TEMA 45- EL LÉXICO INGLÉS. ESTRUCTURA Y FORMACIÓN DE LAS PALABRAS. PRÉSTAMOS

TOPIC 45: ENGLISH VOCABULARY. WORD STRUCTURE AND FORMATION. LOAN WORDS

English vocabulary:

The vocabulary of a widely diffused and highly cultivated living language is not a fixed quantity circumscribed by definite limits. English vocabulary contains a nucleus or central mass of many thousand words whose Anglicity is unquestioned, some of them only literary, some of them only colloquial, the great majority at once literary and colloquial. They are the common words of the language. They are linked with other words which pertain to the domain of local dialect, of the slang, of the peculiar technicalities of trades and processes, of the scientific terminology common to all civilized nations, and of the actual languages of other lands and peoples. There is no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference. In addition to the common vocabulary, there is an indefinite number of proper or merely denotative names. The constituent elements of vocabulary are in a state of slow but incessant dissolution and renovation: old words are ever becoming obsolete and dying out; new words are continually pressing in. There are many words of which it is doubtful whether they are still to be considered as part of the living language. They are alive to some speakers and dead to others, and on the other hand there are many claimants to ission into the recognized vocabulary.

Word- formation:

The main process of English word-formation by which a base may be modified are:

1. Affixation:

a) Adding a prefix to the base with or without a change of word-class: author- co-author.

b) Adding a suffix to the base with or without a change of word-class: drivedriver.

2. Conversion: Asg the base to a different word-class without changing its form. There is zero affixation drive (n)- drive (v)

3. Compounding: Adding one base to another (tea + pot- teapot)

Apart from these major word-formation processes. English has a number of minor devices: backformations, clippings, blends, reduplication and acronyms, as means of forming new words on the basis of old.

Prefixation:

Prefixes do not generally alter the word-class of the base. Productive prefixes normally have a light stress on their first or only syllable, the main stress of the words coming on the base. f.i: pre fabricated

1. Negative prefixes:

-

UN-: “the opposite of” “not”: unfair, unexpected

-

NON-: “not”: non-smoker, non-drip

-

IN-: (as for un-): insane

-

DIS-: (as for un-): insane

-

A-: “lacking in”: amoral, asymmetry

IN- is realized as IL- before l: illogical, IM- before bilabials: improper and IR- before r: irrelevant

2. Reversative or privative prefixes:

-

UN-: “to reverse action”, “to deprive of”: untie, unhorse

-

DE-: “to reverse action”: defrost, deforestation

-

DIS-: (as for un-): disconnect, discoloured, discontent

3. Pejorative prefixes:

-

MIS-: “wrongly”, “astray”: misinform, misconduct, misleading

-

MAL-: “bad(ly)”: maltreat, malfunction, malformed, malodorous

-

PSEUDO-: “false” “imitation”: pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-religious

4. Prefixes of degree or size:

-

ARCH-: “highest, worst”: archduke, archenemy

-

SUPER-:”above,

more

than,

better”:

superman,

supermarket,

supernatural -

OUT-: “to do sth. faster, longer than etc.”: outrun, outlive

-

SUR-: “over and above”: surtax

-

SUB-: “lower than, less than”: subhuman, substandard

-

OVER-: “too much”: overeat, overdressed overconfident

-

UNDER-: “to little”: undercook, underprivileged

-

HYPER-: “extremely”: hypercritical

-

ULTRA-: “extremely, beyond”: ultra-violet, ultra-modern

-

MINI-: “little”: miniskirt

5. Prefixes of attitude:

-

CO-: “with, t”: cooperate, co-pilot

-

COUNTER-: “in opposition to”: counteract, counter-revolution

-

ANTI-: “against”: anti-social, anti-clockwise

-

PRO-: “on the other side of”: pro-communist

6. Locative prefixes:

-

SUPER-: “over”: superstructure

-

SUB-: “beneath, lesser in rank”: subway, sublet, subconscious

-

INTER-: “between, among”: international, intermarry, interaction

-

TRANS-: “across, from one place to another”: transatlantic

7. Prefixes of time and order:

-

FORE-: “before”: foretell, foreknowledge

-

PRE-: “before”: pre-war, pre-marital

-

POST-: “after”: post-war, post-classical

-

EX-: “former”: ex-husband

-

RE-: “again, back”: rebuild, resettlement

8. Number prefixes:

-

UNI-, MONO-: “one”: unilateral, monotheism.

-

BI-, DI-: “two”: bilingual, dipole

-

TRI-: “three”: tripartite

-

MULTI-, POLY-: “many”: multi-racial, polysyllabic

9. Other prefixes:

-

AUTO-: “self”: autobiography

-

NEO-: “new, revived”: neo-Gothic

-

PAN-: “all, world-wide”: pan-African

-

PROTO-: “first, original”: prototype

-

SEMI-: “half”: semicircle

-

VICE-: “deputy”: vice-president

10. Conversion prefixes:

-

BE-: Nouns-participal adjectives: bespectacled, bewigged Verbs/adj./nouns-transitive verbs: bedazzle, becalm, bewitch

-

EN-: Nouns-verbs: enslave

-

A-: Verbs- predicative adjectives: afloat

Suffixation: Unlike prefixes, suffixes frequently alter the word-class of the base, f.i: the adjective kind by the addition of the suffix –ness is changed into and abstract noun: kindness.

