Lexicology of the English Language

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With the development of professional jargons a lot of words ending in «speak» appeared in English, e.g. artspeak, sportspeak, medspeak, education-speak, video-speak, cable-speak etc.

There are different semantic groups of neologisms belonging to everyday life:

a) food e.g. «starter»/ instead of «hors d’oevres»/, macrobiotics / raw vegetables, crude rice/ , longlife milk, clingfilm, microwave stove, consumer electronics, fridge-freezer, hamburgers /beef-, cheese-, fish-, veg- /.

b) clothing, e.g. catsuit /one-piece clinging suit/, slimster , string / miniscule bikini/, hipster / trousers or skirt with the belt on hips/, completenik / a long sweater for trousers/, sweatnik /a long jacket/, pants-skirt, bloomers / lady’s sports trousers/.

c) footwear e.g. winklepickers /shoes with long pointed toes/, thongs /open sandals/, backsters /beech sandals with thick soles/.

d) bags, e.g. bumbag /a small bag worn on the waist/, sling bag /a bag with a long belt/, maitre / a small bag for cosmetics/.

There are also such words as : dangledolly / a dolly-talisman dangling in the car before the windscreen/, boot-sale /selling from the boot of the car/, touch-tone /a telephone with press-button/.

Neologisms can be also classified according to the ways they are formed. They are subdivided into : phonological neologisms, borrowings, semantic neologisms and syntactical neologisms. Syntactical neologisms are divided into morphological /word-building/ and phraseological /forming word-groups/.

Phonological neologisms are formed by combining unique combinations of sounds, they are called artificial, e.g. rah-rah /a short skirt which is worn by girls during parades/, «yeck» /»yuck» which are interjections to express repulsion produced the adjective yucky/ yecky. These are strong neologisms.

Strong neologisms include also phonetic borrowings, such as «perestroika» /Russian/, «solidarnosc» /Polish/, Berufsverbot / German /, dolce vita /Italian/ etc.

Morphological and syntactical neologisms are usually built on patterns existing in the language, therefore they do not belong to the group of strong neologisms.

Among morphological neologisms there are a lot of compound words of different types, such as «free-fall»-»резкое падение курса акций» appeared in 1987 with the stock market crash in October 1987 /on the analogy with free-fall of parachutists, which is the period between jumping and opening the chute/. Here also belong: call-and-recall - вызов на диспансеризацию, bioastronomy -search for life on other planets, rat-out - betrayal in danger , zero-zero (double zero) - ban of longer and shorter range weapon, x-rated /about films terribly vulgar and cruel/, Ameringlish /American English/, tycoonography - a biography of a business tycoon.

There are also abbreviations of different types, such as resto, teen /teenager/, dinky /dual income no kids yet/, ARC /AIDS-related condition, infection with AIDS/, HIV / human immuno-deficiency virus/.

Quite a number of neologisms appear on the analogy with lexical units existing in the language, e.g. snowmobile /automobile/, danceaholic /alcoholic/, airtel /hotel/, cheeseburger /hamburger/, autocade / cavalcade/.

There are many neologisms formed by means of affixation, such as: decompress, to disimprove, overhoused, educationalist, slimster, folknik etc. Phraseological neologisms can be subdivided into phraseological units with transferred meanings, e.g. to buy into/ to become involved/, fudge and dudge /avoidance of definite decisions/, and set non-idiomatic expressions, e.g. electronic virus, Rubic’s cube, retail park, acid rain , boot trade etc.

Changes in pronunciation.

In Modern British English there is a tendency to change pronunciation of some sounds and combinations of sounds due to the influence of American English and some other factors. These changes are most noticeable in the speech of teachers and students of the universities in the Southern part of England /Oxford, Cambridge, London/.

Реферат опубликован: 21/06/2009