Linguistic Flashcards

Semasiology and Meaning

• Semasiology is the study of word meaning in linguistics.

• Focuses on how meaning is formed and interpreted.

Types of Meaning

• Grammatical Meaning

  • Meaning conveyed by grammatical forms.

  • Examples include tense, number, mood, and case.

  • $cats$ indicates more than one cat.

• Lexical Meaning

  • Meaning a word carries independently.

  • Reflects the concept the word represents.

  • $cat$ refers to a domesticated animal.

• Denotational Meaning

  • Objective, dictionary meaning of a word.

  • Meaning agreed upon by speakers of a language.

• Connotational Meaning

  • Emotional, cultural, or stylistic associations of a word.

  • $home$ denotes a place of residence but connotes warmth.

Semantic Change

• Semantic change is the evolution of word meanings over time.

• Occurs due to historical, social, psychological, and cultural factors.

Nature of Semantic Change

• Broadening (Generalization)

  • Word meaning expands to include more referents.

  • $holiday$ once referred to religious festivals but now includes any day of rest.

• Narrowing (Specialization)

  • Word meaning becomes more specific.

  • $meat$ used to mean any kind of food but now refers only to animal flesh.

• Amelioration

  • Word takes on a more positive meaning.

  • $knight$ originally meant servant but later signified a noble warrior.

• Pejoration

  • Meaning becomes more negative.

  • $silly$ once meant happy but now means foolish.

• Semantic Shift

  • Word changes its meaning entirely.

  • $girl$ once referred to a child of either gender but now only to a female child.

Results of Semantic Change

• Polysemy

  • Single word has multiple related meanings.

  • $head$ refers to a body part, leader, or top of an object.

• Homonyms

  • Different words with the same form but different meanings.

  • Can cause ambiguity.

• Obsolescence

  • Certain word meanings become archaic.

• Reflects broader social and cultural changes.

Semantic Classifications of English Words

• Semantic relations classify words based on meaning relationships.

Homonymy

• Words with the same form but different meanings and origins.

• Homophones

  • Sound the same but spelled differently.

  • $pair$ and $pear$

• Homographs

  • Spelled the same but pronounced differently.

  • $lead$ (to guide) and $lead$ (the metal)

• Complete Homonyms

  • Identical in sound and spelling but unrelated meanings.

  • $bat$ (animal) and $bat$ (sports equipment)

Synonymy

• Words with the same or similar meanings.

• Can be used interchangeably, but differ in connotation or context.

• $begin$ and $start$ are synonyms.

• Absolute Synonyms

  • Completely identical in meaning are rare.

• Relative Synonyms

  • Share core meanings but differ in tone or usage.

Antonymy

• Words with opposite meanings.

• Gradable Antonyms

  • Allow for degrees.

  • $hot$ and $cold$

• Complementary Antonyms

  • Exclude each other.

  • $dead$ and $alive$

• Relational Antonyms

  • Describe the same situation from opposite perspectives.

  • $buy$ and $sell$

Word-Formation

• Word-formation is creating new words in a language.

Suffixation

• Adding a suffix to the end of a word.

• $beauty$ becomes $beautiful$ with the suffix -ful.

• Derivational suffixes change meaning or part of speech (-ness, -ment, -able).

• Inflectional suffixes express grammatical features (-s, -ed, -ing), but are not considered part of word-formation proper.

Prefixation

• Adding a prefix to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning.

• Prefixes often express negation, time, order, repetition, degree, or position.

• $happy$ becomes $unhappy$ with the prefix $un-$.

• $do$ becomes $redo$ with the prefix $re-$.

Compounding

• Combining two or more independent words to form a new word.

• Compound functions as a single lexical unit.

• Compound Nouns: toothbrush (tooth + brush), blackboard (black + board).

• Compound Adjectives: part-time, well-known.

• Compound Verbs: to babysit, to proofread.

Types of Compounds

• Closed Compounds: written as one word (e.g., notebook, sunflower).

• Hyphenated Compounds: connected with a hyphen (e.g., mother-in-law, well-being).

• Open Compounds: written as separate words (e.g., high school, ice cream).