1. Noun- Noun suffixes:

A. Occupational:

-

-STER, -EER: “person engaged in an occupation or activity”: gangster, engineer

-

-ER: varied meanings “inhabitants of X”: teenager, Londoner

B. Diminutive or feminine:

-

-LET: “small, unimportant”: booklet, piglet

-

-ETTE: “small, compact”: kitchenette, statuette or “imitation of material”: flannelette or female: “usherette.

-

-ESS: “female”: waitress

-

-Y, -IE: daddy, auntie

C. Status, domain:

-

-HOOD: “status”: boyhood

-

-SHIP: “status, condition”: friendship, dictatorship

-

-DOM: “domain, condition”: kingdom, stardom

-

-OCRACY: “system of government”: democracy

-

- (E)RY: “behaviour”: slavery, “place of activity or abode”: refinery, nunnery, “collectivity”: machinery

D. Other:

-

-ING: “the substance of which N is composed”: ling

-

-FUL: “the amount which N contains ”: mouthful, spoonful

2. Noun/adjective- Noun/adjective suffixes:

-

-ITE: “member of community, faction, type”: Israelite, socialite

-

-(I)AN: “pertaining to”: Indonesian, republican

-

-ESE: “nationality”: Chinese

-

-IST: “member of a party, occupation”: socialist, violinist

-

- ISM: “attitude, political movement”: idealism, communism

3. Verb- Noun affixes:

-

-ER, -OR: “agentive and instrumental”: driver, actor

-

-ANT: “agentive and instrumental”: inhabitant, disinfectant

-

-EE: “ive”: employee, payee, trainee

-

-ATION: “state, action”: exploration, “institution”: organization

-

- MENT: “state, action”: amazement

-

-AL: “action”: refusal, dismissal

-

-ING: “activity”: driving, “result of activity”: building

-

-AGE: “activity, result of activity”: drainage

4. Adjective- Noun suffixes:

-

-NESS: “state, quality”: happiness

-

-ITY: “state, quality”: sanity

5. Verb suffixes:

-

-IFY: “causative meaning”: simplify

-

-IZE or –ISE (Br.E.): “causative”: popularize

-

-EN: “causative” deafen, “becomes X” sadden

6. Noun- Adjective suffixes:

-

-FUL: “having, giving”: useful, helpful

-

-LESS: “without”: childless

-

-LY: “having the qualities of”: cowardly

-

-LIKE: “having the qualities of”: childlike

-

-Y: “like”: creamy, “covered with”: hairy

-

-ISH: “belonging to”: Turkish, “having the character of”: foolish

-

-IAN: “in the tradition of”: Darwinian

7. Some adjective suffixes common in borrowed and neoclassical words:

-

-AL (also -IAL,- ICAL): criminal, musical

-

-IC: heroic

-

-IVE (also -ATIVE,- ITIVE): attractive, sensitive

-

-OUS (also -EOUS,- IOUS): virtuous, courteous, vivacious

8. Other adjective suffixes:

-

-ABLE, -IBLE: “able, worthy to be V-ed”: readable, forcible

-

-ISH: “somewhat”: youngish

-

-ED: “having”: balconied

9. Adverb suffixes:

-

-LY: “in a … manner”: happily

-

-WARD(S): “manner, direction”: backwards

-

-WISE: “in the manner of….”: crabwise, “ as far as … is concerned”: weather-wise

Conversion:

1. Verb- Noun:

-

“state” (from stative verbs to nouns): doubt, love

-

“event, activity” (from dynamic verbs): laugh, walk

-

“object of V”: answer, catch

-

“subject of V”: bore, cheat

-

“instrument of V”: cover, wrap

-

“Manner of V-ing”: throw, walk

-

“Place of V-ing”: retreat, turn

2. Adjective- Noun: daily (daily newspaper), comic (comic actor), (young) marrieds ( young married people)

3. Noun- Verb:

-

“to put in/on N”: bottle, corner

-

“to give N, to provide with N”: coat, mask

-

“to deprive of N”: peel, skin

-

“ to ….with N as instrument”: brake, knife

-

“ to be/act as N with respect to…”: nurse, referee

-

“ to make/change…into N”: cash, cripple

-

“ to send or go by N”: mail, ship, bicycle, motor

4. Adjective- Verb:

-

“to make (more) adj.” with transitive verbs: calm, dirty

-

“to become adj.” with intransitive verbs: dry, empty

5. Minor categories of conversion:

a) Conversion from closed-system words to nouns:

-

This book is a must for the students of aerodynamics

b) Conversion from phrases to nouns:

- Whenever I gamble, my horse is one of the also-rans.

c) Conversion from phrases to adjectives:

- I feel very under-the-weather

d) Conversion from affixes to nouns:

-

Patriotism, and any other isms you´ d like to name

Approximate Conversion:

In some cases, conversion is approximate rather than complete. The word may undergo a slight change of pronunciation or spelling.

