Lecture 6 The principles of lexical nomination: classification and analysis

The content of the lecture: The reference to the nominative function in language as one the most important is well-grounded and all investigations in a sphere of nomination prove such conclusion. In this lecture we give a detailed description of a nominative procedure in semaciological and onomaciological aspects.

1. The key terms of the lecture: language nomination; transposition; identification; morphological / syntactical / semanric transposition; derivational step; direct / non-direct / indirect nomination.

The objectives and tasks of the lecture:

After completing your work over the material of this lecture you are to be able to speak on the following problems:

1. Nominative function as indispensable part of cognition and

communication;

2. Representation of thinking processes in linguistic signs;

3. The result of a nominative act;

4. Word-formation in nominative processes;

5. Transposition and identification;

6. The types of transposition;

7. Morphological transposition;

8. Syntactical transposition;

9. Semantic transposition

10. Internal and external characteristics of a word;

11. Motivation and its role in nominative processes;

12. The units of primary nomination;

13. The units of secondary nomination;

14. Onomaciological procedure and its essence;

15. Semaciological procedure and its essence;

16. Patterning in a word derivation.

The material of the lecture:

§ 1. The essence of language nomination lies in the fact that in the course of it we simultaneously render the information about something and designate this something; so communication and designation make the two sides of the same process.

The relations of language and world make the essence of a global language function – representation of thinking in a process of communication. The real functioning of language presents a ceaseless process of verbal communication among the people, so language becomes a necessary mechanism for a human society to accumulate knowledge and experience and pass them to oncoming generations.

1.1. As the result of a nominative act language system receives a linguistic sign with a new meaning. On the conceptual level the reality is reflected in an empirical form as a representation of a single / denotate / and in an abstract form as a more generalized image of a class / significate/.

At present it is common in linguistics to recognize that the contensive part of language structure reflects all aspects of language functioning with reference to the real and imaginary facts of life which get their names in communicative acts. Such position is a tribute to a long tradition of semantic and communicative research in world linguistics.

1.2. Language generalizes and differentiates the properties and relations of the outside world, keeps social and historical information reflected in meanings and names at the same time satisfying the needs of the people, expressing all emphatic and pragmatic peculiarities characteristic of a communicative act.

The procedure of giving names is a complex phenomenon the essence of which is conditioned by the set of problems. First of all this process is connected with the results of designation by means of linguistic signs presenting the natural qualities of things and phenomena through their ideal forms-notions. They are first reflected in human mind in infinite multitude of forms and states making the whole – the nominative meaning of a word, i.e. the meaning which stands behind the name. Either generalized or concrete meaning is actualized in speech acts what depends on that semantic function which a given lexical unit fulfils in speech acts. Accordingly these are intralinguistic functions presented in any of three semantic functions - denotative, significative and implicative, and pragmatic, extralinguistic function actualized depending on a situation and individual task.

§ 2. Word-formation in linguistics presents a special sphere of patterning units of lexical nomination. As a rule the derivative units resulting the processes of word-formation are regarded as non-predicative nominative units. Every nominative process at first stage is a reflection of a communicative situation and, if to reproduce the mechanism of a derivational act, we can see that in the meaning of a derivative is possible to discern some judgment or situation in a condensed form. Thus every derivational act is the act of nominalization: sentence →.word. It is a speech act where a new nominative unit may arise or the old one may develop its meaning in that direction which is in demand for a given situation. The processes of lexical nomination usually undergo two stages - transposition and identification.

2.1. By transposition we mean a process which lies in the basis of a derivational act and results in a new lexical unit. Transposition is the mechanism of word-forming in conditions of a speech situation on a syntagmatic level. Here the chances of a new word to be fixed in a vocabulary are not too great: the decisive role belongs to the social factor what, in fact, makes the essence of a second stage, known as identification: either a unit may be given or not given ’green light’ by a collective of people. If this problem is solved positively the main feature of a linguistic sign - its conventional character is realized.

2.3. The origin of new words may take place differently depending on the type of transposition:

2.3.1. a/ Morphological transposition ( another name ‘structural’)covers such processes of word-formation as affixation, agglutination, composition, compound derivation, abbreviation and back-formation. As a rule, these are the units of secondary nomination with extension of meaning.

