Lexicology

Language Units

2019-2020

by Sirghi Angela
1
 The term unit means one of the
elements into which a whole may be
divided or analysed and which
possesses the basic properties of this
whole. The units of a vocabulary or
lexical units are two-facet (aspect)
elements possessing form and
meaning.

by Sirghi Angela 2
 The main unit of the lexical system
of a language resulting from the
association of a group of sounds with
a meaning is a word. It is the
smallest basic language unit which
can stand alone as a complete
utterance.

by Sirghi Angela 3
 The term word denotes the basic unit
of a given language resulting from the
association of a particular meaning
with a particular group of sounds
capable of a particular grammatical
employment.

A word therefore is simultaneously a

semantic, grammatical and
phonological unit

by Sirghi Angela 4
by Sirghi Angela 5
 Morphemes are parts of words,
into which words may be analysed,
and set expressions or groups of
words into which words may be
combined. (e.g., in, come, -ing,
forming incoming ).

by Sirghi Angela 6
 Unlike words, morphemes cannot be
divided into smaller meaningful units
and are functioning in speech only as
constituent parts of words. Words are
thought of as representing integer
concept, feeling or action or as having
a single referent.
The meaning of morphemes is more
abstract and more general than that
of words and at the same time they
are less autonomous.

by Sirghi Angela 7
 Morphemes are the smallest units of
meaning in a language. They
are commonly classified as:
 free morphemes (which can occur as
separate words)

 bound morphemes (which can't stand

alone as words).

by Sirghi Angela 8
 Many words in English are made up
of a single free morpheme.
 For example, each word in the
following sentence is a distinct
morpheme: "I need to go now,
but you can stay.»
None of the nine words in this
sentence can be divided into
smaller parts that are also
meaningful.
by Sirghi Angela 9
Types of Morphemes

by Sirghi Angela 10
 Free morphemes comprise simple
words (i.e. words made up of one free
morpheme) and compound words (i.e.
words made up of two free
morphemes).
 Examples:
 Simple words: the, run, on, well
 Compound words: keyboard,
greenhouse, bloodshed,
smartphone

by Sirghi Angela 11
 Bound morphemes are not free.
They cannot stand on their own in a
phrase. Bound morphemes like
pre-, un-, -ness, and -y need a free
morpheme to lean on. In the
sentence The ​pregame left me unfazed
despite its geeky happiness, each of
those bound morphemes [in red] found
a free morpheme to hook up with.
(Предигра оставила меня равнодушным, несмотря на свое
отвратительное счастье.)

by Sirghi Angela 12
 Derivatives: morphemic [môr'fēmik]
morphemically [môr'fēmik(ə)lē]
Origin: late 19th cent.: from French
morphème, from Greek morphē
‘form’, on the pattern of French
phonème ‘phoneme’

by Sirghi Angela 13
 morphology [môr'fäləjē] mor·phol·o·gy
(pl. -gies) the study of the forms of
things, in particular ■

 ■ Derivatives:
morphologic [ˌmôrfə'läjik]
morphological [ˌmôrfə'läjikəl]
morphologically [ˌmôrfə'läjik(ə)lē]
morphologist [-jist]

by Sirghi Angela 14
 Set expressions
Устойчивые выражения, Expresii fixe

 Set expressions are word groups

consisting of two or more words
whose combination is integrated so
that they are introduced in speech, so
to say, ready-made as units with a
specialised meaning of the whole that
is not understood as a mere sum total
of the meanings of the elements.

by Sirghi Angela 15
 Set expressions
(fixed expressions, idioms)
are the word-groups consisting of two or
more words, combination of which is
integrated as one unit with specialised
non-literal meaning of the whole.
 E.g. to sleep like a log, Can a leopard
change its spots?, to be busy as a bee

by Sirghi Angela 16
 Classification according to the
function:

1. Set expressions functioning

like nouns

E.g. white elephant, a skeleton in the

cupboard, brains trust, dog days

by Sirghi Angela 17
 2. Set expressions functioning
like verbs.
 Special group – phrasal verbs an idiomatic
phrase consisting of a verb and another element,.
 E.g. to break down, to bark up the
wrong tree, to give up, to make (sth)
up, to look down on.

by Sirghi Angela 18
 3. Set expressions functioning
like adjectives. A lot of them are
similes ['sɪmɪlɪ] ; expressions of
comparison- сравнение
(стилистический приём) .
 E.g. like a bull in a china shop, as
old as the hills, as mad as a hatter.

by Sirghi Angela 19
 4. Binomials [baɪ'nəumɪəl]or 'Siamese
[ˌsaɪə'miːz] twins' are expressions
(often idiomatic) where two words are
joined by a conjunction (the most
often used are 'and' or 'or').
E. g. to give and take, to wine and
dine, first and foremost, now and
then, slowly but surely, sooner or later

by Sirghi Angela 20
 5. Set expressions functioning
like adverbs
 E.g. once in a blue moon, time and
again, to drink like a fish
 6. Set expressions functioning
like interjections
 E.g. Bless (one’s) soul!, God bless
me!, Hang it(all)!.