1. Voicing of final consonant: (noun-verb): advice/s/-advise/s/, thief /f/-thieve /v/, house/s/-house/z/.

2. Shift of stress: When verbs of 2 syllables are converted into nouns, the stress is sometimes shifted from the 2nd to the 1st syllable: conduct, contrast, export, import, permit, produce, record, refuse.

Compounds:

2. Noun Compounds:

A. Subject and verb compounds:

-

Noun + deverbal noun: sunrise (the sun rises)

-

Verb+ noun: rattlesnake (the snake rattles)

-

Verbal noun + noun: dancing girl (the girl dances)

B. Verb and object compounds:

-

Noun + Verbal noun: sightseeing (X sees sights)

-

Noun+ agentive or instrumental noun: taxpayer (X pays taxes)

-

Noun + deverbal noun: blood test (X tests blood)

-

Verb+ noun: call-girl (X calls the girl)

-

Verbal noun + noun: chewing gum (X chews gum)

C. Verb and adverbial compounds:

-

Verbal noun + noun: swimming pool (X swims in the pool)

-

Noun + verbal noun: daydreaming (X dreams during the day)

-

Noun + agentive noun: baby-sitter (X sits with the baby)

-

Noun + deverbal noun: homework (X works at home)

-

Noun + noun: searchlight (X searches with a light)

D. Verbless compounds:

-

Noun + noun: windmill (the wind (powers) the mill)

-

Noun + noun: toy factory (the factory (produces) toys)

-

Noun + noun: bloodstain (the blood (produces) stains)

-

Noun + noun: door knob (the door (has) a knob)

-

Noun + noun: girlfriend (the friend (is) a girl)

-

Adjective + noun: darkroom (the room (is) dark)

-

Noun + noun: frogman (the man (is) like a frog)

-

Noun + noun: snowflake (the flake (consists) of snow)

-

Noun + noun: ashtray (the tray (is) for ash)

3. Adjective Compounds:

A. Verb and object compounds:

-

Noun + ing participle: man-eating (X eats men)

B. Verb and adverbial compounds:

- Noun + ing participle: ocean-going (X goes across oceans) - Noun + ed participle: heartfelt (X feels it in the heart) - Adjective/adverb + ing participle: hard-working (X works hard) - Adjective/adverb + ed participle: quick-frozen (X is frozen quickly)

C. Verbless compounds:

-

Noun + adjective: class-conscious (X is conscious with respect to class)

-

Noun + adjective: grass-green (X is like green grass)

-

Adjective + adjective: British- American (the British and the American tly)

4. Verb Compounds:

-

Noun + verb: sightsee (X sees sights)

-

Noun + verb: spring-clean (X cleans in the spring)

These are examples of backformations.

Back-formations:

Sightsee (s.o. sees sights), lip-read, baby-sit, sleep-walk (s.o. walks asleep, house-hunt, house-keep (s.o. keeps the house). These words come from such nouns as sightseeing and from a historical point of view cannot be describes as noun + verb compounds.

Clipping or Shortening:

It involves removing one or more syllables (often the unstressed ones) from a word. It is particularly frequent in informal speech and especially in the speech of children and young people.

a) Syllables may be removed from the beginning of the word: Telephone/phone, omnibus/ bus, aeroplane/ plane

b) Syllables may be removed from the end of the word: ment/ ad(vert), photograph/ photo, examination/ exam, publican house/ pub, zoological gardens/zoo, bicycle/bike. It is very common in Christian names: William/ Will, Bill, Benjamin/Ben, Philip/Phil, some of them have a pet ending in –y or -ie: Victoria/ Vicky. Emilia/Emmy, in place names: The Trocadero/ The Troc, The Pavillion/ The Pav, The Victoria theatre/ The Vic and in medical words: doctor/ doc, veterinarian surgeon/ vet, laboratory/ lab.

c) Syllables may be removed from both ends of the word: influenza/ flu, refrigerator/ fridge, Elizabeth/Liz.

Blends or portmanteau words:

In a blend 2 words have been fused, only a part of each remains and the meaning and resulting form is a combination of those in the component words.

a) Formed by the first part of one word and the last part of the other:

-

Smog = smoke + fog

-

Brunch = breakfast + lunch

-

Motel = motorist + hotel

-

Breathalyser = breath + analyser

-

Electrocute = electric +execute

-

Eurovision = European + television

-

Swatch = Swiss + watch

-

Chunnel = Channel + tunnel

b) Formed by the beginning of the 2 words:

-

Moped: motorized + pedal assisted bicycle

-

Interpol = International + police

Reduplicatives or alliterative words:

There are compounds in which 2 or more elements are either identical or only slightly different. They are rather informal or familiar.

1.

The most common use is found in onomatopoeic words: tick-tock

(of clock), ding-dong (door bell), hee-haw (donkey) 2.

They can also suggest alternating movements: flip-flops, zig-zag,

see-saw. 3.

Instability and vacillation: shilly-shally, dilly-dally, helter-skelter

4.