2.3.2. b /Syntactical or transposition which lies in the basis of conversion as a derivational act. This term is given by professor Morokhovsky who took into consideration the syntactical principle. Paradigmatic transposition is another terminological definition suggested by professor Smirnitsky and is based on the principle of paradigmatic opposition. And, at last, morphosyntactical transposition given by academician Yartseva, takes into consideration the typological features of synthetic languages.

The words resulting this type of transposition may be regarded as those of secondary nomination with the narrowing of meaning.

2.3.3. c/ Semantic transposition which lies in the basis of semantic expansion in direction to a more abstract, more generalized meaning /D→ S→ I/ or in a reversed order /S← D/. As a result, these are the units of secondary nomination known in stylistics as metaphoric and metonymic usages with a semantic shift in their meaning structure. It is to note here that the traditional opinion that metaphoric and metonymic usages make the fact of transference is not very correct. According to Galperin¹ ‘a metaphor, metonymy, irony, epithet and oxymoron display their stylistic value only in syntagmatics. Some semaciological phenomena can also arise only in the process of collision the words of different groups. And a metaphor is not a ’transference’ of a meaning of one object on another but a relation of the two types of lexical meanings realized simultaneously in certain combinations. . In order to understand a word in its new meaning we use the principle of semaciological analysis which proves that a lexical nomination is not one-time act of labeling reality as it takes place in morphological transposition. This is the act that can be reproduced many times on the same lexical material depending on communicative and pragmatic task of a speaker.

§ 3 .Among the main characteristics of a word there are those of external and internal type. The first ones expose themselves in a morphological structure of a word and are normally distinguished with the help of morphemic analysis. It is worth mentioning here that this type of analysis is of a purely descriptive character and provides some information of a word composition. What is about internal characteristics they lie in the very basis of a nominative act. An important role here belongs to such a property of a word as its motivation.

Traditionally the words are discriminated into two classes: 1/ the units of primary nomination and 2/ the units of secondary nomination.

3.1. The statement of primary nomination. In its turn, is applicable to the two types of lexical units; a/ motivation of which had been lost in the grey history of language development. In Modern English such words are presented with monosyllables. and b/ motivation of which is clearly seen.

a/ non-motivated, when a first relation of a sign to a referent is lost – good, go, sit, bad, etc - and cannot be restored at all or may be restored hypothetically through the procedures of a diachronic analysis, this class of words being of constant interest in the science of etymology; and

b/ motivated units with the mechanism of coining a new nominator being explicit. We call these units as derivatives the properties of which are provided with the properties of constituent-ready units and the rule applied.

3.2. The units of secondary nomination are those the meaning of which is a result of a semantic shift in the meaning structure. Usually the fact of such a shift makes it possible for a word to appear in non-characteristic, normally unexpected distribution and, with the time, migrate to another lexico-semantic paradigm.

The units of secondary nomination may be subdivided into two large classes

a/ the units of nondirect nomination and here we deal with the lexical units proper and the units of indirect nomination represented with phraseological units or idioms.

If phraseological units acquired their linguistic status and place in language hierarchy as stylistically coloured usages of integral character, the lexical units not only manifest their stylistic, figurative character but show that lexical nomination is not a one-time but productive procedure of expansion all the potential possibilities of the words meaning structure. In the course of communication a lexical unit can develop some new properties which, in fact, are not new but lie in the very essence of a semantic paradigm of a linguistic sign.

§ 4. When we produce a new unit in our speech we fulfill the onomaciological procedure the essence of which lies in stating the types of relations between the fact of reality and a fact of language and with the help of this analysis we can see how the concepts within a new nominator take shape. Onomaciological approach to the analysis of a word structure is most explicit and helpful in relation to a derivative as a result of morphological transposition. In the units of primary nomination of a motivated type with the help of this analysis a new meaning can be easily deduced. We call these units as derivatives the properties of which are provided with their constituents as ready units and the rule applied. In other words, derivatives, onomaciologically, are designations of the unknown through the known: they combine a new experience with an old one in a discrete form. A derivative as a result of the act of nomination helps to associate a designated object of reality, or action, or property with those, known from preceding experience. It is easy to see that a communicative principle of actual division works here as successfully as in syntactical analysis.