• Meanings can be transparent (bedroom) or opaque (butterfly).

Conversion and Shortening

• Conversion (Zero Derivation) is changing a word's grammatical category without changing its form.

Common Types of Conversion

• Noun → Verb (to bottle, to text).

• Verb → Noun (a guess, a reply).

• Adjective → Noun (a regular, a native).

• Shortening (Clipping) is forming a new word by reducing the length of an existing one.

Types of Shortening

• Back-clipping: removing the end (ad from advertisement).

• Fore-clipping: removing the beginning (phone from telephone).

• Middle-clipping: removing the middle part (flu from influenza).

• Complex clipping: combining parts of two words (sci-fi from science fiction).

English Phraseology

• English phraseology studies fixed combinations of words, or phraseological units.

• Also known as idioms, set expressions, or fixed phrases.

• Characterized by stability, idiomatic meaning, and modification inability.

Classifications of Phraseological Units (A.V. Kunin)

• Phraseological Fusions

  • Completely non-motivated expressions.

  • $to kick the bucket$ (to die), $red tape$ (bureaucracy).

• Phraseological Unities

  • Partially motivated expressions connected to the literal meaning.

  • $to break the ice$ (to initiate social interaction), $to burn one’s bridges$

• Phraseological Collocations

  • Stable combinations with limited substitutability.

  • $make a decision$, $pay attention$, $heavy rain$

• Phraseological Expressions

  • Standard, ready-made phrases.

  • $as a matter of fact$, $the sooner the better$, $practice makes perfect$

The Etymology of English Words

• Etymology is the study of word origins and historical development.

• English vocabulary consists of native words and borrowings.

Words of Native Origin

• Inherited from Old English (Anglo-Saxon).

• Basic concepts: man, wife, child, sun, earth.

• Body parts: head, hand, eye.

• Nature: stone, tree, water.

• Everyday actions: go, come, eat, sleep.

Borrowings

• Words taken from other languages.

  • Latin: info, education, manual, benefit

  • French: government, justice, courage, beauty

  • Greek: biology, philosophy, theatre, democracy

  • Norse: sky, window, egg, husband

  • Dutch: boss, cookie, dock, yacht

  • Italian: piano, opera, balcony

  • Spanish: tomato, potato, cigar, mosquito

  • German: kindergarten, hamburger, doppelgänger

  • Arabic, Hindi, Chinese: algebra, sugar, pyjamas, tea, ketchup

Etymological Doublets

• Words with the same original source but different routes.

  • Host (French) and hostile (Latin).

  • Ward (Germanic) and guard (French).

  • Cordial (French) and hearty (Germanic).

Polysemy and Homonymy

• Polysemy: single word with multiple related meanings.

• Meanings share a common origin or semantic connection.

• $head$ can mean a body part, leader, or part of something.

• Homonymy: words with the same form but unrelated meanings.

• $bat$ can mean a flying mammal or a sports equipment.

• Homophones: sea and see.

• Homographs: lead [to guide] and lead [a metal].

Semantic Classifications

• Semantic classifications explore relationships between words.

Synonymy

• Words with similar meanings.

• Synonyms differ in connotation, formality, or collocation.

• big and large are synonyms.

Antonymy

• Words with opposite meanings.

• Gradable antonyms: hot vs. cold.

• Complementary antonyms: dead vs. alive.

• Relational antonyms: buy vs. sell.

Semantic Fields

• Groups of words related by meaning.

• Semantic field of colors: red, blue, green, yellow.

• Semantic field of emotions: joy, anger, fear, sadness.

Stylistics

• Stylistics is the study of language use in different contexts for effects and attitudes.

Basic Notions

• Style: distinctive way language is used.

• Stylistic Devices: techniques for expressiveness (metaphor, simile).

• Functional Styles: varieties for social functions (scientific, journalistic).

• Register: level of formality.

• Expressive Means: elements conveying attitude (word choice, sentence structure).

• Context: shapes meaning and style.

Phono Stylistics

• Phono stylistics studies how sounds create expressive effects.

Phonetic Expressive Means

• Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds (wild and woolly).

• Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds (mad as a hatter).

• Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds (blank and think).