To intensify: tip-top

Acronyms:

They are words formed from the initial letters (or larger parts) of words. New acronyms are freely produced, particularly of organizations

a)

Acronyms pronounced as sequence of letters:

1. The letters represent full words:

-

Y.M.C.A. Young Men´ s Christian Association

-

W.C. Water Closet

-

B.B.C. British Broadcasting Corporation

-

V.I.P. Very Important Person

-

U.S.A. United States of America

-

M.P. Member of Parliament

-

D.I.Y. Do it yourself

2. The letters represent elements in a compound or just parts of a word:

- TV television

- GHQ General Headquarters

b)

Acronyms pronounced as words:

-

N.A.T.O. North Atlantic Treaty Organization

-

U.N.E.S.C.O United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization

-

U.N.O. United Nations Organization

-

O.P.E.C. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

-

V.A.T. Value Added Tax

-

A.I.D.S. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

-

N.A.S.A. National Aeronautics and Space istration

Loan Words (Borrowings):

1. The French element:

The English extensive borrowing of words from French started even before the Norman Conquest. There was already a French atmosphere in the English court. From this period are the following words: purse, castle, turn mantle, clerk and false. In the 12th century and as a result of the Norman conquest of England, French became the language of the law-courts and of the church and schools and English was relegated to the inferior classes. Words that illustrate this are: justice, war, peace, prison, court, crown/ sacrament, saint, grace, mercy, charity, faith. After the conquest, the dominance of French has permanently affected the English language, especially when we talk about words related to cookery (dessert, ragout), dress (cravat), soldiering (attack, sentinel, campaign, corps, platoon) and also to the literary world (critique, memoir, profile). Some illustrations of this constant influence in the last centuries are: 18th century: detour, morale, and 19th century: prestige, mirage, massage and in the 20th century: garage, camouflage. We also find 300 Teutonic words which entered English through French: blank, blue, butcher, button, choice, coat, dance, fee and words of Celtic French origin: attach, baggage, bar, branch, brave, car, career, carpenter, carry.

The different evolution from Latin to French contributed to the existence of English variants or doublets such as: warrant/guarantee, warden/guardian, abbreviate/abridge, balsam/balm, debit/debt/due, pauper/poor, predicate/preach, supervise/survey. It is also remarkable the difference of meaning between borrowed French words in English and the French original words. English

French

Advice

avis (opinion)

Annoy

ennuyer (to bore)

Assist

assister (be present)

Defend

defender (to forbid)

Journey

journée (day)

Mercy

merci (thanks)

Rest

rester (to remain)

Apart from French the 2 modern languages to which English is most indebted are Italian and Spanish (also Romance languages).

2. Italy: spreading the ideas of the renaissance was particularly influential in the 16th century and especially with words related to music and art in general: attitude, cicerone, fiasco, influenza, isolate, motto, stanza, umbrella, aria, oboe, opera, piano, prima donna, fresco, colonnade, corridor, replica, studio. However, the number of words taken from Italian through French is even bigger: alarm, alert, apartment, artisan, caprice, caress, carnival, contrast. 3. Spanish borrowings began at the same period (16th c.): armada, Negro, peccadillo, punctilio, renegade, anchovy, armadillo, caste, cigar, guerrilla, embargo, mosquito, sherry, vanilla.

4. It is even more important the stream of words that Spain introduced from America to Europe (English included): cacao, chocolate, banana, potato, barbecue, maize, cannibal, canoe, hurricane, hammock, alligator, sombrero, canyon, ranch, and bonanza.

5. From the North American Indians we get: moccasin, raccoon, squaw, toboggan, tomahawk.

6. From Portuguese: binnacle, cobra, madeira, port (wine), pimento, tank.

7. From the various languages of the Balto-slavic group (to Which Russia belongs) English has received: mazurka, mammoth, polka, slave, knout.

8. From Hungarian: coach, vampire.

9. From Russia´ s immediate past: vodka, czar, soviet, intelligentsia.

10. Hebrew words: religion: alleluia, amen, cherub, jubilee, manna, Satan, oriental life: camel, cider, ebony, elephant, cinnamon, sapphire, sodomy.

11. Arabic words came mainly through Spanish and Greek: emir, fakir, harem, sofa, alcohol, algebra, artichoke, zero, magazine, cotton, giraffe, assassin, sugar, mattress and through Persian: divan, magic, caravan, tiger, scarlet, rice, lemon, spinach, chess.

12. From India: pepper, china (ware), orange, candy, curry, sandal, jungle, bangle, bungalow, shampoo.

A remarkable fact is the small number of words derived from China and Japan:

13. China: tea, mandarin, chop (in chopstick)

14. Japan: samurai, kimono, soy (bean), rickshaw.

15. From Other Asiatic countries: junk, bamboo, taboo, tattoo

16. From Other African countries: canary, chimpanzee, gorilla, zebra, tango

17. From Australia: boomerang, kangaroo

18. From Eskimo languages comes the word igloo

In conclusion, we must say that there is an English disposition to absorb the products of other nations, especially if we compare the English language with German and French which show an organized opposition to the use of foreign words. Otto Jespersen calls the English attitude: a case of linguistic laziness.

TEMA 46- LA PALABRA COMO SIGNO LINGÜÍSTICO. HOMONIMIA, SINONIMIA. ANTONIMIA. POLISEMIA. "FALSE FRIENDS". CREATIVIDAD LÉXICA

TOPIC 46: THE WORD AS A LINGUISTIC SIGN. HOMONYMY, SYNONYMY, ANTONYMY, POLYSEMY. FALSE FRIENDS. LEXICAL CREATIVITY.

