Affixation and derivatives - Another way of forming New words is by affixation, for example quantifiable is formed from quant(ity) + ify + able - these new words are known as derivatives - affix = a part of a word that is not a stem or root. Affixes constitute almost a closed class: new elements c...
BORROWING Sometimes, the idea to be named already exists in other cultures by speakers of other language. The earliest way of appropriating the idea to that it can be discussed in English is to borrow the word, and the word is then a loan-word in English. (The term, if you think about it, is a li...
COMPOUNDING One of the easiest ways of forming new words in putting two (or more) old words together. A compound is a lexeme which is made up of two (or more) other lexemes. Compounds in English are not always written in a consistent fashion for example south-east can be written with a hyphen, or ...
Semantic relations Polysemy - a case when a lexeme has more than one meaning We are likely to have several equivalents in one language for one polysemous lexeme in another language. e.g. Polish lexeme zamek in the sense of sth you use to close sth else is polysemous since it has two RELATED meani...
Types of word meaning Lexical - is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. L. meaning is the realization of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system. L. meaning is the same in different grammatical forms of the same word:
Typology of semantic changes - A possible typology of semantic changes is that proposed by Stephen Ullman (Semantics, An Introduction to the Science of Meaning, 1963) - Meaning is defined by Ullman as the relation between name and sense. - Ullman's postulate is that no matter what causes bring ab...
Units of Meaning (Word Types, Lexemes) One-morpheme word/simplex - a word built of one (free) morpheme (e.g. crush) Compound word - an expression that consists of at least two free morphemes Complex word - a word built of at least two morphemes - idiom - multi-element expression whose meaning is...
COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS CLASSICAL STRUCTURALISM Structuralist semantics worked under the at the time novel hypothesis that meanings are decomposable, and proposed two compelementary methods of semantic analysis: componential analysis (a paradigmatic method) and distributional analysis (a syntagmatic ...
EXPANSION OF THE LEXICON We know that lexical items become moribund (dying) and obsolete, whilst new items are formed and join the lexicon. There can be many reasons for wanting to have new words. Sometimes, when users sense that a particular word has acquired a meaning that is embarrassing in so...
Lexical Semantics vs. Historical Semantics Linguistic Structuralism Meaning may be investigated from a historical perspective: two disciplines dealt with this problem: historical semantics (lexicology) - the evolution of meaning, the typology ...
