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Greek borrowings. Prefixation. Word meaning. Suffixation
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Greek borrowings.
A great many Greek words introduced into English came in chiefly through the medium of Latin, for the Latin language itself was largely indebted to Greek. Borrowings from Greek like those from Latin go back to an early period. These are mostly bookish borrowings. Here are a few of the hundreds of Greek terms used in modern medicine: adenoids, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychoanalysis. Greek borrowings were more or less latinized in form. They are spelt and pronounced not as in Greek but as the Romans spelt and pronounced them. Among numerous Greek borrowings in the English vocabulary we find the following: analysis, botany, comed, ydemocrat, democracy, dialogue, philosophy, problem, rhythm. Quite a number of proper names are also Greek in origin, e. g. George, Eugene, Helenw, Sophie, Peter, Nicholas, Theodor. Here are some loan-words which linguistics owes to Greek: antonym, dialect, etymology, euphemism, homonym, metaphor, metonymy, neologism, polysemy, synonym, etc. A lot of English terms In rhetoric and grammar originated in Greece. The punctuation mark called a comma originates from the Greek word. There are numerous English compounds coined from such Greek roots, as: autos - self, chroma - colour, ge - earth, logos - discourse, phone - voice, e. g. autograph, geography, geology, phonograph, telegraph, telephone.
PREFIXATION
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e. g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e. g. over- (overhead) ( cf over the table ). The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles:
1. Semantic classification:
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as: in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals), un- (unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re- (revegetation), dis-(disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as: inter- (interplanetary). hyper-Hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over- (overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as: in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as: sym-, hyper- etc.
There are some prefixes which can be treated qs root morphemes by some scientists, e. g. after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British lexicographers treat such words as derived ones.
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Word meaning
Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and the inner aspect (its meaning). Sound and meaning do not always constitute a constant unit even in the same language. One and the same word in different syntactical relations can develop different meanings, e. g. the verb «treat» in sentences: a) He treated my words as a joke. b) The book treats of poetry. c) They treated me to sweets. d) He treats his son cruelly. In all these sentences the verb «treat» has different meanings and we can speak about polysemy. Approaches: 1) referential (onomasiological) - it studies various names which nominated extralinguistic objects. The central conception within this approach is the theory of nomination. It shows how referent (object of reality) is named in a certain language: man - hero - winner - fellow - superman - partner; 2) functional - studies syntagmatic (within context) and paradygmatic relation; 3) extralinguistic - which studies the influence of the objective reality on the language; 4) semantic - shows the semantic structure of a word (all meanings taken together): lion - animal, proper name, emblem of the British flag.
SUFFIXATION
The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. There are different classifications of suffixes:
1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different parts of speech are given here:
a) noun-forming suffixes, such as: -er (criticizer), -dom (officialdom), -ism (ageism),
b) adjective-forming suffixes, such as: -able (breathable), less (symptomless), -ous (prestigious),
c) verb-forming suffixes, such as -ize (computerize). -ify (micrify),
d) adverb-forming suffixes, such as: -ly (singly), -ward (tableward),
e) numeral-forming suffixes, such as -teen (sixteen), -ty (seventy).
2. Semantic classification. Suffixes changing the lexical meaning of the stem can be subdivided into groups, e. g. noun-forming suffixes can denote:
a) the agent of the action, e. g. -er (experimenter), -ist (taxist), -ent (student),
b) nationality, e. g. -ian (Russian), -ese (Japanese), -ish (English),
c) collectivity, e. g. -dom (moviedom), -ry (peasantry, -ship (readership), -ati ( literati),
d) diminutiveness, e. g. -ie (horsie), -let (booklet), -ling (gooseling), -ette (kitchenette),
e) quality, e. g. -ness (copelessness), -ity (answerability).
3. Lexico-grammatical character of the stem. Suffixes which can be added to certain groups of stems are subdivided into:
a) suffixes added to verbal stems, such as: -er (commuter), -ing (suffering), - able (flyable), -ment (involvement), -ation (computerization),
b) suffixes added to noun stems, such as: -less (smogless), ful (roomful), -ism (adventurism), -ster (pollster), -nik (filmnik), -ish (childish),
c) suffixes added to adjective stems, such as: -en (weaken), -ly (pinkly), -ish (longish), -ness (clannishness).
4. Origin of suffixes. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) native (Germanic), such as -er, -ful, -less, -ly.
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b) Romanic, such as: -tion, -ment, -able, -eer.
c) Greek, such as: -ist, -ism, -ize.
d) Russian, such as -nik.
5. Productivity. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) productive, such as: -er, -ize, --ly, -ness.
b) semi-productive, such as: -eer, -ette, -ward.
c) non-productive, such as: -ard (drunkard), -th (length).
There are also disputable cases whether we have a suffix or a root morpheme in the structure of a word, in such cases we call such morphemes semi-suffixes, and words with such suffixes can be classified either as derived words or as compound words, e. g. -gate (Irangate), -burger (cheeseburger), -aholic (workaholic) etc.
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