• Rhyme: repetition of similar sounds (cat / hat).

• Onomatopoeia: words imitating sounds (buzz).

• Intonation and Stress: express emotions, highlight info.

Stylistic Syntax

• Stylistic syntax: arrangement of words for expressiveness and impact.

Main Figures

• Parallelism: repetition of similar structures (Easy come, easy go).

• Inversion: change of normal word order (Never have I seen such beauty).

• Ellipsis: omission of words understood from context (Coming!).

• Repetition: repeating words for effect (Alone, alone, all, all alone).

• Climax (Gradation): increasing order of importance (I came, I saw, I conquered).

• Anticlimax: decreasing order of importance.

• Hypotaxis: use of subordinate clauses.

• Parataxis: placing clauses side by side without subordinating them.

• Asyndeton: omission of conjunctions.

• Polysyndeton: deliberate use of many conjunctions.

Stylistic Semasiology

• Stylistic Semasiology: Figurative language, focuses on how figurative language—tropes—shapes meaning beyond the literal level.

Basic Tropes

• Metaphor: direct comparison (Time is a thief).

• Simile: comparison using like or as (Her smile is like sunshine).

• Metonymy: replacing name with something associated (The pen is mightier than the sword).

• Synecdoche: part represents the whole (All hands on deck).

• Irony: expressing meaning by opposite language (What a pleasant day! during storm).

• Hyperbole: exaggeration (I’m so hungry I could eat a horse).

• Litotes: understatement by negation (He’s not unlike his father).

• Antithesis: contrasting ideas (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times).

Stylistic Lexicology

• Stylistic lexicology studies vocabulary for stylistic properties and effects.

Key Aspects

• Vocabulary and Style: Formal, colloquial, slang, etc.

• Stylistic Groups of Words: Neutral, formal, colloquial, slang, poetic.

• Connotative Meaning: Beyond dictionary meanings.

• Expressive and Emotive Vocabulary: words used to emphasize etc.

• Word Formation and Style: Suffixes or prefixes can influence style.

• Context and Appropriateness: Choosing right words for given context.

Functional Stylistics

• Functional stylistics studies different language used for purpose.

Functional Styles include

• Scientific style

• Publicistic style

• Official style

• Colloquial style

• Belles-lettres style

Belles-Lettres

• Focus on beauty via language and emotion

• Rich in emotive and evaluative words

• Imagery and figurative language

• Function of the belles-lettres style is esthetic.

Publicist Style and other Functional Styles

• Publicistic Style: Inform, persuade, influence, appeals to emotions and used for mass media.

• Newspaper Style: Concise, objective, informational, part of publicistic style, direct.

• Scientific Style: Objective, formal, fact explanation.

• Style of Official Documents: precise, standardized, regulates actions.

Figures of Quantity, Quality

Figures of quality: stylistic devices in which attributes are expressed in imaginative ways, based on relationship between words; divided into metaphorical and metonymical figures.
a) Metaphorical figures: based on analogy between different objects or concepts.
1. Metaphor: a direct comparison emphasizing a shared quality.
2. Simile: comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’.
3. Allegory: extended metaphor representing abstracted ideas through characters or events.
4. Personification: attributing human qualities to non-human objects or ideas.
b) Metonymical figures: based on meaning with connection; substituting one word for another related in some way.
1. Metonymy: substitutions based on associations like cause-and-effect.
2. Synecdoche: metonymic subset where part represents the whole, or vice versa.
3. Antonomasia: substituting proper name with epithet to highlight quality.

Figures of Quantity, Hyberbole, Meiosis, Litotes

Figures of quantity emphasize an element using language.
a) Hyperbole: exaggeration to express strong feelings; not meant to be literal.
b) Meiosis: understatement that minimizes importance or size; creates irony.
c) Litotes: understatement expressing positive statement through the negation of the opposite term.

