Etymological doublets are two or more words of the same language which were derived by different ways from the same basic word. They differ in certain degree in form, meaning and current usage. Examples are whole (in the old sense of “healthy” or “free from decease”) and hale. Other examples are: raid-road, channel-cannel, shirt-skirt, shriek-screech, shore-scar, shabby-scabby.
Words of identical that occur in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from one ultimative source are called international. They play an essentially prominent part in terminological system and among words denoting abstract notions. They should not be mixed with words of the common Indo-European stock that also comprise a sort of common fund of the European languages. A few examples of international words: antenna, antibiotic, automation, cybernetics, control, general, industry, football, match, time, cocktail, jazz, pullover, sweater.
The Etymological Structure of English Vocabulary
Modern scholars estimate the percentage of borrowed words in the English vocabulary at 65-70 per cent which is an exceptionally high figure. By the Indo-European element are meant words of roots common to all or most languages of the Indo-European group. English words of this group denote elementary concepts without which no human communication would be possible.
I. Family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter.
II. Parts of the human body: foot, nose, lip, heart.
III. Animals: cow, swine, goose.
IV. Plants: tree, birch, corn.
V. Time of day: day, night.
VI. Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star.
VII. Numerous adjectives: red, new, glad, sad.
VIII. The numerals from one to a hundred.
IX. Pronouns – personal (except they which is a Scandinavian borrowing); demonstrative.
X. Numerous verbs: be, stand, sit, eat, know.
The Germanic element represents words or roots common to all or most Germanic languages. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the Indo-European element.
I. Parts of the human body: head, hand, arm, finger, bone.
II. Animals: bear, fox, calf.
III. Plants: oak, fir, grass.
IV. Natural phenomena: rain, forest.
V. Seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer.
VI. Landscape features: sea, land.
VII. Human dwellings and furniture: house, room, bench.
VIII. Sea-going vessels: boat, ship.
IX. Adjectives: green, blue, grey, white, small, thick, high, old, good.
X. Verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer, make, give, drink.
Latin borrowings of first period: butter, cheese, cherry, pear, plum, beat, pepper, pea, plant, cup, kitchen, mill, port, wine.
Celtic words (bald, down, glen, and druid).
Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic, among them such widely used words as street and wall.
Christianization of England. Latin borrowings (priest, bishop, monk, nun, candle, school, scholar, magister).
From the end of the 8th c to the middle of the 11th c. England underwent several Scandinavian invasions which left trace on English vocabulary. Here are some examples of Scandinavian borrowings: call, take, die, law, husband, window, ill, loose, low, and weak. Some of the words of this group are easily recognizable as Scandinavian borrowing by the initial sk- combination, e.g. sky, skill, skin, ski, skirt.
Norman French borrowings:
Administrative words: state, government, parliament, council, power.
Legal terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy.
Educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil.
Terms of everyday life: table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc.
The Renaissance Period. Latin borrowings (major, minor, moderate, intelligent, to elect, to create, datum, status, phenomenon, philosophy, method, music).
Greek borrowings (atom, cycle, ethics, esthete).
Parisian borrowings: regime, routine, police, machine, ballet, scene, technique, bourgeois, etc.
Italian: piano, violin, opera, alarm, colonel.
From stylistic point of view, it is important to classify the English vocabulary, as many stylistic devices are based on the interplay of different stylistic aspects of words.
In accordance with the sphere of their usage English words can be divided into 3 main layers: literary, neutral and colloquial. The literary and colloquial layers contain a number of sub-groups. Each of these groups has an aspect (a property, a common feature) it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. The common property of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character, which makes the layer stable. The common property of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character, which makes it unstable, fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character, which means that words belonging to this layer are not restricted in use and can be employed in all styles and all spheres of human communication, which makes this layer the most stable of all.
The literary layer includes words that are universally accepted, words that have no local or dialectal character. The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words:
common literary
terms and learned words
poetic
archaic
barbarisms and foreign words
literary coinages (including nonce-words)
The colloquial layer of words is often limited to a definite language community (e.g. professional group) or confined to a special locality where it is spoken. It falls into:
common colloquial
slang
jargonisms
professionalisms
dialectal
vulgar
colloquial coinages
The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term “Standard English Vocabulary”. Other groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literary vocabulary and those in the colloquial layer - special colloquial (non-literary) vocabulary.
Neutral words, which form the bulk of the English Vocabulary, are used both in literary and colloquial language. They are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. It is the neutral stock of words that is so prolific in the production of new meanings. Unlike literary and colloquial words, neutral words lack special stylistic colouring.
Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and polished speech. It may seem difficult to distinguish a literary word from a colloquial word as no objective criteria of classification have been worked out. The opposition between literary, colloquial and neutral can become more apparent in pairs/ groups of synonyms.
Slang words are identified and distinguished by contrasting them to standard literary vocabulary. They are expressive, mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names for some things that are frequent topics of discourse. For the most part they sound somewhat vulgar, cynical and harsh, aiming to show the object of speech in the light of an off-hand contemptuous ridicule. Vivid examples can be furnished by various slang words for money, such as beans, brass, dibs, dough, chink, oof, wads; the slang synonyms for the word head are attic, brain-pan, hat peg, nut, upper storey; compare also various synonyms for the adjective drunk: cock-eyed, high and many more.
