: words coincide in all their shades of
meaning and stylistic characteristics Absolute synonyms are rare
E.g: spirant – fricative, Very Important Person - VIP
Contextual synonyms: words that are similar in meaning only under some specific
distributional conditions
E.g: It was a big love with tears and vows, and I wanted nothing serious – no tears,
no vows, no talks about the future
Dominant synonym: a central word of a group of synonyms expressing the notion
common to all synonyms of the group in the most general way, without
Trang 6contributing any additional information as to the manner, intensity, duration or any attending feature of the referent
E.g: leave – depart – quit – retire – clear out
11 What are the main types of connotations?
Connotation of intensity degree (shows how strongly/intensely an action is
performed or takes place)
E.g: to surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound
Connotation of duration
E.g: to talk – to speak
Emotive connotation
E.g: to chuckle – to sneer – to grin
Evaluative connotation: convey speaker's attitude toward the referent
(negative/positive)
E.g: team – band - gang
Causative connotation
E.g: to shudder - to shiver
Connotation of manner
E.g: to ask – to question – to interrogate
Connotation of attendant circumstances
E.g: to peep – to peer
Connotation of attendant features
E.g: flat – villa – cottage - bungalow
Stylistic connotation
E.g: man – chap/fellow – bloke/guy – gentleman
12 What are antonyms? How many types of antonyms?
Antonyms are two (rarely more) words of the part of speech which have contrasting meanings
Three types of antonyms:
Rootword (absolute) antonyms: words which are completely different in sound
and form
Gradable/polar antonyms: polar members of a gradual opposition which may have intermediate elements & always imply comparison which is clear from context:
Trang 7E.g: beautiful – pretty – good – looking – plain - ugly
Complementary antonyms: complementarity = binary opposition; may include only 2 members Denial of one member means assertion of the other
E.g: not true means false
Relational antonyms: relationship between members is reciprocal Converses denote the same subject as viewed from different points of view:
E.g: husband – wife, before – after
Derivational antonyms: words which are formed by derivation (they originate
from the same root):
E.g: code - decode
Antonymic pairs from set expressions:
E.g: by accident – on purpose
13 What are euphemisms? How to create euphemisms?
Euphemism is substitution of a mild, indirect or even a vague word or expression
for an offensive, direct or unpleasant one
Foreign words:
E.g brassiere; lingerie; urination; etc
Abbreviations:
E.g PMS (premenstrual syndrome); the F-word; LGBT; etc
Abstractions:
E.g it; problem; thing; etc
Indirectness:
E.g Go to the toilet (pooping) = excuse oneself for a few minutes, to be back shortly
Understatements:
E.g to lie = not to be completely truthful
to fire someone = to let (sb) go
to be fired = to receive a pink slip
Lengthy expressions:
E.g loss = negative contribution to profit
drug addict = get high, go on a trip, get a fix
Phonetic alterations/distortions:
Trang 8E.g F - = Fustercluck
Motherchucker
Basshole
God damn it = Dadgummit
Slang:
E.g Large amount of money = big bucks
Small change of money = chickenfeed
Event-based euphemisms: often short-lived, but some are durable.
E.g duty = sex (in the ancient Rome)
homosexuality = the passion of the cut sleeve
14 Find cases of conversion and say why you can deduce the meaning of the converted words.
1 Hand in your papers, please
Hand (n): a part of the human body
Hand (v): to pass or give something to somebody
2 The new agreement has just been inked
Ink (n): coloured liquid for writing, drawing and printing
Ink (v): to sign a document
3 Why didn’t you email me?
Email (n): a way of sending messages and data to other people
Email (v): to send a message to somebody by email
4 You should learn all the dos and donts in their families
Do (auxiliary verb): used before a full verb to form negative sentences and questions
Dos and don’ts (n): rules that you should follow
5 Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk
Talk (v): to say things
Talk (n): a conversation or discussion
Walk (v): to move or go somewhere on foot
Walk (n): a journey on foot
15 Define the type of transference used in the following proverbs.
Trang 91 Many hands make light work.
metonymy - part and the whole
2 Birds of a feather flock together.
metaphor - quality, characteristics
3 Two heads are better than one.
metonymy - part and the whole
4 Barking dogs seldom bite.
metaphor - quality, characteristics
5 Necessity is the mother of invention.
metaphor – cause and effect
6 Diamond cut diamond.
metaphor – quality, characteristics
7 There is no smoke without fire.
metaphor – cause and effect
8 Blood is thicker than water.
metaphor – quality, characteristics
9 Still waters run deep
metaphor – quality, characteristics
10.The last drop makes the cup run over
Metonymy – notion and symbol
16 Indicate the homonyms in the following extracts Classify them into homonym proper, homophones, homographs.
1 Q: Where does this road lead to?
A: A lead mine
Lead (v) – lead (n): homographs
2 Why was six scared of seven?
Because seven ‘ate’ nine
Eight – ate (v): homophones
3 Q: Why did the Tomato go out with a prune?
A: Because he could find a date!
Date (n) – Date (n): homonym proper
4 Q: What happens to grapes when you step on them?
Trang 10A: They whine.
Whine (v) – Wine (n): homophones
5 A: Why did he refuse to eat the food?
B: He thought it refuse
Refuse (n) – Refuse (v): homographs
17 Provide homonyms for the italicized words in the following jokes and classify in accordance with Smirnisky’s view.
1 A: My friend’s dog has chased and snapped a bird
B: a little swallow
Swallow – uncoutable N
Swallow – countable N
Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms
2 A: She contracted a lust for money
B: Any change?
Change – uncoutable N
Change – countable N
Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms
3 A: How do athletes stay cool during a game?
B: They stand near the fans
Fan – coutable N
Fan – coutable N
Full homonyms
4 A: What lights up a football pitch at night?
B: A football match
Match – coutable N
Match – coutable N
Full homonyms
5 A: What do oceans often say to each other?
B: Nothing They just wave
Wave (n) – Wave (v) Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms
18 Decide the way through which the following euphemisms were created
• Oh my gosh, Frickin, "Darn", "Oh, shoot"
Trang 11Phonetic distortion
• Not so big for "short"
Understatement
• Not true for a lie; hurt for injured
Understatement
• Janitor (Latin) for doorman
Foreign word
• Uncertain period or transition to democracy for military coup d'état
Lengthy expression
• It for excrement
Abstraction
• Going to the other side for death
Lengthy expression
• Drinking for consuming alcohol, "men's room" for men's toilet
Abstraction
• Inspired by instead of "ripped off" or "plagiarized"
Understatement
• Hooked up, laid for sexual intercourse; hooker for prostitute
Slang
• STD for sexually transmitted diseases
Abbreviation
19 Find the antonyms in the following sayings Classify them into subgroups.
1 In harmony with the inner and so with the outer, with causes in harmony with conditions, in peace and well-being one is truly free
Inner – outer: Complementary antonyms
2 The relationship between a husband and a wife is governed by martial arts, not logic
Husband – wife: Relational antonyms
3 To criticize less and praise more is a good way to avoid creating nagative karma
of speech
Criticize – praise: Complementary antonyms