Basic criteria of semantic derivation in conversion

There are different criteria if differentiating between the source and the derived word in a conversion pair.
1. The criterion of the non-correspondence between the lexical meaning of the root-morpheme and the part-of-the speech meaning of the stem in one of the two words in a conversion pair. This criterion cannot be implied to abstract nouns. In the pair father < n > — father (v). the noun is the name for a being. The lexical meaning of the root-morpheme corresponds to the part-of-speech meaning of the stem. The verb to father denotes a process, therefore the part-of-speech meaning of its stem does not correspond to the lexical meaning of the root which is of a substantive character. This distinction accounts for a complex character of the semantic structure of verbs of this type. Due to the fact that the semantically simple is the source of the semantically complex, the verb to father can be considered the derived member in the conversion pair in question.

2. The synonymity criterion is based on the comparison of a conversion pair with analogous synonymous word-pairs (e.g. comparing to chat – chat with synonymous pair of words to converse – conversation, it becomes obvious that the noun chat is the derived member as their semantic relations are similar). This criterion can be applied only to deverbal substantives.
3. The criterion of derivational relations. In the word-cluster hand – to hand – handful – handy the derived words of the first degree of derivation have suffixes added to the nominal base. Thus, the noun hand is the center of the word-cluster. This fact makes it possible to conclude that the verb to hand is the derived member.
4. The criterion of semantic derivation is based on semantic relations within the conversion pairs. If the semantic relations are typical of denominal verbs – verb is the derived member, but if they are typical of deverbal nouns – noun is the derived member (e.g. crowd – to crowd are perceived as those of ‘an object and an action characteristic of an object’ – the verb is the derived member).
5. According to the criterion of the frequency of occurrence a lower frequency value shows the derived character. (e.g. to answer (63%) – answer (35%) – the noun answer is the derived member).
6. The transformational criterion is based on the transformation of the predicative syntagma into a nominal syntagma (e.g. Mike visited his friends. – Mike’s visit to his friends. – then it is the noun that is derived member, but if we can’t transform the sentence, noun cannot be regarded as a derived member).

16. Word-composition. Specific feature of English compounds. Classification of compound words.
Word-composition is the type of word-formation in which new words are produced by combining two or more Immediate Constituents which are both derivational bases. The ICs of compound words represent bases of all three structural types: I) bases that coincide with morphological stems; 2) bases that coincide with word-forms; 3) bases that coincide with word-groups. The bases built on stems may be of different degrees of complexity: 1) simple, week-end; 2) derived, letter-writer. 3) compound, aircraft-carrier. The meaning of a compound word is made up of two components: structural and lexical.

Compound words can be classified according to different principles.

1) Acc to the relations between the ICs compound words fall into two classes: 1) coordinative compounds 2) subordinative compounds. In coordinative compounds the two ICs are semantically equally important. The coordinative compounds fall into three groups:

· reduplicative compounds which are made up by the repetition of the same base. e.g. pooh-pooh, fifty-fifty',

· compounds formed by joining the phonically variated rhythmic twin forms, e.g. chit-chat. zig-zag walkie-talkie. clap-trap;

· additive compounds which are built on stems of the independently functioning words of the same part of speech, actor-manager. queen-bee.

In subordinative compounds the components are neither structurally nor semantically equal in importance but are based on the domination of the head-member which is. as a rule, the second IC. e.g. stone-deaf age-long. The second IC preconditions the part-of-speech meaning of the whole compound.

2) Acc to the part of speech compounds represent they fall into: compound nouns, sunbeam, maidservant. compound adjectives heart-free, far-reaching'. compound pronouns, somebody, nothing: compound adverbs, nowhere, inside’. compound verbs, to offset.

3) Acc to the means of composition:

· compounds composed without connecting elements, e.g. heartache, dog-house‘s

· compounds composed with the help of a vowel or a consonant as a linking element, handicraft. speedometer. statesman;

· compounds composed with the help of linking elements represented by preposition or conjunction stems, e.g. son-in-law, pepper-and-salt.

4) Acc to the type of bases that form compounds:

· compounds proper that are formed by joining together bases built on the stems or on the word-forms with or without a linking element, e.g. door-step. street-fighting;

· derivational compounds that are formed by joining affixes to the bases built on the word-groups or by converting the bases built on the word-groups into other pans of speech, e.g. long-legged -»(long legs) + + -ed: a turnkey -* (to turn key) + conversion. Thus, derivational compounds fall into two groups: a) derivational compounds mainly formed with the help of the suffixes -ed and –er narrow-minded, doll-faced, lefthander. b) derivational compounds formed by conversion applied to bases built, as a rule, on three types of phrases — verbal-adverbial phrases (a breakdown), verbal-nominal phrases (a kill-joy) and attributive phrases (a sweet-tooth).