4.1. With every formal operation – derivational step - only two constituents enter into relations of derivativeness making by this an onomaciological structure: one of the constituents makes the basis of nomination, another renders some new information. As ‘the known’ we distinguish that constituent in a derivative structure which functionally makes the basis of nomination /onomaciological basis/. In a syntagmatic sequence ‘determinant/ determinatum’ in most cases it occupies the latter position. Every new information - ‘the unknown’ we call as the onomaciological sign and this is a ‘determinant’. Such approach makes it easy to deduce the meaning of a derivative resulting the act of derivation.

As we can see this method helps to overcome a purely descriptive approach to word study /morphemic analysis/ and show that all the word-forming procedures first of all take their place in communicative acts and are conditioned both by the paradigmatic and syntagmatic properties of the lexicon.

In language all processes of derivation follow the rule of analogy which is realized with the help of a pattern. Patterning is a universal fact in human life and central to human behaviour. Every new fact can be compared with the analogous fact in the past and by this disposed in a certain niche of our memory. So, the law of analogy is a leading principle in patterning language facts because always plays an important role ‘in preservation or redistribution of linguistic material and uses old material for its innovation’/CLG/. To see how a new nominative unit got its present shape, we must trace all the derivational steps in their sequence, in other words, reconstruct all the stages of its transformation:

E.g.: derivational → 1/ V + -tion = N → 2/ N + -al = A

It is worth mentioning that in cases of suffixation and postpositive agglutination these are derivational morphemes that fulfill the function of the onomaciological basis. It is explained by the fact that in a composition of onomaciological structure they are perceived as the known facts rendering some general information of a lexico-grammatical class a nominator in question is to be referred to.

E.g.: Verb + - er → agentive category

Noun + - man, - boy, -hand, - maid→ agentive category

Noun + - like, -class → comparative category

Noun + - land, side, -city, - centre → locative category.

In cases of prefixation and prepositive agglutination the role of a basis belongs to a stem on account of the modifying function of these derivational elements: the prefixes and prepositive agglutinators do not change the lexico-grammatical status of a derivative but only attach some shade to the whole meaning:

E.g.: ill-forgotten, top-manager, all-inclusive, well-bred. Illogical, uninteresting, disable, misunderstanding, etc.

In accord with the principle of onomaciological analysis compounds display two types of semantic redistribution in their onomaciological structure known a s endocentric and exocentric.

The first type is presented with a syntagmatic sequence ‘determinant/determinatum’ fully correlating with communicative principle ‘ onomaciological sign/inomaciological basis’:

E.g.: toothpowder → tooth /OS/ + Powder /OB/

icecream → ice /OS/ + cream /OB/

The second type includes the coinages of idiomatic type, though their motivation is not obscure and many be detected either with the help of a distribution, or with the reference to some historic facts by means of a procedure of semaciological analysis which works very well in cases of semantic transposition

The compounds of idiomatic type are exocentric in their onomaciological structure and are regarded as the units of indirect nomination, realizing semantics through some indirect, contiguous notions knowledge:

One of his favourite haunts was Tony's on 52-nd Street. Tony's was superficially indistinguishable from an ordinary speakeasy. (J. Priestly, The Angel Pavement,) - a place where alcoholic drink was sold illegally. To understand this coinage right we appeal to extralinguistic facts, as here 'the law of prohibition" in USA in the twenties of the 20 century.

§ 5. Semantic transposition is exactly that mechanism of nominative processes which works on the principle of association. As a rule the new nominations are stylistically coloured but this fact never means that they must be regarded only as stylistic devices: originality and novelty of a unit alongside with other factors stimulate also the process of borrowing foreign words. Informal speech is that sphere where new nominations on ready lexical material may be found more than frequently. And when developing new meanings a lexical unit retains its contensive structure." A word may be simultaneously both literal and metaphoric, just as it may simultaneously support many different metaphors, may serve to focus into one meaning many different meanings" (4) and this specific property exposing nothing more but very nature of a linguistic sign, its asymmetry:

-"I could build you a teaser here, said Bosinney, breaking the silence at last. "I daresay', replied Soames dryly. "You haven’t to pay first" /J.Galswothy, The Man/

-The pavement were all eyes and thick jostling bodies. / J.Priestly,The Angel Pavement/

Enrichment of vocabulary by means of semantic transposition may result in the units different semantically and structurally but belonging to the same lexicological level. The units of secondary nomination may by subdivided into two large classes: the units of nondirect nomination: here we deal with lexical units acquiring their new stylistic meaning, and those of indirect nomination presented with phraseological units with their own semantic structure..