Types of Epithets

• An epithet is a descriptive or phrase that express a characteristic attribute to concept, person, thing. Express vividness through language.
  a) Permanent Epithets: traditionally known attributes of what is being described, ex: Swift-footed Achilles.
  b) Temporary Epithets: spontaneously describes the context or situation that emphasizes a feature that is relevant, ex: the cold unfeeling night.
  c) Emotive Epithets: expresses feeling or attitude, conveying emotions such as contempt or affection ex: Gentle breeze, Hideous monsters.
  d) Decorative Epithets: primarily beautifies without significant content adds, ex: golden hair, silken rope.
  e) Comparative Epithets: involving comparison ex: Lion-hearted warrior., Snow-white dress.
  f) Transferred Epithets: grammatically linked to one word as describing another, creates a striking poetic effect ex: Sleepless night. Happy morning.

Periods of English in History

History of English is traced with linguistic context, with social changes.
a) Old English Period: (c 450 – 1150) Began with arrival of Germanic tribes. The language was influenced by Christian Latin, Germanic.
b) Middle English Period: (c. 1150 – 1500) Norman influence began and grammar loss was simplified/English becomes standardized. Varied in origin and more expanded
c) Early Modern English: (c. 1500 – 1700) began around Renaissance and expansion happened, English language became more flexible and expressive.
d) Modern English Period: (c 1700 – Present) vocab growth happens here in culture/tech growth and language expansion worldwide.

Old English, Phonemic Changes

Old English had rich sounds: Short, long vowels existed, /h/ was in consonant groups. Diphthongs also existed.
Palatalization: Consonant /k/ and /g/ pronounced w/ Tongue.
I-Mutation: i/j fronting or raising a vowel, caused by /I/ change
Loss: Some consonants dropped/weakened.
Reduction: Simplification from non-emphasis.

Nominal Changes Old English

Nouns: 3 gender, sing/plural, Nom./ Accus. / Gen. /Dative/instrument.
Pronouns: cases, sing/plural, 1st, 2nd.& three person.
Adjectives: Agreeing w Nomin., #, gender.
Numbers: Declined, and in agreement.

Grammatical Changes and Developments in OE Verbs

*a) Verb Classes*: Strong and Weak Verbs (Ablaut) and ( Dental suffix).
*b) Tenses*: Present and Past.
     *c) Moods*: Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive.
     *d) Person and Number*: Verb ending different for each, I,you, they, etc.
     *e) Infinitive and Participles*: Typically ended with (ing),(ed),

Middle English Phonetic Changes-

Reduction & Loss of Vowels: became schwa and lost.
Great vowel shift: affected vowel shift and pronounciations over time.
Palatalization Affrication: constant produces and affects certain phrases.
Change in Consonant Cluster: simplified over time.
Vowel Changes: vowels became more stable throughout shift.

Grammatical changes Middle English-

Simplification Case: noun cases collapsed over different periods.
Reduced Verbs Flexion: Verb ending becomes simpler over periods.
Development of definite/Indefinite: the “the” became and was more definite.
Increased preposition Use: used too many Prepositions over time.
Changes of Prenoms: changed the usage of Prenoms within time.
*Over time of shift of what language was used

Analytical form Middle English to New ME. Changes

*Auxiliary Verbs increased through time.
*Word usage increased though cases.
*Modal verbs/Prepositions: were expressed throughout this time.
*Decline vs simpler sentences throughout transition.

Early New Language PhoneticChanges

Reduced verbs/cases/nouns
“to be/Have” continued to be used.
Auxiliary support (be) began to occur

Grammatical Changes in Early New English (ENE)

*Further simplification of the case system*: -by ENE, the Old English case system was almost completely lost in nouns and adjectives.  The genitive case was largely replaced by the possessive’s (e.g., the king’s crown).
*Regular plural formation*: regular plural ended with -s becoming standard with old usage.
 *Articles*: article usage became essential to noun phases.
     *Prepositions*: new third pronouns (they) because mostly adopted.
     *Flexed Possession through Preposition*: created easier flow in phases.
         *ENE Verbs * :
     *Regularization of verb forms*: ed regular verb formations.
     *Active/Auxiliary Verbs*: Became regular though the years.
     *Modal Verbs*: common verb in usage.

New Syntax

SVO (subject, verb, object) to set grammar of a language.
Auixilary : do, have, and be were used throughout.
Negation and regular phases were used.
Subordination/Coordination: new additions added, used for longer clauses.