1.Neutral compounds-realised without any linking elements: blackbird, bedroom, tallboy, etc. simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affixless stems. derived or derivational compounds have affixes: absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired. contracted compounds have a shortened stem in their structure: TV-set.. 2.Morphological compounds- two compounding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, Anglo-Saxon, handiwork.3. Syntactic compounds are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs(lily-of-the-valley) The compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the separate meanings of their constituent parts are called idiomatic (lady-killer), in contrast to non-idiomatic.

17. The meaning of compound words. Motivation.
Composition - type of word-building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the three most productive types in Modern English. Word-composition is the type of word-formation in which new words are produced by combining two or more Immediate Constituents which are both derivational bases. The ICs of compound words represent bases of all three structural types: I) bases that coincide with morphological stems; 2) bases that coincide with word-forms; 3) bases that coincide with word-groups. The bases built on stems may be of different degrees of complexity: 1) simple, week-end; 2) derived, letter-writer. 3) compound, aircraft-carrier. The meaning of a compound word is made up of two components: structural and lexical.

The structural meaning of compounds is formed on the base of;

1)the meaning of their distributional pattern and 2) the meaning of their derivational pattern.

The distributional pattern of a compound is understood as the order and arrangement of the ICs that constitute a compound word. A change in the order and arrangement of the same ICs signals the compound words of different lexical meanings, cf.; a fruit-market (market where fruit is sold) and market-fruit (‘fruit designed for selling). A change in the order and arrangement of the ICs that form a compound may destroy its meaning. Thus, the distributional pattern of a compound carries a certain meaning of its own which is largely independent of the actual lexical meaning of their ICs.

The meaning of the derivational pattern of compounds can be abstracted and described through the interrelation of their ICs. For example, the derivational pattern n + underlying the compound adjectives duty-bound, wind-driven. mud-stained conveys the generalized meaning of instrumental or relations which can be interpreted as 'done by' or with the help of something. Derivational patterns in compounds may be monosemantic and polysemantic. For example, the pattern n + n —> N conveys the following semantic relations: I) of purpose, e.g. bookshelf. 2) of resemblance, e.g. needlefish; 3) of instrument or agent, e.g. windmill, sunrise.

The lexical meaning of compounds is formed on the base of the combined lexical meanings of their constituents. The semantic center of the compound is the lexical meaning of the second component modified and restricted by the meaning of the first. The lexical meanings of both components arc closely fused together to create a new semantic unit with a new meaning, which dominates the individual meanings of the bases, and is characterized by some additional component not found in any of the bases. For instance, the lexical meaning of the compound word handbag is not essentially ‘a bag designed to be carried in the hand' but ‘a woman's small bag to carry everyday personal items’.

18. Shortening of words and phrases. Classification of shortened words.
Shortening.This comparatively new way of word-building has achieved a high degree of productivity nowadays, especially in American English.Shortenings (or contracted/curtailed words) are produced in two different ways. The first is to make a new word from a syllable (rarer, two) of the original word. The latter may lose its beginning (as in phone made from telephone, fence from defence), its ending (as in hols from holidays, vac from vacation, props from properties, ad from advertisement) or both the beginning and ending (as in flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator).

The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word group: U.N.O. ['ju:neu] from the United Nations Organisation, B.B.C. from the British Broadcasting Corporation, M.P. from Member of Parliament. This type is called initial shortenings. They are found not only among formal words, such as the ones above, but also among colloquialisms and slang. So, g. f. is a shortened word made from the compound girl-friend.

Both types of shortenings are characteristic of informal speech in general and of uncultivated speech particularly. The history of the American okay seems to be rather typical. Originally this initial shortening was spelt O.K. and was supposed to stand for all correct. The purely oral manner in which sounds were recorded for letters resulted in O.K. whereas it should have been AC.

Here are some more examples of informal shortenings. Movie (from moving-picture), gent (from gentleman), specs (from spectacles), circs (from circumstances, e. g. under the circs), I. O. Y. (a written acknowledgement of debt, made from I owe you), lib (from liberty, as in May I take the lib of saying something to you?), cert (from certainty, as in This enterprise is a cert if you have a bit of capital), metrop (from metropoly, e. g. Paris is a gay metrop), exhibish (from exhibition), posish (from position).

Undergraduates' informal speech abounds in words of the type: exam, lab, prof, vac, hol, co-ed (a girl student at a coeducational school or college).

Shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word. According to the part of the word that is cut off (initial, middle or final) there are the following types of shortenings: 1) initial (oraphesis). e.g .fend (v) < defend, phone < telephone; 2) medial (or syncope), e.g. specs < spectacles, fancy < fantasy, 3) final (or apocope), e.g. ad. advert < advertisement, veg < vegetables. 3)both initial and final, e.g. flu < influenza, fridge < refrigerator.

Date: 2016-01-20; view: 2734; Нарушение авторских прав