Phraseology is a branch of lexicology studying phraseological units (set expressions, phraseologisms, or idioms (in foreign linguistics). Phraseological units differ from free word-groups semantically and structurally:
1) they convey a single concept and their meaning is idiomatic, i. e., it is not a mere total of the meanings of their components;
2) they are characterized by structural invariability (no word can be substituted for any component of a phraseological unit without destroying its sense (to have a bee in one's bonnet (not cap or hat);
3) they are not created in speech but used as ready-made units. Unlike a word, a phraseological unit can be divided into separately structured elements and transformed syntactically.
The traditional and oldest principle for classifying phraseological units is based on their original content and is called “thematic”. On this principle, idioms are classified according to their origin, “source” referring to the sphere of human activity, of life of nature, of natural phenomena, etc. The principle of classification is sometimes called “etymological”.
So, L.P .Smith gives in his classification groups of idioms used by sailors, fishermen, soldiers, and hunters and associated with the realia, phenomena and conditions of their occupations. In Smith's classification we also find groups of idioms associated with domestic animals and birds, agriculture and cooking. There are also numerous idioms drawn from sports, arts, etc.
Smith points out that word-groups associated with the sea and the life of seamen are especially numerous in English vocabulary (to be all at sea – to be unable to understand; to be in a state if ignorance or bewilderment about something, to sink or swim – to fail or succeed, In deep water – in trouble or danger, Three sheets in(to) the wind (sl.) – very drunk, Half seas over (sl.) – very drunk)
The thematic principle of classifying phraseological units has real merits but it does not take into consideration the linguistic characteristic features of the phraseological units.
V.V. Vinogradov’s classification system is founded on the degree of semantic cohesion between the components of a phraseological unit. It was the first classification based on the semantic principle. Vinogradov classified phraseological units into three classes: phraseological combinations, unities and fusions (сочетания, единства и сращения).
Phraseological combinations are word-groups with a partially changed meaning. They may be said to be clearly motivated, that is the meaning of the unit can be easily deduced from the meanings of its constituent (to be good at something, to be a good hand at something, to have a bite, to take something for granted, to stick to one’s word, to stick at nothing, bosom friends).
Phraseological unities are word-groups with a completely changed meaning, that is, the meaning of the unit does not correspond to the meanings of its constituent parts. They are motivated units or, putting it another way, the unit of the whole meaning can be deduced from the meanings of the constituent parts; the metaphor, on which the shift of meaning is based, is clear and transparent (to stick to one’s guns (= to be true to one’s views or convictions); to lose one’s head (= to be at a loss what to do); to lose one’s heart to smb. (= to fall in love).
Phraseological fusions are word-groups with a completely changed meaning but, in contrast to the unities, they are demotivated, that is, their meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of the constituent parts; the metaphor, on which the shift of meaning was based, has lost its clarity and is obscure (to come a cropper (to come to disaster); neck and crop (entirely, altogether as in She severed all relations neck and crop.); to set one’s cap at somebody (to try and attract a man; spoken about girls and women).
It is obvious that this classification does not consider the structural characteristics of phraseological units. The structural principle of classifying phraseological units is based on their ability to perform the same syntactical functions as words. In the traditional structural approach, the following principal groups of phraseological units are distinguished.
Professor Smirnitsky offered a classification system for English phraseological units which is interesting as an attempt to combine the structural and the semantic principles. Phraseological units in this classification are grouped according to the number and semantic significance of their constituent parts. Accordingly two large groups are established:
A. One-summit units, which have one meaningful constituent (e.g. to give up, to make out, to be tired, to be surprised).
B. Two-summit and multi-summit units which have two or more meaningful constituents (e.g. black art, first night, common sense, to fish in trouble waters).
Within each of these large groups the phraseological units are classified according to the category of parts of speech of the summit constituent. So one-summit units are subdivided into:
a) verbal-adverbial units equivalent to verbs in which the semantic and the grammatical centres coincide in the first constituent (e.g. to give up);
b) units equivalent to verbs which have their semantic centre in the second constituent and their grammatical centre in the first (e.g. to be tired)
c) prepositional-substantive units equivalent either to adverbs or to copulas and having their semantic centre in the substantive constituent and no grammatical centre (e.g. by heart, by means of).
Two-summit and multi-summit phraseological units are classified into:
a) attributive-substantive two-summit units equivalent to nouns (e.g. black art)
b) verbal-substantive two-summit units equivalent to verbs (e.g. to take the floor)
c) phraseological repetitions equivalent to adverbs (e.g. now and never)
d) adverbial multi-summit units (e.g. every other day)
The classification system of phraseological units suggested by Professor A.V. Koonin is based on the combined structural-semantic principle. Phraseological units are classified into the following four classes:
1. Nominative phraseological units are represented by word-groups, including the ones with the meaningful word, and coordinative phrases of the type wear and tear, well and good. It also includes word-groups with a predicative structure, such as the crow flies, and predicative phrases of the type see how the land lies, ships that pass in the night.
2. Nominative-communicative phraseological units include word-groups of the type to break the ice – the ice is broken, that is, verbal word-groups which are transformed into a sentence when the verb is used in the Passive voice.
3. Interjectional phraseological units which are neither nominative nor communicative (e.g. My God!).
4. Communicative phraseological units are represented by proverbs and sayings (e.g. Can the leopard change his spots?)