by Sirghi Angela 21
 7. Set phrases
 E.g. Tell it to the horse marines. His
bark is worse than his bite.
 8. Proverbs – wise sayings, often
warnings,which have been passed
from generation to generation (
adages) ['ædɪʤ] афоризм. Their advice will
never be out of date.
 E.g. It’s no use crying over spilt milk.
Don’t count your chicken before they
hatch.(выводить)
by Sirghi Angela 22
 9. Familiar quotations
 E.g. Shakespeare: “Frailty,thy name is
woman.” ['freɪiti] хрупкость
[ðaɪ] archaic or dialect form of your
 Caesar: “The die is cast.”
Жребий брошен

by Sirghi Angela 23
 If, however, we look now a little
more closely into this problem, we
shall see that the boundaries
separating these sets of units are
sometimes fluid. Every living
vocabulary is constantly changing
adapting itself to the functions of
communication in the changing
world of those who use it.

by Sirghi Angela 24
 In this process the vocabulary
changes not only quantitatively by
creating new words from the
already available corpus of
morphemes and according to
existing patterns but also
qualitatively.

by Sirghi Angela 25
 In these qualitative changes new
morphemic material and new word-
building patterns come into being,
and new names sometimes adapt
features characteristic of other
sets, those of groups of words, for
instance.

by Sirghi Angela 26
 Orthographic words

 Orthographic words are written as

a sequence of letters bounded by
spaces on a page. Yet, there exist
in the English vocabulary lexical
units that are not identical with
orthographic words but equivalent
to them.

by Sirghi Angela 27
 Almost any part of speech contains
units indivisible either syntactically
or in terms of meaning, or both, but
graphically divided. A good
example is furnished by complex
prepositions: along with, as far as,
in spite of, except for, due to, by
means of, for the sake of, etc.

by Sirghi Angela 28
 The same point may be illustrated by
phrasal verbs, so numerous in English:
bring up ‘to educate’, call on ‘to visit’,
make up ‘to apply cosmetics’, ‘to
reconcile after a disagreement’ and
some other meanings, put off “to
postpone’. The semantic unity of these
verbs is manifest in the possibility to
substitute them by orthographically
single-word verbs.

by Sirghi Angela 29
 The same is true about phrasal
verbs consisting of the verbs give,
make, take and some others used
with a noun instead of its
homonymous verb alone: give a
smile, make a promise, take a walk
(cf. to smile, to promise, to walk).

by Sirghi Angela 30
 Some further examples are
furnished by compound nouns.
Sometimes they are not joined by
solid spelling or hyphenation but
written separately, although in all
other respects they do not differ
from similar one-word nominations.

by Sirghi Angela 31
 Let us take some examples
 Sometimes the two words are joined
together.
E.x. tooth + paste = toothpaste
bed + room = bedroom
 2. Sometimes they are joined using a
hyphen.
E.x. check-in
 3. Sometimes they appear as two
separate words.
E.x. full moon
by Sirghi Angela 32
 Conclusions

 To sum up: the vocabulary of a

language is not homogeneous. If we
view it as a kind of field, we shall see
that its bulk, its central part is formed
by lexical units possessing all the
distinctive features of words, i.e.
semantic, orthographic and
morphological integrity as well as the
capacity of being used in speech in
isolation.
by Sirghi Angela 33
 The marginal elements of this field
reveal only some of these features,
and yet belong to this set too.
 Thus, phrasal verbs, complex
prepositions, some compounds,
phraseological units, formulaic
expressions, etc. are divided in
spelling but are in all other respects
equivalent to words.

by Sirghi Angela 34
 Morphemes, on the other hand, a
much smaller subset of the
vocabulary, cannot be used as
separate utterances and are less
autonomous in other respects but
otherwise also function as lexical
items.

by Sirghi Angela 35
Thank you for your
attention!!!

by Sirghi Angela 36
Try this challenging common English idioms quiz focusing on clothing.
Match a line in group A with a line in group B to find the idiom. Next,
match the resulting idiom with the definition in group C.
Group A Group B Group C
to have ants the belt - --be nervous or restless
to do something at out of a hat -lose all or most of your
to hit below the drop of a hat money
to buckle your shirt - get something as if by
to be dressed to kill magic or without any effort
to fit like down - insult someone in an unfair
to lose off the cuff way
to say or do smth your belt - say or do something without
to pull something like a glove preparation or impulsively
to tighten in your pants - wear your best, most
fashionable clothes
- do something without
waiting, immediately
- live on less money, try to
live spending less money
- clothing that fits perfectly
- give complete attention to
doing something
by Sirghi Angela 37
 Give translation or explanation to these business English
collocations and idioms.

English English Russian/

Romanian
supply material provision or support; earn a living.
bring home bacon
have enough money to be able to live without financial
to be comfortably problems.
off
Informal to share (something) with another or others
to go shares to take part jointly, as in an enterprise
a sum of money saved for the future.
nest egg "I worked hard to build up a nice little nest egg”
(of a price or amount) unduly high
steep price
losing money,
to be in the red experiencing the situation of spending more money than you ea
rned
To unintentionally say or do something embarrassing, tactless,
to drop a brick or indiscreet;
to take the blame or responsibility for something that
to carry the can is wrong or has notsucceeded:
As usual, I was left to carry the can.
to pay too much for something If you bring a car into the city, y
to pay through the ou have to pay through the nose for parking it
nose
money that is paid for something immediately, when it
spot cash is delivered:
We will pay spot cash for your used car.

by Sirghi Angela 38
 Similes – find expressions for
comparing

as red as as alike/similar as
as fast/quick as to know somebody like
as sick as to drink like a
as regular as as happy as
as light as as busy as
as crazy as to live like a
to sleep like a as hungry as
to work like a to eat like a
to lie like a as pale as

by Sirghi Angela 39
by Sirghi Angela 40