The linguistic sign:

A sign is everything that either by nature or by convention allows us to evoke an object or an idea. From the time of the Greeks, the sign is considered to be an entity constituted by the relationship between significance or meaning and significant. We can see in every act of human language that meanings are manifested through significants. The union of both constitute the linguistic sign. We can consider linguistic signs words as well as morphemes, which are the smallest units with meaning.

The linguistic sign’s arbitrariness:

The linguistic sign is arbitrary because the phonemes that form it lack meaning and it is its peculiar articulation to form the significant what gives us a given acoustic image, which in each language has a specific meaning. That is why if a Spaniard and a French man hear the word /lo/, the second one will interpret it as a reference to water, while the first one as a neutral pronoun or article. A very small change of place of phonemes in the succession we pronounce can changes the significant and so the meaning. The linguistic sign’s linearity:

The difference between linguistic signs and other kinds of signs is that they are articulated in a temporal and successive order: S-U-N-D-A-Y. As a consequence of this

linearity we can’t have 2 signs at the same time and each one has its own value due to the contrast with the preceding and the following ones. However, in signs of other codes f.i. a stop signal, a badge, we understand its meaning at once without having to follow a precise order in the perception of its elements.

The human language´ s double articulation: (According to André Martinet).

1. The first articulation refers to the morphemes, which are the smallest units in all spoken discourses with meaning: come-s.

2. The second articulation refers to the phonemes. If we go on dividing morphemes we find phonemes which are units without meaning: c-o-m-e-s.

Homonymy and Polysemy:

There are 2 main types of linguistic ambiguity due to lexical factors: homonymy and polisemy:

1. Homonyms: are different words which have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings (and origins).

2. Polisemic words: One word having 2 or more different meanings but the same origin.

These 2 phenomena may apparently look very similar bout there are 2 criteria which help us to distinguish them:

1. We find Homonymy if the words which now show the same spelling and different meaning have different origins but were confused in a later period of the development of languages.

a) Seal: animal/ impressed mark b) Race: contest/ ethnic group c) Corn: maize/ hardening of the skin

d) Post: piece of timber or metal/ mail/ place where a soldier is stationed/ after

2. We find Polisemy if the native speaker has the feeling that the different meanings of a words are related or associated to each other, f.i: in the word mouth there is a metaphoric affinity among the different meanings of what the native speaker to be just one and the same word:

a) Board: broad flat piece of wood/ table / meals/ governing body/ group of people who ister a company b) Mouth: opening in head for eating, speaking/ opening into any hollow (river, harbour, tunnel, bottle)/ end of anything placed between the lips (pipe, flute) c) Eye: organ of sight/ look/view/ aperture/ slit in a needle d) Fast: tightly (stuck fast)/ fully (fast asleep)/ abstinence from food/ quick

Synonyms:

It refers to a sense relationship in which different words seem to have the same meaning and are in free variation in all or most contexts: autumn/fall, big/ large. Close examination of words reveals that synonymy is always partial, rarely absolute (only in scientific ) and there is a distinction in these words which prevents us from interchanging them in any context without altering their objective meaning, sentimental tone or evocative value.

Synonyms may be divided into 5 major goups:

1. Equivalents: that is, proper synonyms: to narrate/to relate, pail/ bucket

2. Historical synonyms: one of the synonyms is obsolete or archaic: abhorrency/ abhorrence, relief/welfare

3. Synonyms belonging to different varieties of English: (British, American) lift/ elevator, truck/ lorry.

4. Dialect or regional synonyms: clart/ mud, poke/ sack, flesher/ butcher, loch/ lake

5. Synonyms belonging to different styles or s: beef/ complaint, nuts/ insane, turn down/ refuse, decease (professional)/ ing (literary)/ death, daddy/ father

Synonyms may also differ in the emotional response they evoke. Words in both lists are considered to be synonyms but the A words have more associations A

B

Carpenter

er

Statesman

politician

Strong-minded

stubborn

It has also to be pointed out that the number of near synonyms for any object or phenomenon indicates its relative significance in a culture: The Arabs distinguish many types of sand and the Irish have a dozen different words for potato:

-

Chat (small not very tasty)

-

Cutling (good for cutting and planting)

-

Marley (tiny but tasty)

-

Poreen (very tiny)

Antonyms:

It is the general name applied to the sense relationship involving oppositeness of meaning. It is useful to distinguish 3 types of antonymy or oppositeness:

1. Implicitly graded Antonyms: are pairs of items like big/ small, good/bad which can only be interpreted in of an established norm for comparison: A big boy is not bigger than a small boy because big is to be understood only in the context of boys. In English, the larger member of the pair is the unmarked or

neutral member and so we can ask: How big is it? How old is it? How far is it? How high is it? without implying that the subject is big etc.

2. Complementarity: refers to the existence of such pairs as male/female, dead/ alive. The denial of one implies the assertion of the other. On the contrary, not being bad doesn´ t necessarily mean you are good.