There are many specific types of semantic change brought about by shifting, relations between 'sign' and 'referent'. Attempts to classify them under mutually exclusive headings are hopeless, because more than one factor often comes into a play in a given instance and the results of the change may be variously described rather frequently. Overlapping of stylistic components is not rare: This train was still roaring across the screen when Turgis […] heard a voice… (J. Priestly, The Angel Pavement). In this example we may see that the denotative, central meaning of a verb to roar – "to emit the loud, deep sound characteristic of some savage or enraged beasts, e.g. a lion or bull"- shifts gradually to the significative one "the loud or boisterous sound of talking singing, etc.," and then is applied to inanimate things, as 'cars roaring past their houses". The last case is a type of cognitive metaphor. But alongside with semantic transposition this verb undergoes structural change leading to a new nomination of analytical(agglutinative type "to roar across" with the meaning "to muve across noisily" - (Lit.:Этот поезд все еще проносился с грохотом по экрану, когда Тергис услышал голос).

Phraseological units acquired their linguistic status as the units of vocabulary structurally and semantically integral, i.e. each of the genuine phraseological units, regardless of how many words it contains and how many words are needed to interprete it expresses a single notion. So, cohesion as the property for this class of nominative units is achieved on account of some specific type of semantic combination. This internal semantic cohesion is especially apparent when phraseological units are contrasted with homonymous free combinations. Take, for example, the expression "to be a pain in the neck". Used at a set phrase it is synonymous with nuisance cf. 'David recommended himself as a pain in the neck in the company (M. Drabble, Garrick Year )

But when used as a free combination it confuses the meaning of the whole sentence.

It makes evident here that semantic cohesion is achieved owing to interaction of constituents on a higher level of generalization, connected not only with some concrete, denotative meaning of them but significative and implicative too, giving us a general picture of a state, moral and physical:" being tiresome and nuisant (of pain)."

Stylistically, phraseological units present the cases of metaphoric and metonymic transference.

As a rule metaphoric set phrases get realized on the significative level of semantic structure. In case with metonymic phrases semantic interaction takes place on the implicative level. By other words, in order to trace the process of forming such a phrase we have to appeal not to the context only but to all preceding extralinguistic situation which appeared to be a background for a new nomination.

The units of vocabulary not always manifest their stylistics, and their figurative character depends on the context or situation. Just in the course of communication a lexical unit can develop some new properties which in fact are not new but lie in the ontological nature of a linguistic sign

Topics for comprehension check and class discussion

1. Explain the essence of the following positions:

1. Nominative function as indispensable part of cognition and

communication;

2. Representation of thinking processes in linguistic signs;

3. The result of a nominative act;

4. Word-formation in nominative processes;

5. Transposition and identification;

6. The types of transposition;

7. Morphological transposition;

8. Syntactical transposition;

9. Semantic transposition

10. Internal and external characteristics of a word;

11. Motivation and its role in nominative processes;

12. The units of primary nomination;

13. The units of secondary nomination;

14. Onomaciological procedure and its essence;

15. Semaciological procedure and its essence;

16. Patterning in a word derivation.

N.B. To each question you are to pick up authentic examples!

2.Give a pattern for the following words, define the type of transposition. Analyze the words onomaciologically or semaciologically. Distinguish endocentric and exocentric structures.

Revolutionary, kingdom, citizen,movement, conversation, dangerous,

pleasure, teacher, historian, physician, physicist, receiver, railway station, bluebell, dragon-fly, wolf-dog, pearl-necklace, school-
building, oak-tree, mellow voice, give-and-take, policy, passer-by, -
downfall, velvet mask, stone wall, brown bear, armchair, wrist-watch, pocket-handkerchief, downfall, earring, sea-bear,

-_; ^night train, life-long. .-. , -

writing table, dining-room, dancing-hall, board-money, wash-
house, newspaper, sleeping-car, sick-leave,sick-room, bluestocking, cut throat, sweetheart, skyscraper, crow’s foot, pickpocket, to backbite, to browbeat, book-keeper, house-keeper, schoolmaster, sunfish, snowball, bloodthirsty, out-throat, wash-house,die-hard, strike-treater, court-martial, ladybird, blackleg, black-shirts, butter-fingers, lady chair, blackboard, baby-sitter, poliomyelitis, long-haired, quickly, healthy, microphone, deep-blue, fashion, know, poor, take, wife, misunderstand