3. Converseness: Is the relationship that holds between such related pairs as:

-

John sold it to me / I bought it from John

-

John lent the money to Peter/ Peter borrowed the money from

Peter

The most frequently occurring converse verbs are: borrow/lend, command/serve, give/take, lease/rent, teach/learn, buy/sell

False friends:

Speakers of a second language may come across certain words looking similar to words in their own language and wrongly assume that the meaning is the same. Such words are called false friends. The confusion might be because:

a) of a chance similarity in the spelling b) the original meaning has changed over the years in one or other language c) the original words was borrowed from the start and used differently

1.

actual/ present

2.

ignore/not know

3.

formidable/wonderful

4.

adequate/ suitable

5.

assist/ attend

6.

argument/ subject

7.

fabricate/ manufacture

8.

sympathetic/ nice

9.

reunion/meeting

10.

remark/notice

11.

professor/teacher

12.

sensible/sensitive

13.

lecture/talk

Lexical creativity: New creations of words in English

2. Clipping or Shortening:

It involves removing one or more syllables (often the unstressed ones) from a word. It is particularly frequent in informal speech and especially in the speech of children and young people.

a) Syllables may be removed from the beginning of the word: Telephone/phone, omnibus/ bus, aeroplane/ plane

b) Syllables may be removed from the end of the word: ment/ ad(vert), photograph/ photo, examination/ exam, publican house/ pub, zoological gardens/zoo, bicycle/bike. It is very common in Christian names: William/ Will, Bill, Benjamin/Ben, Philip/Phil, some of them have a pet ending in –y or -ie: Victoria/ Vicky. Emilia/Emmy, in place names: The Trocadero/ The Troc, The Pavillion/ The Pav, The Victoria theatre/ The Vic and in medical words: doctor/ doc, veterinarian surgeon/ vet, laboratory/ lab.

c) Syllables may be removed from both ends of the word: influenza/ flu, refrigerator/ fridge, Elizabeth/Liz.

3. Blends or portmanteau words:

In a blend 2 words have been fused, only apart of each remains and the meaning and resulting form is a combination of those in the component words.

c) Formed by the first part of one word and the last part of the other:

-

Smog = smoke + fog

-

Brunch = breakfast + lunch

-

Motel = motorist + hotel

-

Breathalyser = breath + analyser

-

Electrocute = electric +execute

-

Eurovision = European + television

-

Swatch = Swiss + watch

-

Chunnel = Channel + tunnel

d) Formed by the beginning of the 2 words:

-

Moped: motorized + pedal assisted bicycle

-

Interpol = International + police

4. Back-formations:

Sightsee (s.o. sees sights), lip-read, baby-sit, sleep-walk (s.o. walks asleep, house-hunt, house-keep (s.o. keeps the house). These words come from such nouns as sightseeing and from a historical point of view cannot be describes as noun + verb compounds.

5. Onomatopoeic or echoic words:

They are newly created words produced by vocal imitation of sounds in nature: boom, cuckoo, murmur originated in French and Latin and were inherited by English and words like: papa/ mama originated in baby´ s speech and belong to practically all languages. Other examples: buzz, fizz, purr, whirr, hiss, quack.

a) In English there is an association between sound and meanings affording a basis on which new words may be created specially in vulgar speech. Initial sound bl- is related to expression of disgust: blamed, blithering, bloody and there is undoubtedly a common quality in words beginning

with fl- : flame, flare, flash, flicker or ending in –sh: ,mash, crash, splash, clash.

b) Reduplicatives or alliterative words: There are compounds in which 2 or more elements are either identical or only slightly different. They are rather informal or familiar.

5.

The most common use is found in onomatopoeic words: tick-tock (of clock), ding-dong (door bell), hee-haw (donkey)

6. They can also suggest alternating movements: flip-flops, zig-zag, see-saw. 7.

Instability and vacillation: shilly-shally, dilly-dally, helter-skelter

8.

To intensify: tip-top

6. Acronyms:

They are words formed from the initial letters (or larger parts) of words. New acronyms are freely produced, particularly of organizations

c)

Acronyms pronounced as sequence of letters:

1. The letters represent full words:

-

Y.M.C.A. Young Men´ s Christian Association

-

W.C. Water Closet

-

B.B.C. British Broadcasting Corporation

-

V.I.P. Very Important Person

-

U.S.A. United States of America

-

M.P. Member of Parliament

-

D.I.Y. Do it yourself

2. The letters represent elements in a compound or just parts of a word:

- TV television

- GHQ General Headquarters

d)

Acronyms pronounced as words:

-

N.A.T.O. North Atlantic Treaty Organization

-

U.N.E.S.C.O United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization

-

U.N.O. United Nations Organization

-

O.P.E.C. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

-

V.A.T. Value Added Tax

-

A.I.D.S. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

-

N.A.S.A. National Aeronautics and Space istration

7. Abbreviations:

Abbreviations in English are formed in 2 main ways:

1. The beginning of the word is given and at some point (after one letter or several letters) the word is cut off with a full stop because what is missing is not needed to understand the sense of the word:

-

Syn. synonym

-

Tan. tangent

-

N. North

-

Co. Company

-

Yorks. Yorkshire

-

Berks. Berkshire

2. Part of the middle of a word is omitted and only the first and last letters are used (and some other intermediate letter:

-

Wt. weight

-

Abp. Archbishop

-

Hrs. hours

-

Ltd. limited

-

Yd. yard

Kinds of abbreviations:

1. Titles: -

Mr. Mister

-

Rev. reverend

-

Capt. captain

-

Prof. professor

-

Cf. confer (compare)

-

Etc. etcetera

2. Latin words:

3. Measurements, weights, money, days of the week:

-

In. inch(es)

-

Yd. yard

-

P. penny

-

Oz ounce(s)

-

Kg. Kilogram(s)

-

Tues. Tuesday

-

Feb. February

TEMA 47- LA ADQUISICIÓN DEL LÉXICO Y SUS IMPLICACIONES DIDÁCTICAS. CRITERIOS DE SELECCIÓN DE TEXTOS PARA SU UTILIZACIÓN EN CLASE

TOPIC 47: VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS DIDACTIC IMPLICATIONS. SELECTION CRITERIA OF TEXTS FOR THEIR USE IN CLASS

Vocabulary acquisition

Any discussion of vocabulary acquisition and of language performance needs to draw a clear distinction between comprehension and production, because they are different skills that require different methods in the classroom. Comprehension of vocabulary relies on strategies that permit one to understand words and store them, while production concerns strategies that activate one´s storage by retrieving these words from memory and then by using them in appropriate situations.

The priority this distinction assigns to comprehension is one of many reasons why a growing number of researches believe that comprehension should precede production in language teaching.

The object of a vocabulary lesson is one of enhancing the different strategies for comprehension and production.

Comprehension:

1. Enhance understanding: The first task is helping students what unfamiliar words mean. It would be well at the beginning to assure them that they do not have to know all the words of a age before they can understand its meaning, that a single mysterious word, or 2 or 3 will not prevent comprehension, and that it is this

understanding of the text that will be their greatest aid in deciphering these difficult words. We must also assure them that they need not know all the meanings of any particular word, but that they can be content knowing only a general meaning for it. We have to convince students that instead of looking up every word in a dictionary, they should rely on the techniques discussed below for discovering meaning. The dictionary means security but we should advise that the dictionary be used only as a last resort.

A. Context clues: Guessing vocabulary from context is the most frequent way we discover the meaning of new words, and do it, we have learned to look for a number of clues. Secondly we are guides by other words in the discourse to help us guess. Finally, grammatical structure as well as intonation in speech and punctuation in writing contain further clues.

B. Word morphology: Morphology also offers clues for determining word meaning. Students have to interpret unfamiliar words for them by using the meanings of the affixes they have learned.

2. Enhance storage in memory: The second task in teaching comprehension is helping students words or more precisely helping them store words in memory. Function words can be omitted to memory rather quickly, simply because there are few of them and because they reoccur frequently. Most problems will occur with those content words that are not so easily pictured, that is, those nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs that stand for abstract concepts. A second fact about vocabulary and meaning is that form may be more important than vocabulary in ing a vocabulary item. We rely on the form of a word to lead us to its meaning. Knowing the meaning of a word becomes the task of knowing its associations with other words, therefore to teach it the most effectively, we must present it in this network of associations.

A. Mnemonic devices: One way we can enhance storage is by encouraging students to use memory techniques that will aid them in committing words to memory. Although there is a great deal of resistance in many countries

towards introducing mnemonic techniques in the classroom, students everywhere seem to use these techniques and find them very helpful.

B. Loci: They are the world´ s oldest and best-known memory device, described in every self-help book on improving memory. Loci are based on the fact that we operate by cognitive maps which are familiar sequences of visual images that can be recalled easily. To memorize an item, one forms a visual image of it and places it at one of the loci in one´s imagined scene. Retrieval of these items then comes about effortlessly when the entire scene is brought back to mind.

C. Paired associates: The familiar direct method often attempts to associate a visual image with anew word. In teaching the word hard, the teacher might hold up a rock so that hard would be stored not as an isolated item but as one paired with the image of a rock.

D. Key words: The student learns a word in the target language by associating it with its translation in the native language in a special way. For example, in learning that the Spanish word perro means dog one might notice that the first syllable of the new word sounds like pear and would then visualize a large pear-shaped dog waddling down the street.

3. Perception and action: They are basic processes that affect language acquisition. The subject´ s interaction with the environment is a major factor in language acquisition, for this relationship provides the associations and requires the mental activity necessary for language learning.

A. Formal grouping: It is by the form of vocabulary items that we usually try to a word. A knowledge of basic affixes helps learners decode words. Since Latin and Greek affixes often occur as compound words with bound bases, they are handled differently from roots with derivational affixes f.i: tele: far distant, phone: sound, photo: light, graph: write.

B. Word families: Many words built about a particular root are gathered. Even though the meanings of these words may be slightly different, clustering them will aid students in ing their general meaning.

C. Historical, orthographical similarities: A knowledge of the sound changes separating the 2 languages will be of help, not only for understanding the vocabulary of classical languages, but for contemporary ones as well.

Likewise knowledge of spelling conventions is useful. English students of French are aided greatly by recognizing the relationship of French ê to English es.

D. Collocations: The meaning of a word has a great deal to do with the words with which it commonly associates. Collocations permit people to know what kinds of words they can expect to find together: to draw a conclusion

Production:

1. Vocabulary use: It is more important for students to use the newly stored language as effortlessly and as quickly as possible than it is for them to wait for control of precise vocabulary, even though what they produce may stay far from the standard.

A. Pidginization: One way to promote fluency is by encouraging pidginization, urging students to put language together the best they can and avoid the selfmonitoring that would inhibit its use

B. Derivation: in which we take the root and add affixes to it, is the most common method for creating new words, for it allows us to expand vocabulary without memorizing new words and thus aids fluency.

C. Compounding: Another common way of forming new words is by compounding.

2. Vocabulary retrieval: The storage of information does not guarantee its retrieval. Techniques that enhance production will have to be centred on the meanings of words rather than on their forms, because most of our production has to do with searching for an appropriate meaning to fit the particular occasion. The most effective associative bounds for production connect the word and its meaning. The following are techniques that gather words in such a way:

A. Situational sets: They are cohesive chains of lexical relationships in discourse: they are groups of words that are associated because of the subject of the text, its purpose or its construction. They are words related to a particular situation. A conversation about a department store would contain vocabulary such as price, floor, sales, charge, clothes, shop assistant, customer etc.

B. Semantic sets: Words can be grouped as:

-

Synonyms: sofa, couch

-

Antonyms: wide, narrow

-

Coordinates: oak, elm

-

Superordinates: skunk, animal

-

Subordinates: fruit, pear

Another kind of semantic set has to do with stimulus-response pairs such as accident-car and baby-mother.

C. Collocations: They are useful for teaching production as they are for teaching comprehension. Collocations teach students expectations about which sorts of language can follow what has preceded.

3. Lexical phrases:

A. Prefabricated speech: Many theories of language performance suggest that vocabulary is stored redundantly. This prefabricated speech has both the advantage of more efficient retrieval and of permitting speakers to direct attention to the larger structure of discourse, rather than keeping it focused narrowly on individual words as they are produced. Two and three-part verbs (put up, put up with), noun compounds (card player) and idioms and sayings (keep tabs on) are usually treated no differently from other vocabulary.

B. Reasons for teaching lexical phrases: These phrases will lead to fluency in speaking and writing, for they relieve the learner of concentrating on each individual word as it is used by allowing them to focus attention on the larger structure of the discourse and the social aspects of interaction.

C. Methods of teaching lexical phrases: One method of teaching lexical phrases is to make students to make use of them the same way that first-language learners do, that is, by starting with a few basic fixed phrases which they then analyse as smaller, finally breaking them apart into individual words, and thus finding their own way to the regular rules of syntax. We can divide them in:

1. Social interactions:

-

Greetings/ Closings: hello, good morning, goodbye, see you later.

-

Politeness/ routines: please, if you don´t mind, thank you

-

Question/ answer: do you….? Are there…? Of course, yes, there…

2. Necessary topics:

-

Language: How do you say?

-

Shopping: too expensive

-

Autobiography: My name is…, I am from…

-

Quantity: How much is..? a great deal

-

Time: What time…?

-

Location: Where is…?

3. Discourse devices:

-

Fluency devices: you know

-

Conjunctions: which means

-

Subordinators: in other words

-

Logical connectors: in spite of

-

Temporal connectors: the day after

Social interaction and discourse devices provide lexical phrases for the framework of the discourse, whereas necessary topics provide them for the subject at hand.

Criteria for selecting texts:

First of all we must select the type of dialect, , style and medium to be taught. In making this choice we will be guided by the objectives and other external factors such as level, time etc. After the type of language material has been delineated, we have to make a decision about how many and which items should be selected.

External factors:

1. Objectives: The selection must be such that will enable the learners to carry out the tasks described in the objectives. It makes an important difference whether the selection is made within the framework of FLT for general purposes or of FLT for special purposes.

2. Level: A course for beginners will not contain the same type and the same amount of language material as a course for advanced students.

3. Time: It is not the same whether the course in question is an intensive one or a nonintensive one.

Selection of type of language material:

1. Dialect: This choice will not be a difficult one, especially with beginners, since the foreign language learner will in general find out most use for the standard language. It is the variety mostly used in the media and in education.

2. : It is very useful for FLT for special purposes. s are usually distinguished at the lexical level. It is the terminology belonging to a certain situation or subject area that distinguishes one from another.

3. Style: There are 5 styles: frozen, formal, consultative, casual and intimate ranked in a hierarchy of decreasing formality. The normal choice for a FLT for general purposes will be a formal style.

4. Medium: It relates to the distinction between spoken and written language. There are significant differences between written and spoken language.

When selecting a text we have to pay attention to the degree of L2 proficiency the learners have already attained, to their interests, to whether the texts provide reliable

information about the people whose language is being taught and the society they live in, to the degree of difficulty of texts, which is not only determined by the number of words and structures known, but also by things such as the subject matter of the text, the way in which the writer approaches the subject and the knowledge the learners already have about the subject.

Authentic texts are hardly usable in elementary courses. At an advanced level it will be necessary to use authentic written and spoken texts if the objective is for learners to be able to understand the foreign language as it is used by native speakers.

Lastly, the possibilities for exploitation of a text need to be taken into . If one for instance selects original spoken texts, one should realize that such texts can usually only be used for training listening comprehension and as a starting point for discussion.